What works of ancient Greek sculpture do you remember who. Sculpture of ancient greece. The sculptural image through the eyes of the Greeks

Outstanding sculptors of the 5th-4th centuries BC.

First.

The sculptural image through the eyes of the Greeks

A feature of the sculptural heritage of Ancient Greece.

Time has turned especially inexorably towards the works of Greek sculpture. The only authentic Greek bronze statue has survived. classical era – Delphic charioteer(c. 470 ᴦ. BC ., Museum in Delphi ) (ill. 96) and the only marble statue of the same era - Hermes with the baby Dionysus Praxiteles (Museum in Olympia) (ill. 97). Genuine bronze sculptures disappeared already at the end of antiquity (cast on coins, bells and later - weapons). The marble statues were calcined. Almost all Greek products made of wood, ivory, gold and silver perished. For this reason, we can judge the creations of the great masters, firstly, by the later copies, and secondly, presented in a different material than the one in which they were conceived.

The sculptural image for the Greeks was not just a certain volume of marble or bronze, in which one could easily recognize a man, woman, boy, etc. All the artistic thinking of the Greeks was permeated by the desire to identify in sculpture and architecture some general laws proportions and harmony, the pursuit of intelligent beauty.

For the representatives of the philosophical school founded by Pythagoras, nature is mimesis- imitation of harmonic number systems, pre-sent to the world of people. In turn, art itself, to a certain extent, is a mimesis of nature, that is, imitation both in the sense of imitating its visible shell or particular phenomena, and in the sense of revealing its harmonious structure. That is, the statue was also mimesis at the same time: it, following nature, expressed the hidden harmony of dimensional numerical ratios in it, revealed rationality, structure, inherent in the Cosmos and nature, etc. For this reason, for the Greek, the statue not only reproduced the visible shell of the image of a person, but also the harmony, reasonable dimension, beauty, orderliness of the world embodied in it.

ʼʼ… Sculptors, creating gods with a cutter, explained the world.
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What is this explanation? This is the explanation of the gods by means of man. In fact, no other form conveys the invisible and irrefutable presence of a deity in the world more faithfully than the body of a man and a womanʼʼ, the beauty of the human body with the impeccable perfection of all its parts, with its proportions - this is the most beautiful thing that people can offer immortal gods, following the rule: the fairest to the gods.

The earliest monuments are the so-called xtana ( from the word hewn)- idols carved from wood .

One of the first surviving Greek statues - Hera of Samos, OK. mid 6th century BC. (Paris, Louvre).

The first the Athenian sculptor we know of was Antenor, carved marble statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who killed the tyrant Hipparchus in 514 ᴦ. BC, exhibited at the Acropolis. The statues were taken away by the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars. At 477 ᴦ. BC. Critias and Nesiod re-created the sculptural group of tyrannicides (ill. 98).

First, who managed to transfer the center of gravity of the body to one leg in sculpture and make the pose and gesture of the human figure more natural, was the head of the school of sculpture in Argos Agelad(6-5 centuries BC). The sculptor's works have not survived.

Creation first flying figure attributed to the sculptor of the middle of the 6th century. BC. from the island of Chios Arkhermu... He sculpted a statue of the winged "Nika of Delosskaya", personifying victory in battle and competition. Nika's feet did not touch the pedestal - the folds of the fluttering tunic played the role of a stand.

POLYCLETUS. He lived in the second half of the 5th century. BC. It was believed that he made statues of people better than anyone. ʼʼ ... He was the Pythagoras of sculpture, seeking the divine mathematics of proportion and form. He believed that the dimensions of each part of a perfect body should be related in a given proportion to the dimensions of any other part of it, say, the index fingerʼʼ. It is believed that in his theoretical work "Canon" ("Measure") Polycletus summarized the basic laws of the sculptural image of a person and developed the law of ideal proportional relationships of the human body. Applying his theory in his own work (for example, in the statue “Dorifor” (“Copienosœets”) (ill. 99, 99-a), which enjoyed the greatest fame in antiquity), the sculptor created a new plastic language based on physical harmony, on the concept of human figure as a perfect mechanism in which all parts are functionally interconnected.

The discovery of Polycletus in sculpture is the intersection of uneven body movement (more on this later).

Diadumen (Greek. crowned with victory band) (ill. 100).

MIRON. A native of Eleuthera (Boeotia), he lived in Athens. He created sculptures for the Athenian Acropolis, temples in Delphi and Olympia.

· About 470 ᴦ. he cast in bronze the most famous of all statues of athletes - the statue Discobola or Disc thrower(Therme Museum, copy) (ill. 101); This is a complete miracle of the male physique: all those movements of muscles, tendons and bones that are involved in the action of the body are carefully examined here: legs ... ʼʼ; Myron ʼʼ… contemplated the athlete not before or after the competition, but in the moments of the struggle itself and carried out his plan in bronze so well that no other sculptor in history could surpass him, depicting a male body in actionʼʼ. Discus thrower- ϶ᴛᴏ the first attempt to convey movement to a motionless statue: in the sculpture, Myron managed to capture a wave of his hand before throwing the disc, when all the weight of the body is directed to the right leg, and left hand keeps the figure in balance. This technique made it possible to convey the movement of forms, which allows the viewer to trace the change of points of view.

Discus thrower- the only surviving (copy) work of the sculptor.

The ancients recognized that Phidias was the best in depicting the statues of the gods.

· Around 438, the artist's son Phidias created the famous statue of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). On a 1.5-meter marble pedestal in the Temple of Athena City (Parthenon) on the Athenian Acropolis, there was an almost 12-meter statue of the goddess of wisdom and chastity (ill. 95). Phidias was one of the first sculptors to adopt the 5th century innovation. BC, - a pedestal with a relief image (scene of the birth of Pandora). Phidias showed great courage, choosing not a mythological subject for the 160-meter sculptural frieze of the temple, but an image of a Panathenian procession (where the Athenian people themselves act as an equal partner of the gods who occupied the central part of the composition). Under the direction of Phidias and partly by himself, the sculptural decor was made.
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The sculpture was also placed on the pediments, along the frieze of the outer wall of the interior.

Accused by his enemies, the Athenians, of theft, Phidias was convicted, but the inhabitants of Olympia made a deposit for the master on the condition that he would create a statue of Zeus for the temple of the same name in the famous sanctuary. This is how the 18-meter statue of the seated god of thunder appeared. In the list of "Wonders of the World", compiled in the 2nd century. BC. Antipator of Sidon, the statue of Olympian Zeus was given the second place. This outstanding monument was mentioned by over sixty (!) Ancient writers. The Greek philosopher Epictetus advised everyone to go to Olympia to see the statue of Zeus, since he called it a real misfortune to die and not see it. The famous Roman orator Quintilian wrote more than five centuries later: "The beauty of the statue even brought something into the mainstream religion, for the greatness of creation was worthy of God."

It is believed that the statue of Olympian Zeus was repeated by an anonymous Roman sculptor, creating a statue of Jupiter, now kept in the Hermitage (ill. 102).

The fate of both statues is sad, but not exactly known; there is evidence that both of them were transported already in the Christian era to Constantinople, Zeus burned down in a fire at the end of the 5th century, and Athena died at the beginning of the 13th century.

There is no exact information about the fate of Phidias.

PRXITER.

OK. 390-330 gᴦ. BC. The sculptor's son, the Ionian Praxitel, worked both with marble and bronze, so much so that more than ten cities competed for the master's orders.

The first ancient Greek naked the statue of the goddess - "Aphrodite of Cnidus" (ill. 103) flocked to see the Hellenes from all over the Mediterranean. The rumor spread that, looking at the canon of female beauty that had already become at that time, men fell into "love madness". ʼʼ ... Above all the works of not only Praxiteles, but generally existing in the universe is Venus of his work ... ʼʼ, - wrote the Roman Pliny the Elder almost four centuries later.

· About the second, most famous statue - ʼʼHermes with baby Dionysusʼʼ(ill. 97) - it was already said at the very beginning of the question. According to the myth, by order of the jealous Hera, the titans dragged the illegitimate baby of Zeus's son Dionysus and tore him to pieces. Dionysus Rhea's grandmother brought her grandson back to life. To save his son, Zeus asked Hermes to temporarily turn Dionysus into a kid or a lamb and transfer him to the upbringing of five nymphs. The sculptor depicted Hermes at the moment when he, heading towards the nymphs, stopped, leaning against a tree, and offered a bunch of grapes to baby Dionysus (the statue's hand was lost). The baby was placed in a cave on Mount Nisa, and it was there that Dionysus invented wine.

We especially note that the students of Praxiteles worthily continued the work of their teacher (ill. 107).

Having started as a simple coppersmith in Sikyon, he ended up as a court sculptor of Alexander the Great. As believed in antiquity, the author of one and a half thousand statues. Established a new canon of sculptural proportions of figures by introducing light, elongated proportions, reducing the size of the head. Lysippos used to say that former artists ʼʼ ... depict people as they are, and he as they appear<глазу>ʼʼ.

· "Apoxyomen" ("Cleansing") (ill. 108) - a young man with a scraper removes oil and sand from himself after physical exercises.

Others all over the world famous sculptures and statutory groups

· Venus de Milo(ill. 109). The epithet "Milo" is associated with the fact that the statue was found on the island of Milo in 1820. The statue itself, more than two meters high, dates back to the end of the 2nd century. BC, is a "remake" of the statue of Praxiteles.

· Nika of Samothrace(ill. 110). Found in the 19th century. on the island of Samothrace. The statue dates back to around 190 ᴦ. BC, when the Greeks from the island of Rhodes won a series of victories over Antiochus III.

· ʼʼLaokoonʼʼ(ill. 111).

At the turn of the 2nd century. BC. three sculptors - Agesander and his sons Polydor and Athenodorus - sculpted "from a single stone" a group of statues, which in ancient times was considered "a work of art" should be preferred to all works of painting and sculpture in copper.

The plot of "The death of Laocoon and his sons" is connected with the most famous episode of the Trojan War. As you know, the Greeks, in order to penetrate the city they were besieging, built a huge hollow wooden horse, into which several tens of soldiers climbed. A spy, taught by Odysseus, was sent to Troy, who turned to King Priam in the form of a prediction: ʼʼ ... If you despise this sacred statue, Athena will destroy you, but if the statue is in Troy, then you will be able to unite all the forces of Asia, invade to Greece and conquer Mycenaeʼʼ. ʼʼ It's all a lie! Odysseus invented all this, ”cried Laocoon, priest of the Poseeidon temple. God Apollo (who was angry with Laocoon, that he, contrary to his oath, married and had children), to warn Troy of the sad fate awaiting her, sent two huge sea serpents, which first strangled the twin sons of Laocoon, and then, when he hurried to their aid, himself. This terrible sign convinced the Trojans that the Greek spy was telling the truth, and the king of Troy mistakenly decided that Laocoon was punished for driving a spear into a wooden horse. The horse was dedicated to Athens, and the Trojans began to feast, an idle victory. Further, it is known: at midnight, at the signal lights, the Greeks got out of the horse and killed the sleepy guards of the fortress and palace of Troy.

In addition to the art of composition and technical perfection, new was the embodiment of the tastes of a new era - Hellenism: the old man, children, painful struggle, death moans ...

When "Laocoon" was found in the ruins of the baths of the emperor Titus in Rome in 1506, Michelangelo said that it was the best statue in the world and, shocked, unsuccessfully tried ... to restore the broken off right hand of the central figure. Lorenzo Bernini was a success.

On the subject of Laookon, he created a painting by El Greco. Winckelmann, Lessing, Goethe.

· Farnese bull(ill. 112, 113, 114, 115). About 150 ᴦ. BC. in the city of Trally, in Caria, the sculptor brothers Apollonius and Tavriskus cast a bronze group for the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, which is now known as Farnese bull(it was found in the baths of Caracalla in Rome, restored by Michelangelo himself and was kept for some time at the Farnese palace). According to one version of the myth, Antiope, the daughter of King Nikteus of Thebes, became pregnant by Zeus and fled from her father's wrath to the king of Sikion, who married her, which caused a war between the two cities. The Thebans won, and Antiope's own uncle brought Antiope back home. There she gave birth to two twins, who were immediately taken away from her by the aforementioned uncle. In Thebes, she became a slave to her aunt Dirka, who mistreated her. Antiope, unable to withstand imprisonment, managed to escape and meet her grown-up sons, who severely punished Dirka: they tied her to the horns of a wild bull, which immediately dealt with her - under the approving eye of a satisfied Antiope. The work is distinguished by virtuosity in conveying various angles and accuracy of the anatomical structure of figures.

