Toreador Fresco

Minoan

1450-1400 BC

• In Palace at Knossos
• Bulls sacred to Minoans
• Rite of Passage/Coming of Age involving acrobats jumping over bull
• Women are lighter skinned
• Buon/True Fresco
• Bull as symbol of virility

Tholos, Treasury of Atreus

Mycenean

1300-1250 BC

• Tholos= round temple/other structure
• Thought to be a treasury with $ for the Trojan War (Atreus, father of Agamemnon and Menelaus), but actually a tomb
• Dome formed by a series of corbel vaults
• Largest dome until Pantheon, no mortar, weight of stone holds it together

Krater from Dipylon

Geometric

740 BC

• Connected with cemetary (8-9th century BC) outside of Athens
• Placed and left at a grave, bottomless, for pouring libations
• Top= funeral, bottom= reminscence 
• Meander/key pattern, geometric humans, different registers
• Central figure is the dead man on his bier

Lady of Auxerre

Geometric

650-625 BC

• Probably a grave marker
• Female figure= Kore, clothed, no headdress denotes not a goddess
• Hair/hand over heart= mimicry of Egypt, influenced by Greek trade with near East and Egypt
• Moving towards naturalism, but still enamored with geometric shapes (flat-topped head, pattern on skirt)
• Archaic smile does not denote happiness, for realism
• Was originally brightly painted using encaustic method: pigment mixed with hot wax

West Pediment from the Temple of Artemis, Corfu (Image of Medusa) 

Archaic

550 BC

• Guardian figures (Medusa was a positive figure in early Greek mythology)
• Flanked by lions and people
• Triangular shape of pediment used awkwardly
• Disproportionality- not yet perfected, Medusa dominates space at 9 feet tall, is nearly free-standing

Kouros from Anavysos

Archaic

530 BC

• "Orientalizing influence of Egypt apparent in stiff posture and hairstyle
• Unlike Egyptian statuary because it is free of the block
• Like Egyptian statuary in that figure is idealized
• Archaic smile
• Either a funerary monument or a votive offering
• More detailed musculature than previous Kouri
• Bone structure not properly defined

Panathenaic Prize Amphora

Archaic

530 BC

Artist: Euphiletos

• Black figure vase
• Prize for a sprint at the Panathenaic festival (short muscles) to celebrate new dress for cult statue of Athena
• Other side= Athena

Death of Sarpedon Krater

Archaic

515 BC

Artist: Euphronios

• Red figure vase
• Telescoping Quality
• Illustration from a scene in the Iliad: Sarpedon (Trojan) killed by Patriclus, Zeus gets Gods (Hypnos, Thonatos) to give a funeral
• Hermes in the center as conductor of souls (psychopompus)
• Cannot prevent the death of a child
• Foreshortened calf

Kritios Boy

Classical

480 BC

• Introduction of contrapposto pose
• Body shifting around central axis (the waist) and one knee bent
• Technically still a Kouros
• Idealized, athletic body
• No archaic smile or orientalizing qualities

Diskobolos

Classical

450 BC

Artist: Myron

• Illustrates Greek ideal of arete, or balance
• Moment before release of discus= controlled energy
• Expresses control of mind over body
• Shows admiration of physical perfection
• Roman marble copy of original Greek bronze

Parthenon

Classical

447-438 BC

Architects: Kallikrates and Iktinos

• x=2y+1
• Base= convex, columns lean in, entasis, columns at the corners are thicker than the others
• Alexomata= make adjustments to a building so that it looks perfect
• Housed a 38-foot chryselephantine statue of Athena
• Inner entablature= frieze of panathenaic procession (generic figures)
• Outer entablature- metopes and triglyphs (centauromachy)
• Pediments showed birth of Athena and judgment between Athena and Poseidon 
• Elgin marbles in British Museum

Temple of Athena Nike

Classical

427-424 BC

Architect: Kallikrates

• Perched on natural rock formation
• Smallest building on the Acropolis
• Nike= Victory
• At one time, had a parapet going around the edge, containing "Nike Adjusting her Sandal"

Nike Adjusting her Sandal

Classical

410 BC

• Arête, balance, control, grace
• Highest point of classical Greek art
• Modeling of body and fall of drapery shows skill of sculptor
• Relief from parapet of Temple of Athena Nike

Grave Stele of Hegeso

Classical

400 BC

• Aesthetically: balance, symmetry, beauty
• Technical mastery of drapery, hands, etc. 
• Contextually, women trapped in home and presence of slave
• 3rd type of grave marker (first vases, then kouros, then stele)

Aphrodite of Knidos

Classical

350-340 BC

Sculptor: Praxiteles

• First non-prostitute female nude
• Imbued with unintentional sensuality, about to bathe
• Aesthetic perfection

Apoxymenos (The Scraper)

Classical

330 BC

Sculptor: Lysippos

• Shows an ordinary activity- scraping oil off body after a workout
• Different canon of proportions from Polykleitos- smaller head, longer legs and body
• Not as idealized or muscled as previous sculpture
• Not a heroic pose, no longer expressing mental dominance over body

Dying Gaul

Hellenistic

230-220 BC

• From Pergamon altar
• Shows death with dignity; accords enemy nobility and strength
• Dramatic subject with full emotion, intended to draw viewer in
• Gallic torque (braided gold band) around his neck
• expressive and realistic

Nike of Samothrace

Hellenistic

190 BC

• Landing on prow of ship
• Commemorates victory of Athenians at Salamis
• Realistic depiction of movement (the wind) 
• Exceptional handling of modeling and drapery

Old Market Woman

Hellenistic

150-100 BC

• Shift in subject from gods, goddesses, the wealthy to impoverished woman
• Realism in terms of physical attributes (wrinkles, etc.) 
• Also realistic in terms of psychological qualities- weariness, depression

Laocoon

Hellenistic

1 AD

Artists: Rhodes Sculptors

• Narrative: story of Trojan priest who warned fellow citizens
• Apollo sent poisonous sea snakes to strangle Laocoon and his sons
• expressive: shows figures' agony in expression and physical struggle
• Admired and copied by Michaelangelo