.

1. Professor Will Adams
Valencia College

2. v Early Classical Period, ca. 480-450 BCE:
Defeat of Persians, Use of Bronze
Sculpture, more detail in sculpture
v High Classical Period, ca. 450-400 BCE:
Parthenon & Erectheion, Doric and Ionic
Orders, Caryatids, Canon of Polykleitos
v Late Classical Period, ca. 400-323 BCE:
Sparta beats Athens, Corinthian Order,
ends with the death of Alexander the
Great; Praxiteles redefines Polykleitos’
figures; sculptures are created with a more
360-degree interest
v Hellenistic Period, ca. 323-31 BCE

3. v Greek city-states banded
together and defeated the
Persians in 479 BCE
v This victory gave them a
self-confidence that
accelerated their society
and art.
v Lasted until about 450 BCE
Kritios Boy, ca. 480 BCE

4. The use of
hollow-casting
bronze
developed
toward the end
of the Archaic
Period
It made for more
complex, detail
poses.
Charioteer, ca.
470 BCE, Bronze

6. Using bronze allowed
such an extensive
study of the anatomy
that it paved the way
for the achievements
of the Classical
period.
Riace Warrior, ca.
470-460 BCE, Bronze.
With Copper lips and
nipples.

8. Balanced, dynamic poses like this
could only be created with the
invention of
contrapposto.
Contrapposto is the standing human
figure poised in such a way that the
weight rests on one leg (called the
engaged leg), freeing the other leg,
which is bent at the knee. With the
weight shift, the hips, shoulders, and
head tilt, suggesting relaxation with
the subtle internal organic movement
that denotes life.
Statue of Zeus, from the sea off Cape
Artemision. Greece, ca. 460 - 450 BCE

10. The master High Classical sculptor
Polykleitos wrote the treatise entitled
“Canon of Polykleitos”, which was a set of
mathematical rules or laws for creating
scale in human sculptures.
Polykleitos set the proportions for the
head to the body at 1:7.
Polykleitos, Doryphoros, c. 450-440 BCE,
High Classical Greek
Doryphoros means ‘spear-bearer’ in
Greek.

11. This period in Greek history
lasted from about 400-330 BCE
During this time, Sparta
defeated Athens in the
Peloponnesian War
Greek Art still flourished with
Ionic order, and even
introduces Corinthian order for
interiors.
The Romans would later copy
it for their buildings.

12. The Late Classical sculptor Praxiteles
developed even more extensive rules
for proportion in sculpture, based on
the Canon of Polykleitos.
Praxiteles’ canon differs from
Polykleitos’ in that the body of a
Praxitelian figure is 8 heads tall instead
of 7.
Praxiteles, Hermes & Infant Dionysus,
343 BCE, Roman copy of Late Classical
Greek bronze

13. Polykleitos (1:7) Praxiteles (1:8)
1
8
1
7

14. LATE CLASSICAL PERIOD
Praxiteles
AphroditeTaking
A Bath, 350 - 340
BCE
Roman copy of
Late Classical
Greek bronze

15. Lysippos, Apoxyomenos
(The “Scraper”), ca. 320
BCE, Roman copy based on
bronze original
Canon modified to 1:9
1
9

16. Considered the
period between
the death of
Alexander the
Great (323 BCE)
and the
beginnings of
the Roman
Empire (146
BCE)
The Alexander
Mosaic, Roman
copy of Greek
original mosaic,
Pompeii, Italy
ca. 310 BCE

17. Captures
The Ideal &
Perfect
Heroic
Serenity &
Peace
Individual
& Specific
Individual
Emotion
Pathos &
Melodrama

18. THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD

19. This map
shows how
Alexander
the Great’s
kingdom was
broken down
after his
death.
His death
marked the
beginning of
the
Hellenistic
(or “Greek-
like”) period.

20. Nike of
Samothrace,
Samothrace,
Greece; ca. 190
BCE
The wind sweeps
her drapery.
Her himation
bunches in thick
folds around her
right leg, and her
chiton is pulled
tightly across her
abdomen and left
leg.

21. The statues theatrical
effect was amplified by
its setting.
This sculpture was part
of a two-tiered
fountain.
In the lower basin were
large boulders.
The fountain’s flowing
water created the
illusion of rushing waves
dashing up against the
ship.
The sound of splashing
water added an to the
sense of drama.
Art and nature were
combined.

