Western Art

Greek Art
 The art of ancient Greece has influenced the art of
many countries from ancient times until the present
specifically on the areas of sculpture and architecture.

ARCHAIC PERIOD HELLENISTIC PERIOD

CLASSICAL PERIOD
Greek Art History
ARCHAIC PERIOD
• In history and archaeology, the earliest phases
of a culture; the term is most frequently used
by art historians to denote the period of artistic
development in Greece from about 650 – 480
BC, the date of the Persian sack of Athens.
ARCHAIC PERIOD
• During the Archaic period, Greek art became
less rigidly stylized and more naturalistic.
Paintings on vases evolved from geometric
designs to representations of human figures,
often illustrating epic tales.
ARCHAIC PERIOD
• In sculpture, faces were animated with
characteristics “Archaic smile,” and bodies were
rendered with a growing attention to human
proportion and anatomy. The development of the
Doric and Ionic orders of architecture in the Archaic
period also reflected a growing concern with
harmonious architectural proportions.
Kroisos Kouros, c. 530 BC in
Parian marble, found n
Anavyssos (Greece),
National Archaeological
Museum of Athens.
Peplos kore, circa 530 BC,
Athens, Acropolis Museum
CLASSICAL PERIOD
• In the Classical period there was a revolution
in Greek statuary, usually associated with the
introduction of democracy and the end of the
aristocratic culture associated with the kouroi
CLASSICAL PERIOD
• It saw changes in the style and function of
sculpture. Poses became more naturalistic and
the technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting
the human form in a variety of poses greatly
increased. From about 500 BC statues began to
depict real people.
CLASSICAL PERIOD
• At the same time sculpture and statues were put to
wider uses. The great temples of the Classical era
such as the Parthenon in Athens, and the Temple
of Zeus at Olympia, required relief sculpture for
decorative friezes, and sculpture in the round to fill
the triangular fields of the pediments.
Contrapposto is Italian Cnidus Aphrodite. Marble,
for “opposite” or Roman copy after a Greek
“counter”. In art, it refers original of the 4th century.
to the natural standing Marble; original elements:
position of the human torso and thighs; restored
body, with weight leaning elements: head, arms, legs
on one leg and a shift in and support (drapery and
the body to counter this. jug)
Michelangelo’s David is a
perfect example of this.
Putting the weight on
one leg forces David’s
hips, spine and shoulders
to tilt in order to retain
balance.
WHY OLD BUILDIN
GS USE the SAME LE
AF DESIGN
 Ancient Greek architecture is best known from its temples, many of
which are found throughout the region, and the Parthenon is a
prime example of this, mostly ruins but many substantially intact.

The second important type of building that survives all over the
Hellenic period is the open-air theatre, with the earliest dating
from around 525-480 BC. Other architectural forms that are still
in evidence are the processional gateway (Propylaea), the public
square (Agora) surrounded by storied colonnade (Stoa), the
town council building (Bouleuterion), the public monument, the
monumental tomb (Mausoleum) and the Stadium
The Doric order is the The Doric
earliest of the three entablature includes
Classical orders of a frieze composed of
architecture and triglyphs – vertical
represents an
plaques with 3
important moment in
Mediterranean divisions – and
architecture when metopes – square
monumental spaces for either
construction made the painted or sculpted
transition from decoration. The
impermanent materials The Doric order is characterized by a plain, columns are fluted
(wood) to permanent unadorned column capital and a column and are sturdy, if not
materials (stone) that rest directly on the stylobate of the
temple without a base. stocky proportions.
Ionic order originated in Ionia, a coastal region
of central Anatolia – today Turkey – where a
number of ancient Greek settlements were
located. Volutes, scroll-like ornaments,
characterized the Ionic capital, and a base
supports the column, unlike the Doric Order.

The monumental temple dedicated to Hera

on the Island of Samos, built by the architect
Rhoikos c. 570-560 BCE, was the first of the
great Ionic buildings, although it was
destroyed by earthquake in short order.
The Ionic order is notable for its graceful
proportions, which produce a more slender
and elegant profile than the Doric order. The
ancient Roman architecture Vitruvius
compared the Doric module to a sturdy, male
body, while the Ionic was possessed of more
graceful, feminine proportions. The Ionic order
incorporates a running frieze of continuous
sculptural relief, as opposed to the Doric frieze
composed of triglyphs and metopes.
The Corinthian order is both the latest and the most elaborate
of the Classical orders of architecture. This order was
employed in both Greek and Roman architecture with minor
variations and gave rise, in turn, to the Composite order.

The origins of the order were connected in antiquity

with the Greek city-state of Corinth, where, according
to the architectural writer Vitruvius, the sculptor
Callimachus drew a set of Acanthus leaves surrounding
a votive basket (vitr. 4.1.9-10). In archaeological terms,
the earliest known Corinthian capital comes from the
Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae and dates to c. 427
BCE.
The defining element of the Corinthian order is its
elaborate, carved capital which incorporates even
more vegetal elements than the Ionic order does.
The stylized, carved leaves of an acanthus plant
grow around the capital, generally terminating
just below the abacus. The Romans favored the
Corinthian order, perhaps due to its slender
properties. The order is employed in numerous
notable Roman architectural monuments,
including the Temple of Mars Ultor, the Pantheon
in Rome, and the Maison Carree in Nimes.
PARTHENON
(ACROPOLIS)
PARTHENON
• Temple that dominates the hill of the Acropolis at
Athens. It was built in the mid-5th century BCE and
dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena Parthenos
(Athena the Virgin). The temple is generally
considered to be the culmination of the
development of the Doric order, the simplest of the
three Classical Greek architectural orders.
PARTHENON
• Directed by the Athenian statesman Pericles, the
Parthenon was built by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates
under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias. Work began
in 447 BCE, and the building itself was completed by 438.
The same year, a great gold and ivory statue of Athena,
made by Phidias for the interior, was dedicated. Work on
the exterior decoration of the building continued until 432
BCE.
PARTHENON
• A colonnade of fluted, baseless columns with square
capitals stands on a three-stepped base and supports an
entablature, or roof structure, consisting of a plain
architrave, or band of stone; a frieze of alternating triglyphs
(vertically grooved blocks) and metopes (plain blocks with
relief sculpture, now partly removed); and, at the east and
west ends, a low triangular pediment, also with relief
sculpture (now mostly removed).
PARTHENON
• The colonnade, consisting of 8 columns on the east and
west and 17 on the north and south, encloses a walled
interior rectangular chamber, or cella, originally divided
into three aisles by two smaller Doric colonnades closed at
the west end just behind the great cult statue. The only
light came through the east doorway, except for some that
might have filtered through the marble tiles in the roof and
ceiling.
PARTHENON
• Behind the cella, but not originally connected with
it, is a smaller, square chamber entered from the
west. The east and west ends of the interior of the
building are each faced by a portico of six columns.
Measured by the top step of the base, the building is
101.34 feet (30.89 metres) wide and 228.14 feet
(69.54 metres) long.
CLICK THE PICTURE
ANCIENT GREEK COINAGE
ANCIENT GREEK JEWELRY
GREEK POTTERY