Ancient Greek sculpture is the sculpture of
ancient Greece. Modern scholarship identifies
three major stages in monumental sculpture.
At all periods there were great numbers of
Greek terracotta figurines and small sculptures
in metal and other materials.
The Greeks decided very early on that the
human form was the most important subject
for artistic endeavour. Seeing their gods
as having human form, there was little distinction
between the sacred and the secular in art—the
human body was both secular and sacred. A
male nude of Apollo or Heracles had only slight
differences in treatment to one of that year's
Olympic boxing champion. The statue, originally
single but by the Hellenistic period often
in groups was the dominant form, though reliefs,
often so "high" that they were almost free-standing,
were also important.
== Materials ==
By the classical period, roughly the 5th and
4th centuries, monumental sculpture was composed
almost entirely of marble or bronze; with
cast bronze becoming the favoured medium for
major works by the early 5th century; many
pieces of sculpture known only in marble copies
made for the Roman market were originally
made in bronze. Smaller works were in a great
variety of materials, many of them precious,
with a very large production of terracotta
figurines. The territories of ancient Greece,
except for Sicily and southern Italy, contained
abundant supplies of fine marble, with Pentelic
and Parian marble the most highly prized,
along with that from modern Prilep in Macedonia,
and various sources in modern Turkey. The
ores for bronze were also relatively easy
to obtain. Marble was mostly found around
the Parthenon and other major Greek buildings.
Both marble and bronze are easy to form and
very durable; as in most ancient cultures
there were no doubt also traditions of sculpture
in wood about which we know very little, other
than acrolithic sculptures, usually large,
with the head and exposed flesh parts in marble
but the clothed parts in wood. As bronze always
had a significant scrap value very few original
bronzes have survived, though in recent years
marine archaeology or trawling has added a
few spectacular finds, such as the Artemision
Bronze and Riace bronzes, which have significantly
extended modern understanding. Many copies
of the Roman period are marble versions of
works originally in bronze. Ordinary limestone
was used in the Archaic period, but thereafter,
except in areas of modern Italy with no local
marble, only for architectural sculpture and
decoration. Plaster or stucco was sometimes
used for the hair only.Chryselephantine sculptures,
used for temple cult images and luxury works,
used gold, most often in leaf form and ivory
for all or parts (faces and hands) of the
figure, and probably gems and other materials,
but were much less common, and only fragments
have survived. Many statues were given jewellery,
as can be seen from the holes for attaching
it, and held weapons or other objects in different
materials.
== Painting of sculpture ==
Ancient Greek sculptures were originally painted
bright colors; they only appear white today
because the original pigments have deteriorated.
References to painted sculptures are found
throughout classical literature, including
in Euripides's Helen in which the eponymous
character laments, "If only I could shed my
beauty and assume an uglier aspect/The way
you would wipe color off a statue." Some well-preserved
statues still bear traces of their original
coloration and archaeologists can reconstruct
what they would have originally looked like.By
the early 19th century, the systematic excavation
of ancient Greek sites had brought forth a
plethora of sculptures with traces of notably
multicolored surfaces, some of which were
still visible. Despite this, influential art
historians such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann
so strongly opposed the idea of painted Greek
sculpture that proponents of painted statues
were dismissed as eccentrics, and their views
were largely dismissed for more than a century.
It was not until published findings by German
archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann in the late
20th and early 21st century that the painting
of ancient Greek sculptures became an established
fact. Using high-intensity lamps, ultraviolet
light, specially designed cameras, plaster
casts, and certain powdered minerals, Brinkmann
proved that the entire Parthenon, including
the actual structure as well as the statues,
had been painted. He analyzed the pigments
of the original paint to discover their composition.
Brinkmann made several painted replicas of
Greek statues that went on tour around the
world. Also in the collection were replicas
of other works of Greek and Roman sculpture,
and he demonstrated that the practice of painting
sculpture was the norm rather than the exception
in Greek and Roman art. Museums that hosted
the exhibit included the Glyptotek Museum
in Munich, the Vatican Museum, and the National
Archaeological Museum in Athens, et al. The
collection made its American debut at Harvard
University in the Fall of 2007.Brinkmann said
that "no other aspect of the art of antiquity
is as little understood as is the polychrome
painting of temples and sculptures", and that
modern sculptures, ostensibly inspired by
the Greeks but left unpainted, are "something
entirely new".
== Development of Greek sculptures ==
=== 
Geometric ===
It is commonly thought that the earliest incarnation
of Greek sculpture was in the form of wooden
cult statues, first described by Pausanias
as xoana. No such statues survive, and the
descriptions of them are vague, despite the
fact that they were probably objects of veneration
for hundreds of years. The first piece of
Greek statuary to be reassembled since is
probably the Lefkandi Centaur, a terra cotta
sculpture found on the island of Euboea, dated
c. 920 BC. The statue was constructed in parts,
before being dismembered and buried in two
separate graves. The centaur has an intentional
mark on its knee, which has led researchers
to postulate that the statue might portray
Cheiron, presumably kneeling wounded from
Herakles' arrow. If so, it would be the earliest
known depiction of myth in the history of
Greek sculpture.
