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Myron
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MYRON
An influential sculptor from Eleutherae in Boeotia, Myron
(c.480-455bc) was a student of Agelades of Argos, The dynamic
linear style of his work in bronze contrasted with the solidity
of Kalamis1 work. His Timanthes, Ladas, and Discus Thrower are
thought to date from the early Peloponnesian period, and his
Lycinos at Olympia from a later phase. The group of Zeus,
Athena, and Herakles was sculpted at Samos, white his Perseos, Erechtheos, Athena, and Marsyas groups, and Theseos and the
Minotaur, were made in Athens. His famous cow was reproduced as
a bronze statuette.
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Discus Thrower, copy after Myron
Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome |
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Attributed to Myron,
Athena and Marsyas group (Vatican Museums)
marble copy after 5th century BC original
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Polygnotos
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POLYGNOTOS
The painter Polygnotos (c.510-460bc) came from Thasos. He freed
art from the craft tradition and rivalled the poets
in reviving mythology as a basis for aristocratic virtues. His
Punishment of the Suitors at Plataea (479bc) was followed by Odysseos and then Achilles in Skyros
(475bc), painted in Athens while in the political entourage of
Kimon. He also began the decoration of the Stoa Poikile, which
may have remained unfinished until the introduction of
democracy (462-461BC). His Destruction of Troy and Odysseos Visiting Hades
adorned the large "meeting room" at Delphi.
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Red-figure Colyx-krater,
attributed to Polygnotos
Athens, c.450bc |
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Vase
Athenian, Red Figure, Krater, Fragment
Polygnotos
Greek Ceramic, Red Figure
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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 Art attique,
Agrigente, Attribue au Groupe de Polygnotos
Thesee et les Amazones
Londres, British Museum |
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VOYAGETO ETERNITY
As Greek expansion continued with the defeat of the Persians at
Salamis, the victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in Sicily,
and the rout of the Etruscan fleet at Cumae by the Syracusans in
474bc, the quality of life in Greece improved. The power of
Athens was consolidating, Persia was collapsing as a serious
threat, and a new level of comfort and sophistication had been
achieved. Paintings on the ceiling and slab of the Tomb of the
Diver at Poseidonia (as the city of Paestum was then known)
reflect these improvements. Guests recline in front of tables
decorated with foliage, with a wine-krater at the centre. A
naked boy offers drinks with a long ladle, as drunkenness
spreads through the crowd: one man sings, another plays the
flute, others talk. An old man arrives, preceded by a flautist
and followed by his son, who carries his stick. As in
contemporary paintings by Polygnotos, the narrative element of
the decoration engages the spectator with its depth of meaning.
This is a parting with no return. The youth following his father
is the same figure that reappears in the painting on the ceiling
- there, amid the tree branches, he dives into the rolling sea.
His athletic glory highlights the destiny of the departed, whose
soul will cross the sea to reach the Isles of the Blessed.
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Diver,
painting from the slab of the Tomb of the Diver, Paestum
National Archaeological Museum, Paestum, Italy
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Flautist, Dancer, and Deceased,
painting from the lateral slab of the Tomb of the Diver, Paestum
National Archaeological Museum, Paestum, Italy |
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ANONYMOUS MASTER: "SYMPOSIUM SCENE"
This tomb offers a rare example of Hellenic painting, decorated
as it is with scenes of a funeral banquet held in honour of the
departed. On the interior and exterior of the lid of the tomb is
a depiction of the diver after whom the tomb is named. This part
of the slab portrays a section of the banqueting chamber, and
shows a row of three banqueting couches, with arm supports on
the right, each of which has a low serving-table in front of it.
Five figures are shown reclining on the couches. To the right is
a singer, who is performing with a youth who accompanies him on
the flute. In the centre, a bearded man and another youth are
talking, each holding a goblet in his hand, and on the third
couch, to the left, a lyre-player has stopped playing and is
resting the instrument on his lap and has turned to face his
companions who are listening to the song. The scene is skilfully
composed and animated by the artist. Each figure is involved in
an activity that relates him both to another figure and to the
overall action taking place There are no women in the picture.
Instead, this is a world of relationships between the old and
young, a society of men gathered together in private solidarity.
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Painting on a slab on the southern side of the Tomb of
the Diver
470bc
National Archaeological Museum, Paestum, Italy |
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Apollo Alexikakos,
copy after Kalamis
National Archaeological Museum, Athens |
The Art of Athens
After the Doric phase of the Severe style, the vigorous Athenian
style became even more firmly established with Phidias, who
portrayed the gods in open communication with the city that they
protected. His Apollo (Kassel version) differs from Kalamis'
Apollo Alexikakos in the broad structure of the body and the
crisp outline. Compared to the oblong heads of Myron's
statues, the forehead has a rectangular quality, and a sense of
forward motion creates a powerful effect of immediacy. Whereas
Kalamis interpreted the ideals of Kimon, Phidias followed the
democratic path of Perikles, who gave him the post of
superintendent of new monuments.
The building of the Acropolis gave rise to the style of dynamic
narration that lies at the heart of European figurative
language. The hierarchy of the subjects, progressively enlivened
with colour, is revealed by their different levels above the
ground: the Panathenaic festival on the frieze around
the inner temple, rising to the mythological and epic subjects
on the metopes, and culminating in the pediments. The sacred
element increases from west to east, the direction taken by
visitors arriving from the Propylaea. In the metopes to the west
and south. there are no deities. Some appear on the northern
side. while in the gigantomachia on the facade of the Parthenon
there is an Olympian god for each metope. Similarly, the frieze
contains deities on the eastern side only. The western pediment
is peopled by heroes, with just two deities - Poseidon and
Athena - shown competing for the ownership of Attica; the
eastern pediment contains Zeus and the birth of Athena as well
as the divine court.
The architectural narrative of the Parthenon progresses from
isolated episodes in the metopes to the processional continuity
of the frieze and the heavy mythology of the pediments; the
cella once held a colossal gold and ivory statue of Athena. The
Parthenon, a monument to democratic co-existence, combines the
Doric style with Ionic elements. It celebrates the coming
together of citizens ruled by different political systems,
and brings together mortals, heroes, and deities. The decoration
of the metopes alludes to the threat posed by the constant
struggle between Greeks and barbarians. The hand of the Lemnian
sculptor Alcamenes can be seen on the slab in the eastern
frieze. Poseidon's flowing hair has the same softness found in
the Bronze B, one of the two statues of warriors found off Riace,
and the wide, staring eyes are also familiar. A similar use of
drapery can be seen in Alcamenes' marble group of the
mythological Procne and Itys on the Acropolis.
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Attributed to Alcamenes,
Hero in Arms (better known as Bronze B),
from the sea off Riace, southern Italy
National Museum, Reggio Calabria, Italy |

