Ancient Greek sculpture from the classical era. Late classic
LECTURE
Art of the Classical Period Ancient Greece.
Hellenistic Greece.
The rise of Athens in the middle V century BC is inextricably linked with the activities of Pericles, who led the city for 15 years (444-429 BC). The intellectual elite grouped around him: people of art and science (the poet Sophocles, the architect Hippodamus, the “father of history” Herodotus), famous philosophers. On the slopes Athens Acropolis in the Theater of Dionysus the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and the comedies of Aristophanes were presented.
During the classical period, the Greeks were engaged in fresco painting on mythological and heroic subjects. Time has not preserved the works, but the names of the masters have survived - Polygnotus, Apollodorus.
In red-figure vase painting, figures are depicted from complex angles (masters Euphrosius, Duris, Brig). By the end V V. BC. Vase painting declines, losing its individuality and turning into a craft.
In this period further development received by the order system. The following main types of Greek temples emerge:
1. temple in anta
2. prostyle
3. amphiprostyle
4. peripter
5. dipter
6. pseudoperipter
7. tholos (rotunda)
Early Classic (first half Vcentury).
Sculpture and architecture are developing as complementary forms of art. There is a gradual transition from archaic chained sculpture to classical, expressing “Olympic calm,” restraint, solemnity (sculpture of the Delphic Charioteer, 476 BC). There was also monumental painting, which has not survived to this day. The temples were also painted and colored. The most famous temple of this time is the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (470-456 BC).
High classic.
The sculptors Myron, Polykleitos, and Phidias worked in Athens. Their bronze statues have come down to us in Roman marble copies. I - II centuries. BC.
The sculpture of Myron “Discobolus” was made in 460-450. BC. The author depicts an athlete at the moment of maximum tension before throwing a discus, conveying internal movement with external staticity. The sculpture “Athena and Marsyas” was created by the master for the Acropolis of Athens. The forest creature - Marsyas - selects an instrument, Athena looks at him with anger. The figures are united by action, the imperfection of Marsyas is reflected in the expression of his face, the figure remains perfect.
Polycletus from Argos wrote a theoretical treatise “Canon” (rule), where he accurately calculated the sizes of body parts based on human height as a unit of measurement (head 1/7 of height, face and hand - 1/10, foot - 1/6). Polykleitos expressed his ideal in the restrained, powerful, calmly majestic images of “Doryphoros” (spearman, 450-440 BC), “Early Amazon”.
In 480-479 BC. The Persians captured and plundered Athens and the main sanctuaries on the Acropolis. Among the ruins, Phidias creates a 7-meter statue of Athena the warrior (Athena-Pompados) with a spear and shield in her hands as a symbol of the revival of the city (the statue died in XIII V.). Around 448 BC. Phidias creates a 13-meter statue of Zeus for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (died in V V). From 449 BC The reconstruction of the Athens Acropolis began during the heyday of Greek democracy. Phidias gave sixteen years to the Acropolis. He supervised the construction and carried out sculptural work on the main temple. Once every four years, a party with gifts to the goddess Athena stretched along the sacred road from Athens to the Acropolis (Panathenaic festivals). The procession passed through the main entrance to the hill - Propylaea (architect Mesicles, 437-432 BC), consisting of an Ionic colonnade between two Doric porticos - to the Acropolis square. To the right of the Propylaea, on a ledge of rock stood the temple of Athena Nike (architect Kalskikrat, 449-421 BC) of the Ionic order with a wooden sculpture of Nike Apteros (wingless) inside the temple. The procession headed to the main temple of the Acropolis - the Parthenon (70´ 31m, height 8m) It combines the features of the Doric order (columns) and Ionic (frieze). Here there is proportionality of parts, accuracy of calculations. Inside the temple there was a statue of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin), 13 m high, made by Phidias in 447-438. BC. The last building of the Acropolis was the Erechtheion (dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and the mythical king Erechtheus). On one of the three porticos, instead of columns, the ceiling is supported by caryatids.
The end of High Classics coincides with the deaths of Phidias (431 BC) and Pericles. Pericles said: “We love beauty combined with simplicity, and wisdom without distortion.”
In the architecture of the late classics (410-350 BC), in contrast to the early and high architecture, there is no sense of proportion (mesotes), there is a desire for the grandiose, the outwardly magnificent.
The gigantic tomb of King Mausoleum in Halicarnassus (architects Pinaeus and Satyr, 353 BC), from which the later name “mausoleum” came, ended with a chariot with horses and was decorated with a 150-meter frieze depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons. The mausoleum combined the pomp and solemnity of oriental decor with the grace of the Greek Ionic order.
During this period, the Corinthian order appeared.