· The Colossus of Rhodes.

This was the name of the statue of the god Helios on the island of Rhodes. The son of one of the generals of the Macedonian Antigonus, Demetrius, besieged Rhodes, using 7-storey battle towers, but was forced to retreat, abandoning all military equipment... According to the story of Pliny the Elder, the inhabitants of the island received funds from its sale, which they used to erect about 280 ᴦ near the harbor. BC. largest statue the ancient world- The 36-meter Sun God Helios, the architect Hares, a disciple of Lysippos. The Rhodians revered Helios as the patron saint of the island, raised by the gods from the bottom of the sea, and the capital of Rhodes was his sacred city. Philo of Byzantine reported that 13 tons of bronze and almost 8 tons of iron were used to create the statue. According to the research of the English scientist and sculptor Marion, the statue was not cast. It was based on three massive pillars, set on rectangular stone slabs and fastened with iron strips; iron beams diverged from the pillars on all sides, to the outer ends of which a glandular contour was attached - they encircled the stone pillars at equal distances, turning them into a frame. The statue has been constructed piece by piece from a clay model for over ten years. According to the reconstruction, on the head of Helios there was a crown in the form sun rays, the right hand was attached to the forehead, and the left was holding the cloak, which fell to the ground and served as a fulcrum. The colossus collapsed during the earthquake 227 (222) ᴦ. BC, and its fragments lay for more than eight centuries, until the Arabs loaded them onto 900 (!) camels and took "building materials" for sale.

Paeonyiu belongs to the statue of the goddess Nike (c. the middle of the 5th century BC): the figure is placed in a slight inclination forward and balanced by a large swelling brightly colored cloak (ill. 116).

Greek sculpture retained a close relationship with architecture, they coexisted harmoniously. The artists did not seek to remove the statue too far from the buildings. The Greeks avoided erecting monuments in the middle of the square. Usually they were placed along its edges or the edges of a sacred road, against the background of a building or between columns. But in this way, the statue was not available for a detour and a comprehensive survey.

The sculpture of Hellas maintained a close and harmonious connection with architecture. Statues of Atlanteans (Fig. 117) and Caryatids (Fig. 56) replaced columns or other vertical supports to support the joist floor.

Atlanta- male statues supporting the floors of buildings attached to the wall. According to myths, the Greek titan, the brother of Prometheus, was supposed to keep the sky on the extreme western outskirts of the Earth as punishment for his participation in the struggle of the titans against the gods.

Caryatid- a sculptural image of a standing female figure. If there is a basket of flowers or fruits on the head of the statue, then it was called canefora(from lat. carrier basket). The origin of the word "karyatida" is derived either from the caryatids - the priestesses of the temple of Artemis in Caria (the mother moon Artemis Caria was also called caryatid).

Finally, the harmony and coordination of architecture and sculpture manifested itself in the decorative application of the latter. These are metopes, decorated with reliefs (spans between beams, the ends of which are masked by triglyphs) (ill. 117) and pediments with statuary groups (ill. 118, 119). The architecture gave the sculpture a frame, and the building itself was enriched with the organic dynamics of sculpture.

The sculptures were placed on the basements of buildings (the Pergamon Altar) (ill. 120, 121), on the bases and capitals of the columns (ill. 11), on funerary steles (ill. 122, 123) and inside similar steles (ill. 68-n), acted as coasters for household items (ill. 124, 125).

There were also funerary statues (ill. 68-c, 68-d).

The origins and reasons for the features of Greek sculpture

Material and processing

One of the remarkable examples of terracotta sculpture are genre and funerary figurines found in graves near Tanagra (ill. 126, 127), a city in East Boeotia. Terracotta(from Italian terra - earth / clay and cotta - burnt) are the names of unglazed ceramics for various purposes. The height of the figurines is from 5 to 30 centimeters. The heyday in the creation of figurines falls on the 3rd century. BC.

The use of ivory for artwork is a long tradition in the Greek world. In the period of the classics, the technique of combining gold and ivory appeared. - chrysoelephantine... In it, in particular, were made the statues of Phidias - Athena in the Parthenon (ill. 128) and Zeus in Olympia. The foundations of the statue of Athena, for example, are carved out of hard wood, most of the surface was covered with gold, parts that reproduce the naked body, and the aegis with ivory plates. Scaly plates (about 1.5 mm thick) were attached to the wooden base, which could be removed. Ivory, like gold, was attached to wooden scales. All separate parts of the sculpture - its head, shield, snake, spear, helmet - were created separately and attached to the base of the statue, which had been placed earlier and fixed on a wooden pedestal sunk in a stone pedestal (ill. 95).

The face and hands of the statue of Olympian Zeus with a wreath on his head, Nika (Victory) in his right hand and a scepter with an eagle in his left, were made of ivory, clothes and shoes were made of gold. To protect it from spoilage due to the damp climate of Olympia, ivory was abundantly oiled by the priests.

In addition to ivory, a multi-colored material was used for the details. For example, the eyeball was made of colored stone, glass, silver with a pomegranate pupil (ill. 129). Many statues have holes drilled for attaching wreaths, ribbons, and necklaces.

From the 7th century BC the Greeks already used marble (ill. 130). Sculptors often strove for free postures and movements, but they were objectively unattainable in a single piece of marble. For this reason, statues made up of several pieces are often found. The body of the famous Venus de Milo (ill. 75) was carved out of marble from the island of Paros, the dressed part was made of a different type of stone, the hands were made of separate pieces, fastened with metal clips.

Stone processing system.

In the archaic period, the stone block was first given a tetrahedral shape, on its planes the sculptor drew a projection of the future statue. Then he began cutting simultaneously from four sides, in vertical and flat layers. This had two consequences. First of all, the statues were distinguished by a completely motionless, straight posture, without the slightest rotation around their vertical axis. Secondly, in almost all archaic statues, a smile illuminates the face, completely independent of the situation that the statue depicts (ill. 131, 132). It's because method treating the face as a plane at right angles to the other two planes of the head led to the fact that the facial features (mouth, cutout of the eyes, eyebrows) were rounded not in depth, but upward.

The construction of an archaic figure is largely due to the sculptor's method of work - the preliminary preparation of a rectangular block of stone - ϶ᴛᴏ did not make it possible to depict a figure, for example, with raised arms.

The second method of stone processing is associated with the transition from the archaic to the classics; it became dominant in the sculpture of the Greeks. The essence of the method is in the desire to fix the volume of the body, its rounding and transitions. The sculptor, as it were, walked around the entire statue with a chisel. The blows of the archaics fell in vertical rows, the blows of the classics went deep, laid down in a round, diagonal manner in connection with the turns, protrusions, directions of the form.

Gradually, the statue turned to the viewer not only with a straight face and profile, but also with more complex turns in three quarters, acquired dynamics, began, as it were, to rotate around its axis. She became a statue that has no back side, which cannot be leaned against the wall, inserted into a niche.

Bronze sculpture.

In the classical period, it was very difficult to carve a nude figure with a free leg out of marble without a special support. Only bronze allowed to give the figure any position. Most of the ancient masters were cast in bronze (ill. 133, 134). How?

They used a casting method using a process called "lost wax". The figures sculpted out of clay were covered with a thick layer of wax, then a layer of clay with many holes - through which the wax melted in the furnace flowed out; from above, the mold was poured with bronze until the metal filled all the space previously occupied by the wax. The statue was cooled, the top layer of clay was removed. Finally, grinding, polishing, varnishing, painting or gilding was carried out.

In a bronze statue, eyes were inlaid with glassy paste and colored stone, and hair or jewelry was made of a bronze alloy of a different shade, the lips were often gilded or lined with gold plates.

Earlier, at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC, due to the extreme importance of saving bronze, the technique of making statues became widespread in Greece, when wooden figures were upholstered with nails with bronze sheets. A similar technique was known in the East, only gold was used instead of bronze.

Polychromy.

The Greeks painted the exposed parts of the sculptures in a flesh-colored color, clothes in red and blue, weapons in gold. The eyes were painted on marble.

The use of colored materials in sculpture. In addition to combining gold and ivory, the Greeks used a multi-colored material, but mainly for details. For example, the eyeball was made of colored stone, glass, silver with a pomegranate pupil. The lips of the bronze statue were often gilded or lined with gold plates. Many Greek statues have holes drilled for attaching wreaths, ribbons, and necklaces. Figurines from Tanagra were painted completely, usually in purple, blue, golden tones.

The role of plastic composition.

At all times, one of the most important problems faced by the sculptor was to calculate the shape and size of the pedestal and coordinate the statue and pedestal with the landscape and architectural setting.

The Greeks generally preferred not very high pedestals. In the 5th century. BC. its height usually did not exceed the level of the chest of an average person. In the next century, the pedestals most often had a stepped shape, composed of several horizontal slabs.

The sculptor, at the very beginning of his work, had to take into account the point of view from which the statue would be perceived, the optical relationship between the statue and the viewer. So, the masters accurately calculated the optical effect of the statues placed on the pediment. On the Parthenon, they shortened the lower part of the figures from the seated statues and lengthened upper part housing. If the figure was in a sharp tilt, then its arms and legs were shortened or lengthened based on the position of the figure.

Motives of movement in sculpture

Archaic sculpture knew only one kind of movement - the movement of action. It justified the motive of some action: the hero throws a disc, participates in a battle, competition, etc. If there is no action, then the statue is absolutely motionless. The muscles are given generalized, the torso is motionless, the arms and legs act in some one side of the body.

Polyclet is considered to be the inventor of another type of motion. The essence "spatial movement" in that it means movement in space, but without a visible purpose, without a specific thematic motive. But all the members of the body function, rush either forward or around their axis.

The Greek sculptor sought to "depict" movement. In gestures, gait, muscle tension, he showed functions movement.

Greek sculpture embodies the harmony between human will and the body, Gothic embodies the emotional energy of a person, Michelangelo's sculpture is characterized by the struggle between will and feeling. Greek sculpture often avoids excessive physical stress, and if it does use it, it is always straightforward and one-sided. Michelangelo, on the other hand, strains his muscles to the maximum, moreover, in different, sometimes opposite directions. Hence, the genius of the Renaissance has a favorite spiral, rotational movement, perceived as a deep psychological conflict.

Learn more about the evolution of the types of movement.

The search for the dynamics begins at the feet of the statue. The first sign of movement is the left leg extended forward. It rests firmly on the ground with its entire sole. The movement is fixed only on the skeleton and on the limbs. But during all the archaics, the torso remains motionless. The arms and legs act on the same side of the body, right or left.

In the classical era Polyclet solves the problem of cross traffic. Its essence is in the new balance of the body. Its weight rests on one leg, the other is free of support functions. The sculptor pulls the free leg back, the leg touches the ground only with the tips of the toes. As a result - right and left-hand side the bodies in the knees and hips are at different heights, but to maintain balance, the bodies are in the opposite relationship: if the right knee is higher than the left, then the right shoulder is lower than the left. The mobile balance of symmetrical body parts became a favorite motif of ancient art (ill. 135).

Have Miron in "Discobol" all the weight of the body falls on the right leg, the left barely touches the ground.

At the end of the 4th century. BC. Lysippus achieves maximum freedom of movement. The movement of the body unfolds diagonally ("Borghese wrestler"), it can rotate around its axis, and the limbs are directed in different directions.

The plastic expressiveness of classical sculpture.

In the era of Hellenism, a striving for maximum expressiveness, for energetic protrusions and depressions of form, was manifested. This is how the muscles of the athlete Hercules appeared (ill. 136).

The dynamics of the torso is enhanced. It begins to curve to the right and left. V Apoxyomain Lysippos (ill. 82), the relationship between the supported and free elements is almost imperceptible. This is how a new phenomenon arose - an absolutely round statue that required walking around. Finally, we point out characteristic feature Greek sculpture - the predominance of movement from the center outward, towards the outer goal.

Greek sculptors individualize for the first time sitting statue. The foundation qualitative change- the statue sits completely differently. The impression of an individual posture is the creation of a variant when a person sits on the tip of the seat not with his whole body and not on the whole seat. A relaxed and free posture was created when the seat fell below the knee of the seated person. A wealth of contrasts arose - arms crossed, leg crossed, the body of the seated person turns and bends.

