Art and Architecture of the Ancient World

Paleolithic Period

• Venus of Willendorf (20,000 B.C.)*35– Found in Austria– Fertility symbol– Exaggeration of human form

• Lascaux Cave Paintings (15,000 B.C.)*cp8– Discovered by children in France– Stylized figures of animals– Expressive lines and subtle colors– Colors created by iron ore

Ancient Egypt• Art inspired by religion

– Images of gods• Pyramids—feats of engineering and artistry*• Sphinx sculptures

– Combine human and animal characteristics– Great Sphinx at Giza—King Khafre/lion*

• Post and lintel*– Two or more vertical columns supporting a horizontal beam

• Obelisk– Slender, tapered, square shaft surmounted by a pyramid

• Sculpture– Generalizations of human bodies and faces– Rigid poses– Mycerinus and his Queen (2599-1571 B.C.)*

Art Epochs of Ancient Greece

• Archaic Age (1000-800 B.C.)• Lyric Age (800-500 B.C.)– Lyric poetry flourished– Realism in art

• Golden Age (500-400 B.C.)– Major developments in drama, architecture,

sculpture, and music• Hellenistic Age (325-100 B.C.)– Decadent, dramatic art

Golden Age• Brought about by end of Persian War

– Wealth allowed for artistic patronage– Art offered as homage to the gods who granted their victory

• Pericles’ influence– Made Athens the cultural and artistic center – Construction of buildings on the Acropolis, including the

Parthenon*44, cp10• Athenian society

– Sought to live beautifully and happily– Master the world through knowledge and logic– Little interest in life after death; did not dwell on grief and suffering– Art commemorated the life of the dead

Sculpture• Images of physical perfection

– Statues of gods used proportions of the human form– Not modeled after real people

• Praxiteles– One of the foremost artists of the Golden Age– Hermes with the Infant Dionysus*52

• Closed form—a solid overall form, with little or no penetration into the surrounding space• All action centered toward middle• Child is reaching for something—grapes?

• Lysippus– Aphrodite*54

• Closed form• Classical proportions of body• Balanced

• Nike of Samothrace (200-1900 B.C.)*56– Hellenistic– Forward movement suggested by the position of the body and draping of the fabric

• Laocoon and His Two Sons 1st-2nd century A.D.)*57– Strangled by serpents sent by Athena—retalliation for his resisting the use of Trojan horse– Dynamic lines, expressive faces

Architecture*46

• Employed post and lintel construction• Stylobate

– Platform at the base of the structure• Column

– Vertical support for the roof• Entablature

– Horizontal structure above columns– Cornice– Freize– Architrave

• Pediment– Triangular space extending from cornice to roof

Columns*47

• Parts– Base– Shaft—some fluted, some not– Capital—top; decorative elements varied

• Doric– Associated with mainland Greece– No base– Fluted shaft– Capital is plain

• Ionic – Associated with Ionia– Slender fluted shaft– Capital features volutes—scroll-like pattern

• Corinthian– Associated with Corinth– Slender fluted shaft – Ornate capital features acanthus leaves