The Human-headed winged bull and winged lion (Lamassu) sculptures, on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were believed to have been a part of the Assyrian palaces at Nimrud during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II, 883- 859 BC. The Neo-Assyrian Empire existed from 911 BC and 609 BC, where countless of rulers fought to conquer land resulting in the most powerful state of the Ancient Near East—northern Mesopotamia. During the reign of Ashurnasirpal II, Kahlu, present day Nimrud, became the capital city, and this is arguably one of his most notable accomplishments of the time. The Assyrian rule of the Near East reached its peak during this time period.
During this era, the Assyrian empire was focused on expanding and building impressive
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Similar Lamassu sculptures, often found in pairs, can also be seen at the British Museum in London or the Louvre in Paris. The sculptures, though resembling each other, have subtle variation. This particular set of Lamassu sculptures on display at the Met is constructed from Alabaster (gypsum). Alabaster is a soft mineral, which was used and continues to be used for making sculptures. This soft mineral allowed for artists to carve small details into their works, which is made apparent by the minute details in the Lamassu sculptures. The intricate features consist of detailed carvings in the hair and the wings, of each …show more content…
Viewing the statue from the front, one can see one of the Lamassus placed on the left in the Met, which appears to be a lion, and the other Lamassu to the right, which would appear to be a bull. The statues stand ten feet and three and a half inches tall on either side. The artist constructed the statues five legs each. The purpose of this is to give a different perspective to the viewer, based on the angle from which one is examining the statues. If one glances at the statue from the front, he or she will see a firm stance that monumentalizes the figure; however, if one glances at the statue from the side, he or she will see the figure standing in a firm striding forward movement in the figure. This helped to give the illusion of protection and power that was trying to be portrayed through the placement and construction of these statues. Although one could argue that the function of the Lamassu in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is different from the function the statue had in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the impact is similar if not the same, with both statues towering over whoever walked by
The first glance you’ve taken at those two statues, you just see a man standing there. They are not doing anything in particular, just standing there. That was only in the first glance of course. Now take a good look at each one. In the archaic Greek kouros figure, the pose of the figure is very frontal. The entire figure is relatively stiff with the exception of the left leg, which is in front of the body giving it the early contrapposto pose. Even though it does have a much more natural pose to it with the one leg out, the rest of the body is not in a pose as if the weight of the body was put into one leg. The head is stiff with the hair being geometric and with the hair falling back on the body. The physical stature of the body is moderately realistic. The muscles are not quite as well defined but they are still semi-realistic. They are portrayed as if they were tense. The arms are also at the side.
An Assyrian Emperor’s Resume: Ferocious Conquests a Specialty, written by an unknown author, offers evidence about the Assyrian Society around the time of 875 BCE, under the rule of Emperor Ashur-Nasir-Pal II, including insight in to the Assyrian society as well as what they valued and thought was important, however we cannot believe that this source is one hundred percent accurate.
It was underneath this fortification that numerous statues of Gudea were discovered, which make up the heart of the Babylonian collection at the Louvre Museum#. Overall the statues had been damaged, some decapitated and others broken in various ways, having been put into the foundation of the new fortification. Also in this section came a mixture of fragments of basic artifacts including various objects made from bronze and stone, of high artistic excellence. Some of these objects have been dated to the earliest Sumerian period enabling historians to trace Babylonian art and it’s history to a date some hundreds years prior. Excavations in the other mound resulted in the uncovering of the remains of various buildings.
The Lamassu is a mythological winged human-headed bull that guards the Assyrian palace of Sargon II in Khorsabad, Iraq around 721 to 705 BCE. There are theories that they were sculpted at the palace gates to ward off evil and fend off invasions. Archaeologists theorized that the Lamassu had influenced other winged animal and human hybrids throughout the ages from Ancient Mesopotamia to Ancient Greece and to the Romanesque and Asia Minor. One, for example, is the Chimera of Arezzo, Italy from the Etruscans Late Classical period of the 4th century BCE. There were some debates about the origins of the Lamassu - where and what period the statuette was made and how much influence did it impacted other mythological winged hybrids.
And just like the Greek the statue are both big and almost human size. A great example of this is the “Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E. (Vatican Museums).” It truly shows the evolution of art sculpting. It is a full size very detailed sculpture of Augustus. It very detailed from his hair showing every curl and split to the small details in his armor that also depicts a story as well is shows the god of the sky looking down on him and the goddess of the earth looking up towards him as they watch the Parthians surrender to him and returning the standards shows the great power that Augustus has, and not just that but also the sculpture itself is a symbol for how Augustus wanted everyone to see him as, as god like. And it even has a little small cupid on the side which is also detailed which shows that Augusts is decedent from a
Moving through art we start to see more and more human figures being represented. At first they appear on paintings, then small figurines, and finally in full body realistic rock sculptures. Two examples of this are Anavysos Kouros and Doryphoros the Spear Bearer.
