What are the characteristic features of the classics? Greek temple architectural image of the union of people and

As indicated in the State Standard, the student must know/understand:

Know the main types and genres of art; studied directions and styles of world artistic culture; masterpieces of world artistic culture.

- Understand the peculiarities of the language of various types of art.

Be able to recognize the studied works and correlate them with a certain era, style, direction; establish stylistic and plot connections between works of different types of art; use various sources of information about world artistic culture; carry out educational and creative tasks (reports, messages);

Use the acquired knowledge in practical activities and everyday life to: choose the paths of your cultural development; organizing personal and collective leisure; expressing your own judgment about works of classics and modern art; independent artistic creativity.

EDUCATIONAL COURSE PROGRAM

WORLD ART

Grade 11

based on the program of Emokhonova L.G.

Basic level

Textbook: 11th grade: Emokhonova L.G. World artistic culture: textbook for grade 10: secondary (complete) general education (basic level): Publishing Center "Academy". 2009

Compiled by: Slepko Zoya Ivanovna- fine arts teacher, highest qualification category

2013 - 2014 academic year

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The work program is based on:

Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated March 5, 2004 No. 1089 “On approval of the federal component of state educational standards of primary general, basic general and secondary (complete) general education”;

Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated March 9, 2004 No. 1312 “On approval of the federal basic curriculum and model curricula for educational institutions of the Russian Federation implementing general education programs”;

Programs L.G. Emokhonova “World artistic culture” grades 10-11 // Programs of educational institutions: World artistic culture “Academic school textbook”. 10–11 grades. – M.: “Enlightenment”, 2008.

The program is designed for 35 teaching hours at the rate of 1 hour per week.

The program on World artistic culture is compiled on the basis of the State standard of secondary (complete) education (basic level), taking into account the recommendations of the sample program.

Based on the mandatory part of the curriculum, fixed in the standard and disclosed in the sample program, the program, while maintaining continuity, offers its own approach to disclosing the content, its own sequence of studying topics and sections of the subject.

The study of MHC is aimed at achieving the following goals and objectives:

Formation in students of holistic ideas about the historical traditions and values ​​of the artistic culture of the peoples of the world.

Studying masterpieces of world art created in various artistic and historical eras, comprehending the characteristic features of the worldview and style of outstanding creative artists;

Formation and development of concepts about the artistic and historical era, style and direction, understanding the most important patterns of their change and development in historical civilization;

Awareness of the role and place of Man in artistic culture throughout its historical development, reflection of the eternal search for an aesthetic ideal in the best works of world art;

Education of artistic taste;

Development of feelings, emotions, figurative and associative thinking and artistic and creative abilities.

The course on world artistic culture at a basic level systematizes knowledge about culture and art acquired at previous levels of education in general education institutions. It gives a holistic view of world artistic culture and the logic of its development from a historical perspective.

The most ancient layer of culture is characterized by a direct connection between art and mythology, therefore, to study the culture of the Ancient World, monuments were chosen that most fully reflected the influence of mythological consciousness on the creative process, relapses of which are sometimes found in modern life.

The study of MHC is aimed at developing general educational skills in students:

The ability to independently and motivatedly organize one’s cognitive activity;

Establish simple real connections and dependencies;

Evaluate, compare and classify the phenomena of art culture;

Search for the necessary information in sources of various types;

Use multimedia resources and computer technologies to design creative works;

Understand the value of art education as a means of developing personal culture - determine one’s own attitude towards works of classics and modern art;

In accordance with the requirements specified in the State Standard, the student must:

know/understand:

- main types and genres of art;

- studied directions and styles of world artistic culture;

- masterpieces of world artistic culture;

- features of the language of various types of art;

be able to:

- recognize the studied works and correlate them with a certain era, style, direction;

- establish stylistic and plot connections between works of different types of art;

- use various sources of information about world artistic culture;

- carry out educational and creative tasks (reports, messages);

use acquired knowledge in practical activities and everyday life to:

- choosing the paths of your cultural development;

- organizing personal and collective leisure;

- expressing one’s own judgment about works of classics and modern art;

- independent artistic creativity.

Taking into account the ideological nature of the discipline, the relationship between traditional classroom and extracurricular activities aimed at broadening one’s horizons and active participation in the modern cultural process is decided in favor of the latter. It is no coincidence that in the standard the names of cultural monuments are highlighted in italics, familiarity with which is desirable in order to obtain a more complete and colorful picture of artistic development, but the study of which in class is not necessary. The emphasis is on acquiring skills that would allow one to analyze works of art.

MAIN COURSE CONTENT GRADE 11 (35 HOURS)

ARTISTIC CULTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE (9 HOURS)

Renaissance in Italy (5 hours)

Humanistic vision of the world as the basis of Renaissance culture. Florence is the embodiment of the Renaissance idea of ​​the “ideal” city in treatises, architecture, and painting. Leon Battista Alberti. "Ten books about architecture." Filippo Brunelleschi. Dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Shelter of the Innocents. Piazza Annunziata. Church of San Spirito. The image of a square and street in painting. Masaccio. “The Resurrection of Tobitha and the Healing of the Paralytic”, “Distribution of Alms”, “Healing by the Shadow”. Renaissance realism in sculpture. Donatello. “Fattened” relief “Herod’s Banquet”. Statue of David. High Renaissance. Qualitative changes in painting. New beauty of Leonardo da Vinci. Altarpiece “Madonna with a Flower”, “La Gioconda” (portrait of Mona Lisa). Synthesis of painting and architecture. Rafael Santi. Murals of the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican: “Parnassus”. Sculpture. Michelangelo Buonarroti. Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. Features of the Venetian school of painting. Aesthetics of the late Renaissance. Titian. “Earthly and Heavenly Love”, “Pieta”. Music of the Renaissance. The role of polyphony in the development of secular and religious musical genres. The transition from “strict writing” to madrigal. Giovanni da Palestrina. "Mass of Pope Marcello." Carlo Gesualdo. Madrigal “I languish without end.”

Northern Renaissance (4 hours)

Specifics of the Northern Renaissance. The grotesque carnivalesque character of the Renaissance in the Netherlands. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Muzhitsky). "The Battle of Maslenitsa and Lent." Picturesque cycle “The Months”: “Hunters in the Snow.” The mystical character of the Renaissance in Germany. Albrecht Durer. Engravings of the “Apocalypse”: “The Four Horsemen”, “The Sound of the Trumpet”. Painting "Four Apostles". The secular nature of the French Renaissance. School of Fontainebleau in architecture and fine arts. Castle of Francis I at Fontainebleau. Rosso Fiorentino. Gallery of Francis I. Jean Goujon. Fountain of nymphs in Paris. Renaissance in England. The dramaturgy of William Shakespeare: the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet", the comedy "The Taming of the Shrew".

ARTISTIC CULTURE OF THE 17TH CENTURY (5 HOURS)

Baroque (4 hours)

A new worldview in the Baroque era and its reflection in art. Architectural ensembles of Rome. Lorenzo Bernini. St. Peter's Square. Piazza Navona. Bridge of St. Angel. New interior design. Ciborium tent in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Specifics of Russian Baroque. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Winter Palace and Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg. Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Baroque ceiling painting. Giovanni Battista Gauli (Baciccia). "Adoration of the Name of Jesus" in the Church of Il Gesu in Rome. Interaction of Baroque and Realism trends in painting. Peter Powell Rubens. Altar triptychs “The Raising of the Cross” and “The Descent from the Cross” in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Antwerp. "The Education of Marie de Medici." Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn. "The Denial of the Apostle Peter." Baroque music. Kl audio Monteverdi. Opera "Orpheus". Arcangelo Corelli. Concerto grosso "On Christmas Eve". Johann Sebastian Bach. Passion "Matthew Passion".

Classicism (1 hour)

"Grand Royal Style" of Louis XIV in architecture. Versailles. Classicism in the fine arts of France. Nicolas Poussin. "Kingdom of Flora", "Orpheus and Eurydice".

ARTISTIC CULTURE OF THE 18TH - FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY (8 HOURS)

Rococo (1 hour)

"Gallant Celebrations" by Antoine Watteau. "Island of Cythera" Rococo interior. Picturesque pastorals by Francois Boucher. Musical "bagatelles" by François Couperin.

Neoclassicism, Empire style (5 hours)

Music of the Enlightenment. Joseph Haydn. Sonata-symphonic cycle. Symphony No. 85 “Queen”. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Opera "Don Giovanni". Requiem: "Day of Wrath", "Lacrimosa". Ludwig van Beethoven. Fifth Symphony, "Moonlight Sonata". The image of the “ideal” city in the classicist ensembles of Paris and St. Petersburg. Jacques Ange Gabriel. Place Louis XV in Paris. Giacomo Quarenghi. Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Andrey Dmitrievich Zakharov. Admiralty in St. Petersburg. Sculptural decor. Ivan Ivanovich Terebnev. "Russia's access to the sea."

Imperial style in architecture. Specifics of the Russian Empire style. Carl Rossi. Palace Square, Mikhailovsky Palace in St. Petersburg. Empire interior. White Hall of the Mikhailovsky Palace in St. Petersburg.

Neoclassicism in painting. Jacques Louis David. "Oath of the Horatii." Classicist canons in Russian academic painting. Karl Pavlovich Bryullov. "The last day of Pompeii" . Alexander Andreevich Ivanov. "The Appearance of Christ to the People."

The origins of the classical music school in Russia. Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Artistic generalizations in opera art. Opera "A Life for the Tsar". Unusual means of expression: Chernomor's march, Persian choir from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila". The origins of Russian symphonism: the overture “Night in Madrid”. New features in chamber vocal music: lyrical romance “I remember a wonderful moment.”

Romanticism (2 hours)

The romantic ideal and its embodiment in music. Franz Schubert. Vocal cycle "Winter Retreat". Richard Wagner. Opera "Tannhäuser". Hector Berlioz. "Fantastic Symphony" Johannes Brahms. "Hungarian Dance No. 1". Romanticism painting. Religious subjects and literary themes in Pre-Raphaelite painting. John Everett Millais. "Christ in the house of his parents." Dante Gabriel Rossetti. "Beata Beatrice". Exotic and mystical. Eugene Delacroix. "The Death of Sardanapalus." Francisco Goya. "Colossus". The image of a romantic hero in painting. Orest Adamovich Kiprensky. “Portrait of Evgr. V. Davydov.”

ARTISTIC CULTURE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURIES (7 HOURS)

Realism (3 hours)

Social themes in painting. Gustave Courbet. "Funeral in Ornans." Honore Daumier. Series "Judges and Lawyers". Russian school of realism. The Wanderers. Ilya Efimovich Repin. "Barge Haulers on the Volga". Vasily Ivanovich Surikov. "Boyaryna Morozova." Directions in the development of Russian music. Social theme in music. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky. "Orphan." Appeal to the Russian rite as a manifestation of nationality in music. Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov. “Farewell to Maslenitsa” from the opera “The Snow Maiden”. Historical theme in music. Alexander Porfirievich Borodin. "Polovtsian Dances" from the opera "Prince Igor". Lyrical and psychological principles in music. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ballet "The Nutcracker". The theme of “man and rock” in music. Opera "The Queen of Spades".

