The art of Ancient Greece became the support and foundation on which the entire European civilization grew. The sculpture of Ancient Greece is a special topic. Without ancient sculpture there would be no brilliant masterpieces of the Renaissance, and further development this art is difficult to imagine. In the history of the development of Greek ancient sculpture, three can be distinguished: big stage: archaic, classical and Hellenistic. Each one has something important and special. Let's look at each of them.

Archaic

This period includes sculptures created from the 7th century BC to the beginning of the 5th century BC. The era gave us figures of naked young warriors (kuros), as well as many female figures in clothes (koras). Archaic sculptures are characterized by some sketchiness and disproportion. On the other hand, each work of the sculptor is attractive for its simplicity and restrained emotionality. The figures of this era are characterized by a half-smile, which gives the works some mystery and depth.

"Goddess with Pomegranate", which is kept in the Berlin State Museum, is one of the best preserved archaic sculptures. Despite the external roughness and “wrong” proportions, the viewer’s attention is drawn to the hands of the sculpture, executed brilliantly by the author. The expressive gesture of the sculpture makes it dynamic and especially expressive.

"Kouros from Piraeus", which adorns the collection of the Athens Museum, is a later, and therefore more advanced, work of the ancient sculptor. Before the viewer is a powerful young warrior. A slight tilt of the head and hand gestures indicate a peaceful conversation that the hero is having. The disturbed proportions are no longer so striking. And facial features are not as generalized as those of early sculptures archaic period.

Classic

Most people associate sculptures of this particular era with ancient plastic art.

In the classical era, such famous sculptures, like Athena Parthenos, Olympian Zeus, Discobolus, Doryphoros and many others. History has preserved for posterity the names of outstanding sculptors of the era: Polykleitos, Phidias, Myron, Scopas, Praxiteles and many others.

The masterpieces of classical Greece are distinguished by harmony, ideal proportions (which indicates excellent knowledge of human anatomy), as well as internal content and dynamics.

It is the classical period that is characterized by the appearance of the first nude female figures ( Wounded Amazon, Aphrodite of Knidos), which give an idea of ​​the ideal of female beauty in the heyday of antiquity.

Hellenism

Late Greek antiquity is characterized by a strong Eastern influence on all art in general and on sculpture in particular. Complex angles, exquisite draperies, and numerous details appear.

Oriental emotionality and temperament penetrates the calm and majesty of the classics.

Aphrodite of Cyrene, decorating the Roman Museum of Baths, is full of sensuality, even some coquetry.

The most famous sculptural composition of the Hellenistic era is Laocoon and his sons of Agesander of Rhodes (the masterpiece is kept in one of). The composition is full of drama, the plot itself suggests powerful emotions. Desperately resisting the snakes sent by Athena, the hero himself and his sons seem to understand that their fate is terrible. The sculpture is made with extraordinary precision. The figures are plastic and real. The faces of the characters make a strong impression on the viewer.

In ancient Greece, people valued beauty extremely. The Greeks especially preferred sculpture. However, many masterpieces of great sculptors perished and did not survive to our time. For example, Discobolus by the sculptor Myron, Doryphoros of Polykleitos, “Aphrodite of Cnidus” by Praxiteles, Laocoon by the sculptor Agesander. All these sculptures perished, and yet... we know them very well. How could the disappeared sculptures be preserved? Only thanks to the numerous copies that were in the homes of wealthy ancient collectors and decorated the courtyards, galleries and halls of the Greeks and Romans.

Doryphoros - “Spear-bearer” became a model for many centuries male beauty. And “Aphrodite of Knidos” - one of the most famous nude female sculptures of Ancient Greece - became an example of female beauty. To admire Aphrodite, the ancient Greeks came from other cities and, seeing how beautiful she was, ordered unknown sculptors to make exactly the same copy to place Aphrodite in the city square or in the courtyard of their rich home.

Disco thrower - lost bronze statue of an athlete about to throw a discus, created by Myron around the 5th century BC. e. - this is the first attempt in Greek art to sculpt a person in motion, and the attempt is more than successful. The young athlete freezes for a split second, and the next moment he begins to spin up to throw the discus with all his might.

Laocoon is a sculptural group of suffering people, which is shown in a painful struggle. Laocoon was a priest who warned the inhabitants of the city of Troy - the Trojans - that the city could be defeated thanks to a wooden horse. For this, the god of the seas, Poseidon, sent two snakes from the sea, and they strangled Laocoon and his sons. The statue was found relatively recently, in the 17th century. And the great Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo said that Laocoon is the best statue in the world. If in ancient times there were no lovers and collectors of examples of beautiful sculpture, modern humanity would not have known this masterpiece.