The Egyptians created Ramesses’ statue 1279-1212 B.C. using granodiorite. The statue is currently being exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Its dimensions withouts a base are 59 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 30 inches (seems bigger than life-size). One must look at the statue from various sides in order to see its entirety. Ramesses II, known also as Ramesses the Great, ruled Egypt for over sixty years. there are thousands of statues made in his honor to proclaim his power and divinity.
- Priest of Troy being punished by the Gods for warning against accepting horse from the Greeks. Sea serpents attacked him and his sons. Beautiful anatomy.
They destroyed the Kassite in Akkad and Sumer. Not long after the Assyrians new capital Nineveh was built. It was very beautiful with a library, and a zoo. The water supply was poor. The Assyrians were very hated. The Medes took over Assyrian in 612 BCE and invades Anatolia. The Chaldeans (New Babylonians) became the new masters of Mesopotamia. Their greatest cultural accomplishments were in astronomy. They studied the sky because they believed gods lived there.
The Assyrians built huge structures, some of which were the largest and most important buildings in all of Mesopotamia. These places were built to demonstrate the power of the kings. The Assyrian people worshipped their god Ashur at a shrine on the Tigris known by his name. The city of Ashur has had periods of influence, trading and conquering westwards into Turkey, but the Assyrians have also often been subject to more powerful groups from those regions such as Hittites. Ashurnasirpal established the Assyrian empire as the greatest yet seen in the Middle East. The Assyrians did this by having regular military campaigns to control and extend territories, using an army famed for ruthless efficiency. The Assyrians (HISTORY OF
My report is on ancient Greek art mainly sculptures and vase art I will also
The kouros was sculpted out of marble and the statue of Menkaure was made out of slate. The kouros is completely nude while the king is clothed in a kilt and a headdress. King Menkaure is making a fist around an object in both hands and the kouros has his hands in a loose fist. The kouros also does not have as much of the stone around him for “support” as the statue of King Menkaure and His Queen do. King Menkaure and His Queen was meant to be viewed from the front and therefore two-dimensional, while the kouros is meant to be viewed from all sides and is a three-dimensional
According to the Sumerian King’s List , Ur dominated Southern Mesopotamia three times, which owes to the name ‘The Third Dynasty of Ur’. The Third dynasty stretched from c.2112 - c.2004. Shar-kali-sharri was the last ruler before the decline of the Akkadian period brought by the Gutian invaders. After about 40 years after the demise of the Akkadian Empire, Ur-Namma established this empire centered in Ur. This period was one of restoration as a reaction against the previous rule of the Akkadians. It is also sometimes known as the ‘Sumerian renaissance’ as the writing was still Sumerian and there were notable advances in culture. “This period stabilized the region of Mesopotamia and allowed for development of art, literature, science, agricultural
I chose this sculpture because I was intrigued by the position of the man and the centaur. I was able to witness that the centaur is trying to invade the personal space of the man. The sculpture showed me that there is a strong relationship between man and creature. The quality of the sculpture made me realize that animals play a big part of a human’s life and can be seen as threatening to humans. It was interesting to see that both the man and centaur were created to have almost of the same structures. This statue has a metallic brown and green, bronze tone and appeared undersized. It has a height of four and a half feet, and six inches. It has long, thin, legs with calf muscles, and bulging thighs. The sculpture evolved from Olympia, Greece. The man and centaur sculpture was created in 750 BCE during an orderly time period. The colors used for this sculpture, proved that it has a longer lasting mold for statues. On the left side of the sculpture, the man has a wrap on his head, that can symbolize, he is some form of a god. On the right side, the centaur has the same head piece as the man, but the body of a horse. It can be seen that the man and
The primary focus of ancient Greek sculptures was that of the human body. Almost all Greek sculptures are of nude subjects. As the first society to focus on nude subjects, Greek sculptors attempted to "depict man in what they believed was the image of the gods and so would come to celebrate the body by striving for verisimilitude or true – likeness (realism and naturalism!)."(Riffert) Not only did the Greeks celebrate the human form in their art but also in everyday life. (Riffert) One of the favorite topics for sculptors was that of the athlete. In Greek culture athletes were described as "hero–athletes". (Riffert) This shows that athletes were revered and looked upon as heroes. The influence of athleticism is evident in many famous sculptures. I will attempt to show how the human form influenced Greek art. It is important to note that many of the Greek sculptures discussed do not exist in their original form but rather in Roman copies of the original bronze sculptures. (Riffert)