Clothing and drapery.

The sculptor's creative concept is determined by an important issue - clothing and draperies. Its elements are actively involved in the life of the statue and its movement - the nature of the clothes, the rhythm of its folds, silhouette, distribution of light and shadow.

One of the basic purposes of drapery in sculpture is the functional purpose of clothing (that is, its relation to the human body). In Greek sculpture, this purpose found its most striking embodiment. In the classical era, the contradiction between clothing and body turned into a harmonious interaction. Clothing with the rhythm of its folds repeated, emphasized, supplemented, and sometimes changed the shapes and movements of the body (ill. 136-a).

The free interpretation of clothing was greatly aided by the very nature of Greek clothing. A quadrangular or round piece of cloth took shape only from the body draped with it. It was not the cut, but the way of wearing and wearing that determined the character of the garment. And the basic principles of clothing have hardly changed. Only the fabric, the height of the belt, the method of drapery, the shape of the buckle, etc. changed.

The classical style has developed the basic principle of drapery. Long, straight, vertical folds emphasize and at the same time hide the leaning leg, the free leg is modeled through the clothes with light folds. In the middle of the 5th century. BC. the sculptors also solved the following problem - showing the body through the clothes in all its bends.

The drapery was rich and varied, but the emotional interpretation of clothing was alien to sculpture. The artists embodied the close contact of clothing with the body, but there was no connection between clothing and the state of mind of a person. The clothes characterized the activity of the statue, but did not reflect its moods and experiences.

For modern European clothing, the shoulders and hips serve as a fulcrum. Greek clothes other in fact: it does not fit - it draped... The plastic of the drapery was valued much higher than the cost of the fabric and the beauty of the ornament͵ its grace was the beauty of the clothes.

The Ionian Greeks were the first to take advantage of the drapery as a sculptural element. In Egyptian sculptures, the clothes are frozen. The Hellenes began to depict folds of fabric, using clothing in order to reveal the beauty of the human body.

In the classical era, the contradiction between clothing and body turned into a harmonious interaction. Clothing with the rhythm of its folds repeated, emphasized, complemented the forms and movements of the body.

The main principle of Hellenic drapery is that long, straight, vertical folds emphasize and at the same time hide the leaning leg, the free leg is modeled through the clothes with light folds.

In general, the drapery was rich and varied, but the emotional interpretation of clothing was alien to Greek sculpture. The contact of clothing with the body was not associated with the state of mind of the person. The clothes characterized the activity of the statue, but did not reflect its moods and experiences.

Sculptural (statuary) group. If the meaning of the composition is revealed only from one point of view, the statues are isolated from one another, independent, they can be moved away from each other, put on separate pedestals, so that in the end they will exist independently of each other, then such a composition cannot be called a genuine statuary group. In Greece during the era of classical style sculptural group reaches the stage of embodiment of human relations between figures, common action and common experience.

The problem of light in sculpture.

Light in sculpture (as in architecture) affects not so much the form itself, but the impression that the eye receives from the form. The relationship between light and plastic form determines the surface finish. Secondly, when staging a sculpture, the artist must reckon with a specific light source. Materials with a rough and opaque surface (wood, partly limestone) require direct light(it gives the forms a clear and definite character). Transparent light is characteristic of marble. The main effect of Praxiteles' sculptures is based on the contrast of direct and transparent light.

Sculptural portrait

Sculpture archaic period, following the Egyptian rule of frontality, was sacred, statues of contemporaries were allowed in those cases when they were consecrated either by death or by victory in sports. The statue in honor of the Olympic winner did not depict a specific champion, but what he is would like to be. Delphic charioteer, for example, this is an ideal, not a specific portrait of a winner in a competition.

The grave bas-relief depicted simply person.

The reason for this is that the harmonious development of the bodily and spiritual was perceived by the Greeks as a condition for achieving both aesthetic harmony and civic and heroic full value of a person. For this reason, it seemed to the ancients that it was completely natural for the ancients to embody in statues, for example, athletes not individual traits of a particular personality, but essential, typical, valuable and universal qualities of a perfect person (or each person): strength, dexterity, energy, proportionate beauty of the body, etc. etc. Individually unique was perceived as an accidental deviation from the norms. For this reason, not only Greek, but all ancient art was free from the particular, especially in the images of the legendary heroes in the gods.

To this should be added why for a long time the tasks of individual mimicry were alien to Greek sculpture. It was the cult of the naked body and the development of a kind of ideal of the head and face (the so-called greek profile) - the contour of the nose in a straight line continues the contour of the forehead (ill. 137, 138).

Finally, let us point out a paradoxical thing: in Greece, the individual, the special was given great importance, on the other hand, the portrait image, for example, was considered a state crime. Because the role of the individual in classical ancient culture is played by the “collective hero” - the polis.

The main types of depiction of a person of the archaic era were two: a stern youthful nude athletic figure with clenched fists - kouros(ill. 139, 140, 141) and a modestly dressed woman, with one hand picking up the folds of her dress, with the other offering the gods a gift - bark(ill. 142, 143). So both ordinary mortals and gods could be portrayed. In modern times, the kouros were often called "Apollons"; it is now believed that these were images of athletes or tombstones. The slightly extended left leg of the kouros indicates Egyptian influence. Bark ( greek... girl) is a modern designation of female figures of the archaic era. These sculptures served as a vowed gift brought to the sanctuary. Unlike the kouros, the core figures were draped.

In the first half of the 5th century. BC. a certain type of face has developed: a rounded oval, a straight bridge of the nose, a straight line of the forehead and nose, a smooth arch of the eyebrows protruding above the almond-shaped eyes, rather plump lips, and the absence of a smile. The hair was interpreted as soft wavy strands that outline the shape of the skull ("Delphic charioteer").

Brother Lysippos Lysistratus was the first to sculpt faces with portrait likeness, for this he even removed plaster casts from living faces.

In the second half of the 5th century. BC. Polycletus developed the law of ideal proportional components of the human body. In sculpture, all the proportions of the human body were calculated to the smallest detail. Hand - 1/10 of the growth head - 1/8, foot and head with neck - 1/6, arm to the elbow - ¼. The forehead, nose and mouth with the chin are equal in height, from the crown to the eyes - the same as from the eyes to the end of the chin. The distance from the crown to the navel and from the navel to the heels are

The most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "The most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture." 2017, 2018.

Ancient Greek sculpture occupies a special place among the variety of masterpieces cultural heritage belonging to this country. In it, the beauty of the human body, its ideal, is sung and embodied with the help of pictorial means. However, not only the smoothness of lines and grace are the characteristic features that marked the ancient Greek sculpture. So great was the skill of its creators that they managed to convey even in a cold stone a gamut of emotions, to give a deep, special meaning to the figures, as if breathing life into them. Each ancient Greek sculpture is endowed with mystery, which is still attracting. The creations of the great masters leave no one indifferent.

Like other cultures, it experienced different periods in its development. Each of them was marked by changes in all types visual arts, including sculpture. Therefore, it is possible to trace the main stages of the formation of this type of art by briefly describing the features of ancient Greek sculpture in different periods. historical development of this country.

Archaic period

Time from 8th to 6th century BC. Ancient Greek sculpture at this time had a certain primitiveness as a characteristic feature. It was observed because the images embodied in the works did not differ in variety, they were too generalized, called kora, young men - kuros).

Apollo of Shadow

The statue of Apollo of the Shadow is the most famous of all the figures of this era that have come down to our time. In total, several dozen of them are known now. It is made of marble. Apollo is depicted as a young man with his hands down, his fingers clenched into fists. His eyes are wide open, and his face reflects the archaic smile typical of sculptures from this period.

Female figures

The images of women and girls were distinguished by wavy hair, long clothes, but they were attracted most of all by the elegance and smoothness of lines, the embodiment of grace, femininity.

Archaic ancient Greek sculptures were somewhat disproportionate and schematic. Each work, on the other hand, is attractive with restrained emotionality and simplicity. For this era, in the depiction of human figures, as we have already noted, a half-smile is characteristic, which gives them depth and mystery.

Located in Berlin today state museum The "Goddess with a Pomegranate" is one of the best-preserved figures among other archaic sculptures. With the "wrong" proportions and external roughness of the image, the hands, brilliantly executed by the author, attract the attention of the audience. An expressive gesture makes the sculpture especially expressive and dynamic.

"Kuros from Piraeus"

Located in the Athens Museum, "Kouros of Piraeus" is a later, therefore more perfect creation, made by an ancient sculptor. A young powerful warrior appears before us. and a slight tilt of the head speaks of the conversation he is having. Disturbed proportions are not so striking. Archaic ancient Greek sculptures, as we have already mentioned, have generalized facial features. However, in this figure it is not as noticeable as in the works of the early archaic period.

Classic period

The classical period is from the 5th to the 4th century BC. The works of ancient Greek sculpture at this time underwent some changes, which we will now tell you about. Among the sculptors of this period, one of the most famous figures is Pythagoras of Regia.

Features of sculptures of Pythagoras

His creations are characterized by realism and liveliness, which were innovative at the time. Some works by this author are considered even too daring for this era (for example, a statue of a boy taking out a splinter). Agility of mind and extraordinary talent allowed this sculptor to study the meaning of harmony using mathematical calculation methods. He conducted them on the basis of the philosophical and mathematical school, which he also founded. Pythagoras, using these methods, explored harmony of different nature: musical, architectural structure, human body. There was a Pythagorean school according to the principle of number. It was this that was considered the foundation of the world.

Other sculptors of the classical period

The classical period, in addition to the name of Pythagoras, gave world culture such famous masters like Phidias, Polycletus and Myron. The works of ancient Greek sculpture by these authors are united by the following general principle - the display of the harmony of the ideal body and the beautiful soul contained in it. It is this principle that is the main one that guided various masters of that time when creating their creations. Ancient Greek sculpture is the ideal of harmony and beauty.

Myron

Great influence on the art of Athens in the 5th century BC NS. provided by the works of Miron (suffice it to recall the famous Discobolus, made of bronze). This master, unlike Polycletus, about whom we will talk later, loved to depict figures in motion. For example, in the above statue of the Discobolus dating back to the 5th century BC. e., he portrayed a handsome young man at the moment when he swung in order to throw a disc. His body is tense and bent, captured by the movement, like a spring ready to unfold. The trained muscles bulged under the firm skin of the arm that was pulled back. Forming a reliable support, we went deep into the sand. This is the ancient Greek sculpture (Discobolus). The statue was cast in bronze. However, only a marble copy made by the Romans from the original has come down to us. The image below shows a statue of the Minotaur by this sculptor.

Polyclet

The ancient Greek sculpture of Polycletus possesses the following characteristic feature- the figure of a person standing with a raised hand on one leg is inherent in balance. An example of her masterful embodiment is the statue of Dorifor the spear-bearer. Polyclet in his works sought to combine ideal physical data with spirituality and beauty. This desire inspired him to publish his treatise entitled "Canon", which, unfortunately, has not survived to our time.

The statues of Polycletus are full of intense life. He loved to portray athletes at rest. For example, "Spearman" is a man of mighty build, who is full of self-esteem. He stands motionless in front of the viewer. However, this peace is not static, inherent in ancient Egyptian statues. As a person easily and skillfully owns his own body, the spearman slightly bent his leg, shifting the weight of the body to the other. It seems that a little time will pass, and he will turn his head and step forward. Before us appears a handsome, strong man, free from fear, restrained, proud - the embodiment of the ideals of the Greeks.

Phidias

Phidias can rightfully be considered a great creator, creator of sculpture, dating back to the 5th century BC. NS. It was he who was able to master perfectly the skill of casting from bronze. Phidias cast 13 sculptural figures, which became worthy decorations for the Delphic Temple of Apollo. The statue of Athena the Virgin in the Parthenon, which is 12 meters high, also belongs to the works of this master. It is made of ivory and pure gold. This technique of making statues was called chryso-elephantine.

The sculptures of this master especially reflect the fact that in Greece the gods are the images of an ideal person. Of the works of Phidias, the best preserved is the 160-meter marble strip of the frieze relief, which depicts the procession of the goddess Athena on her way to the Parthenon temple.