Sculpture shows interest in the spiritual world of man; plastic art reflects its complex, less straightforward characteristics. The masculine beauty of an athlete is replaced by a somewhat feminine, graceful beauty. At this time, the sculptors Praxiteles, Lysippos, and Scopas were working.
Praxiteles owns the first depiction of a naked female figure in Greek art (“Aphrodite of Cnidus”). This image reflects sadness, thoughtfulness, and contemplation. The sculpture “Hermes with Dionysus” was created by the hand of a master. Hermes is the patron of trade and travelers, messenger, courier of the gods.
The sculpture “Maenad” or “Dancing Bacchante” by Skopas is designed to be viewed from all points of view. The Bacchante is the companion of the god of wine Dionysus (among the Romans - Bacchus).
Lysippos worked in bronze and, according to ancient writings, left behind 1,500 statues. He showed athletes not at the moment of greatest tension, but, as a rule, at a moment of relaxation, after competitions (“Apoxiamenes cleaning off the sand”, “Hercules at rest”). Lysippos created his own canon human body(the head in which is 1/9 of the height). He was the court sculptor of A. Macedonian, he made giant multi-figure compositions and portraits.
Hellenistic Greece.
This period is associated with the conquests of Philip and then Alexander the Great. The cultures of Ancient Greece and eastern countries. During the Hellenistic era, mathematics, medicine, natural philosophy, and astronomy developed. Their development is associated with the names of Archimedes, Euclid, and the astronomer Hipparchus.
Cities are being actively built, often as military settlements. The “Hippodamian system” is used, known since V V. BC. According to it, the streets were laid at right angles, the city was divided into squares of residential areas. The main square, the agora, was the administrative and commercial center.
The architecture gravitated towards gigantic size. A diptera appears - a type of temple with two rows of columns.
The complex development of the giant power gave rise to the creation of a number of art schools (on the island of Rhodes, Alexandria, Pergamon, and on the territory of Greece itself).
The following sculptures belong to the Rhodian art school: “Nike of Samothakia” (uncontrollable aspiration, solemn image), “Aphrodite of Milo” (sculptor Agesander, 120 BC), “Laocoon with his sons” (masters Agesander, Athenodorus, Polydorus, 40-25 BC, theatrical poses, a lot of detail).
The Alexandrian school correlates with the everyday movement in sculpture (“An old man removing a splinter from his leg”). Decorative sculpture also developed, decorating parks and villas (“Boy with a Goose”).
The Pergamon School is interesting for the Altar of Zeus, created in 180 BC. masters Diosinad, Orestes, Menecrates. A relief frieze 130m long and 2.3m high on the base of the altar depicts the battle of gods with giants. Characterized by exaggerated emotions and emphasized dynamics. The sculpture “Gall Killing Himself and His Wife” belongs to the same school.
Thus, Greek art is associated with the classical period of its heyday, with the development of harmonious architectural proportions (architectonics), with the search for the image of an ideal person, with simplicity and balance, with the clear integrity of what is depicted and embodied.
The fifth century in the history of Greek sculpture of the classical period can be called a “step forward.” The development of sculpture in Ancient Greece in this period is associated with the names of such famous masters as Myron, Polyclene and Phidias. In their creations, the images become more realistic, if one can say, even “alive,” and the schematism that was characteristic of archaic sculpture decreases. But the main “heroes” remain the gods and “ideal” people.
Myron, who lived in the mid-5th century. BC e, known to us from drawings and Roman copies. This brilliant master had an excellent command of plasticity and anatomy, and clearly conveyed freedom of movement in his works (“Discobolus”). His work “Athena and Marsyas” is also known, which was created on the basis of the myth about these two characters. According to legend, Athena invented the flute, but while playing she noticed how ugly the expression on her face changed; in anger, she threw the instrument and cursed everyone who would play it. She was watched all the time by the forest deity Marsyas, who was afraid of the curse. The sculptor tried to show the struggle of two opposites: calm in the face of Athena and savagery in the face of Marsyas. Modern art connoisseurs still admire his work and his animal sculptures. For example, about 20 epigrams on a bronze statue from Athens have been preserved.
Polykleitos, who worked in Argos, in the second half of the 5th century. BC e, is a prominent representative of the Peloponnesian school. The sculpture of the classical period is rich in his masterpieces. He was a master of bronze sculpture and an excellent art theorist. Polykleitos preferred to portray athletes, in whom ordinary people always saw an ideal. Among his works are the famous statues of "Doryphoros" and "Diadumen". The first job is that of a strong warrior with a spear, the embodiment of calm dignity. The second is a slender young man with a competition winner's bandage on his head.
Phidias is another prominent representative of the creator of sculpture of the classical period. His name resounded brightly during the heyday of Greek classical art. His most famous sculptures were the colossal statues of Athena Parthenos and Zeus in the Olympic Temple made of wood, gold and ivory, and Athena Promachos, made of bronze and located on the square of the Acropolis of Athens. These masterpieces of art are irretrievably lost. Only descriptions and small Roman copies give us a faint idea of the magnificence of these monumental sculptures.
