This Powerpoint slideshow presentation briefly sketches the development of sculpture in ancient Greece, from its humble beginning in the Greek islands to its zenith in the Hellenistic age.  It maps out the milestones and advances made in stages, with the help of images of Greek masterpieces, like the Sulky Kore, the Kritios Boy, the Artemision Bronze, the Riace Bronzes etc.  The Ancient Greece is unique amongst the ancient civilizations to develop such very level high of naturalism, with its expressive and life-like sculptures.  According to some art historians they were driven largely by the spirit rooted in the belief that man is a free, indeed an exalted, being or simply their idea and love of beauty.   "Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now“

1. First created 15 Mar 2012. Version 3.0 - 24 Apr 2021. Daperro. London.
Ancient Greek
Sculpture
Thought to be the poet Sophokles
(c496-406 BCE). Made in 300-100BC.
British Museum Aug 2005.

2. Cycladic 2500-2000 BC
The story of Greek sculpture
began around 4000 years ago in
the Greek islands, where they
made simple white marble
models of gods and goddesses.

3. Minoan 1700-1500 BC
There were few statues found in
Minoan Crete. This is the ‘Snake
Goddess’ found in a family shrine.

4. Mycenaean 1600-1100 BC
This female painted
plaster head is believed
to be the head of a
sphinx.
Mycenae was a palatial
walled city state in the
mainland Greece in the
last phase of the Bronze
Age. It represented the
first advanced and
distinctively Greek
civilization

5. This statue was amongst some of
the earliest Greek statue. It
depicted an archaic goddess.
Statues at this time were stiff,
unlike those of Ancient Egypt and
often carried an Archaic smile.
The Lady of Auxerre. 650-625
BC. 75 cm. Limestone. Archaic.
Cretan. Musee du Louvre.
Archaic 700-500 BC
Archaic

6. Most of the sculptures were
created primarily for the
purpose of idol worships.
Most were less than life-size.
Demeter, goddess of fertility on a
throne. 6C BC. Terracotta. Archaic.
Cretan. Found in Grammichele,
Sicily.
Archaic 799-500 BC
On the statue she had an
unmistakable archaic Greek
smile. The archaic smiles
were used in the 2nd quarter
of the 6C BC, possible to
suggest that the sculpture
was alive and in good health.

7. Funeral markers begin to
appear in Greece. The
similarity with the Egyptian
sculpture can be seen here.
But the Greek sculpture
carries a smile and the
genital is clearly shown. The
Greek statue is slightly
larger than life-size.

8. By the Middle Archaic
period from 580 BC –
535 BC, attentions were
shifted to kouros and
kore sculptures of
young men and women,
with emphasis on bodily
beauty but the poses
were still stiff and
conformed to
stereotypes.
Archaic 799-500 BC

9. Kore. 530-520 BC. Marble. Height 2.01 m. Archaic. Acropolis Museum Athens.
Archaic 799-500 BC

10. Kore (no 680). 530-520 BC. Marble.
Archaic. Acropolis Museum Athens.
Unlike her male counterpart, she is
fully dressed, with elaborate
drapery and hair style. She still
carries the archaic smile.
Archaic 799-500 BC

11. This was an unusual subject
matter, showing a man from
Attic, who came to Athens to
make a sacrificial offer of a calf
to the goddess.
The Calf-Bearer (The Moschophoros).
570 BC. Marble. Height 1.65m. Archaic.
Acropolis Museum Athens.
It is a pleasing sculpture with
the calf gently carried on the
shoulder of the owner.
Archaic 799-500 BC

12. Wounded Warrior from Temple of Aegina. C490-480 BC. Marble. Length 1.78m (Life-
size). Late Archaic. On the East Pediment of Aegina Temple. Staatliche
Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich.
Archaic 799-500 BC

13. The arrival of the Severe Style
marked the beginning of the end of
the Archaic style. Greek society
underwent a transformation to
become a leading civilisation in
the eastern Mediterranean.
The Athena of Aegina, wearing a helmet. c460
BC. Aeginetan. Greek. Musee du Louvre.
During this time, the
Mediterranean markets were
flooded with Greek pottery.
Schools of philosophy were
flourishing. The city of Athens was
in the ascent. Greek art was
changing.
Archaic 799-500 BC

