Art Ancient Greece became the support and foundation on which the whole European civilization... The sculpture of Ancient Greece is a special topic. Without antique sculpture there would be no brilliant masterpieces of the Renaissance, and further development this art is difficult to imagine. In the history of the development of Greek antique sculpture, three large stages can be distinguished: archaic, classical and Hellenistic. Each has something important and special. Let's consider each of them.

Archaic

This period includes sculptures created in the period from the 7th century BC to the beginning of the 5th century BC. The era gave us figures of naked warriors-youths (kuros), as well as many female figures in clothes (bark). Archaic sculptures are characterized by some schematicity, disproportion. On the other hand, each work of the sculptor is attractive for its simplicity and restrained emotionality. For the figures of this era, a half-smile is characteristic, giving the work a certain mystery and depth.

"The Goddess with the Pomegranate", which is kept in the Berlin State Museum, is one of the best-preserved archaic sculptures. With outward roughness and "wrong" proportions, the attention of the viewer is attracted by the hands of the sculpture, made by the author brilliantly. The expressive gesture of the sculpture makes it dynamic and especially expressive.

"Kouros of Piraeus", which adorns the collection of the Athens Museum, is a later, and therefore more perfect, work of an ancient sculptor. A powerful young warrior is in front of the viewer. A slight tilt of the head and hand gestures speak of a peaceful conversation being conducted by the hero. Disturbed proportions are no longer so striking. And the facial features are not as generalized as in the early sculptures of the archaic period.

Classic

Most of the sculptures of this particular era are associated with antique plastic art.

In the era of the classics, such famous sculptures as Athena Parthenos, Olympian Zeus, Discobolus, Dorifor and many others were created. History has preserved for posterity the names of the outstanding sculptors of the era: Polycletus, Phidias, Myron, Scopas, Praxitel and many others.

Masterpieces classical greece differ in harmony, ideal proportions (which speaks of excellent knowledge of human anatomy), as well as internal content and dynamics.

It is the classical period that is characterized by the appearance of the first nude female figures (Wounded Amazon, Aphrodite of Cnidus), which give an idea of ​​the ideal of female beauty in the heyday of antiquity.

Hellenism

Late Greek antiquity is characterized by a strong oriental influence on all art in general and sculpture in particular. Complex foreshortenings, exquisite draperies, numerous details appear.

Eastern emotionality and temperament penetrate into the calmness and majesty of the classics.

Aphrodite of Cyrene, who adorns the Roman Museum of Thermes, is full of sensuality, even some coquetry.

The most famous sculptural composition of the Hellenistic era is Laocoon and his sons Agesander of Rhodes (the masterpiece is kept in one of the buildings). The composition is full of drama, the plot itself suggests powerful emotions... Desperately resisting the snakes sent by Athena, the hero himself and his sons seem to understand that their fate is terrible. The sculpture is made with extraordinary precision. The figures are plastic and real. The characters' faces make a strong impression on the viewer.

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

Ancient greek sculpture

The sculpture of Ancient Greece in the first centuries of its existence experienced a rather serious influence of the art of Egypt. Almost all works of ancient Greek sculpture were half-naked men with their hands down. After some time, Greek sculptures began to experiment a little with clothes, postures, and they began to give individual features to their faces.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Was popular at other times master - Polycletus, which the established the equilibrium of the human figure in a slow step and at rest... The sculptor strives to find the perfectly correct proportions on which the human body can be built when creating sculpture. Ultimately, an image was created that became a certain norm and, moreover, an example to follow.

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

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

The 12-meter statue of Athena was created by Phidias. In addition, he created a colossal statue of the god Zeus for the temple in Olympia.

The art of the master Skopas breathes impulse and passion, struggle and anxiety, as well as profound events. The most best piece of this sculptor's art is a statue of the Maenad. At the same time, Praxitel was working, who in his creations sang the joy of life, as well as the very sensual beauty of the human body.

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

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

Greek sculpture has been partially preserved in debris and fragments. Most of the statues are known to us from Roman copies, which were performed in great numbers, but did not convey the beauty of the originals. Roman copyists roughened and dried them, and, converting bronze items into marble, disfigured them with clumsy props. The large figures of Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes, Satyr, which we now see in the halls of the Hermitage, are only pale retellings of Greek masterpieces. You pass them almost indifferently and suddenly stop in front of some head with a broken nose, with a damaged eye: this is a Greek original! And the amazing force of life will suddenly blow from this fragment; the marble itself is different from that in Roman statues - not deathly white, but yellowish, transparent, luminous (the Greeks still rubbed it with wax, which gave the marble a warm tone). So gentle are the melting transitions of light and shade, so noble is the soft sculpting of the face that one involuntarily recalls the delights of the Greek poets: these sculptures really breathe, they are really alive * * Dmitrieva, Akimova. Antique art. Essays. - M., 1988.S. 52.

In the sculpture of the first half of the century, when there were wars with the Persians, a courageous, austere style prevailed. Then a statuary group of tyrannicides was created: a mature husband and a young man, standing side by side, make an impetuous movement forward, the younger brings the sword, the older obscures it with a cloak. This is a monument to historical figures - Harmodius and Aristogiton, who killed the Athenian tyrant Hipparchus several decades earlier - the first political monument in Greek art. At the same time, it expresses the heroic spirit of resistance and love of freedom that flared up in the era of the Greco-Persian wars. “They are not mortals' slaves, they are not subject to anyone,” says the Athenians in the tragedy of Aeschylus “The Persians”.

Battles, fights, exploits of heroes ... The art of the early classics is full of these warlike subjects. On the pediments of the temple of Athena in Aegina - the struggle of the Greeks against the Trojans. On the western pediment of the temple of Zeus in Olympia - the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, on the metopes - all twelve labors of Hercules. Another favorite set of motives is gymnastic competitions; in those distant times, physical fitness and mastery of body movements were of decisive importance for the outcome of battles, so athletic games were far from just entertainment. Since the 8th century BC. e. in Olympia, gymnastic competitions were held every four years (their beginning was later considered the beginning of the Greek chronology), and in the 5th century they were celebrated with special solemnity, and now they were attended by poets who recited poetry. The Temple of Olympian Zeus - the classic Doric peripter - was in the center of the sacred district where the competitions took place, they began with a sacrifice to Zeus. On the eastern pediment of the temple, the sculptural composition depicted a solemn moment before the beginning of the horse stadiums: in the center - the figure of Zeus, on either side of it - statues mythological heroes Pelope and Enomaya, the main participants in the upcoming competition, in the corners - their chariots, harnessed by four horses. According to the myth, the winner was Pelop, in whose honor the Olympic Games were established, later resumed, as legend said, by Hercules himself.

The themes of hand-to-hand fights, equestrian competitions, running competitions, and discus throwing taught sculptors to depict the human body in dynamics. The archaic stiffness of the figures was overcome. Now they are acting, moving; complex poses, bold camera angles, grand gestures appear. The brightest innovator was the Attic sculptor Miron. Myron's main task was to express the movement as fully and strongly as possible. Metal does not allow such precise and delicate work as marble, and perhaps that is why he turned to finding the rhythm of movement. (The name of rhythm means the total harmony of the movement of all parts of the body.) Indeed, the rhythm was perfectly captured by Myron. In the statues of athletes, he conveyed not only movement, but the transition from one stage of movement to another, as if stopping the moment. This is his famous "Discobolus". The athlete bent down and swung before throwing, a second - and the disc will fly, the athlete will straighten. But for that second his body froze in a very difficult position, but visually balanced.

