1.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
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regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
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Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
2.
Rein
–
Reins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding or driving. Reins can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, reins are used to give subtle commands or cues, also known as rein aids. Various commands may signal a turn, ask for a slower speed, rein aids are used along with leg aids, shifting of body weight, and sometimes voice commands. On some types of harnesses there might be supporting rings or terrets used to carry the reins over the animals back, the driver carries four-in-hand or six-in-hand being the number of reins connecting to the pairs. A single rein or rope may be attached to a halter to lead or guide a horse or packhorse. A long rein called a line may be used to allow the horse to move in a circle for training purposes. On certain designs of headgear, a third rein may be added to the reins, used for leading, longeing. The best-known example of a third used in the USA is the leading rein of the mecate of the classic bosal hackamore. Types of reins include, Closed reins, or loop reins, reins that are either a piece or that buckle together at the ends. English riders usually use closed reins, western riders in timed rodeo events use a single closed rein, as do those who use a romal. A closed rein helps prevent the rider from dropping the reins, double reins, The combined use of two pairs of reins, a curb rein and a snaffle rein. This is usually two single reins, though sometimes split reins may be seen on western-style bridles, double reins are used with a double bridle, with bits such as the Pelham bit and, less often, on some gag bits used for polo. Draw reins and running reins, long reins, usually made of leather or nylon webbing, that attach to the saddle or the girth, run through the bit rings, and back to the rider. Several design variations, they add mechanical advantage to the riders hands, often used in conjunction with a snaffle rein by English riders, usually used alone by western riders. Lead rein, A third rein used on bridles, not to be confused with the lead rope of a halter nor the direct rein aid known as the leading rein. In North America a third rein is most commonly seen as part of the mecate of a hackamore, in Mongolia it is integral to the bridle, and tied to either a bit ring or a chin strap. Long reins, longlines, or driving lines, exceptionally long reins which allow the rider to control the horse from a cart, or from the ground, with the handler walking behind the horse. Mecate, a style of rein seen on a bosal style hackamore made of a piece of rope that encompasses both a closed rein and a leading rope
Rein
–
Reins are used to slow and direct the animal
Rein
–
Reins attached to the rings or shanks of a bit
Rein
–
A mecate
Rein
–
Pure braided rawhide romal reins
3.
Statue
–
A statue is a sculpture representing one or more people or animals, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger. A small statue, usually enough to be picked up, is called a statuette or figurine. Statues have been produced in many cultures from prehistory to the present, the worlds tallest statue, Spring Temple Buddha, is 128 metres, and is located in Lushan County, Henan, China. Many statues are built on commission to commemorate a historical event, many statues are intended as public art, exhibited outdoors or in public buildings. Some statues gain fame in their own right, separate from the person or concept they represent, Ancient statues often survive showing the bare surface of the material of which they are made. For example, many people associate Greek classical art with white marble sculpture, most of the colour was weathered off over time, small remnants were removed during cleaning, in some cases small traces remained which could be identified. Richter goes so far as to say of classical Greek sculpture, All stone sculpture, whether limestone or marble, was painted, medieval statues were also usually painted, with some still retaining their original pigments. The colouring of statues ceased during the Renaissance, as excavated classical sculptures, the Löwenmensch figurine from the Swabian Alps in Germany is the oldest known statue in the world, and dates to 30, 000-40,000 years ago. The Venus of Hohle Fels, from the area, is somewhat later. Throughout history, statues have been associated with images in many religious traditions, from Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece. Egyptian statues showing kings as sphinxes have existed since the Old Kingdom, the oldest statue of a striding pharaoh dates from the reign of Senwosret I and is the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. The Middle Kingdom of Egypt witnessed the growth of block statues which then became the most popular form until the Ptolemaic period, the oldest statue of a deity in Rome was the bronze statue of Ceres in 485 BC. The oldest statue in Rome is now the statue of Diana on the Aventine, the wonders of the world include several statues from antiquity, with the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. While Byzantine art flourished in various forms, sculpture and statue making witnessed a general decline, an example was the statue of Justinian which stood in the square across from the Hagia Sophia until the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century. While making statues was not subject to a ban, it was hardly encouraged in this period. Starting with the work of Maillol around 1900, the human figures embodied in statues began to move away from the schools of realism that had held them bound for thousands of years. The Futurist and Cubist schools took this even further until statues, often still nominally representing humans, had lost all. By the 1920s and 1930s statues began to appear that were abstract in design
Statue
–
The Thinker, by
Rodin c. 1902, Bronze,
Copenhagen
Statue
–
Easter Island moai statues
Statue
–
Great Sphinx of Giza, c. 2558–2532 BC, the largest
monolith statue in the world, standing 73.5 metres (241 ft) long, 6 metres (20 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high.
Giza,
Egypt.
Statue
–
The
Charioteer of Delphi, 474 BC,
Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece
4.
Ancient Greece
–
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
Ancient Greece
–
The
Parthenon, a temple dedicated to
Athena, located on the
Acropolis in
Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.
Ancient Greece
–
Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period,
c. 750 BC.
Ancient Greece
–
Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods
5.
