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Outstanding sculptors of ancient Greece features of ancient Greek sculpture. Outstanding sculptors of ancient Greece Figures of Greek goddesses

1.1 Sculpture in Ancient Greece. Prerequisites for its development

Among all the visual arts of ancient civilizations, the art of ancient Greece, in particular, its sculpture, occupies a very special place. The living body, capable of any muscular work, the Greeks put above all. The lack of clothes shocked no one. Everything was treated too simply to be ashamed of anything. And at the same time, of course, chastity did not lose from this.

1.2 Sculpture of Greece in the archaic era

The archaic period is the period of the formation of ancient Greek sculpture. The desire of the sculptor to convey the beauty of the ideal human body, which was fully manifested in the works of a later era, is already understandable, but it was still too difficult for the artist to move away from the form of a stone block, and the figures of this period are always static.

The first monuments of ancient Greek sculpture of the archaic era are determined by the geometric style (VIII century). These are schematic figurines found in Athens, Olympia , in Boeotia. The archaic era of ancient Greek sculpture falls on the 7th - 6th centuries. (early archaic - about 650 - 580 BC; high - 580 - 530; late - 530 - 500/480). The beginning of monumental sculpture in Greece dates back to the middle of the 7th century. BC e. and is characterized by orientalizing styles, of which the most important was Daedalian, associated with the name of the semi-mythical sculptor Daedalus . The circle of "Dedalian" sculpture includes a statue of Artemis of Delos and a female statue of Cretan work, stored in the Louvre ("Lady of Oxer"). The middle of the 7th century BC e. dated and the first kuros . The first sculptural temple decoration dates back to the same time. - reliefs and statues from Prinia in Crete. In the future, the sculptural decoration fills the fields allocated in the temple by its very design - the pediments and metopes V Doric temple, continuous frieze (zophor) - in Ionic. The earliest pediment compositions in ancient Greek sculpture come from the Athenian Acropolis. and from the Temple of Artemis on the island of Kerkyra (Corfu). Tombstone, dedication and cult statues are represented in the archaic by the type of kouros and bark . Archaic reliefs adorn the bases of statues, pediments and metopes of temples (later round sculpture replaced reliefs in pediments), tomb steles . Among the famous monuments of archaic round sculpture is the head of Hera, found near her temple in Olympia, the statue of Cleobis and Beaton from Delph, Moskhofor ("Taurus") from the Athenian Acropolis, Hera of Samos , statues from Didyma, Nikka Archerma and others. The last statue shows an archaic scheme of the so-called "kneeling run", used to depict a flying or running figure. In archaic sculpture, a number of other conventions are adopted - for example, the so-called "archaic smile" on the faces of archaic sculptures.

The sculpture of the archaic era is dominated by statues of slender naked youths and draped young girls - kouros and bark. Neither childhood nor old age then attracted the attention of artists, because only in mature youth are the vital forces in their prime and balance. Early Greek art creates images of Men and Women in their ideal form. In that era, spiritual horizons expanded extraordinarily, a person, as it were, felt himself standing face to face with the universe and wanted to comprehend its harmony, the secret of its integrity. Details eluded, ideas about the specific "mechanism" of the universe were the most fantastic, but the pathos of the whole, the consciousness of universal interconnection - this was what constituted the strength of philosophy, poetry and art of archaic Greece *. Just as philosophy, then still close to poetry, shrewdly guessed the general principles of development, and poetry - the essence of human passions, fine art created a generalized human appearance. Let's look at the kouros, or, as they are sometimes called, the "archaic Apollos." It is not so important whether the artist really intended to portray Apollo, or a hero, or an athlete. The man is young, naked, and his chaste nakedness does not need bashful covers. He always stands straight, his body is permeated with readiness to move. The construction of the body is shown and emphasized with the utmost clarity; it is immediately clear that long muscular legs can bend at the knees and run, the abdominal muscles can tense up, the chest can swell in deep breathing. The face does not express any specific experience or individual character traits, but the possibilities of various experiences are hidden in it. And the conditional "smile" - slightly raised corners of the mouth - is only the possibility of a smile, a hint of the joy of being, inherent in this, as if a newly created person.

Kouros statues were created mainly in areas where the Dorian style dominated, that is, on the territory of mainland Greece; female statues - kora - mainly in Asia Minor and island cities, centers of the Ionian style. Beautiful female figures were found during excavations of the archaic Athenian Acropolis, built in the VI century BC. e., when Pisistratus ruled there, and destroyed during the war with the Persians. For twenty-five centuries marble crusts were buried in the "Persian rubbish"; finally they were taken out of there, half-broken, but not having lost their extraordinary charm. Perhaps some of them were performed by Ionic masters invited by Peisistratus to Athens; their art influenced Attic sculpture, which now combines the features of Doric austerity with Ionian grace. In the bark of the Athenian Acropolis, the ideal of femininity is expressed in its pristine purity. The smile is bright, the gaze is trusting and, as it were, joyfully amazed at the spectacle of the world, the figure is chastely draped with a peplo - a veil, or a light garment - a chiton (in the archaic era, female figures, unlike male figures, were not yet depicted naked), hair flowing over the shoulders with curly strands. These kora stood on plinths in front of the temple of Athena, holding an apple or a flower in their hand.

Archaic sculptures (as well as classical ones, by the way) were not as uniformly white as we imagine them now. Many have traces of paint. The marble girls' hair was golden, their cheeks pink, their eyes blue. Against the background of the cloudless sky of Hellas, all this should have looked very festive, but at the same time strict, thanks to the clarity, composure and constructiveness of forms and silhouettes. There was no excessive flamboyance and variegation. The search for rational foundations of beauty, harmony based on measure and number, is a very important moment in the aesthetics of the Greeks. The Pythagorean philosophers sought to capture the natural numerical relationships in musical consonances and in the arrangement of heavenly bodies, believing that musical harmony corresponds to the nature of things, the cosmic order, "the harmony of the spheres." Artists were looking for mathematically adjusted proportions of the human body and the "body" of architecture. In this, early Greek art is fundamentally different from the Cretan-Mycenaean art, which is alien to any mathematics.

Very lively genre scene: Thus, in the era of the archaic, the foundations of ancient Greek sculpture, the directions and options for its development were laid. Even then, the main goals of sculpture, the aesthetic ideals and aspirations of the ancient Greeks were clear. In later periods, the development and improvement of these ideals and the skill of ancient sculptors takes place.