Numerous Roman and Greek herms have also reached us - heads and busts of people on stands. The art of creating hermas originates in the creation of ritual pillars of the worship of Hermes, on the top stand of which there was a molded head of the deity of trade, science and travel. After the name of Hermes, the pillars began to be called herms. Such pillars were located at crossroads, at the entrance to a city or town, or at the entrance to a house. It was believed that such an image scared away evil forces and unkind spirits.

From about the 4th century BC, all portrait images of people began to be called herms; they became part of the interior furnishings of the house, and the rich and noble Greeks and Romans acquired entire portrait galleries, creating a kind of exhibition of family herms. Thanks to this fashion and tradition, we know what many ancient philosophers, generals, and emperors who lived thousands of years ago looked like.

Ancient Greek painting has practically not reached us, however, surviving examples prove that Hellenic art reached the heights of both realistic and symbolic painting. The tragedy of the city of Pompeii, buried in the ashes of Vesuvius, has preserved to this day brilliant paintings that covered all the walls of public and residential premises, including houses in poor neighborhoods. Wall frescoes were dedicated to a variety of subjects; the artists of antiquity achieved perfection in painting, and only centuries later this path was repeated by the masters of the Renaissance.

Historians testify that in Ancient Greece there was an extension to the Athenian temple, which was called the Pinakothek, and ancient Greek paintings were kept there. Ancient legend says how the first picture appeared. One Greek girl really did not want to part with her lover, who had to go to war. During their overnight date there was full moon. The shadow of a young man appeared on the white wall. The girl took a piece of coal and traced its shadow. This meeting turned out to be the last. The young man died. But his shadow remained on the wall, and this shadow picture was kept for a long time in one of the temples of the city of Corinth.

Many paintings of the ancient Greeks were created according to the principle of filling the silhouette - first, the outline of the figure was drawn in the picture, almost the same as stated in the legend, and only then the outline began to be painted. At first, the ancient Greeks had only four colors - white, black, red and yellow. They were based on colored minerals and mixed with egg yolk or melted wax and diluted with water. The distant figures in the picture could be larger than the front ones; the ancient Greeks used both direct and reverse perspective. Paintings were painted on boards or on damp plaster.

Fine art has also penetrated into applied fields. Painted Greek vessels, amphorae and vases are kept in many museums around the world and bring to us the beauty of everyday life characteristic of ancient civilizations.

A special ancient art that has brought to us all the beauty of ancient painting is mosaic- colossal paintings, laid out from pieces of colored stones and, in later periods, glass, were created according to pictorial sketches and turned out to be a kind of eternal art. Mosaics were used to decorate floors, walls, and facades of houses; they played both an aesthetic and practical role in creating a harmonious and beautiful living environment.

The era of antiquity became the heyday of the art of creating beauty and harmony in any manifestation. The decline and forgetting of ancient culture led to the return of humanity to the philosophies of negativism and the triumph of absurd prejudices. Loss of the aesthetics of admiring beauty, denial of natural beauty human body, destruction ancient temples and works of art became the most noticeable consequence of the collapse of the ancient world. It took centuries for the ideals of antiquity to return and begin to be creatively rethought by Renaissance artists, and then by modern masters.

The art of Ancient Greece became the support and foundation on which the entire European civilization grew. The sculpture of Ancient Greece is a special topic. Without ancient sculpture there would be no brilliant masterpieces of the Renaissance, and the further development of this art is difficult to imagine. In the history of the development of Greek ancient sculpture, three large stages can be distinguished: archaic, classical and Hellenistic. Each one has something important and special. Let's look at each of them.

Archaic art. Features: 1) static frontal position of the figures, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian sculpture: arms are lowered, one leg is put forward; 2) The sculpture depicts young men (“kuros”) and girls (“koros”), with a calm smile on their faces (archaic); 3) Kuros were depicted naked, kors were always dressed and the sculptures were painted; 4) Mastery in depicting strands of hair, and in later sculptures, the folds of draperies on female figures.

Archaic period covers three centuries - from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC. e. This is the period of formation of the foundations of ancient sculpture, the establishment of canons and traditions. The period very conventionally denotes the framework of early ancient art. In fact, the beginnings of the archaic can be seen already in sculptures of the 9th century BC, and many signs of the archaic can be seen in the monuments of the 4th century BC. The craftsmen of early antiquity used a variety of materials for their work. Sculptures made of wood, limestone, terracotta, basalt, marble and bronze have been preserved. Archaic sculpture can be divided into two fundamental components: kora (female figures) and kouros (male figures). An archaic smile is a special type of smile used by Greek archaic sculptors, especially in the second quarter of the 6th century. BC e. , perhaps to demonstrate that the subject of the image is alive. This smile is flat and looks quite unnatural, although it is a sign of evolution sculptural art to realism and its search.

Cora What is common to almost all female statues is the perspective. Most often, the cortex appears frontally erect, the arms are often lowered along the body, less often crossed on the chest or holding sacred attributes (spear, shield, sword, staff, fruit, etc.). An archaic smile is visible on his face. The proportions of the body are sufficiently conveyed, despite the general sketchiness and generalization of the images. All sculptures were necessarily painted.