Athena Parthenos, a striking sculpture from the classical period, was built in the Parthenon Temple. It had a 12-meter wooden base, the body of the goddess was covered with ivory plates, and the clothes and weapons themselves were made of gold. The approximate weight of the sculpture is two thousand kilograms. Surprisingly, the gold pieces were removed and weighed again every four years, since they were the gold fund of the state. Phidias decorated the shield and pedestal with reliefs on which he depicted himself and Pericles in battle with the Amazons. For this he was accused of sacrilege and sent to prison, where he died.
The statue of Zeus is another masterpiece of sculpture from the classical period. Its height is fourteen meters. The statue depicts the supreme Greek deity seated with the goddess Nike in his hand. The statue of Zeus, according to many art historians, is greatest creation Fidia. It was built using the same technique as when creating the statue of Athena Parthenos. The figure was made of wood, depicted naked to the waist and covered with ivory plates, and the clothes were covered with gold sheets. Zeus sat on the throne and in his right hand he held the figure of the goddess of victory Nike, and in his left there was a rod, which was a symbol of power. The ancient Greeks perceived the statue of Zeus as another wonder of the world.
Athena Promachos (circa 460 BC), a 9-meter bronze sculpture of ancient Greece, was built right among the ruins after the Persians destroyed the Acropolis. Phidias “gives birth” to a completely different Athena - in the form of a warrior, an important and strict protector of her city. She has a powerful spear in her right hand, a shield in her left, and a helmet on her head. Athena in this image represented the military power of Athens. This sculpture of ancient Greece seemed to reign over the city, and everyone who traveled by sea along the shores could contemplate the top of the spear and the crest of the statue’s helmet sparkling in the rays of the sun, covered in gold. In addition to the sculptures of Zeus and Athena, Phidias creates bronze images of other gods using the chrysoelephantine technique, and takes part in sculpting competitions. He was also the leader of large construction works, for example, the construction of the Acropolis.
ABSTRACT
In the discipline "Russian and foreign art"
on the topic “Sculpture of Ancient Greece during the Classical Age. Leading masters and main monuments"
Saint Petersburg
2009
1. Introduction
At the end of the 6th century. BC e. Many changes took place in Greek cities. The tyrannies of the past were replaced by slave-owning democracy. Turbulent internal political events were accompanied by the outbreak that broke out at the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. a fierce and prolonged war with the Persians (only in 449 BC was peace concluded).
The significance of the Greco-Persian conflict goes far beyond the boundaries of the dispute between two ancient peoples. It was a clash of opposing worldviews: the Hellenic cities with their new democratic aspirations opposed the despotic rule of the Persian monarchy. It is difficult to say how European civilization would have developed if the Persians had strangled the Hellenic culture.
It was during this period of trials that befell the Greeks that a clearly expressed turning point in art occurred. The archaic, largely conventional reproduction of reality was replaced by a classical one - closer to the embodiment of visible reality as it seemed to man. The convention inherent in the monuments of art of all times did not disappear completely, but only took on new forms in plastic and pictorial images that were outwardly closer to reality.
The classical period in Hellenic art, according to generally accepted periodization, lasted about two centuries and fell on the V-IV centuries. BC e., however, within its limits it is necessary to distinguish several stages.
In the era of the early classics (the first half of the 5th century BC), artistic images are characterized by increased dynamism of forms, many elements of late archaic convention are still preserved, and emotional tension caused by the general situation during the years of fierce battles with the Persians is felt. Later, in the second half of the 5th century. BC e., when the Greek world reaped the fruits of its victory in the war, the images of art acquired a predominantly confidently calm, proud and solemn character. This time of the heyday of Hellenic culture, when outstanding sculptors Polykleitos, Phidias and other great masters worked, is called high classics. At the end of the 5th century. BC e. there was a transition to the late classics (IV century BC). Monuments with a new emotional sound - sometimes extremely disturbing, sometimes elegiac and dreamy - arose in the workshops of such sculptors as Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippos.
2. Sculpture of Ancient Greece from the Early Classical era
The largest sculptors of the early classics are Pythagoras of Rhegium and Myron. We judge the work of famous Greek sculptors mainly from literary evidence and later copies of their works.