1.3 Classical Greek sculpture

The classical period of ancient Greek sculpture falls on the 5th - 4th centuries BC. (early classic or "strict style" - 500/490 - 460/450 BC; high - 450 - 430/420 BC; "rich style" - 420 - 400/390 BC, late classic - 400/390 - OK. 320 AD BC e.). At the turn of two eras - archaic and classical - there is a sculptural decoration of the temple of Athena Aphaia on the island of Aegina . The sculptures of the western pediment date back to the time of the foundation of the temple (510 - 500 years BC BC), sculptures of the second eastern, replacing the former ones, - to the early classical time (490 - 480 BC). The central monument of ancient Greek sculpture of the early classics is the pediments and metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (about 468 - 456 BC e.). Another significant work of the early classics - the so-called "Throne of Ludovisi", decorated with reliefs. A number of bronze originals have also come from this time - the Delphic Charioteer, statue of Poseidon from Cape Artemisium, Bronzes from Riace . The largest sculptors of the early classics - Pythagoras Rhegian, Calamis and Myron . We judge the work of the famous Greek sculptors mainly by literary evidence and later copies of their works. High classics is represented by the names of Phidias and Polykleitos . Its short-term heyday is associated with work on the Athenian Acropolis, that is, with the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. (the pediments, metopes and zophoros came, 447 - 432 BC). The pinnacle of ancient Greek sculpture was, apparently, chrysoelephantine statues of Athena Parthenos and Zeus Olympus by Phidias (both have not been preserved). "Rich style" is characteristic of the works of Callimachus, Alkamen, Agoracritus and other sculptors of the 5th century. BC e .. Its characteristic monuments are the reliefs of the balustrade of the small temple of Nike Apteros on the Athenian Acropolis (about 410 BC) and a number of tomb stelae, among which the Gegeso stele is most famous . The most important works of ancient Greek sculpture of the late classics are the decoration of the temple of Asclepius in Epidaurus (about 400 - 375 BC), the temple of Athena Alei in Tegea (about 370 - 350 BC), the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (about 355 - 330 BC) and the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus (c. 350 BC), on the sculptural decoration of which Skopas, Briaxides, Timothy worked and Leohar . The statues of Apollo Belvedere are also attributed to the latter. and Diana of Versailles . There are also a number of bronze originals of the 4th century BC. BC e. The largest sculptors of the late classics are Praxitel, Skopas and Lysippus, largely anticipating the subsequent era of Hellenism.

Greek sculpture partially survived in fragments and fragments. Most of the statues are known to us from Roman copies, which were performed in many, but did not convey the beauty of the originals. Roman copyists coarsened and dried them, and turning bronze products into marble, disfigured them with clumsy props. The large figures of Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes, Satyr, which we now see in the halls of the Hermitage, are only pale rehashings of Greek masterpieces. You pass them almost indifferently and suddenly stop in front of some head with a broken nose, with a damaged eye: this is a Greek original! And the amazing power of life suddenly wafts from this fragment; the marble itself is different than in Roman statues - not dead white, but yellowish, transparent, luminous (the Greeks still rubbed it with wax, which gave the marble a warm tone). So gentle are the melting transitions of chiaroscuro, so noble is the soft modeling of the face, that one involuntarily recalls the delights of Greek poets: these sculptures really breathe, they really are alive *. In the sculpture of the first half of the century, when there were wars with the Persians, a courageous, strict style prevailed. Then a statuary group of tyrannicides was created: a mature husband and a young man, standing side by side, make an impulsive movement forward, the younger one raises the sword, the older one shields it with a cloak. This is a monument to historical figures - Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who killed the Athenian tyrant Hipparchus a few decades earlier - the first political monument in Greek art. At the same time, it expresses the heroic spirit of resistance and love of freedom that flared up in the era of the Greco-Persian wars. “They are not slaves to mortals, they are not subject to anyone,” says the Athenians in the tragedy of Aeschylus “Persians”. Battles, skirmishes, exploits of heroes... The art of the early classics is filled with these warlike plots. On the pediments of the temple of Athena in Aegina - the struggle of the Greeks with the Trojans. On the western pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia - the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, on the metopes - all twelve labors of Hercules. Another favorite complex of motives is gymnastic competitions; in those distant times, physical fitness, mastery of body movements were of decisive importance for the outcome of battles, so athletic games were far from just entertainment. The themes of hand-to-hand fights, equestrian competitions, running competitions, discus throwing taught the sculptors to depict the human body in dynamics. The archaic stiffness of the figures was overcome. Now they are acting, moving; complex poses, bold angles, and sweeping gestures appear. The brightest innovator was the Attic sculptor Myron. Miron's main task was to express the movement as fully and strongly as possible. Metal does not allow for such precise and fine work as marble, and perhaps that is why he turned to finding the rhythm of movement. The balance, the majestic "ethos", is preserved in classical sculpture of a strict style. The movement of the figures is neither chaotic, nor overly excited, nor too swift. Even in the dynamic motives of a fight, running, falling, the feeling of "Olympic calmness", integral plastic completeness, self-isolation is not lost.

Athena, which he made by order of Plataea and which cost this city very dearly, strengthened the fame of the young sculptor. A colossal statue of patron Athena was commissioned for him for the Acropolis. It reached 60 feet in height and exceeded all the neighboring buildings; from a distance, from the sea, she shone like a golden star and reigned over the whole city. It was not acrolithic (composite), like Plataean, but all cast in bronze. Another statue of the Acropolis, Athena the Virgin, made for the Parthenon, consisted of gold and ivory. Athena was depicted in a battle suit, in a golden helmet with a high-relief sphinx and vultures on the sides. In one hand she held a spear, in the other a figure of victory. At her feet was a snake, the guardian of the Acropolis. This statue is considered the best assurance of Phidias after his Zeus. It served as the original for countless copies. But the height of perfection from all the works of Phidias is considered to be his Olympian Zeus. It was the greatest work of his life: the Greeks themselves gave him the palm. He made an irresistible impression on his contemporaries.

Zeus was depicted on a throne. In one hand he held a scepter, in the other - the image of victory. The body was made of ivory, the hair was golden, the mantle was golden, enamelled. The composition of the throne included ebony, bone, and precious stones. The walls between the legs were painted by Phidias' cousin, Panen; the foot of the throne was a marvel of sculpture. The admiration of the Greeks for the beauty and wise structure of the living body was so great that they aesthetically thought of it only in statuary completeness and completeness, allowing one to appreciate the majesty of posture, the harmony of body movements. But still, expressiveness was not so much in facial expressions as in body movements. Looking at the mysteriously serene moira of the Parthenon, at the swift, frisky Nika untying her sandal, we almost forget that their heads have been beaten off - the plasticity of their figures is so eloquent.

Indeed, the bodies of Greek statues are unusually inspired. The French sculptor Rodin said of one of them: "This youthful torso without a head smiles more joyfully at light and spring than eyes and lips could do." Movements and postures are in most cases simple, natural and not necessarily associated with something sublime. The heads of Greek statues, as a rule, are impersonal, that is, they are little individualized, reduced to a few variations of the general type, but this general type has a high spiritual capacity. In the Greek type of face, the idea of ​​"human" in its ideal version triumphs. The face is divided into three parts of equal length: forehead, nose and lower part. Correct, gentle oval. The straight line of the nose continues the line of the forehead and forms a perpendicular to the line drawn from the beginning of the nose to the opening of the ear (right facial angle). Oblong section of fairly deep-seated eyes. A small mouth, full bulging lips, the upper lip is thinner than the lower and has a beautiful smooth neckline like a cupid's bow. The chin is large and round. Wavy hair softly and tightly fits the head, without interfering with the rounded shape of the skull. This classical beauty may seem monotonous, but, being an expressive "natural image of the spirit", it lends itself to variation and is able to embody various types of the ancient ideal. A little more energy in the warehouse of the lips, in the protruding chin - we have a strict virgin Athena in front of us. There is more softness in the outlines of the cheeks, the lips are slightly half-open, the eye sockets are shaded - we have before us the sensual face of Aphrodite. The oval of the face is closer to a square, the neck is thicker, the lips are larger - this is already the image of a young athlete. And the basis remains the same strictly proportional classic look.