Kuros Male sculptures of the period are distinguished by a strict frontal pose, often with the left leg extended forward. The arms are lowered along the body, the hands are clenched into a fist, less often there are sculptures with arms extended forward, as if holding out a sacrifice. Another indispensable condition for archaic male statues is precise symmetry of the body. Externally, the male sculptures have much in common with Egyptian statues, which indicates the strong influence of Egyptian aesthetics and tradition on ancient art. It is known that the earliest kouros were made of wood, but none wooden sculpture not preserved. Later, the Greeks learned to process stone, so all surviving kouroi are made of marble.

Classic art. Features: 1) The search for a way to depict a moving human figure, harmonious in its proportions, has been completed; the position of “contraposto” was developed - the balance of movements of body parts at rest (a figure standing freely with support on one leg); 2) The sculptor Polykleitos develops the theory of contrapposto, illustrating his work with sculptures standing in this position; 3) In the 5th century. BC e. the person is depicted as harmonious, idealized, as a rule, young or middle-aged, the facial expression is calm, without facial wrinkles and folds, movements are restrained, harmonious; 4) In the 4th century. BC e. greater dynamism, even sharpness, appears in the plasticity of the figures; V sculptural images begin to display the individual characteristics of faces and bodies; a sculptural portrait appears.

The 5th 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, like Myron, Polykleitos 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. Most people associate sculptures of this particular era with ancient plastic art. The masterpieces of classical Greece are distinguished by harmony, ideal proportions (which indicates excellent knowledge of human anatomy), as well as internal content and dynamics.

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 depict athletes, in which simple people always saw the 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.

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”).

The sculptor tried to show the struggle of two opposites: calm in the face of Athena and savagery in the face of Marsyas.

Phidias is another one bright representative creator of sculpture of the classical period. His name resounded brightly during the heyday of the Greek classical art. His most famous sculptures were the colossal statues of Athena Parthenos and Zeus in the Olympic Temple, Athena Promachos located in the square Athens Acropolis. 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.

The sculpture of ancient Greece reflected the physical and inner beauty and harmony of man. Already in the 4th century, after Alexander the Great’s conquests against Greece, new names of talented sculptors became known. The creators of this era are beginning to pay more attention to the inner state of man, his psychological state and emotions.

A famous sculptor of the classical period was Scopas, who lived in the mid-4th century BC. He innovates by revealing inner world person, tries to depict in sculptures the emotions of joy, fear, happiness. He was not afraid to experiment and depicted people in various complex poses, looking for new artistic possibilities for depicting new feelings on the human face (passion, anger, rage, fear, sadness). A wonderful creation of round sculpture is the statue of the Maenad; a Roman copy of it has now been preserved. A new and multifaceted relief work can be called the Amazonomachy, which adorns the Halicarnassus mausoleum in Asia Minor.

Praxiteles was a prominent sculptor of the classical period who lived in Athens around 350 BC. Unfortunately, only the statue of Hermes from Olympia has reached us, and we know about the rest of the works only from Roman copies. Praxiteles, like Scopas, tried to convey the feelings of people, but he preferred to express “lighter” emotions that were pleasant to the person. He transferred lyrical emotions, dreaminess to sculptures, and glorified the beauty of the human body. The sculptor does not form figures in motion.

Among his works, it should be noted “The Resting Satyr”, “Aphrodite of Cnidus”, “Hermes with the Child Dionysus”, “Apollo Killing the Lizard”.

Lysippos (second half of the 4th century BC) was one of the greatest sculptors of the classical period. He preferred to work with bronze. Only Roman copies give us the opportunity to get acquainted with his work.

Among famous works"Hercules with a Hind", "Apoxyomenes", "Resting Hermes" and "Wrestler". Lysippos makes changes in proportions; he depicts a smaller head, a drier body and a more long legs. All his works are individual, and the portrait of Alexander the Great is also humanized.

Small sculpture became widespread in the Hellenistic period and consisted of figures of people made of baked clay (terracotta). They were called Tanagra terracottas after their place of production, the city of Tanagra in Boeotia.

Hellenistic art. Features: 1) Loss of harmony and movements of the classical period; 2) The movements of the figures acquire pronounced dynamism; 3) Depictions of humans in sculpture tend to convey individual traits, a desire for naturalism, a departure from the harmonization of nature; 4) The sculptural decoration of the temples remains the same “heroic”; 5) Perfection in conveying shapes, volumes, folds, and “vitality” of nature.