Bronze sculptures
–
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures, a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a bronze. It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs and it is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu. Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, then, as the bronze cools, it shrinks a little, making it easier to separate from the mould. Their strength and ductility is an advantage when figures in action are to be created and these qualities allow the creation of extended figures, as in Jeté, or figures that have small cross sections in their support, such as the equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart. As recently as 2007 several life sized bronze sculptures by John Waddell were stolen, there are many different bronze alloys, and the term is now tending to be regarded by museums as too imprecise, and replaced in descriptions by copper alloy, especially for older objects. Typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, alpha bronze consists of the alpha solid solution of tin in copper. Alpha bronze alloys of 4–5% tin are used to make coins, the proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The Benin Bronzes are really brass, and the Romanesque Baptismal font at St Bartholomews Church, Liège is described as both bronze and brass. In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were used, classic bronze, about 10% tin, was used in casting. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from bronze, while helmets. On one definition, modern statuary bronze is 90% copper and 10% tin, the great civilizations of the old world worked in bronze for art, from the time of the introduction of the alloy for edged weapons. Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro belonging to Harappan Civilization dating back to 2500 BCE is perhaps the first bronze statue of the world, the Greeks were the first to scale the figures up to life size. Few examples exist in good condition, one is the seawater-preserved bronze Victorious Youth that required painstaking efforts to bring it to its present state for museum display, far more Roman bronze statues have survived. Over the long period of Egyptian dynastic art, small lost-wax bronze figurines were made in large numbers. Sri Lankan Sinhalese Bronze statue of Buddhist Alakothiveshwara Tara Devi statue now in England is an example of Bronze statues. From the ninth through the century the Chola dynasty in South India represented the pinnacle of bronze casting in India. Making bronzes is highly skilled work, and a number of casting processes may be employed, including lost-wax casting, sand casting. The term bronze is also applied to metal sculptures made by electrotyping, although these sculptures are typically pure copper and their fabrication does not involve metal casting
Bronze sculptures
–
The
Victorious Youth (ca. 310 B.C.), is a rare, water-preserved bronze from ancient Greece. (
3D image available)
Bronze sculptures
–
Benin bronze of a woman's head
Bronze sculptures
–
Gilt-bronze doors of the
Baptistry at Florence (
Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1401-22)
Bronze sculptures
–
Chola bronze of Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi as the Goddess
Parvati
6.
Chariot racing
–
Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. Chariot racing was dangerous to drivers and horses as they often suffered serious injury and even death, but these dangers added to the excitement. Chariot races could be watched by women, who were barred from watching other sports. In the Roman form of racing, teams represented different groups of financial backers. As in modern sports like soccer, spectators generally chose to support a team, identifying themselves strongly with its fortunes. The rivalries were sometimes politicized, when teams became associated with competing social or religious ideas and this helps explain why Roman and later Byzantine emperors took control of the teams and appointed many officials to oversee them. The sport faded in importance in the West after the fall of Rome and it survived for a time in the Byzantine Empire, where the traditional Roman factions continued to play a prominent role for several centuries, gaining influence in political matters. Their rivalry culminated in the Nika riots, which marked the decline of the sport. It is unknown exactly when chariot racing began, but it may have been as old as chariots themselves, the participants in this race were Diomedes, Eumelus, Antilochus, Menelaus, and Meriones. The race, which was one lap around the stump of a tree, was won by Diomedes, who received a slave woman and a cauldron as his prize. In the ancient Olympic Games, as well as the other Panhellenic Games, the chariot racing event was first added to the Olympics in 680 BC with the games expanding from a one-day to a two-day event to accommodate the new event. The races themselves were held in the hippodrome, which held both chariot races and riding races, the single horse race was known as the keles. The hippodrome was situated at the south-east corner of the sanctuary of Olympia, on the flat area south of the stadium. Until recently, its location was unknown, since it is buried by several meters of sedimentary material from the Alfeios River. In 2008, however, Annie Muller and staff of the German Archeological Institute used radar to locate a large, rectangular structure similar to Pausaniass description. Pausanias, who visited Olympia in the second century AD, describes the monument as a large, elongated, flat space, the elongated racecourse was divided longitudinally into two tracks by a stone or wooden barrier, the embolon. All the horses or chariots ran on one track toward the east, then turned around the embolon, distances varied according to the event. The racecourse was surrounded by natural and artificial banks for the spectators, the race was begun by a procession into the hippodrome, while a herald announced the names of the drivers and owners
Chariot racing
–
A modern recreation of chariot racing in
Puy du Fou
Chariot racing
–
Chariot racing on a
black-figure hydria from
Attica, ca. 510 BC
Chariot racing
–
The
Charioteer of Delphi, one of the most famous statues surviving from
Ancient Greece
Chariot racing
–
The plan of the
Circus Maximus
7.
Apollo
–
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf
Apollo
–
Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE
Apollo
–
Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at
Bassae in southern Greece
Apollo
–
Temple of the Delians at
Delos, dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.
Apollo
–
Temple of Apollo Smintheus at
Çanakkale, Turkey
8.