Impressionism, symbolism, post-impressionism (2 hours)

The main features of impressionism in painting. Claude Oscar Monet. "Magpie". Pierre Auguste Renoir. "The Rowers' Breakfast" Impressionism in sculpture. Auguste Rodin. "Citizens of the City of Calais". Impressionism in music. Claude Debussy. "Gardens in the Rain", "Clouds". Symbolism in painting. Gustave Moreau. "Salome" ("Vision"). Post-Impressionism. Paul Cezanne. "Bathers". Vincent Van Gogh. "Sower". Paul Gauguin. "Landscape with a peacock."

Modern (2 hours)

The embodiment of the idea of ​​absolute beauty in modern art. Gustav Klimt. "Beethoven Frieze". Modernism in architecture. Victor Orta. Tassel mansion in Brussels. Fedor Osipovich Shekhtel. The building of the Yaroslavsky railway station in Moscow. Antonio Gaudi. Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Myth-making is a characteristic feature of Russian Art Nouveau in painting. Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov. "Odysseus and Nausicaa", "The Rape of Europa". Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel. "Daemon". Specifics of Russian modernism in music. Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin. "Poem of Ecstasy"

ARTISTIC CULTURE OF THE XX CENTURY (6 HOURS)

Modernism (5 hours)

Modernism in painting. A new vision of beauty. Aggression of color in Fauvism. Henri Matisse. "Dance". Vibration of the pictorial surface in expressionism. Arnold Schoenberg. "Red Look" Deformation of forms in cubism. Pablo Picasso. "The Maidens of Avignon" Refusal of figurativeness in abstract art. Vasily Vasilyevich Kandinsky. "Composition No. 8". Irrationalism of the subconscious in surrealism. Salvador Dali. "Tristan and Isolde". Modernism in architecture. Constructivism of Charles Edouard Le Corbusier. Villa Savoye in Poissy. “Soviet Constructivism” by Vladimir Evgrafovich Tatlin. Tower of the III International. Organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. "House Over the Waterfall" in Bear Run. Functionalism by Oscar Niemeyer. Ensemble of the city of Brazil. Modernism in music. Stylistic heterogeneity of music of the 20th century. Dodecaphony of the “New Viennese school”. Anton von Webern. "Light of the eyes" “New Simplicity” by Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev. Ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Philosophical music of Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich. Seventh Symphony (Leningrad). Polystylistics of Alfred Garrievich Schnittke. Requiem.

Synthesis in the art of the 20th century. Director's theater of Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky and Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko. Moscow Art Theater. Performance based on Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's play “Three Sisters”. The epic theater of Bertolt Brecht. "A kind man from Sichuan." Cinema. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein. "Battleship Potemkin" Federico Fellini. "Orchestra rehearsal."

Postmodernism (1 hour)

Postmodern worldview is a return to mythological origins. New types of art and forms of synthesis. Andy Warhole. “Press down the lid before opening.” Fernando Botero. "Mona Lisa". Georgy Puzenkov. "Tower of Time Mona 500." Salvador Dali. Mae West Room at the Dalí Theater and Museum in Figueres. Yuri Leiderman. Performance "Hasidic Duchamp".

TYPOLOGY OF LESSONS

IN THE SYSTEM OF ARTISTIC AND PEDAGOGICAL SUPREME TASKS

Lessons from world artistic culture are not similar to each other or to lessons from other subject areas. By designing lessons, the development of students is indirectly designed. And in this context, the semantic center is extremely important, the idea that forms the basis of the teacher’s interaction with children, inspiring and guiding him. We are talking about a kind of artistic and pedagogical super task.

We can distinguish four types of artistic and pedagogical super-tasks of world artistic culture lessons in the 11th grade. This is immersion, comprehension, comparison, generalization.

The artistic and pedagogical super task of immersion is set by the teacher in the case when the inspiring idea of ​​the lesson is the emotional and imaginative living of an artistic masterpiece, personal and semantic penetration into its aura, its deep essence, its style. In the process of such immersion, an effect of presence is achieved, enhanced by the subjective perception of each participant in the lesson (both students and teacher). The emotional coloring of knowledge allows us to bring the studied eras and styles as close as possible to us, to experience them “here and now.”

Musical and poetic accompaniment contributes to greater emotional richness and openness of the boundaries of the lesson, giving rise to a personal vision of a work of art.

The artistic and pedagogical super task of comprehension has a pronounced cognitive and creative character. In the course of lessons built on this semantic dominant, not only mastery occurs, but also a personal rethinking of works of art and those cultural and historical conditions, thanks to or in spite of which they were created. Such lessons are extremely important for the formation and development of a teenager’s worldview.

Comprehension involves using children’s existing knowledge about the cultural phenomenon being studied and actively stimulating their ability to reason and independently analyze the features of art monuments.

The artistic and pedagogical super task of comparison is aimed at an emotional and analytical comparison of artistic images, their style-forming features, stages of development of art forms, and ideological foundations of cultural eras.

The artistic and pedagogical super task of generalization is the semantic core of the final lessons on various thematic sections. Lessons based on such a super task allow you to:

1) summarize the sociocultural experience accumulated by students at the time of studying specific artistic and historical material;

2) activate the emotional and cognitive baggage received in the MHC course;

3) reach a new level of understanding of the central artistic image of the era.

For the successful implementation of the artistic and pedagogical super task, the type of lesson is important. We chose four types: image-model, research, contemplation, panorama. A flexible relationship between the type of lesson and the assigned super-task has proven its effectiveness in practice, increasing the level of emotional responsiveness and creative activity of students.

In an image-model lesson, it is important to find an emotional and artistic grain that most accurately embodies the semantic dominant of the topic. Such a grain can be an architectural detail, a pictorial technique, a literary or musical form.

A lesson structured according to the image-model type gives the teacher the opportunity to holistically cover both the content and the emotional-figurative context of the material, and the students - to more fully and deeply experience the work, style, era, while finding an echo of their own thoughts and feelings in the object of art.

In an image-model lesson, you can organically combine the emotional and rational aspects of the perception of artistic culture.

As part of a research lesson, it is important not to slip into the didactic tone of presenting the material. This type of lesson places special demands on the teacher. Studying masterpieces of world artistic culture in the classroom is a process of thoughtful study, constant reasoning and reflection by the teacher together with the children. The teacher in the context of the lesson (we mean informative, artistic, and emotional-figurative context) does not declare the truth, but constantly involves the children in the process of discovering it, making only small comments from time to time.

It is proposed to combine group work with independent, individual work in lessons of this type, which can be organized using individual cards - a cognitive-creative card, a thinking card, a research card.

Just like an image-model lesson, a contemplation lesson most fully reflects the nature of art and is designed primarily for external, sensory impact. The art of contemplation cannot be taught to children with the help of instructions and imposed schemes. This process is as individual and unique as every child, every person on earth is unique. In contemplation lessons, both intonation and a special favorable atmosphere are important, allowing you to freely express your opinion and ask questions. Any work of art exists not only in its material form (on canvas, in stone, in musical notation, in words, on film, etc.). It truly begins to live and reveal its deep, true meaning at the moment of its perception.

Such artistic and pedagogical techniques include artistic and emotional contemplation, artistic and figurative comparison, and artistic and psychological observation.

A broad overview, allowing one to take in works of one or more styles, different types of art, in the context of studying world artistic culture is simply necessary. Such lessons are contained in each thematic section of the course. They are, as a rule, appropriate for final, generalizing topics or for topics that include a large range of works and images.

Classification by types of lessons in the thematic section “Artistic culture of the Renaissance”

NON-GOVERNMENTAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

CAPITAL FINANCIAL AND HUMANITIES ACADEMY

FACULTY OF ARTS AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

SPECIALTY: DESIGN

COURSE WORK

by discipline:

Art History

Topic: “Features of the architecture of ancient Greece. Ensemble of the Athens Acropolis"

Completed by a 3rd year student

Lystseva N. I.

Vologda, 2008

Introduction

1. The system of Greek orders and their origin

1.1 Doric order

1.2 Ionic order

1.3 Corinthian order

1.4 Caryatids and Atlanteans

2. Types of Greek temples

2.1 Features of the architecture of the Homeric period (XI - VIII centuries BC)

2.2 Architecture during the archaic period (VII–VI centuries BC)

2.3 Ensemble of the Acropolis of Athens

Conclusion

Application

Bibliography

Introduction

In this work we will look at the main features of the architecture of Ancient Greece.

The origin of Greek architecture occurs at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e., and in its development there are 4 stages: 1100-800 BC. e. – Homeric; 700-600 BC e. - archaic; 500-400 BC e. – classic; 300-100 BC e. - Hellenism.

In particular, in the first chapter we describe the origin of the order in Greek architecture, its main distinctive features, in the second we will find out the features of the main order buildings of the Athenian Acropolis - the famous architectural ensemble, the types of Greek temples formed in the Homeric period and in the archaic period. In all Greek art we find a combination of subtle intellectual calculation and sensual life-likeness. Such deviations from geometric correctness make the building like an organism - constructive, but alien to abstraction and scheme. In the second chapter, using the example of the Parthenon temple, we will describe this feature of Greek architecture; the geometric correctness of the Parthenon is accompanied at every step by slight deviations from correctness. So deviations of horizontals and verticals are almost invisible. Knowing the effect of optical distortions, the Greeks used this to achieve the desired effect

The order temple was a kind of pinnacle in Greek architecture and therefore, it had a huge impact on the subsequent history of world architecture. Artistic creativity permeates all the work of the Greek builders, who created each stone block from which the temple was composed as a sculptural work.

The architectural forms of the Greek temple did not develop immediately and underwent a long evolution during the Archaic period. However, in archaic art a well-thought-out, clear and at the same time very diversely applied system of architectural forms had already been created, which formed the basis for all further development of Greek architecture.

The legacy of ancient Greek architecture underlies all subsequent development of world architecture and related monumental art. The reasons for such a sustainable influence of Greek architecture lie in its objective qualities: simplicity, truthfulness, clarity of compositions, harmony and proportionality of overall forms and all parts, in the plasticity of the organic connection between architecture and sculpture, in the close unity of architectural-aesthetic and structural-tectonic elements of buildings.

Ancient Greek architecture was distinguished by the complete correspondence of forms and their structural basis, which formed a single whole. The main structure is stone blocks from which the walls were laid. The columns and entablature (the ceiling lying on a support-column) were processed with various profiles, acquired decorative details, and were enriched with sculpture.

The Greeks brought the processing of architectural structures and all decorative details without exception to the highest degree of perfection and refinement. These structures can be called gigantic works of jewelry, in which there was nothing secondary for the master.