The balance, the stately "ethos", is preserved in classical sculpture of the strict style. The movement of the figures is neither erratic, nor overly agitated, nor too impetuous. Even in the dynamic motives of the fight, running, falling, the feeling of “Olympic calmness”, integral plastic completeness, and self-isolation is not lost. Here is a bronze statue of the Charioteer found at Delphi, one of the few well-preserved Greek originals. It belongs to the early period of the austere style - around 470 BC. e .. This young man stands very erect (he stood on a chariot and ruled a quadriga of horses), his bare feet, the folds of a long tunic remind of the deep flutes of Doric columns, his head is tightly covered with a silvered bandage, his inlaid eyes look as if they were alive. He is restrained, calm and at the same time full of energy and will. This bronze figure alone, with its strong, cast plastic, one can feel the full measure of human dignity as the ancient Greeks understood it.

Their art at this stage was dominated by courageous images, but, fortunately, a beautiful relief with the image of Aphrodite emerging from the sea, the so-called "throne of Ludovisi", is a sculptural triptych, the upper part of which has been repulsed. In its central part, the goddess of beauty and love, "froth-born", rises from the waves, supported by two nymphs, who chastely shield her with a light veil. It is visible to the waist. Her body and the bodies of nymphs shine through transparent tunics, folds of clothes pour in a cascade, a stream, like jets of water, like music. On the side parts of the triptych there are two female figures: one nude, playing the flute; the other, wrapped in a veil, lights a sacrificial candle. The first is a heterosexual, the second is a wife, the keeper of the hearth, like two faces of femininity, both under the patronage of Aphrodite.

The search for surviving Greek originals continues today; from time to time, happy finds are found now in the ground, now at the bottom of the sea: for example, in 1928 in the sea, near the island of Euboea, they found an excellently preserved bronze statue of Poseidon.

But the big picture Greek art of the heyday has to be mentally reconstructed and completed, we know only randomly preserved, scattered sculptures. And they existed in the ensemble.

Among famous masters, the name Phidias overshadows all sculpture of subsequent generations. A brilliant representative of the age of Pericles, he said the last word plastic technique, and until now no one has dared to compare with him, although we know him only by hints. A native of Athens, he was born several years before the Battle of Marathon and, therefore, became a contemporary of the celebration of victories over the East. Come on first l he as a painter and then switched to sculpture. Pericles 'buildings were erected according to Phidias' drawings and his drawings, under his personal supervision. Fulfilling order after order, he created marvelous statues of gods, personifying the abstract ideals of deities in marble, gold and bones. The image of the deity was worked out by him not only in accordance with his qualities, but also in relation to the purpose of honoring. He was deeply imbued with the idea that this idol personified, and sculpted it with all the power and might of a genius.

Athena, which he made by order of Plataea and which cost this city very dearly, strengthened the fame of the young sculptor. A colossal statue of the patroness of Athena was commissioned to him for the Acropolis. She reached 60 feet in height and exceeded all the surrounding buildings; from afar, from the sea, she shone with a golden star and reigned over the whole city. It was not acrolite (composite), like the Plateia, but it was all cast in bronze. Another statue of the Acropolis, Virgin Athena, made for the Parthenon, consisted of gold and ivory. Athena was depicted in a combat suit, in a golden helmet with a high-relief sphinx and vultures on the sides. In one hand she held a spear, in the other a figure of victory. A snake curled at her feet - the guardian of the Acropolis. This statue is considered the best assurance of Phidias after his Zeus. It has served as the original for countless copies.

But the height of perfection of all the works of Phidias is considered to be his Olympian Zeus. It was the greatest work of his life: the Greeks themselves gave him the palm. He made an irresistible impression on his contemporaries.

Zeus was depicted on the throne. In one hand he held a scepter, in the other - an image of victory. The body was ivory, the hair was gold, the mantle was gold, enameled. The throne included ebony, bone, and precious stones. The walls between the legs were painted cousin Phidias, Panen; the foot of the throne was a miracle of sculpture. The general impression was, as one German scientist rightly put it, truly demonic: for a number of generations the idol seemed to be a true god; one glance at him was enough to quench all sorrow and suffering. Those who died without seeing him considered themselves unhappy * * P.P. Gnedich World History of Art. - M., 2000.S. 97 ...

The statue died, it is not known how and when: it probably burned down along with the Olympic temple. But her charm must have been great if Caligula insisted at all costs to transport her to Rome, which, however, turned out to be impossible.

The admiration of the Greeks for the beauty and wise arrangement of a living body was so great that they aesthetically thought it only in statuary completeness and completeness, which made it possible to appreciate the majesty of posture, the harmony of body movements. To dissolve a person in a formless, merged crowd, to show him in a random aspect, to remove deep into the depths, to immerse him in the shadows would contradict the aesthetic creed of the Hellenic masters, and they never did this, although the basics of perspective were clear to them. Both sculptors and painters showed a person with extreme plastic clarity, close-up (one figure or a group of several figures), trying to place the action in the foreground, as if on a narrow stage parallel to the plane of the background. Body language was also the language of the soul. It is sometimes said that Greek art was alien to psychology or did not mature into it. This is not entirely true; perhaps the art of the archaic was still extrapsychological, but not the art of the classics. Indeed, it did not know that scrupulous analysis of characters, that cult of the individual that arises in modern times. It is no coincidence that portraiture in Ancient Greece was relatively poorly developed. But the Greeks mastered the art of transferring, if I may say so, typical psychology - they expressed a rich gamut of mental movements on the basis of generalized human types. Distracting from the shades of personal characters, the Hellenic artists did not neglect the shades of emotions and were able to embody a complex structure of feelings. After all, they were contemporaries and fellow citizens of Sophocles, Euripides, Plato.

But still, the expressiveness was not so much in the expressions of the faces, as in the movements of the body. Looking at the mysteriously serene moirae of the Parthenon, at the swift, frisky Nika, untie the sandal, we almost forget that their heads are beaten off - so eloquent is the plasticity of their figures.

Every purely plastic motif - whether it be a graceful balance of all body members, support on both legs or on one, transfer of the center of gravity to an external support, head bowed to the shoulder or thrown back - was thought by the Greek masters as an analogue of spiritual life. Body and psyche were realized in inseparability. Describing the classical ideal in Lectures on Aesthetics, Hegel said that in “ classical form of art, the human body in its forms is no longer recognized only as a sensible existence, but is recognized only as the existence and natural appearance of the spirit. "

Indeed, bodies greek statues unusually spiritualized. The French sculptor Rodin said about one of them: “This youthful torso without a head smiles happily at the light and spring than eyes and lips could do” * * Dmitrieva, Akimova. Antique art. Essays. - M., 1988.S. 76.

