Flying Mercury Vs. Spartacus Breaking His Chains

When looking at Greek sculptures from different time periods, there is a clear difference in the story that they are telling. The stories that were told in early art forms could be categorized as eternal and self-centered while in later pieces of art, the stories could be categorized as momentary and a part of a bigger story. In this essay, I will give evidence of how this is true by using two sculptures found in the Aegon Gallery at Centre College. The statues that I will be using are bronze copies of Spartacus Breaking His Chains originally sculpted by Denis Foyatier in 1827 and Flying Mercury, modeled after the original sculpture made by Giovanni Bologna in the 16th century. Spartacus Breaking His Chains is much different than Flying Mercury because the statue of Spartacus has an eternal story of the strength of Spartacus while

In Flying Mercury, Mercury’s body and helmet are smooth while his hair and wings are textured. In the same way that the rough textures are meant to bring attention to certain aspects of Spartacus Breaking His Chains, the rough texture found in the Flying Mercury is meant to bring attention to the wings and base of the statue. The reason that the attention is drawn to these areas is to allow the observer to know that Mercury is about to take flight. It is understandable why the wings make it clear that Mercury is about to take flight, but what about the base makes this statement? The answer to this is quite clear. The base that Mercury is standing on is actually the head of one of the Greek gods, in particular, the god of wind. The god at the base of this sculpture is blowing Mercury’s feet, giving him the ability to take flight. This is an important aspect in learning that the story of this statue is momentary because this Greek god would not be blowing on Mercury’s feet for