The architecture of Ancient Greece is closely connected with philosophy, because it and the basis of ancient Greek art were based on ideas about the strength and beauty of man, who was in close unity and harmonious balance with the surrounding natural and social environment, and since social life developed greatly in ancient Greece, then architecture and art had a pronounced social character.

It was this unsurpassed perfection and organic nature that made the monuments of ancient Greek architecture models for subsequent eras.

The classic type of Greek temple was the peripterus, that is, a temple that had a rectangular shape with a gable roof and was surrounded on all four sides by a colonnade. The peripterus, in its main features, was already formed in the second half of the 7th century. BC. Further development of temple architecture proceeded mainly along the lines of improving the system of structures and proportions of the peripter.

Greece, did not belong to mass architecture, but to architecture that was of exceptional importance, possessing an important ideological meaning and associated with the spiritual life of society. As mentioned above, the architecture of Ancient Greece mainly covers the 8th - 1st centuries. BC e. and receives its highest development mainly in the so-called “classical period” and in the archaic period, in principle we will talk about this period...

Not only when designing external porticoes, but also in the internal volumes of buildings, in interiors. Of exceptional importance for the subsequent development of world architecture are the principles of architectural and planning solutions in Greece, expressed most fully in ensembles. Thus, in the ensemble of the Athens Acropolis, asymmetry is combined with a harmonious balance of masses, the interaction of individual...

Of course, taking into account the fact that the orders were formed six hundred years before the birth of this treatise. All these “strong laws” were entrenched in the stone architecture of Ancient Greece for centuries, and if we count those eras when the order was again revived in architecture, then for millennia. In these laws and in the methods of their use, in the combination of rules and creativity, number and poetic imagination, “order ...

Temples, galleries and public buildings were studied, restored and fortified. The Agora became an open-air museum. The main monuments of the agora are the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalus. The Temple of Hephaestus stands on the border of the area where blacksmiths and potters lived. This is a contemporary of the Parthenon and the heyday of Athenian civilization, the best preserved ancient Greek temple in the world. The temple is dedicated to Hephaestus and Athena - patrons...

GREEK TEMPLE - AN ARCHITECTURAL IMAGE OF THE UNION OF PEOPLE AND GODS Lesson plan 1. How Greek culture arose 2. The Pantheon of Greek gods 3. The main architectural forms of Greek architecture 4. The Acropolis of Athens as a synthesis of archaic style and an expression of the ideal of beauty of Ancient Greece 5. Classical style: Parthenon 6 Let's check ourselves?

Periodization of Ancient Greek Art Ancient Greek art in the proper sense of the word developed and reached its peak in the period from the 7th to the 1st centuries. BC e. There are three stages in it: archaic (VII-VI centuries BC), classic (V-IV centuries BC), Hellenism (III-I centuries BC).

The culture of Ancient Greece as a manifestation of the folk spirit The culture of Ancient Greece, like any culture, is a manifestation of the folk spirit, formed in a given area under the influence of a certain climate. A warm climate, an elegant landscape with low mountains, cozy valleys covered with lemon, olive, and orange groves, a sea with many islands and coves - the whole surrounding world, its beauty and simplicity gave rise to a feeling of proportionality between the forces of man and nature. The Greeks did not need to win living space for themselves, to establish themselves in it; everything was tangible, close. However, they did not immediately achieve harmony with nature.

Gods and people The gods justified the lives of people by the fact that they lived just like them, and under the bright light of the Olympians, people felt themselves equal to the gods. And in order to exalt themselves even more, the Greeks surrounded themselves with that beauty that was an integral feature of the existence of the celestials. This wonderful world of beauty was embodied in art created by people for the people of the gods.

“Man is the measure of all things” Protagoras (480-410 BC) This statement shows the attention of Greek culture to man (anthropomorphism). The Hellenic tendency to endow objects and natural elements with human properties led to the appearance of architecture commensurate with the proportions of the human body, and sculpture that reproduced the ideal image of the human god.

“Iliad” and “Odyssey” about the pantheon of Greek gods In his epic poems, Homer (8th century BC) deduced a pantheon of Greek gods. It is based on the hierarchy of the tribal community, headed by the basileus. The Basileus Zeus, Poseidon and Hades divided the world among themselves, taking for themselves the sky, sea and the underworld, respectively, as Poseidon says in the Iliad

(Translation by N. Gnedich) Three of us were born brothers from the ancient Cronus and Rhea: He is the Thunderer, and I, and Hades, the ruler of the underworld; Everything was divided into three, and everyone got a kingdom: . . . I have the noisy sea, Hades the underground darkness, Zeus has got the vast sky between the clouds and the ether; What remains common to everyone is the earth and the multi-hill Olympus.

What determined the proportions of the building? The accessibility of the heavens, likened to a flat ceiling, rather than soaring vaults, led to the emergence during the Archaic period of stone churches that reproduced the basilica (from the Greek basilic - royal house). The temple reflected the relationship between people and celestials: it was not people who looked up to the heavens, but the gods of Olympus who turned their gaze to the earth, coming to people. The proportions of the building and its picturesque image were determined by the architectural order (from the Latin ordo - order) - Doric or Ionic, in accordance with the aesthetic preferences of the main tribes that inhabited Greece - the harsh warlike Dorians and the soft, pampered Ionians.

Doric order, columns and triglyph: It is characterized by clear geometric lines, some heaviness of forms and masculinity. Doric columns do not have a base, their capital resembles a flattened pillow, visually conveying the heaviness of the entablature. In the Doric order they are repeated on rectangular stone blocks - triglyphs. Triglyphs are placed above each column and in the spaces between the columns. The voids between the triglyphs are filled with slabs - metopes. A relief was carved on them from the same marble block. The alternation of triglyphs and metopes makes up the Doric frieze.

Ionic order, columns and triglyph: This is a more picturesque and decorative order, it is characterized by harmony and femininity. Ionic, on the contrary, are thin and light, grow from a round base and end with graceful curls - volutes. To emphasize the function of the column as a vertical support and to disperse bright light throughout the volume, the trunk is dotted with vertical grooves with sharp edges. The Ionic frieze is decorated with a ribbon of continuous relief

Cella, stereobat, entablature, pediment... The main room of the Greek temple is a blank stone volume - the cella. It is installed on a stepped base - a stereobat and is surrounded by columns around the perimeter. The columns support a horizontal beam floor - an ENTABLEMENT with a gable roof resting on it, which forms a triangle on the narrow side - a pediment. The entablature consists of three horizontal beams arranged in order from bottom to top: architrave, frieze, cornice. In the cella there was a statue of the god, which could be reached through a door on the eastern side.

Mnesicle 530 – 371 BC e. Representative of high classics. Ancient Greek architect of the 2nd half of the 5th century. BC e. He participated in the construction of the ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis, building the monumental entrance gate - Propylaea (437-432 BC) in which two external Doric porticos (one facing the city, the other - towards the Acropolis) are located at different levels and are connected by an internal Ionic colonnade B On the northern wing of the Propylaea there was a pinakothek.

Pinakothek (Πινακοθήκη - repository of paintings) - among the ancient Greeks, a room in which picturesque images that constituted a votive offering to the gods were kept. In Athens, such a room was located in the left wing of the Acropolis propylaea (see). Among the Romans, P. was the name in their houses for the room at the entrance to the atrium, decorated with paintings, as well as statues and other artistic objects that the owner especially treasured.

Mnesicles is an ancient Athenian architect, a contemporary of Pericles. Builder of the Propylaea of ​​the Athenian Acropolis. The initial design of this structure, as proven by Dernfeld, was composed by Mnesikles much more broadly, but was not carried out for reasons not entirely known. It is believed that a party hostile to Pericles played a role here, hiding behind religious considerations, since the Propylaea was supposed to occupy part of the plot of land dedicated to Artemis Brauronia and destroy part of the Pelasgian wall that was considered sacred. The Propylaea remained unfinished due to the Peloponnesian War that broke out in 431, and the money intended for their construction was used for military expenses

We enter the Sacred Hill through. . Doric Propylaea - a deep through portico framing the staircase, and a light Ionic temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless), the constant companion of Athena. Participants in a crowded procession passed between the columns of the portico on the solemn days of the Great Panathenaia - a holiday dedicated to the patron goddess of the city, goddess Athena. The side passages were used for Athenians on foot; along the middle one, where there were no steps, horsemen and chariots rode and sacrificial animals were led. The Doric columns of the Propylaea emphasized the solemnity and impressiveness of the entrance, while the Ionic colonnade under the roof seemed to prepare for the beautiful and austere spectacle that opened at the top of the hill.

Rigid symmetry and other archaic features The archaic period in the history of Greece (650-480 BC) is a term adopted among historians since the 18th century. It arose during the study of Greek art and originally belonged to the stage of development of Greek art, mainly decorative and plastic, intermediate between the period of geometric art and the art of classical Greece. Later, the term “archaic period” was extended not only to the history of art, but also to the social life of Greece, since during this period, which followed the “dark ages,” there was a significant development of political theory, the rise of democracy, philosophy, theater, poetry, revival written language (the appearance of the Greek alphabet to replace Linear B, which was forgotten during the “Dark Ages”).

Classics The Greek classics were more picturesque. Its main goal is to create a sublimely solemn mood. To the left of the central axis of the Propylaea, on the flat plateau of the hill, stood the seventeen-meter-tall colossus of Athena Promachos (Warrior) made of gilded bronze. To the right, the architects Ictinus and Callicrates erected the Parthenon.

Parthenon (447,438 BC) One of the most famous Greek temples. The main purpose of the symbol of the victory of Greek democracy over eastern despotism is dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Virgin). Made of Pentellian marble, which has the property of acquiring a golden patina of extraordinary beauty over time, silhouetted against the blue sky. Transparent air and bright sunlight wash the outer colonnades in a radiant stream, pouring into the open space of the cella, dissolving the marble volumes.

The temple is a symbol of the new religion At the same time, the temple symbolized the triumph of the organizing, light principles of religion over its chthonic, unbridled sources. This was evidenced by the relief on the Doric metopes and the Ionic frieze that ran behind the colonnade along the top of the cella. The eastern pediment was decorated with sculptural compositions on the theme of the birth of Athena; western - her dispute with Poseidon for power over Attica. The roof was crowned with stylized lotus petals at the corners.

The secret of the architects is to take into account the features of the landscape and climate, as well as all the optical distortions inherent in vision; the architects gave the outlines of the temple a barely noticeable curvature. Typically, a horizontal surface is perceived by vision as convex, so the architects allowed a discrepancy in height between the edges and the center of the base (the center is 11.5 cm lower). The cylinders of the columns create the illusion of a facade open to the sides; for this reason, each column along the perimeter of the temple was narrowed upward and inclined 7 cm from the axis to the cella. An absolutely even column looks dry and as if pressed in the middle, so to give the contour richness and elasticity, it was endowed with a slight thickening about a third of the height. To prevent the corner columns from appearing too thin due to bright lighting, they were made more massive and the neighboring ones were brought closer to them.