Movement and posture in most cases is simple, natural and not necessarily associated with something sublime. Nika unties the sandal, the boy takes out a splinter from the heel, the young runner prepares to run at the start, the disc thrower Miron throws a disc. Myron's younger contemporary, the celebrated Polycletus, unlike Myron, never depicted rapid movements and instantaneous states; his bronze statues of young athletes are in calm poses of light, measured movement, wave-like running over the figure. The left shoulder is slightly extended, the right is abducted, the left hip is pulled back, the right is raised, the right leg is firmly on the ground, the left is slightly behind and slightly bent at the knee. This movement either does not have any "plot" pretext, or the preposition is insignificant - it is valuable in itself. This is a plastic hymn to clarity, reason, wise balance. Such is the Doriphorus (spear-bearer) of Polycletus, known to us from marble Roman copies. He seems to be walking, and at the same time maintains a state of rest; the positions of the arms, legs and torso are perfectly balanced. Polycletus was the author of the treatise "Canon" (which has not come down to us, it is known about him from the references of ancient writers), where he theoretically established the laws of proportions human body.

The heads of Greek statues, as a rule, are impersonal, that is, little individualized, reduced to few variations of the general type, but this general type has a high spiritual capacity. In the Greek type of face, the idea of ​​"human" triumphs in its ideal form. The face is divided into three parts equal in length: forehead, nose and lower part. Correct, gentle oval. The straight line of the nose continues the line of the forehead and forms a perpendicular to the line drawn from the beginning of the nose to the opening of the ear (right facial angle). Oblong section of rather deeply seated eyes. A small mouth, full protruding lips, the upper lip is thinner than the lower one and has a beautiful, flowing cupid-like onion cut. The chin is large and round. Wavy hair softly and tightly wraps around the head, without interfering with seeing the rounded shape of the skull.

This classical beauty may seem monotonous, but being an expressive "natural appearance of the spirit", it lends itself to variation and is capable of embodying various types of the antique ideal. A little more energy in the lips, in the chin protruding forward - before us is a strict virgin Athena. More softness in the outlines of the cheeks, the lips are slightly half-open, the eye sockets are shaded - before us is the sensual face of Aphrodite. The oval of the face is closer to the square, the neck is thicker, the lips are larger - this is already the image of a young athlete. And the basis is still the same strictly proportional classic look.

However, there is no place in it for something, from our point of view, very important: the charm of the uniquely individual, the beauty of the wrong, the triumph of the spiritual principle over bodily imperfection. The ancient Greeks could not give this, for this the initial monism of spirit and body had to be broken, and the aesthetic consciousness had to enter the stage of their separation - dualism - which happened much later. But Greek art also gradually evolved towards individualization and open emotionality, concreteness of experiences and specificity, which became obvious already in the era of the late classics, in the 4th century BC. e.

At the end of the 5th century BC. e. the political power of Athens was shaken, undermined by the long Peloponnesian war. At the head of the opponents of Athens was Sparta; it was supported by other states of the Peloponnese and financial assistance was provided by Persia. Athens lost the war and was forced to conclude an unprofitable peace; they retained their independence, but the Athenian maritime union collapsed, financial reserves dried up, and the internal contradictions of the polis intensified. Athenian democracy managed to resist, but democratic ideals tarnished, free expression of will began to be suppressed by cruel measures, an example of which is the trial of Socrates (in 399 BC), which sentenced the philosopher to death. The spirit of close-knit citizenship is weakening, personal interests and experiences are isolated from social ones, the instability of being is felt more alarmingly. Critical sentiments are growing. A person, according to the covenant of Socrates, begins to strive to "know himself" - himself as a person, and not only as a part of a social whole. The work of the great playwright Euripides is directed towards the knowledge of human nature and characters, whose personality principle is much more emphasized than that of his older contemporary Sophocles. According to Aristotle's definition, Sophocles "represents people as they should be, and Euripides as they really are."

In the plastic arts, generalized images still predominate. But the spiritual fortitude and vigorous energy that the art of the early and mature classics breathes gradually gives way to the dramatic pathos of Scopas or the lyrical, with a touch of melancholy, contemplation of Praxiteles. Scopas, Praxitel and Lysippos - these names are associated in our view not so much with certain artistic individuals (their biographies are unclear, and their original works have hardly survived), as with the main currents of the late classics. Just like Miron, Polycletus and Phidias embody the features of mature classics.

And again, indicators of changes in the outlook are plastic motives. The characteristic posture of the standing figure changes. In the archaic era, the statues stood completely straight, frontally. Mature classics animate and animate them with balanced, fluid movements, maintaining balance and stability. And the statues of Praxiteles - the resting Satyr, Apollo Saurocton - with lazy grace lean on the pillars, without them they would have to fall.

The thigh is very strongly arched on one side, and the shoulder is lowered towards the thigh - Rodin compares this body position to a harmonica, when the bellows are compressed on one side and apart on the other. External support is required for balance. This is a dreamy resting pose. Praxiteles follows the traditions of Polycletus, uses the motives of movements he found, but develops them in such a way that a different inner content shines through in them. The "wounded Amazon" Polycletai also leans on a half-column, but she could have resisted without it, her strong, energetic body, even suffering from a wound, stands firmly on the ground. Apollo Praxiteles is not struck by an arrow, he himself aims at a lizard running along a tree trunk - the action, it would seem, requires strong-willed composure, nevertheless his body is unstable, like an oscillating stem. And this is not an accidental particularity, not a whim of a sculptor, but a kind of new canon in which a changed view of the world finds expression.

However, not only the nature of movements and postures changed in the sculpture of the 4th century BC. e. Praxiteles has a different circle of favorite themes, he moves away from heroic plots into the "light world of Aphrodite and Eros". He sculpted the famous statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus.

Praxitel and the artists of his circle did not like to depict the muscular torsos of athletes, they were attracted by the delicate beauty of the female body with soft flow of volumes. They preferred the type of adolescent - distinguished by "the first youthful beauty, effeminate." Praxitel was famous for his particular softness of sculpting and mastery of material processing, the ability to transmit the warmth of a living body in cold marble2.

The only surviving original of Praxiteles is considered to be the marble statue "Hermes with Dionysus" found in Olympia. Naked Hermes, leaning on a tree trunk, where his cloak is carelessly thrown, holds on one bent hand a little Dionysus, and in the other - a bunch of grapes, to which a child is reaching (the hand holding the grapes is lost). All the charm of the pictorial processing of marble is in this statue, especially in the head of Hermes: the transitions of light and shadow, the subtlest "sfumato" (haze), which, many centuries later, was achieved in Leonardo da Vinci's painting.

All other works of the master are known only from references to ancient authors and later copies. But the spirit of Praxiteles' art blows over the 4th century BC. e., and best of all it can be felt not in Roman copies, but in small Greek sculptures, in Tanager clay figurines. They were produced in large numbers at the end of the century, it was a kind of mass production with the main center in Tanagra. (A very good collection of them is kept in the Leningrad Hermitage.) Some figurines reproduce well-known large statues, others simply give various free variations of the draped female figure... The living grace of these figures, dreamy, pensive, playful, is an echo of Praxiteles' art.

Almost as little remains of the original works of the cutter Scopas, an older contemporary and antagonist of Praxiteles. Remains of wreckage. But the wreckage says a lot. Behind them stands the image of a passionate, fiery, pathetic artist.

