Sculptures of people of ancient Greece. Sculpture of ancient Greece briefly

Architecture and sculpture of Ancient Greece

Cities of the ancient world usually appeared near a high rock, and a citadel was built on it, so that there would be a place to hide if the enemy penetrated the city. Such a citadel was called an acropolis. In the same way, on a rock that towered almost 150 meters above Athens and had long served as a natural defensive structure, an upper city gradually formed in the form of a fortress (acropolis) with various defensive, public and religious structures.
The Athenian Acropolis began to be built up in the 2nd millennium BC. During the Greco-Persian Wars (480-479 BC) it was completely destroyed; later, under the leadership of the sculptor and architect Phidias, its restoration and reconstruction began.
The Acropolis is one of those places “about which everyone insists that they are magnificent and unique. But don't ask why. No one can answer you...” It can be measured, even all its stones can be counted. It's not that big of a deal to get through it from end to end - it only takes a few minutes. The walls of the Acropolis are steep and precipitous. Four great creations still stand on this rocky hill. A wide zigzag road runs from the bottom of the hill to the only entrance. This is the Propylaea - a monumental gate with Doric style columns and a wide staircase. They were built by the architect Mnesicles in 437-432 BC. But before entering these majestic marble gates, everyone involuntarily turned to the right. There, on the high pedestal of the bastion that once guarded the entrance to the acropolis, stands the temple of the goddess of victory Nike Apteros, decorated with Ionic columns. This is the work of the architect Callicrates (second half of the 5th century BC). The temple - light, airy, unusually beautiful - stood out with its whiteness against the blue background of the sky. This fragile building, looking like an elegant marble toy, seems to smile itself and makes passers-by smile affectionately.
The restless, ardent and active gods of Greece resembled the Greeks themselves. True, they were taller, could fly through the air, take on any form, and turn into animals and plants. But in all other respects they behaved like ordinary people: they got married, deceived each other, quarreled, made peace, punished children...

Temple of Demeter, builders unknown, 6th century. BC. Olympia

Temple of Nike Apteros, architect Kallikrates, 449-421 BC. Athens

Propylaea, architect Mnesical, 437-432 BC. Athens

The goddess of victory Nike was depicted as a beautiful woman with large wings: victory is fickle and flies from one opponent to another. The Athenians depicted her as wingless so that she would not leave the city that had recently won a great victory over the Persians. Deprived of wings, the goddess could no longer fly and had to remain in Athens forever.
The Nika Temple stands on a rock ledge. It is slightly turned towards the Propylaea and plays the role of a beacon for processions going around the rock.
Immediately beyond the Propylaea, Athena the Warrior stood proudly, whose spear greeted the traveler from afar and served as a beacon for sailors. The inscription on the stone pedestal read: “The Athenians dedicated from the victory over the Persians.” This meant that the statue was cast from bronze weapons taken from the Persians as a result of their victories.
The Erechtheion temple ensemble was also located on the Acropolis, which (according to the plan of its creators) was supposed to connect together several sanctuaries located at different levels - the rock here is very uneven. The northern portico of the Erechtheion led to the sanctuary of Athena, where a wooden statue of the goddess was kept, supposedly falling from the sky. The door from the sanctuary opened into a small courtyard where the only sacred olive tree on the entire Acropolis grew, which rose when Athena touched the rock with her sword in this place. Through the eastern portico one could get into the sanctuary of Poseidon, where he, having struck the rock with his trident, left three furrows with gurgling water. Here was also the sanctuary of Erechtheus, revered on a par with Poseidon.
The central part of the temple is a rectangular room (24.1x13.1 meters). The temple also contained the tomb and sanctuary of the first legendary king of Attica, Cecrops. On the south side of the Erechtheion is the famous portico of the caryatids: at the edge of the wall, six girls carved from marble support the ceiling. Some scholars suggest that the portico served as a tribune for respectable citizens or that priests gathered here for religious ceremonies. But the exact purpose of the portico is still unclear, because “portico” means vestibule, and in this case the portico did not have doors and from here it is impossible to get inside the temple. The figures of the portico of the caryatids are essentially supports that replace a pillar or column; they also perfectly convey the lightness and flexibility of the girlish figures. The Turks, who at one time captured Athens and, due to their Muslim beliefs, did not allow images of humans, did not, however, destroy these statues. They limited themselves to only cutting off the girls' faces.

Erechtheion, builders unknown, 421-407 BC. Athens

Parthenon, architects Ictinus, Callicrates, 447-432 BC. Athens

In 1803, Lord Elgin, the English ambassador to Constantinople and a collector, using the permission of the Turkish Sultan, broke out one of the caryatids in the temple and took it to England, where he offered it to the British Museum. Interpreting the firman of the Turkish Sultan too broadly, he also took with him many of the sculptures of Phidias and sold them for 35,000 pounds sterling. Firman stated that “no one should prevent him from taking away a few stones with inscriptions or figures from the Acropolis.” Elgin filled 201 boxes with such “stones”. As he himself stated, he took only those sculptures that had already fallen or were in danger of falling, ostensibly in order to save them from final destruction. But Byron also called him a thief. Later (during the restoration of the portico of the caryatids in 1845-1847), the British Museum sent to Athens a plaster cast of the statue taken away by Lord Elgin. The cast was subsequently replaced by a more durable copy made of artificial stone, made in England.
At the end of the last century, the Greek government demanded that England return its treasures, but received the answer that the London climate was more favorable for them.
At the beginning of our millennium, when Greece was transferred to Byzantium during the division of the Roman Empire, the Erechtheion was turned into a Christian temple. Later, the crusaders, who captured Athens, made the temple a ducal palace, and during the Turkish conquest of Athens in 1458, a harem of the commandant of the fortress was installed in the Erechtheion. During the liberation war of 1821-1827, the Greeks and Turks took turns besieging the Acropolis, bombarding its structures, including the Erechtheion.
In 1830 (after the proclamation of Greek independence), only foundations could be found at the site of the Erechtheion, as well as architectural decorations lying on the ground. Funds for the restoration of this temple ensemble (as well as for the restoration of many other structures of the Acropolis) were given by Heinrich Schliemann. His closest associate V. Derpfeld carefully measured and compared the ancient fragments; by the end of the 70s of the last century he was already planning to restore the Erechtheion. But this reconstruction was subjected to severe criticism, and the temple was dismantled. The building was rebuilt under the leadership of the famous Greek scientist P. Kavadias in 1906 and finally restored in 1922.