After the war .... The characteristic posture of a standing figure changes. In the archaic era, the statues stood completely straight, frontally. A mature classic revitalizes and animates them with balanced, flowing movements, maintaining balance and stability. And the statues of Praxiteles - the resting Satyr, Apollo Saurokton - lean with lazy grace on pillars, without them they would have to fall. The hip on one side is very strongly arched, and the shoulder is lowered low towards the hip - Rodin compares this position of the body with a harmonica, when the bellows are compressed on one side and moved apart on the other. For balance, an external support is needed. This is the pose of dreamy relaxation. Praxiteles follows the traditions of Polykleitos, uses the motives of movements found by him, but develops them in such a way that a different inner content already shines through in them. The “wounded Amazon” Polikletai also leans on a half-column, but she could stand without it, her strong, energetic body, even suffering from a wound, stands firmly on the ground. Apollo Praxiteles is not struck by an arrow, he himself aims at a lizard running along a tree trunk - the action, it would seem, requires strong-willed composure, nevertheless, his body is unstable, like a swaying stalk. And this is not an accidental detail, not a whim of the sculptor, but a kind of new canon in which the changed view of the world finds expression. However, not only the nature of movements and postures changed in the sculpture of the 4th century BC. e. Praxiteles' circle of favorite topics becomes different, he moves away from heroic plots into the "light world of Aphrodite and Eros." He carved the famous statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus. Praxiteles and the artists of his circle did not like to depict the muscular torsos of athletes; they were attracted by the delicate beauty of the female body with soft flowing volumes. They preferred the type of youth, - distinguished by "the first youth with effeminate beauty." Praxiteles was famous for the special softness of modeling and the skill of processing the material, the ability to convey the warmth of a living body in cold marble2.

The only surviving original of Praxiteles is the marble statue of Hermes with Dionysus, found in Olympia. Naked Hermes, leaning on a tree trunk, where his cloak was carelessly thrown, holds little Dionysus on one bent arm, and in the other a bunch of grapes, to which a child reaches (the hand holding the grapes is lost). All the charm of the pictorial processing of marble is in this statue, especially in the head of Hermes: the transitions of light and shadow, the subtlest “sfumato” (haze), which, many centuries later, Leonardo da Vinci achieved in painting. All other works of the master are known only from references to ancient authors and later copies. But the spirit of Praxiteles' art wafts over the 4th century BC. e., and best of all it can be felt not in Roman copies, but in small Greek plastic, in Tanagra clay figurines. They were made at the end of the century in large quantities, it was a kind of mass production with the main center in Tanagra. (A very good collection of them is kept in the Leningrad Hermitage.) Some figurines reproduce the well-known large statues, others simply give various free variations of the draped female figure. The living grace of these figures, dreamy, thoughtful, playful, is an echo of Praxiteles' art.

1.4 Sculpture of Hellenistic Greece

The very concept of "Hellenism" contains an indirect indication of the victory of the Hellenic principle. Even in the remote regions of the Hellenistic world, in Bactria and Parthia (present-day Central Asia), ancient forms of art appear in a peculiar way. And Egypt is difficult to recognize, its new city of Alexandria is already a real enlightened center of ancient culture, where exact sciences, the humanities, and philosophical schools, originating from Pythagoras and Plato, flourish. Hellenistic Alexandria gave the world the great mathematician and physicist Archimedes, geometer Euclid, Aristarchus of Samos, who eighteen centuries before Copernicus proved that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The cabinets of the famous Library of Alexandria, marked with Greek letters, from alpha to omega, kept hundreds of thousands of scrolls - "writings that shone in all areas of knowledge." There stood the grandiose Pharos lighthouse, ranked among the seven wonders of the world; Museyon was created there, the palace of the muses - the prototype of all future museums. Compared to this rich and opulent port city, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, the city of the Greek metropolis, even Athens must have looked modest. But these modest, small towns were the main sources of the cultural treasures that Alexandria kept and revered, those traditions that continued to be followed. If Hellenistic science owed much to the heritage of the Ancient East, then the plastic arts retained a predominantly Greek character.

The main formative principles came from the Greek classics, the content became different. There was a decisive demarcation of public and private life. In the Hellenistic monarchies, the cult of the sole ruler, equated with a deity, is established, similar to how it was in the ancient Eastern despotisms. But the resemblance is relative: the “private person”, whom political storms do not touch or only slightly touch, is far from being as impersonal as in the ancient eastern states. He has his own life: he is a merchant, he is an entrepreneur, he is an official, he is a scientist. In addition, he is often of Greek origin - after the conquests of Alexander, the mass migration of Greeks to the east began - he is not alien to the concepts of human dignity, brought up by Greek culture. Let him be removed from power and state affairs - his isolated private world requires and finds for itself an artistic expression, the basis of which are the traditions of the late Greek classics, reworked in the spirit of greater intimacy and genre. And in the art of "state", official, in large public buildings and monuments, the same traditions are processed, on the contrary, in the direction of pomposity.