Statue of athena

The sculpture of this temple was badly damaged. Even in ancient times, died This figure stood inside the temple. Phidias created it. The ancient Greek sculpture of Athena had the following features: her head with a rounded chin and a smooth low forehead, as well as her arms and neck were made of ivory, and her helmet, shield, clothing and hair were made of sheets of gold.

There are many stories associated with this figure. So famous and great was this masterpiece that immediately Phidias had a lot of envious people who tried in every possible way to annoy the sculptor, for which they looked for reasons to accuse him of something. This master, for example, was accused of allegedly hiding part of the gold intended for the sculpture of Athena. Phidias, as proof of his innocence, removed all the golden objects from the statue and weighed them. This weight exactly matched the amount of gold provided to him. Then the sculptor was accused of atheism. Athena's shield was the reason for this. It depicted a scene of a battle with the Amazons of the Greeks. Phidias among the Greeks portrayed himself, as well as Pericles. The public of Greece, despite all the merits of this master, nevertheless opposed him. Brutal execution ended the life of this sculptor.

Phidias' achievements were not limited to sculptures made in the Parthenon. So, he created a bronze figure of Athena Promachos, which was erected around 460 BC. NS. in the Acropolis.

Statue of Zeus

Phidias became truly famous after this master created a statue of Zeus for the temple located in Olympia. The height of the figure was 13 meters. Unfortunately, many originals have not survived, only their descriptions and copies have survived to this day. This was largely due to the fanatical destruction by Christians. The statue of Zeus also did not survive. It can be described as follows: a 13-meter figure was seated on a golden throne. The head of the god was decorated with a wreath of olive branches, which was a symbol of his peacefulness. The chest, arms, shoulders, face were made of ivory. Zeus's cloak is thrown over his left shoulder. The beard and crown are of glittering gold. Such is this ancient Greek sculpture, briefly described. It seems that God, if he gets up and straightens his shoulders, will not fit in this vast hall - the ceiling will be low for him.

Hellenistic period

The stages of development of ancient Greek sculpture are completed by the Hellenistic. This period is a time in the history of Ancient Greece from the 4th to the 1st century BC. Sculpture at this time was still the main purpose of decoration of various architectural structures. But it also reflected the changes taking place in the management of the state.

In sculpture, which at that time was one of the main forms of art, in addition, many directions and schools arose. They existed in Rhodes, Pergamum, Alexandria. The best works presented by these schools reflect the problems that worried the minds of the people of this era at that time. These images, in contrast to the classical calm purposefulness, carry passionate pathos, emotional tension, dynamics.

The late Greek antiquity is characterized by a strong influence of the East on all art in general. New features of ancient Greek sculpture appear: numerous details, exquisite draperies, complex foreshortenings. The temperament and emotionality of the East penetrates into the greatness and tranquility of the classics.

The "Aphrodite of Cyrene" located in the Roman Thermal Museum is full of sensuality, some coquetry.

"Laocoon and his sons"

The most famous sculptural composition dating back to this era is Laocoon and His Sons by Agesander of Rhodes. This masterpiece is now kept in the Vatican Museum. The composition is full of drama, and the plot presupposes emotionality. The hero and his sons, desperately resisting the serpents sent by Athena, as if they understand their terrible fate. This sculpture was made with extraordinary precision. The figures are realistic and plastic. The faces of the heroes make a strong impression.

Three great sculptors

In the works of sculptors dating back to the 4th century BC. e., the humanistic ideal is preserved, but at the same time the unity of the civilian collective disappears. The ancient Greek sculptures and their authors are losing the sense of the fullness of life and the wholeness of their perception of the world. Great masters who lived in the 4th century BC e., create art that reveals new facets of the spiritual world. These searches were most vividly expressed by three authors - Lysippos, Praxiteles and Scopas.

Scopas

Skopas became the most prominent figure among the other sculptors working at the time. Deep doubt, struggle, anxiety, impulse and passion breathe in his art. This native of the island of Paros worked in many cities in Hellas. The skill of this author was embodied in a statue called "Nika of Samothrace". This name was received in memory of the victory in 306 BC. NS. Rhodes fleet. This figure is installed on a pedestal that resembles a ship's bow in design.

"Dancing Menada" by Scopas is presented in a dynamic, complex perspective.

Praxitel

They had a different creative principle. This author sang the sensual beauty of the body and the joy of life. Praxiteles enjoyed great fame and was rich. The most famous for this sculptor is the statue of Aphrodite, made by him for the island of Cnidus. She was the first in Greek art to depict a naked goddess. The beautiful Phryne, the famous hetaira, the beloved of Praxiteles, served as a model for the statue of Aphrodite. This girl was accused of blasphemy, and then acquitted by the judges admiring her beauty. Praxiteles is a singer of feminine beauty, which was revered by the Greeks. Unfortunately, Aphrodite of Cnidus is known to us only from copies.

Leohar

Leochares is an Athenian master, the greatest of Praxiteles' contemporaries. This sculptor, working in various Hellenic cities, created mythological scenes and images of the gods. He made several portrait statues in the chryso-elephantine technique, depicting members of the king's family. After that he became the court master of Alexander the Great, his son. At this time, Leochares created the statue of Apollo, which was very popular in antiquity. It was preserved in a marble copy made by the Romans and became world famous under the name of Apollo Belvedere. Leochares demonstrates virtuoso technique in all his creations.

After the reign of Alexander the Great, the era of Hellenism became a period of rapid flowering of portraiture. Statues of various orators, poets, philosophers, military leaders, statesmen were erected on city squares. The masters wanted to achieve an external resemblance and at the same time emphasize in the appearance the features that turn a portrait into a typical image.

Other sculptors and their creations

Classical sculptures became examples of various creations of masters who worked in the Hellenistic era. Gigantomania is clearly visible in the works of that time, that is, the desire to embody the desired image in a huge statue. It manifests itself especially often when ancient Greek sculptures of gods are created. The statue of the god Helios is a prime example of this. It was made of gilded bronze and stood at the entrance of the Rhodes harbor. The height of the sculpture is 32 meters. He worked on it for 12 years, tirelessly, Hares, a student of Lysippos. This work of art has taken its rightful place in the list of wonders of the world.

After the capture of Ancient Greece by the Roman conquerors, many statues were taken outside this country. Not only sculptures, but also masterpieces of painting, collections of the imperial libraries and other cultural objects suffered this fate. Many people working in the field of education and science were captured. Into culture Ancient rome, thus, intertwined, having a significant impact on its development, various elements of the Greek.

Conclusion

Of course, different periods developments that Ancient Greece experienced, made adjustments to the process of sculpture formation, but one thing united masters belonging to different eras - the desire to comprehend spatiality in the art, love of expression with the help of various plastic techniques of the human body. The ancient Greek sculpture, the photo of which is presented above, unfortunately, has only partially survived to this day. Marble was often used as a material for figures, despite its fragility. This was the only way to convey the beauty and grace of the human body. Bronze, although it was a more reliable and noble material, was used much less often.

Ancient Greek sculpture and painting are original and interesting. Various examples of art give an idea of the spiritual life of this country.

Ancient Greece was one of the greatest states in the world. During its existence and on its territory, the foundations were laid European art... The surviving cultural monuments of that period testify to the highest achievements of the Greeks in the field of architecture, philosophical thought, poetry and, of course, sculpture. There are few originals left: time does not spare even the most unique creations... We know much about the skill for which the ancient sculptors were famous thanks to written sources and later Roman copies. However, this information is enough to understand the significance of the contribution of the inhabitants of the Peloponnese to world culture.

Periods

The sculptors of Ancient Greece were not always great creators. The heyday of their skills was preceded by the archaic period (VII-VI centuries BC). Sculptures of that time that have come down to us are distinguished by their symmetry and static character. They lack that vitality and hidden inner movement that makes the statues look like frozen people. All the beauty of these early works expressed through the face. It is no longer as static as the body: a smile radiates a sense of joy and serenity, giving a special sound to the entire sculpture.

After the completion of the archaic, the most fruitful time follows, in which the ancient sculptors of Ancient Greece created their most famous works... It is divided into several periods:

early classics - early 5th century BC NS.;
high classics - V century BC NS.;
late classic - 4th century BC NS.;
Hellenism - late 4th century BC NS. - I century. n. NS.

Transition time

The early classics are the period when the sculptors of Ancient Greece began to move away from static in the position of the body, to look for new ways to express their ideas. The proportions are filled with natural beauty, the poses become more dynamic and the faces are expressive.

The sculptor of Ancient Greece Myron worked during this period. In written sources, he is characterized as a master of conveying the anatomically correct structure of the body, capable of capturing reality with high accuracy. Miron's contemporaries also pointed out his shortcomings: in their opinion, the sculptor did not know how to add beauty and liveliness to the faces of his creations.

The master's statues embody heroes, gods and animals. However, the greatest preference was given to the sculptor of Ancient Greece, Myron, to the image of athletes during their achievements in competitions. The famous "Discobolus" is his creation. The sculpture has not survived to this day in the original, but there are several copies of it. "Discobolt" depicts an athlete preparing to fire his projectile. The body of the athlete is superbly executed: tense muscles indicate the severity of the disc, the twisted body resembles a spring ready to unfold. It seems that another second, and the athlete will throw the projectile.

The statues "Athena" and "Marsyas", which also came down to us only in the form of later copies, are also considered to be magnificently executed by Myron.

Flourishing

Outstanding sculptors of Ancient Greece worked throughout the entire period of high classics. At this time, the masters of creating reliefs and statues comprehend both the methods of transferring movement, and the foundations of harmony and proportions. High classics - the period of the formation of those foundations of Greek sculpture, which later became the standard for many generations of masters, including for the creators of the Renaissance.

At this time, the sculptor of Ancient Greece Polycletus and the brilliant Phidias were working. Both of them made people admire themselves during their lifetime and have not been forgotten for centuries.

Peace and harmony

Polycletus worked in the second half of the 5th century. BC NS. He is known as a master of sculptures depicting athletes at rest. Unlike "Discoball" by Miron, his athletes are not tense, but relaxed, but at the same time, the viewer does not have doubts about their power and capabilities.

Polycletus was the first to use a special position of the body: his heroes often leaned on a pedestal with only one foot. This posture created the feeling of natural relaxation inherent in a resting person.

Canon

The most famous sculpture of Polycletus is considered "Dorifor", or "Spear-bearer". The work is also called the canon of the master, since it embodies some of the provisions of Pythagoreanism and is an example of a special way of staging a figure, counterpost. The composition is based on the principle of cross unevenness of body movement: the left side (the hand holding the spear and the leg laid back) is relaxed, but at the same time in motion, as opposed to the tense and static right side (the supporting leg and the arm extended along the body).

Then Polycletus used a similar technique in many of his works. Its main principles are set forth in a treatise on aesthetics that has not come down to us, written by the sculptor and named "Canon" by him. A fairly large place in it was given by Polycletus to the principle which he also successfully applied in his works, when this principle did not contradict the natural parameters of the body.

Recognized genius

All the ancient sculptors of Ancient Greece of the High Classical period left behind admirable creations. However, the most outstanding among them was Phidias, who is rightfully considered the founder of European art. Unfortunately, most of the master's works have survived to this day only as copies or descriptions on the pages of treatises by ancient authors.

Phidias worked on the decoration of the Athenian Parthenon. Today, the idea of the sculptor's skill can be summed up by the preserved marble relief, 1.6 m long. It depicts numerous pilgrims heading to the rest of the Parthenon decorations were killed. The same fate befell the statue of Athena, installed here and created by Phidias. The goddess, made of ivory and gold, symbolized the city itself, its power and greatness.

Wonder of the world

Other outstanding sculptors of Ancient Greece, perhaps, were not much inferior to Phidias, but none of them could boast of creating a wonder of the world. Olympic was made by a master for the city where the famous Games were held. The height of the Thunderer, sitting on a golden throne, was striking (14 meters). Despite such power, God did not look formidable: Phidias created a calm, majestic and solemn Zeus, somewhat strict, but at the same time kind. Before its death, the statue attracted many pilgrims seeking consolation for nine centuries.

Late classic

With the end of the V century. BC NS. the sculptors of Ancient Greece have not dried up. The names Skopas, Praxiteles and Lysippos are known to everyone who is interested in ancient art. They worked in the next period, called the late classics. The works of these masters develop and complement the achievements of the previous era. Each in their own way, they transform the sculpture, enriching it with new plots, ways of working with material and options for conveying emotions.