"Venus de Milo" Agessander(?), 120 BC. Louvre, Paris

"Laocoon" Agessander, Polydorus, Athenodorus, c.40 BC. Greece, Olympia

"Hercules of Farnese" ca. 200 BC e., Nat. museum, Naples

"Wounded Amazon" Polykleitos, 440 BC. National museum rome

The Parthenon - the temple of the goddess Athena - is the largest structure on the Acropolis and the most beautiful creation of Greek architecture. It stands not in the center of the square, but somewhat to the side, so that you can immediately take in the front and side facades and understand the beauty of the temple as a whole. The ancient Greeks believed that the temple with the main cult statue in the center represented the house of the deity. The Parthenon is the temple of Athena the Virgin (Parthenos), and therefore in its center there was a chrysoelephantine (made of ivory and gold plates on a wooden base) statue of the goddess.
The Parthenon was erected in 447-432 BC. architects Ictinus and Callicrates from Pentelic marble. It was located on a four-level terrace, the size of its base was 69.5 x 30.9 meters. The Parthenon is surrounded on four sides by slender colonnades; gaps of blue sky are visible between their white marble trunks. Entirely permeated with light, it seems airy and light. There are no bright designs on the white columns, as is found in Egyptian temples. Only longitudinal grooves (flutes) cover them from top to bottom, making the temple seem taller and even slimmer. The columns owe their slenderness and lightness to the fact that they taper slightly towards the top. In the middle part of the trunk, not at all noticeable to the eye, they thicken and this makes them seem elastic, more able to withstand the weight of stone blocks. Iktin and Callicrates, having thought through every smallest detail, created a building that amazes with its amazing proportionality, extreme simplicity and purity of all lines. Placed on the upper platform of the Acropolis, at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level, the Parthenon was visible not only from anywhere in the city, but also from numerous ships sailing to Athens. The temple was a Doric perimeter surrounded by a colonnade of 46 columns.

"Aphrodite and Pan" 100 BC, Delphi, Greece

"Diana the Huntress" Leochard, c.340 BC, Louvre, Paris, France

"Resting Hermes" Lysippos, IV century. BC BC, National Museum, Naples

"Hercules Fighting the Lion" Lysippos, c. 330 BC Hermitage, St. Petersburg

"Atlas Farnese" ca. 200 BC, Nat. museum, Naples

The most famous masters participated in the sculptural design of the Parthenon. The artistic director of the construction and decoration of the Parthenon was Phidias, one of the greatest sculptors of all time. He is responsible for the overall composition and development of the entire sculptural decoration, part of which he performed himself. The organizational side of the construction was handled by Pericles, the largest statesman of Athens.
The entire sculptural design of the Parthenon was intended to glorify the goddess Athena and her city - Athens. The theme of the eastern pediment is the birth of Zeus's beloved daughter. On the western pediment the master depicted a scene of a dispute between Athena and Poseidon for dominance over Attica. According to the myth, Athena won the dispute and gave the inhabitants of this country an olive tree.
The gods of Greece gathered on the pediments of the Parthenon: the thunderer Zeus, the mighty ruler of the seas Poseidon, the wise warrior Athena, the winged Nike. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was completed by a frieze, which depicted a solemn procession during the festival of the Great Panathenaia. This frieze is considered one of the pinnacles of classical art. Despite all its compositional unity, it amazed with its diversity. Of the more than 500 figures of young men, elders, girls, on foot and on horseback, not one repeated the other; the movements of people and animals were conveyed with amazing dynamism.
The figures of the sculptural Greek relief are not flat, they have the volume and shape of the human body. They differ from statues only in that they are not processed on all sides, but seem to merge with the background formed by the flat surface of the stone. Light colors enlivened the Parthenon marble. The red background emphasized the whiteness of the figures, the narrow vertical projections that separated one slab of the frieze from the other stood out clearly in blue, and the gilding shone brightly. Behind the columns, on a marble ribbon encircling all four facades of the building, a festive procession was depicted. There are almost no gods here, and people, forever imprinted in stone, moved along the two long sides of the building and united on the eastern facade, where a solemn ceremony took place to present the priest with a robe woven by Athenian girls for the goddess. Each figure is characterized by its unique beauty, and all together they accurately reflect the true life and customs of the ancient city.

Indeed, once every five years, on one of the hot days of mid-summer, a nationwide celebration took place in Athens in honor of the birth of the goddess Athena. It was called the Great Panathenaia. Not only citizens of the Athenian state, but also many guests took part in it. The celebration consisted of a solemn procession (pump), the bringing of a hecatomb (100 head of cattle) and a common meal, sports, equestrian and musical competitions. The winner received a special, so-called Panathenaic amphora filled with oil, and a wreath made from the leaves of the sacred olive tree growing on the Acropolis.

The most solemn moment of the holiday was the national procession to the Acropolis. Riders on horses were moving, statesmen, warriors in armor and young athletes were walking. Priests and nobles walked in long white robes, heralds loudly praised the goddess, musicians filled the still cool morning air with joyful sounds. Along the zigzag Panathenaic road, trampled by thousands of people, sacrificial animals climbed the high hill of the Acropolis. The boys and girls carried with them a model of the sacred Panathenaic ship with a peplos (veil) attached to its mast. A light breeze fluttered the bright fabric of the yellow-violet robe, which was carried as a gift to the goddess Athena by the noble girls of the city. For a whole year they wove and embroidered it. Other girls raised sacred vessels for sacrifices high above their heads. Gradually the procession approached the Parthenon. The entrance to the temple was made not from the Propylaea, but from the other, as if so that everyone would first walk around, examine and appreciate the beauty of all parts of the beautiful building. Unlike Christian churches, ancient Greek ones were not intended for worship inside them; the people remained outside the temple during religious activities. In the depths of the temple, surrounded on three sides by two-tiered colonnades, the famous statue of the Virgin Athena, created by the famous Phidias, stood proudly. Her clothes, helmet and shield were made of pure sparkling gold, and her face and hands shone with the whiteness of ivory.

Many book volumes have been written about the Parthenon, among them there are monographs about each of its sculptures and about each step of gradual decline from the time when, after the decree of Theodosius I, it became a Christian temple. In the 15th century, the Turks turned it into a mosque, and in the 17th century, into a gunpowder warehouse. It was turned into final ruins by the Turkish-Venetian war of 1687, when an artillery shell hit it and in one moment did what all-consuming time could not do in 2000 years.

Antique sculpture

HERMITAGE

Aphrodite

Aphrodite (Venus Tauride)
Description:
According to Hesiod’s “Theogony,” Aphrodite was born near the island of Cythera from the seed and blood of Uranus castrated by Kronos, which fell into the sea and formed snow-white foam (hence the nickname “foam-born”). The breeze brought her to the island of Cyprus (or she sailed there herself, since she did not like Cythera), where she, emerging from the sea waves, was met by the Ora.

