Part A: Plan of Investigation
Artists created their own unique style in Greek culture and with the creation of the Roman Empire, Greek artwork had been spread throughout the region. When the empire eventually split and faded from existence, Greek artwork had left its mark on the remaining civilizations. Because Byzantium had arisen from the ashes of the Roman Empire, Byzantine artwork incorporated aspects of Greek art within their own artwork. The purpose of this investigation is to compare and contrast art in ancient Greece and Byzantium. Recognizing the similarities and differences between two related cultures is vital in understanding the evolution of art from one culture to another. Within this investigation designs/patterns and symbols will be researched in the Greek Classical Period (ca. 480-323 BCE) and the Byzantine Golden Age (ca. 850-1050 BC). Artwork within the cities of Athens, Constantinople and others will be examined, examinations and conclusions determined by the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be inspected and online and print sources will be studied as well.
Part B: Summary of Evidence
Art in Greece’s Classical Period
Attic Vase Painting
Attic Vase painting was a popular style between the sixth and the end of the fourth centuries BCE and the technique itself was first used by Athenian potters. Usually the necks and bodies were created first (on a wheel) and then the handles were added later. In black-figure vase painting, designs were painted using a black-tinted slip that turned black during firing, while the background would remain clay colored. Red-figure vase painting is the opposite. Three stages of firing: (1) Oxidizing stage: air is allowed into the kiln turning the whole vase clay colored ...
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The two works of art that have been chosen to compare and contrast are The Palette Of Narmer and Apollo of Veii. The Palette Of Narmer dates back to the Hierakonpolis Dynasty 1 in 3100 BCE. The Palette of Narmer is interesting because it is the oldest historic work of art that names a person, and is the earliest piece of art that uses hieroglyph. This artwork depicts the dawn of a new age of man and his use of writing and pictographs in art. The statue of Apollo, from Veii comes from the Etruscan art period Apollo was created around 500 BCE. It was created by a very popular sculpture of his time, by the name of Vulca. The delicate technique of firing clay is fascinating. A sculptor of Vulca’s ability was required to know how to construct a large figure so that it did not fall under it’s own weight. He had to know how to precisely regulate the temperature of a kiln large enough to fit a statue of almost 6 ft tall, for a long period of time. The fact that to this day, Vulca is the only Etruscan Sculpture whose works of art have survived the test of time, show his genius in his creations.
The first step in understanding the Attic Black-Figure Ovoid Neck-Amphora and other black figure pottery is to understand how the pottery is made. The artist started by digging a place in the ground to hold water in. After the large hole was filled by water, he would throw in a large amount of dry clay into the water. Then he would wait for the sun to evaporate the water leaving water pliable clay. The next step was to compact the clay and squeeze out and extra water. He would do this similarly to crushing grapes to get out the juice by stepping and walking on it. After this process, the clay would be ready to a make the vase.
Throughout the history of Ancient Greece thousands of great works of art were produced. Works were created in many different media, ranging from life-size statues to larger than life architectural structures. One type of art that can sometimes be overlooked, though, is pottery. There are many examples of great Greek pottery, but the two that will be used as a sample are Artemis Slaying Actaeon and Woman and Maid. By considering the backgrounds of these works, and comparing them directly we are able get a taste not only of the artistic styles of the time, but also a taste of ancient Greek culture.
In conclusion, although Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, do appear very different, come from entirely different geographic regions and were separated by thousands of years, they do have many things in common. When we consider subject, style, and function; perhaps other works of art have more in common than they appear to have.
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It is evident that the Romans emulated much or all of Greek culture into their lives, even down to their philosophies and complete blatancy of using the same gods and goddesses. However, there was an apparent shift of Greco-Roman polytheism to medieval monotheism, which is where persons in this period started to pivot their attention primarily on just God, disregarding old traditions of other gods. They went from issuing deities to make sense of their ancient world, and using rational thought (never was this used before) to probe for questions, to a reliance on just one god for all explanations (the medieval period). However, as time progressed, during the time of the Renaissance, people were using some of the same techniques as Greco-Roman
In more detail, the questions that will arise in this paper are as follows; what were the most significant changes that happened from the classical
Much of past civilizations have endured many failures and triumphs throughout their existence. In the third century, there were many civilizations that started to flourish. One of these civilizations that started to expand was the Byzantine civilization. The Byzantine civilization, also regarded as Byzantium, was part of the Roman Empire which was divided in 395 AD. Byzantium had shared the same attitude, as the Roman Empire, toward exercising its authority over its citizens and throughout its empire. The Islamic civilization had started thrive in the fifth century. The Islamic civilization was unified together as unison by Islam and it has expanded its civilization throughout parts of Europe through jihad. Because of their expansions throughout parts of Europe, they shared various similarities which include their political system, social structure, and economy.
Black-figure painting was first established in Corinth, c 700 BCE then Athens was influenced by the technique and got control over it (Cartwright, 2012). The entire process was made out of iron clay found in the area mixed with potash pigment, water and leave it evaporate under the sun until it’s thick and settle. Move on to wedging process where human used energy to make the clay combine together and create the smoothness. The forms of potter are made on the potter wheel and are control by human’s hands, which is fascinating because people will have respect toward a finished product. After shaping the entire form, it’s then bake inside a kiln until it turns black (Britannica, 2014). Black-figure painting usually presents a storytelling by depicting animals or people in silhouette and sometime th...
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. "Hellenistic and Roman Art." A World History of Art. London: Laurence King, 1999. 179-213. Print.
Both Byzantine and Roman mosaics developed at a similar time which led to the influenced upon one another. They possessed distinct techniques, materials, styles and subject matter. Byzantine structures emphasized on decorative touches while Roman mosaics were greatly functional. Both styles were enhanced in order to honour religious figures and domestic life (Ovadiah, 1987).
Boardman, John, Jasper, Griffin, and Oswyn Murray. The Oxford History of the Classical World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986
In modern society, Greek pottery is considered an art which is regarded as much for its aesthetic splendor as its historical significance. However, the role of pottery in ancient Greek culture was far more functional as its primary use was for the transportation and storage of such liquids as water and wine (Encyclopedia Britannica). Due to the durability of the fired clay material, Greek pottery is the only remaining art form that allows us to explore the evolution of this ancient culture. Through that examination, three distinct stylistic periods have been unveiled: Geometric, Orientalizing and Archaic. This analysis will detail these distinct periods as well as three design techniques prevalently used: black figure, red figure and white ground
Byzantine art had many basic characteristics. The first was expressionistic using color and emotion. Many of the are lacked depth in a two dimensional fashion. The art was symbolic in nature, decorative, detailed. The figures are stiff and ...
Roman artwork is extremely intricate and diverse, however, a lot of what is referred to as Roman art can better be described by the cultures it conquered. The ancient Greeks were the most influential of these cultures, from their temples and sculptures, to their reliefs and paintings. Greece was the first culture to create major programs for sculpture, painting, and architecture. Many of the first Roman artists were of Greek descent as their artwork reflects the Classical and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece. A lot of what is considered to be Roman artwork is criticized as being mere copies of Greek artwork since they modeled their forms and styles after the Greeks, but other cultures influenced the Romans as well, mainly the Etruscans,