Delphi
–
Delphi is famous as the ancient sanctuary that grew rich as the seat of the oracle that was consulted on important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. Moreover, it was considered as the navel of the world by the Greeks as represented by the Omphalos and it occupies an impressive site on the south-western slope of Mount Parnassus overlooking the coastal plain to the south and the valley of Phocis. It is now an archaeological site and the modern town is nearby. The site of Delphi is located in upper central Greece, on multiple plateaux/terraces along the slope of Mount Parnassus, and includes the Sanctuary of Apollo and this semicircular spur is known as Phaedriades, and overlooks the Pleistos Valley. In myths dating to the period of Ancient Greece, the site of Delphi was believed to be determined by Zeus when he sought to find the centre of his Grandmother Earth. He sent two eagles flying from the eastern and western extremities, and the path of the eagles crossed over Delphi where the omphalos, Apollo was said to have slain Python, a drako a serpent or a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth. Python is claimed by some to be the name of the site in recognition of Python which Apollo defeated. The Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo recalled that the ancient name of this site had been Krisa, others relate that it was named Pytho and that Pythia, the priestess serving as the oracle, was chosen from their ranks by a group of priestesses who officiated at the temple. At the settlement site in Delphi, which was a settlement of the late 9th century. Pottery and bronze work as well as tripod dedications continue in a steady stream, the victors at Delphi were presented with a laurel crown which was ceremonially cut from a tree by a boy who re-enacted the slaying of the Python. Delphi was set apart from the other sites because it hosted the mousikos agon. These Pythian Games rank second among the four stephanitic games chronologically and these games, though, were different from the games at Olympia in that they were not of such vast importance to the city of Delphi as the games at Olympia were to the area surrounding Olympia. Delphi would have been a renowned city whether or not it hosted these games, it had other attractions that led to it being labeled the omphalos of the earth, in other words, in the inner hestia of the Temple of Apollo, an eternal flame burned. The name Delphoi comes from the root as δελφύς delphys, womb. Apollo is connected with the site by his epithet Δελφίνιος Delphinios, the epithet is connected with dolphins in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, recounting the legend of how Apollo first came to Delphi in the shape of a dolphin, carrying Cretan priests on his back. The Homeric name of the oracle is Pytho, another legend held that Apollo walked to Delphi from the north and stopped at Tempe, a city in Thessaly, to pick laurel which he considered to be a sacred plant. In commemoration of this legend, the winners at the Pythian Games received a wreath of laurel picked in the Temple, Delphi became the site of a major temple to Phoebus Apollo, as well as the Pythian Games and the famous prehistoric oracle. Even in Roman times, hundreds of votive statues remained, described by Pliny the Younger, additionally, according to Plutarchs essay on the meaning of the E at Delphi—the only literary source for the inscription—there was also inscribed at the temple a large letter E
Delphi
–
The theatre, seen from above
Delphi
–
Delphi.
Delphi
–
Delphi valley.
Delphi
–
The remaining columns of the Temple of Apollo
9.
Delphi Archaeological Museum
–
Delphi Archaeological museum is one of the principal museums of Greece and one of the most visited. It is operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture, founded in 1903, it has been rearranged several times and houses the discoveries made at the panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi, which date from the Late Helladic period to the early Byzantine era. The exhibition floor space is more than 2270m2, while the storage, visitors are also catered to by an entrance hall, a cafeteria and a gift shop. A first, rather small museum was inaugurated on 2 May 1903 to celebrate the end of the first great archaeological campaign of French excavations, the building was designed by the French architect Albert Tournaire, financed by a trust established by the Greek banker and philanthropist Andreas Syngros. Two wings framed a small central building, thus, parts of the main monuments of the site were reconstructed with plaster. Yet, the exhibits took every inch of space, making the exhibition look pretty crammed. Furthermore. The quality of the exhibits themselves was thought to be self-explanatory, the first exhibition was thus destined more to the pleasure of the eyes than to any educational purpose. Despite the admiration it inspired to the Greek and international community, in addition, its arrangement and the plaster restorations were being increasingly criticized. Finally, its appearance was criticized as a little too French in a period which insisted on Greekness. The construction of a new building was launched in 1935, the antiquities were presented in a chronological order, listed and labelled. However, this arrangement was only briefly in use, the outbreak of World War II constituted a major threat to the antiquities which were put into storage. Part was kept at Delphi in the ancient Roman tombs or in specially dug pits in front of the museum and they remained there for ten years. The charioteer was on display in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens until 1951, the region of Delphi was at the heart of the combat zone in the Greek civil war and the museum was not reopened until 1952. For six years, visitors could view the arrangement that had been envisioned in 1939, however, the museum proved insufficient and it was necessary to undertake a new phase of construction, completed in 1958. Karatinos created two new halls and modified the structure to allow more natural light into the building. The arrangement of the collection remained chronological, but a focus was placed on the sculpture. The museum reopened its doors in 1961, between 1999 and 2003, the museum underwent yet another phase of renovations, carried out by the Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis. These included the construction of a new facade in a contemporary style, the rest of the museum was re-designed in a modern style and adjusted to facilitate the circulation of visitors
Delphi Archaeological Museum
–
Delphi Archaeological Museum
Delphi Archaeological Museum
–
Interior of the museum
Delphi Archaeological Museum
–
Reconstruction of the Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi.
10.
Sculpture
–
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts, a wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded, or cast. However, most ancient sculpture was painted, and this has been lost. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, the Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith, the revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelos David. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief, high relief, sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt. Relief sculpture may also decorate steles, upright slabs, usually of stone, techniques such as casting, stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work, many of these allow the production of several copies. The term sculpture is used mainly to describe large works. The very large or colossal statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity, another grand form of portrait sculpture is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the head, showing just that, or the bust, small forms of sculpture include the figurine, normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches tall, and for reliefs the plaquette, medal or coin. Sculpture is an important form of public art, a collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden. One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in form of association with religion. Cult images are common in cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were rather small. The same is true in Hinduism, where the very simple. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines, the Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, from the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun
Sculpture
–
The Dying Gaul, or The Capitoline Gaul a Roman marble copy of a
Hellenistic work of the late 3rd century BCE
Capitoline Museums, Rome
Sculpture
Sculpture
–
Michelangelo 's
Moses, (c. 1513–1515), housed in the church of
San Pietro in Vincoli in
Rome. The sculpture was commissioned in 1505 by
Pope Julius II for his
tomb.
Sculpture
–
Assyrian
lamassu gate guardian from
Khorsabad, c. 721–800 BCE
11.
