The Statue of a kouros and the Portrait statue of a boy both depict similar subjects, however are greatly different in how they accomplish this task. Through detail, or lack there of, the Greeks and Romans are able to display a certain value they have in its members. These two statues were made about 500 years apart and approach the sculpting process quit differently. The Greek statue seems to use geometric exaggerated lines to form the body while the Romans use a more realistic approach and sculpt the body with a more rounded finish. Statue of a kouros, from about 590 B.C and Portrait of a boy, from about the first century, do not share any great technical aspects and are basically nothing alike. The Statue of a kouros represents a Greek male. With one foot forward, the statue at the same time, represents movement and is able to stand on it own. This also gives the over life size figure, visible weight. In this early figure, geometric forms seem to predominate, and anatomical details, such as the chest muscles and pelvic arch, are presented with somewhat of exaggerated lines. Although the exaggerated lines show where these muscles belong, the detail is still missing. Looking up and down this nude body, at this miss proportioned and lacking of detail body, the hair is what grabs my attention. The hair is carved with detail not noticeable in the rest of the body. As well, although the fists are clinched and still bonded to the body, the legs and elbows are separated. The ability to move around and inspect the statue makes a big difference than if it was up against a wall, or just looking at its picture. The legs, which support the weight of the statue, have a visible strength which is seen in the knees. The head is what carried the most detail, the ears although to far back, are intricately designed. It is the ability to walk around the entire statue that allows me to see the different aspects and places where attention to detail was placed. However, he does not expand into three dimensional space; he has a closed-off, column-like appearance The Statue of a kouros depicts a Greek man in the nude. Although he looks like a man, the large scale, and the miss proportioned features makes it unnaturalistic. The toes are too long, the genetalia is unrealistically small, and the joint lines are exaggerated.
The most noticeable is the material marble. Marble is one of the most beautiful stones to look at when its been polished. Both of these works contain the image of man standing up completely nude. This had not traditionally been done before this time period. Usually the older works had clothed men and not exposed like these two. They also have a few differences. Anavysos Kouros was build to be placed in a cemetery to save the memory of Kroisos. Where Doryphoros was made to portray the ideal image of what a perfect man would look like and his proportions. Doryphoros also appears to have much greater detail in the sculpting. Every muscle on his body is defined much clearer then that of Kouros. Kouros's face also seems much less realistic when you compare it to that of the Doryphoros's. The eyes and the hair can be recognized as a humans, but it lacks a sense of realism once both images are compared. The Spear Bearer's pose is also completely different. He is relaxed an look completely normal. Yet, Kouros looks as stiff as a board and has far less life in
practice amongst the men, which is nudity. The sculptor depicted Dionysos with a slightly S-shaped body
While they might be in the same stiff stance, the Kritios boy is looser and more realistic. The Kouros Youth is thinner and very sharp. If you look at the legs of the Kouros Youth, you can see that the edges of the muscles are sharp in comparison to the very round legs and body of the Kritios boy. The Kritios boy is looking much more realistic and round. The hair between the two statues is also very different. While the Kouros Youth has long, stylized hair, the Kritios boy has shorter, fuller hair. We are getting closer and closer to the idealized Greek body with even the face on the Kritios boy, with the lips showing a Greek ideal. You can tell that the eyes in the Kritios boy would have been inlaid while the Kouros Youth would have
The Apollo statue consists of a garment that is shown in a pattern like manner. The robe does not display realism but symbolism due to its lack of variation in the folds. The Aule Metele however, shows a great deal of realism in the drooping folds and twisted shoulder strap. It looks as though the material is in fact freely moving and could be manipulated. The muscle structure of the Apollo statue also displays a great deal of generalization. The limbs are robust and irregularly plump in areas as can be seen in the calf area of the right leg. The Aule Metele displays a great deal of understanding of muscle as well as bone structure in the limbs as can be seen in the edges created in the extended right arm of the figure.