The forms from the geometrical period (c.
900 to c. 700 BC) were chiefly terra cotta
figurines, bronzes, and ivories. The bronzes
are chiefly tripod cauldrons, and freestanding
figures or groups. Such bronzes were made
using the lost-wax technique probably introduced
from Syria, and are almost entirely votive
offerings left at the Hellenistic civilization
Panhellenic sanctuaries of Olympia, Delos,
and Delphi, though these were likely manufactured
elsewhere, as a number of local styles may
be identified by finds from Athens, Argos,
and Sparta. Typical works of the era include
the Karditsa warrior (Athens Br. 12831) and
the many examples of the equestrian statuette
(for example, NY Met. 21.88.24 online). The
repertory of this bronze work is not confined
to standing men and horses, however, as vase
paintings of the time also depict imagery
of stags, birds, beetles, hares, griffins
and lions. There are no inscriptions on early-to-middle
geometric sculpture, until the appearance
of the Mantiklos "Apollo" (Boston 03.997)
of the early 7th century BC found in Thebes.
The figure is that of a standing man with
a pseudo-daedalic form, underneath which lies
the inscription "Μαντικλος μ' ανεθε̅κε
ϝεκαβολο̅ι αργυροτοχσο̅ι
τας {δ}δε-κατας· τυ δε Φοιβε
διδοι χαριϝετταν αμοιϝ[αν]",
written in hexameter. The Latinized script
reads, "Mantiklos manetheke wekaboloi argurotoxsoi
tas dekatas; tu de Foibe didoi xariwettan
amoiw[an]", and is translated roughly as "Mantiklos
offered me as a tithe to Apollo of the silver
bow; do you, Phoibos [Apollo], give some pleasing
favour in return". The inscription is a declaration
of the statuette to Apollo, followed by a
request for favors in return. Apart from the
novelty of recording its own purpose, this
sculpture adapts the formulae of oriental
bronzes, as seen in the shorter more triangular
face and slightly advancing left leg. This
is sometimes seen as anticipating the greater
expressive freedom of the 7th century BC and,
as such, the Mantiklos figure is referred
to in some quarters as proto-Daedalic.
=== Archaic ===
Inspired by the monumental stone sculpture
of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Greeks began
again to carve in stone. Free-standing figures
share the solidity and frontal stance characteristic
of Eastern models, but their forms are more
dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture,
as for example the Lady of Auxerre and Torso
of Hera (Early Archaic period, c. 660–580
BC, both in the Louvre, Paris). After about
575 BC, figures such as these, both male and
female, began wearing the so-called archaic
smile. This expression, which has no specific
appropriateness to the person or situation
depicted, may have been a device to give the
figures a distinctive human characteristic.
Three types of figures prevailed—the standing
nude youth (kouros, plural kouroi), the standing
draped girl (kore, plural korai), and the
seated woman. All emphasize and generalize
the essential features of the human figure
and show an increasingly accurate comprehension
of human anatomy. The youths were either sepulchral
or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York), an early work; the
Strangford Apollo from Anafi (British Museum,
London), a much later work; and the Anavyssos
Kouros (National Archaeological Museum of
Athens). More of the musculature and skeletal
structure is visible in this statue than in
earlier works. The standing, draped girls
have a wide range of expression, as in the
sculptures in the Acropolis Museum of Athens.
Their drapery is carved and painted with the
delicacy and meticulousness common in the
details of sculpture of this period.
The Greeks thus decided very early on that
the human form was the most important subject
for artistic endeavour. Seeing their gods
as having human form, there was no distinction
between the sacred and the secular in art—the
human body was both secular and sacred. A
male nude without any attachments such as
a bow or a club, could just as easily be Apollo
or Heracles as that year's Olympic boxing
champion. In the Archaic Period the most important
sculptural form was the kouros (plural kouroi),
the standing male nude (See for example Biton
and Kleobis). The kore (plural korai), or
standing clothed female figure, was also common;
Greek art did not present female nudity (unless
the intention was pornographic) until the
4th century BC, although the development of
techniques to represent drapery is obviously
important.