Simmering passions

Scopas can be called an innovator for several reasons. The great sculptors of Ancient Greece who preceded him preferred to use bronze as a material. Skopas created his creations mainly from marble. Instead of the traditional tranquility and harmony that filled their works of Ancient Greece, the master chose expression. His creations are full of passions and experiences, they are more like real people than the imperturbable gods.

The most famous work of Scopas is the frieze of the mausoleum in Halicarnassus. It depicts Amazonomachy - the struggle of heroes Greek myths with warlike Amazons. The main features of the style inherent in the master are clearly visible in the surviving fragments of this creation.

Smoothness

Another sculptor of this period, Praxiteles, is considered the best Greek master in terms of conveying the grace of the body and inner spirituality. One of his outstanding works - Aphrodite of Cnidus - was recognized by the master's contemporaries as the best creation ever created. goddess became the first monumental depiction of a nude female body... The original has not reached us.

The peculiarities of Praxiteles' style are fully visible in the statue of Hermes. The master managed to create a somewhat dreamy mood, literally enveloping the sculpture, with a special staging of the naked body, the smoothness of the lines and the softness of the half-tones of marble.

Attention to detail

At the end of the late classical era, another famous Greek sculptor, Lysippos, was working. His creations were distinguished by a special naturalism, careful study of details, a certain elongation of proportions. Lysippos strove to create statues full of grace and elegance. He honed his skill by studying the canon of Polycletus. Contemporaries noted that the works of Lysippos, in contrast to "Dorifor", gave the impression of being more compact and balanced. According to legend, the master was the favorite creator of Alexander the Great.

Influence of the East

A new stage in the development of sculpture begins at the end of the 4th century. BC NS. The border between the two periods is considered to be the time of the conquests of Alexander the Great. From them actually begins the era of Hellenism, which was a combination of the art of Ancient Greece and Eastern countries.

The sculptures of this period are based on the achievements of the masters of previous centuries. Hellenistic art has given the world such works as Venus de Milo. At the same time, the famous reliefs of the Pergamon altar appeared. In some works of late Hellenism, there is a noticeable appeal to everyday subjects and details. The culture of Ancient Greece of this time had a strong influence on the formation of the art of the Roman Empire.

Finally

The importance of antiquity as a source of spiritual and aesthetic ideals cannot be overestimated. Ancient sculptors in Ancient Greece laid not only the foundations of their own craft, but also the standards for understanding the beauty of the human body. They were able to solve the problem of depicting movement by changing the posture and shifting the center of gravity. The ancient sculptors of Ancient Greece learned to convey emotions and feelings with the help of processed stone, to create not just statues, but practically living figures, ready to move at any moment, breathe, smile. All these achievements will form the basis for the flourishing of culture during the Renaissance.

Outstanding sculptors of the 5th-4th centuries BC.

First.

The sculptural image through the eyes of the Greeks

A feature of the sculptural heritage of Ancient Greece.

Time has turned especially inexorably towards the works of Greek sculpture. The only authentic Greek bronze statue has survived. classical era – Delphic charioteer(c. 470 BC ., Museum in Delphi ) (ill. 96) and the only marble statue of the same era - Hermes with the baby Dionysus Praxiteles (Museum in Olympia) (ill. 97). The original bronze sculptures disappeared already at the end of antiquity (cast on coins, bells, and later weapons). The marble statues were calcined. Almost all Greek products made of wood, ivory, gold and silver perished. Therefore, we can judge the creations of the great masters, firstly, by the later copies, and secondly, presented in a different material than the one in which they were conceived.

The sculptural image for the Greeks was not just a certain volume of marble or bronze, in which one could easily recognize a man, woman, youth, etc. All the artistic thinking of the Greeks was permeated by the desire to identify in sculpture and architecture some general laws proportions and harmony, the pursuit of intelligent beauty.

For representatives of the philosophical school founded by Pythagoras, nature is mimesis- imitation of harmonic number systems, pre-sent to the world of people. In turn, art itself, to a certain extent, is a mimesis of nature, that is, imitation both in the sense of imitating its visible shell or particular phenomena, and in the sense of revealing its harmonious structure. That is, the statue was also mimesis at the same time: it, following nature, expressed the hidden harmony of dimensional numerical ratios in it, revealed rationality, structure, inherent in the Cosmos and nature, etc. Therefore, for the Greek, the statue not only reproduced the visible shell of the image of a person, but also the harmony, rational dimensionality, beauty, and orderliness of the world embodied in it.

“... Sculptors, creating the gods with a chisel, explained the world. What is this explanation? This is the explanation of the gods by means of man. Indeed, no other form conveys more faithfully the invisible and irrefutable presence of a deity in the world than the body of a man and a woman ", the beauty of the human body with the impeccable perfection of all its parts, with its proportions - this is the most beautiful thing that people can offer the immortal gods, following the rule: the fairest to the gods.

The earliest monuments are the so-called xtana ( from the word hewn)- idols carved from wood .

One of the first surviving Greek statues - Hera of Samos, OK. mid 6th century BC. (Paris, Louvre).

The first the Athenian sculptor we know of was Antenor, carved marble statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who killed the tyrant Hipparchus in 514 BC, exhibited on the acropolis. The statues were taken away by the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars. In 477 BC. Critias and Nesiod re-created the sculptural group of tyrannicides (ill. 98).

Creation first flying figure attributed to the sculptor of the middle of the 6th century. BC. from the island of Chios Arkhermu... He sculpted a statue of the winged "Niki of Delos", personifying victory in battle and competition. Nika's feet did not touch the pedestal - the folds of the fluttering tunic played the role of a stand.

POLYCLETUS. He lived in the second half of the 5th century. BC. It was believed that he was the best at making statues of people. “... He was the Pythagoras of sculpture, seeking the divine mathematics of proportion and form. He believed that the dimensions of each part of a perfect body should be related in a given proportion to the dimensions of any other part of it, say, the index finger. " It is believed that in his theoretical work "Canon" ("Measure") Polycletus summarized the basic laws of the sculptural image of a person and developed the law of ideal proportional relationships of the human body. Having applied his theory in his own work (for example, in the statue "Dorifor" ("Spear-bearer") (ill. 99, 99-a), which enjoyed the greatest fame in antiquity), the sculptor created a new plastic language based on physical harmony, on the idea of the human figure as a perfect mechanism in which all parts are functionally interconnected.

The discovery of Polycletus in sculpture is the intersection of uneven body movement (more on this later).

Diadumen (Greek. crowned with victory band) (ill. 100).

MIRON. A native of Eleuthera (Boeotia), he lived in Athens. He created sculptures for the Athenian Acropolis, temples in Delphi and Olympia.

· About 470 he cast in bronze the most famous of all statues of athletes - the statue Discobola or Disc thrower(Therme Museum, copy) (ill. 101); “This is a complete miracle of the male physique: all those movements of muscles, tendons and bones that are involved in the action of the body are thoroughly examined here: legs ...”; Myron "... contemplated the athlete not before or after the competition, but in the moments of the struggle itself and carried out his plan in bronze so well that no other sculptor in history could surpass him, depicting the male body in action." Discus thrower- this is the first attempt to convey movement to a motionless statue: in the sculpture, Myron managed to capture a wave of his hand before throwing the disc, when all the weight of the body is directed to the right leg, and the left hand keeps the figure in balance. This technique made it possible to convey the movement of forms, which allows the viewer to trace the change of points of view.

Discus thrower- the only surviving (copy) work of the sculptor.

The ancients recognized that Phidias was the best in depicting the statues of the gods.

· Around 438, the artist's son Phidias created the famous statue of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). On a 1.5-meter marble pedestal in the Temple of Athena City (Parthenon) on the Athenian Acropolis, there was an almost 12-meter statue of the goddess of wisdom and chastity (ill. 95). Phidias was one of the first sculptors to adopt the 5th century innovation. BC, - a pedestal with a relief image (scene of the birth of Pandora). Phidias showed great courage, choosing not a mythological subject for the 160-meter sculptural frieze of the temple, but an image of a Panathenian procession (where the Athenian people themselves act as an equal partner of the gods who occupied the central part of the composition). Under the direction of Phidias and partly by himself, the sculptural decor was made. The sculpture was also placed on the pediments, along the frieze of the outer wall of the interior.

Accused by his enemies, the Athenians, of theft, Phidias was convicted, but the inhabitants of Olympia made a deposit for the master on the condition that he would create a statue of Zeus for the temple of the same name in the famous sanctuary. This is how the 18-meter statue of the seated god of thunder appeared. In the list of "wonders of the world", compiled in the 2nd century. BC. Antipator of Sidon, the statue of Olympian Zeus was given the second place. This outstanding monument was mentioned by over sixty (!) Ancient writers. The Greek philosopher Epictetus advised everyone to go to Olympia to see the statue of Zeus, since he called it a real misfortune to die and not see it. The famous Roman orator Quintilian wrote more than five centuries later: "The beauty of the statue even brought something into the mainstream religion, for the greatness of creation was worthy of God."

It is believed that the statue of Olympian Zeus was repeated by an anonymous Roman sculptor, creating a statue of Jupiter, now kept in the Hermitage (ill. 102).

There is no exact information about the fate of Phidias.

PRXITER.

OK. 390-330 BC BC. The sculptor's son, the Ionian Praxitel, worked both with marble and bronze, so much so that more than ten cities competed for the master's orders.

The first ancient Greek naked the statue of the goddess - "Aphrodite of Cnidus" (ill. 103) flocked to see the Hellenes from different parts of the Mediterranean. It was rumored that, looking at the canon of female beauty that had already become at that time, men fell into "love madness." "... Above all the works of not only Praxiteles, but generally existing in the universe is the Venus of his work ..." - wrote the Roman Pliny the Elder almost four centuries later.

· About the second, most famous statue - "Hermes with the Child Dionysus"(ill. 97) - it was already said at the very beginning of the question. According to the myth, by order of the jealous Hera, the titans dragged the illegitimate baby of Zeus's son Dionysus and tore him to pieces. Dionysus Rhea's grandmother brought her grandson back to life. To save his son, Zeus asked Hermes to temporarily turn Dionysus into a kid or a lamb and transfer him to the upbringing of five nymphs. The sculptor depicted Hermes at the moment when he, heading towards the nymphs, stopped, leaning against a tree, and offered a bunch of grapes to baby Dionysus (the statue's hand was lost). The baby was settled in a cave on Mount Nisa, and it was there that Dionysus invented wine.

We especially note that the students of Praxiteles worthily continued the work of their teacher (ill. 107).

Having started as a simple coppersmith in Sikyon, he ended up as a court sculptor of Alexander the Great. As believed in antiquity, the author of one and a half thousand statues. He established a new canon of sculptural proportions of figures by introducing light elongated proportions, reducing the size of the head. Lysippos used to say that former artists “... depict people as they are, and he as they appear<глазу>».

· "Apoxyomenus" ("Cleansing") (ill. 108) - a young man scrapes off oil and sand from himself after physical exercises.

Other world famous sculptures and statuary groups

· Venus de Milo(ill. 109). The epithet "Milo" is associated with the fact that the statue was found on the Milo island in 1820. The statue itself, more than two meters high, dates back to the end of the 2nd century. BC, is a "remake" of the statue of Praxiteles.

· Nika of Samothrace(ill. 110). Found in the 19th century. on the island of Samothrace. The statue dates back to the period around 190 BC, when the Greeks from the island of Rhodes won a series of victories over Antiochus III.

· "Laocoon"(ill. 111).

At the turn of the 2nd century. BC. three sculptors - Agesander and his sons Polydor and Athenodorus - sculpted "from a single stone" a group of statues, which in ancient times was considered "a work that should be preferred to all works of painting and sculpture in copper."

The plot of "The Death of Laocoon and His Sons" is connected with the most famous episode of the Trojan War. As you know, the Greeks, in order to penetrate the city they were besieging, built a huge hollow wooden horse, into which several tens of soldiers climbed. A spy, taught by Odysseus, was sent to Troy, who turned to King Priam in the form of a prediction: “... If you despise this sacred statue, Athena will destroy you, but if the statue is in Troy, then you will be able to unite all the forces of Asia, invade Greece and conquer Mycenae ". “This is all a lie! Odysseus invented all this, ”cried Laocoon, priest of Poseidon's temple. God Apollo (who was angry with Laocoon, that he, contrary to his oath, married and had children), to warn Troy of the sad fate awaiting her, sent two huge sea serpents, which first strangled the twin sons of Laocoon, and then, when he hurried to their aid, himself. This terrible sign convinced the Trojans that the Greek spy was telling the truth, and the king of Troy mistakenly decided that Laocoon was punished for driving a spear into a wooden horse. The horse was dedicated to Athena, and the Trojans began to feast, celebrating victory. Further, it is known: at midnight, at the signal lights, the Greeks got out of the horse and killed the sleepy guards of the fortress and palace of Troy.