Pomp and intimacy are opposite traits; Hellenistic art is full of contrasts - gigantic and miniature, ceremonial and domestic, allegorical and natural. The world has become more complex, more diverse aesthetic demands. The main trend is a departure from a generalized human type to an understanding of a person as a concrete, individual being, and hence the increasing attention to his psychology, interest in events, and a new vigilance to national, age, social and other signs of personality. But since all this was expressed in a language inherited from the classics, which did not set such tasks for itself, a certain inorganism is felt in the innovative works of the Hellenistic era, they do not achieve the integrity and harmony of their great forerunners. The portrait head of the heroized statue of the Diadochus does not fit with his naked torso, which repeats the type of a classical athlete. The drama of the multi-figure sculptural group "Farnese Bull" is contradicted by the "classical" representativeness of the figures, their poses and movements are too beautiful and smooth to be believed in the truth of their experiences. In numerous park and chamber sculptures, the traditions of Praxiteles become smaller: Eros, “the great and powerful god,” turns into a playful, playful Cupid; Apollo - in the coquettishly pampered Apollono; strengthening the genre is not going to their advantage. And the well-known Hellenistic statues of old women carrying provisions, a drunken old woman, an old fisherman with a flabby body lack the power of figurative generalization; art masters these types, new to it, outwardly, without penetrating into the depths - after all, the classical heritage did not give a key to them. The statue of Aphrodite, traditionally called the Venus de Milo, was found in 1820 on the island of Melos and immediately gained worldwide fame as a perfect creation of Greek art. This high assessment was not shaken by many later finds of Greek originals - Aphrodite of Milos occupies a special place among them. Executed, apparently, in the II century BC. e. (by the sculptor Agesander or Alexander, as the half-erased inscription on the plinth says), she bears little resemblance to her contemporary statues depicting the goddess of love. Hellenistic Aphrodites most often ascended to the type of Aphrodite of Cnidus Praxiteles, making her sensually seductive, even slightly cutesy; such, for example, is the well-known Aphrodite of Medicea. Aphrodite of Milos, only half naked, draped to the hips, is strict and sublimely calm. She embodies not so much the ideal of female beauty, but the ideal of a person in a general and higher sense. The Russian writer Gleb Uspensky found a good expression: the ideal of a “straight man.” The statue is well preserved, but its arms are broken off. Much speculation has been made about what these hands were doing: Was the goddess holding an apple? or a mirror? or did she hold the edge of her garment? A convincing reconstruction has not been found, in fact, there is no need for it. The "handlessness" of Aphrodite of Milo over time has become, as it were, her attribute, it does not in the least interfere with her beauty and even enhances the impression of the majesty of the figure. And since not a single intact Greek statue has been preserved, it is in this partially damaged state that Aphrodite appears before us, like a “marble riddle”, conceived by antiquity, as a symbol of distant Hellas.

Another remarkable monument of Hellenism (of those that have come down to us, and how many have disappeared!) Is the altar of Zeus in Pergamon. The Pergamon school, more than others, gravitated toward pathos and drama, continuing the traditions of Scopas. Its artists did not always resort to mythological subjects, as was the case in the classical era. On the square of the Pergamon Acropolis, there were sculptural groups that perpetuated a genuine historical event - the victory over the "barbarians", the Gallic tribes who besieged the Kingdom of Pergamon. Full of expression and dynamics, these groups are also notable for the fact that the artists pay tribute to the defeated, showing them both valiant and suffering. They depict a Gaul killing his wife and himself in order to avoid captivity and slavery; depict a mortally wounded Gaul, reclining on the ground with his head bowed low. It is immediately clear from his face and figure that he is a “barbarian”, a foreigner, but he dies a heroic death, and this is shown. In their art, the Greeks did not stoop to the point of humiliating their opponents; this feature of ethical humanism comes out with particular clarity when the opponents - the Gauls - are depicted realistically. After the campaigns of Alexander, in general, much has changed in relation to foreigners. As Plutarch writes, Alexander considered himself the reconciler of the universe, "making everyone drink ... from the same cup of friendship and mixing together lives, customs, marriages and forms of life." Morals and forms of life, as well as forms of religion, really began to mix in the era of Hellenism, but friendship did not reign and peace did not come, strife and wars did not stop. The wars of Pergamum with the Gauls are only one of the episodes. When finally the victory over the Gauls was finally won, the altar of Zeus was erected in honor of her, completed in 180 BC. e. This time, the long-term war with the "barbarians" appeared as gigantomachy - the struggle of the Olympic gods with the giants. According to ancient myth, giants - giants who lived far to the west, the sons of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven) - rebelled against the Olympians, but were defeated by them after a fierce battle and buried under volcanoes, in the deep bowels of mother earth, from there they remind of themselves volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. A grandiose marble frieze, about 120 meters long, made in the technique of high relief, encircled the base of the altar. The remains of this structure were excavated in the 1870s; thanks to the painstaking work of the restorers, it was possible to connect thousands of fragments and get a fairly complete picture of the overall composition of the frieze. Mighty bodies pile up, intertwine, like a ball of snakes, defeated giants are tormented by shaggy-maned lions, dogs dig in their teeth, horses trample underfoot, but the giants fight fiercely, their leader Porfirion does not retreat before the Thunderer Zeus. The mother of the giants, Gaia, begs for mercy on her sons, but she is not heeded. The battle is terrible. There is something foreshadowing Michelangelo in the tense angles of the bodies, in their titanic power and tragic pathos. Although battles and skirmishes have been a frequent theme in ancient reliefs since the archaic, they have never been depicted in the same way as on the Pergamon altar - with such a shuddering sense of cataclysm, life-and-death battles, where all cosmic forces, all demons are involved. earth and sky. The structure of the composition has changed, it has lost its classical clarity, it has become swirling, confusing. Let us recall the figures of Scopas on the relief of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. They, with all their dynamism, are located in the same spatial plane, they are separated by rhythmic intervals, each figure has a certain independence, masses and space are balanced. The Pergamon frieze is different - those who fight closely here, the mass has suppressed space, and all the figures are so intertwined that they form a turbulent mess of bodies. And the bodies are still classically beautiful, “sometimes radiant, sometimes formidable, living, dead, triumphant, perishing figures,” as I. S. Turgenev said about them *. Beautiful Olympians, beautiful and their enemies. But the harmony of the spirit fluctuates. Faces distorted by suffering, deep shadows in the orbits of the eyes, serpentine hair... The Olympians still triumph over the forces of the underground elements, but this victory is not for long - the elemental principles threaten to blow up a harmonious, harmonious world. Just as the art of the Greek archaic should not be evaluated only as the first forerunners of the classics, and Hellenistic art as a whole cannot be considered a late echo of the classics, underestimating the fundamentally new that it brought. This new was associated with the expansion of the horizons of art, and with his inquisitive interest in the human person and the specific, real conditions of her life. Hence, first of all, the development of the portrait, the individual portrait, which was almost unknown to the high classics, and the late classics were only on the outskirts of it. Hellenistic artists, even making portraits of people who had not been alive for a long time, gave them a psychological interpretation and sought to reveal the uniqueness of both external and internal appearance. Not contemporaries, but descendants left us the faces of Socrates, Aristotle, Euripides, Demosthenes and even the legendary Homer, an inspired blind storyteller. The portrait of an unknown old philosopher is amazing in its realism and expression - apparently, an irreconcilable passionate polemicist, whose wrinkled face with sharp features has nothing to do with the classical type. Previously, it was considered a portrait of Seneca, but the famous Stoic lived later than this bronze bust was sculpted.

For the first time, a child with all the anatomical features of childhood and with all the charm inherent in him becomes the subject of plastic surgery. In the classical era, young children were depicted, if at all, as miniature adults. Even in Praxiteles, in the Hermes with Dionysus group, Dionysus bears little resemblance to a baby in his anatomy and proportions. It seems that only now they noticed that the child is a very special creature, frisky and crafty, with his own special habits; noticed and so captivated by him that the very god of love Eros began to be represented as a child, laying the foundation for a tradition that has established itself for centuries. Chubby curly kids of Hellenistic sculptors are busy with all sorts of tricks: they ride a dolphin, fiddle with birds, even strangle snakes (this is little Hercules). The statue of a boy fighting a goose was especially popular. Such statues were placed in parks, were the decoration of fountains, were placed in the sanctuaries of Asclepius, the god of healing, and sometimes were used for tombstones.