Drawing of the Acropolis,
Athens, from the Hellenistic age |
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BEAUTY
For the Greeks, beauty was not simply a cultural ideal connected
with art and the gods, but was also a personal pursuit. This is
clearly demonstrated in the decoration of many artifacts,
including this oil jar.
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Oil jar with decoration showing a woman holding a
mirror
National Museum, Reggio Calabria, Italy
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Phidias

Parthenon
Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Architects:Iktinos, Kallikrates, Phidias
447-432 BC

Friezes (entablature components) Parthenon Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Architects:Iktinos, Kallikrates, Phidias
447-432 BC

Parthenon |
PHIDIAS
The great artist of the classical age, the Athenian sculptor
Phidias (c.490-430bc) was the one most copied by the Romans.
After studying bronze-working with Aegios in Athens and Agelades
in Argos, he was the probable creator of The Apollo Parnopios (Kassel
version). He was commissioned by Perikles to supervise work on
the Acropolis and the Parthenon to plans by the architects
Ictinus and Callicrates. He designed (and may have part
executed) the Parthenon's 92 metopes of mythical battles, a
frieze measuring 159 metres (522 feet) of the Great Panathenaea
(the most important Athenian religious festival), sculptures for
the pediments, and the 12-metre (40-foot) gold and ivory Athena
Parthenos (447-438BC). The Wounded Amazon (Mattei version) and
The Aphrodite Urania (Doria Pamphili) then followed.