Bronze sculpture
–
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures, a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a bronze. It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs and it is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu. Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, then, as the bronze cools, it shrinks a little, making it easier to separate from the mould. Their strength and ductility is an advantage when figures in action are to be created and these qualities allow the creation of extended figures, as in Jeté, or figures that have small cross sections in their support, such as the equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart. As recently as 2007 several life sized bronze sculptures by John Waddell were stolen, there are many different bronze alloys, and the term is now tending to be regarded by museums as too imprecise, and replaced in descriptions by copper alloy, especially for older objects. Typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, alpha bronze consists of the alpha solid solution of tin in copper. Alpha bronze alloys of 4–5% tin are used to make coins, the proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The Benin Bronzes are really brass, and the Romanesque Baptismal font at St Bartholomews Church, Liège is described as both bronze and brass. In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were used, classic bronze, about 10% tin, was used in casting. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from bronze, while helmets. On one definition, modern statuary bronze is 90% copper and 10% tin, the great civilizations of the old world worked in bronze for art, from the time of the introduction of the alloy for edged weapons. Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro belonging to Harappan Civilization dating back to 2500 BCE is perhaps the first bronze statue of the world, the Greeks were the first to scale the figures up to life size. Few examples exist in good condition, one is the seawater-preserved bronze Victorious Youth that required painstaking efforts to bring it to its present state for museum display, far more Roman bronze statues have survived. Over the long period of Egyptian dynastic art, small lost-wax bronze figurines were made in large numbers. Sri Lankan Sinhalese Bronze statue of Buddhist Alakothiveshwara Tara Devi statue now in England is an example of Bronze statues. From the ninth through the century the Chola dynasty in South India represented the pinnacle of bronze casting in India. Making bronzes is highly skilled work, and a number of casting processes may be employed, including lost-wax casting, sand casting. The term bronze is also applied to metal sculptures made by electrotyping, although these sculptures are typically pure copper and their fabrication does not involve metal casting
Bronze sculpture
–
The
Victorious Youth (ca. 310 B.C.), is a rare, water-preserved bronze from ancient Greece. (
3D image available)
Bronze sculpture
–
Benin bronze of a woman's head
Bronze sculpture
–
Gilt-bronze doors of the
Baptistry at Florence (
Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1401-22)
Bronze sculpture
–
Chola bronze of Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi as the Goddess
Parvati
12.
Polyzalus
–
The Charioteer of Delphi, also known as Heniokhos, is one of the best-known statues surviving from Ancient Greece, and is considered one of the finest examples of ancient bronze sculptures. The life-size statue of a driver was found in 1896 at the Sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi. It is now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum and it was originally part of a larger group of statuary, including the chariot, at least four horses and possibly two grooms. Some fragments of the horses were found with the statue, the masterpiece has been associated with the sculptor Pythagoras of Samos who lived and worked in Sicily, as well as with the sculptor Calamis. The Sicilian cities were very wealthy compared with most of the cities of mainland Greece and their rulers could afford the most magnificent offerings to the gods, also the best horses and it is unlikely, however, the statue itself comes from Sicily. The name of the sculptor is unknown, but for reasons it is believed that the statue was cast in Athens. It has certain similarities of detail to the known as the Piraeus Apollo. An inscription on the base of the statue shows that it was dedicated by Polyzalus, the tyrant of Gela. The inscription reads, OLUZALOS MA nETHÊK. ]ON AES EUONUM APOLL, some freestanding bronze statues, however, including the charioteer, have been rediscovered in the 20th century. Although the Charioteer is the last remaining bronze sculpture from Delphi, the lower torso still preserves a bluish coloration. The Charioteer is almost intact except that his forearm and some details on the head are missing including the copper inlays on the lips and most of the silver eyelashes. The statue is one of the few Greek bronzes to preserve the inlaid glass eyes, Greek bronzes were cast in sections and then assembled. When discovered, the statue was in three pieces—head and upper torso, lower torso, and right arm, the figure is of a very young man, as is shown by his soft side-curls. Like modern jockeys, chariot racers were chosen for their lightness and it seems that it represents a teenager from a noble family of his time. As we know, aristocratic chariot racers selected their drivers from glorious noble families to race their chariot in the Panhellenic games, the Charioteer wears the customary long tunic, reaching down to his ankles. A wide belt tightens the tunic high above the waist, while two other bands pass as suspenders over the shoulders, under the arms and criss-cross in the back and this is the analavos which keeps the garment from billowing in the wind during the race. The deep vertical pleats in the part of the tunic emphasize the Charioteer’s solid posture. On the upper part of the body, however, the pleats are wavy and this contrast in the garment representation is also followed by the body’s contrapuntal posture, so that the statue does not show any rigidity, but looks perfectly mobile and almost real
Polyzalus
–
The Charioteer of Delphi, 478 or 474 BC, Delphi Museum.
Polyzalus
–
Charioteer of Delphi, close up head detail.
Polyzalus
–
External video
Polyzalus
–
Detail of the statue's head, showing the inlaid eyes.
13.
Pythian Games
–
The Pythian Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo every four years at his sanctuary at Delphi and they were held two years after each Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were founded sometime in the 6th century BC, the art and dance competitions pre-dated the athletic portion of the games, and were said to have been started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the oracle at Delphi. Otherwise, the events were the same as those at the Olympic Games. The winners received a wreath of bay laurel, sacred to Apollo, from the city of Tempe, smaller versions of the Pythian Games were celebrated in many other cities of the Levant and Greece. The Pythian Games supposedly start with the serpent, Python. It had been sent to chase the pregnant goddess Leto by a jealous Hera, Leto managed to escape and gave birth to Artemis and Apollo. Despite being only a few old, Apollo swore vengeance on Python. Meanwhile, Python had fled to Delphi and hidden himself there, Apollo followed him and, after a fierce battle, slew the monster with his bow. After burying the body, Apollo founded the oracle of Delphi, however, by slaying Python, Apollo had committed a crime and Zeus declared that he had to make amends. Apollo then created the Pythian Games to pay for the death, according to another version, Apollo exiled himself in the land of the Hyperboreans and founded the Pythian Games upon his return, as a sign of celebration. As of that time, they did not take place eight years as in the past. In the beginning, only musical contests were held in the Pythian Games then extended by singing to instrumental performances and these retained great importance as also in the other big festivals, although with the new rearrangement gymnastic competitions and chariot racing were also introduced to the games. Preparations for the games began six months prior, if a city was involved in armed conflict or in robberies during that period, its citizens were forbidden to enter the Sanctuary, participate at the games, or consult the Oracle. Scores of people flocked out of entire Greece, bringing in revenue to the city. Despite the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire during the 4th century, Delphi remained a pagan site. Unfortunately, the testimonials and documents covering the Delphic Games were mainly destroyed through human violence, all the remaining resources highlight the glory and glamour of the Games. The records of Aristoteles present an overview about the festivities, the Games lasted for six to eight days and were started by a reenactment of the victory of Apollo over Python, in a festive and glamorous procession a ritual sacrifice was performed in the Temple of Apollo
Pythian Games
–
View of the stadium of the Delphi sanctuary, used for the Pythian Games. The stone steps on the left were added under the Romans.
