1

Chapter 5Ancient Greece

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages

2

The Greek World

Ancient Greece

• Humanism – the driving force behind Ancient Greece, it is the belief that humans are “the measure of all things” - Protagoras – Helped to create democracy (rule by the

demos)– Greek gods were very “human” in form

and actions– Because humans are the measure in their

perfection they are beautiful •Perfection became the Greek ideal

3

Geometric Period (9th – 8th centuries BCE)

4

Greek Pottery

The only examples of Greek painting that have survived are on pottery.

5

6

Figure 5-2 Geometric krater, from the Dipylon cemetery, Athens, Greece, ca. 740 BCE. 3’ 4 1/2” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Meander (key) pattern dominates the rim

2 bands of figures mourning

Silhouettes are painted frontally

Orientalizing Period (7th century BCE)

• Increased trade with eastern countries resulted in an influence of those cultures on Greek Art

7

8

Figure 5.5 Corinthian black-figure amphora with animal friezes, from Rhodes, Greece, ca. 625–600 BCE. 1’ 2” high. British Museum, London.

Amphora – two handled storage jar

Black-figure –black silhouettes painted on surface while red clay showed through

Bands of painted animals both native to Greece (boar) and those exotic (lions and panthers)

Eastern monsters – sphinx, lammasu and sirens

Archaic Vase Painting

• Some vases were labeled and contained artist’s signatures

• François vase – signed by painter Kleitias and potter Ergutimas, contained 200 figures in 6 registers, detail (next slide) shows centaurs battling after a wedding where they attempted to kidnap maidens and young boys.

– It is said to have images of all the Greek gods.

– Figures are painted in the traditional composite style of ancient art.

9

10

Figure5-20 KLEITIAS and ERGOTIMOS, François Vase (Athenian black-figure volute krater), from Chiusi, Italy, ca. 570 BCE. General view (top) and detail of centauromachy on other side of vase (bottom). 2’ 2” high. Museo Archeologico, Florence.

Archaic Vase Painting ****

•Exekias – famous black-figure painter who created Achilles and Ajax Playing a Dice Game.

– The figures are monumental and within just one framed panel.

– Ajax and Achilles have spears and shields at hand – they are ready at a moment’s notice.

•Red-figure – first used on bilingual vases – one side was black-figure, the other side red. Its advantages: it allowed more detail, and an artist could build up layers to achieve textures or areas of shading

11

12

Figure 5-21 EXEKIAS, Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (detail from an Athesnian black-figure amphora), from Vulci, Italy, ca. 540–530 BCE. Whole vessel 2’ high; detail 8 1/2” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

13

Figure 5-22 ANDOKIDES PAINTER, Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (Athenian bilingual amphora), from Orvieto, Italy, ca. 525–520 BCE. Black-figure side (left) and red-figure side (right). 1’ 9” high. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

14

Figure 5-23 EUPHRONIOS, Herakles wrestling Antaios (detail of an Athenian red-figure calyx krater), from Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 510 BCE. Whole vessel 1’ 7” high; detail 7 3/4” high. Louvre, Paris.

15

Figure 5-24 EUTHYMIDES, Three revelers (Athenian red-figure amphora), from Vulci, Italy, ca. 510 BCE. 2’ high. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich.

Figures in ¾ view (foreshortened)

Earlier artists felt this was incomplete

Had phrase: “Euthymides painted me as never Euphronios (could do)”

16

Figure 5-58 ACHILLES PAINTER, Warrior taking leave of his wife (Athenian white-ground lekythos), from Eretria, Greece, ca. 440 BCE. Approx. 1’ 5” high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

White ground technique - chalky white slip applied to create background

An example of Polychrome painting (which would have been created on wooden panels as well)

Colors would easily fade so these were not used for daily purposes but as lekythos - perfume bottle

Classical Pottery

17Figure 5-59 NIOBID PAINTER, Artemis and Apollo slaying the children of Niobe (Athenian red-figure calyx krater), from Orvieto, Italy, ca. 450 BCE. 1’ 9” high. Louvre, Paris.

One side is devoted to the massacre of the children of Niobe. She felt she was superior to the goddess Leto because she had 10 more children. Leto sent her two children, Apollo and Artemis to punish Niobe’s hubris.

A landscape is created with rocks and trees.

The figures actively interact with each other and their surroundings.

One figure, a slain son, is hidden partially behind a rock and his face is painted in 3/4 view - something never done before.

18

Figure 5-60 PHIALE PAINTER, Hermes bringing the infant Dionysos to Papposilenos (Athenian white-ground calyx krater), from Vulci, Italy, ca. 440–435 BCE. 1’ 2” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

Archaic Period (650-480 BCE)

19

Beginning of monumental Greek Sculpture which follows closely Egyptian canonical format

Archaic Sculpture

• The increase of trade throughout the Mediterranean put the Greeks into contact with the culture and artistic achievements of Ancient Egypt.

• From this influence, arose two types of archaic statuary:

– Kouros – a young, standing nude male

– Kore – a draped young female

20

21

Figure 5-8 Kouros, ca. 600 BCE. Marble, 6’ 1/2” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Archaic Sculpture

• The sculpture of the Archaic era was a bold innovation from the Egyptian sculpture that inspired it.

• First, the kouros is free of the back slab that supported Egyptian sculptures. They are the first freestanding sculptures.

• Second, the kouros were nude unlike the sculpture of the other ancient cultures.

• It marks the beginning in the quest of Greek artists to create the ideal human form.