The statue of Aphrodite (Venus of Tauride) dates back to the 3rd century BC. e., now it is in the Hermitage and is considered his most famous statue. The sculpture became the first antique statue of a naked woman in Russia. Life-size marble statue of bathing Venus (height 167 cm), modeled after the Aphrodite of Cnidus or the Capitoline Venus. The hands of the statue and a fragment of the nose are missing. Before entering the State Hermitage, she decorated the garden of the Tauride Palace, hence the name. In the past, “Venus Tauride” was intended to decorate the park. However, the statue was delivered to Russia much earlier, even under Peter I and thanks to his efforts. The inscription made on the bronze ring of the pedestal recalls that Venus was given by Clement XI to Peter I (as a result of an exchange for the relics of St. Brigid sent to the Pope by Peter I). The statue was discovered in 1718 during excavations in Rome. Unknown sculptor of the 3rd century. BC. depicted the naked goddess of love and beauty Venus. A slender figure, rounded, smooth lines of the silhouette, softly modeled body shapes - everything speaks of a healthy and chaste perception of female beauty. Along with calm restraint (posture, facial expression), a generalized manner, alien to fractionality and fine detail, as well as a number of other features characteristic of the art of the classics (V - IV centuries BC), the creator of Venus embodied in her his idea of beauty, associated with the ideals of the 3rd century BC. e. (graceful proportions - high waist, somewhat elongated legs, thin neck, small head - tilt of the figure, rotation of the body and head).

Italy. Antique sculpture in the Vatican Museum.

Joseph Brodsky

Torso

If you suddenly wander into stone grass,
looking better in marble than in reality,
or you notice a faun indulged in fuss
with a nymph, and both are happier in bronze than in a dream,
you can release the staff from your weary hands:
you are in the Empire, friend.

Air, fire, water, fauns, naiads, lions,
taken from nature or from the head -
everything that God came up with and I'm tired of continuing
brain, turned into stone or metal.
This is the end of things, this is the end of the road
mirror to enter.

Stand in a vacant niche and, rolling your eyes,
watch the centuries pass, disappearing behind
corner, and how moss sprouts in the groin
and dust falls on the shoulders - this tan of eras.
Someone will break off their hand and their head will fall off their shoulder
rolls down, knocking.

And what remains is the torso, an anonymous sum of muscles.
After a thousand years, a mouse living in a niche with
with a broken claw, without overcoming granite,
going out one evening, squeaking, mincing
across the road so as not to end up in a hole
at midnight. Not in the morning.

10 secrets of famous sculptures

The silence of the great statues holds many secrets. When Auguste Rodin was asked how he created his statues, the sculptor repeated the words of the great Michelangelo: “I take a block of marble and cut off everything unnecessary from it.” This is probably why the sculpture of a true master always creates a feeling of miracle: it seems that only a genius can see the beauty that is hidden in a piece of stone.

We are sure that in almost every significant work of art there is a mystery, a “double bottom” or a secret story that you want to reveal. Today we will share a few of them.

1. Horned Moses

Michelangelo Buanarrotti, "Moses", 1513-1515

Michelangelo depicted Moses with horns in his sculpture. Many art historians attribute this to misinterpretation of the Bible. The Book of Exodus says that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets, the Jews found it difficult to look at his face. At this point in the Bible, a word is used that can be translated from Hebrew as both “rays” and “horns.” However, from the context it can be clearly said that we are talking specifically about rays of light - that Moses’ face shone and was not horned.

2. Colored Antiquity

"Augustus from Prima Porta", antique statue.

It has long been believed that ancient Greek and Roman white marble sculptures were originally colorless. However, recent research by scientists has confirmed the hypothesis that the statues were painted in a wide range of colors, which eventually disappeared under prolonged exposure to light and air.

3. The Little Mermaid's suffering

Edward Eriksen, The Little Mermaid, 1913

The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is one of the most long-suffering in the world: it is the one that vandals love most. The history of its existence was very turbulent. It was broken and sawed into pieces many times. And now you can still detect barely noticeable “scars” on the neck, which appeared from the need to replace the sculpture’s head. The Little Mermaid was beheaded twice: in 1964 and 1998. In 1984, her right hand was sawed off. On March 8, 2006, a dildo was placed on the mermaid’s hand, and the unfortunate woman herself was splashed with green paint. In addition, on the back there was a scrawled inscription “Happy March 8!” In 2007, Copenhagen authorities announced that the statue might be moved further into the harbor to avoid further incidents of vandalism and to prevent tourists from continually attempting to climb it.

4. “Kiss” without a kiss

Auguste Rodin, "The Kiss", 1882

Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture "The Kiss" was originally called "Francesca da Rimini", in honor of the noble Italian lady of the 13th century depicted on it, whose name was immortalized by Dante's Divine Comedy (Second Circle, Fifth Canto). The lady fell in love with her husband Giovanni Malatesta's younger brother, Paolo. While they were reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, they were discovered and then killed by her husband. In the sculpture you can see Paolo holding a book in his hand. But in fact, the lovers do not touch each other's lips, as if hinting that they were killed without committing a sin.
The renaming of the sculpture to a more abstract one - The Kiss (Le Baiser) - was made by critics who first saw it in 1887.

5. The secret of the marble veil

Raphael Monti, "Marble Veil", mid-19th century.

When you look at the statues covered with a translucent marble veil, you can’t help but think about how it’s even possible to make something like this out of stone. It's all about the special structure of the marble used for these sculptures. The block that was to become a sculpture had to have two layers - one more transparent, the other more dense. Such natural stones are difficult to find, but they exist. The master had a plot in his head, he knew exactly what kind of block he was looking for. He worked with it, respecting the texture of the normal surface, and walked along the boundary separating the denser and more transparent part of the stone. As a result, the remnants of this transparent part “shone through”, which gave the effect of a veil.

6. Ideal David made of spoiled marble

Michelangelo Buanarrotti, "David", 1501-1504

The famous statue of David was made by Michelangelo from a piece of white marble left over from another sculptor, Agostino di Duccio, who tried unsuccessfully to work with the piece and then abandoned it.

By the way, David, who has been considered a model of male beauty for centuries, is not so perfect. The fact is that he is cross-eyed. This conclusion was reached by American scientist Mark Livoy from Stanford University, who examined the statue using laser-computer technology. The “vision defect” of the more than five-meter sculpture is invisible, since it is placed on a high pedestal. According to experts, Michelangelo deliberately endowed his brainchild with this flaw, because he wanted David’s profile to look perfect from any side.
Death that inspired creativity

7. “Kiss of Death”, 1930

The most mysterious statue in the Catalan cemetery of Poblenou is called “Kiss of Death”. The sculptor who created it still remains unknown. Usually the authorship of “The Kiss” is attributed to Jaume Barba, but there are also those who are sure that the monument was sculpted by Joan Fonbernat. The sculpture is located in one of the far corners of the Poblenou cemetery. It was she who inspired film director Bergman to create the film “The Seventh Seal” - about the communication between the Knight and Death.

