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{{MainShort description|Ancient Greek sculpture}}▼
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
▲{{Main|Ancient Greek sculpture}}
[[File:A well-preserved Roman period copy of the Doryphoros of Polykleitos cast circa 440 BC, from the time of Tiberius (14-37 AD), found in Pompeii, Moi, Auguste, Empereur de Rome exhibition, Grand Palais, Paris.jpg|thumb|446x446px|The ''[[Doryphoros]]'', by [[Polykleitos]], paradigm of the classical male canon. Copy in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples|National Archaeological Museum of Naples]]]]
'''Classical Greek sculpture''' has long been regarded as the highest point in the development of [[Sculpture|sculptural]] art in [[Ancient Greece]], becoming almost synonymous with "Greek sculpture". The ''Canon'', a treatise on the proportions of the human body written by [[Polykleitos]] around 450 B.C., is generally considered its starting point, and its end marked with the conquest of Greece by the [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] in 338 B.C., when [[Ancient Greek art|Greek art]] began a great diffusion to the East, from where it received influences, changed its character, and became cosmopolitan. This phase is known as the [[Hellenistic period]]. In this period, the tradition of Greek [[Classicism]] was consolidated, with Man being the new measure of the universe.
 
'''Classical Greek sculpture''' has long been regarded as the highest point in the development of [[Ancient Greek sculpture]]. [[Classical Greece]] covers only a short period in the history of [[Ancient Greece]], but one of remarkable achievement in several fields. It corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries BC; the most common dates are from the fall of the last [[Athenian tyranny|Athenian tyrant]] in 510 BC to the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BC. The Classical period in this sense follows the [[Greek Dark Ages]] and [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] and is in turn succeeded by the [[Hellenistic period]].<ref>WHITLEY, James. [https://books.google.com/books?id=njOKqvpRrh4C&dq=greece+%22classical+sculpture%22&pg=PA269 ''The Archaeology of Ancient Greece'']. Cambridge University Press, 2001. pp. 3–4</ref>
The sculpture of Classicism developed an aesthetic that combined idealistic values with a faithful representation of nature, while avoiding overly realistic characterization and the portrayal of emotional extremes, generally maintaining a formal atmosphere of balance and harmony. Even when the character is immersed in battle scenes, their expression shows to be hardly affected by the violence of the events.<ref name=":0">[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/530221/Western-sculpture/30347/The-Classical-period#ref=ref401159 "Western Sculpture: Ancient Greek – The Classical period – Early Classical (c. 500–450 bc)"]. ''Encyclopaedia Britannica On line''</ref><ref>BOARDMAN, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7fY2eCEFkKgC&dq=terracotta+%22neo-attic%22&pg=PA330 "Greek Art and Architecture"]. In BOARDMAN, John; GRIFFIN, Jasper & MURRAY, Oswin. ''The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World''. Oxford University Press, 1991. pp. 330–331</ref>▼
 
▲The sculpture of ClassicismClassical Greece developed an aesthetic that combined idealistic values with a faithful representation of nature, while avoiding overly realistic characterization and the portrayal of emotional extremes, generally maintaining a formal atmosphere of balance and harmony. Even when the character is immersed in battle scenes, their expression shows to be hardly affected by the violence of the events.<ref name=":0">[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/530221/Western-sculpture/30347/The-Classical-period#ref=ref401159 "Western Sculpture: Ancient Greek – The Classical period – Early Classical (c. 500–450 bc)"]. ''Encyclopaedia Britannica On line''</ref><ref>BOARDMAN, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7fY2eCEFkKgC&dq=terracotta+%22neo-attic%22&pg=PA330 "Greek Art and Architecture"]. In BOARDMAN, John; GRIFFIN, Jasper & MURRAY, Oswin. ''The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World''. Oxford University Press, 1991. pp. 330–331</ref>
Classicism raised Man to an unprecedented level of dignity, at the same time as it entrusted him with the responsibility of creating his own destiny, offering a model of harmonious life, in a spirit of comprehensive education for an exemplary citizenship. These values, together with their traditional association of beauty with [[virtue]], found in the sculpture of the Classical period with its idealized portrait of the human being, a particularly apt vehicle for expression, and an efficient instrument of [[Civic engagement|civic]], [[Ethics|ethical]] and [[Aesthetics|aesthetic]] education. With it, a new form of representation of the human body - influential to this day - began, being one of the cores of the birth of a new philosophical branch, Aesthetics, and the stylistic foundation of later [[Christian revival|revivalist]] movements of importance, such as the [[Renaissance]] and [[Neoclassicism]]. Thus, Classicism had an enormous impact on Western culture and became a reference for the study of Western [[art history]]. Apart from its historical value, Classicism's intrinsic artistic quality has had great impact, the vast majority of ancient and modern critics praising it vehemently, and the museums that preserve it being visited by millions of people every year. The sculpture of Greek Classicism, although sometimes the target of criticism that relates its ideological basis to racial prejudices, aesthetic dogmatism, and other particularities, still plays a positive and renovating role in contemporary art and society.<ref>HERSEY, George. [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=93794&sectioncode=26 "Beauty is in the eye of a Greek chisel holder"]. ''The Offer'', 31 May 1996.</ref><ref>THOMAS, Carol G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JIdcStQg4g0C&dq=classical+greek+sculpture++%22legacy+%22&pg=PA6 "Introduction"]. In THOMAS, Carol G. (ed). ''Paths from Ancient Greece''. BRILL, 1988. pp. 1–5</ref><ref>GARDNER, Percy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=v6UMMXl29N4C&dq=classical+greek+sculpture++%22legacy+%22&pg=PA353 "The Lamps of Greek Art"]. In LIVINGSTONE, R. W. ''The Legacy of Greece''. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 353</ref>▼
 