In those days, sculpture decorated private houses, public buildings, squares, and acropolises. Hellenistic sculpture is characterized by the reflection and revelation of the spirit of anxiety and tension, the desire for pomp and theatricality, and sometimes rough naturalism. The Pergamum school developed artistic principles Skopas with his interest in violent manifestations of feelings and the transmission of rapid movements. One of the outstanding buildings of Hellenism was the monumental frieze of the Pergamon Altar, built by Eumenes 2 in honor of the victory over the Gauls in 180 BC. e. Its base was covered with a frieze 120 m long, made using the high relief technique and depicting a battle olympian gods and rebel giants with snakes instead of legs.

Courage is embodied in the sculptural groups “The Dying Gaul” and “The Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife.” An outstanding sculpture of Hellenism - Aphrodite of Milan by Agesandra - half naked, stern and sublimely calm.

Almost none of the works Greek sculptors it didn't reach us. We only know their descriptions and Roman copies of them. But a copy, even a skillfully made one, distorts the original. More often than not, several copies of the disappeared original are available. Then you have to painstakingly put together the sculpture in parts that are better preserved in one or another copy. As a result, today we admire a certain generalized image of ancient greek sculpture.

The periodization of ancient Greek art is divided into archaic (VIII - VI centuries BC), classical (V - IV centuries BC) and Hellenistic (IV - II centuries BC) periods.

The Greek people are the son of a land almost entirely rocky. And from this land, Greek artists extracted the most beautiful material for sculpture - marble. Sculpture developed on the islands of the Aegean Sea - rich deposits of marble were discovered here, especially on the island of Paros. In addition, Greek craftsmen created sculptures from limestone, wood, ivory and baked clay.

Both in architecture and in sculpture, two directions in creativity emerged: Doric and Ionian. In the Doric regions, the sculptural schools in Argos and Corinth were famous, in the Ionian lands - the island schools in Naxos and Paros by Kazimierz Kumanecki. Cultural history of ancient Greece and Rome. With. 83.

As already mentioned, Greek sculpture reflects two worlds: mythological and real.

The archaic period is the period of the formation of art, in particular sculpture. This was the time of embodiment of the mythological ideas that existed among the masses. At this time, images of gods, heroes and mythological events were created for the first time, which is one of the features of the art of this period. Temple sculpture is characterized by mythological themes. The essence of the composition was reduced to a display of divine power; dynamic scenes reflected mythological stories about victory over evil forces. The statues were carved by a bold, but still inexperienced hand. In monumental marble sculptures, the features of convention in the image are striking, making one remember art ancient egypt. These were planar compositions; the linear appearance of the contours of the figures, the movement of the folds of clothing and other details created a special charm of the archaic art of Kobylin M. M. The role of tradition in Greek art. With. 23. Shapes characters squat, solid and executed in a somewhat naive manner.

Archaic art gave exceptional preference to two types: kouros - a naked youth and kore - a dressed girl Andre Bonnard. Greek civilization. 1992. p. 46, 55..

By creating kouros, the sculptors embodied a certain perfect image, not burdened with doubts or individual traits an individual. Sometimes another name for kouros is found in literature - Apollo. By this the Greeks sought to give an idealized image some divine traits. The statues of young beardless athletes were created under the impression of the appearance of living people; in one case or another, several different young men could serve as models.

The kouros posture statistics were supposed to indicate the strength of gait and fortitude. The left leg was depicted necessarily put forward, the face was illuminated with aloof, mysterious smile(the so-called “archaic smile”). All the attention of the authors of the works was focused on the careful sculpting of the head, abdominal muscles, kneecaps and on the main relief lines.

The kors came from the Ionian regions and were distinguished by their emphasized severity and elegance of lines. They are made of Parian marble, with its texture capable of betraying a certain transparency of female skin, as well as the finest shades and changes in color, and which was amenable to the finest processing, which made it possible to convey all the curves of the figure, curls of hair, folds of clothing. The Ionians did not show a lot of attention to the proportions of the human body, but they took care of the smoothness of the outlines and the soft interpretation of the draperies. The koras were used to support the temple roof, but were sometimes mounted separately and depicted holding an apple or pomegranate as a gift to the deity.

During the reign of the Pisistratids, Ionian sculptors expanded their activities to Athens. However, Attic sculpture is distinguished by a certain severity: the curls skillfully “curled” with a chisel disappear, an unusual solemnity appears in the posture of the figures, whimsical draperies are replaced by simple lines of flowing robes. The Athenian barks are full of grace and grace, the heads are decorated with curls, the statues themselves are richly colored with many colors; at the same time, the seriousness and dignity of Kazimierz Kumanecki is visible in their figures. Cultural history of ancient Greece and Rome. With. 84.

In the archaic era, the sculptor could not imagine the body in motion. In the VI century. BC e. he was still far from accurately capturing the play of muscles on the human body. Not a single turn to the right or left, not the slightest tilt of the head, the anatomy is the most elementary. The artist did not set out to make the statue resemble a living person, Andre Bonnard. Greek civilization. 1992. p. 55, 58..