8. Hands of Venus de Milo

Agesander (?), "Venus de Milo", c. 130-100 BC
The figure of Venus takes pride of place in the Louvre in Paris. A Greek peasant found it in 1820 on the island of Milos. At the time of discovery, the figure was broken into two large fragments. In her left hand the goddess held an apple, and with her right hand she held the falling robe. Realizing the historical significance of this ancient sculpture, officers of the French navy ordered the marble statue to be removed from the island. As Venus was being dragged over the rocks to the waiting ship, a fight broke out between the porters and both arms were broken off. The tired sailors flatly refused to return and look for the remaining parts.

9. The beautiful imperfection of Nike of Samothrace

"Nike of Samothrace", II century. BC.
The statue of Nike was found on the island of Samothrace in 1863 by Charles Champoiseau, a French consul and archaeologist. A statue carved from golden Parian marble on the island crowned the altar of sea deities. Researchers believe that an unknown sculptor created Nike in the 2nd century BC as a sign of Greek naval victories. The hands and head of the goddess are irretrievably lost. Attempts were made repeatedly to restore the original position of the goddess’s hands. It is believed that the right hand, raised upward, held a cup, wreath or forge. Interestingly, multiple attempts to restore the hands of the statue were unsuccessful - they all spoiled the masterpiece. These failures force us to admit: Nika is beautiful just like that, perfect in her imperfection.

10. Mystical Bronze Horseman

Etienne Falconet, Monument to Peter I, 1768-1770
The Bronze Horseman is a monument surrounded by mystical and otherworldly stories. One of the legends associated with him says that during the Patriotic War of 1812, Alexander I ordered especially valuable works of art to be removed from the city, including a monument to Peter I. At this time, a certain Major Baturin achieved a meeting with the Tsar’s personal friend, Prince Golitsyn and told him that he, Baturin, was haunted by the same dream. He sees himself on Senate Square. Peter's face turns. The horseman rides off his cliff and heads through the streets of St. Petersburg to Kamenny Island, where Alexander I then lived. The horseman enters the courtyard of the Kamenoostrovsky Palace, from which the sovereign comes out to meet him. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to,” Peter the Great tells him, “but as long as I’m in place, my city has nothing to fear!” Then the rider turns back, and the “heavy, ringing gallop” is heard again. Struck by Baturin’s story, Prince Golitsyn conveyed the dream to the sovereign. As a result, Alexander I reversed his decision to evacuate the monument. The monument remained in place.

*****

Greece and art are inseparable concepts. In numerous archaeological museums you can see ancient sculptures and bronze statues, many of which were raised from the bottom of the Aegean Sea. Local history museums display handicrafts and textiles, and the best museums in Athens rival art galleries elsewhere in Europe.

Athens, Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.
Origin: The statue was discovered among others in 1959 in Piraeus, at the intersection of Georgiou and Philon streets in a storage room near the ancient harbor. The sculpture was hidden in this room from Sulla's troops in 86 BC. e.
Description:Bronze statue of Artemis
This type of powerful female figure was originally identified as the poetess or muse of Silanion's sculptural compositions. This statue is identified as an image of Artemis by the presence of a quiver belt on the back, as well as by the arrangement of the fingers of the hand that held the bow. This work of classicizing style is attributed to Euphranor on the basis of its resemblance to Apollo Patros on the Agora.

Zeus was the king of the gods, the god of the sky and weather, law, order and fate. He was depicted as a regal man, mature with a strong figure and a dark beard. His usual attributes were lightning bolts, a royal scepter and an eagle. Father of Hercules, organizer of the Trojan War, fighter against the hundred-headed monster. He flooded the world so that humanity could begin to live again.

Poseidon was the great Olympian god of the sea, rivers, floods and droughts, earthquakes, and also the patron of horses. He was depicted as a mature man of strong build with a dark beard and holding a trident. When Chron divided the world between his sons, he received rule over the sea.

Demeter was the great Olympian goddess of fertility, agriculture, grain, and bread. She also presided over one of the mystery cults that promised their initiates a path to a blessed afterlife. Demeter was depicted as a mature woman, often crowned, holding ears of wheat and a torch. She brought famine to Earth, but she also sent the hero Triptolemos to teach people how to cultivate the land.

Hera was the queen of the Olympian gods and the goddess of women and marriage. She was also the goddess of the starry sky. She is usually depicted as a beautiful woman wearing a crown, holding a royal staff with a lotus tip. She sometimes keeps a royal lion, cuckoo or hawk as companions. She was the wife of Zeus. She gave birth to a crippled baby, Hephaestus, whom she threw from Heaven with just a glance. He himself was the god of fire and a skilled blacksmith and patron of blacksmithing. In the Trojan War, Hera helped the Greeks.

Apollo was the great god of Olympian prophecies and oracles, healing, plague and disease, music, song and poetry, archery, and protection of the young. He was depicted as a handsome, beardless youth with long hair and various attributes, such as a wreath and laurel branch, a bow and quiver, a crow, and a lyre. Apollo had a temple at Delphi.

Artemis was the great goddess of the hunt, wilderness and wild animals. She was also the goddess of childbirth and the patroness of young girls. Her twin, Apollo's brother, was also the patron saint of teenage boys. Together, these two gods were also the agents of sudden death and disease - Artemis targeting women and girls, and Apollo targeting men and boys.

In ancient art, Artemis is usually depicted as a girl, dressed in a short chiton that reaches her knees and equipped with a hunting bow and a quiver of arrows.

After her birth, she immediately helped her mother give birth to her twin brother, Apollo. She turned the hunter Actaeon into a deer when he saw her bathing.

Hephaestus was the great Olympian god of fire, metalworking, stonemasonry, and the art of sculpture. He was usually depicted as a bearded man with a hammer and tongs, the tools of a blacksmith, and riding a donkey.

Athena was the great Olympian goddess of wise counsel, war, the defense of cities, heroic efforts, weaving, pottery and other crafts. She was depicted crowned with a helmet, armed with a shield and spear, and wearing a cloak trimmed with a snake wrapped around her chest and arms, adorned with the head of a Gorgon.

Ares was the great Olympian god of war, civil order and courage. In Greek art, he was depicted as either a mature, bearded warrior dressed in battle armor, or a naked, beardless youth with a helmet and spear. Due to its lack of distinctive features, it is often difficult to identify in classical art.

ancient greek sculpture classic

Ancient Greek sculpture from the Classical period

Speaking about the art of ancient civilizations, first of all we remember and study the art of Ancient Greece, and in particular its sculpture. Truly, in this small beautiful country, this art form has risen to such a height that to this day it is considered a standard throughout the world. Studying the sculptures of Ancient Greece allows us to better understand the worldview of the Greeks, their philosophy, ideals and aspirations. In sculpture, as nowhere else, the attitude towards man, who in Ancient Greece was the measure of all things, is manifested. It is sculpture that gives us the opportunity to judge the religious, philosophical and aesthetic ideas of the ancient Greeks. All this allows us to better understand the reasons for the rise, development and fall of this civilization.

