History, Modern -- 19th century; Nineteenth century
From these studies, full of detail and controversy, we may briefly sum
up the characteristics of the principal artists and their imitators. At
about 440 B. C. Pheidias showed in the Parthenon the highest expression
of divine and mythic forms, in a simple and heroic style which was
never equalled. Half a century later Polykleitos followed a more human
expression, using motives (as in the Doryphoros), but yet portraying an
abstract humanity. By 330 B. C. Praxiteles brought the expression of
moods to his works, graceful, animated, and with a full ripeness, as
in the Hermes of Olympia, or the Faun. Skopas, slightly later, marked
his work by his great vigor and strong personality. This was the second
turning-point, when ripeness passed into decay; and in Lysippos there
is mere vivid naturalism and an impressionist manner without much soul
or thought, as in his Apoxyomenos, about 330 B. C. After this mere
triviality and genre subjects are usual, portraiture is a common aim,
and dignity was vainly striven for in colossal size. The glorification
of showing dead and vanquished enemies is seen in the Dying Gaul and
figures of slain foes at Pergamon. Later on, about 180 B. C., we
see the violent, complicated, and straining action of the figures
around the great altar of Pergamon, which also appears in the groups
of the Laocoon and Farnese Bull. In the Græco-Roman age a conscious
artificiality took the place of life and expression, as we see in the
Apollo Belvidere, the Venus di Medici, and the Farnese Hercules. Art
was saved in the first century A. D. by the devotion of portraiture,
which gave a sense of reality and conviction which is entirely absent
in the imaginative works. Lastly, a painstaking study and admiration of
earlier works led, under the wealthy patronage of Hadrian (130 A. D.),
to an eclectic revival which was wholly artificial, and passed away
within a generation. We have fixed on sculpture as the most complete
expression of Greek art; in other directions there is neither enough
material nor enough research to give us a connected view. Not a single
town, hardly a single house, in Greece has been excavated; there is no
consecutive knowledge of the ordinary products and objects of life;
and there is very little recorded of the discoveries of the tombs. The
artistic interest of the sculpture and architecture has starved other
branches of archæology, and for Greece more remains to be done than for
some less celebrated lands.
ITALY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account