And one more secret... But even under the dazzling rays of the sun, the white marble columns did not merge with the cella, because it was painted purple with thin horizontal lines of gilding. The shadow from the reliefs and sculptures, which could distort the image, was “extinguished” by the red background of the pediment and metopes and the blue stripes of the triglyphs. Thanks to this, in conditions of exceptional transparency of air and brightness of sunlight, the smallest details of painted sculpture and bas-reliefs could be distinguished from afar.

The technique of the ancient masters The encaustic technique provided the same external effect of plasticity as the shiny surface of marble, giving the majestic and strict appearance of the marble Parthenon an elegant, festive look. Some details - horse reins, necks of vessels, wreaths made of gilded bronze, reminiscent of a light cobweb, introduced an element of transparency into its sophisticated appearance. The temple has become an example of size, rationalism, and precise calculation, but at the same time the harmony of simple forms and clear lines gives it an upward aspiration and an almost bodily trembling of a living organism, characteristic of sculpture.

Enka ustika (from ancient Greek ἐγκαυστική - [the art of] burning) is a painting technique in which wax is the binder of paints. Painting is done with melted paints (hence the name). A type of encaustic painting is wax tempera, characterized by its brightness and richness of colors. Many early Christian icons were painted using this technique. The most famous examples of encaustic painting are the so-called. “Fayum portraits” (after the name of the Fayum oasis in Egypt, where they were first found and described): posthumous picturesque images of the deceased, distinguished by volumetric light-and-shadow modeling of forms, special liveliness and brightness of the images. The Hellenistic technique of encaustic painting was used in early icon painting, giving way later to tempera. The most striking iconographic example of the encaustic technique is considered to be the image of Christ Pantocrator (VI century), located in the Sinai monastery.

Shall we trust ourselves? 1. Name the main features of architectural orders that arose in Greece during the Archaic period. What gods were Greek temples dedicated to? 2. What characteristic classical features did the architectural ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis have? 3. Why is the Parthenon considered the most perfect Doric temple?

Members of the group "Name of God"

Group Research Topic

"Name of the Gods"

Problematic question (research question)

What gods were Greek temples dedicated to?

Objectives of the study

1. Find out which gods are the ancient Greek temples?

2. Explain why the Parthenon is considered the most perfect temple of the Doric order?

3. List what characteristic classical features did the architectural ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis have?

Results of the study

1. The ancient Greek religion, like the Egyptian and many other religions of the world, was characterized by a local character of development. Those. in various places in Greece their own deities were revered, often associated with local relief features or personifying them, on which the lives of believers depended: thus in Psofida they worshiped the local river Erymanthos, to which the temple was dedicated; in Orkhomenes - the sacred stones, as if they had once fallen from the sky, on Mount Ankhesme, Zeus Ankhesmius was revered, Zeus Laphistius - the personification of Mount Laphistion. Each locality or city had its own patron patron. This cult was of a state nature. Moreover, this cult was very strict: in general one could be skeptical about the gods, the Greek religion did not know generally binding dogmas, but one could not shirk the duties of rituals in honor of the patron god, one could not show disrespect for him. Violation of this law was punishable by severe punishment.

Of the many local gods, over time, some images merged into single pan-Greek deities, for example, Zeus Laphistius, Zeus Croceat, the cult of Zeus in Crete and Thessaly, grew into the cult of Zeus - as the supreme god, “the father of gods and people.” The very name Zeus means shining sky and goes back to a common Indo-European root (Dyaus among the Indians, Tiu among the Germans). The name Zeus had about 50 epithets indicating his functions: underground, i.e. ensures fertility, rain-bearer, all-begetter, ruler of destinies, etc.

The image of Hera, the main goddess, the wife of Zeus, grew out of the image of the cow goddess, the patroness of Mycenae. Poseidon was the ancient sea deity of Pelaponesse. The cult of Poseidon, having absorbed a number of local cults, became the god of the sea and the patron of horses. Athena is an ancient deity - the patroness of cities and city fortifications. Her other name is Pallas, also an epithet meaning “Shaker of the Spear.” According to classical mythology, Athena acts as a warrior goddess; she was depicted in full armor. The goddess Artemis is one of the most revered deities by the Greeks. It is usually believed that the cult of Artemis originated in Asia Minor, where she was considered the patroness of fertility. In classical mythology, Artemis appears as a virgin huntress goddess, usually with her companion, a doe. An extremely complex and unclear image is represented by Apollo, who had a very prominent place in Greek mythology and religion. In Pelaponesse, Apollo was considered a shepherd deity. Near Thebes, Apollo Ismenias was revered: this epithet is the name of a local river, which was once deified by the inhabitants. Apollo later became one of the most popular gods in Greece. He is considered the embodiment of the national spirit. The main functions of Apollo: divination of the future, patronage of the sciences and arts, healing, cleansing from all filth, the deity of light, a correct, orderly world order. The healer god Axlepius developed on purely Greek soil. The god of the shepherds, Pan, was of Arcadian origin. The Asia Minor goddess of fertility, Aphrodite, became the goddess of beauty, love, and an idealized personification of femininity among the Greeks. Ares, borrowed from the Franks, became the frantic gods of war. Further: Demeter is the goddess of fertility, Hephaestus is the personification of earthly fire and blacksmithing, Hestia is also the personification of fire, only at home, the deity of the family hearth, Hermes is the patron of roads and travelers, the god of trade. Some of the Greek gods are more or less abstract images - personifications of individual abstract concepts: Plutos - the direct personification of wealth, Nemesis - the goddess of retribution, Themis - the goddess of justice, Moira - the goddess of fate, Nike - the goddess of victory, and these are not all the deities of the Greeks.

Cosmogonic themes did not occupy a prominent place in folk beliefs. The idea of ​​a creator god was absent in this religion. According to Hesiod, from Chaos were born Earth, Darkness, Night, and then Light, Ether, Day, Sky, Sea and other great forces of nature. From Heaven and Earth the older generation of gods was born, and from them Zeus and other Olympian gods.

There was no central cult in Greece, but on the basis of cultural community, some cult centers acquired broad, pan-Greek significance. The sanctuaries of Apollo in Delphi, Zeus in Olympia, Demeter in Epidaurus and others became widely known and were revered throughout Greece. In general, the religion of Greece was disunited, although more or less stable.

2. The temple is a peripterus of the Doric order of 46 columns (8 on the main facade and 17 on the side ones). The Parthenon is an example of the Doric order! Ideally measured proportions Doric order, which appeared at the beginning of the 6th century. BC, can be considered fundamental in the development of Greek architecture. The strict and solemnly monumental Doric order, which appeared at the beginning of the 6th century. BC e., consists of the following parts:

three-stage base - stereobat;

load-bearing column. Vertically, the column trunk was divided by flutes (vertical grooves) with sharp edges. The column ends with a capital consisting of an echina (a flattened pillow) and an abacus (a tetrahedral slab.)

the supporting part is an entablature, including an architrave (a horizontal beam lying on columns), a frieze with alternating triglyphs (a slab with vertical grooves) and metopes (a slab made of stone or ceramics decorated with relief or painting) and a cornice.

3. In contrast to the archaic with its predilection for rigid symmetry, the picturesque panorama of the classics set a sublimely solemn mood. To the left of the central axis of the Propylaea, on the flat plateau of the hill, stood the seventeen-meter colossus of Athena Promachos (Warrior) made of gilded bronze. To the right, the architects Ictinus and Kallikrates erected the Parthenon (447–438 BC) as a symbol of the victory of Greek democracy over eastern despotism, dedicating it to Athena Parthenos (Virgin). At the same time, the temple symbolized the triumph of the organizing, light principles of religion over its chthonic, unbridled sources. This was evidenced by the relief on the Doric metopes and the Ionic frieze that followed the colonnade along the top of the cella. The eastern pediment was decorated with sculptural compositions on the theme of the birth of Athena 6; western - her dispute with Poseidon7 for power over Attica*. The roof was crowned with stylized lotus petals at the corners. The snow-white mass of the temple made of Pentellian marble, which has the property of acquiring a golden patina of extraordinary beauty over time, appears against the background of the blue sky. Transparent air and bright sunlight wash the outer colonnades in a radiant stream, flow into the open space of the cella, dissolving the marble volumes.

Conclusion

The peoples of Ancient Greece made many discoveries, created many magnificent works of art, architecture, literature, which are still interesting to us, attracting, beckoning, teaching, providing the best examples of art and morality.

High Classical Art (450 - 410 BC)

Second half of the 5th century. BC. was a time of particularly significant flowering of the arts. This period is called the high classics.

The leading role in the flowering of the art of high classics belonged to Athens, the most developed polis politically, economically and culturally.

The art of Athens at this time served as a model for the art of other cities, especially those that were within the orbit of Athens' political influence. Many local and visiting artists worked in Athens - architects, painters, sculptors, and painters of red-figure vases.

Architecture of the third quarter of the 5th century. BC. acted as evidence of the victory of rational human will over nature. Not only in cities, but also among wild nature or on deserted seashores, clear and strict architectural structures dominated the surrounding space, introducing an orderly harmonious structure into it. Thus, on the steep Cape Sunium, 40 km from Athens, on the easternmost point of Attica, far out into the sea, around 430, the temple of the god of the seas Poseidon was built, as if the first city of Hellas proudly asserted its sea power.

Advanced architectural thought was expressed not only in the construction of individual buildings, outstanding for their artistic qualities, but also in the field of urban planning. For the first time in the era of Pericles, the correct (regular) planning of cities was widely carried out according to a single, well-thought-out plan. This is how, for example, the military and commercial harbor of Athens - Piraeus - was planned.

Unlike most older Greek cities, Piraeus had cobbled streets of equal width running strictly parallel to each other; They were crossed at right angles by transverse, shorter and narrower streets. Work on the planning of the city was (not earlier than 446 BC) carried out by the architect Hippodamus from Miletus, a native of Asia Minor Greece. The restoration of the cities of Ionia, destroyed by the Persians during the war, confronted architecture with the task of building according to a single plan. Here the first experiments in general planning in the history of architecture arose, on which Hippodamus relied in his activities. Basically, the layout was reduced, as it was in Piraeus, to the general layout of the blocks, and when planning the streets, the nature of the terrain, as well as the direction of the winds, were taken into account. The locations of the main public buildings were also determined in advance. The residential buildings of Piraeus were low buildings, facing the street with blank walls, and inside having a courtyard with a portico on its northern side in front of the entrance to the living quarters. These residential buildings were relatively uniform: in the 5th century polis inhabited by free citizens. BC. there was not the striking inequality that characterized later cities of Hellenistic and Roman times.

In Athens and under Pericles, the old, irregular layout was preserved. But the city was decorated with numerous new buildings: covered porticoes (stands) that provided shade and protection from the rain, gymnasiums - schools where rich young men studied philosophy and literature, palaestre - premises for teaching boys gymnastics, etc. The walls of these public institutions were often covered with monumental painting. For example, the walls of the Poikile stoa, that is, the “Motley” stoa, were decorated with frescoes by the famous painter of the mid-5th century. BC. Polygnotus dedicated to the themes of the Trojan War and other mythical and historical episodes. All these buildings were built by the decision of the people to meet their needs. The citizens of Athens made extensive use of their public architecture.