The development of Ancient Greek civilization is divided into several stages - eras. First, briefly, I will talk about the Archaic era, since it preceded the classical era and “set the tone” in sculpture.

The Archaic period is the beginning of the formation of ancient Greek sculpture. This era was also divided into early archaic (650 - 580 BC), high (580 - 530 BC), and late (530 - 480 BC). The sculpture was the embodiment of an ideal person. She exalted his beauty, his physical perfection. Early single sculptures are represented by two main types: the image of a naked young man - kouros and the figure of a girl dressed in a long, tight-fitting chiton - kora.

The sculpture of this era was very similar to the Egyptian ones. And this is not surprising: the Greeks, getting acquainted with Egyptian culture and the cultures of other countries of the Ancient East, borrowed a lot, and in other cases discovered similarities with them. Certain canons were observed in the sculpture, so they were very geometric and static: a person takes a step forward, his shoulders are straightened, and his arms are lowered along the body, a stupid smile always plays on his lips. In addition, the sculptures were painted: golden hair, blue eyes, pink cheeks.

At the beginning of the classical era, these canons are still in effect, but later the author begins to move away from statics, the sculpture acquires character, and an event, an action, often occurs.

Classical sculpture is the second era in the development of ancient Greek culture. It is also divided into stages: early classic or strict style (490 - 450 BC), high (450 - 420 BC), rich style (420 - 390 BC .), Late Classic (390 - ca. 320 BC).

In the era of the early classics, a certain life rethinking takes place. The sculpture takes on a heroic character. Art is freeing itself from the rigid framework that shackled it in the archaic era; this is a time of searching for new, intensive development of various schools and directions, and the creation of diverse works. The two types of figures - kurosu and kore - are being replaced by a much greater variety of types; the sculptures strive to convey the complex movement of the human body.

All this takes place against the backdrop of the war with the Persians, and it was this war that so changed ancient Greek thinking. The cultural centers were shifted and are now the cities of Athens, the Northern Peloponnese and the Greek West. By that time, Greece had reached the highest point of economic, political and cultural growth. Athens took a leading place in the union of Greek cities. Greek society was democratic, built on the principles of equal activity. All men inhabiting Athens, except slaves, were equal citizens. And they all enjoyed the right to vote and could be elected to any public office. The Greeks were in harmony with nature and did not suppress their natural desires. Everything that was done by the Greeks was the property of the people. Statues stood in temples and squares, on palaestras and on the seashore. They were present on the pediments and in the decorations of temples. As in the archaic era, the sculptures were painted.

Unfortunately, Greek sculpture has come down to us mainly in rubble. Although, according to Plutarch, there were more statues in Athens than living people. Many statues have come down to us in Roman copies. But they are quite crude compared to the Greek originals.

One of the most famous sculptors of the early classics is Pythagoras of Rhegium. Few of his works have reached us, and his works are known only from mentions of ancient authors. Pythagoras became famous for his realistic depiction of human veins, veins and hair. Several Roman copies of his sculptures have survived: “Boy Taking out a Splinter”, “Hyacinth”, etc. In addition, he is credited with the famous bronze statue “Charioteer”, found in Delphi. Pythagoras of Rhegium created several bronze statues of the winning athletes of the Olympic and Delphic Games. And he owns the statues of Apollo - the Python Slayer, the Rape of Europa, Eteocles, Polyneices and the Wounded Philoctetes.

It is known that Pythagoras of Rhegium was a contemporary and rival of Myron. This is another famous sculptor of that time. And he became famous as the greatest realist and expert in anatomy. But despite all this, Myron did not know how to give life and expression to the faces of his works. Myron created statues of athletes - winners of competitions, reproduced famous heroes, gods and animals, and especially brilliantly depicted difficult poses that looked very realistic.

The best example of such a sculpture of his is the world-famous “Discobolus”. Ancient writers also mention the famous sculpture of Marsyas and Athena. This famous sculptural group has come down to us in several copies. In addition to people, Myron also depicted animals, his image of “Cows” is especially famous.

Myron worked mainly in bronze; his works have not survived and are known from the testimonies of ancient authors and Roman copies. He was also a master of toreutics - he made metal cups with relief images.

Another famous sculptor of this period is Kalamis. He created marble, bronze and chryselephantine statues, and depicted mainly gods, female heroic figures and horses. The art of Kalamis can be judged by the copy that has come down to us from a later time of a statue of Hermes carrying a ram that he made for Tanagra. The figure of the god himself is executed in an archaic style, with the immobility of the pose and the symmetry of the arrangement of the limbs characteristic of this style; but the ram carried by Hermes is already distinguished by some vitality.

In addition, the pediments and metopes of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia are among the monuments of ancient Greek sculpture of the early classics. Another significant work of early classics is the so-called “Throne of Ludovisi”. This is a three-sided marble altar depicting the birth of Aphrodite, on the sides of the altar are hetaeras and brides, symbolizing different hypostases of love or images of serving the goddess.

High classics are represented by the names of Phidias and Polykleitos. Its short-term heyday is associated with work on the Athenian Acropolis, that is, with the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. The pinnacle of ancient Greek sculpture was, apparently, the statues of Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus by Phidias.

Phidias is one of the best representatives of the classical style, and about his significance it is enough to say that he is considered the founder of European art. The Attic school of sculpture, headed by him, occupied a leading place in the art of high classics.

Phidias had knowledge of the achievements of optics. A story has been preserved about his rivalry with Alcamenes: both were ordered statues of Athena, which were supposed to be erected on high columns. Phidias made his statue in accordance with the height of the column - on the ground it seemed ugly and disproportionate. The neck of the goddess was very long. When both statues were erected on high pedestals, Phidias’s correctness became obvious. They note the enormous skill of Phidias in the interpretation of clothing, in which he surpasses both Myron and Polycletus.

Most of his works have not survived; we can only judge them from descriptions of ancient authors and copies. Nevertheless, his fame was colossal. And there were so many of them that what was left was already a lot. The most famous works of Phidias - Zeus and Athena Parthenos were made in the chrysoelephantine technique - gold and ivory.

The height of the statue of Zeus, together with the pedestal, was, according to various sources, from 12 to 17 meters. Zeus's eyes were the size of an adult's fist. The cape that covered part of Zeus's body, the scepter with an eagle in the left hand, the statue of the goddess Nike in the right and the wreath on his head are made of gold. Zeus sits on a throne; four dancing Nikes are depicted on the legs of the throne. Also depicted were: centaurs, lapiths, the exploits of Theseus and Hercules, frescoes depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons.