▲Classicism raised Man to an unprecedented level of dignity, at the same time as it entrusted him with the responsibility of creating his own destiny, offering a model of harmonious life, in a spirit of comprehensive education for an exemplary citizenship. These values, together with their traditional association of beauty with [[virtue]], found in the sculpture of the Classical period with its idealized portrait of the human being, a particularly apt vehicle for expression, and an efficient instrument of [[Civic engagement|civic]], [[Ethics|ethical]] and [[Aesthetics|aesthetic]] education. With it, a new form of representation of the human body - influential to this day - began, being one of the cores of the birth of a new philosophical branch, Aesthetics, and the stylistic foundation of later [[Christian revival|revivalist]] movements of importance, such as the [[Renaissance]] and [[Neoclassicism]]. Thus, Classicism had an enormous impact on Western culture and became a reference for the study of Western [[art history]]. Apart from its historical value, Classicism's intrinsic artistic quality has had great impact, the vast majority of ancient and modern critics praising it vehemently, and the museums that preserve it being visited by millions of people every year. The sculpture of Greek Classicism, although sometimes the target of criticism that relates its ideological basis to racial prejudices, aesthetic dogmatism, and other particularities, still plays a positive and renovating role in contemporary art and society.<ref>HERSEY, George. [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=93794&sectioncode=26 "Beauty is in the eye of a Greek chisel holder"]. ''The Offer'', 31 May 1996.</ref><ref>THOMAS, Carol G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JIdcStQg4g0C&dq=classical+greek+sculpture++%22legacy+%22&pg=PA6 "Introduction"]. In THOMAS, Carol G. (ed). ''Paths from Ancient Greece''. BRILL, 1988. pp. 1–5</ref><ref>GARDNER, Percy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=v6UMMXl29N4C&dq=classical+greek+sculpture++%22legacy+%22&pg=PA353 "The Lamps of Greek Art"]. In LIVINGSTONE, R. W. ''The Legacy of Greece''. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 353</ref>
== Definition of "classic" ==
[[File:Akropolis_by_Leo_von_Klenze.jpg|thumb|230x230px|[[Leo von Klenze]]: Ideal Reconstruction of the Acropolis of Athens, 1846]]
The word "classical" has wide usage, and there is yet no consensus in specialized literature regarding its exact definition. The Greek and Roman civilizations have been called classical in their entirety for having established cultural standards that have become canonical and are valid today. The term is still used with a stricter meaning, to refer to a brief period within the long history of ancient Greek culture – from the mid-5th century to almost the end of the 4th century BC. – when a style that for many centuries would be considered the highest achievement in the art of sculpture developed, earning the designation of classic.<ref>WHITLEY, James. [https://books.google.com/books?id=njOKqvpRrh4C&dq=greece+%22classical+sculpture%22&pg=PA269 ''The Archaeology of Ancient Greece'']. Cambridge University Press, 2001. pp. 3–4</ref><ref group="note">However, as happens in all processes of artistic evolution, any dates that are rigorously defined usually prove to be inaccurate and subject to dispute, there always being elements of transition before and after the period in question, making the spectrum diffuse and difficult to characterize, thus adopting delimitations established by tradition.</ref>
 