Conclusion

We examined the sculpture of Ancient Greece throughout the entire period of its development. We saw the whole process of its formation, flourishing and decline - the whole transition from strict, static and idealized archaic forms through the balanced harmony of classical sculpture to the dramatic psychologism of Hellenistic statues. The sculpture of Ancient Greece was rightfully considered a model, an ideal, a canon for many centuries, and now it does not cease to be recognized as a masterpiece of world classics. Nothing like this has been achieved before or since. All modern sculpture can be considered, to one degree or another, a continuation of the traditions of Ancient Greece. The sculpture of Ancient Greece in its development has passed a difficult path, paving the way for the development of plastic art of subsequent eras in various countries. At a later time, the traditions of ancient Greek sculpture were enriched with new developments and achievements, while the ancient canons served as the necessary basis, the basis for the development of plastic art in all subsequent eras.

I found a curious hypothesis regarding the ancient Greek miracle in the blog of the sculptor Nigel Konstam: he believes that the ancient statues were casts from living people, since otherwise it is impossible to explain such a rapid transition from the manufacture of static Egyptian-type statues to the perfect realistic art of transferring movement, which occurs in the interval from 500 to 450 BC.

Nigel confirms his hypothesis by examining the feet of ancient statues, comparing them with plaster prints and wax castings made from modern sitters standing in a given pose. The deformation of the material on the feet confirms his hypothesis that the Greeks did not make statues, as before, but began to use casts from living people instead.
For the first time, Konstama learned about this hypothesis from the film "Athens. The Truth About Democracy", searched for material on the Internet and found this.

Nigel made a video explaining his hypothesis regarding antique casts and can be viewed here http://youtu.be/7fe6PL7yTck in English.
But let's look at the statues themselves first.

An antique statue of a kouros from an archaic era, circa 530 BC. seems constrained and tense, then contrapposto was not yet known - the free position of the figure, when the balance of rest is created from movements opposite to each other.


Kouros, figure of a youth, early 5th century BC looks a little more dynamic.

Warriors from Riace, statues from the second quarter of the 5th century BC 197 cm high - the rarest find of original Greek sculpture of the classical period, most of which is known to us from Roman copies. In 1972, snorkeling Roman engineer Stefano Mariottini found them at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Italy.

These bronze figures are not entirely cast, their parts were fastened like a designer, which allows you to learn much more about the technique of creating sculptures of that time. Their pupils are made of gold paste, their eyelashes and teeth are made of silver, their lips and nipples are made of copper, and their eyes are made using bone and glass inlay techniques.
That is, in principle, as the scientists found out, some parts of the statues were changed several times by casts from living models, albeit enlarged and improved, they could well have been.

It was in the process of studying the gravity-deformed feet of the Riace Warriors that the sculptor Konstam came up with this idea of ​​casts, which may have been used by ancient sculptors.

When watching the film "Athens. The Truth About Democracy" I was interested in how the rather fluffy sitter felt, from whom the plaster mold was removed, because many who had to wear the plaster complained that it was painful to remove it, because they had to tear off their hair.

On the one hand, there are sources from which it is known that in ancient Greece, not only women, but also male athletes removed body hair.
On the other hand, it was hairiness that distinguished them from women. It is not for nothing that in Aristophanes' comedy "Women in the People's Assembly" one of the heroines who decided to take power away from men says:
- And so the first thing I threw a razor
Away, to become rough and shaggy,
Don't look a bit like a woman.

It turns out that if the men's hair was removed, then most likely those who were professionally involved in sports, and it was precisely such sitters that the sculptors needed.

Nevertheless, I read about gypsum and found out that even in ancient times there were ways to combat this phenomenon: when masks and casts were made, the body of sitters was smeared with special oil ointments, thanks to which the gypsum was removed painlessly, even if there was hair on the body. That is, the technique of making casts not only from a dead person, but also from a living person in ancient times was indeed well known back in Egypt, however, it was precisely the transfer of movement and copying of a person that was not considered beautiful there.

But for the Hellenes, the beautiful human body, perfect in its nakedness, seemed to be the greatest value and object of worship. Perhaps that is why they did not see anything reprehensible in using casts from such a body to make works of art.


Phryne in front of the Areopagus. JL Gerome. 1861, Hamburg, Germany.
On the other hand, they could well accuse the sculptor of impiety and insulting the gods because he used a hetaera as a model for the statue of the goddess. In the case of Praxiteles, Phryne was accused of godlessness. But would a non-hetaera agree to pose for him?
The Areopagus acquitted her in 340 BC, however, after during a speech in her defense, the orator Hyperides presented the original - naked Phryne, pulling off her tunic and rhetorically asking how such beauty could be guilty. After all, the Greeks believed that a beautiful body has an equally beautiful soul.
It is possible that even before him, Praxiteles of the goddesses was depicted naked, and the judges could consider it impiety that the goddess was too similar to Phryne, as if one to one, and the accusation of the getter herself of godlessness was only a pretext? Maybe they knew or guessed about the possibilities of working with plaster casts from a living person? And then an unnecessary question could arise: who do they worship in the temple - Phryne or the goddess.

With the help of photography, a modern computer artist "revived" Phryne, that is, of course, the statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus, and more specifically, her copy, since the original has not reached us.
And, as we know, the ancient Greeks painted the statues, so it may well be that the getter could look like this if her skin was slightly yellowish, for which, according to some sources, she was nicknamed Phryne.
Although in this case, our contemporary competes with Nicias, an artist, of course, and not a commander, to whom an incorrect reference is made in Wikipedia. After all, when asked which of his works Praxiteles considers the best, according to legend, he answered that those that were painted by Nikias.
By the way, this phrase remained mysterious for many centuries for those who did not know or did not believe that the finished Greek sculptures were not white.
But it seems to me that the statue of Aphrodite itself was hardly painted that way, because scientists say that the Greeks painted them quite colorfully.

Rather, something like the coloring of Apollo from the exhibition Motley Gods "Bunte Götter".

And imagine how strange the sitter felt when he saw how people worship him in the form of a god.
Or not to him, but to his copy, which the artist proportionally enlarged, brightly colored and corrected minor physical inconsistencies and shortcomings in accordance with the canon of Poliklet? This is your body, but bigger and better. Or is it not yours anymore? Could he believe that the statue made of him is a statue of a god?

In one of the articles I also read about a huge number of plaster blanks in the ancient Greek workshop for copies prepared for shipment to Rome, which were discovered by archaeologists. Maybe it was including casts from people, and not just from statues?

I will not insist on Konstam's hypothesis, which interested me: of course, specialists know better, but there is no doubt that ancient sculptors, like modern ones, used casts from living people and parts of their bodies. Is it really possible to think that the ancient Greeks were so stupid that, knowing what gypsum is, they would not have guessed?
But do you think making copies of living people is art or a hoax?

planning travel to Greece, many people are interested not only in comfortable hotels, but also in the fascinating history of this ancient country, an integral part of which are art objects.