In addition to the art of composition and technical perfection, new was the embodiment of the tastes of a new era - Hellenism: the old man, children, painful struggle, death moans ...

When "Laocoon" was found in the ruins of the baths of the emperor Titus in Rome in 1506, Michelangelo said that it was the best statue in the world and, shocked, unsuccessfully tried ... to restore the battered right arm of the central figure. Lorenzo Bernini was a success.

On the subject of Laookon, he created a painting by El Greco. Winckelmann, Lessing, Goethe.

· Farnese bull(ill. 112, 113, 114, 115). Around 150 BC in the city of Trally, in Caria, the sculptor brothers Apollonius and Tavrisk cast a bronze group for the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, which is now known as Farnese bull(it was found in the baths of Caracalla in Rome, restored by Michelangelo himself and kept for some time at the Farnese palace). According to one version of the myth, Antiope, the daughter of King Nikteus of Thebes, became pregnant by Zeus and fled from her father's wrath to the king of Sikion, who married her, which caused a war between the two cities. The Thebans won, and Antiope's own uncle brought Antiope back home. There she gave birth to two twins, who were immediately taken away from her by the aforementioned uncle. In Thebes, she became a slave to her aunt Dirka, who mistreated her. Antiope, unable to withstand imprisonment, managed to escape and meet her grown-up sons, who severely punished Dirka: they tied her to the horns of a wild bull, which immediately dealt with her - under the approving eye of a satisfied Antiope. The work is distinguished by virtuosity in conveying various angles and accuracy of the anatomical structure of figures.

· The Colossus of Rhodes.

This was the name of the statue of the god Helios on the island of Rhodes. The son of one of the generals of the Macedonian Antigonus, Demetrius, besieged Rhodes, using 7-storey battle towers, but was forced to retreat, abandoning all military equipment. According to the story of Pliny the Elder, the inhabitants of the island received funds from its sale, which they used to erect near the harbor around 280 BC. the largest statue of the ancient world - the 36-meter sun god Helios, the architect Hares, a disciple of Lysippos. The Rhodians revered Helios as the patron saint of the island, raised by the gods from the bottom of the sea, and the capital of Rhodes was his sacred city. Philo of Byzantine reported that 13 tons of bronze and almost 8 tons of iron were used to create the statue. According to the research of the English scientist and sculptor Marion, the statue was not cast. It was based on three massive pillars, set on rectangular stone slabs and fastened with strips of iron; from the pillars, iron bars diverged in all directions, to the outer ends of which an iron contour was attached - they girded the stone pillars at equal distances, turning them into a frame. The statue has been constructed piece by piece from a clay model for over ten years. According to the reconstruction, on the head of Helios there was a crown in the form of sunbeams, the right hand was attached to the forehead, and the left held a cloak that fell to the ground and served as a fulcrum. The colossus collapsed during the earthquake of 227 (222) BC, and its fragments lay for more than eight centuries, until the Arabs loaded them onto 900 (!) Camels and took the "building material" for sale.

Atlanta- male statues supporting the floors of buildings attached to the wall. According to myths, the Greek titan, the brother of Prometheus, was supposed to keep the sky on the extreme western edge of the Earth as punishment for his participation in the struggle of the titans against the gods.

Caryatid- a sculptural image of a standing female figure. If on the head of the statue there is a basket of flowers or fruits, then it was called canefora(from lat. carrier basket). The origin of the word "caryatid" is derived either from the caryatids - priestesses of the temple of Artemis in Caria (also called the mother moon Artemis Caria).

There were also funerary statues (ill. 68-c, 68-d).

The origins and reasons for the features of Greek sculpture

Material and processing

The use of ivory for artwork is a long tradition in the Greek world. In the period of the classics, the technique of combining gold and ivory appeared. - chrysoelephantine... In it, in particular, were made the statues of Phidias - Athena in the Parthenon (ill. 128) and Zeus in Olympia. The foundations of the statue of Athena, for example, are carved from hard wood, most of the surface was covered with gold, the parts that reproduce the naked body, and the aegis were ivory plates. Scaly plates (about 1.5 mm thick) were attached to the wooden base, which could be removed. Ivory, like gold, was attached to wooden scales. All separate parts of the sculpture - its head, shield, snake, spear, helmet - were created separately and attached to the base of the statue, which had been placed earlier and fixed on a wooden pedestal sunk in a stone pedestal (ill. 95).

From the 7th century BC the Greeks already used marble (ill. 130). Sculptors often strove for free postures and movements, but they were objectively unattainable in a single piece of marble. Therefore, statues made up of several pieces are often found. The body of the famous Venus de Milo (ill. 75) was carved out of marble from the island of Paros, the dressed part was made of a different type of stone, the hands were made of separate pieces, fastened with metal clips.

Stone processing system.

In the archaic period, the stone block was first given a tetrahedral shape, on its planes the sculptor drew a projection of the future statue. Then he began to carve simultaneously on four sides, in vertical and flat layers. This had two consequences. Firstly, the statues were distinguished by a completely motionless, straight posture, without the slightest rotation around their vertical axis. Secondly, in almost all archaic statues, a smile illuminates the face, completely independent of the situation that the statue depicts (ill. 131, 132). It's because method treating the face as a plane at right angles to the other two planes of the head led to the fact that the facial features (mouth, cutout of the eyes, eyebrows) were rounded not in depth, but upward.

The construction of an archaic figure is largely due to the method of work of the sculptor - the preliminary preparation of a rectangular block of stone - this did not make it possible to depict the figure, for example, with raised arms.

Bronze sculpture.

In a bronze statue, eyes were inlaid with glassy paste and colored stone, and hair or jewelry was made of a bronze alloy of a different shade, the lips were often gilded or lined with gold plates.

Earlier, at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC, due to the need to save bronze, the technique of making statues spread in Greece, when wooden figures were upholstered with nails with bronze sheets. A similar technique was known in the East, only gold was used instead of bronze.

Polychromy.

The Greeks painted the exposed parts of the sculptures in flesh color, clothes in red and blue, weapons in gold. The eyes were painted on marble.

The role of plastic composition.

The Greeks generally preferred not very high pedestals. In the 5th century. BC. its height usually did not exceed the level of the chest of an average person. In the next century, pedestals most often had a stepped shape, composed of several horizontal slabs.

The sculptor, at the very beginning of his work, had to take into account the point of view from which the statue would be perceived, the optical relationship between the statue and the viewer. So, the masters accurately calculated the optical effect of the statues placed on the pediment. On the Parthenon, they shortened the lower part of the figures at the seated statues and lengthened the upper part of the body. If the figure was in a sharp tilt, then its arms and legs were shortened or lengthened, depending on the position of the figure.

Motives of movement in sculpture

Polyclet is considered to be the inventor of another type of movement. The essence "spatial movement" in that it means movement in space, but without a visible goal, without a specific thematic motive. But all members of the body function, rush either forward or around their axis.

The Greek sculptor sought to "depict" movement. In gestures, gait, muscle tension, he showed functions movement.

Greek sculpture embodies the harmony between human will and the body, Gothic embodies the emotional energy of a person, Michelangelo's sculpture is characterized by the struggle between will and feeling. Greek sculpture often avoids excessive physical stress, and if it uses it, it is always straightforward and one-sided. Michelangelo, on the other hand, strains his muscles to the maximum, moreover, in different, sometimes opposite directions. Hence, the genius of the Renaissance has a favorite spiral, rotational movement, perceived as a deep psychological conflict.

Learn more about the evolution of the types of movement.

The search for the dynamics begins at the feet of the statue. The first sign of movement is the left leg extended forward. It rests firmly on the ground with its entire sole. The movement is recorded only on the skeleton and on the limbs. But during all the archaics, the torso remains motionless. The arms and legs act on the same side of the body, right or left.

In the classical era Polyclet solves the problem of cross traffic. Its essence is in the new balance of the body. Its weight rests on one leg, the other is free of support functions. The sculptor pulls the free leg back, the leg touches the ground only with the tips of the toes. As a result, the right and left sides of the body in the knees and hips are at different heights, but to maintain balance, the bodies are in the opposite relationship: if the right knee is higher than the left, then the right shoulder is lower than the left. The mobile balance of symmetrical body parts became a favorite motif of ancient art (ill. 135).

Have Miron in "Discobolus" all the weight of the body falls on the right leg, the left barely touches the ground.

The plastic expressiveness of classical sculpture.

In the era of Hellenism, a striving for maximum expressiveness, for energetic protrusions and depressions of form, was manifested. This is how the muscles of the athlete Hercules appeared (ill. 136).

The dynamics of the torso is enhanced. It begins to curve to the right and left. V Apoxyomain Lysippos (ill. 82), the relationship between the supported and free elements is almost imperceptible. This is how a new phenomenon arose - an absolutely round statue that required walking around. Finally, let us point out a characteristic feature of Greek sculpture - the predominance of movement from the center outward, towards the outer goal.

Greek sculptors individualize for the first time sitting statue. The basis of the qualitative change is that the statue sits in a completely different way. The impression of an individual posture is the creation of a variant when a person sits on the tip of the seat not with his whole body and not all over the seat. A relaxed and free posture was created when the seat fell below the knee of the seated person. A wealth of contrasts arose - arms crossed, leg crossed, the body of the seated person turns and bends.

Clothing and drapery.

One of the main purposes of drapery in sculpture is the functional purpose of clothing (that is, its relation to the human body). In Greek sculpture, this purpose found its most striking embodiment. In the classical era, the contradiction between clothing and body turned into a harmonious interaction. Clothing with the rhythm of its folds repeated, emphasized, supplemented, and sometimes changed the shapes and movements of the body (ill. 136-a).

The classical style has developed the basic principle of drapery. Long, straight, vertical folds emphasize and at the same time hide the leaning leg, the free leg is modeled through the clothes with light folds. In the middle of the 5th century. BC. sculptors also solved such a problem - showing the body through the clothes in all its bends.

The main principle of Hellenic drapery is that long, straight, vertical folds emphasize and at the same time hide the leaning leg, the free leg is modeled through the clothes with light folds.

Sculptural (statuary) group. If the meaning of the composition is revealed only from one point of view, the statues are isolated from one another, independent, they can be moved away from each other, put on separate pedestals, so that in the end they will exist independently of each other, then such a composition cannot be called genuine statutory group. In Greece, in the era of the classical style, the sculptural group reaches the stage of the embodiment of human relations between figures, common action and common experience.

The problem of light in sculpture.

Light in sculpture (as in architecture) affects not so much the form itself, but the impression that the eye receives from the form. The relationship between light and plastic form determines the surface finish. Secondly, when staging a sculpture, the artist must reckon with a specific light source. Materials with a rough and opaque surface (wood, partly limestone) require direct light (it gives the forms a clear and definite character). Transparent light is characteristic of marble. The main effect of Praxiteles' sculptures is based on the contrast of direct and transparent light.

Sculptural portrait

The sculpture of the archaic period, following the Egyptian rule of frontality, was sacred, sculptures of contemporaries were allowed in those cases when they were consecrated either by death or victory in sports. The statue in honor of the Olympic winner did not depict a specific champion, but what he is would like to be. Delphic charioteer, for example, this is an ideal, not a specific portrait of a winner in a competition.

The grave bas-relief depicted simply person.

The reason for this is that the harmonious development of the bodily and spiritual was perceived by the Greeks as a condition for achieving both aesthetic harmony and civic and heroic full value of a person. Therefore, the ancients thought it was completely natural for the statues of athletes to embody, for example, not the individual traits of a particular personality, but the essential, typical, valuable and universal qualities of a perfect person (or each person): strength, dexterity, energy, proportionate beauty of the body, etc. Individually unique was perceived as an accidental deviation from the norms. Therefore, not only Greek, but all ancient art was free from the private, especially in the images of the legendary heroes in the gods.