2.1. Pythagoras of Rhegium
Pythagoras of Rhegium was born on the island Samos , subsequently moved to Rhegium in southern Italy. Pythagoras of Rhegium was a contemporary and rival Mirona . They spoke of him as the first sculptor in whose work an attempt was made to maintain rhythm and proportionality. Ancient sources depict Pythagoras as one of the most brilliant masters of a strict style. Pythagoras worked on orders from many Greek cities in the Balkans, eastern and western Greece. His creative life supposedly lasted 40 years, from 480 to 440 BC. Judging by the brief remarks of ancient writers on his style, Pythagoras was an innovator. He was the first to depict “muscles and veins” and to interpret hair more realistically. According to legend, Pythagoras of Rhegium is also the author of the term “ symmetry ", with which he denoted a spatial pattern in the arrangement of identical parts of a figure or the figures themselves. The sculptor’s particular interest was focused on the figures of athletes, who, after the end of the wars, acquired a very special, almost heroic status in the art of Hellas.
Based on these data in small bronzes (Pythagoras was a bronzer) and among Roman copies reflecting works of a strict style, scientists selected those that best satisfied all these characteristics. Most likely, the image of an athlete, depicted in the bronze figurine of the Athlete from Aderno (c. 460 BC), goes back to Pythagoras. The young man is depicted standing, with his hands slightly spread to the sides: he was pouring a libation from a bowl. He seems to be standing calmly, but in fact there is no rigidity in his figure: he turns his head towards the supporting leg. There is a “tectonic” concept in the construction of the figure, presented in a very mature and original way. However, the athlete from Aderno, standing, continues to move jerkily; it seems that he froze only for a minute and immobility is an unusual state for him. Despite the fact that the figure is designed for frontal perception, the plasticity of the body is developed subtly and involves a circular walk.
The reflection of the Pythagorean statue of the cithared Cleon, made for Thebes, is seen in a bronze figurine from the Hermitage (c. 460 - 450 BC). The Hermitage lyre player is almost a boy, he sits on a rock, playing an instrument; the upper part of the body is naked, the lower part is covered with a cloak. The young man is cheerful and energetic, very relaxed, and it seems, as in the case of the athlete from Aderno, that the action did not freeze at the moment the master fixed it - it continues. The figurine is well made, it is also round, with an original contrast of loaded and free parts.
Among the works of Pythagoras is the original statue of the lame Philoctetes. Pliny reports that the viewer, looking at Philoctetes, felt the same acute pain that the hero experienced when bitten on the heel by a snake on the island of Lemnos. The story of Philoctetes, an outstanding archer who wielded the bow of Hercules, is intertwined with the history of the Trojan War: the hero will be taken to Troy by the Achaeans from the island of Lemnos, and he will be destined to hit the Trojan Paris with an arrow. It is important that Pythagoras does not choose a brilliant act in the fate of Philoctetes, but, on the contrary, a difficult, suffering one. The choice of a physically handicapped - lame - hero is indicative of a strict style with its love for extraordinary events, but still unique.
Apparently, Pythagoras was not only a “singer of physical power,” as a number of scientists believe. Even in calmly standing figures it remained dynamic and pulsating. His art glorifies the courageous heroes of post-war Hellas in the 5th century. BC. in a style that represents a unique synthesis of Ionian, Dorian and southern Italian traditions.
2.2. Miron
Myron, Greek sculptor of the 5th century. BC, representative of the transitional period in sculpture from the early classics to the art of Periclean times. Born in the town of Eleuthera on the border of Attica and Boeotia. The ancients characterize him as the greatest realist and expert in anatomy, who, however, did not know how to give life and expression to faces. He depicted gods, heroes and animals; according to reviews of ancient connoisseurs, he sought to convey maximum tension in the image. His activity dates back to approximately the middle of the 5th century. - the time of victories of three athletes, whose statues he sculpted in 456, 448 and 444 BC. Myron was an older contemporary of Phidias and Polykleitos and was considered one of the greatest sculptors of his time. He worked in bronze, but none of his works have survived; they are known mainly from copies.
His most famous work is “The Discus Thrower” (c. 450 BC), an athlete intending to throw a discus, a statue that has survived to this day in several copies, of which the best is made of marble and is located in the Massimi Palace (in Rome).
The statue was bronze. The young man is depicted at the moment of preparation for throwing the discus, in a dynamic pose, as if frozen for a moment. A second later, he straightened out like a spring and threw his disk. The figure is constructed in such a way that the whole body of the young man is not only bent, but also rotates: the free left leg rests on the toes, the torso is extremely tense, the chest and face are turned full face, but the gaze is directed not at the viewer, not directly, but at the disc. The discus thrower has excellent proportions and is anatomically perfectly constructed. The figure is very naturalistic in its individual parts and at the same time completely ideal as a whole. The head of the Discobolus, considered separately, has a strong asymmetry of the two halves: the left cheek is rounder, the eye is narrower and more elongated, the eyebrow is curved more steeply, the mouth is slanted to the side. But since the head is lowered down and is seen by the viewer in a difficult position, these adjustments are designed to harmonize the general. This bold and original figure, with a bright ideal space, invading the world angle and suggesting an instant change in disposition (in a minute, instead of the head, a disk will cut through the front space) - the statue of the Discobolus is built with an orientation towards the frontal point of view. It is not round, not voluminous. When viewed in profile, it shrinks and narrows, losing its volume, and its rear view is incomplete. Myron’s magnificent and dynamic design is realized in a flattened – planimetric – scheme. However, this is by no means a shortcoming of Myron, but distinguishing feature his talents. Many Athenian sculptors, including Phidias, were more inclined towards such facade aspects than the round Dorian form.