But the most important building of the era of Pericles was the new ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis, which dominated the city and its environs. The Acropolis was destroyed during the Persian invasion; the remains of old buildings and broken statues were now used to level the surface of the Acropolis hill. During the third quarter of the 5th century. BC. new buildings were erected - the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of the Wingless Victory. The final building of the ensemble, the Erechtheion, was built later, during the Peloponnesian Wars.

On the hill of the Acropolis, therefore, the main sanctuaries of the Athenians were located and, first of all, the Parthenon - the temple of the Virgin Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patroness of Athens. The treasury of Athens was also located there; in the Propylaea building, which served as the entrance to the Acropolis, there was a library and an art gallery (pinakothek). On the slope of the Acropolis, people gathered for dramatic performances associated with the cult of the god of earthly fertility Dionysus. Steep and steep, with a flat top, the Acropolis hill formed a kind of natural pedestal for the buildings crowning it.

The sense of connection between architecture and the landscape, with the surrounding nature, is a characteristic feature of Greek art. It received its consistent development during the heyday of the classics. Greek architects were excellent at choosing sites for their buildings. Temples were built on rocky headlands, on hilltops, at the meeting point of two mountain ridges, on terraces of mountain slopes.

The temple arose where nature itself seemed to have prepared a place for it, and at the same time its calm, strict forms, harmonious proportions, light marble of columns, bright colors contrasted it with nature, asserting the superiority of the structure intelligently created by man over the surrounding world. Masterfully placing individual buildings of an architectural ensemble around the area, the Greek architects knew how to find a placement that combined them into an organically natural and at the same time deeply thought-out unity, free from strict symmetry. The latter was dictated by the entire artistic consciousness of the classical era.

This principle was revealed with particular clarity in the layout of the Acropolis ensemble.

The planning and construction of the Acropolis under Pericles was carried out according to a single, well-thought-out plan and in a relatively short time under the general leadership of the great sculptor of Greece, Phidias. With the exception of the Erechtheion, completed in 406 BC, all the main structures of the Acropolis were erected between 449 and 421. BC. The newly built Acropolis was supposed to not only embody the idea of ​​the power and greatness of the Athenian maritime power and establish the advanced ideas of Greek slave-owning democracy at the highest stage of its development, but also express - for the first time in the history of Greece - the idea of ​​pan-Hellenic unity. The entire structure of the ensemble of the Acropolis from the time of Pericles is permeated with noble beauty, calmly solemn grandeur, and a clear sense of proportion and harmony. In it one can see a clear implementation of the words of Pericles, full of pride in the culture of the “heart of Hellas - Athens”: “We love wisdom without effeminacy and beauty without whimsicality.”

The full meaning of the layout of the Acropolis can only be understood by taking into account the movement of solemn processions on days of public celebrations.

On the feast of the Great Panathenaia - the day when, on behalf of the entire city-state, Athenian girls brought the peplos they had woven as a gift to the goddess Athena - the procession entered the Acropolis from the west. The road led up to the ceremonial entrance to the Acropolis - the Propylaea, built by the architect Mnesicles in 437 - 432. BC. . The Doric colonnade of the Propylaea facing the city was framed by two unequal but mutually balanced wings of the building. One of them - the left one - was larger, but adjacent to the smaller one was the ledge of the rock of the Acropolis - Pyrgos, crowned with a small temple of Nike Apteros, that is, the Wingless Victory (“wingless” - so that it would never fly away from Athens).

This small temple, crystal clear in form, was built by the architect Callicrates between 449 and 421. BC. Located below the other buildings of the Acropolis and as if separated from the general massif of the hill, it was the first to meet the procession at the entrance to the Acropolis. The temple stood out clearly against the sky; Four slender Ionic columns on each of the two short sides of the temple, built on the principle of amphiprostyle, gave the building a clear, calm grace.

The layout of the Propylaea, as well as the Temple of Nike Apteros, skillfully used the unevenness of the Acropolis hill. The second, facing the Acropolis and also the Doric portico of the Propylaea, was located higher than the outer one, so that, passing through the Propylaea, the procession rose higher and higher until it entered a wide square. The interior of the Propylaea passage was decorated with Ionic columns. Thus, during the construction of the Acropolis, a combination of both orders was consistently carried out.

The principle of free planning and balance is generally characteristic of Greek art, including architectural ensembles of the classical period.

On the Acropolis Square, between the Propylaea, the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, there stood a colossal (7 m high) bronze statue of Athena Promachos (“Warrior”), created by Phidias even before the construction of the new Acropolis ensemble in the mid-5th century. BC.

The Parthenon was not located directly opposite the entrance to the Acropolis, as the archaic temple of Hekatompedon once stood, but to the side, so that it was visible from the Propylaea from the corner. This made it possible to simultaneously view the western facade and the long (northern) side of the peripter. The festive procession moved along the northern colonnade of the Parthenon to its main, eastern facade. The large building of the Parthenon was balanced on the other side of the square by the elegant and relatively small building of the Erechtheion, which set off the monumental severity of the Parthenon with its free asymmetry.

The creators of the Parthenon were Ictinus and Callicrates, who began construction in 447 BC. and completed it in 438. Sculptural work on the Parthenon - Phidias and his assistants - continued until 432. The Parthenon has 8 columns on the short sides and 17 on the long sides: the overall dimensions of the building are 31 X 70 m, the height of the columns is 10.5 m.

The Parthenon became the most perfect creation of Greek classical architecture and one of the highest achievements in the history of architecture in general. This monumental, majestic building towers over the Acropolis, just as the Acropolis itself towers over the city and its surroundings. Although Athens had quite large funds at its disposal, it was not the gigantic dimensions at all, but the harmonious perfection of proportions, the excellent proportionality of the parts, the correctly found scale of the building in relation to the Acropolis hill and in relation to man, which determined the impression of monumentality and high significance of the Parthenon. Glorification and exaltation, and not belittlement of man, formed the basis of the figurative impact of the Parthenon. Proportional to a person, easily grasped at first glance, the structure fully corresponded to the aesthetic ideals of the classics.

The Parthenon is built from squares of Pentelic marble, laid dry.

The Parthenon columns are placed more often than in early Doric temples, and the entablature is lighter. Therefore, it seems that the columns easily support the ceiling. Curvatures invisible to the eye, that is, a very weak convex curvature of the horizontal lines of the stylobate and entablature, as well as imperceptible inclinations of the columns inward and towards the center of the building, exclude any element of geometric dryness, giving the architectural appearance of the building amazing vitality and organicity. These slight deviations from geometric precision were the result of thoughtful calculation. The central part of the facade, topped with a pediment, visually presses on the columns and stylobate with greater force than the sides of the facade; the completely straight horizontal line of the base of the temple would seem to the viewer to be slightly bent. To compensate for this optical effect, the surface of the stylobate and other horizontal lines of the temple were made by the architects of classical times not exactly horizontally, but curved upward. The feeling of the barely perceptible convexity of the Parthenon stylobate enhances the impression of elastic tension that permeates its entire appearance. Other optical corrections introduced by the architect into the clear and orderly structure of the peripter also serve the same purpose.

The nobility of the material from which the Parthenon was built made it possible to use the usual coloring in Greek architecture only to emphasize the structural details of the building and to form a colored background against which the sculptures of the pediments and metopes stood out. Thus, red color was used for the horizontals of the entablature and the background of the metopes and pediments, and blue for the triglyphs and other verticals in the entablature; the festive solemnity of the structure was emphasized by narrow strips of discreetly introduced gilding.

Executed mainly in the Doric order, the Parthenon included individual elements of the Ionic order. This corresponded to the general desire of the classics and, in particular, the creators of the Acropolis ensemble to unite the Doric and Ionic traditions. This is the zophorus, ionic in nature, that is, the frieze running along the top of the outer wall of the naos behind the Doric colonnade of the peripterus, or the four columns of the Ionic order that decorated the inside of the “Parthenon” itself - the hall located behind the naos.

The Parthenon was decorated with sculpture of exceptional perfection. These statues and reliefs, which have partially reached us, were made under the direction and, probably, with the direct participation of Phidias, the greatest among the great masters of the high classics. Phidias also owned the 12-meter statue of Athena, which stood in the naos. In addition to the work performed for the Acropolis, which Phidias began as a mature master, he created a number of monumental statues for religious purposes, such as the giant statue of a seated Zeus that stood in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which amazed contemporaries with its expression of humanity. Unfortunately, none of the famous statues of Phidias has reached us. Only a few unreliable Roman copies have survived, or rather, it would be better to say - variants dating back to Phidias’ statues of Athena and to his other works (“Amazon”, “Apollo”).

For the Acropolis, Phidias created three statues of Athena. The earliest of them, apparently created under Cimon in the second quarter of the 5th century. BC. and commissioned with funds from the Marathon spoils, was the above-mentioned Athena Promachos, who stood on the Acropolis square. The second was the smaller Athena Lemnia (that is, Lemnos). The third, Athena Parthenos (that is, Athena the Virgin), was created in the 40s of the 5th century. BC, since in 438 it was already placed in the temple.

As far as can be judged from replicas and descriptions, the cult statues of Phidias embodied the image of human perfection that is quite real at its core. The greatness of the gods of Phidias was revealed in their high humanity, and not divinity.

Thus, Athena Promachos (“Warrior”), depicted in full armor, calmly and imperiously looked around the city spread out at her feet and vigilantly guarded it from threatening dangers. The connection with the surrounding life and the specificity of the plot motif were obviously characteristic of this statue. The beautiful Roman copy of the head of Athena Lemnia, kept in the Museum of Bologna, gives an idea of ​​​​what enormous life content the images of high classics could be imbued with, although some scholars have expressed doubts whether this is really a copy of the Phidias statue. The combination of sublime beauty with a very definite facial expression, conveying attention, energy and self-confidence full of tense alertness, gives the image a special vitality.

The torso of Athena Lemnia, which has come down to us in a Roman marble copy (Dresden), gives an idea of ​​the perfection with which Phidias created a calmly and solemnly standing monumental statue. The clear and simple silhouette is beautiful, easy to read from a great distance; Internal tension and restrained energy of movement are expressively conveyed. This statue is an example of a perfect solution to the problems posed by the early classics, striving to create an image that combines monumental grandeur with concrete vitality.

The Athena Parthenos was somewhat different from the earlier Athens of Phidias. The cult character of the statue standing in the temple required greater solemnity of the image. Hence the inclusion of symbolic details in the image of Athena: a snake at Athena’s feet, a figure of Victory on her outstretched right hand, a magnificent helmet crowning her head, etc. This also determines the sublime impassivity of the image, if you believe the rather distant replicas of Roman times.