He was not only a sculptor, but also an architect. As an architect, Skopas created the Temple of Athena in Tegea and he also supervised its sculptural decoration. The temple itself was destroyed a long time ago, by the Goths; some fragments of sculptures were found during excavations, among them a remarkable head of a wounded warrior. There were no others like her in the art of the 5th century BC. e., there was no such dramatic expression in the turn of the head, such suffering in the face, in the gaze, such mental tension. In his name, the harmonic canon adopted in Greek sculpture has been violated: the eyes are set too deep and the fracture of the brow arches is discordant with the outlines of the eyelids.

Partially preserved reliefs on the frieze of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, a unique structure, ranked in ancient times as one of the seven wonders of the world: the peripter was erected on a high plinth and crowned with a pyramidal roof. Frieze depicted the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons - male warriors with female warriors. Skopas did not work on it alone, together with three sculptors, but, guided by the instructions of Pliny, who described the mausoleum, and the style analysis, the researchers determined which parts of the frieze were made in the Skopas workshop. More than others, they convey the intoxicated ardor of battle, "ecstasy in battle," when both men and women surrender to him with equal passion. The movements of the figures are impetuous and almost lose their balance, directed not only parallel to the plane, but also inward, into the depth: Scopas introduces a new sense of space.

"Menada" enjoyed great fame among contemporaries. Scopas depicted a storm of Dionysian dance straining the entire body of Maenada, convulsively arching her torso, throwing her head back. The statue of the Maenada is not designed for a frontal view, it must be viewed from different angles, each point of view reveals something new: either the body is likened by its arch to a stretched bow, then it seems to be curved in a spiral, like a tongue of flame. One involuntarily thinks: Dionysian orgies must have been serious, not just amusements, but really "crazy games". The Mysteries of Dionysus were allowed to be held only once every two years and only on Parnassus, but at that time the frantic Bacchantes rejected all conventions and prohibitions. To the beat of tambourines, to the sound of tympans, they rushed and whirled in ecstasy, driving themselves to a frenzy, loosening their hair, tearing their clothes. Menada Skopasa was holding a knife in her hand, and on her shoulder was a kid she had torn to pieces 3.

The Dionysian festivals were a very ancient custom, like the cult of Dionysus itself, but in art the Dionysian element had never broken through with such force, with such openness, as in the statue of Scopas, and this is obviously a symptom of the times. Now clouds were gathering over Hellas, and the rational clarity of the spirit was disturbed by the desire to forget, to throw off the fetters of restrictions. Art, like a sensitive membrane, responded to changes in the public atmosphere and transformed its signals into its own sounds, its own rhythms. The melancholic languor of Praxiteles' creations and the dramatic impulses of Scopas are just different reactions to the general spirit of the times.

The circle of Skopas, and possibly himself, owns a marble tombstone of a young man. To the right of the young man stands his old father with an expression of deep thought, one feels that he is wondering: why did his son leave in the prime of his youth, and he, the old man, stayed to live? The son looks in front of him and no longer seems to notice his father; he is far from here, in the carefree Champs Elysees - the abode of the blessed.

The dog at his feet is one of the symbols of the afterlife.

Here it is appropriate to say about Greek tombstones in general. Relatively many of them have survived, from the 5th, and mainly from the 4th century BC. e .; their creators are usually unknown. Sometimes the relief of the gravestone stela depicts only one figure - the deceased, but more often his relatives are depicted next to him, one or two, who say goodbye to him. In these scenes of farewell and parting, intense sorrow and grief are never expressed, but only quiet; sad reverie. Death is peace; the Greeks personified her not in a terrible skeleton, but in the figure of a boy - Thanatos, the twin of Hypnos - a dream. The sleeping baby is also depicted on the young man's tombstone, in the corner at his feet. The surviving relatives look at the deceased, wanting to capture his features in the memory, sometimes take his hand; he (or she) himself does not look at them, and in his figure one can feel relaxation, detachment. In the famous tombstone of Gegeso (late 5th century BC), a standing servant gives her mistress, who is sitting in an armchair, a box of jewels, Gegeso takes a necklace from it with a familiar, automatic movement, but she looks absent and drooping.

Genuine 4th century BC tombstone e. the works of the Attic master can be seen in the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin. This is the tombstone of a warrior - he holds a spear in his hand, next to him is his horse. But the posture is not at all belligerent, the limbs are relaxed, the head is down. On the other side of the horse stands a farewell; he is sad, but one cannot be mistaken in which of the two figures depicts the deceased, and which of the living, although they seem to be similar and of the same type; Greek masters knew how to make the deceased feel the transition to the valley of shadows.

Lyrical scenes of the last farewell were also depicted on burial urns, where they are more laconic, sometimes just two figures - a man and a woman - shaking hands with each other.

But even here you can always see which of them belongs to the kingdom of the dead.

There is a kind of special chastity of feeling in the Greek tombstones with their noble restraint in the expression of sadness, something completely opposite to the Bacchic ecstasy. The tombstone of the young man attributed to Scopas does not violate this tradition; it stands out from others, in addition to its high plastic qualities, only by the philosophical depth of the image of the pensive old man.

For all the opposite artistic natures of Scopas and Praxiteles, they both have what can be called an increase in pictoriality in plastic - the effects of chiaroscuro, thanks to which the marble seems alive, which is emphasized every time by Greek epigrammatists. Both masters preferred marble to bronze (while bronze predominated in sculpture of the early classics) and achieved perfection in the processing of its surface. The strength of the produced impression was facilitated by the special qualities of the types of marble used by the sculptors: transparency and luminosity. Parian marble allowed light to pass through 3.5 centimeters. Statues made of this noble material looked both human-alive and divinely incorruptible. Compared with the works of the early and mature classics, the late classical sculptures lose something, they lack the simple grandeur of the Delphic "Aurigae", there is no monumentality of the Phidian statues, but they gain in vitality.

History has preserved many more names of outstanding sculptors of the 4th century BC. e. Some of them, cultivating the likeness of life, brought it to the point beyond which genre and specificity begin, anticipating the tendencies of Hellenism. This distinguished Demetrius of Alopeca. He attached little importance to beauty and deliberately sought to portray people as they are, without hiding large bellies and bald patches. His specialty was portraits. Demetrius made a portrait of the philosopher Antisthenes, polemically directed against the idealizing portraits of the 5th century BC. e., - his Antisthenes is old, flabby and toothless. The sculptor could not inspire ugliness, make it charming, such a task was impracticable within the bounds of ancient aesthetics. Ugliness was understood and portrayed simply as a physical handicap.