Another famous monument of Myron is the group of Athena with Marsyas, (c. 450 BC), dedicated to the Acropolis of Athens. It was reconstructed on the basis of a number of sources: mentions of ancient authors, an image on an Attic red-figure vase around 440 BC. (Berlin, State Museums) and Roman copies.
Myron presented a situation typical of the strict style: the clash of the Olympian goddess with a lower deity, the strong man Marsyas. The legend tells how Athena invented the flute, but when she saw her reflection on the surface of the water with puffy cheeks, she threw the instrument away in indignation. The strong Marsyas crept up to grab the flute, but Athena threatened him with a curse and forbade him to touch the flute.
Myron organically combined his statues. He connects them both psychologically - with a single flute motif, a single action, and optically - with contrast and consonance of rhythmic movements. A marble copy of "Marsyas" (the original was cast in bronze) stood for many years in the Lateran Museum as an independent statue, until, based on images on coins and the story of Pausanias, it was possible to establish that "Marsyas" represented part of a group.
3. Sculpture of Ancient Greece from the High Classical era
In the art of high classics, ideas and feelings that were universal in their essence were embodied with particular force. Striving to express the deep, hidden meaning of an artistic image as clearly and generally as possible, the masters freed themselves as much as possible from everything that seemed to them too detailed and specific.
Art forms throughout the 5th century. BC e. changed very noticeably. The dynamics and mobility of the predominantly heroic images of the early classics, the character of which was determined by the tension of all the forces of the Hellenes during the Persian wars, gave way to a sublime peace that corresponded to the mood of the Greeks, who realized the significance of their victory.
Athens, where the main finances of the union were concentrated, prospered. These are the years of the reign of Pericles, who stood at the head of the Athenian democracy, a time of intense activity of the great sculptors Phidias and Polycletus. Athens, destroyed by the Persians, was rebuilt, and the most talented architects, sculptors, and painters came there to create a magnificent ensemble of buildings on the Acropolis. Athens became one of the most famous and beautiful cities of that time. The pinnacle of ancient Greek sculpture was, apparently, the chrysoelephantine statues of Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus by Phidias (both have not survived).
3.1. Phidias
Phidias, an ancient Greek sculptor considered by many to be the greatest artist of antiquity. Phidias was a native of Athens, his father's name was Charmides. Phidias studied the skill of a sculptor in Athens at the school of Hegeias and in Argos at the school of Agelas (in the latter, perhaps at the same time as Polykleitos). Among the existing statues there is not a single one that undoubtedly belonged to Phidias. Our knowledge of his work is based on descriptions of ancient authors, on the study of later copies, as well as surviving works that are attributed to Phidias with more or less certainty.
Among Phidias's early works, created c. 470–450 BC, we should mention the cult statue of Athena Areia in Plataea, made of gilded wood (clothes) and Pentelic marble (face, arms and legs). By the same period, approx. 460 BC, refers to the memorial complex at Delphi, built in honor of the Athenian victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. At the same time (c. 456 BC), and also using funds from the booty captured in the Battle of Marathon, Phidias installed a colossal bronze statue of Athena Promachos (Protector) on the Acropolis. Another bronze statue of Athena on the Acropolis, the so-called. Athena Lemnia, who holds a helmet in her hand, was created by Phidias c. 450 BC by order of Attic colonists sailing to the island of Lemnos. Perhaps the two statues located in Dresden, as well as the head of Athena from Bologna, are copies of it.
The chrysoelephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Zeus at Olympia was considered in ancient times to be the masterpiece of Phidias. Dion Chrysostomos and Quintilian (1st century AD) say that thanks to the unsurpassed beauty and godly creation of Phidias, religion itself was enriched, and Dion adds that anyone who happened to see this statue forgets all his sorrows and adversities. A detailed description of the statue, considered one of the seven wonders of the world, is available from Pausanias. Zeus was depicted sitting. In the palm of his right hand stood the goddess Nike, and in his left he held a scepter, on top of which sat an eagle. Zeus was bearded and long-haired, with a laurel wreath on his head. The seated figure almost touched the ceiling with his head, so that it seemed that if Zeus stood up, he would blow the roof off the temple. The throne was richly decorated with gold, ivory and precious stones. In the upper part of the throne above the head of the statue, the figures of the three Charites were placed on one side, and the three seasons on the other; dancing Niki were depicted on the legs of the throne. On the crossbars between the legs of the throne stood statues representing the Olympic competitions and the battle of the Greeks (led by Hercules and Theseus) with the Amazons. The pedestal of the throne, made of black stone, was decorated with golden reliefs depicting the gods, in particular Eros, who meets Aphrodite emerging from the sea waves, and Peyto (goddess of persuasion) crowning her with a wreath. A statue of Olympian Zeus or one of his heads was depicted on coins that were minted in Elis. There was no clarity regarding the time of creation of the statue in antiquity, but since the construction of the temple was completed ca. 456 BC, the statue was most likely erected no later than c. 450 BC (there have now been renewed attempts to place Zeus from Olympia to a time after the Athena Parthenos).
When Pericles launched extensive construction in Athens, Phidias headed all the work on the Acropolis, among other things, the construction of the Parthenon, which was carried out by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates in 447–438. BC. The Parthenon, the temple of the patron goddess of the city of Athens, one of the most famous creations of ancient architecture, was a Doric peripterus. The abundant plastic decoration of the temple was carried out by a large group of sculptors, working under the supervision of Phidias and, probably, according to his sketches (the most famous are the relief friezes of the Parthenon, now in the British Museum, and the fragmentarily preserved statues from the pediments).
The cult chrysoelephantine statue of Athena Parthenos that stood in the temple, which was completed in 438 BC, was sculpted by Phidias himself. The description of Pausanias and numerous copies give a fairly clear idea of it. Athena was depicted standing at full height, wearing a long chiton hanging in heavy folds. On the palm of Athena's right hand stood the winged goddess Nike; on Athena's chest was an aegis with the head of Medusa; in her left hand the goddess held a spear, and a shield was leaning against her feet. The sacred snake of Athena (Pausanias calls it Erichthonius) curled up around the spear. The statue's pedestal depicted the birth of Pandora (the first woman). As Pliny the Elder writes, on the outside of the shield there was a battle with the Amazons, on the inside there was a fight between gods and giants, and on Athena’s sandals there was an image of a centauromachy. On the head of the goddess there was a helmet crowned with three crests, the middle of which represented a sphinx, and the side ones were griffins. Athena had jewelry: necklaces, earrings, bracelets.
The similarity of the style with the sculptures and reliefs of the Parthenon is felt in the statues of Demeter (copies of it are in Berlin and Cherchel, Algeria) and Kore (copy in the Villa Albani). The motifs of both statues are used in the famous large motif relief from Eleusis (Athens, Archaeological Museum), a Roman copy of which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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The concentration of ever greater wealth in the hands of large slave owners leads at the end of the 5th century. BC e. to a decline in the importance of free labor in city-states, to a crisis of slave-owning democracy. The internecine Peloponnesian War deepened the crisis.
Subordination Greek city-states the powerful Macedonian power that arose in the Balkans, the conquests of Alexander the Great in the East put an end to the classical period Greek history. The collapse of the poleis led to the loss of the ideal of a free citizen in philosophy and art. The tragic conflicts of social reality gave rise to the emergence of a more complex view of the phenomena of life, of man, and led to significant changes in the field of art, which is becoming somewhat contradictory. He loses clear faith in the possibility of a harmonious and perfect life, and the spirit of civic heroism weakens. However, as before, the main artistic task remained the image of a beautiful person; sculpture continued to be largely associated with architecture. But artists increasingly turned to aspects of human existence that did not fit into the mythological images and ideas of the past. Developing and deepening the achievements of high classics, the leading masters of the 4th century. BC posed the problem of conveying the contradictory experiences of a person, showing a hero torn by deep doubts, entering into a tragic struggle with the hostile forces of the surrounding world. The first successes were achieved in revealing the spiritual life of the individual. There arises, albeit in the most general terms, an interest in everyday life and the characteristic features of a person’s psychological make-up.
Architecture
The development of architecture was uneven. In the first third of the 4th century. BC e. There was a well-known decline in construction activity, reflecting the economic and social crisis of the Greek city-states. This decline was most acutely felt in Athens, which was defeated in the Peloponnesian War. Subsequently, construction developed quite intensively, especially in the periphery.
Buildings of the 4th century. before i. e. followed the principles of the order system. Along with temples, the construction of theaters, which were usually located under open air. Seats for spectators were cut out along the hillside (the theater at Epidaurus had 52 rows of benches), framing a round or semicircular orchestra - a platform on which the choir and artists performed. The acoustics of the theater in Epidaurus are amazingly perfect.
Constructions appeared dedicated to the exaltation of an individual or an autocratic monarch. In honor of the victory in the choir competition, subsidized by the wealthy Athenian Lysicrates, a monument was built in Athens (334 BC), which was a slender cylinder decorated with pilasters.