By the end of the archaic era, masters had achieved an amazing ability to create details, very expressive fragments of statues, especially hands and heads. The accuracy and sophistication in depicting parts of a figure among archaic sculptors is much higher than among masters of the classical period, but the statues are perceived as dismembered, lacking harmony and integrity.

The classical period is a time of prosperity. A. Bonnard defined classicism as a combination of features, forms and poses chosen by the artist, based on true realism. This era is more humane; she is no longer completely imbued with the divine; it represents man exalted to the level of a god. During this era, there is a break with archaic symmetry: the lines cease to be horizontal, they are not symmetrical in relation to each other.

In the 5th century BC e. the sculpture has undergone significant changes. Its main themes remained the same: the image of deities and heroes - patrons of the polis, “beautiful and valiant” citizens and winning athletes, as well as tombstones of the deceased. But now the god is a simple naked youth, the goddess is a girl, beautifully dressed and with a pleasant face.

There was now no frozen numbness in these images; the schematism of archaic sculptures is overcome. In the sculptures of the classical period, an attempt was made to overcome immobility and convey living movement. The new harmony of the classical period is built on contrast: thanks to the tension of the right leg and left arm and the conscious removal of the load from the left leg and right arm, the figure is harmonious, filled with calm, grandeur, freedom Kumanetsky K. History of the culture of Ancient Greece and Rome: Transl. from floor - M.: Higher school, 1990. p. 119. Realism is based on exact knowledge skeletal structure and muscle play. There is a humanization of the image of the deity, a softening of ideal features and emphasizing purely human qualities. Courage now manifests itself in a calm face. This equanimity is a sign of achieved mastery over one’s personal passions, a sign of spiritual strength, the perfection of the spirit, which the gods once possessed.

This was successfully conveyed by the sculptor Myron from Eleuthera (Central Greece) in his “Discobolus” (mid-5th century BC, a little earlier than 450). It is worth noting that this is a statue of a man, not a god. The figure of the athlete is presented in a difficult position at the moment of throwing the discus. The body is bent by the movement that has captured it, the toes of the left foot rest on the ground to give a very tense person in an unstable position a strong point of support, right hand- holding the disc - thrown back, but in the next moment will be thrown forward to throw its load, left hand and the right leg appear inactive, but are actually involved in action. Thus, “Disco Thrower” is the embodiment of the Andre Bonnard movement. Greek civilization. 1992. p. 63.

The largest role in the creation classical sculpture fell to the lot of Polykleitos, a Peloponnesian master of the middle and second half of the 5th century. BC e. He sought to create a typical image of the citizen athlete. Polykleitos knew about the importance of numbers in the structure of living beings and said: “The success of a work of art depends on many numerical relationships, and every little thing matters” Andre Bonnard. Greek civilization. 1992. p. 68. Therefore, he understood his task as the creation of a canon - certain mathematical relationships on the basis of which the human body should be built. According to this canon, the length of the foot should be 1/6 of the length of the body, the height of the head - 1/8 Kumanetsky K. History of culture of Ancient Greece and Rome: Trans. from floor - M.: Higher school, 1990. p. 119. He sought to create the illusion of continuity of movement. His statue “Doriphoros” (Spear-bearer) appears to be walking, transferring the entire weight of his body to his right leg, extended forward, while the left one is slightly moved back and touches the ground with only his toes. A more bent knee, a more contracted hip on the left side corresponds to a more raised shoulder and vice versa.

Another sculptor, Phidias, according to A. Bonnard, allowed humanity to blossom in divine forms. The gods of Phidias are present in nature, they are natural. A good example- a frieze in the temple depicting a host of gods. But Hephaestus, the god of fire and crafts, and Athena, the goddess of crafts, are depicted standing next to each other. Here they talk to each other simply and friendly, like workers at the end of the working day. There is nothing supernatural in these gods, but there is humanity elevated to the highest level of perfection. This is a feature that characterizes the era of early classicism.

A rigid orientation towards the ideal, harmony and balance could not reign supreme. In the 4th century. BC e. majesty, dignity and seriousness came with purely aesthetic needs, which became decisive in the work of the sculptor.

We can see this in the sculptures of Praxiteles. From under his incisor emerged new, slender and graceful, soft and gentle faces and figures of gods and goddesses. The smooth and flexible lines of his statues mark the offensive new era. Full of charm and sincerity, Paraxiteles' style is intimate: for the first time in the history of Greek sculpture, he depicts Aphrodite in her beautiful and sublime nudity.

The great sculptor Lysippos (IV century BC) left to his descendants not only a beautiful bust of Alexander the Great (preserved only in a Roman copy), but also developed a new plastic canon that replaced the canon of Polykleitos. Describing his activities, Lysippos said: “Polykleitos represented people as they really are, and I represented people as they seem.” His statues differ in proportions: they have very long slender legs, a thin graceful figure and a very small head. This is a new plastic ideal of beauty Kumanetsky K. History of culture of Ancient Greece and Rome: Trans. from floor - M.: Higher school, 1990. p. 141.