The main types of depiction of a person of the archaic era were two: a stern youthful nude athletic figure with clenched fists - kouros(ill. 139, 140, 141) and a modestly dressed woman, with one hand picking up the folds of her dress, with the other offering the gods a gift - bark(ill. 142, 143). So both ordinary mortals and gods could be portrayed. In modern times, the kouros were often called "Apollo"; it is now believed that these were images of athletes or tombstones. The slightly extended left leg of the kouros indicates Egyptian influence. Bark ( greek... girl) is a modern designation of female figures of the archaic era. These sculptures served as a vowed gift brought to the sanctuary. Unlike the kouros, the core figures were draped.

In the first half of the 5th century. BC. a certain type of face has developed: a rounded oval, a straight nose bridge, a straight line of the forehead and nose, a smooth arch of the eyebrows protruding above the almond-shaped eyes, rather plump lips, no smile. The hair was interpreted as soft wavy strands that outline the shape of the skull ("Delphic charioteer").

Brother Lysippos Lysistratus was the first to sculpt faces with portrait likeness, for this he even removed plaster casts from living faces.

In the second half of the 5th century. BC. Polycletus developed the law of ideal proportional components of the human body. In sculpture, all the proportions of the human body were calculated to the smallest detail. The hand is 1/10 of the growth, the head is 1/8, the foot and head with the neck are 1/6, the arm is ¼ to the elbow. The forehead, nose and mouth with the chin are equal in height, from the crown to the eyes - the same as from the eyes to the end of the chin. The distance from the crown to the navel and from the navel to the heels are the same as the distance from the navel to the heels to full height - 38:62 - "golden ratio".

Roman statues cannot be confused with Greek ones. The Roman people have all their strength in the face, and the body is just a stand under it; when it was necessary to replace the statue of the emperor, they could remove the old head and attach a new one. In Greek, every detail in the body responds to facial expressions.

But the mimicry of classical sculpture was generalized and vague. Archaeologists, for example, sometimes made mistakes when trying to determine their gender from the heads of statues. In the portrait of Pericles, the sculptor Kresilai limited himself to the ideal, traditional structure of the head (disguising the upwardly tapering head of Pericles with a helmet) (ill. 144).

In the 5th century. BC. a portrait form appears - herm(145, 146, 147) - a tetrahedral pillar tapering downward, topped with a slightly stylized portrait. Sometimes the herm ended with two heads (philosophers, poets) - such herms were staged in libraries and private houses.

The Greek portrait, including full length, appears only in the second half of the 4th century. BC. Classical art embodied the character of a person and the properties of God not by facial expressions or facial expressions, but by posture, gait, and specific attributes.

In general, the dominant feature of the Greek portrait is the expression of will, the desire for action. But almost nothing can be said about the feelings or experiences of the people depicted. The portrait was aimed at citizens and posterity. The expression of a smile or self-forgetfulness was foreign to the Greek portrait. In Greece, there are practically no female portraits, most of all the masters portrayed scientists and artists.

On the iconography of divine and mythological beings.

V ancient times the idol was a simple stone or wooden post.

In wooden sacred xoanah, taller than human, motionless, with closed eyes and hands pressed to the sides, painted in White color or painted with cinnabar, the main joints of the human figure are already outlined. According to A. Bonnard, the primitive Greek, roughly carving images of the gods to worship them, nevertheless gave them a human appearance - this meant conjuring them, depriving them of their malefic power.

Then they began to highlight the upper part of the body, the lower one retained its original shape. This is how the early ones looked herms- idols dedicated to Hermes (ill. 147-a). They were placed in public places both for decoration and as boundary signs and marks to measure the distance between settlements.

Let's look at the example of the sculptures of Aphrodite (Roman Venus), what variations of the plastic embodiment of the image of the goddess (body, clothing, drapery, accents) took place. According to the myth, Aphrodite (lit. "Froth-born"), the goddess of love, beauty, eternal spring and life, marriages and heterosexuals, arose naked from the sea foam and reached the shore on a shell (ill. 148, 149).

Have Venus de Milo wasp waist incompatible with full body and steep hips. Venus Kalipiga ("Venus with Pretty Buttocks") and still attracts the audience, only this time in the Archaeological Museum of Naples ( ill . 150). Greek colonists admired for their classic proportions and features Aphrodite of Syracuse(ill. 151), and the Romans - Venus Belvedere(ill. 152) and Venus Capitoline(ill. 152-a).

... After about two millennia, one of the most significant works an outstanding sculptor Antonio Canova will become a sculptural image in full height Princess Paolina Borghese, sister of the Emperor Napoleon, in the form of the goddess Venus Vitrix (ill. 152-b). The incarnation of women in the image of Venus also took place in painting (ill. 152-c).

Silena, in mythology - a lover of music, dancing and later wine, they could be depicted with horse ears, tail and hooves, they could be a wise, friendly creature, or they could be lustful (ill. 153-a).

In the Hellenistic era, colossal statues of the gods appear. This was the colossus of Rhodes - the statue of the god Helios on the island of Rhodes (it was already mentioned earlier).

Relief, its types, style and classical type.

It is believed that the Greek relief originated from two sources: from a contour, silhouette drawing and from a round statue. The basic principle of the relief is that all its most convex parts are, if possible, on the original surface of the stone slab.

Two techniques contributed to the formation of the classical style in relief: the image of a human figure in three-quarters of a turn (as if combining the contrast of the profile and the face) and the optical contraction of the object in space (foreshortening).

Terrain types... In Greece, the classic type was created. Its characteristic features are as follows. The relief usually depicts only a person and strives to maintain the cleanliness of the front and rear planes. Rear surface- abstract background, smooth free plane. For the front (imaginary), it is characteristic: the figures are depicted in one plan, move past the viewer, all the convex parts of the figures are concentrated precisely on the front plane. Secondly, there is a desire of the masters to keep the heads of all figures at the same height (even when some figures are standing, others are sitting) and to avoid free space over their heads. Thirdly, there is no special framing, usually it is a lightly profiled base for the figures.

From the 4th century. BC. relief images are present on tombstones(ill. 154). The family tombs depicted scenes from the lives of the dead.

The task of filling the metopes with relief figures led to the requirement of pairing, which is why fights, especially people with centaurs or Amazons, became the favorite subjects of metope sculpture. Continuity was characteristic of the Ionic frieze, so a procession or meeting became a natural theme. And since the empty spaces between the heads would break the impression of continuity, there is isocephaly- the requirement to depict all heads at the same height.

There was also a votive (initiatory) relief in Greece (ill. 156).

One of the Homeric hymns mentions that Dionysus was born near the river Alphea, which flows in Olympia. The statue of Hermes was found relatively recently in the Olympic temple of Hera, in 1877.

In the same place. P. 221.

Durant V. Decree. op. P. 331.

In the same place. S. 332, 331.

The real misfortune was the decree (edict) of the ruler of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy, Theodoric, on the destruction of the temple of Zeus in Olympia.

Quintilian. Education of the speaker. XII, 10.7.

See: Sokolov G.I. Olympia. Moscow: Art, 1981.S. 147.

According to one version, around 360 BC. the city of Kos ordered Aphrodite to be sculpted from stone. But according to the execution of the statue, the inhabitants of Kos were outraged: the goddess was naked. Then the city of Cnidus bought the statue.

A Roman copy of Aphrodite of Cnidus is in the Vatican Museum.

Based on: Graves R. Myths of Ancient Greece. M .: Progress, 1992.S. 73-74.

Pliny the Elder. Natural science. XXXIV, 65.

In the same place. XXXVI, 37.

Based on: Graves R. Decree. op. S. 514-516.

World Art. Ancient Civilizations: Thematic Dictionary. M .: Kraft, 2004.S. 374.

Or from the legend that all the women of the Caria region in Asia Minor were sold into slavery during the war for the support of the Carians by the Persians - and the Caryatids became an image of that. See: R. Graves, Decree. op. P. 153.

For example, the statue of the god of sleep Hypnos.

Bonnard A. Greek civilization. P. 211.

Mademoiselle Lange, depicted in the painting, was an actress.

The second type of relief took place in the Hellenistic era. Free ("picturesque") relief is the negation of the background plane, the merging of figures with the background into one optical whole. This type is not associated with the norms of equal stock ( isocephaly), the background often depicts a landscape or architectural structures

Outstanding sculptors of the 5th-4th centuries BC.

The discovery of Polycletus in sculpture is the intersection of uneven body movement (more on this later).

Diadumen (Greek. crowned with victory band) (ill. 100).

MIRON. A native of Eleuthera (Boeotia), he lived in Athens. He created sculptures for the Athenian Acropolis, temples in Delphi and Olympia.

Discus thrower- the only surviving (copy) work of the sculptor.

The ancients recognized that Phidias was the best in depicting the statues of the gods.

· Around 438, the artist's son Phidias created the famous statue of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). On a 1.5-meter marble pedestal in the Temple of Athena City (Parthenon) on the Athenian Acropolis, there was an almost 12-meter statue of the goddess of wisdom and chastity (ill. 95). Phidias was one of the first sculptors to adopt the 5th century innovation. BC, - a pedestal with a relief image (scene of the birth of Pandora). Phidias showed great courage, choosing not a mythological subject for the 160-meter sculptural frieze of the temple, but an image of a Panathenian procession (where the Athenian people themselves act as an equal partner of the gods who occupied the central part of the composition). Under the direction of Phidias and partly by himself, the sculptural decor was made. The sculpture was also placed on the pediments, along the frieze of the outer wall of the interior.

Accused by his enemies, the Athenians, of theft, Phidias was convicted, but the inhabitants of Olympia made a deposit for the master on the condition that he would create a statue of Zeus for the temple of the same name in the famous sanctuary. This is how the 18-meter statue of the seated god of thunder appeared. In the list of "wonders of the world", compiled in the 2nd century. BC. Antipator of Sidon, the statue of Olympian Zeus was given the second place. This outstanding monument was mentioned by over sixty (!) Ancient writers. The Greek philosopher Epictetus advised everyone to go to Olympia to see the statue of Zeus, since he called it a real misfortune to die and not see it. The famous Roman orator Quintilian wrote more than five centuries later: "The beauty of the statue even brought something into the mainstream religion, for the greatness of creation was worthy of God."

It is believed that the statue of Olympian Zeus was repeated by an anonymous Roman sculptor, creating a statue of Jupiter, now kept in the Hermitage (ill. 102).

There is no exact information about the fate of Phidias.

PRXITER.

OK. 390-330 BC BC. The sculptor's son, the Ionian Praxitel, worked both with marble and bronze, so much so that more than ten cities competed for the master's orders.

We especially note that the students of Praxiteles worthily continued the work of their teacher (ill. 107).

· "Apoxyomenus" ("Cleansing") (ill. 108) - a young man scrapes off oil and sand from himself after physical exercises.

Other world famous sculptures and statuary groups

· "Laocoon"(ill. 111).

At the turn of the 2nd century. BC. three sculptors - Agesander and his sons Polydor and Athenodorus - sculpted "from a single stone" a group of statues, which in ancient times was considered "a work that should be preferred to all works of painting and sculpture in copper."

In addition to the art of composition and technical perfection, new was the embodiment of the tastes of a new era - Hellenism: the old man, children, painful struggle, death moans ...

When "Laocoon" was found in the ruins of the baths of the emperor Titus in Rome in 1506, Michelangelo said that it was the best statue in the world and, shocked, unsuccessfully tried ... to restore the battered right arm of the central figure. Lorenzo Bernini was a success.

On the subject of Laookon, he created a painting by El Greco. Winckelmann, Lessing, Goethe.

· The Colossus of Rhodes.

This was the name of the statue of the god Helios on the island of Rhodes. The son of one of the generals of the Macedonian Antigonus, Demetrius, besieged Rhodes, using 7-storey battle towers, but was forced to retreat, abandoning all military equipment. According to the story of Pliny the Elder, the inhabitants of the island received funds from its sale, which they used to erect near the harbor around 280 BC. the largest statue of the ancient world - the 36-meter sun god Helios, the architect Hares, a disciple of Lysippos. The Rhodians revered Helios as the patron saint of the island, raised by the gods from the bottom of the sea, and the capital of Rhodes was his sacred city. Philo of Byzantine reported that 13 tons of bronze and almost 8 tons of iron were used to create the statue. According to the research of the English scientist and sculptor Marion, the statue was not cast. It was based on three massive pillars, set on rectangular stone slabs and fastened with strips of iron; from the pillars, iron bars diverged in all directions, to the outer ends of which an iron contour was attached - they girded the stone pillars at equal distances, turning them into a frame. The statue has been constructed piece by piece from a clay model for over ten years. According to the reconstruction, on the head of Helios there was a crown in the form of sunbeams, the right hand was attached to the forehead, and the left held a cloak that fell to the ground and served as a fulcrum. The colossus collapsed during the earthquake of 227 (222) BC, and its fragments lay for more than eight centuries, until the Arabs loaded them onto 900 (!) Camels and took the "building material" for sale.