Erected on a cubic plinth and topped with a cone-shaped roof, it is topped with an acroteria - a kind of stand for the prize - a tripod. The monument, small in size, gives the impression of harmony and grandeur thanks to the skillful use of the Corinthian order. A completely different scale and character of forms distinguishes the Halicarnassus Mausoleum - the grandiose monumental tomb of the Kari ruler Mausolus (c. 353 BC).
Sculpture
The general character of late classical sculpture was determined by the further development of realistic trends.
Skopas. The tragic contradictions of the era found their deepest embodiment in the work of the greatest master of the first half of the 4th century. before i. e. Skopas, who worked in different cities of Ancient Greece. Preserving the traditions of monumental art of high classics, Skopas imbued his works with great drama, striving for a multifaceted disclosure of images, complex feelings and experiences of a person. The heroes of Skopas, like the heroes of high classics, embodied the perfect qualities of strong and valiant people. But gusts of passion disrupted the harmonious clarity of the images and gave them a pathetic character. Skopas discovered the realm of the tragic in man himself, introducing themes of suffering and internal breakdown into art. These are the images of wounded warriors from the pediments of the Temple of Athena in Tegea (mid-4th century BC, Athens, National Archaeological Museum). The head of a warrior from the western pediment is given in a swift, pathetic turn, a sharp, restless play of chiaroscuro emphasizes the dramatic expression. The harmonic structure of the face is disrupted to reveal internal tension.
Head of a wounded warrior from the western pediment of the Temple of Athena-Alen at Tega
Skonas preferred to work in marble, almost abandoning the material favored by the masters of high classics - bronze. Marble made it possible to convey a subtle play of light and shadow, and various textural contrasts. His “Maenad” (“Bacchae”, c. 350 BC, Dresden, Sculptural Collection), which survived in a small damaged antique copy, embodies the image of a man possessed by a violent impulse of passion. The dance of the Maenad is swift, the head is thrown back, the hair falls in a heavy wave onto the shoulders. The movement of the curved folds of her chiton emphasizes the rapid impulse of the body.
Skopas's heroes appear either deeply thoughtful, elegiac, or lively and passionate, but they are always harmonious and significant. The frieze of the Halicarnassus Mausoleum depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons (c. 350 BC, London, British Museum) has been preserved. The part of the frieze performed by Skopas is full of rapid dynamics and tension. The uniform and gradually increasing movement of the Parthenon frieze is replaced by a rhythm of emphatically contrasting oppositions, sudden pauses, and bursts of movement. The sharp contrast of light and shadow emphasizes the drama of the composition. The name of Skopas is associated with a remarkable tombstone of a young man (“Tombstone of a young man from Attica,” c. 340 BC, Athens, National Archaeological Museum).
The influence of Skopas's art on the further development of Greek plastic arts was enormous, and can only be compared with the influence of the art of his contemporary, Praxiteles.
Praxiteles.
In his work, Praxiteles turned to images imbued with the spirit of clear and pure harmony, calm thoughtfulness, and serene contemplation. Praxiteles and Scopas complement each other, revealing the various states and feelings of a person, his inner world.
Having depicted harmoniously developed, beautiful heroes, Praxiteles also discovered a connection with the art of high classics, however, his images, full of grace and subtle feelings, lost the heroic life affirmation and monumental grandeur of the works of the heyday, acquiring a more lyrically refined and contemplative character.
Praxiteles’ mastery is most fully revealed in the marble group “Hermes with Dionysus” (c. 330 BC, Olympia, Archaeological Museum).
Hermes with Dionysus
The graceful curve of the figure of Hermes, the relaxed resting pose of the young slender body, the beautifully inspired face. The master brilliantly uses the ability of marble to convey a soft shimmering play of light and shadow, the finest light and shadow nuances.
Praxiteles created a new ideal of female beauty, embodying it in the image of Aphrodite, who, having taken off her clothes, is about to enter the water. Although the statue was intended for cult purposes, the image of a beautiful naked goddess was freed from solemn majesty. It captivates with its vitality, perfection of forms and proportions, and amazing harmony. The statue was extremely highly valued in ancient times.
Aphrodite of Knidos caused many repetitions in subsequent times, but none of them could compare with the original, since the sensual principle predominated in them, while Aphrodite of Knidos embodied admiration for the perfection of human beauty. Aphrodite of Knidos (before 360 BC) survived in Roman copies, the best of them are kept in the Vatican and Munich Museums, the head of Aphrodite of Knidos is in the Kaufmann collection in Berlin.