During this period, not only the proportions of the figures became new, but above all, the unprecedented freedom in depicting the volumes of the human body. Only now the works of sculpture became three-dimensional, plastically perfect.

The Greek masters of classical times learned to convey in solid material many shades of human conditions, their statues are full of life and movement.

Hellenism is considered a time of crisis in sculpture. The main feature of this period was the mixing of archaic traditions with the achievements of Hellenic art. The reason for this is acquaintance with foreign cultures through the expansion of trade routes and cultural relations. The works of this period were of a semi-handicraft nature. In them there is oblivion of the original traditional type images, there are distortions of the archaic school. At the same time, many replicas of the same plot of varying quality of execution appear.

Hellenism brought to foreground new centers of sculptural creativity, such as Pergamon, Rhodes and Antioch.

The art of sculpting experienced a particularly significant flourishing during this period. Now the statues were made in a naturalistic manner, emphasizing the individuality of the person depicted. Sculptors created statues and reliefs of people of different ages - from babies to decrepit old men and women, and carefully emphasized ethnic and ethnographic features.

Hellenic sculptors created and glorified the ideal of the citizen, which realistically reflected the political and social dominance of the middle classes of citizenship. Hellenistic sculptors created statues and statuary groups depicting physical and mental suffering, struggle, victory and death. An image of the landscape and everyday details also appeared as the background against which the main plot of the work unfolded.

Several schools can be traced in the sculpture of this time.

In Athens and Alexandria, plots and techniques were developed, dating back to Praxiteles, designed for the tastes of wealthy people who wanted to enjoy life and saw works of art as objects of admiration.

The Rhodesian school dates back to Lysippos. Sculptors depicted powerful athletes, warriors, and scenes of struggle. But now this is not a calm and valiant athlete - a citizen of classical times, but a ruler with an imperious, arrogant look, betraying enormous willpower. This school owns the famous 31 meter long Colos of Rhodes and the statue of the benevolent seated female goddess Tyche.

The Pergamon school, dating back to Scopas, is full of drama. This school is characterized by a high intensity of feelings. This can be seen in the sculptures of a dying Gaul, a Gaul who killed his wife and stabbed himself to avoid being captured, etc., in which we see pathos: the torment of dying warriors, the suffering of conquered barbarians.

Towards the end of the Hellenistic period, the pathos of Hellenistic sculpture began to degenerate into an excessive passion for terrible subjects and mannerisms.

In the second half of the Hellenistic period, the desire to return to the idealized forms of the classics intensified in sculpture. The monument of this school is the statue of Aphrodite de Milo, which combines the ideality of classical forms and new achievements in posing the figure.

During the Hellenistic period, sculptures decorated private houses, public buildings, squares, acropolises, crossroads, and park areas. The abundance of statues was typical even for such small towns as Therm. But this abundance led to mass artistic production. The subject of such production was terracotta figurines - small-sized works of statuary art, which were cast in specially prepared forms. These are, as a rule, elegant figurines of a household nature, having an independent artistic value Blavatsky V.D., Pikus N.N. History of Ancient Greece. Ed. V. I. Avdiev and N. N. Pikus. Moscow - 1962 p. 485. They depicted ordinary citizens and everyday scenes, were cheap and accessible, and were very loved by ordinary residents of Hellenic cities. One of these cities was the city of Tanagra. Therefore, these figurines are often called Tanagra terracottas. But mass production, in turn, led to the extinction of creativity.

Hellenistic masters refused to develop images of the beautiful and valiant, somewhat idealized citizen. The attitude towards the gods also became different. Now the deity is not a calm, beautiful, powerful and kind creature, but a capricious and formidable force.

Antique sculpture

HERMITAGE

Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Aphrodite (Venus Tauride)
Description:
According to Hesiod’s “Theogony,” Aphrodite was born near the island of Cythera from the seed and blood of Uranus castrated by Kronos, which fell into the sea and formed snow-white foam (hence the nickname “foam-born”). The breeze brought her to the island of Cyprus (or she sailed there herself, since she did not like Cythera), where she, emerging from the sea waves, was met by the Ora.