The round shield of Athena depicted the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons, full of violent movement and a direct sense of life. Among the characters, Phidias placed an image of Pericles marked by portrait resemblance and his own self-portrait, which was a manifestation of new quests that were not characteristic of the realism of the early and high classics and foreshadowed the approach of the next stage in the development of classical art. For this daring undertaking, Phidias was accused of atheism. “He was especially accused of the fact that, while depicting the battle with the Amazons on the shield, he minted his own image in the form of a bald old man lifting a stone with both hands, as well as a beautiful portrait of Pericles fighting with the Amazon. He very skillfully positioned the hand raising the spear in front of Pericles’ face, as if he wanted to hide the resemblance, but it is still visible on both sides” (Plutarch, biography of Pericles).

One of the notable features of the statues of Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus was the chrysoelephantine technique of execution, which, however, existed before Phidias. The wooden base of the statues was covered with thin sheets of gold (hair and clothing) and plates of ivory (face, hands, feet).

An idea of ​​the impression that the chrysoelephantine technique could produce can be given by a small figured lekythos of Attic work from the end of the 5th century. BC, found in the Northern Black Sea region on the Taman Peninsula, the so-called “Taman Sphinx”, one of the pearls of the ancient collection of the State Hermitage in Leningrad. This vase is a fine example of Greek figured pottery from classical times, remarkable for its subtle sense of joyful color, combining grace with monumental clarity of image. The golden braids, tiara and necklace, white face and chest lightly tinted with pink are clearly inspired by examples of chrysoelephantine technique.

If we imagine that the statue of Athena, shining with gold, was in a relatively dark room compared to the brightly lit area of ​​the Acropolis, that the stripes of gilding on the outer parts of the Parthenon seemed to prepare the viewer for the expected spectacle, that inside the naos was painted red and blue and a number of details was highlighted with gilding, then we have to admit that the golden radiance of the statue of Athena was in harmony with the general character of the colorful range of architectural decoration of the building.

The most complete picture of the work of Phidias and, in general, of the sculpture of the heyday of the classics can be given by the sculptural groups and reliefs that adorned the Parthenon, preserved in the originals, although badly damaged ( Significant destruction of the Parthenon sculptures was not caused by time. Converted either into a Christian temple or into a mosque, the Parthenon stood intact until the end of the 17th century. In 1687, during the bombardment of Athens by the Venetian fleet, a bomb hit the Parthenon, which the Turks turned into a gunpowder warehouse. The explosion caused significant destruction. What the bomb did not do was at the beginning of the 19th century. the sculptures were completed by the English envoy to Turkey, Lord Elgin. Taking advantage of permission to remove several slabs with inscriptions, he stole almost all the sculptures and at night, fearing popular outrage, took them to London. When the statues were removed from the already damaged western pediment, it collapsed and was broken.).

These sculptures, as mentioned above, were created by a group of the best sculptors, led by Phidias. It is very likely that Phidias was directly involved in the execution of the sculptures themselves. It can be argued that, in any case, the compositional solution, interpretation of the plots and, possibly, sketches of the figures belong to Phidias. To this day, the sculptural ensemble of the Parthenon is an unsurpassed artistic monument.

All 92 metopes of the temple were decorated with marble high reliefs. On the metopes of the western facade the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons was depicted, on the main, eastern facade - the battle of the gods with the giants, on the northern side of the temple - the fall of Troy, on the southern, better preserved - the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs. These themes had a deep meaning for the ancient Hellenes. The battle of gods and giants affirmed, in the image of the struggle of cosmic forces, the idea of ​​the victory of the human principle over the primordial elemental forces of nature, personified by monstrous giants, the creation of earth and sky. Close in meaning to the first theme is the theme of the struggle of the Lapith Greeks with the centaurs. The Trojan stories had a more immediate historical significance. The historical myth about the struggle of the Greeks with the Trojans, personifying the Asia Minor East, was associated in the minds of the Hellenes with the recently won victory over the Persians.

A large multi-figure group placed in the tympanum of the eastern pediment was dedicated to the myth of the miraculous birth of the goddess of wisdom Athena from the head of Zeus. The Western group depicted the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attic land. According to the myth, the dispute was resolved by comparing the miracles that Poseidon and Athena were supposed to perform. Poseidon, striking a rock with his trident, brought out salty healing water from it. Athena created the olive tree - this basis for the agricultural well-being of Attica. The gods recognized Athena's miraculous gift as more useful to people, and dominion over Attica was transferred to Athena. Thus, the western pediment, which was the first to meet the solemn festive procession heading towards the Parthenon, reminded the Athenians of why Athena became the patroness of the country, and the main, eastern pediment, at which the procession ended, was dedicated to the theme of the miraculous birth of the goddess - the patroness of Athens and the solemn image of Olympus.

Along the wall of the naos behind the columns, as already mentioned, there was a zophorus depicting the festive procession of the Athenian people in the days of the Great Panathenaia, which directly by its very theme connected the clearly thought out ensemble of sculptures of the Parthenon with real life.

The sculptures of the Parthenon give a clear idea of ​​the enormous path that was covered by Greek art in just 40-50 years, separating the time of the creation of the Acropolis complex from the sculptures of the Temple of Aegina.

The surviving metopes, dedicated primarily to the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, are two-figure compositions that successively unfold before the viewer the vicissitudes of this struggle. The variety of movements and the inexhaustible wealth of fighting motives in each new pair of combatants is amazing. Now the centaur, raising a heavy bowl over his head, attacks the lapith who has fallen and is covering himself with a shield, now the lapith and the centaur are intertwined in a fierce fight, clutching each other’s throats, then, with his arms outstretched, the victorious centaur prances over the lifeless body of the fallen Greek, now a slender young man, grabbing the centaur’s hair with his left hand, stops his rapid run, and with his right raises his sword for a fatal blow.

These metopes were clearly made by different masters. Some of them still have that sharp angularity of movement and emphasized rendering of individual details, which was, for example, in the western pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, dedicated to the same subject. In others, and the very best, one can see all the mastery of high classics in the natural and free reproduction of any real action and that deep sense of proportion that invariably preserves the harmonious beauty of the image of a perfect person. The movements of the Lapiths and Centaurs in these metopes are naturally free, they are determined only by the nature of the struggle that they are waging - there are no echoes of too obvious and strict subordination to the architectural form, which was also in the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Thus, in the excellent relief of the Parthenon, where the half-turned lapith, grasping the centaur’s hair with an imperious hand, stops his rapid run and bends his body, just as one bends a tight bow, the composition is subordinated to the logic of the movement of the figures and the scene as a whole and at the same time naturally corresponds to the limits space allocated by architecture.

This principle of a seemingly involuntary, freely emerging harmony of architecture with sculpture, fully realizing its imaginative tasks and not destroying the architectural whole, is one of the most important features of the monumental sculpture of high classics.

The compositions of both pediments are built on the same principle. When considering any of the figures of the pediments separately, it is difficult to assume that they are included in a composition strictly defined by the architectural structure. Thus, the pose of the reclining youth Cephalus from the eastern pediment is completely determined by the very motive of the figure’s movement, and at the same time it easily and clearly “fits” into the acute corner of the pediment in which this statue was located. Even on the western pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the movements of the figures, for all their realistic truthfulness, were generally strictly deployed along the plane of the pediment. In such statues of the Parthenon as Cephalus (according to another interpretation - Theseus), complete freedom and naturalness of movement was achieved.

The composition of the eastern pediment and, above all, its unpreserved central part can be judged by the relief on the so-called Madrid puteal, where, however, the principle of the triangular arrangement of figures is violated. Phidias refused to highlight the axis of symmetry of the composition with a vertically standing central figure. The direct connection that this solution provided to the composition of the pediment with the rhythm of the colonnade was replaced by a much more complex relationship. The figures, free in their movements and full of life, created a group naturally placed within the triangle of the pediment and forming a clearly complete and self-contained artistic whole. In the center of the pediment, a half-naked Zeus was depicted sitting on a throne, and to the right of him, Athena, half turned towards him and quickly moving towards the right edge of the pediment, wearing a long chiton and weapons. Between him and at the top of the triangle was Nike (Victory) floating in the air, crowning Athena. Behind Zeus, to the left, Prometheus (or Hephaestus) was depicted, staggering back with an ax in his hand; to the right of Athena is the seated figure of Demeter, who was probably present here in her role as obstetrician. Thus, the balance of the composition was achieved here by a complex cross-correspondence of calmly sitting and rapidly moving figures. Further, on both sides of the central group, were the other gods of Olympus. Of all these figures, only the heavily damaged one on the far left has survived - Iris, the messenger of the gods. She is full of violent movement: the folds of her long clothes flutter in the wind, the play of light and shadow further enhances the dynamics of this statue. On the left, in the very corner of the pediment, Helios was placed - the sun god, rising from the waters of the Ocean on a quadriga; on the right is the goddess of the night Nyx (or Selene) descending downwards, just like Helios, cut off by the lower line of the phraton, with her horse. These figures, denoting the change for and night, thereby showed that the birth of Athena was significant for the entire universe from the east to the extreme west.

The reclining figure of a young man - Theseus or, perhaps, the awakening Cephalus, the mythical hunter who rises at dawn to hunt - meets Helios. Next to him were two seated female figures, usually considered Oras. Looking after the passing night (judging by the sketch of the pediment made in the 17th century) was one of the three beautiful girls, daughters of the night - the goddesses of fate Moira. These three long-robed female figures forming a group at the right end of the pediment and which have come down to us, although without heads, but in a comparatively better condition, belong, like the figure of Cephisus from the western pediment, among the greatest treasures of Greek art.

Of the surviving statues of the heavily destroyed western pediment, the most perfect are Cephisus, the smooth, flowing lines of whose body, indeed, seem to personify the river of Attica, the group of Cecrops, the legendary founder of the Athenian state, with his young daughter Pandrosa and the figure of Iris.

The beauty and majesty of the Parthenon pediment sculptures was achieved by selecting those subtly felt natural movements that, with their free expediency, most fully convey the plastic beauty and ethical perfection of man.

The frieze (zophorus) of the Parthenon gives a clear idea of ​​the features of the construction of the classical relief. All the plans into which the relief is divided run parallel to each other, forming, as it were, a series of layers closed between two planes. The preservation of the plane of the wall is facilitated by a single movement of numerous figures directed strictly parallel to the plane of the wall. The clear change of plans and clear rhythmic structure of the frieze give the impression of extraordinary integrity of the image.

The creators of the zophora faced a difficult compositional task. It was necessary to surround the walls for about two hundred meters with a relief depicting one event - a popular procession - avoiding monotony and diversity, and to convey on the wall plane in low relief all the richness and diversity of the parade procession and its solemn harmony. The Zofor masters coped with their task brilliantly. Not a single motif of movement on the frieze is ever exactly repeated, and although the frieze is filled with many different figures of people walking, riding on horses or chariots, carrying baskets with gifts or leading sacrificial animals, the entire frieze as a whole is characterized by rhythmic and plastic unity.