Aphrodite of Knidos
Praxiteles sometimes introduced features into mythological images Everyday life, elements of the genre. The statue of “Apollo Saurocton” (third quarter of the 4th century BC, Rome, Vatican) is an image of an elegant teenage boy aiming at a lizard running along a tree trunk. This is how the traditional image of the deity is rethought, acquiring a genre-lyrical coloring.
Some of the statues of Praxiteles were skillfully painted by the painter Nicias.
The influence of Praxiteles’ art was later manifested in numerous works of park sculpture from the Hellenistic era, as well as in small plastic works, in particular, in the wonderful terracotta (fired clay) figurines from Tanagra (for example, “Aphrodite in a Shell”, Leningrad, Hermitage, or “Girl , wrapped in a cloak", late 4th century BC, Paris, Louvre). These graceful, graceful female images have retained all their charm and purity. Greek classics. The subtle poetry inherent in the works of Praxiteles continued to live in small plastic for a long time.
If in the art of Scopas and Praxiteles there are still tangible connections with the principles of high classical art, then in the artistic culture of the last third of the 4th century. BC e. these ties weakened.
Leading importance in social and political life ancient world acquired by Macedonia. After the victorious campaigns of Alexander the Great and his conquest of the Greek city-states, and then the vast territories of Asia that became part of the Macedonian state, a new stage in the development of ancient society began - the period of Hellenism.
The breakdown of the old and the emergence of the new in art, and especially in sculpture, led to the demarcation of directions: classicizing, idealistic and realistic, seeking new ways of development based on the processing of the best achievements of the classics.
Leohar. The most prominent representative of the idealizing trend was Leochares, the court master of Alexander the Great. His most famous statue is Apollo Belvedere (c. 340 BC, Rome, Vatican), executed with high professional skill, characterized by calm grandeur and cold solemnity.
Apollo Belvedere
Lysippos.
The largest sculptor of the realistic movement was Lysippos, the last great master of the late classics. The heyday of his work dates back to the 40s and 30s. 4th century BC e., during the reign of Alexander the Great. In the art of Lysippos, as well as in the work of his great predecessors, the task of individualizing the image of a person and revealing his experiences was solved; he introduced more clearly expressed characteristics of age and occupation. What was new in Lysippos’s work was his interest in the characteristically expressive nature of man, as well as the expansion of the visual possibilities of sculpture. He also owned a huge (20 m high) bronze statue of Zeus (which has not survived to this day) and a tabletop figurine of Hercules, made for Alexander the Great.
Lysippos embodied his understanding of the image of man in the statue of a young man scraping sand from himself after a competition - “Apoxiomen” (325-300 BC, Rome, Vatican), which he presented not at the moment of tension, but in state of relaxation. The slender figure of the athlete is shown in a complex spread, as if inviting the viewer to go around the statue. The movement is freely deployed in space. The face expresses fatigue, the deep-set, shadowed eyes look into the distance.
Apoxyomenes
Lysippos skillfully conveys the transition from a state of rest to action and vice versa. This is the image of Hermes resting (330-320 BC, Naples, National Museum).
The work of Lysippos was of great importance for the development of portraiture. The portraits he created of Alexander the Great reveal a deep interest in revealing the spiritual world of the hero. The most notable is the marble head of Alexander (Istanbul, Archaeological Museum), which reveals a complex and contradictory image.
In the art of the late classics, more differentiated images of people of different types and in different states appeared. A student of Lysippos made the head of the fist fighter Satyrus from Olympia (c. 330 BC, Athens, National Archaeological Museum), with merciless realistic observation conveying brute physical strength, primitiveness of spiritual life, gloomy gloominess of character. The author of the portrait of a fist fighter was not interested in assessing and condemning the ugly sides of human character, he only stated them. Thus, turning to a more specific depiction of reality in its individual manifestations, sculpture lost interest in the ideal generalized heroic image, and at the same time the special educational significance that it had in previous periods.
Vases and paintings
Towards the end of the classical period, the nature of vase painting changed. Patterned ornamentation occupied an increasing place in it, heroic motifs gave way to genre and lyrical ones. Painting also evolved in the same direction. According to the figurative decision, “Aphrodite Anadyomene”, a painting by the famous artist of the late 4th century, echoes Praxiteles’ Aphrodite. BC e. Apelles, who enriched the colorful palette and used light and shadow modeling more freely.
The variety of trends in monumental painting of the late classics is vividly illustrated by the unique paintings of an unknown Greek master found in the Kazanlak tomb, in Bulgaria in the 1940s, as well as colorful mosaics in Pella, in Macedonia.
Artistic crafts
During the Late Classic period, artistic crafts continued to flourish. Vases acquired more complex shapes; sometimes craftsmen imitated expensive silver vases in clay with their complex embossing and reliefs, and resorted to multi-color painting. Metal products, silver dishes, gilded cups, etc. became widespread.
The art of late Greek classics completed a long, fruitful path of development of ancient Greek art.