This document provides a brief overview of the history of art from prehistoric times through the modern era, focusing on depictions of the human form and beauty standards across different cultures and time periods. Key examples discussed include Venus figurines from prehistoric times, ancient Egyptian and Greek sculptures celebrating beauty ideals, Renaissance masterpieces by artists like Michelangelo and Botticelli, Rococo and Neoclassical works, and modern abstract sculptures. The document traces how representations of the human body, especially women, have evolved over millennia.

1. The Art of Beauty

2. Prehistoric and Ancient Man Venus of Willendorf, ca. 28,000-25,000 BCE Cycladic statuette, ca. 2500-2300 BCE

3. Ancient Egypt Seated statue of Khafre Hatshepsut as Pharaoh

4. Akhenaton, from the Temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, ca. 1353-1335 BCE. Sandstone, approx. 13’ high

5. Nefertiti, from Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, ca. 1353-1335 BCE. Painted limestone, approx. 1’ 8” high.

6. King Menkaure and a Queen Fourth Dynasty, reign of Menkaure. Graywacke with faint remains of paint. Old Kingdom.

7. BACK TO ANCIENT GREECE Kouros, ca. 600 BCE Kritios Boy, ca. 480 BCE Polykleitos, Doryphoros , after a bronze of ca. 450-440 BCE

8. LET’S DO THAT WITH THE FEMALE FORM Peplos Kore, ca. 530 BCE Three goddesses, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, ca. 438-432 BCE Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos , copy after original of ca. 350-340 BCE

9. In Honor of Chanukah . . . Art from the Hellenistic Period: What Was So Appealing?

10. Hellenism: From the Death of Alexander the Great, 323,to 31 BCE

11. Let’s See That Again With Women

12. And with the female nude . . .

13. Real or Too Real: Roman Verism Relief portrait head of a man, c. 1st Century BCE, marble, 9 5/8" height Portrait of the Emperor Antonius Pius, c.138-161 CE, shown with the style of beard made popular by Hadrian. Marble, 15 7/8" height.

14. Augustus Caesar and wife Livia

15. The Human Body in the Middle Ages

16. Good Shepherd Mosaic, 5 th century CE

18. The Last Judgment 1120-35 Tympanum of west portal Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun, France

19. Psychostasy: weighing of souls

20. The Renaissance, 1400-1600 Michelangelo’s God Creating Adam, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, ca. 1511

21. The Pieta was finished in 1499, when Michelangelo was only 24 years old

22. Left: The Cowper Madonna, 1504 Right: Madonna of the Chair , 1518 Raffaello Sanzio, known as Raphael, lived from 1483-1520

23. Titian, Venus of Urbino , 1538

24. Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus , 1485

25. The sculpture is symbolic of three major themes of its day: 1. Good conquers Evil 2. Florence (the defeat of France) 3. Man (can accomplish anything he sets his mind to) Michelangelo’s David , 1501-1504 Here he is . . .

26. David, 1501-1504

28. Gianlorenzo Bernini, David 1623-24 White marble 170 cm Galleria Borghese, Rome

30. The Elevation of the Cross, c. 1610-11 The Judgment of Paris, c. 1600 Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640

31. The Rococo Style Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing , 1766

32. Jean–Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Grand Odalisque , 1814

33. The excess and frivolity of the French nobility led to regime change and Romanticism, the promotion of the individual Theodore Gericault, Portrait of an Insane Woman , 1822

34. Edouard Manet, Olympia , 1863

35. Pablo Picasso, Girl Before a Mirror, ca. 1932 Henri Matisse , Woman Wearing a Hat , 1905

36. Albert Giacometti, Man Pointing , 1947

38. Kiki Smith, Untitled Barbara Kruger, Untitled