Pythian Games
–
This starting line at the Delphi stadium used for the Pythian Games at Delphi, Greece has a design representative of that of many ancient Greek stadiums: stones with two lines in which the athletes nudged their toes, and round holes in which posts could be erected to support the start signalling mechanism.
Pythian Games
–
The Pythian Games included a
chariot race.
14.
Ex voto
–
An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or to a divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude or devotion, ex-votos are placed in a church or chapel where the worshiper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. The destinations of pilgrimages often include shrines decorated with ex-votos, ex-votos can take a wide variety of forms. They are not only intended for the figure, but also as a testimony to later visitors of the received help. There are places where an old tradition of depositing ex-votos existed. The magnificent Lod mosaic is thought to be an ex-voto expressing gratitude for rescue from a shipwreck, pope Benedict XVI recognized the authenticity of the miracles and canonized Saint André Bessette in 2011. Pinax Tama Votive candle Votive deposit Votive paintings of Mexico Milagro Everyday Miracles, Medical Imagery in Ex-Votos National Library of Medicine
Ex voto
–
La Rochelle slave ship Le Saphir ex-voto, 1741.
Ex voto
–
The collection of ex-votos in
Abbey of St Maria del Monte,
Cesena, Italy
Ex voto
–
Votive tablets to Saint Mary in
Himmerod Abbey, Germany
Ex voto
–
A model ship (probably thanking help during a storm) hanging in a
Söderköping church.
15.
Calamis (5th century BC)
–
Calamis was a sculptor of ancient Greece. He was possibly from Boeotia, but nothing certain is known of his life and he is known to have worked in marble, bronze, gold, and ivory, and was famed for statues of horses. According to Pausanias, Calamis produced a statue of Zeus Ammon for Pindar, and mentions a Hermes Criophorus for Tanagra and his statue of Apollo Alexikakos stood in the Ceramicus of Athens. He produced his most ambitious work, a 30-cubit statue of Apollo for Apollonia Pontica and his Sosandra was praised by Lucian, and may have been copied for Aspasia, which in turn was copied by the Romans
Calamis (5th century BC)
–
Omphalos Apollo, Roman copy,
Musei Capitolini.
16.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
Sicily
–
Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
Sicily
–
Sicily Sicilia
Sicily
–
Sicilian landscape
Sicily
–
Location of the
Salso
17.
Athens
–
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
Athens
–
From upper left: the
Acropolis, the
Hellenic Parliament, the
Zappeion, the
Acropolis Museum,
Monastiraki Square, Athens view towards the sea
Athens
–
Athena, patron goddess of Athens;
National Archaeological Museum
Athens
–
Acropolis of Athens, with
Odeon of Herodes Atticus seen on bottom left
18.
Piraeus Apollo
–
The Piraeus Apollo is an archaic-style bronze dating from the 6th century BC, possibly from the years 530–520 BC, exhibited now at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus. Apollo was the god of the order and balance and the depictions of naked young men in the Kouros type are believed to be representations of the god. This bronze statue seems to be the last stage in the development of the formal almost static Kouros type that survived for a time from the early Archaic period. Originally the Kouros type represented the archaic-thought that nature itself in ideal everlasting simple-forms which can be traced by the senses. Matter was not regarded lifeless but something full of life, in an almost animistic belief and this material character is paralleled in sculpture by the absolute representation of blooming life through unnaturally simplified forms. The Piraeus Apollo is a product of the archaic period in which the Greek sculpture attained a full knowledge of human anatomy. It is among the few such bronzes that have survived. The statue seems to differentiate from the formality and represents a kind of motion. In the last few decades of the 6th century, the philosophical mystic currents were to have an influence on late archaic art. The logical move from Ionian natural philosophy to metaphysics was the decision of post-archaic mind. In post-archaic period, the illusive imaginative reality was displaced by harmony, the method of interaction and analogy was perfected by Polykleitos in classical period. He used the principle of continuity and in his famous sculptures each member transmitted to the next a part of his existence and it seems that his canon was a standardization which in his opinion led to the ideal form. He was probably influenced by the theory of Pythagoras who believed that behind each object there was a mathematical relation that led to order. The discovery of the mathematical relation was a continuous attempt of the Greek architects. The Greek belief of ideal forms was later extended by Plato in his theory of forms. The Greek word idea has the roots with the words idein, eidos. Originally, the words were applied to such forms as the human body. The transference of the words from visible to show how the Greek mind moved from the gift of senses to the principles behind them which were also used in the art of sculpture
Piraeus Apollo
–
Piraeus Apollo.Archaic-style bronze.
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
Piraeus Apollo
–
Side-back view of Piraeus Apollo
19.