22. Epigonos (?), Gallic Chieftain Killing Himself & His
Wife, ca. 230-220 BCE
The sculptor carefully studied and reproduced the
distinctive features of the foreign Gauls, most notably
their long, bushy hair and mustaches and torques
(neck bands) they frequently wore.
Here, the chieftain drives a sword into his own chest after
having already killed his own wife, as it is evident that he
prefers suicide to surrender and an indefinite life of
slavery.
In the best Lysippan tradition, the group only can be fully
appreciated by walking around it. From one side the
observer sees the Gaul’s intensely expressive face, from
another his powerful body, and from a third the woman’s
limp and almost lifeless body.

23. Dying Gaul,
Pergamon,
Turkey; ca.
230-220 BCE
The depiction
of a variety of
ethnic groups
was a new
concept in
Greek art and
one that would
be pushed
much further
throughout the
Hellenistic age. Again, this depiction is reflective of the drama seen on the stages of
the Greek amphitheaters at this time.

24. The Dying Gaul winces in pain
as blood pours from the large
gash in his chest.
The concept of pathos became
increasingly popular toward the
end of the history of Greek
sculpture.
The musculature was rendered
in an exaggerated manner.
Note the chest’s tautness and
the left leg’s bulging veins -
implying that the unseen hero
who has struck down this noble
and savage foe must have been
an extraordinary man.

25. Dying Gaul,
ca. 230-220 BCE,
Hellenistic
Dying Warrior, c. 500 -
490 BCE, Archaic
Greek

26. Aphrodite of Melos, Melos,
Greece; ca. 150-125 BCE,
Hellenistic Greek
This demonstrates that the
“undressing” of Aphrodite by
Praxiteles had become the norm
by this point in Greek art, but
Hellenistic sculptors went beyond
the Late Classical master an
openly explored the female form’s
eroticism.

27. Her left hand (separately preserved)
holds the apple Paris awarded her
when he judged her as the most
beautiful goddess of all.
Her right hand may have lightly
grasped the edge of her drapery
near the left hip in a halfhearted
attempt to keep it from slipping
farther down her body.

28. Sleeping Saytr (Barberini Faun), Rome,
Italy; ca. 230-220 BCE, Hellenistic Greek
Hellenistic sculptors often portrayed sleep.
This concept is the antithesis of the Classical
ideals of rationality and discipline.
The saytr, a follower of Dionysos, has had
too much wine and has fallen asleep.
It is not surprising that when Hellenistic
sculptors began to explore the human body’s
sexuality, they turned their attention to
both men and women.
Compare the sexuality of this sculpture with
that of the early Archaic kouros figures.

29. Seated Boxer (Terme Boxer), Rome, Italy;
ca. 100-50 BCE, Hellenistic Greek
Hellenistic sculptors often rendered the
common theme of the male athlete in a new
way.
This boxer is not a victorious young athlete
with a perfect face and body, but rather a
heavily battered, defeated veteran whose
upward gaze may have been directed at the
man who had just beaten him.
This boxer’s broken nose, distorted face,
bleeding wounds and “cauliflower ears” add
the sense of realism that the Hellenistic artists
sought.

30. Riace
Warrior
Early
Classical
Greek
Seated
Boxer
Hellenistic
Greek

31. Old Market Woman, Rome, Italy; ca. 150-100
BCE, Roman copy of Hellenistic Greek original
This is one of a series of statues of old men and
women from the lowest rungs of the social order.
Shepherds, fishermen, and drunken beggars are
common- the kind of people who were pictured
earlier on red-figure vases but never before were
thought worthy of monumental statuary.
Hellenistic art reflects a new and unstable social
climate inGreece.
Social instability gave way to the depiction of a
much wider variety of physical types, including
different ethnic types.

32. The woman wears a thin elegant
dress, thong sandals, and a
crown of Dionysiac ivy leaves.
She may be dressed for a festival
and the birds and basket of fruit
she carries might be offerings.
Her garment has slipped off her
shoulder, a detail often seen in
representations of old women
that hints at the liberation of the
elderly from the restrictions
imposed on women of
childbearing years.

33. Laocoön & His Sons, Rome,
Italy; c. 75 CE, Roman copy of
Hellenistic Greek original
A Roman poet vividly described
the strangling of Laocoön and his
two sons by sea serpents while
sacrificing at an altar.
The gods, who favored the Greeks
in the war againstTroy, sent the
serpents to punish Laocoön, who
had tried to warn his compatriots
about the danger of bringing the
Greeks’ wooden horse within the
walls of their city.

34. Everything about this piece
speaks to the Hellenistic
ideal.
The facial expressions are
exaggerated, the muscles
fully flexed, dramatic
movement is indicated,
and strong diagonals
dominate the composition.
The major emphasis of this
piece is the pathos, or
suffering, Laocoön and his
sons endured for defying
the gods.