The Athena Parthenon was, like the statue of Zeus, huge and made in the chrysoelephantine technique. Only the goddess, unlike her father, did not sit on the throne, but stood at full height. “Athena herself is made of ivory and gold... The statue depicts her in full height in a tunic down to the very soles of her feet, on her chest is the head of Medusa made of ivory, in her hand she holds an image of Nike, approximately four cubits, and in the other hand - - a spear. At her feet lies a shield, and near her spear is a serpent; this snake is probably Erichthonius.” (Description of Hellas, XXIV, 7).

The goddess's helmet had three crests: the middle one with a sphinx, the side ones with griffins. As Pliny the Elder writes, on the outside of the shield there was a battle with the Amazons, on the inside there was a fight between gods and giants, and on Athena’s sandals there was an image of a centauromachy. The base was decorated with a Pandora story. The goddess's tunic, shield, sandals, helmet and jewelry are all made of gold.

On marble copies, the hand of the goddess with Nike is supported by a pillar; whether it existed in the original is the subject of much debate. Nika seems tiny, in reality her height was 2 meters.

Athena Promachos is a colossal image of the goddess Athena brandishing a spear on the Athenian Acropolis. Erected in memory of victories over the Persians. Its height reached 18.5 meters and towered above all the surrounding buildings, shining over the city from afar. Unfortunately, this bronze goddess did not survive to this day. And we know about it only from chronicle sources.

Athena Lemnia - a bronze statue of the goddess Athena, created by Phidias, is also known to us from copies. This is a bronze statue depicting a goddess leaning on a spear. It was named after the island of Lemnos, for whose inhabitants it was made.

The Wounded Amazon, a statue that took second place in the famous sculpting competition for the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus. In addition to the above sculptures, others are also attributed to Phidias, based on stylistic similarity: a statue of Demeter, a statue of Kore, a relief from Eleusis, Anadumen (a young man tying a bandage around his head), Hermes Ludovisi, Tiberian Apollo, Kassel Apollo.

Despite Phidias' talent, or rather divine gift, his relationship with the inhabitants of Athens was not at all warm. As Plutarch writes in his Life of Pericles, Phidias was the main adviser and assistant to Pericles (an Athenian politician, famous orator and commander).

“Since he was a friend of Pericles and enjoyed great authority with him, he had many personal enemies and envious people. They persuaded one of Phidias' assistants, Menon, to denounce Phidias and accuse him of theft. Phidias was burdened with envy of the glory of his works... When his case was examined in the People's Assembly, there was no evidence of theft. But Phidias was sent to prison and died there of illness.”

Polykleitos the Elder is an ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist, a contemporary of Phidias. Unlike Phidias, it was not so large-scale. However, his sculpture has a certain character: Polykleitos loved to depict athletes in a state of rest, and specialized in depicting athletes, Olympic winners. He was the first to think of posing the figures in such a way that they rested on the lower part of only one leg. Polykleitos knew how to show the human body in a state of balance - his human figure at rest or at a slow pace seems mobile and animated. An example of this is the famous statue of Polykleitos “Doriphoros” (spearman). It is in this work that Polykleitos’s ideas about the ideal proportions of the human body, which are in numerical proportion to each other, are embodied. It was believed that the figure was created on the basis of the provisions of Pythagoreanism, therefore in ancient times the statue of Doryphorus was often called the “canon of Polykleitos.” The forms of this statue are repeated in most of the works of the sculptor and his school. The distance from the chin to the crown of the head in the statues of Polykleitos is one-seventh, while the distance from the eyes to the chin is one-sixteenth, and the height of the face is one-tenth of the entire figure. Polykleitos is firmly connected with the Pythagorean tradition. “The Canon of Polykleitos” is a theoretical treatise by the sculptor, created by Polykleitos so that other artists could use it. Indeed, the Canon of Polykleitos had a great influence on European culture, despite the fact that only two fragments of the theoretical work have survived, information about it is fragmentary, and the mathematical basis has not yet been finally deduced.

In addition to the spearman, other works of the sculptor are known: “Diadumen” (“Young Man Tying a Bandage”), “Wounded Amazon”, a colossal statue of Hera in Argos. It was made in the chrysoelephantine technique and was perceived as a pandan to Phidias the Olympian Zeus, “Discophoros” (“Young Man Holding a Disk”). Unfortunately, these sculptures have survived only in ancient Roman copies.

At the “Rich Style” stage, we know the names of such sculptors as Alkamen, Agorakrit, Callimachus, etc.

Alkamenes, Greek sculptor, student, rival and successor of Phidias. Alkamenes was considered to be the equal of Phidias, and after the latter's death, he became the leading sculptor in Athens. His Hermes in the form of a herm (a pillar crowned with the head of Hermes) is known in many copies. Nearby, near the temple of Athena Nike, there was a statue of Hecate, which represented three figures connected by their backs. On the Acropolis of Athens, a group belonging to Alkamen was also found - Procne, raising a knife over her son Itis, who was seeking salvation in the folds of her clothes. In the sanctuary on the slope of the Acropolis there was a statue of a seated Dionysus belonging to Alkamen. Alkamen also created a statue of Ares for the temple on the agora and a statue of Hephaestus for the temple of Hephaestus and Athena.

Alkamenes defeated Agoracritus in a competition to create a statue of Aphrodite. However, even more famous is the seated "Aphrodite in the Gardens", at the northern foot of the Acropolis. She is depicted on many red-figure Attic vases surrounded by Eros, Peyto and other embodiments of the happiness that love brings. The head often repeated by ancient copyists, called "Sappho", was possibly copied from this statue. Alkamen's last work is a colossal relief with Hercules and Athena. Alkamenes probably died soon after this.

Agorakritos was also a student of Phidias, and, as they say, his favorite. He, like Alkamen, participated in the creation of the Parthenon frieze. The two most famous works of Agorakritos are the cult statue of the goddess Nemesis (remade by Athena after the duel with Alkamenes), donated to the Temple of Ramnos, and the statue of the Mother of the Gods in Athens (sometimes attributed to Pheidias). Of the works mentioned by ancient authors, only the statues of Zeus-Hades and Athena in Coronea undoubtedly belonged to Agorakritos. Of his works, only part of the head of the colossal statue of Nemesis and fragments of the reliefs that decorated the base of this statue have survived. According to Pausanias, the base depicted young Helen (daughter of Nemesis), with Leda who nursed her, her husband Menelaus and other relatives of Helen and Menelaus.

The general character of late classical sculpture was determined by the development of realistic tendencies.