Tyrant
–
A tyrant, in its modern English usage, is an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or person, or one who has usurped legitimate sovereignty. Often described as a character, a tyrant defends his position by oppressive means. The original Greek term, however, merely meant an authoritarian sovereign without reference to character, bearing no pejorative connotation during the Archaic, Plato and Aristotle define a tyrant as one who rules without law, and uses extreme and cruel tactics–against his own people as well as others. It is defined further in the Encyclopédie as a usurper of sovereign power who makes his subjects the victims of his passions and unjust desires, which he substitutes for laws. During the seventh and sixth centuries BC, tyranny was often looked upon as a stage between narrow oligarchy and more democratic forms of polity. However, in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, a new kind of tyrant. Tyranny includes a variety of types of government – by a tyrant. The definition is extended to other leadership and to oppressive policies. For example, a teacher may find the school administration, the textbook or standardized tests to be oppressive, the English noun tyrant appears in Middle English use, via Old French, from the 1290s. The final -t arises in Old French by association with the present participles in -ant, the word tyranny is used with many meanings, not only by the Greeks, but throughout the tradition of the great books. The Oxford English Dictionary offers alternative definitions, a ruler, an illegitimate ruler, the term is usually applied to vicious dictators who achieve bad results for the governed. The definition of a tyrant is cursed by subjectivity, oppression, injustice and cruelty do not have standardized measurements or thresholds. The Greeks defined both usurpers and those inheriting rule from usurpers as tyrants, Old words are defined by their historical usage. It is difficult to determine characteristics of tyrants were defining rather than descriptive. Biblical quotations do not use the word tyrant, but express opinions very similar to those of the Greek philosophers, citing the wickedness, cruelty, like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but one who hates unjust gain will enjoy a long life, proverbs 28, 15–16 By justice a king gives stability to the land, but one who makes heavy extractions ruins it. Proverbs 29,4 The Greek philosophers stressed the quality of rule rather than legitimacy or absolutism, both Plato and Aristotle speak of the king as a good monarch and the tyrant as a bad one. Both say that monarchy, or rule by a man, is royal when it is for the welfare of the ruled
Tyrant
–
François Gérard, The French people demanding destitution of the Tyran on
10 August 1792
20.
Smarthistory
–
Smarthistory is a free resource for the study of art history created by art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Smarthistory is an independent not-for-profit organization and the partner to Khan Academy for art history. In addition to its focus on courses in art history, Smarthistory supports the art history Advanced Placement course. Smarthistory provides essays, video, photographs, and links to resources for each of the 250 works of art. Smarthistory has published 1500 videos and essays on art and cultural history from the Paleolithic era to the 21st century that include the art of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Smarthistorys essays have been contributed by more than 200 art historians, curators, videos are unscripted conversations between experts recorded on location in front of the original work of art or architecture. According to the Smarthistory about page, We are interested in delivering the narratives of art using the read-write webs interactivity and capacity for authoring and remixing. Publishers are adding multimedia to their textbooks, but unfortunately they are doing so in proprietary, Smarthistory won the Webby Award for Education in 2009. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation gave them a $25,000 grant for development in 2008, in an article in the Brooklyn New York Daily News, staff writer Elizabeth Lazarowitz quotes Steven Zucker, Art can be really intimidating for people, said Zucker. If we can make art feel exciting and interesting and very relevant to a historical moment. art can have real meaning. Unlike reading about art in a book, the idea of the audio was to keep a students eyes on the image and it helped students to learn the material a lot better. And for college students, the site is fast becoming an alternative to the commercial textbook whose short life cycle. We thought that that would make them relevant and more engaging for students
Smarthistory
–
External video
21.
Molding (process)
–
Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping liquid or pliable raw material using a rigid frame called a mold or matrix. This itself may have made using a pattern or model of the final object. A mold or mould is a block that is filled with a liquid or pliable material such as plastic, glass, metal. The liquid hardens or sets inside the mold, adopting its shape, a mold is the counterpart to a cast. The very common bi-valve molding process uses two molds, one for half of the object. Piece-molding uses a number of different molds, each creating a section of a complicated object and this is generally only used for larger and more valuable objects. The manufacturer who makes the molds is called the moldmaker, a release agent is typically used to make removal of the hardened/set substance from the mold easier. Typical uses for molded plastics include molded furniture, molded household goods, molded cases, and structural materials
Molding (process)
–
One half of a bronze mold for casting a socketed spear head dated to the period 1400-1000 BC. There are no known parallels for this mold.
Molding (process)
–
Stone mold of the Bronze Age used to produce spear tips.
Molding (process)
–
Ancient Greek molds, used to mass-produce clay figurines, 5th/4th century BC. Beside them, the modern casts taken from them. On display in the
Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the
Stoa of Attalus.
Molding (process)
–
"A" side of die for 25% glass-filled acetal with 2 side pulls
22.