As with pottery, the Greeks did not produce
sculpture merely for artistic display. Statues
were commissioned either by aristocratic individuals
or by the state, and used for public memorials,
as offerings to temples, oracles and sanctuaries
(as is frequently shown by inscriptions on
the statues), or as markers for graves. Statues
in the Archaic period were not all intended
to represent specific individuals. They were
depictions of an ideal—beauty, piety, honor
or sacrifice. These were always depictions
of young men, ranging in age from adolescence
to early maturity, even when placed on the
graves of (presumably) elderly citizens. Kouroi
were all stylistically similar. Graduations
in the social stature of the person commissioning
the statue were indicated by size rather than
artistic innovations.
=== Classical ===
The Classical period saw a revolution of Greek
sculpture, sometimes associated by historians
with the popular culture surrounding the introduction
of democracy and the end of the aristocratic
culture associated with the kouroi. The Classical
period saw changes in the style and function
of sculpture, along with a dramatic increase
in the technical skill of Greek sculptors
in depicting realistic human forms. Poses
also became more naturalistic, notably during
the beginning of the period. This is embodied
in works such as the Kritios Boy (480 BC),
sculpted with the earliest known use of contrapposto
('counterpose'), and the Charioteer of Delphi
(474 BC), which demonstrates a transition
to more naturalistic sculpture. From about
500 BC, Greek statues began increasingly to
depict real people, as opposed to vague interpretations
of myth or entirely fictional votive statues,
although the style in which they were represented
had not yet developed into a realistic form
of portraiture. The statues of Harmodius and
Aristogeiton, set up in Athens mark the overthrow
of the aristocratic tyranny, and have been
said to be the first public monuments to show
actual individuals.
The Classical Period also saw an increase
in the use of statues and sculptures as decorations
of buildings. The characteristic temples of
the Classical era, such as the Parthenon in
Athens, and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia,
used relief sculpture for decorative friezes,
and sculpture in the round to fill the triangular
fields of the pediments. The difficult aesthetic
and technical challenge stimulated much in
the way of sculptural innovation. Most of
these works survive only in fragments, for
example the Parthenon Marbles, roughly half
of which are in the British Museum.
Funeral statuary evolved during this period
from the rigid and impersonal kouros of the
Archaic period to the highly personal family
groups of the Classical period. These monuments
are commonly found in the suburbs of Athens,
which in ancient times were cemeteries on
the outskirts of the city. Although some of
them depict "ideal" types—the mourning mother,
the dutiful son—they increasingly depicted
real people, typically showing the departed
taking his dignified leave from his family.
This is a notable increase in the level of
emotion relative to the Archaic and Geometrical
eras.
Another notable change is the burgeoning of
artistic credit in sculpture. The entirety
of information known about sculpture in the
Archaic and Geometrical periods are centered
upon the works themselves, and seldom, if
ever, on the sculptors. Examples include Phidias,
known to have overseen the design and building
of the Parthenon, and Praxiteles, whose nude
female sculptures were the first to be considered
artistically respectable. Praxiteles' Aphrodite
of Knidos, which survives in copies, was often
referenced to and praised by Pliny the Elder.
Lysistratus is said to have been the first
to use plaster molds taken from living people
to produce lost-wax portraits, and to have
also developed a technique of casting from
existing statues. He came from a family of
sculptors and his brother, Lysippos of Sicyon,
produced fifteen hundred statues in his career.The
Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Statue of
Athena Parthenos (both chryselephantine and
executed by Phidias or under his direction,
and considered to be the greatest of the Classical
Sculptures), are lost, although smaller copies
(in other materials) and good descriptions
of both still exist. Their size and magnificence
prompted rivals to seize them in the Byzantine
period, and both were removed to Constantinople,
where they were later destroyed.
=== Hellenistic ===
The transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic
(or Hellenic) (Hellenic is not the same era
as the Hellenistic) period occurred during
the 4th century BC. Greek art became increasingly
diverse, influenced by the cultures of the
peoples drawn into the Greek orbit, by the
conquests of Alexander the Great (336 to 323
BC). In the view of some art historians, this
is described as a decline in quality and originality;
however, individuals of the time may not have
shared this outlook. Many sculptures previously
considered classical masterpieces are now
known to be of the Hellenistic age. The technical
ability of the Hellenistic sculptors are clearly
in evidence in such major works as the Winged
Victory of Samothrace, and the Pergamon Altar.
New centres of Greek culture, particularly
in sculpture, developed in Alexandria, Antioch,
Pergamum, and other cities. By the 2nd century
BC, the rising power of Rome had also absorbed
much of the Greek tradition—and an increasing
proportion of its products as well.
During this period, sculpture again experienced
a shift towards increasing naturalism. Common
people, women, children, animals, and domestic
scenes became acceptable subjects for sculpture,
which was commissioned by wealthy families
for the adornment of their homes and gardens.
Realistic figures of men and women of all
ages were produced, and sculptors no longer
felt obliged to depict people as ideals of
beauty or physical perfection. At the same
time, new Hellenistic cities springing up
in Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia required statues
depicting the gods and heroes of Greece for
their temples and public places. This made
sculpture, like pottery, an industry, with
the consequent standardisation and (some)
lowering of quality. For these reasons, quite
a few more Hellenistic statues survive to
the present than those of the Classical period.