14. The Sulky Kore. 480 BC. Marble. Height 1.65m.
Archaic. Acropolis Museum Athens.
This is a well proportioned and
beautifully sculpted Kore, in
severe style. It is called ‘sulky’
because she does not carry the
Archaic smile. Carved by the
same artist who made the Kritios
Boy (on a later slide).
Archaic 799-500 BC

15. 480-336 BCE
Classical
The concept of beauty was an
expression of the inner beauty.
Artists used their power of
observation, created even more
naturalistic sculptures with
increasing details.
Blonde Boy. 480 BC. Marble. Classical.
Acropolis Museum Athens.
Classical 480-336 BC

16. Kritios Boy or Critin Boy marked the
emergence of a new sculptural style, the
Classical style. The proportion of the boy’s
torso was near perfection, with life-like
accuracy.
Sculptures began to shift away from the
stiffness of the archaic style to a more life-
like posture. The weight of the sculpture
was supported by the left leg, while the right
leg was bent at the knee. The spine
acquired an “S” curve and the shoulder line
dipped to the left to balance the action at
the pelvis.
Classical 480-336 BC

17. These ‘movements’
were achieved by
dividing the body
into four main
sections. The arms
and the legs were
bent independently.
The body above the
waist was twisted to
produce a more
natural posture.
Ares Borghese. 5C BC
(Roman copy). Marble.
Classical. Height 2.1m.
Musee du Louvre.
Classical 480-336 BC

18. Horse head. Archaic Style from
the Acropolis Museum, Athens.
Horse head of Selene from the pediment of the
Parthenon, Athens. 447-432 BC. British Museum,
The two horses’ heads summarised the
advances made by the Classical Greek. The
horse of Selene (above) had just pulled the
chariot of Selene across the sky. It was
absolutely exhausted, with bulging eyes. Its
veins were clearly visible, with opened
mouth and nostrils enlarged, grasping for air.
Classical 480-336 BC

19. On the tympanum of the Temple of Marasa. Late 5C BC, Marble. National Museum of Reggio di Calabria
Classical 480-336 BC

20. The statue was offered by a tyrant
of Gela (Sicily) to the Delphic
sanctuary to commemorate his
victory in the chariot race at the
Games.
The Charioteer of Delphi. 474 or 478 BC.
Bronze. Height 180cm. Classical. Delphi
Museum.
Classical 480-336 BC

21. The original was made by Myron.
Classical 480-336 BC

22. Bronze head of Apollo (?),
found in the Tamassos,
Cyprus. 470-460 BC. Bronze.
Classical. British Museum.
Classical 480-336 BC

23. An exceptional bronze
with arms fully
extended, an
achievement showing
the advance made by
only a generation of
sculptors later, since
the austere Archaic
style.
Artemision Bronze (Zeus
or Poseidon). 460 BC.
Bronze. Height 2.1m
Classical. National
Archaeological Museum
of Athens.
Classical 480-336 BC

24. Artemision Bronze – Zeus or Poseidon. 460 BC. Greek. National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
The statue was recovered from the sea off Cape Artemision (Euboea). It is life-size.
Classical 480-336 BC

25. Two full size bronzes of exceptional quality
were found in 1972 off the coast of Italy.
They are known as the Riace Bronzes.
Classical 480-336 BC

26. The Riace
Bronzes
Classical 480-336 BC

27. The Riace Bronzes had gone beyond the depiction of life-like proportions, as in the
Kritios Boy. The grove in the back was exaggerated to show a ‘an ideal’ body form.
Classical 480-336 BC

28. Philosopher of Porticello. 420-410 BC.
Bronze. Classical. Museo Archaeologico
Nazional di Reggio Calabria.
Classical 480-336 BC

29. Bust of Pericles. c430 BC. Marble. Classical. Vatican Museum, Rome.
Pericles was a prominent
Athenian statesman, who
successful created the
Athenian Empire.
Classical 480-336 BC

30. Classical 480-336 BC

31. Praxiteles was a well-known 4C BC
sculptor. He was the first to sculpt
the nude female form in life-size
statue. Numerous copies of his
works have survived.
Hermes Farness. Roman copy of a c325 BC
sculpture. Marble. Height 2.01m. Classical.
Original by Praxiteles. Greek. British Museum.
Classical 480-336 BC

32. Praxiteles was the first to sculpt the nude female in life -size statue.
Classical 480-336 BC

33. Aphrodite or Venus
Classical 480-336 BC

34. Dancing Satyr. Roman copy of a 4C BC
statue. Marble. Attributed to Lysippus.
Classical. Greek. Galleria Borghese,
Rome.
Classical 480-336 BC
This is a copy of the Lysippus’
Dancing Satyr by Berthel
Thorvaldsen. Instead of holding
the flute in the original by
Lysippus, this figure is holding
crotals, a musical instruments
similar to cymbals.