After being
put on trial for misappropriating gold and for impiety, Phidias
moved to the Peloponnese, where he created a new Urania at Elis.
He also set up a workshop at Olympia, where he made a colossal
14-metre (45-foot) gold and ivory statue of Zeus and The
Anadoumenos. The originals from the Parthenon, largely kept in
the British Museum. London, were an inspiration for European
Neoclassical art.
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Atributed to the Master of the
Temple of Hera at Selinus,
Melqart-Herakles, marble, c.450bc
Whitaker Museum, Mozia
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THE SMITING GOD
At the colony of Motya, on the far western tip of Sicily, the
cult of Melqart of Tyre was practised by the ruling
Carthaginians. Melqart, a Phoenician tutelary god, was generally
associated with Herakles in Hellenic times (c.450bc). This
statue of Melqart-Herakles is evidence of the maturity of the
artist, who was also responsible for the metopes on the Temple
of Hera at Selinus (c.465bc); there, his Carthaginian employer
allowed him to Hellenize his Eastern subject. As in other
statues of Melqart-Herakles discovered on Cyprus, this figure
was originally clothed in a lionskin (in this case made of
bronze), although it was later removed by Syracusans during the
sack of Motya in 397bc. A club in the hero's right hand was
raised behind his head, but this threatening pose was softened
by the nonchalance of the other hand, which rested on his hip.
The sculptor Lysippos, in Alexander's retinue when the sanctuary
at Tyre was rebuilt (331bc), was influenced by this statue; his
later work of Herakles Overcoming the Lion for Cassander
( 31-tnc) included the original
image of the vanquished animal held in the left hand.
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Melqart-Herakles, limestone
Nicosia Museum, Cyprus
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Hercules Overcoming the Lion
(detail from the Labours of Hercules), after Lysippos
Pillared sarcophagus, Via Cassia, Rome
Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome |

Nicola Pisano, Strenght,
allegorical figure from the pulpit of the Baptistry
c.1260
Pisa, Italy |
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Polycleitos
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POLYCLEITOS
Born in Argos, Polycleitos (c.480-420bc), was a scuiptor and a
pupil of Agelades. He wrote The Canon on the harmony of
proportions and opposition of forces. His Discophoros (c.460)
has both feet firmly on the ground, while the Kyniskos is more
typically balanced. with one foot partially raised. Doryphorus
was an exploration of the distribution of energy between the
limbs, as was his Herakles. The Wounded Amazon (Sciarra
version), which he is said to have made for Ephesus in
competition with Phidias and Kresilas (c.440), and The
Diadoumenos. His final bid to compete with the colossal statues
of Phidias was the gold and ivory Hera, roughly 5.5 metres (18
feet) high His statues were widely copied during the late
Hellenistic and Roman periods.
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Polycleitos' Canon
Whereas Myron captured the transient and the fortuitous.
Polycleitos inherited Kritios' and Kalamis' interest in volume
and metrical rhythm. A native of Argos like Agelades, he
investigated the possibilities of illustrating movement in
standing figures. The distribution of weight in his Discophoros
echoes the Riace Bronze A. In his Achilles or Doryphoros, unlike Phidias'
Apollo. Polycleitos paid great attention to the
distribution of weight and strength in the limbs. and created a
canon
derived from Pythagoras' research into mathematical proportion.
The asymmetrical position of the feet is counterbalanced by an
intersection of force lines (chiasmos) through the body. The
curls of the hair provide the finishing touch to a perfectly
balanced work composed of many disparate elements. In about
440bc. Polycleitos moved to Athens, and challenged the dominance
of Phidias. The influence of his rhythmical style proved
decisive and came to exemplify the classical period.
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 Doryphoros by Polycleitos, replica, Naples museum |
 Doryphoros by Polycleitos, Munich university |

Kyniskos by Polycleitos, Dresden Museum (reconstruction) |
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Wounded Amazon,
copies after originals known to have been created by Polykleitos
and Phidias
for competition won by Polykleitos in Ephesos (?) |
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