The frieze begins with scenes of young horsemen preparing for the procession. The calm movements of young men tying straps on sandals or cleaning horses are offset from time to time by the sudden movement of a rearing horse or some swift gesture of a young man. Further, the motive of movement develops more and more quickly. The preparations are over, the procession itself begins. The movement either speeds up or slows down, the figures come closer, almost merging with each other, or the space between them expands. The undulating rhythm of movement permeates the entire frieze. Particularly remarkable is the line of galloping horsemen, in which the movement, powerful in its unity, consists of an infinite variety of similar, but not repeating movements of individual figures, different in their appearance. No less beautiful is the strict procession of Athenian girls, whose long clothes form measured folds, reminiscent of the flutes of the columns of the Parthenon. The rhythm of the girls’ movement is especially emphasized by the male figures (celebrators of the festival) turned towards them. Above the entrance, on the eastern facade, there are gods looking at the procession. People and gods are depicted as equally beautiful. The spirit of citizenship made it possible for the Athenians to proudly assert the aesthetic equality of the human image with the images of the deities of Olympus.

The direction represented in the art of sculpture of the second half of the 5th century. BC. Phidias and the entire Attic school headed by him occupied a leading place in the art of high classics. It most fully and consistently expressed the advanced artistic ideas of the era.

Phidias and the Attic school created an art that synthesized everything progressive that was carried in the works of the Ionic, Doric and Attic masters of the early classics up to and including Myron and Paeonius.

However, it does not follow from this that artistic life was concentrated only in Athens by the beginning of the second half of the century. Thus, information about the works of the masters of Asia Minor Greece was preserved, and the art of the Greek cities of Sicily and southern Italy continued to flourish. The sculpture of the Peloponnese was of greatest importance, in particular the old center of development of Dorian sculpture - Argos.

It was from Argos that came Phidias Polykleitos, a contemporary, one of the great masters of Greek classics, who worked in the middle and third quarter of the 5th century. BC.

The art of Polykleitos is associated with the traditions of the Argive-Sicyon school with its primary interest in depicting a calmly standing figure. Conveying complex movement and active action or creating group compositions were not among Polykleitos's interests. Unlike Phidias, Polykleitos was to a certain extent associated with the more conservative circles of the slave-owning policy, which were much stronger in Argos than in Athens. The images of the statues of Polykleitos echo the ancient ideal of the hoplite (heavily armed warrior), stern and courageous. In his statue “Doriphoros” (“Spearman”), made around the middle of the 5th century. BC, Polykleitos created the image of a young warrior who embodied the ideal of a valiant citizen.

This bronze statue, like all the works of Polykleitos, has not reached us in the original; it is known only from marble Roman copies. The statue depicts a strongly built young man with strongly developed and sharply emphasized muscles, carrying a spear on his left shoulder. The entire weight of his body rests on his right leg, while his left leg is set back, touching the ground only with his toes. The balance of the figure is achieved by the fact that the raised right hip corresponds to the lowered right shoulder and, conversely, the lowered left hip corresponds to the raised left shoulder. This system of constructing the human figure (the so-called “chiasmus”) gives the statue a measured, rhythmic structure.

The calmness of the figure of Doryphoros is combined with internal tension, giving his seemingly impassive image great heroic strength. The precisely calculated and thoughtful architectonics of constructing the human figure is expressed here in the juxtaposition of the elastic vertical lines of the legs and hips and the heavy horizontal lines of the shoulders and muscles of the chest and abdomen; this creates a balance imbued with opposing forces, similar to the balance that the ratio of column and entablature gives in the Doric order. This system of artistic means, developed by Polykleitos, was an important step forward in the realistic depiction of the human body in sculpture. The patterns he found in the sculptural depiction of a person actually corresponded to the spirit of heroic masculinity, which was characteristic of the image of a person in the classical period of Greece.

In an effort to theoretically substantiate the generalized typical image of a perfect person born in real life, Polykleitos came to the composition of the “Canon”. This is what he called his theoretical treatise and the statue made according to the rules of the theory; They developed a system of ideal proportions and laws of symmetry, according to which the image of a person should be built. This normative tendency was fraught with the danger of the emergence of abstract schemes. It can be assumed that the Roman copies strengthened those features of abstraction that were characteristic of the works of Polykleitos. Among the authentic Greek bronze figurines of the 5th century that have survived to this day. BC. some are undoubtedly closer in spirit to the art of Polykleitos. This is the figurine of a naked youth kept in the Louvre. The somewhat heavy proportions, as well as the motif of restrained movement, are reminiscent of the work of Polykleitos. The Greek original makes it possible to appreciate the features of the artistic language of Polykleitos, lost in the transcription of Roman copyists. The Louvre young athlete, with all the analytical accuracy and precision of construction, is distinguished by the naturalness of the gesture and the vital convincingness of the image.

At the end of his life, Polykleitos moved away from strict adherence to his “Canon”, becoming closer to the masters of Attica. His “Diadumen” - a young man crowning himself with a victorious bandage - a statue created around 420 BC, clearly differs from “Doriphoros” in its more graceful and slender proportions, easy movement and greater spirituality of the image.

A Roman copy of the “Wounded Amazon” by Polykleitos and a Roman statue of the “Amazon Mattei”, dating back to the original by Phidias, have survived to this day. They provide, to a certain extent, the opportunity to visually compare the features of Fidiev's and Polykleitov's contributions to the art of classics.

The Amazon of Phidias is depicted at the moment when she, looking back at the approaching enemy, leans on a spear, ready to jump on a horse. Her beautiful proportions better convey the structure of the girl’s strong body than the almost masculine proportions of the Amazon Polykleitos, built according to the “Canon”. The desire for active action, the relaxed and expressive beauty of movement are characteristic of the art of Phidias, an artist more multifaceted than Polykleitos, who more fully combines into a single whole the perfect beauty of the image with its concrete vitality.

Polykleitos depicted a wounded Amazon. Her strong body weakened, she leaned her left hand on the support, her right hand was thrown behind her head. But Polykleitos limited himself to this; in the face of the statue there is no expression of pain and suffering, and there is no realistic gesture conveying the movement of a person suffering from a wound. These elements of abstraction make it possible to convey only the most general state of a person. But the ideal of a person’s courageous restraint, the dissolution of his experiences in the general spirit of mastering oneself - these characteristic features of the art of Polykleitos carried within them high concepts of the dignity of a perfect person - a hero.

If Polykleitos was able to give, next to the high and beautiful art of Phidias and his comrades in decorating the Acropolis, his own important and significant version of the art of high classics, then the fate of his creative heritage was different. At the end of the 5th century. BC, during the Peloponnesian Wars, the successors of Polykleitos entered into a direct struggle with the realistic tradition of the Phidias school. Such Peloponnesian sculptors of the late 5th century. BC, like Callimachus, sought only abstract normative perfection, far from any living sense of reality.

But even in the Attic school, among the students and followers of Phidias, realistic quests were received in the last quarter of the 5th century. BC. some new features.

Among the direct students of Phidias, who remained completely faithful to their teacher, Cresilaus, the author of the heroic portrait of Pericles, stands out. This portrait deeply and powerfully expresses the calm greatness of spirit and the reserved dignity of a wise statesman. Beautiful human images full of life can be seen in other works of Kresilai (for example, the head of the statue of an ephebe, winner in a competition).

On the other hand, in the same circle of Phidias, works began to appear that sought to enhance the dramatic action, intensifying the themes of struggle, so widely represented in the Parthenon reliefs. Reliefs of this kind, saturated with violent contrasts and intense dynamics, with a rough sharpness of realistic details, were made by sculptors whom Ictinus invited to decorate the temple of Apollo built by him in Bassae (in Phigalia). This frieze, depicting the battle of the Greeks with centaurs and Amazons, was, contrary to the usual rules, set in a semi-dark naos and was executed in high relief with vigorous use of contrasts of light and shadow. For the first time, elements of a more subjective and emotionally acute perception than was usually accepted were introduced into these reliefs (though “far from first-class in quality”). The rendering of the violent and crudely expressive movements of the combatants, given from different angles, reinforced this impression.

Among the masters of the Fidiev school by the end of the 5th century. BC. There also appeared a tendency to express lyrical feelings, a desire to convey grace and elegance of movements with particular softness. At the same time, the image of a person remained typically generalized, without losing its realistic truthfulness, although often losing the heroic strength and monumental severity so characteristic of works created several decades earlier.

The most prominent master of this direction in Attica was Phidias' student Alkamenes. He was a successor to Phidias, but his art is characterized by refined lyricism and a more intimate interpretation of the image. Alkamen also owned some statues of a purely Phidiian character (for example, the colossal statue of Dionysus). However, new quests appeared most clearly in his works of a different order, as, for example, in the famous statue of Aphrodite, which stood in the garden on the banks of the Ilissa River - “Aphrodite in the Gardens.” It has come down to us in copies and replicas from Roman times.

Aphrodite was depicted by Alkamen standing calmly, slightly bowing her head and with a graceful movement of her hand throwing back the veil from her face; in her other hand she held an apple, perhaps a gift from Paris, who recognized Aphrodite as the most beautiful among the goddesses. With great skill, Alkamen conveyed the flowing folds of Aphrodite’s thin long robe, enveloping her slender form. The perfect beauty of man was colored here with an admiring and tender feeling.

To an even greater extent, such searches for a lyrical image found their fulfillment in those created around 409 BC. marble reliefs of the balustrade of the Temple of Nike Apteros on the Acropolis. These reliefs depicted girls performing a sacrifice. The remarkable relief “Nike Untying her Sandal” is one of the masterpieces of high classical sculpture. The lyricism of this work is born from the perfection of proportions, and from the deep shimmering chiaroscuro, and from the gentle softness of movement, emphasized by the flowing lines of the folds of clothing, an unusually graceful, lively and natural movement. Numerous reliefs on tombstones, excellent examples of which were created at the end of the 5th century, played a very important role in the formation of this lyrical trend in high classics. BC. Such, for example, is “Hegeso’s Tombstone,” which in its purely everyday truth carries a high poetic feeling. Among the many tombstone reliefs that have come down to us from the late 5th - early 4th centuries. The Mnesarete stele and the tombstone in the form of a lekythos from the Leningrad Hermitage also stand out. The ancient Greeks treated death very wisely and calmly: in the tombstones of the classical period one can find neither fear of death nor any mystical sentiments. They depict living people, their theme is farewell, imbued with thoughtful reflection. The tombstones of the classical era, with their bright, elegiac mood, were intended to console and support a person in his suffering.

Changes in artistic consciousness that emerged in the last decades of the 5th century. BC, found their expression in architecture.

Already Iktin boldly expanded the creative quest for classical architectural thought. In the temple of Apollo in Bassae, he for the first time introduced into the building, along with Doric and Ionic elements, the third order - Corinthian, although only one column inside the temple carried such a capital. In the Telesterion, which was built by Ictinus at Eleusis, he created a structure of an unusual plan, with a vast columned hall.