Scopas is one of the largest sculptors of this period. Skopas, preserving the traditions of monumental art of high classics, saturates his works with drama; he reveals the complex feelings and experiences of a person. The heroes of Skopas continue to embody the perfect qualities of strong and valiant people. However, Skopas introduces themes of suffering and internal breakdown into the art of sculpture. These are the images of wounded warriors from the pediments of the Temple of Athena Aley in Tegea. Plasticity, a sharp, restless play of chiaroscuro emphasizes the drama of what is happening.

Skopas preferred to work in marble, almost abandoning the material favored by the masters of high classics - bronze. Marble made it possible to convey a subtle play of light and shadow, and various textural contrasts. His Maenad (Bacchae), which survives in a small, damaged antique copy, embodies the image of a man possessed by a violent impulse of passion. The dance of the Maenad is swift, the head is thrown back, the hair falls in a heavy wave onto the shoulders. The movement of the curved folds of her chiton emphasizes the rapid impulse of the body.

The images of Skopas are either deeply thoughtful, like the young man from the tombstone of the Ilissa River, or lively and passionate.

The frieze of the Halicarnassus Mausoleum depicting the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons has been preserved in the original.

The impact of Skopas's art on the further development of Greek plastic arts was enormous, and can only be compared with the impact of the art of his contemporary, Praxiteles.

In his work, Praxiteles turns to images imbued with the spirit of clear and pure harmony, calm thoughtfulness, and serene contemplation. Praxiteles and Scopas complement each other, revealing the various states and feelings of a person, his inner world.

Depicting harmoniously developed, beautiful heroes, Praxiteles also reveals connections with the art of high classics, however, his images lose the heroism and monumental grandeur of the works of the heyday, but acquire a more lyrically refined and contemplative character.

Praxiteles’ mastery is most fully revealed in the marble group “Hermes with Dionysus”. The graceful curve of the figure, the relaxed resting pose of the young slender body, the beautiful, spiritual face of Hermes are conveyed with great skill.

Praxiteles created a new ideal of female beauty, embodying it in the image of Aphrodite, who is depicted at the moment when, having taken off her clothes, she is about to enter the water. Although the sculpture was intended for cult purposes, the image of the beautiful naked goddess was freed from solemn majesty. "Aphrodite of Cnidus" caused many repetitions in subsequent times, but none of them could compare with the original.

The sculpture of “Apollo Saurocton” is an image of a graceful teenage boy aiming at a lizard running along a tree trunk. Praxiteles rethinks mythological images; features of everyday life and elements of the genre appear in them.

If in the art of Scopas and Praxiteles there are still tangible connections with the principles of high classical art, then in the artistic culture of the last third of the 4th century. BC e., these ties are increasingly weakened.

Macedonia acquired great importance in the socio-political life of the ancient world. Just as the war with the Persians changed and rethought the culture of Greece at the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. After the victorious campaigns of Alexander the Great and his conquest of the Greek city-states, and then the vast territories of Asia that became part of the Macedonian state, a new stage in the development of ancient society began - the period of Hellenism. The transitional period from the late classics to the Hellenistic period proper is distinguished by its peculiar features.

Lysippos is the last great master of the late classics. His work unfolds in the 40-30s. V century BC e., during the reign of Alexander the Great. In the art of Lysippos, as well as in the work of his great predecessors, the task of revealing human experiences was solved. He began to introduce more clearly expressed features of age and occupation. What is new in Lysippos’s work is his interest in the characteristically expressive in man, as well as the expansion of the visual possibilities of sculpture.

Lysippos embodied his understanding of the image of man in the sculpture of a young man scraping sand off himself after a competition - “Apoxiomenes”, whom he depicts not in a moment of exertion, but in a state of fatigue. The slender figure of the athlete is shown in a complex turn, which forces the viewer to walk around the sculpture. The movement is freely deployed in space. The face expresses fatigue, the deep-set, shadowed eyes look into the distance.

Lysippos skillfully conveys the transition from a state of rest to action and vice versa. This is the image of Hermes resting.

The work of Lysippos was of great importance for the development of portraiture. The portraits he created of Alexander the Great reveal a deep interest in revealing the spiritual world of the hero. Most notable is the marble head of Alexander, which conveys his complex, contradictory nature.

The art of Lysippos occupies the border zone at the turn of the classical and Hellenistic eras. It is still true to classical concepts, but it is already undermining them from the inside, creating the basis for a transition to something else, more relaxed and more prosaic. In this sense, the head of a fist fighter is indicative, belonging not to Lysippos, but, possibly, to his brother Lysistratus, who was also a sculptor and, as they said, was the first to use masks taken from the model’s face for portraits (which was widespread in Ancient Egypt, but completely alien to Greek art). It is possible that the head of a fist fighter was also made using the mask; it is far from the canon, and far from the ideal ideas of physical perfection that the Hellenes embodied in the image of an athlete. This winner in a fist fight is not at all like a demigod, just an entertainer for an idle crowd. His face is rough, his nose is flattened, his ears are swollen. This type of “naturalistic” images subsequently became common in Hellenism; an even more unsightly fist fighter was sculpted by the Attic sculptor Apollonius already in the 1st century BC. e.

What had previously cast shadows on the bright structure of the Hellenic worldview came at the end of the 4th century BC. e.: decomposition and death of the democratic polis. This began with the rise of Macedonia, the northern region of Greece, and the virtual seizure of all Greek states by the Macedonian king Philip II.

Alexander the Great tasted the fruits of the highest Greek culture in his youth. His teacher was the great philosopher Aristotle, and his court artists were Lysippos and Apelles. This did not prevent him, having captured the Persian state and taken the throne of the Egyptian pharaohs, from declaring himself a god and demanding that he be given divine honors in Greece as well. Unaccustomed to eastern customs, the Greeks chuckled and said: “Well, if Alexander wants to be a god, let him be” - and officially recognized him as the son of Zeus. However, Greek democracy, on which its culture grew, died under Alexander and was not revived after his death. The newly emerged state was no longer Greek, but Greek-Eastern. The era of Hellenism has arrived - the unification under the auspices of the monarchy of Hellenic and Eastern cultures.

Today I would like to raise a topic that, from experience, sometimes causes a difficult and far from ambiguous reaction - to talk about ancient sculpture, and more specifically, about the depiction of the human body in it.

Attempts to introduce children to ancient sculpture sometimes encounter unexpected difficulties when parents simply do not dare show their children naked statues, considering such images almost pornography. I don’t presume to claim the universality of the method, but in my childhood such a problem did not even arise, because - thanks to my wise mother - an excellent edition of legends and myths of Ancient Greece by Kuna, abundantly illustrated with photographs of the works of ancient masters, appeared in my life when I was five or six years old, then there is long before the girl began to be interested in all sorts of specific issues of gender.