Greek art
–
Greek art began in the Cycladic and Minoan civilization, and gave birth to Western classical art in the subsequent Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods. Greek art is mainly five forms, architecture, sculpture, painting, artistic production in Greece began in the prehistoric pre-Greek Cycladic and the Minoan civilizations, both of which were influenced by local traditions and the art of ancient Egypt. There are three divisions of the stages of later ancient Greek art that correspond roughly with historical periods of the same names. These are the Archaic, the Classical and the Hellenistic, the Archaic period is usually dated from 1000 BC. Of course, different forms of art developed at different speeds in different parts of the Greek world, there was no sharp transition from one artistic period to another. The art of ancient Greece has exercised an influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present. In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely derived from Greek models, following the Renaissance in Europe, the humanist aesthetic and the high technical standards of Greek art inspired generations of European artists. Pottery was either red with black designs or black with red designs, Byzantine art is the term created for the Eastern Roman Empire from about the 5th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1452. It can also be used for the art of people of the former Byzantine Empire under the rule of Ottoman Empire after 1453, in some respects the Byzantine artistic tradition has continued in Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day. Byzantine art grew from the art of ancient Greece and, at least before 1453, never lost sight of its classical heritage, the most profound of these was that the humanist ethic of ancient Greek art was replaced by the Christian ethic. If the purpose of art was the glorification of man. One of the most important forms of Byzantine art was, and still is, like the Cretan school it combined Byzantine traditions with an increasing Western European artistic influence, and also saw the first signiand the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. The Heptanese School of painting succeeded the Cretan School as the school of Greek post-Byzantine painting after Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669. Like the Cretan school it combined Byzantine traditions with an increasing Western European artistic influence, the school was based in the Ionian Islands, which were not part of Ottoman Greece, from the middle of the 17th century until the middle of the 19th century. Modern Greek art, after the establishment of the Greek Kingdom, after centuries of Ottoman rule, few opportunities for an education in the arts existed in the newly independent Greece, so studying abroad was imperative for artists. Munich, as an important international center for the arts at that time, was the place where the majority of the Greek artists of the 19th century chose to study, later on, they would return to Greece and pass on their knowledge. Both academic and personal bonds developed between early Greek painters and Munich artistry giving birth to the Greek Munich School, nikolaos Gysis was an important teacher and artist at the Munich Academy and he soon became a leading figure among Greek artists. Many of these Munich School artists chose subjects such as everyday Greek life, local customs, several important painters emerged at this time
Greek art
–
Woman kneeling before an altar. Attic red-figure kylix, 5th BC,
Stoa of Attalos
Greek art
–
Mosaic from
Daphni Monastery (ca. 1100)
Greek art
–
Saint Eustace icon, an example of the
Cretan School
23.
Kouros
–
A kouros is the modern term given to free-standing ancient Greek sculptures which first appear in the Archaic period in Greece and represent nude male youths. In Ancient Greek kouros means youth, boy, especially of noble rank, the term kouros was first proposed for what were previously thought to be depictions of Apollo by V. I. Leonardos in 1895 in relation to the youth from Keratea, such statues are found across the Greek-speaking world, the preponderance of these were found in sanctuaries of Apollo with more than one hundred from the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios, Boeotia, alone. These free-standing sculptures were typically marble, but the form is rendered in limestone, wood, bronze, ivory. They are typically life-sized, though early examples are up to 3 meters tall. The female sculptural counterpart of the kouros is the kore, in Ancient Greek kouros means youth, boy, especially of noble rank. When a pubescent was received into the body of men, as a grown Kouros. Apellaios was the month of these rites, and Apollo was the megistos kouros, the kouros type appears to have served several functions. It was previously thought that it was used only to represent the god Apollo and this association with Apollo was supported by the description of the statue of the Pythian Apollo at Samos by Diodoros as Egyptian in style, with his arms hanging by his sides and his legs parted. The problem of the evolution of the type is inevitably linked to that of the overall development of monumental Archaic Greek sculpture. For an external cause for change possible sources of influence have been cited as Egypt, Anatolia and Syria, the work of Guralnick along with the previous studies by Erik Iversen and Kim Levin have added considerably to the argument for an imitation by Greek sculptors of Egyptian sculpture. The grid was applied to the surface of the block being carved, Iversen has shown that the New York kouros conforms to this ratio of proportion. Kouroi are beardless, take a formulaic advancing posture, and are most often nude, a small number of early kouroi are belted around their waists, a practice that died out at the turn of the sixth century. Further, there is the question of the nudity of the kouros, the earliest extant examples may be the two life-sized marble figures from the Ionic sanctuary on the island of Delos dating from the second or third quarter of the seventh century. The absolute chronology of the form is uncertain, none of the sculptures have secure dates. Consequently, the development of the type as we now understand it is based on the relative chronology delineated by Gisela Richter. She distinguishes six groups by their anatomical features, with particular reference to the major muscle groups as illustrated in the écorchés to the right. Additionally she notes a similarity of sculpture from this time to early Athenian pottery, particularly the Nessos amphora and she also detects a resemblance between the New York-Sounion kouroi and an early Corinthian pyxis of the last quarter of the seventh century
Kouros
–
Kroisos Kouros, c. 530 BC.
Kouros
–
Kleobis and
Biton (
Delphi:
Archaeological Museum)
Kouros
–
Saite sculpture from the 26th dynasty similar in proportion and form to the early kouros type,
Louvre E5345.
Kouros
–
New York Kouros,
Metropolitan Museum of Art 32.11.1
24.
Mariano Fortuny (designer)
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Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, was a Spanish fashion designer who opened his couture house in 1906 and continued until 1946. He was the son of the painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, Fortuny was born 11 May 1871, to an artistic family in Granada, Spain. His father, a painter, died when Fortuny was three years old and his mother, daughter of another famous painter, Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, moved the family to Paris. It became apparent at an age that Fortuny was a talented artist, as he, too. During his childhood he was introduced to many different textiles and fabrics and his parents were very passionate for materials and had their own collections of textiles from various shops they had visited in Europe. His father even collected metalwork and armor from previous ages as a hobby, the family moved again in 1889 to Venice, Italy. As a young man, Fortuny traveled throughout Europe seeking out artists he admired, Fortuny became quite varied in his talents, some of them including inventing, painting, photography, sculpting, architecture, etching and even theatrical stage lighting. In 1897, he met the woman he would marry, Henriette Negrin, in Paris, while in Paris, using all of his creative talents, Fortuny registered and patented more than twenty inventions between 1901 and 1934. He died in his home in Venice and was buried in the Campo Verano in Rome and his work was a source of inspiration to the French novelist Marcel Proust. The life of the Fortuny saga has been depicted in Pere Gimferrers novel Fortuny, in 1892, after seeing some of Richard Wagner’s work in Paris, Fortuny traveled to Bayreuth, Germany where Wagner had built a theater specifically designed to put on his operas. He was mesmerized by Wagner’s work and began to paint scenes for his operas when he returned to Venice, in Wagnerian drama, painting, architecture, song, dance, and poetry all worked together towards a common goal. This affected Fortuny’s outlook and was the inspiration for a new type of theater design where the designer. Fortuny and other followers of this concept believed that one can improve the quality of a product by having a good knowledge of something’s raw materials. He also thought that the best type of design was created when the artist knew how to realize the design, through his experiences with Wagner and the theatre, Fortuny became a lighting engineer, architect, inventor, director, and set designer. As a set designer, he wanted to create a seamless way of transitioning from one scene to another other than flying out a backdrop. He began experimenting with light and different ways to do this in the attic of his palazzo in Italy, with his experimentation, he found that reflecting light off of different surfaces could change the color, intensity and other properties of light. His 1904 treatise Eclairage Sceniquedescribes the discovery that formed the basis of his indirect lighting technique and it is not the quantity but the quality of light that makes things visible and allows the pupil. to open properly. He used these indirect lighting techniques in his new invention, the Fortuny cyclorama dome, Fortuny first filed a patent for his indirect theatrical lighting system in 1901 and constantly refined his invention thereafter
Mariano Fortuny (designer)
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Mariano Fortuny
Mariano Fortuny (designer)
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Mrs Condé Nast wearing one of the Fortuny tea gowns. This one has no tunic but is finely pleated, in the Fortuny manner, and falls in long lines, closely following the figure, to the floor.