Polykleitos of Argos, was a renowned Ancient Greek sculptor from 5th Century BC. He was considered by many as one of the most important sculptors of his time. During his century, Greece went through many wars (e.g. Persian War) and soon rose to become one of the world’s greatest powers. The Greeks recognised the naked male figure to represent strength, power and all that were important in the perfect Greek man. Many of Polykleitos' works reflect this idea of the male perfection and were therefore usually displayed in public areas to remind the Greek people of male perfection. His work Doryphorus, is shown as highly masculine and is correctly proportioned to further show the male perfection. Polykleitos' works, were however ahead of his time as he was one of the fathers of what is now recognised as the Classical Greek style. His works incorporated contropposto (the sculpture places one leg forward to portray movement) to try and emphasise the athleticism and strength of the male figure. Another of his works (Apollo of Mantua), reflects the beliefs of the Ancient Greek civilisation. Apollo, is in Greek mythology the messenger God, and is therefore sculpted to once again show, what the Greeks believed to be the male perfection. The sculptor is shown as fierce, well-built and...
The subject does not accurately depict the human anatomy. In fact, while studying this figure, one may notice that geometric shapes make up many of the limbs. For example, the artist uses ovals to represent the palm of the hands, the shoulders and the knees. The man's chest is in the form of squares with rounded edges and with perfect little white circles as nipples. This...
The Kore shows Roman admiration for early Greek art; the statue is created with outstanding quality. Kores were votive offerings to Athena originally, but were soon seen as gifts for all Goddess. Whole Korai’s were normally painted and dressed in peplos, which was a rectangular cloth particular made of wool. Korai’s were also statues that showed significant realism, with the ability to show the straight lines and detailed effects. Ancient Greeks have the trait of competition to give credit to, sculptors often competed with each other in an attempt to see who created the most naturalism sculptures. Which wasn’t a bad thing as you see how beautiful the sculptures of ancient Greek
Metropolitan Kouros is a life-sized statuary marble sculpture of kouroi formed in the sixth century BCE. After that, The Spear Bearer(Doryphoros) is also a life-sized marble sculpture of a man made by Polykleitos in 450 to 440 BCE. Both sculptures are made of similar materials, and they are made in same country, but different period. In addition, their subject matters are a little bit different, and the styles of them are very different.
The Greek believed the human body was the measure of all things, therefore the artists created sculptures in a very detailed fashion which made them very life-like although the size of
This sculpture has heavy influences from ancient Greek. Nudity and the emphasis in human musculature is one of the easiest ways to recognize Greek artwork other than its characteristic mythology. Contrapposto is present in both characters, Theseus and Bianor. As mentioned before this piece of artwork is an illustration from the Book XII of Ovid’s
Both Man Without Ties and Diskobolos , as mentioned, portray a vigorous, athletic figure, dancing theatrically in dramatic actions and gestures. Whereas Diskobolos is rendered in sculptural, life-size, three-dimensional form, Man Without Ties is rendered in a two-dimensional, black-and-white photograph. Nevertheless, both mediums further express Greek High Classical and Hellenistic arts' concern for a more expressionistic figure, one that conveys and appeals directly to the senses through this lustrous glistening of surfaces and emotions.
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)
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
The differences that are found between these four pieces of art can be traced back to the differences that existed between the two cultures. Even though there are similarities, the differences outweigh them by far. The purpose of the Roman Mummy Portrait of a Man and the Mummy Portrait of a Young Woman differ completely from that of the Greek Black-Figured Psykter and the Red-Figured Kylix Depicting a Young Athelete. The styles of the paintings are also very different as well. The amazing thing that is to noticed is that regardless of the differences that exist, both the Greek and the Roman pieces are considered to be masterpieces of art. The differences that are found add to the uniqueness that each one entails.
The Romans have adopted many features from the Greek style of art and architecture during the third and second centuries B.C. During that time period the Romans discovered that they have taking a liking to Greek statues, which they placed in many different places. The Roman sculptors then decided to also start making statues alongside the Greeks. The statues that the Romans created were realistic looking with, sometime, unpleasant details of the body. The Greeks made statues with, what they thought of, ideal appearances in the statues figure. Sculpture was possibly considered the highest form of art by the Romans, but figure painting was very high considered as well. Very little of Roman painting has survived the tests of time.