Equally new was the whimsically asymmetrical construction of the Erechtheion building on the Acropolis of Athens, completed by an unknown architect in 421 - 406. BC.

The location of the building in the general ensemble of the Acropolis and its dimensions were completely determined by the nature of the architecture of the heyday of the classics and the plans of Pericles. But the artistic development of this temple, dedicated to Athena and Poseidon, introduced new features into the architecture of classical times: a pictorial interpretation of the architectural whole - an interest in comparisons of contrasting architectural and sculptural forms, a multiplicity of points of view, revealing new, varied and complex impressions. The Erechtheion is built on the uneven northern slope of the Acropolis, and its layout cleverly took advantage of these uneven ground: the temple consists of two rooms at different levels, it has different porticoes on three sides - including the famous portico of the kor (caryatids) on the south wall - and four columns with gaps covered with gratings (later replaced by stonework) on the fourth wall. The feeling of festive lightness and graceful harmony is caused by the use of a more elegant Ionic order in the exterior design and the beautifully used contrasts of light porticoes and smooth walls.

The Erechtheion did not have external painting; it was replaced by a combination of white marble with a purple frieze band and gilding of individual parts. This unity of color scheme served to a large extent to unify the diverse, although equally elegant, architectural forms.

The bold innovation of the unknown author of the Erechtheion developed a living creative tradition of high classics. However, in this building, beautiful and proportionate, but far from the strict and clear harmony of the Parthenon, the path to the art of the late classics was already being laid - an art more directly human and emotional, but less heroic than the high classics of the 5th century. BC.

Vase painting in the era of high classics developed in close cooperation with monumental painting and sculpture.

Relying on the realistic achievements of the first third of the century, the vase painters of high classics, however, sought to moderate the harshness in the rendering of details of nature or motives of movement, which was encountered earlier. Great clarity and harmony of composition, majestic freedom of movement and, most importantly, great spiritual expressiveness became characteristic features of vase painting of this time. At the same time, vase painting moved somewhat away from the specific genre of subjects that was observed in the first third of the century. More heroic images on mythological themes appeared in it, preserving all the humanity of the early classics, but clearly seeking the monumental significance of the image.

Vase painters of the mid-5th century. BC. began to attract the image of not only the action, but also the mental state of the heroes - the mastery of gesture and the integrity of the composition deepened, although at the expense of some loss of the spontaneity and freshness that distinguished the creations of Duris or Brig. As in the sculpture of high classics, the images of vase painting of this time conveyed the most general states of the human spirit, without attention to the specific and individual feelings of a person, to their contradictions and conflicts, to the change and struggle of moods. All this has not yet entered the sphere of attention of artists. But at the cost of some generalization of feeling, it was achieved that the human images created by vase painters of the mid-5th century. BC, have such typicality and such clear purity of their mental structure.

Monumental severity and clarity are characteristic of the painting of the famous “Crater from Orvieto” - a vase kept in the Louvre with a scene of the death of the Niobids on one side and an image of Hercules, Athena and the Argonauts on the other. The figures are freely and naturally located on the surface of the vase, although in order to preserve the integrity of this surface, the artist avoids perspective reductions, figures that are meaningfully placed in the background. Masterful use of angles, lively, natural poses of the figures are subordinated to a strict, calm rhythm, uniting the image with the equally harmonious shape of the vase. In the “Crater from Orvieto” the red-figure vase painting reaches one of its peaks.

Examples of high classic vase paintings include such drawings made in the second half of the century as “A Satyr swinging a girl on a swing during a spring festival”, “Polyneices holding out a necklace to Eriphyle” (the so-called “Vase from Lecce”) and many others.

Around the middle of the century, lekythos painted on a white background became widespread, serving for cult purposes (related to the burial of the dead). In them, the drawing often achieved a particularly relaxed lightness (sometimes turning into carelessness); it was applied with black varnish, outlining the main lines of the figure, and after firing it was painted (which is why sometimes the figures look naked because of the faded paint). An example of a masterful design on a white background is the image of a girl bringing gifts to the deceased on the Attic lekythos of the Boston Museum.

By the end of the 5th century. BC. Vase painting began to decline. Already Midius and his imitators began to overload the designs on vases with decorative details; in this elegant patterned ornamentation, the figures of people, depicted in intricate foreshortening formations, lost their primacy - they became impersonal and identical, getting lost among the fluttering draperies. Crisis of free labor at the end of the 5th century. had a particularly detrimental effect on the creativity of ceramicists and draftsmen. Vase painting began to lose its artistic quality, gradually turning into a mechanical and faceless craft.

The painting of the classical period that has not reached us, as far as one can judge from the statements of ancient authors, had, like sculpture, a monumental character and was inextricably linked with architecture. It was, apparently, most often executed in fresco; it is possible that in the 5th century. BC, at least in the second half of it, adhesive paints were used, as well as wax paints (the so-called encaustic). Adhesive paints could be used both directly on a specially prepared wall, and on primed boards that were fixed directly on the walls intended for painting.

Painting in the 5th century. BC. had a strictly generalized monumental character and was created for a specific place in the architectural ensemble. No reliable information about the existence of easel works has survived. Just as monumental sculpture was complemented by small sculptures made of terracotta or bronze, closely connected with artistic crafts and applied arts, so monumental painting, bypassing its actual easel forms, was supplemented by vase painting, inextricably linked with the art of ceramics. Monumental painting occupied an important place in the artistic life of that time. The best works enjoyed great fame. The greatest masters of painting were widely known and surrounded by public honor, along with outstanding sculptors, poets, and playwrights of their time.

Painting 5th century BC. in its aesthetic principles it was very close to sculpture, being in close relationship with it. The essentially pictorial objectives of painting were mainly reduced to the illusory reproduction of the volume of the human body. The task of depicting the environment surrounding a person and his interaction with it in 5th century painting. was not installed. The actual pictorial means of depiction - chiaroscuro, color, conveying atmosphere, spatial environment - were just emerging, and then mainly at the end of the 5th century. BC. But the main goal at the end of the century remained the desire to find artistic means that convey plastic volume.

Only later, already in the period of the late classics, in connection with the general change in the nature of artistic ideas, these achievements began to be used consciously to depict a person in his natural and everyday environment, for a richer pictorial and emotional characterization of him.

Thus, 5th century. BC. - This is the time of laying down the prerequisites for revealing the visual possibilities of painting. At the same time, the realistic depiction of a person or group of people in various actions, the use of correct anatomical proportions, the truthful rendering of the physicality and volume of human forms, the emergence of a consistently realistic understanding of the plot meant a big progressive step in the history of painting compared to earlier conventional or purely decorative compositions.

The largest master of the second quarter and mid-5th century. BC) a contemporary of Myron, was Polygnotus, a native of the island of Thasos, who received the honorary title of Athenian citizen for his work performed for Athens.

Polygnotus's range of themes was close to those addressed by the masters of pediment compositions and reliefs. These were epic themes (from the Iliad, poems of the Theban cycle) and mythological (the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons, the battle with the centaurs, etc.). An important feature of Polygnotus’s writing was the appeal to themes of a historical nature. Thus, in the Pinakothek in Athens, the painting of which was supervised by Polygnotus, among other frescoes, an image of the “Battle of Marathon” was made.

In all likelihood, however, these paintings on historical themes had the same generalized heroic character as the compositions glorifying the high deeds of mythical heroes. Just as Aeschylus's "Persians", dedicated to the naval victory of the Hellenes over the hordes of Xerxes, are built on the same artistic principles as his "Oresteia" or "Seven against Thebes", so these historical compositions of Polygnotus were apparently decided on the same plan , as mythological paintings, and were included with them in the same general ensemble.

One of the most famous works of Polygnotus was the painting of the “Leschi (meeting house) of the Cnidians” in Delphi, a description of which was preserved by Pausanias, where Polygnotus depicted “The Death of Troy” and “Odysseus in Hades”.

It is known that Polygnotus used only four colors (white, yellow, red and black); Apparently, his palette did not differ too sharply from that used by the masters of vase painting. According to the descriptions, Polygnotus’s color was in the nature of coloring and he almost did not use color modeling of the figure. But his drawing was highly perfect. He accurately conveyed the anatomically correct body in any angles and movements. The ancients admired the fact that Polygnotus achieved perfection in depicting the face, that he for the first time began to convey a state of mind, in particular, with the help of a slightly open mouth, trying to give the face features of emotional expressiveness. Similar experiments in sculpture were carried out by the masters of the western Olympic pediment just during the heyday of Polygnotus’s activity.

Descriptions of Polygnotus's paintings give reason to believe that the master did not set himself the task of giving a holistic image of the environment in which the action takes place. Ancient authors mention individual objects of nature and furnishings, plot-related to the actions of the heroes, for example, pebbles on the seashore, but not depicted in the entire picture, but only to determine the location of the hero. “The seashore continues up to the horse, and pebbles are visible on it, then there is no sea in the picture,” says Pausanias, describing Polygnotus’s painting “The Death of Troy.” Apparently, Polygnotus and other painters of the 5th century. BC. they were not yet fully aware of all the possibilities of painting and did not feel the fundamental difference between the depiction of pebbles of the seashore on a relief (as in the scene of the birth of Aphrodite on the “Throne of Ludovisi”) and the task of depicting the seashore in a painting. Ancient authors have no information about Polygnotus’ solution to problems of perspective or light and shade. The composition, apparently, was more or less frieze-like in nature.

Polygnotus's contemporaries highly valued his painting for the same qualities that they valued in sculpture: greatness of spirit, high moral strength (ethos) of the heroes, truthfulness in the depiction of a beautiful person.

Polygnotus did a lot for the realistic, clear and concrete depiction of man in painting. The subsequent development of Greek art, the constant growth of interest in the inner world of man, in the direct sensory perception of his image, the emergence of greater interest in everyday life and the environment gradually expanded the range of visual tasks facing painting.

In the second half and at the end of the 5th century. BC. A number of painters appeared, closely associated with the general trends in the development of the Attic sculptural school of the late 5th century. BC. The most famous master of this time was Apollodorus of Athens. His painting, which treated traditional subjects in a more intimate and genre-based manner than his predecessors, was characterized by greater freedom of color and an interest in modeling body shapes through chiaroscuro. Pliny says of Apollodorus that “he was the first to begin to transmit shadows.” Of great importance are the instructions of ancient authors, which give reason to assume that Apollodorus and other painters of the late 5th century. BC. (Zeuxis, Parrhasius) began to develop not only problems of depicting the human body in motion, but also perspective, both linear and aerial. The constant goal of these painters was to create realistic, beautiful and living human images.

Beginning with Apollodorus, Greek painting ceased to be a reproduction of sculptural figures on the plane of a wall, but became painting in the proper sense of the word. Apollodorus was one of the first painters to move on to painting paintings that were not organically connected with an architectural structure. In this regard, he not only further developed the high traditions of the 5th century classics. BC, but also outlined new paths of realistic art, leading to the late classics.