Classical Period

By: Group 2
• Classical Art was inspired
by the cultures of Greece
and Rome and endures as
the cornerstone of western
civilization.
• Classical Art is also renowned
for its harmony, balance and
sense of proportion. In its painting
and sculpture, it employs
idealized figures and shapes, and
treats its subjects in a non-
anecdotal and emotionally neutral
manner.
•For over the span of
1200 years, ideals of
human beauty and
proportion occupied
art`s subject.
• Renaissance (18th century) and
Neoclassical (19th century)
adapted the variations of
those ideals and it became a
trend throughout Europe.
• Connotations of moral virtue and stability was
embodied during the classical art, making it
attractive to new nations and republics trying
to find an aesthetic vocabulary to convey their
power. But in the 20th century it came under
attack by modern artist who sought to disrupt
and overturn power and traditional ideals.
 Johann Winkelmann
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (/ˈvɪŋkəlˌm
ɑːn/; German: [ˈvɪŋklman];
̩ 9 December
1717 – 8 June 1768) was a German art
historian and archaeologist. ... Many
consider him the father of the discipline
of art history. He was one of the first to
separate Greek Art into periods, and time
classifications.
 Key Ideas
• The human became the noblest subject of art
in Greece and it was the foundation of beauty
for centuries in the western art.

• Classical art strove for greater realism in

anatomical depictions. This realism
encompasses emotional and psychological
realism that created dramatic tensions and
drew in the viewer.
• Greek temple designs started simply and
evolved into more complex and ornate
structure but later it was changed into
symmetrical design and columned exterior to
convey a sense of order and stability.

• Since the middle of the 18th century, art

historical and classical tradition have been
intimately entwined.
• Greek`s created their free-standing sculpture
in bronze, but because bronze is valuable and
can be melted down and reused , sculpture
was often recast into weapons. This is why so
few ancient greek bronze original survive, and
why we often have to look at ancient roman
copies in marble to try to understand what the
Greeks achieved.