Atlanta- male statues supporting the floors of buildings attached to the wall. According to myths, the Greek titan, the brother of Prometheus, was supposed to keep the sky on the extreme western edge of the Earth as punishment for his participation in the struggle of the titans against the gods.

There were also funerary statues (ill. 68-c, 68-d).

The origins and reasons for the features of Greek sculpture

Material and processing

The use of ivory for artwork is a long tradition in the Greek world. In the period of the classics, the technique of combining gold and ivory appeared. - chrysoelephantine... In it, in particular, were made the statues of Phidias - Athena in the Parthenon (ill. 128) and Zeus in Olympia. The foundations of the statue of Athena, for example, are carved from hard wood, most of the surface was covered with gold, the parts that reproduce the naked body, and the aegis were ivory plates. Scaly plates (about 1.5 mm thick) were attached to the wooden base, which could be removed. Ivory, like gold, was attached to wooden scales. All separate parts of the sculpture - its head, shield, snake, spear, helmet - were created separately and attached to the base of the statue, which had been placed earlier and fixed on a wooden pedestal sunk in a stone pedestal (ill. 95).

From the 7th century BC the Greeks already used marble (ill. 130). Sculptors often strove for free postures and movements, but they were objectively unattainable in a single piece of marble. Therefore, statues made up of several pieces are often found. The body of the famous Venus de Milo (ill. 75) was carved out of marble from the island of Paros, the dressed part was made of a different type of stone, the hands were made of separate pieces, fastened with metal clips.

Stone processing system.

Bronze sculpture.

In a bronze statue, eyes were inlaid with glassy paste and colored stone, and hair or jewelry was made of a bronze alloy of a different shade, the lips were often gilded or lined with gold plates.

Polychromy.

The Greeks painted the exposed parts of the sculptures in flesh color, clothes in red and blue, weapons in gold. The eyes were painted on marble.

The role of plastic composition.

The sculptor, at the very beginning of his work, had to take into account the point of view from which the statue would be perceived, the optical relationship between the statue and the viewer. So, the masters accurately calculated the optical effect of the statues placed on the pediment. On the Parthenon, they shortened the lower part of the figures at the seated statues and lengthened the upper part of the body. If the figure was in a sharp tilt, then its arms and legs were shortened or lengthened, depending on the position of the figure.

Motives of movement in sculpture

The Greek sculptor sought to "depict" movement. In gestures, gait, muscle tension, he showed functions movement.

Greek sculpture embodies the harmony between human will and the body, Gothic embodies the emotional energy of a person, Michelangelo's sculpture is characterized by the struggle between will and feeling. Greek sculpture often avoids excessive physical stress, and if it uses it, it is always straightforward and one-sided. Michelangelo, on the other hand, strains his muscles to the maximum, moreover, in different, sometimes opposite directions. Hence, the genius of the Renaissance has a favorite spiral, rotational movement, perceived as a deep psychological conflict.

Learn more about the evolution of the types of movement.

The search for the dynamics begins at the feet of the statue. The first sign of movement is the left leg extended forward. It rests firmly on the ground with its entire sole. The movement is recorded only on the skeleton and on the limbs. But during all the archaics, the torso remains motionless. The arms and legs act on the same side of the body, right or left.

In the classical era Polyclet solves the problem of cross traffic. Its essence is in the new balance of the body. Its weight rests on one leg, the other is free of support functions. The sculptor pulls the free leg back, the leg touches the ground only with the tips of the toes. As a result, the right and left sides of the body in the knees and hips are at different heights, but to maintain balance, the bodies are in the opposite relationship: if the right knee is higher than the left, then the right shoulder is lower than the left. The mobile balance of symmetrical body parts became a favorite motif of ancient art (ill. 135).

Have Miron in "Discobolus" all the weight of the body falls on the right leg, the left barely touches the ground.

The plastic expressiveness of classical sculpture.

In the era of Hellenism, a striving for maximum expressiveness, for energetic protrusions and depressions of form, was manifested. This is how the muscles of the athlete Hercules appeared (ill. 136).

The dynamics of the torso is enhanced. It begins to curve to the right and left. V Apoxyomain Lysippos (ill. 82), the relationship between the supported and free elements is almost imperceptible. This is how a new phenomenon arose - an absolutely round statue that required walking around. Finally, let us point out a characteristic feature of Greek sculpture - the predominance of movement from the center outward, towards the outer goal.

Clothing and drapery.

The classical style has developed the basic principle of drapery. Long, straight, vertical folds emphasize and at the same time hide the leaning leg, the free leg is modeled through the clothes with light folds. In the middle of the 5th century. BC. sculptors also solved such a problem - showing the body through the clothes in all its bends.

The main principle of Hellenic drapery is that long, straight, vertical folds emphasize and at the same time hide the leaning leg, the free leg is modeled through the clothes with light folds.

Sculptural (statuary) group. If the meaning of the composition is revealed only from one point of view, the statues are isolated from one another, independent, they can be moved away from each other, put on separate pedestals, so that in the end they will exist independently of each other, then such a composition cannot be called genuine statutory group. In Greece, in the era of the classical style, the sculptural group reaches the stage of the embodiment of human relations between figures, common action and common experience.

The problem of light in sculpture.

Light in sculpture (as in architecture) affects not so much the form itself, but the impression that the eye receives from the form. The relationship between light and plastic form determines the surface finish. Secondly, when staging a sculpture, the artist must reckon with a specific light source. Materials with a rough and opaque surface (wood, partly limestone) require direct light (it gives the forms a clear and definite character). Transparent light is characteristic of marble. The main effect of Praxiteles' sculptures is based on the contrast of direct and transparent light.

Sculptural portrait

The grave bas-relief depicted simply person.

The reason for this is that the harmonious development of the bodily and spiritual was perceived by the Greeks as a condition for achieving both aesthetic harmony and civic and heroic full value of a person. Therefore, the ancients thought it was completely natural for the statues of athletes to embody, for example, not the individual traits of a particular personality, but the essential, typical, valuable and universal qualities of a perfect person (or each person): strength, dexterity, energy, proportionate beauty of the body, etc. Individually unique was perceived as an accidental deviation from the norms. Therefore, not only Greek, but all ancient art was free from the private, especially in the images of the legendary heroes in the gods.

The main types of depiction of a person of the archaic era were two: a stern youthful nude athletic figure with clenched fists - kouros(ill. 139, 140, 141) and a modestly dressed woman, with one hand picking up the folds of her dress, with the other offering the gods a gift - bark(ill. 142, 143). So both ordinary mortals and gods could be portrayed. In modern times, the kouros were often called "Apollo"; it is now believed that these were images of athletes or tombstones. The slightly extended left leg of the kouros indicates Egyptian influence. Bark ( greek... girl) is a modern designation of female figures of the archaic era. These sculptures served as a vowed gift brought to the sanctuary. Unlike the kouros, the core figures were draped.

Brother Lysippos Lysistratus was the first to sculpt faces with portrait likeness, for this he even removed plaster casts from living faces.

In the second half of the 5th century. BC. Polycletus developed the law of ideal proportional components of the human body. In sculpture, all the proportions of the human body were calculated to the smallest detail. The hand is 1/10 of the growth, the head is 1/8, the foot and head with the neck are 1/6, the arm is ¼ to the elbow. The forehead, nose and mouth with the chin are equal in height, from the crown to the eyes - the same as from the eyes to the end of the chin. The distance from the crown to the navel and from the navel to the heels are the same as the distance from the navel to the heels to full height - 38:62 - "golden ratio".

In general, the dominant feature of the Greek portrait is the expression of will, the desire for action. But almost nothing can be said about the feelings or experiences of the people depicted. The portrait was aimed at citizens and posterity. The expression of a smile or self-forgetfulness was foreign to the Greek portrait. In Greece, there are practically no portraits of women, most of all the masters portrayed scientists and artists.

On the iconography of divine and mythological beings.

In ancient times, an idol was a simple stone or wooden post.

In wooden sacred xoanakh, taller than human growth, motionless, with closed eyes and hands pressed to the sides, painted white or painted with cinnabar, the main joints of the human figure have already been outlined. According to A. Bonnard, the primitive Greek, roughly carving images of the gods to worship them, nevertheless gave them a human appearance - this meant conjuring them, depriving them of their malefic power.

Have Venus de Milo wasp waist is incompatible with full body and steep hips. Venus Kalipiga ("Venus with Pretty Buttocks") and still attracts the audience, only this time in the Archaeological Museum of Naples ( ill . 150). Greek colonists admired for their classic proportions and features Aphrodite of Syracuse(ill. 151), and the Romans - Venus Belvedere(ill. 152) and Venus Capitoline(ill. 152-a).

... After about two millennia, one of the most significant works of the outstanding sculptor Antonio Canova will be a full-length sculptural image of Princess Paolina Borghese, the sister of Emperor Napoleon, in the form of the goddess Vitrix Venus (ill. 152-b). The incarnation of women in the image of Venus also took place in painting (ill. 152-c).

In the Hellenistic era, colossal statues of the gods appear. This was the colossus of Rhodes - the statue of the god Helios on the island of Rhodes (it was already mentioned earlier).

Relief, its types, style and classical type.

Terrain types... In Greece, the classic type was created. Its characteristic features are as follows. The relief usually depicts only a person and strives to maintain the cleanliness of the front and rear planes. Back surface - abstract background, smooth free plane. For the front (imaginary), it is characteristic: the figures are depicted in one plan, move past the viewer, all the convex parts of the figures are concentrated precisely on the front plane. Secondly, there is a desire of the masters to keep the heads of all figures at the same height (even when some figures are standing, others are sitting) and to avoid free space above their heads. Thirdly, there is no special framing, usually it is a lightly profiled base for the figures.

From the 4th century. BC. relief images are present on tombstones (ill. 154). The family tombs depicted scenes from the lives of the dead.

There was also a votive (initiatory) relief in Greece (ill. 156).

One of the Homeric hymns mentions that Dionysus was born near the river Alphea, which flows in Olympia. The statue of Hermes was found relatively recently in the Olympic temple of Hera, in 1877.

In the same place. P. 221.

Durant V. Decree. op. P. 331.

In the same place. S. 332, 331.

The real misfortune was the decree (edict) of the ruler of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy, Theodoric, on the destruction of the temple of Zeus in Olympia.

Quintilian. Education of the speaker. XII, 10.7.

See: Sokolov G.I. Olympia. Moscow: Art, 1981.S. 147.

A Roman copy of Aphrodite of Cnidus is in the Vatican Museum.

Based on: Graves R. Myths of Ancient Greece. M .: Progress, 1992.S. 73-74.

Pliny the Elder. Natural science. XXXIV, 65.

In the same place. XXXVI, 37.

Based on: Graves R. Decree. op. S. 514-516.

World Art. Ancient Civilizations: Thematic Dictionary. M .: Kraft, 2004.S. 374.

For example, the statue of the god of sleep Hypnos.

Bonnard A. Greek civilization. P. 211.

Mademoiselle Lange, depicted in the painting, was an actress.

What works of ancient Greek sculpture do you remember who. Sculpture of ancient greece. The sculptural image through the eyes of the Greeks

Archaic period

Apollo of Shadow

Female figures

"Kuros from Piraeus"

Classic period

Features of sculptures of Pythagoras

Other sculptors of the classical period

Myron

Polyclet

Phidias

Statue of athena

Statue of Zeus

Hellenistic period

"Laocoon and his sons"

Three great sculptors

Scopas

Praxitel

Leohar

Other sculptors and their creations

Conclusion

Periods

Transition time

Flourishing

Peace and harmony

Canon

Recognized genius

Wonder of the world

Late classic

Simmering passions

Smoothness

Attention to detail

Influence of the East

Finally

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