Alongside the natural shift towards naturalism,
there was a shift in expression of the sculptures
as well. Sculptures began expressing more
power and energy during this time period.
An easy way to see the shift in expressions
during the Hellenistic period would be to
compare it to the sculptures of the Classical
period. The classical period had sculptures
such as the Charioteer of Delphi expressing
humility. The sculptures of the Hellenistic
period however saw greater expressions of
power and energy as demonstrated in the Jockey
of Artemision.Some of the best known Hellenistic
sculptures are the Winged Victory of Samothrace
(2nd or 1st century BC), the statue of Aphrodite
from the island of Melos known as the Venus
de Milo (mid-2nd century BC), the Dying Gaul
(about 230 BC), and the monumental group Laocoön
and His Sons (late 1st century BC). All these
statues depict Classical themes, but their
treatment is far more sensuous and emotional
than the austere taste of the Classical period
would have allowed or its technical skills
permitted. Hellenistic sculpture was also
marked by an increase in scale, which culminated
in the Colossus of Rhodes (late 3rd century),
thought to have been roughly the same size
as the Statue of Liberty. The combined effect
of earthquakes and looting have destroyed
this as well as any other very large works
of this period that might have existed.
Following the conquests of Alexander the Great,
Greek culture spread as far as India, as revealed
by the excavations of Ai-Khanoum in eastern
Afghanistan, and the civilization of the Greco-Bactrians
and the Indo-Greeks. Greco-Buddhist art represented
a syncretism between Greek art and the visual
expression of Buddhism. Discoveries made since
the end of the 19th century surrounding the
(now submerged) ancient Egyptian city of Heracleum
include a 4th-century BC depiction of Isis.
The depiction is unusually sensual for depictions
of the Egyptian goddess, as well as being
uncharacteristically detailed and feminine,
marking a combination of Egyptian and Hellenistic
forms around the time of Alexander the Great's
conquest of Egypt.
In Goa, India, were found Buddha statues in
Greek styles. These are attributed to Greek
converts to Buddhism, many of whom are known
to have settled in Goa during Hellenistic
times.
== Cult images ==
All ancient Greek temples and Roman temples
normally contained a cult image in the cella.
Access to the cella varied, but apart from
the priests, at the least some of the general
worshippers could access the cella some of
the time, though sacrifices to the deity were
normally made on altars outside in the temple
precinct (tenemos in Greek). Some cult images
were easy to see, and were what we would call
major tourist attractions. The image normally
took the form of a statue of the deity, originally
less than life-size, then typically roughly
life-size, but in some cases many times life-size,
in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious
form of a Chryselephantine statue using ivory
plaques for the visible parts of the body
and gold for the clothes, around a wooden
framework. The most famous Greek cult images
were of this type, including the Statue of
Zeus at Olympia, and Phidias's Athena Parthenos
in the Parthenon in Athens, both colossal
statues now completely lost. Fragments of
two chryselephantine statues from Delphi have
been excavated. Cult images generally held
or wore identifying attributes, which is one
way of distinguishing them from the many other
statues of deities in temples and other locations.
The acrolith was another composite form, this
time a cost-saving one with a wooden body.
A xoanon was a primitive and symbolic wooden
image, perhaps comparable to the Hindu lingam;
many of these were retained and revered for
their antiquity. Many of the Greek statues
well-known from Roman marble copies were originally
temple cult images, which in some cases, such
as the Apollo Barberini, can be credibly identified.
A very few actual originals survive, for example
the bronze Piraeus Athena (2.35 metres high,
including a helmet).
In Greek and Roman mythology, a "palladium"
was an image of great antiquity on which the
safety of a city was said to depend, especially
the wooden one that Odysseus and Diomedes
stole from the citadel of Troy and which was
later taken to Rome by Aeneas. (The Roman
story was related in Virgil's Aeneid and other
works.)
== Drapery ==
=== Female ===
=== Male ===
== Notes ==
== References ==
Cook, R.M., Greek Art, Penguin, 1986 (reprint
of 1972), ISBN 0140218661
Gagarin, Michael, Elaine Fantham (contributor),
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece
and Rome, Volume 1, Oxford University Press,
2010, ISBN 9780195170726
Stele, R. Web. 24 November 2013. http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Sculpture/
== 
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== External links ==
Classic Greek Sculpture to Late Hellenistic
Era, lecture by professor Kenney Mencher,
Ohlone College
Sideris A., Aegean Schools of Sculpture in
Antiquity, Cultural Gate of the Aegean Archipelago,
Athens 2007 (a detailed per period and per
island approach).