The statue of Aphrodite (Venus of Tauride) dates back to the 3rd century BC. e., now it is in the Hermitage and is considered his most famous statue. The sculpture became the first antique statue of a naked woman in Russia. Life-size marble statue of bathing Venus (height 167 cm), modeled after the Aphrodite of Cnidus or the Capitoline Venus. The hands of the statue and a fragment of the nose are missing. Before entering State Hermitage Museum it decorated the garden of the Tauride Palace, hence the name. In the past, “Venus Tauride” was intended to decorate the park. However, the statue was delivered to Russia much earlier, even under Peter I and thanks to his efforts. The inscription made on the bronze ring of the pedestal recalls that Venus was given by Clement XI to Peter I (as a result of an exchange for the relics of St. Brigid sent to the Pope by Peter I). The statue was discovered in 1718 during excavations in Rome. Unknown sculptor of the 3rd century. BC. depicted the naked goddess of love and beauty Venus. A slender figure, rounded, smooth lines of the silhouette, softly modeled body shapes - everything speaks of a healthy and chaste perception of female beauty. Along with calm restraint (posture, facial expression), a generalized manner, alien to fractionality and fine detail, as well as a number of other features characteristic of the art of the classics (V - IV centuries BC), the creator of Venus embodied in her his idea of beauty, associated with the ideals of the 3rd century BC. e. (graceful proportions - high waist, somewhat elongated legs, thin neck, small head - tilt of the figure, rotation of the body and head).

Italy. Antique sculpture in the Vatican Museum.

Joseph Brodsky

Torso

If you suddenly wander into stone grass,
looking better in marble than in reality,
or you notice a faun indulged in fuss
with a nymph, and both are happier in bronze than in a dream,
you can release the staff from your weary hands:
you are in the Empire, friend.

Air, fire, water, fauns, naiads, lions,
taken from nature or from the head -
everything that God came up with and I'm tired of continuing
brain, turned into stone or metal.
This is the end of things, this is the end of the road
mirror to enter.

Stand in a vacant niche and, rolling your eyes,
watch the centuries pass, disappearing behind
corner, and how moss sprouts in the groin
and dust falls on the shoulders - this tan of eras.
Someone will break off their hand and their head will fall off their shoulder
will roll down, knocking.

And what remains is the torso, an anonymous sum of muscles.
After a thousand years, a mouse living in a niche with
with a broken claw, without overcoming granite,
going out one evening, squeaking, mincing
across the road so as not to end up in a hole
at midnight. Not in the morning.

10 secrets of famous sculptures

The silence of the great statues holds many secrets. When Auguste Rodin was asked how he created his statues, the sculptor repeated the words of the great Michelangelo: “I take a block of marble and cut off everything unnecessary from it.” This is probably why the sculpture of a true master always creates a feeling of miracle: it seems that only a genius can see the beauty that is hidden in a piece of stone.

We are confident that in almost every significant work art is a mystery, a “double bottom” or secret history, which I want to reveal. Today we will share a few of them.

1. Horned Moses

Michelangelo Buanarrotti, "Moses", 1513-1515

Michelangelo depicted Moses with horns in his sculpture. Many art historians attribute this to misinterpretation of the Bible. The Book of Exodus says that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets, the Jews found it difficult to look at his face. At this point in the Bible, a word is used that can be translated from Hebrew as both “rays” and “horns.” However, from the context it can be clearly said that we are talking specifically about rays of light - that Moses’ face shone and was not horned.

2. Colored Antiquity

"Augustus from Prima Porta", antique statue.

It has long been believed that ancient Greek and Roman white marble sculptures were originally colorless. However, recent research by scientists has confirmed the hypothesis that the statues were painted in a wide range of colors, which eventually disappeared under prolonged exposure to light and air.

3. The Little Mermaid's suffering

Edward Eriksen, The Little Mermaid, 1913

The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is one of the most long-suffering in the world: it is the one that vandals love most. The history of its existence was very turbulent. It was broken and sawed into pieces many times. And now you can still detect barely noticeable “scars” on the neck, which appeared from the need to replace the sculpture’s head. The Little Mermaid was beheaded twice: in 1964 and 1998. In 1984, her right hand was sawed off. On March 8, 2006, a dildo was placed on the mermaid’s hand, and the unfortunate woman herself was splashed with green paint. In addition, on the back there was a scrawled inscription “Happy March 8!” In 2007, Copenhagen authorities announced that the statue might be moved further into the harbor to avoid further incidents of vandalism and to prevent tourists from continually attempting to climb it.

4. “Kiss” without a kiss

Auguste Rodin, "The Kiss", 1882

Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture "The Kiss" was originally called "Francesca da Rimini", in honor of the noble Italian lady of the 13th century depicted on it, whose name was immortalized by Dante's Divine Comedy (Second Circle, Fifth Canto). The lady fell in love with her husband Giovanni Malatesta's younger brother, Paolo. While they were reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, they were discovered and then killed by her husband. In the sculpture you can see Paolo holding a book in his hand. But in fact, the lovers do not touch each other's lips, as if hinting that they were killed without committing a sin.
The renaming of the sculpture to a more abstract one - The Kiss (Le Baiser) - was made by critics who first saw it in 1887.

5. The secret of the marble veil

Rafael Monti, "Marble Veil" mid-19th V.