A large number of treatises by well-known art historians are devoted specifically to ancient Greek sculpture, as the fundamental branch of world culture. Unfortunately, many monuments of that time did not survive in their original form, and are known from later copies. By studying them, one can trace the history of the development of Greek fine art from the Homeric period to the Hellenistic era, and highlight the most striking and famous creations of each period.

Aphrodite de Milo

The world-famous Aphrodite from the island of Milos belongs to the Hellenistic period of Greek art. At this time, by the forces of Alexander the Great, the culture of Hellas began to spread far beyond the Balkan Peninsula, which was noticeably reflected in the visual arts - sculptures, paintings and frescoes became more realistic, the faces of the gods on them have human features - relaxed postures, an abstract look, a soft smile .

Statue of Aphrodite, or as the Romans called it, Venus, is made of snow-white marble. Its height is slightly more than human height, and is 2.03 meters. The statue was discovered by chance by an ordinary French sailor, who in 1820, together with a local peasant, dug up Aphrodite near the remains of an ancient amphitheater on the island of Milos. During its transportation and customs disputes, the statue lost its arms and pedestal, but a record has been preserved of the author of the masterpiece indicated on it: Agesander, the son of a resident of Antioch Menida.

Today, after a thorough restoration, Aphrodite is exhibited in the Louvre in Paris, attracting millions of tourists every year with its natural beauty.

Nike of Samothrace

The time of creation of the statue of the goddess of victory Nike dates back to the 2nd century BC. Studies have shown that Nika was installed above the sea coast on a sheer cliff - her marble clothes flutter as if from the wind, and the slope of the body represents a constant movement forward. The thinnest folds of clothing cover the strong body of the goddess, and powerful wings are spread in joy and triumph of victory.

The head and hands of the statue have not been preserved, although individual fragments were discovered during excavations in 1950. In particular, Karl Lehmann with a group of archaeologists found the right hand of the goddess. Nike of Samothrace is now one of the outstanding exhibits of the Louvre. Her hand was never added to the general exhibition, only the right wing, which was made of plaster, underwent restoration.

Laocoon and his sons

A sculptural composition depicting the mortal struggle of Laocoön, the priest of the god Apollo, and his sons with two snakes sent by Apollo in retaliation for the fact that Laocoön did not listen to his will and tried to prevent the entry of the Trojan horse into the city.

The statue was made of bronze, but its original has not survived to this day. In the 15th century, a marble copy of the sculpture was found on the territory of the "golden house" of Nero, and by order of Pope Julius II, it was installed in a separate niche of the Vatican Belvedere. In 1798, the statue of Laocoon was moved to Paris, but after the fall of Napoleon's rule, the British returned it to its original place, where it is kept to this day.

The composition, depicting Laocoön's desperate death struggle with divine punishment, inspired many sculptors of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and gave rise to a fashion for depicting complex, vortex-like movements of the human body in fine art.

Zeus from Cape Artemision

The statue, found by divers near Cape Artemision, is made of bronze, and is one of the few pieces of art of this type that has survived to this day in its original form. Researchers disagree on whether the sculpture belongs specifically to Zeus, believing that it can also depict the god of the seas, Poseidon.

The statue has a height of 2.09 m, and depicts the supreme Greek god, who raised his right hand in order to throw lightning in righteous anger. The lightning itself has not been preserved, but numerous smaller figurines show that it looked like a flat, strongly elongated bronze disk.

From almost two thousand years of being under water, the statue almost did not suffer. Only the eyes, which were supposedly made of ivory and encrusted with precious stones, disappeared. You can see this work of art in the National Archaeological Museum, which is located in Athens.

Statue of Diadumen

A marble copy of a bronze statue of a young man who himself crowns himself with a diadem - a symbol of sports victory, probably adorned the venue for competitions in Olympia or Delphi. The diadem at that time was a red woolen bandage, which, along with laurel wreaths, was awarded to the winners of the Olympic Games. The author of the work, Poliklet, performed it in his favorite style - the young man is in easy movement, his face displays complete calm and concentration. The athlete behaves like a well-deserved winner - he does not show fatigue, although his body needs rest after the fight. In sculpture, the author managed to very naturally convey not only small elements, but also the general position of the body, correctly distributing the mass of the figure. The full proportionality of the body is the pinnacle of the development of this period - classicism of the 5th century.

Although the bronze original has not survived to our time, copies of it can be seen in many museums around the world - the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the Louvre, the Metropolitan, the British Museum.

Aphrodite Braschi

A marble statue of Aphrodite depicts the goddess of love, who was naked before taking her legendary, often described in myths, bath, returning her virginity. Aphrodite in her left hand holds her removed clothes, which gently fall on a nearby jug. From an engineering point of view, this decision made the fragile statue more stable, and gave the sculptor the opportunity to give it a more relaxed pose. The uniqueness of Aphrodite Brasca is that this is the first known statue of the goddess, the author of which decided to portray her naked, which at one time was considered unheard of insolence.

There are legends according to which the sculptor Praxiteles created Aphrodite in the image of his beloved, hetaera Phryne. When her former admirer, orator Euthias, found out about this, he raised a scandal, as a result of which Praxiteles was accused of unforgivable blasphemy. At the trial, the defender, seeing that his arguments did not impress the judge, pulled off Phryne's clothes to show those present that such a perfect body of the model simply cannot harbor a dark soul. The judges, being adherents of the concept of kalokagatiya, were forced to fully acquit the defendants.

The original statue was taken to Constantinople, where it died in a fire. Many copies of Aphrodite have survived to our time, but they all have their own differences, as they were restored according to verbal and written descriptions and images on coins.

marathon youth

The statue of a young man is made of bronze, and presumably depicts the Greek god Hermes, although there are no prerequisites or his attributes in the hands or clothes of the young man. The sculpture was raised from the bottom of the Gulf of Marathon in 1925, and since then has replenished the exposition of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Due to the fact that the statue was under water for a long time, all its features are very well preserved.

The style in which the statue is made betrays the style of the famous sculptor Praxiteles. The young man stands in a relaxed pose, his hand rests on the wall, near which the figure was installed.

Discus thrower

The statue of the ancient Greek sculptor Myron has not been preserved in its original form, but is widely known throughout the world thanks to bronze and marble copies. The sculpture is unique in that for the first time it depicted a person in a complex, dynamic movement. Such a bold decision of the author served as a vivid example for his followers, who with no less success created objects of art in the style of "Figura serpentinata" - a special technique depicting a person or animal in an often unnatural, tense, but very expressive, from the observer's point of view, pose.

Delphic charioteer

The bronze sculpture of a charioteer was discovered during the 1896 excavations at the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi and is a classic example of ancient art. The figure depicts an ancient Greek youth driving a wagon during Pythian games.