Others, on the contrary, tried to support and cultivate the traditions of mature classics, enriching them with great grace and complexity of plastic motives. This path was followed by Leochares, who created the statue of Apollo Belvedere, which became the standard of beauty for many generations of neoclassicists until the end of the twentieth century. Johann Winckelmann, author of the first scientific History of the Art of Antiquity, wrote: "Imagination cannot create anything that surpasses the Vatican Apollo with its more than human proportionality of a beautiful deity." For a long time this statue was regarded as the pinnacle of ancient art, the "Belvedere idol" was synonymous with aesthetic perfection. As is often the case, over-praise has over time produced the opposite reaction. When the study of ancient art advanced far ahead and many of its monuments were discovered, the exaggerated assessment of the statue of Leochares was replaced by an understated one: they began to find it pompous and mannered. Meanwhile, Apollo Belvedere is a truly outstanding work in terms of its plastic qualities; in the figure and gait of the ruler of the muses, strength and grace, energy and lightness are combined, walking on the ground, he also soars above the ground. Moreover, his movement, in the words of the Soviet art critic BR Vipper, "is not concentrated in one direction, but as if rays diverge in different directions." To achieve this effect, it took the exquisite skill of a sculptor; the only trouble is that the calculation for the effect is too obvious. Apollo Leohara invites you to admire its beauty, while the beauty of the best classical statues does not make itself known to everyone: they are beautiful, but they do not show off. Even the Aphrodite of Cnidus Praxiteles wants to hide rather than demonstrate the sensual charm of her nakedness, and earlier classical statues are filled with calm self-satisfaction, excluding any demonstrativeness. Therefore, it should be recognized that in the statue of Apollo Belvedere, the antique ideal begins to become something external, less organic, although in its way this sculpture is remarkable and marks a high level of virtuoso skill.

The last one took a big step towards "naturalness" great sculptor Greek classics - Lysippos. Researchers attribute him to the Argos school and claim that he had a completely different direction than in the Athenian school. In fact, he was a direct follower of her, but, having adopted her traditions, he stepped further. In his youth, the artist Evpompus answered his question: "Which teacher to choose?" - answered, pointing to the crowd crowding the mountain: "Here is the only teacher: nature."

These words sunk deep into the soul of the genius young man, and he, not trusting the authority of the Polikletovian canon, took up an accurate study of nature. Before him, people were sculpted in accordance with the principles of the canon, that is, in full confidence that true beauty consists in the proportionality of all forms and in the proportion of people of average height. Lysippos preferred a tall, slender figure. His limbs have become lighter, the stature is higher.

Unlike Scopas and Praxiteles, he worked exclusively in bronze: fragile marble requires a stable balance, and Lysippos created statues and statuary groups in states of dynamic, in complex actions. He was inexhaustiblely varied in the invention of plastic motifs and was very prolific; they said that after the end of each sculpture he put a gold coin in the piggy bank, and in total in this way he had one and a half thousand coins, that is, he allegedly made one and a half thousand statues, some of very large sizes, including a 20-meter statue of Zeus. Not a single piece of his work has survived, but a fairly large number of copies and repetitions, dating back either to the originals of Lysippos, or to his school, give an approximate idea of ​​the master's style. In terms of plot, he clearly preferred male figures, as he loved to portray the difficult exploits of their husbands; his favorite hero was Hercules. In understanding the plastic form, Lysippos' innovative conquest was the reversal of the figure in the space surrounding it from all sides; in other words, he did not think of the statue against the background of any plane and did not assume one, the main point of view from which it should be looked, but counted on walking around the statue. We have seen that Scopas's "Menad" was already built on the same principle. But what was an exception among the former sculptors, became the rule for Lysippos. Accordingly, he gave his figures effective poses, complex turns, and processed them with equal care, not only from the front, but also from the back.

In addition, Lysippos created a new sense of time in sculpture. The old classical statues, even if their poses were dynamic, looked unaffected by the flow of time, they were outside of it, they were, they were at rest. Lysippos' heroes live in the same real time as living people, their actions are included in time and transient, the presented moment is ready to be replaced by another. Of course, Lysippos had predecessors here too: we can say that he continued the traditions of Myron. But even the Discobolus of the latter is so balanced and clear in its silhouette that it seems to be "abiding" and static in comparison with Hercules Lysippos, fighting a lion, or Hermes, who for a minute (just for a minute!) Sat down to rest on a roadside stone, in order to continue flying on its winged sandals.

Whether the originals of the named sculptures belonged to Lysippos himself or to his students and assistants is not established for sure, but undoubtedly he himself made the statue of Apoxyomenos, a marble copy of which is in the Vatican Museum. A young naked athlete, arms outstretched, scrapes off the adhering dust with a scraper. He was tired after the struggle, slightly relaxed, even as if staggering, spreading his legs apart for stability. Strands of hair, treated very naturally, adhered to the sweaty forehead. The sculptor did his best to give maximum naturalness within the framework of the traditional canon. However, the canon itself has been revised. If we compare Apoxyomenos with Doriforos Polykleitos, it can be seen that the proportions of the body have changed: the head is smaller, the legs are longer. Dorifor is heavier and more stocky than the lithe and slender Apoxyomenos.

Lysippos was the court painter of Alexander the Great and painted a number of his portraits. There is no flattery or artificial glorification in them; The head of Alexander preserved in a Hellenistic copy is executed in the traditions of Scopas, somewhat resembling the head of a wounded warrior. This is the face of a person who lives tensely and hard, who does not easily get his victories. Lips half-open, as if breathing heavily, wrinkles appeared on the forehead, despite its youth. However, the classic face type with proportions and features legalized by tradition has been preserved.

Lysippos' art occupies a border zone at the turn of the classical and Hellenistic eras. It is still true to classical concepts, but already undermines them from the inside, creating the basis for the transition to something different, more relaxed and more prosaic. In this sense, the head of a fist fighter is indicative, which does not belong to Lysippos, but, possibly, to his brother Lysistratus, who was also a sculptor and, as they said, was the first to use masks removed from the model's face for portraits (which was widespread in Ancient Egypt, but Greek art is completely alien). It is possible that the head of the fist fighter was also made with the help of the mask; it is far from the canon, far from the ideal ideas of physical perfection, which the Greeks embodied in the image of an athlete. This winner in fistfighting is not in the least like a demigod, just an entertainer of the idle crowd. His face is rough, his nose is flattened, his ears are swollen. This type of "naturalistic" images later became widespread in Hellenism; An even more unsightly fist fighter was sculpted by the Attic sculptor Apollonius already in the 1st century BC. e.

That which in advance cast shadows on the bright structure of the Hellenic world outlook came at the end of the 4th century BC. e .: decomposition and death of a democratic polis. This was initiated by the rise of Macedonia, the northern region of Greece, and the de facto seizure of all Greek states by the Macedonian king Philip II. In the battle of Chaeronea (in 338 BC), where the troops of the Greek anti-Macedonian coalition were defeated, the 18-year-old son of Philip, Alexander, the future great conqueror, took part. Beginning with a victorious campaign against the Persians, Alexander pushed his army further east, capturing cities and founding new ones; as a result of a ten-year campaign, a huge monarchy was created, stretching from the Danube to the Indus.

Alexander the Great, in his youth, tasted the fruits of the highest Greek culture. His tutor was the great philosopher Aristotle, the court artists were Lysippos and Apelles. This did not prevent him, having seized the Persian state and taking the throne of the Egyptian pharaohs, declaring himself a god and demanding that he and in Greece be given divine honors. Unaccustomed to Eastern customs, the Greeks, laughing, said: "Well, if Alexander wants to be a god - let him be" - and officially recognized him as the son of Zeus. The orientalization that Alexander began to instill was, however, a matter more serious than the whim of the conqueror, intoxicated with victories. It was a symptom of the historical turn of ancient society from the slave-owning democracy to the form that had existed since ancient times in the East - to the slave-owning monarchy. After the death of Alexander (and he died young), his colossal but fragile state disintegrated, the spheres of influence were divided among themselves by his military leaders, the so-called diadochi - successors. The newly emerging states under their rule were no longer Greek, but Greek-Eastern. The era of Hellenism has come - the unification of the Hellenic and Eastern cultures under the auspices of the monarchy.