22

23

Figure 5-9 Calf Bearer, dedicated by Rhonbos on the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 560 BCE. Marble, restored height 5’ 5”; fragment 3’ 11 1/2” high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

Rhonbos was patron – representative of himself (?) bringing offering to Athena

Bearded so he is not a youth

Thin cloak, once painted – indicates noble perfection and maturity

He has a smile – which later archaic sculptures include to show the aliveness of their subjects.

24

Figure 5-10 Kroisos, from Anavysos, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 6’ 4” high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Monument of man who died in battle. An inscription on the base reads: “Stop and show pity beside the marker of Kroisos, dead, whom once in battle’s front rank raging Ares destroyed.”

Same Egyptian stance as earlier kourous but has a more natural body

Originally painted using encaustic (painting with wax) most Greek sculptures would have been painted in a similar fashion

25

Figure 5-11 Peplos Kore, from the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 4’ high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

Traces of encaustic paint on the Peplos Kore.

Peplos – long woolen belted garment

Extended left arm broke away from convention

Athena or maiden?

Women are always depicted with clothing

26

Figure 5-12 Kore, from the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 520–510 BCE. Marble, 1’ 9” high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

Shows typical garments worn by women of the time – chiton (light linen) worn over a heavier himation (mantle) – the garment of choice for fashionable women

Also shows how sculptors tried to represent folds of fabric and intricate patterns

Archaic Temple sculpture

• Sculpture was a major part of the temples of Greek gods and would inhabit the pediments and friezes.

• Archaic temple sculpture is characterized by:– Figures look toward the viewer– Contain the “archaic smile”– Are somewhat unnatural in their size or stance

in order for them to fit within the space they are carved

27

28

Figure 5-17 West pediment from the Temple of Artemis, Corfu, Greece, ca. 600–580 BCE. Limestone, greatest height 9’ 4”. Archaeological Museum, Corfu.

Medusa –Archaic bent legs, in shape of pinwheelTwo great felines serve as guardiansBottom right Zeus is slaying a giantLeft –scene from Trojan war of how Neoptolemos killed King Priam

29

Figure 5-19 Gigantomachy, detail of the north frieze of the Siphnian Treasury, Delphi, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 2’ 1” high. Archaeological Museum, Delphi.

30

Figure 5-28 Dying warrior, from the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece, ca. 500–490 BCE. Marble, 5’ 2 1/2” long. Glyptothek, Munich.

Archaic front view and smile – West pediment

31

Figure5-29 Dying warrior, from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece, ca. 480 BCE. Marble, 6’ 1” long. Glyptothek, Munich.

A more natural pose (Classical) – East Pediment

Greek temples• Many early temples did not survive because

they were constructed of wood and mud brick.

• Later temples were built using limestone and in some cases marble

• Archaic temples were inspired by the Egyptian columnar halls

• Figural sculpture played a major role – to embellish, to narrate the story of the deity or as votive offering

32

Greek Temples

• Carved columns and moldings added to the “sculpture” of the temples

• Temples were elevated above the city on an acropolis

• Difference between Greek temples and later religious shrines– Altar was outside the temple at the east end,

facing the rising sun– Temple proper housed the so-called cult

statue - image of god or goddess of the temple– House of god or goddess not their followers

Greek Temples continued

• The temples’ design reflected the simplicity of the megaron of the Mycenaean.

• They reflected the Greeks’ ideal of perfect form by approaching the proportion of 1:2 of its sides

• This interest in proportion, to the Greeks, was reflective of cosmic order

34

Greek Temples continued

• Parts of a Greek temple

– Cella (naos) – room with no windows, housed cult statue

– Pronaos – porch with two columns

– Anta – extended walls

– Opisthodomos – rear porch of early temples, not functional but decorative

– Prostyle –Colonnade on front of temple

– Amphiproatyle – colonnade across front and back of temple

– Peristyle – colonnade around entire cella

– Stylobate – platform on which the columns stand

35

Figure 5-13 Plan of a typical peripteral Greek temple.

36

Peripteral Greek Temple

Greek Orders of Architecture

• Doric –formulated on the Greek mainland and was preferred by the western colonies– Fluted (vertical channels) shaft, flutes meet in sharp ridges (arrises)– Top of shaft marked with several horizontal line (necking)– Capital has two parts: echnus (lower) is convex, abacus (upper) is a flat square

block– Entablature has three parts: architrave (epistyle) – the main weigh bearing

element, the frieze is divided into triglyphs and metops and the cornice – a molded horizontal projection that with the two sloping (raking) cornices forms the pediment.

37

Greek Orders continued

• Ionic – order of choice of the Aegean Islands and the west coast of Asia Minor– Fluted columns, are slimmer and rise from molded

bases, flutes are flat (fillets)– Echinus is small and supports a bolster ending in

volutes (scroll-like spirals)– Architrave is subdivided into 3 horizontal bands

(fasciae)– Frieze is left open for continuous relief sculpture

38

Figure 5-14 Elevations of the Doric and Ionic orders.39

Compare Doric and Ionic Orders

Temple of Hera I (Basilica)

• 80x100ft built circa 550 BCE• Doric order• Unusual because it includes a central row of columns

which divides the cella into two aisles, this is common in Archaic architecture, perhaps they felt the structure needed the additional support

• This did not allow for space for the cult statue• The columns are closely spaced and in order to correspond

with the interior, there are nine columns on the facade

40

41Figure 5-15 Temple of Hera I (“Basilica”), Paestum, Italy, ca. 550 BCE.

42Figure 5-16 Plan of the Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy, ca. 550 BCE.