The uniqueness of the sculpture lies in the fact that the inlay of the eyes with precious stones has been preserved. The eyelashes and lips of the young man are decorated with copper, and the headband is made of silver, and presumably also had inlay.

The time of creation of the sculpture, theoretically, is at the junction of archaic and early classics - its pose is characterized by stiffness and the absence of any hint of movement, but the head and face are made with a rather great realism. As in later sculptures.

Athena Parthenos

Majestic goddess athena statue has not survived to our time, but there are many copies of it, restored according to ancient descriptions. The sculpture was completely made of ivory and gold, without the use of stone or bronze, and stood in the main temple of Athens - the Parthenon. A distinctive feature of the goddess is a high helmet, decorated with three crests.

The history of the creation of the statue was not without fatal moments: on the shield of the goddess, the sculptor Phidias, in addition to the image of the battle with the Amazons, placed his portrait in the form of a weak old man who lifts a heavy stone with both hands. The public of that time ambiguously regarded the act of Phidias, which cost him his life - the sculptor was imprisoned, where he committed suicide with the help of poison.

Greek culture has become the founder for the development of fine arts around the world. Even today, looking at some modern paintings and statues, one can detect the influence of this ancient culture.

Ancient Hellas became the cradle in which the cult of human beauty in its physical, moral and intellectual manifestation was actively brought up. Inhabitants of Greece of that time, they not only worshiped many Olympic gods, but also tried to resemble them as much as possible. All this is displayed in bronze and marble statues - they not only convey the image of a person or a deity, but also make them close to each other.

Although many of the statues have not survived to the present, their exact copies can be seen in many museums around the world.

    Symi Island

    Symi Island is one of the most beautiful and most visited in the Dodecanese. First of all, the port, which is called the most beautiful in Greece, strikes with its beauty. The city climbs in terraces up the slopes of the hills facing the shore. It was built mainly in the 19th century. Houses with balconies and tiled roofs, painted in various warm colors. The city is declared an architectural monument, and the reconstruction of old buildings and the construction of new ones is strictly prohibited.

    Nikos Kazantzakis

    Nikos Kazantzakis, a Greek philosopher and writer, lived and worked at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a turning point in the history of Hellas. He gained worldwide fame thanks to the novel "The Life and Works of Alexis Zorbas", based on which the feature film "Zorba the Greek" was shot in the 1960s, which received positive reviews from critics and three top awards from the American Film Academy - an Oscar for best cinematography, best an artist's work and Best Supporting Actress.

    Kalambaka and Meteora - sights and historical past

    Kalambaka located 20 km. from the city of Trikala, and 6km. from the monasteries of Meteor, was built on the left bank of the Piney River, at the southern foot of the Meteor Mountains, and at an altitude of 240 meters above sea level. Not far from Kalambaki, according to researchers, was the ancient city of Aeginius, which is mentioned by the historian Strabo. He also points out that it was the city of Timfeev, bordering on Trikka and Efikia, and was built at the confluence of the Iona and Peneia rivers.

    Litochoro in Pieria

    Monastery of John the Baptist

    In the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles there is evidence that in Veria, in the region of Imathia, the Apostle Paul preached the holy Gospel. After the apostle's first visit to the pagans, Saints Silas and Timothy remained in Veria, who continued to preach the holy Gospel. Judging by the accuracy of the descriptions, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Luke, also visited here.

As a rule, statues at that time were carved from limestone or stone, after which they were covered with paint and decorated with beautiful precious stones, elements of gold, bronze or silver. If the figurines are small, then they were made of terracotta, wood or bronze.

ancient greek sculpture

The sculpture of Ancient Greece in the first centuries of its existence was quite seriously influenced by the art of Egypt. Almost all works of ancient Greek sculpture were half-naked men with their arms down. After some time, Greek sculptures began to experiment a little with clothes, poses, and individuals began to give individual features.

In the classical period, sculpture reached its heights. Masters have learned not only to give the statues natural poses, but even to portray the emotions that a person allegedly experiences. It could be thoughtfulness, detachment, joy or severity, as well as fun.

During this period, it became fashionable to depict mythical heroes and gods, as well as real people who held responsible positions - statesmen, generals, scientists, athletes, or simply rich people who wanted to perpetuate themselves for centuries.

At that time, much attention was paid to the naked body, since the concept of good and evil that existed at that time and in that area interpreted external beauty as a reflection of the spiritual perfection of a person.

The development of sculpture, as a rule, was determined by the needs, as well as the aesthetic demands of the society that existed at that time. It is enough to look at the statues of that time and you can understand how colorful and vibrant art was at that time.

Great sculptor Miron created a statue that had a huge impact on the development of fine arts. This is the famous statue of Discobolus - the discus thrower. The man is captured at the moment when his hand is thrown back a little, there is a heavy disk in it, which he is ready to throw into the distance.

The sculptor was able to capture the athlete at the very climax, which foreshadows the next one, when the projectile is thrown high into the air, and the athlete straightens up. In this sculpture, Myron mastered the movement.

Popular at other times master - Polykleitos, which established the balance of the human figure in a slow step and at rest. The sculptor strives to find the ideal proportions on which the human body can be built when creating a sculpture. In the end, an image was created that became a certain norm and, moreover, an example to follow.

Policlet, in the process of creating his works, mathematically calculated the parameters of all parts of the body, as well as their relationship to each other. Human height was taken as a unit, where the head was one seventh, hands and face - one tenth, and feet - one sixth.

Polikleitos embodied his ideal of an athlete in the statue of a young man with a spear. The image very harmoniously combines ideal physical beauty, as well as spirituality. The sculptor very clearly expressed in this composition the ideal of that era - a healthy, versatile and integral personality.

The twelve meter statue of Athena was created by Phidias. In addition, he created a colossal statue of the god Zeus for the temple, which is located in Olympia.

Impulse and passion, struggle and anxiety, as well as deep events breathe in the art of Master Scopas. The best work of art of this sculptor is the statue of Maenad. At the same time, Praxiteles worked, who in his creations sang the joy of life, as well as the very sensual beauty of the human body.

Lissip created approximately 1,500 bronze statues, among which are simply colossal images of the gods. In addition, there are groups that display all the exploits of Hercules. Together with mythological images, the master's sculptures also depicted the events of that time, which then went down in history.

Sculpture of ancient Greece, like all ancient art, is a special model, exemplary craftsmanship and a kind of ideal. Ancient Greek art, and in particular the sculpture of Ancient Greece, had a very significant impact on the development of world culture. It was the foundation on which European civilization later grew. Beautiful statues of Greek sculptors were made of stone, limestone, bronze, marble, wood and decorated with magnificent items made of precious metals and stones. They were installed on the main squares of cities, on the graves of famous Greeks, in temples and even in rich Greek houses. The main principle of the sculpture of Ancient Greece was the combination of beauty and strength, the idealization of man and his body. The ancient Greeks believed that only a perfect soul can be in a perfect, ideal body.