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

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

Aphrodite of Milo

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

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

Today, after careful restoration, Aphrodite is exhibited in the Parisian Louvre, attracting millions of tourists with her natural beauty every year.

Nika of Samothrace

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

The head and arms have not survived, although fragments were unearthed during excavations in 1950. In particular, Karl Lehmann with a group of archaeologists found the right hand of the goddess. Nika of Samothrace is now one of the outstanding exhibits of the Louvre. Her hand was never added to the general display; only the right wing, which was made of plaster, was restored.

Laocoon and his sons

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

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

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

Zeus from Cape Artemision

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

The statue has a height of 2.09 m, and depicts the supreme walnut god, who raised his right hand in order to throw lightning in righteous anger. The lightning itself has not survived, but the numerous smaller figures show that it looked like a flat, highly elongated bronze disc.

After almost two thousand years of being under water, the statue was hardly damaged. Only the eyes disappeared, which were supposedly ivory and inlaid with precious stones. You can see this work of art in the National Archaeological Museum, which is located in Athens.

Statue of Diadumen

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

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

Aphrodite Braschi

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

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

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

Marathon youth

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

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

Discus thrower

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

Delphic charioteer

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

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

The time of the sculpture's creation, in theory, is at the junction of the archaic and the early classics - her pose is characterized by stiffness and the absence of any hint of movement, but her head and face are made with quite a lot of realism. As with later sculptures.

Athena Parthenos

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

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

Greek culture has become a pioneer in the development of the visual arts around the world. Even today, considering some modern paintings and the statues can be found influenced by this ancient culture.

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

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

ancient greek sculpture classic

Ancient Greek sculpture of the Classical period

Speaking about the art of ancient civilizations, first of all we remember and study the art of Ancient Greece, and especially its sculpture. Indeed, in this small beautiful country, this kind of art has risen to such a height that it is considered the standard throughout the world to this day. Studying the sculptures of Ancient Greece allows us to better understand the worldview of the Greeks, their philosophy, ideals and aspirations. In sculpture, like nowhere else, an attitude towards a person is manifested, who in Ancient Greece was the measure of all things. It is sculpture that gives us the opportunity to judge the religious, philosophical and aesthetic ideas of the ancient Greeks. All this allows us to better understand the reasons for this rise, development and fall of this civilization.

The development of ancient Greek civilization is divided into several stages - eras. First, briefly, I will tell you about the Archaic era, as it preceded the classical era and "set the tone" in sculpture.

The archaic period is the beginning of the formation of ancient Greek sculpture. This era was also divided into the early archaic (650 - 580 BC), high (580 - 530 BC), and late (530 - 480 BC). The sculpture was the embodiment of the ideal person. She exalted his beauty, physical perfection. Early single sculptures are represented by two main types: the image of a naked young man - a kouros and a figure dressed in a long, tight-fitting girl's chiton - bark.

The sculpture of this era was very similar to the Egyptian ones. And this is not surprising: the Greeks, getting acquainted with the Egyptian culture and the cultures of other countries of the Ancient East, borrowed a lot, and in other cases discovered similarities between them. Certain canons were observed in the sculpture, therefore they were very geometric and static: a person takes a step forward, his shoulders are straightened, and his arms are lowered along the body, a silly smile always plays on his lips. In addition, the sculptures were painted: golden hair, blue eyes, pink cheeks.

At the beginning of the classical era, these canons are still in effect, but later the author begins to move away from statics, the sculpture acquires character, and an event, an action, often occurs.

Classical sculpture is the second era in the development of ancient Greek culture. It is also divided into stages: early classics or strict style (490 - 450 BC), high (450 - 420 BC), rich style (420 - 390 BC .), late classic (390 - c. 320 BC).

In the era of the early classics, a kind of life rethinking takes place. The sculpture takes on a heroic character. Art is freed from those rigid frameworks that fettered it in the archaic era, this is a time of searching for a new, intensive development of various schools and trends, creating diverse works. The two types of figures - the kouros and the bark - are being replaced by a much greater variety of types; sculptures strive to convey the complex movement of the human body.

All this is happening against the backdrop of the war with the Persians, and it was this war that changed ancient Greek thinking so much. The cultural centers were displaced and now these are the cities of Athens, the Northern Peloponnese and the Greek West. By that time, Greece had reached the highest point of economic, political and cultural recovery. Athens took a leading position in the alliance of Greek cities. Greek society was democratic, built on the basis of equal activity. All men inhabiting Athens, except for slaves, were equal citizens. And they all enjoyed the right to vote and could be elected to any public office. The Greeks were in harmony with nature and did not suppress their natural urges. Everything that the Greeks did was the property of the people. Statues stood in churches and squares, on palasters and on the seashore. They were present on the pediments, in the decorations of temples. As in the archaic era, sculptures were painted.

Unfortunately, Greek sculpture has come down to us mainly in rubble. Although, according to Plutarch, there was more statues than living people. Many statues have come down to us in Roman copies. But they are quite crude compared to the Greek originals.

One of the most famous sculptors of the early classics is Pythagoras of Regia. Few of his works have come down to us, and his works are known only from the references of ancient authors. Pythagoras became famous for the realistic depiction of human veins, veins and hair. Several Roman copies of his sculptures have survived: "The Boy Taking Out a Splinter", "Hyacinth" and others. In addition, he is credited with the famous bronze statue "Charioteer" found in Delphi. Pythagoras of Regia created several bronze statues of athletes who won the Olympic and Delphic Games. And he owns the statues of Apollo - the Pythono killer, the Abduction of Europa, Eteocles, Polynices and the Wounded Philoctetes.

It is known that Pythagoras of Regia was a contemporary and rival of Myron. This is another famous sculptor of that time. And he became famous as the greatest realist and connoisseur of anatomy. But with all this, Miron did not know how to give the faces of his works life and expression. Myron created statues of athletes - winners of competitions, reproduced famous heroes, gods and animals, especially perfectly portrayed difficult poses that looked very realistic.

The best example of such a sculpture of him is the world famous "Discobolus". Ancient writers also mention the famous sculpture of Marsyas with Athena. This famous sculptural group has come down to us in several copies. In addition to people, Miron also portrayed animals, his image of "Cow" is especially famous.

Mostly Myron worked in bronze, his works have not survived and are known from the testimony of ancient authors and Roman copies. He was also a master of toreutics - he made metal cups with relief images.

Another famous sculptor of this period is Kalamides. He performed marble, bronze and chryselephantine statues, and depicted mainly gods, female heroic figures and horses. The art of Kalamides can be judged by a copy of a later time that has come down to us with a statue of Hermes carrying a ram that he performed for Tanagra. The figure of the god himself is executed in the archaic style, with the immobility of posture and symmetry of the arrangement of the limbs characteristic of this style; but the ram carried by Hermes is already distinguished by a certain vitality.