When you look at statues covered with translucent marble veil, you can’t help but think about how it’s even possible to make something like this out of stone. It's all about the special structure of the marble used for these sculptures. The block that was to become a sculpture had to have two layers - one more transparent, the other more dense. Such natural stones are difficult to find, but they exist. The master had a plot in his head, he knew exactly what kind of block he was looking for. He worked with it, respecting the texture of the normal surface, and walked along the boundary separating the denser and more transparent part of the stone. As a result, the remnants of this transparent part “shone through”, which gave the effect of a veil.

6. Ideal David made of spoiled marble

Michelangelo Buanarrotti, "David", 1501-1504

The famous statue of David was made by Michelangelo from a piece of white marble left over from another sculptor, Agostino di Duccio, who tried unsuccessfully to work with the piece and then abandoned it.

By the way, David, who has been considered a model of male beauty for centuries, is not so perfect. The fact is that he is cross-eyed. This conclusion was reached by American scientist Mark Levoy from Stanford University, who examined the statue using laser-computer technology. The “vision defect” of the more than five-meter sculpture is invisible, since it is placed on a high pedestal. According to experts, Michelangelo deliberately endowed his brainchild with this flaw, because he wanted David’s profile to look perfect from any side.
Death that inspired creativity

7. “Kiss of Death”, 1930

The most mysterious statue in the Catalan cemetery of Poblenou is called “Kiss of Death”. The sculptor who created it still remains unknown. Usually the authorship of “The Kiss” is attributed to Jaume Barba, but there are also those who are sure that the monument was sculpted by Joan Fonbernat. The sculpture is located in one of the far corners of the Poblenou cemetery. It was she who inspired film director Bergman to create the film “The Seventh Seal” - about the communication between the Knight and Death.

8. Hands of Venus de Milo

Agesander (?), "Venus de Milo", c. 130-100 BC
The figure of Venus takes pride of place in the Louvre in Paris. A Greek peasant found it in 1820 on the island of Milos. At the time of discovery, the figure was broken into two large fragments. In her left hand the goddess held an apple, and with her right hand she held the falling robe. Realizing the historical significance of this ancient sculpture, officers of the French navy ordered the marble statue to be removed from the island. As Venus was being dragged over the rocks to the waiting ship, a fight broke out between the porters and both arms were broken off. The tired sailors flatly refused to return and look for the remaining parts.

9. The beautiful imperfection of Nike of Samothrace

"Nike of Samothrace", II century. BC.
The statue of Nike was found on the island of Samothrace in 1863 by Charles Champoiseau, a French consul and archaeologist. A statue carved from golden Parian marble on the island crowned the altar of sea deities. Researchers believe that an unknown sculptor created Nike in the 2nd century BC as a sign of Greek naval victories. The hands and head of the goddess are irretrievably lost. Attempts were made repeatedly to restore the original position of the goddess’s hands. It is believed that the right hand, raised upward, held a cup, wreath or forge. Interestingly, multiple attempts to restore the hands of the statue were unsuccessful - they all spoiled the masterpiece. These failures force us to admit: Nika is beautiful just like that, perfect in her imperfection.

10. Mystical Bronze Horseman

Etienne Falconet, Monument to Peter I, 1768-1770
The Bronze Horseman is a monument surrounded by mystical and otherworldly stories. One of the legends associated with him says that during the Patriotic War of 1812, Alexander I ordered the removal of especially valuable works of art from the city, including the monument to Peter I. At this time, a certain Major Baturin achieved a meeting with the Tsar’s personal friend, Prince Golitsyn and told him that he, Baturin, was haunted by the same dream. He sees himself on Senate Square. Peter's face turns. The horseman rides off his cliff and heads through the streets of St. Petersburg to Kamenny Island, where Alexander I then lived. The horseman enters the courtyard of the Kamenoostrovsky Palace, from which the sovereign comes out to meet him. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to,” Peter the Great tells him, “but as long as I’m in place, my city has nothing to fear!” Then the rider turns back, and the “heavy, ringing gallop” is heard again. Struck by Baturin’s story, Prince Golitsyn conveyed the dream to the sovereign. As a result, Alexander I reversed his decision to evacuate the monument. The monument remained in place.

*****

Greece and art are inseparable concepts. In numerous archaeological museums you can see antique sculptures And bronze statues, many of which were raised from the bottom of the Aegean Sea. In local local history museums handicrafts and textiles are on display, and the best museums in Athens are second to none art galleries in other European countries.

Athens, Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.
Origin: The statue was discovered among others in 1959 in Piraeus, at the intersection of Georgiou and Philon streets in a storage room near the ancient harbor. The sculpture was hidden in this room from Sulla's troops in 86 BC. e.
Description:Bronze statue of Artemis
This type of powerful female figure was originally defined as a poetess or muse from sculptural compositions Silanion. This statue is identified as an image of Artemis by the presence of a quiver belt on the back, as well as by the arrangement of the fingers of the hand that held the bow. This work of classicizing style is attributed to Euphranor on the basis of its resemblance to Apollo Patros on the Agora.