Sculpture of ancient Greece
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This is a suggested outline for the article, please amend. The sculpture of the Greek speaking world from the Lefkandi Centaur ca. 900 BC to Pasiteles ca. 50 BC.
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[edit] Development of Greek Sculpture
[edit] Geometric
The origins of Greek sculpture have been traditionally ascribed to the wooden cult statues described by Pausanias as xoana[1]. No such statue survives and the descriptions of them are frustratingly vague despite the fact that some were objects of veneration for hundreds of years and in some cases city pallidon.[2] The first piece of Greek statuary come down to us is probably the Lefkandi Centaur (Eretria Mus.) found on Euboia. This terracotta statue of circa 900 BCE was constructed in parts before being dismembered and buried in two separate graves, it bears an intentional mark on its knee perhaps indicating it represents Cheiron and the wound from Herakles’s arrow, if so it would be the first depiction of myth in Greek art.
Of the forms of art from the geometrical period (ca. 900 to 700 BCE) we have terracotta figurines, bronzes and ivories. The bronzes are chiefly tripod cauldrons and freestanding figures or groups. Such bronzes were made using the lost-wax technique probably introduced from Syria and are almost entirely votive offerings left at the Panhellenic sanctuaries of Olympia, Delos and Delphi. These were manufactured elsewhere and a number of local styles may be identified by finds from Athens, Argos and Sparta. Typical works of the era include the Karditsa warrior (Athens Br. 12831) and the many examples of the equestrian statuette (for example, NY Met. 21.88.24 online). The repertory of this bronze work is not confined to standing men and horses however, as with the vase painting of the time we also find stags, birds, beetles, hares, griffins and lions. There are no inscriptions on early to middle geometric sculpture until the appearance of the Mantiklos “Apollo” (Boston 03.997) of the early 7th century found in Thebes. This is a standing figure of a man with an almost daedalic form with the legend “Mantiklos offers me as a tithe to Apollo of the silver bow; do you, Phoibos, give some pleasing favour in return” across his thighs in hexameter verse. Apart from the novelty of recording its own purpose this sculpture it adapts the formulae of oriental bronzes as seen in the shorter more triangular face and slightly advancing left leg. This is sometimes seen as anticipating the greater expressive freedom of the 7th century and as such the Mantiklos figure is referred to in some quarters as proto-daedalic.
[edit] Daedalic
proto-daedalic, early, middle, late-Daedalic.
[edit] Archaic
Egyptian influence, Naxian, Samian, Attic, Argive and Parian kouroi, architectural sculpture, the Dying Warrior, the Kritios Boy.
[edit] Classical
Severe style, high classical, Rich style, Late Classical Plain style.
[edit] Hellenistic
Hellenistic 'Baroque', Hellenistic 'Neo-Classical', Neo-Attic.
[edit] Social and Religious Functions
[edit] Votive
[edit] Architectural
[edit] Other
[edit] Materials and techniques
[edit] Drapery
[edit] Female
 Chiton |
 Diplax |
Kandys |
 Palla over a peplos. |
 Peplos |
Shoulder cords |
Stola |
Tunic |
[edit] Male
|
Chiton |
 Chlamys |
Exomis |
Himation |
|
Tebenna |
Toga |
Tunic |
Pilos hat |
[edit] Social status of sculptors
[edit] Archaeology and collecting
[edit] Theory and criticism
[edit] Notes
- ^ The term xoanon and the ascriptions are both highly problematic. AA Donohue’s Xoana and the origins of Greek sculpture, 1988, details how the term had a variety of meanings in the ancient world not necessarily to do with the cult objects
- ^ see http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/821622
[edit] Bibliography
- Andrew Stewart: Greek Sculpture, Yale, 1990.
- John Boardman: "Greek Sculpture:The Archaic Period, 1978.
- John Boardman: Greek Sculpture:Classical Period , 1987.
- John Boardman: Greek Sculpture:The Late Classical Period, 1995.
- R.R.R Smith: Hellenistic Sculpture, 1991.
- Jenifer Neils: The Parthenon Frieze, 2006.