In addition, the pediments and metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia are among the monuments of ancient Greek sculpture of the early classics. Another significant work of the early classics is the so-called "Throne of Ludovisi". This is a three-sided marble altar depicting the birth of Aphrodite, on the sides of the altar there are hetera and the bride, symbolizing different hypostases of love or images of serving the goddess.

High classics are represented by the names Phidias and Polykleitos. Its short-term flowering is associated with works on the Athenian Acropolis, that is, with the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. The pinnacle of ancient Greek sculpture was apparently the statues of Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus by Phidias.

Phidias is one of best representatives classical style, and about its significance suffice it to say that he is considered the founder of European art. The Attic school of sculpture headed by him occupied a leading place in the art of high classics.

Phidias possessed knowledge of the achievements of optics. There is a story about his rivalry with Alkamen: both were ordered statues of Athena, which were supposed to be erected on high columns. Phidias made his statue in accordance with the height of the column - on the ground, it seemed ugly and disproportionate. The goddess's neck was very long. When both statues were erected on high pedestals, the correctness of Phidias became obvious. They note the great skill of Phidias in the interpretation of clothing, in which he surpasses both Miron and Polycletus.

Most of his works have not survived, we can only judge about them from descriptions of ancient authors and copies. Nevertheless, his fame was colossal. And there were so many of them that what was left was already a lot. The most famous works of Phidias - Zeus and Athena Parthenos - were executed in the chrysoelephantine technique - gold and ivory.

The statue of Zeus in height, together with the pedestal, was, according to various sources, from 12 to 17 meters. Zeus' eyes were the size of a grown man's fist. A cape that covered part of Zeus's body, a scepter with an eagle in his left hand, a statue of the goddess Nike in his right and a wreath on his head are made of gold. Zeus sits on a throne, four dancing Nicky are depicted on the legs of the throne. Also depicted: centaurs, lapiths, the exploits of Theseus and Hercules, frescoes depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons.

The Athena Parthenon was, like the statue of Zeus, huge and made in the chryso-elephantine technique. Only the goddess, unlike her father, did not sit on the throne, but stood in full growth. “Athena herself is made of ivory and gold ... The statue depicts her in full growth in a tunic to the very feet, on her chest is the head of Medusa made of ivory, in her hand she holds an image of Nika, about four cubits in length, and in the other hand - - a spear. At her feet lies a shield, and near the spear a serpent; this snake is probably Erichthonius. " (Description of Hellas, XXIV, 7).

The goddess's helmet had three combs: the middle one with a sphinx, the side ones with griffins. According to Pliny the Elder, a battle with the Amazons was engraved on the outside of the shield, the battle of the gods with giants was on the inside, and the image of centauromachy was on the sandals of Athena. The base was decorated with a story with Pandora. The goddess's chiton, her shield, sandals, helmet and jewelry are all made of gold.

On marble copies, the hand of the goddess with Nika is supported by a pillar, whether it existed in the original is the subject of much controversy. Nika seems tiny; in reality, her height was 2 meters.

Athena Promachos is a colossal depiction of the goddess Athena brandishing a spear on the Athenian Acropolis. Erected to commemorate the victories over the Persians. Its height reached 18.5 meters and towered over all the surrounding buildings, shining from afar over the city. Unfortunately, this bronze goddess has not survived to this day. And we know about it only from chronicle sources.

Athena Lemnia - a bronze statue of the goddess Athena, created by Phidias, is also known to us from copies. This bronze statue depicts a goddess leaning on a spear. Named - from the island of Lemnos, for the inhabitants of which it was made.

The wounded Amazon, the statue that came second in the famous sculptor competition for the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. In addition to the above sculptures, Phidias is credited with others, in terms of stylistic similarity: a statue of Demeter, a statue of Cora, a relief from Eleusis, Anadumen (a young man tying a band around his head), Hermes Ludovisi, Apollo of Tiber, Apollo of Kassel.

Despite his talent, or rather a divine gift, Phidias, his relationship with the inhabitants of Athens was not at all warm. As Plutarch writes, in his "Life of Pericles", Phidias was the main adviser and assistant to Pericles (Athenian politician, famous orator and commander).

“Since he was a friend of Pericles and enjoyed great authority with him, he had many personal enemies and envious people. They persuaded one of Phidias' assistants, Menon, to denounce Phidias and accuse him of theft. Envy of the fame of his works gravitated over Phidias ... When his case was examined in the National Assembly, there was no evidence of theft. But Phidias was sent to prison and died of illness there. "

Polycletus the Elder is an ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist, a contemporary of Phidias. Unlike Phidias, he was not so large. However, his sculpture has a certain character: Polycletus liked to portray athletes at rest, specialized in portraying athletes, Olympic winners. He was the first to think of giving the figures such a setting so that they rest on the lower part of only one leg. Polyclet knew how to show the human body in a state of balance - his human figure at rest or at a slow pace seems mobile and lively. An example of this is the famous statue of Polycletus "Dorifor" (spear-bearer). It is in this work that Polycletus' ideas about the ideal proportions of the human body, which are numerically with each other, are embodied. It was believed that the figure was created on the basis of the provisions of Pythagoreanism, therefore, in ancient times, the statue of Dorifor was often called the "canon of Polycletus". The forms of this statue are repeated in most of the works of the sculptor and his school. The distance from the chin to the crown of the statues of Polycletus is one seventh, while the distance from the eyes to the chin is one sixteenth, and the height of the face is one tenth of the whole figure. Polycletus is strongly associated with the Pythagorean tradition. "The Canon of Polycletus" is a theoretical treatise by the sculptor, created by Polycletus so that other artists can use it. Indeed, the Canon of Polycletus had a great influence on European culture, despite the fact that only two fragments have survived from the theoretical composition, information about it is fragmentary, and the mathematical basis has not yet been finally derived.

In addition to the spearman, other works of the sculptor are known: "Diadumenus" ("A young man tying a bandage"), "Wounded Amazon", a colossal statue of Hera in Argos. It was performed in the chryso-elephantine technique and was perceived as a pandanus to Zeus Olympian Phidias, "Discopor" ("A young man holding a disc"). Unfortunately, these sculptures have survived only in ancient Roman copies.

At the stage "Rich Style" we know the names of such sculptors as Alkamen, Agorakrit, Callimachus, etc.

Alkamenus, Greek sculptor, apprentice, rival and successor to Phidias. It was believed that Alkamen was not inferior to Phidias, and after the death of the latter, he became the leading sculptor in Athens. His Hermes in the form of a herm (a pillar surmounted by the head of Hermes) is known in many copies. Nearby, near the temple of Athena Nike, there was a statue of Hecate, which was in the form of three figures connected by backs. On the Acropolis of Athens, a group belonging to Alkamen was also found - Prokna, who raised a knife over their son Itis, who is looking for salvation in the folds of her clothes. In the sanctuary on the slope of the Acropolis, there was a statue of a seated Dionysus belonging to Alkamen. Alkamen also created a statue of Ares for the temple in the agora and a statue of Hephaestus for the temple of Hephaestus and Athena.