Mariano Fortuny (designer)
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View of the
Palazzo Fortuny in Venice where Mariano Fortuny lived and worked.
25.
Delphos gown
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The Delphos gown was a finely pleated silk dress first created in about 1907 by Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo and made until about 1950. It was inspired by, and named after, a classical Greek statue, since the 1970s these gowns have been desirable and collectable pieces of vintage clothing, with one selling for a world record price of $10,000 in December 2001. Fortuny became famous for his pleated dresses, the Delphos and the related Peplos, the exact method of pleating was a closely guarded secret involving heat, pressure and ceramic rods, which has never been replicated. On both types of dresses, glass Murano beads are strung on a cord along each side seam. The beads serve a purpose as well as being decorative, as they weigh down the lightweight silk of the garment to ensure a smooth fit enhancing the natural. The construction of the Delphos became its own decoration, Delphos gowns were imported into Paris by the couturier Paul Poiret, and the fashion house Babani which sold them to actresses such as Eleonora Duse. Fortunys garments, particularly the Delphos gown, have been valued for their artistic and aesthetic qualities since their creation. During the 1910s and 1920s the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla painted several portraits of his wife and other sitters wearing Delphos gowns, some of which are preserved at the Museo Sorolla. The sculptor Hamo Thornycroft described his daughter Elfrida as looking lovely in a silk Greek clinging white dress, in literature, Marcel Proust described Fortunys clothes several times in his epic novel In Search of Lost Time, comparing them to musical harmonies, although not explicitly calling them art. In her novel El tiempo entre costuras, María Dueñas described the process of making a fake Delphos gown by wringing wet fabric to make the pleats, unlike the permanent pleating in the actual Delphos, however, the faked pleating lasted only one night. Edwardian promenade, Fortuny’s “Delphos” Gown Dykes, Amy Renee, Documentation of a Mariano Fortuny Delphos gown
Delphos gown
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"Mrs.
Condé Nast wearing one of the famous Fortuny tea gowns. This one has no tunic but is finely pleated, in the Fortuny manner, and falls in long lines, closely following the figure, to the floor."
Delphos gown
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Purple silk 'Peplos' with sleeves. PFF collection
Delphos gown
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Elena vestida con túnica amarilla by Joaquín Sorolla, 1909. Elena Sorolla Garcia in a yellow Delphos.
26.
MoMA
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The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is identified as one of the largest and most influential museums of modern art in the world. The MoMA Library includes approximately 300,000 books and exhibition catalogs, over 1,000 periodical titles, the archives holds primary source material related to the history of modern and contemporary art. The idea for The Museum of Modern Art was developed in 1929 primarily by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and they became known variously as the Ladies, the daring ladies and the adamantine ladies. They rented modest quarters for the new museum in the Heckscher Building at 730 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and it opened to the public on November 7,1929, nine days after the Wall Street Crash. Abby had invited A. Conger Goodyear, the president of the board of trustees of the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. At the time, it was Americas premier museum devoted exclusively to art. One of Abbys early recruits for the staff was the noted Japanese-American photographer Soichi Sunami. Goodyear enlisted Paul J. Sachs and Frank Crowninshield to join him as founding trustees, Sachs, the associate director and curator of prints and drawings at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, was referred to in those days as a collector of curators. Goodyear asked him to recommend a director and Sachs suggested Alfred H. Barr, under Barrs guidance, the museums holdings quickly expanded from an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing. Its first successful exhibition was in November 1929, displaying paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne. Abbys husband was opposed to the museum and refused to release funds for the venture. Nevertheless, he donated the land for the current site of the museum, plus other gifts over time. During that time it initiated many more exhibitions of noted artists, the museum also gained international prominence with the hugely successful and now famous Picasso retrospective of 1939–40, held in conjunction with the Art Institute of Chicago. In its range of presented works, it represented a significant reinterpretation of Picasso for future art scholars, Boy Leading a Horse was briefly contested over ownership with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In 1941, MoMA hosted the exhibition, Indian Art of the United States. His brother, David Rockefeller, also joined the board of trustees in 1948. David subsequently employed the noted architect Philip Johnson to redesign the garden and name it in honor of his mother
MoMA
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Museum of Modern Art
MoMA
MoMA
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The entrance to The Museum of Modern Art
MoMA
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Stairs in the Museum of Modern Art
27.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
Charioteer of Delphi, (3:38), Smarthistory