So the struggle of the Olympians with the Titans and the exploits of Hercules settled down in the head somewhere on the same shelf with the Snow Queen and wild swans and were remembered not only as bizarre stories, but immediately acquired visual embodiment, became attached - perhaps at that time not quite consciously - to specific poses, gestures, faces - human plasticity and facial expressions. At the same time, my mother immediately found simple and understandable answers to all the children’s questions - that, firstly, it was hot in Ancient Greece, and, secondly, the statues are not people and now they are not cold at all.

As for the questions of adults, we must keep in mind that the idea of the division of man into soul and body, which in Christian anthropology ultimately led to the idea of the subordination of the body to the soul (and even later, in some Protestant branches, even - to a strict taboo of the physical), was first clearly formulated, perhaps, only by Plato. And before that, the Greeks, for at least several centuries, reached the idea that the soul is not just spirit, breath, but something individually personal and, so to speak, “stationary,” very gradually moving from the concept of θυμός to the concept of ψυχή. Thus, especially since the gods became anthropomorphic, the Greek masters simply had no other way to tell about different aspects of life other than by depicting the human body.

So, a significant part of Greek sculpture is illustrations of myths, which in ancient times were not just “tales about the gods,” but also a means of conveying the most important information about the structure of the world, the principles of life, what should and should not be. That is, such “3D illustrations” were much more important for ancient people than for me as a child. However, perhaps, much more significant than understanding myths, for us there is another opportunity that Greek sculpture provided to its creators - to study and know the person himself. And if the main characters of primitive art were various animals, then from the time of the Paleolithic and throughout antiquity, man undoubtedly became such.

All the efforts of the artists of this rather long period were aimed first at capturing and conveying the most general anatomical features of the structure of the human body, and then its more complex dynamic manifestations - movements, gestures, facial expressions. Thus, European art began its long journey from crude and only vaguely human-like “Paleolithic Venuses” to the works of Myron, perfect in proportion, and from them further; a path that could conventionally be called the road to a person - first to his body, and then to his soul - however, still in the psychological sense of the word. Let us also go through some of its stages.

Paleolithic Venus. About 30 thousand years ago

The very first humanoid images in Europe, as mentioned above, were “Paleolithic Venuses” - tiny figures made from mammoth tusks or soft stones. The features of their depiction - the almost complete absence of arms, and sometimes even legs and heads, the hypertrophied middle part of the body - suggest that what we are looking at, most likely, is not even a full depiction of the human body, but only an attempt to convey one of its functions - childbearing. The connection of “Venuses” with the cult of fertility is assumed by the vast majority of researchers; we only need them as a starting point for our journey.

The next stop there will be kouros and kors (literally - boys and girls) - human images carved in ancient city policies in the 7th-6th centuries BC.

Kouros, archaic smile. Kouros and kora

As we see, such statues, used, for example, as monuments to famous athletes, convey the appearance of the human body in much more detail, however, they are also a kind of “scheme of a person.” So, for example, all the numerous kouros, for some inexplicable reason, stand in the same position - with their arms pressed to their torso, their left leg extended forward; the most recent suspicions of portraiture are finally dispelled when looking at their faces - with the same absent expression and lips stretched into an eerie - so-called. archaic - a smile.

Next stop. V century BC, Greek archaic. Sculptures of Myron and Polykleitos, striking the viewer with the perfection of proportions.

Miron. Discus thrower 455 BC, Polykleitos. Doryphoros (spearman) (450-440 BC) and Wounded Amazon (430 BC)

Really, you ask, is this a scheme again? And just imagine, the answer will be yes. We have at least two proofs of this. Firstly, fragments of the so-called have reached our time. "The Canon of Polykleitos". In this mathematical treatise, the sculptor, who was a follower of the Pythagorean movement, tried to calculate the ideal proportions of the male body. Apparently, the statue subsequently became an illustration of such calculations. And the second proof will be... the extensive Greek literature of that time. From it we can glean, for example, the following lines from Sappho:

He who is beautiful is good.

And the one who is kind will soon become beautiful.

Moreover, among all the heroes of Homer’s Iliad, only the “idle-talking” Thersites refuses to unquestioningly enter into the endless war into which the gods are driving the heroes. The author does not spare black paint for this character, who outrages the army with his speeches and hates literally everyone; but it is not at all by chance that Thersites turns out to be a terrible monster by the will of the author:

An ugliest man, he came to Ilion among the Danae;
He was cross-eyed and lame; completely hunchbacked from behind
The shoulders met on the chest; his head rose
Pointed up, and was only sparsely strewn with fluff.

Thus, we can say that the Greeks of the archaic period were supporters of the idea that external beauty is an indispensable manifestation of internal beauty and harmony, and, therefore, scrupulously calculating the parameters of the ideal human body, they tried to depict, no less, a perfect soul, so so perfect that she even seems lifeless.

Indeed, answer me just one simple question: where will the disk thrown by the discus thrower fly next? The longer you look at the statue, the more clearly you will understand that the disc will not be thrown anywhere, because the position of the athlete’s withdrawn hand does not at all imply a swing to throw, the muscles of his chest do not show any special tension, his face is completely calm; Moreover, the depicted position of the legs does not allow one to take not only the turning jump necessary for throwing, but even a simple step. That is, it turns out that the discus thrower, despite the apparent complexity of his pose, is absolutely static, perfect, dead. Like the wounded Amazon, in her suffering, gracefully leaning on the capital that appeared nearby at such a timely moment.

Finally, IV century. BC. introduces new moods into Greek sculpture. At this time, the Greek city-states were in decline - we can assume that the small universe of ancient man was gradually ending its existence. Greek philosophy decisively turns to the search for new foundations of human happiness, offering a choice of the Cynicism of Antisthenes or the hedonism of Aristippus; one way or another, from now on a person will have to deal with the problems of the deep meaning of his life himself. The same individual human character comes to the fore in sculpture, in which for the first time both meaningful facial expressions and real movement appear.

Lysippos Resting Hermes 4th century BC, Maenad of Skopas, 4th century. BC, Artemis of Gabii 345 BC

Pain and tension are expressed in the pose of the Maenad of Skopas, and her face is turned to the sky with wide open eyes. Thoughtful, with an elegant and familiar gesture, Artemis from Gabius Praxiteles fastens the fibula on his shoulder. The resting Hermes Lysippos is also clearly in deep thought, and the excessively elongated, completely non-classical proportions of his body make the figure light, giving a certain dynamics even to this almost static pose. It seems that a little more, and the young man will make some important decision and run on. Thus, for the first time, the soul begins to appear through the outlines of beautiful marble and bronze bodies.

By the way, most of the statues we examined today are naked. But did anyone notice this?

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