Alkamen defeated Agorakritus in the competition to create a statue of Aphrodite. However, even more famous is the seated "Aphrodite in the Gardens" at the northern foot of the Acropolis. She is depicted in many red-figure Attic vases, surrounded by Eros, Peyto and other embodiments of the happiness that love brings. Often repeated by ancient copyists, the head called "Sappho" was possibly copied from this statue. Alkamen's last work is a colossal relief with Hercules and Athena. Alkamen probably died soon after.

Agorakrit was also a pupil of Phidias, and, as they say, beloved. He, like Alkamen, participated in the creation of the frieze of the Parthenon. Two of the most famous works of Agorakrit are the cult statue of the goddess Nemesis (altered after the duel with Alkamen Athena), donated to the Ramnos temple and the statue of the Mother of the Gods in Athens (sometimes attributed to Phidias). Of the works mentioned by ancient authors, only the statues of Zeus-Hades and Athena in Coronea undoubtedly belonged to Agoracritus. Of his works, only a part of the head of the colossal statue of Nemesis and fragments of reliefs that adorned the base of this statue have survived. According to Pausanias, young Helen (daughter of Nemesis) was depicted on the base, with Leda, her husband, Menelaus, and other relatives of Helen and Menelaus.

The general character of sculpture in the late classics was determined by the development of realistic tendencies.

Scopas is one of the largest sculptors of this period. Skopas, preserving the traditions of monumental art of the high classics, saturates his works with drama, he reveals the complex feelings and experiences of a person. The heroes of Skopas continue to embody the perfect qualities of strong and valiant people. However, Skopas introduces the theme of suffering, internal breakdown into the art of sculpture. These are the images of wounded soldiers from the pediments of the temple of Athena Alei in Tegea. Plastic, sharp restless play of light and shade emphasizes the drama of what is happening.

Skopas preferred to work in marble, almost abandoning the material, beloved by the masters of the high classics, - bronze. Marble made it possible to convey a subtle play of light and shadow, a variety of textured contrasts. His Menad (Bacchante), which has survived in a small damaged antique copy, embodies the image of a man possessed by a violent outburst of passion. The Maenada's dance is swift, her head is thrown back, her hair falls in a heavy wave on her shoulders. The movement of the curved folds of her tunic accentuates the impetuous rush of the body.

The images of Skopas are sometimes deeply thoughtful, like a young man from the tombstone of the Ilissa River, sometimes alive and passionate.

The original preserved the frieze of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons.

The impact of Scopas's art on the further development of Greek plastic art was enormous, and it can only be compared with the impact of the art of his contemporary, Praxiteles.

In his work, Praxitel refers to images imbued with the spirit of clear and pure harmony, calm thoughtfulness, serene contemplation. Praxiteles and Skopas complement each other, revealing the various states and feelings of a person, his inner world.

Depicting harmoniously developed, beautiful heroes, Praxitel also reveals connections with the art of high classics, but his images lose that heroism and monumental grandeur of the works of the heyday, however, they acquire a more lyrically refined and contemplative character.

The mastery of Praxiteles is most fully revealed in the marble group "Hermes with Dionysus". The graceful curve of the figure, the relaxed posture of resting a young slender body, the beautiful, soulful face of Hermes are conveyed with great skill.

Praxiteles created a new ideal of female beauty, embodying it in the image of Aphrodite, who is depicted at the moment when, taking off her clothes, she is about to step into the water. Although the sculpture was intended for cult purposes, the image of the beautiful naked goddess was freed from solemn majesty. "Aphrodite of Cnidus" caused many repetitions in subsequent times, but none of them could compare with the original.

The sculpture "Apollo Saurocton" is an image of a graceful teenage boy who is aiming at a lizard running along a tree trunk. Praxitel rethinks mythological images, features of everyday life, elements of the genre appear in them.

If in the art of Scopas and Praxiteles, connections with the principles of the art of the high classics are still tangible, then in artistic culture, in the last third of the 4th century. BC e., these ties are increasingly weakening.

Macedonia is of great importance in the social and political life of the ancient world. Just as the war with the Persians changed and rethought the culture of Greece at the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. After the victorious campaigns of Alexander the Great and his conquest of the Greek city-states, and then the vast territories of Asia that became part of the Macedonian state, a new stage in the development of ancient society begins - the period of Hellenism. The transition period from the late classics to the Hellenistic period proper is distinguished by its peculiar features.

Lysippos is the last great master late classics. His work unfolds in the 40s and 30s. V century BC e., during the reign of Alexander the Great. In the art of Lysippos, as well as in the work of his great predecessors, the task of revealing human experiences was solved. He began to introduce more clearly expressed features of age, occupation. New in the work of Lysippos is his interest in the characteristically expressive in man, as well as the expansion of the pictorial possibilities of sculpture.

Lysippos embodied his understanding of the image of a person in the sculpture of a young man, scraper cleaning sand from himself after the competition - "Apoxyomenus", which he depicts not in a moment of exertion, but in a state of fatigue. The slender figure of the athlete is shown in a complex spread that forces the viewer to walk around the sculpture. The movement is freely deployed in space. The face expresses fatigue, deep-set, shaded eyes gaze into the distance.

Lysippos skillfully conveys the transition from a state of rest to action and vice versa. This is the image of Hermes at rest.

The work of Lysippos was of great importance for the development of the portrait. In the portraits of Alexander the Great he created, there is a deep interest in revealing the hero's spiritual world. Most notable is the marble head of Alexander, which conveys his complex, contradictory nature.

Lysippos' art occupies a border zone at the turn of the classical and Hellenistic eras. It is still true to classical concepts, but already undermines them from the inside, creating the basis for the transition to something different, more relaxed and more prosaic. In this sense, the head of a fist fighter is indicative, which does not belong to Lysippos, but, possibly, to his brother Lysistratus, who was also a sculptor and, as they said, was the first to use masks removed from the model's face for portraits (which was widespread in Ancient Egypt, but Greek art is completely alien). It is possible that the head of the fist fighter was also made with the help of the mask; it is far from the canon, far from the ideal ideas of physical perfection, which the Greeks embodied in the image of an athlete. This winner in fistfighting is not in the least like a demigod, just an entertainer of the idle crowd. His face is rough, his nose is flattened, his ears are swollen. This type of "naturalistic" images later became widespread in Hellenism; An even more unsightly fist fighter was sculpted by the Attic sculptor Apollonius already in the 1st century BC. e.

That which in advance cast shadows on the bright structure of the Hellenic world outlook came at the end of the 4th century BC. e .: decomposition and death of a democratic polis. This was initiated by the rise of Macedonia, the northern region of Greece, and the de facto seizure of all Greek states by the Macedonian king Philip II.

Alexander the Great, in his youth, tasted the fruits of the highest Greek culture. His tutor was the great philosopher Aristotle, the court artists were Lysippos and Apelles. This did not prevent him, having seized the Persian state and taking the throne of the Egyptian pharaohs, declaring himself a god and demanding that he and in Greece be given divine honors. Unaccustomed to Eastern customs, the Greeks, laughing, said: "Well, if Alexander wants to be a god - let him be" - and officially recognized him as the son of Zeus. However, the Greek democracy on which its culture grew, died under Alexander and did not revive after his death. The newly emerged state was no longer Greek, but Greek-Eastern. The era of Hellenism has come - the unification of the Hellenic and Eastern cultures under the auspices of the monarchy.