35. 336-146 BCE
Hellenistic
With the arrival of Alexander the
Great, Greek sculptors had
taken their art to another level of
realism and exaggeration. Their
sculptures became even more
expressive.
The Bronze Head of Delos. Mid-Late 2C
BC. Bronze. Hellenistic. Greek. National
Archaeological Museum Athens.
The head showed a new level of
realistic individualized features,
with a hint of an emotional
expression.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

36. The bronze was found in
Olympia, sculpted by Silanion.
It is an exceptional piece,
showing the battered bruised
face of a boxer, marked by
swellings and wrinkles.
Head of a Boxer. 330-320 BC. Bronze.
Hellenistic . Greek. National
Archaeological Museum Athens.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

37. Hellenistic 336-145 BC

38. Hellenistic 336-145 BC

39. Sleeping Hermaphrodite, showing the female (top) as well as the male side (bottom). Roman copy of a 2C BC
Greek sculpture. Marble. Hellenistic . Greek. Musee du Louvre.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

40. Hellenistic 336-145 BC

41. This is the story
telling sculpture of
Laocoon with its
exaggerated feeling
of pain.
Laocoon & His sons. Roman
copy of a 175-150 BC
sculpture. Marble. By
Agesander, Polydorus and
Athenodorus of Rhodes.
Hellenistic . Greek. Vatican
Museum, Rome.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

42. Hellenistic 336-145 BC

43. Winged Victory of Samothrace. c190 BC.
Marble. Span 3.3m. Hellenistic . Greek.
Muses du Louvre, Paris.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC
Nike, the allegory for victory, maybe
represented with wings unfurled and
set upon ship’s prow: for she
celebrate a battle. But these wings
are also the attribute of other divine
forces which connect heaven to
earth, gods to men and men to
beyond: Iris, the personification of
the rainbow Hypnos the god of
sheep, often accompanied his
brother, Thanatos, Aelous, master of
Wind, followed by Boreas, god of the
north wind, Zephyr, god of the
breeze or West wind.

44. Hellenistic 336-145 BC

45. Molossian Hound. Probably 2C BC.
Marble. Hellenistic . Greek. British
Museum, London.
The Greek sculptors
extended their expressive
portrait of human to
animals. Only five
Roman copies of this
Greek bronze are known to
exist.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

46. Hellenistic 336-145 BC

47. Venus de Milo. c120 BC. Marble. Height 2.02m.
Alexandros of Antioch. Hellenistic . Greek. Musee du
Louvre, Paris.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

48. Lely’s Venus (Aphrodite Crouching at her
Bath). Roman copy of 1C BC Greek
original. Marble. British Museum, London.
Hellenistic 336-145 BC

49. Hellenistic 336-145 BC
Lely’s Venus (Aphrodite Crouching at her
Bath). Roman copy of 1C BC Greek
original. Marble. British Museum, London.

50. Pergamon
marbles
Pergamon was a Greek city in
Turkey, along the Aegean coast.
In 2C BC, their ruler began
construction of the Pergamon
Great Altar to rival the sculpture
art of the Greek cities in the
mainland.
The centrepiece was a 34.7m
huge sculptural frieze depicting
the mortal battle between the
gods and the giants, who once
ruled the world.
Unlike the Parthenon’s calm and
serene sculptures, in Athens, the
Pergamon’s sculptures are about
excitement, wild movement and
strong feeling.

51. Pergamon

52. Pergamon

53. Pergamon
Frieze, on the steps of the Great Altar.

54. Amongst the ancient civilisations of
the world, only the Greek had
produced such naturalistic and life-
like sculptures. Some 1500 years
later, with the arrival of
Michelangelo, these sculptures were
finally surpassed.

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End
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