The development of sculpture in ancient Greece can be divided into three significant stages. This is archaic - VI-VII century BC. Classics, which, in turn, can be divided into periods of early - the beginning of the 5th century BC, high classics - this is the end of the 5th century BC, and late - the 6th century BC. And the last stage is Hellenism. Also, from the descriptions of ancient historians, one can understand that there was a sculpture of Homeric Greece, but only small figurines and vessels decorated with paintings have survived to our times. Each of these stages of Greek culture has its own unique features.

archaic period
During this period, ancient Greek artists sought to create an ideal image of a man and a woman. The sculpture was dominated by the figures of naked young warriors, called kouros. They were supposed to show the valor, physical health and strength of a person, which were acquired in the sports of that time. The second example of art from this period was the bark. These are girls draped in long clothes, in which the ideal of femininity and pristine purity was expressed. At this time, the so-called "archaic smile" appeared, which spiritualized the faces of the statues.

Outstanding examples of surviving sculptures from the Archaic period are the Kouros of Piraeus, which today adorns the Museum of Athens, and the Goddess with a Pomegranate and the Goddess with a Hare, kept in the Berlin State Museum. Quite famous is the sculpture of the brothers Cleobis and Byton from Argos, which delight the eyes of lovers of Greek art in the Delphic Museum.

In archaic times, monumental sculpture also occupies an important place, in which relief plays the main role. These are quite large sculptural compositions, often depicting events described in the myths of Ancient Greece. For example, on the pediment of the temple of Artemis, the actions taking place in the story about Medusa the Gorgon and the brave Perseus, known to everyone since childhood, were depicted.

early classic
With the transition to the classical period, the immobility, one might say, the static nature of archaic sculptures, is gradually replaced by emotional figures captured in motion. There is a so-called spatial movement. The poses of the figures are still simple and natural, for example, a girl untying a sandal, or a runner getting ready to start.
Perhaps one of the most famous statues of that period is the "Disco Thrower" by the author Myron, who made a very significant contribution to the art of the early classics of Greece. The figure was cast in bronze in 470 BC and depicts an athlete preparing to throw a discus. His body is perfect and harmonious, and ready to throw in the next second.

Another great sculptor of that time was Polikleitos. Most famous today is his work called "Dorifor", created between 450 and 440 BC. This is a spearman, powerful, restrained and full of dignity. It is full of inner strength and, as it were, shows the desire of the Greek people of those times for sublimity, harmony and peace. To this day, unfortunately, the originals of these sculptures of Ancient Greece, cast in bronze, have not been preserved. We can only admire their copies made from various materials.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a bronze statue of the god Poseidon was found at the bottom of the sea near Cape Artemision. He is depicted as majestic, formidable, raising his hand, in which he once held a trident. This statue, as it were, marks the transition from the period of the early classics to the high.

high classic
The direction of high classics pursued a double goal. On the one hand, to show all the beauty of movement in sculpture, and, on the other hand, to combine the external immobility of the figure with the inner breath of life. The combination of these two aspirations in his work was achieved by the great sculptor Phidias. He is known, in particular, for decorating the ancient Parthenon with beautiful marble sculptures.

He also created a magnificent masterpiece "Athena Parthenos", which, unfortunately, died in ancient times. In the National Museum of Archeology of the city of Athens, you can see only a small copy of this statue.
The great artist created many more masterpieces during his creative life. This is the statue of Athena Promachos in the Acropolis, which impresses with its huge size and grandeur, and, no less colossal, the figure of Zeus in the temple of Olympia, which was later ranked among one of the amazing seven wonders of the world.
With bitterness, we can admit that our vision of ancient Greek sculpture is far from the truth. It is almost impossible to see the original statues of that era. Many of them were destroyed during the redistribution of the Mediterranean world. And another reason for the destruction of these greatest monuments of art was their destruction by fanatically believing Christians. We have only their copies of the Roman masters of the 1st-2nd centuries of our era and descriptions of ancient historians.

late classic
In the times related to the late classics, the sculpture of Ancient Greece began to be characterized by the plasticity of movements and the elaboration of the smallest details. The figures began to differ in grace, flexibility, the first naked female bodies began to appear. One of the brightest examples of this splendor is the statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus by the sculptor Praxiteles.

The ancient Roman writer Pliny said that this statue was considered the most beautiful statue of those times, and many pilgrims flocked to Knidos to see it. This is the first work in which Praxiteles depicted a naked female body. An interesting story of this statue is that the sculptures were created by two figures - naked and dressed. The inhabitants of Kos, who ordered the statue of Aphrodite, chose the dressed goddess, being afraid to take risks, despite the beauty of this masterpiece. And the nude sculpture was acquired by the inhabitants of the city of Cnidus, located in Asia Minor, and thanks to this, they became famous.

Another prominent representative of the direction of the late classics was Scopas. He sought to express violent passions and emotions in his sculptures. Among his famous works are the statue of Apollo Kifared, also Ares of the Villa Ludovisi, and the sculpture called the Niobids dying around their mother.

Hellenistic period
The time of Hellenism is characterized by a rather powerful influence of the East on all the art of Greece. This fate did not pass and sculpture. Sensuality, oriental temperament and emotionality began to penetrate into the majestic poses and sublimity of the classics. Artists began to complicate angles, apply luxurious draperies. Naked female beauty has ceased to be something unusual, blasphemous and defiant.

At this time, a huge number of different statues of the naked goddess Aphrodite or Venus appeared. One of the most famous statues to this day remains the Venus de Milo, created by the master Alexander around 120 BC. We are all used to seeing her images without hands, but it is believed that initially the goddess held her falling clothes with one hand, and in the other hand she held an apple. Her image combines tenderness, strength, and beauty of the physical body.

Also very famous statues from this period are Aphrodite of Cyrene and Laocoön and his sons. The last work is filled with strong emotions, drama and extraordinary realism.
The main theme of the sculptural art of Ancient Greece, apparently, was a man. Indeed, nowhere else was a person more valued than in that same ancient Greek civilization.

With the development of culture, sculptors tried to convey more and more human feelings and emotions through their works. All these majestic masterpieces, created tens of hundreds of years ago, still attract the attention of people, and have a fascinating and incredibly impressive effect on modern art lovers.

Conclusion
It is difficult to single out any one period in the development of ancient Greek culture, and not to find in it a rapid flowering of sculpture. This kind of art was constantly developing and improving, reaching a special beauty in the classical era, but not dying out after it, still remaining the leading one. Of course, it is possible to correlate the sculpture and architecture of ancient Greece, but it is unacceptable to identify them only in comparison. Yes, this is impossible, because sculpture is not a monumental structure, but a skillfully fashioned masterpiece. Most often, ancient sculptors turned to the image of a person.

In their works, they paid special attention to postures, the presence of movement. They tried to create living images, as if it were not a stone in front of us, but living flesh and blood. And they did it very well, mainly due to a responsible approach to business. Knowledge of anatomy and general ideas about the human character allowed the ancient Greek masters to achieve what many sculptors of our time still cannot comprehend.