== Context and background ==
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[[Pericles]] dominated local politics between 460 and 429 B.C., aiming to turn the city into a model for the entire Greek world. He encouraged [[imperialism]], reducing his former allies to the status of tributaries, but protected artists and philosophers, who gave shape and voice to his ideals. His role in the history of Greek sculpture stems from his decision to rebuild the city by breaking a vow made by the Athenians to leave in ruins the monuments that had been destroyed by the Persians, as a perennial reminder of barbarism. Using partly his own resources and partly the surpluses from the League's treasury, Pericles employed a multitude of laborers and craftsmen, which both energized the economy and left a monumental testimony to the city's new political and cultural status. The main legacy of the vast undertaking was the renovation of the [[Acropolis of Athens]], with Phidias as the artistic director of the works.<ref>POLLITT, Jerome. [https://books.google.com/books?id=CadI9xzUaZwC&dq=greek+sculpture+classicism+OR+classical+%22sculpture%22&pg=PA66 ''Art and experience in classical Greece'']. Cambridge University Press, 1972. pp. 64–66</ref><ref name=":1">HEMINGWAY, Colette & HEMINGWAY, Seán. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tacg/hd_tacg.htm "The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.)"]. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', 2000.</ref> [[Plutarch]] later described the enthusiasm that boiled over:
[[File:Apollo west pediment Olympia copy MFA Munich.jpg|thumb|143x143px|[[Olympia Master]]. Apollo[[Apollon of Olympia]], original. [[Archaeological Museum of Olympia]]. Example of the Severe style]]
<blockquote>As the works went on, resplendent in grandeur and possessing inimitable grace of form, and as the craftsmen strove to surpass each other in the beauty of their work, it was wonderful how quickly the new structures were executed...There was an aspect of novelty in each work, and they seemed timeless. It is as if a life in continual bloom and a spirit of eternal youth had been infused into their creation.<ref>POLLITT, p. 66</ref></blockquote>Philosophy shifted its focus from the natural world to human society, believing that Man could be the author of his own [[destiny]]. More than that, Man was now considered the center of Creation. [[Sophocles]] expresses this new thinking in [[Antigone]] (c. {{Circa|442 BC}}), saying:<blockquote>There are many wonders, but none so admirable as Man.
 
Across the stormy sea in the winter storms
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=== Polykleitos and Phidias ===
{{See also|Polykleitos|Phidias}}
[[File:Diadumenos in National Archaeological Museum in Athens 01.JPG|left|thumb|311x311px|Polykleitos: [[Diadumenos]], Roman copy. National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]
Polykleitos was, as far as is known, the first to systematize these values and concepts applied to sculpture in a theoretical work, the ''[[Canon of Polykleitos|Canon]]''. In it, the author showed a model of representation that was ideally beautiful and "real"; ideal as it avoided individual characterization by synthesizing all men into one, and real because it was very similar to the true human form, allowing immediate and personal identification by the audience. The work has been lost, but later commentaries on it demonstrate the idea of its content. [[Galen]] stated that according to the ''Canon,'' beauty:<ref name=":3">STEINER, pp. 39–40</ref><blockquote>It does not lie in the symmetry of the elements of the body, but in the adequate proportion between the parts, as for instance, from one finger to another finger, from the fingers together to the hands and wrist, from these to the forearm, from thence to the arm, and from all to all, just as it is written in the ''Canon'' of Polykleitos. Having taught us in this treatise all the symmetries of the body, Polykleitos ratified the text with a work, having made a statue of a man according to the postulates of his treatise, and calling the statue, like the treatise, the ''Canon''. Since then, all philosophers and doctors accept that beauty lies in the adequate proportion of the parts of the body.<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>
[[File:Parthenon-frieze-bb.jpg|left|thumb|Phidia's Workshop: Fragment of the original north frieze of the Parthenon, now in the [[British Museum]]]]
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File:0 Vénus Génitrix - Ma 525 - Louvre 2.JPG|[[Callimachus]]: Venus, Roman copy, [[Louvre]].
File:Dionysos pediment Parthenon BM.jpg|Phidias Workshop: Dionysus, original. Formerly on the pediment of the Parthenon, now in the British Museum.
File:Athena Varvakeion - MANA - Fidias.jpg|[[Varvakeion Athena]], reduced copy of Phidias' Athena Partheno, originally in the Parthenon. National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
</gallery>
<gallery class="center">
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== Low Classicism ==
[[File:Bronze statue of Artemis (2). 4th cent. B.C.jpg|thumb|[[Piraeus Artemis|Bronze statue of Artemis]], Greek original. [[Archaeological Museum of Piraeus]]]]
[[File:Anderson,_Domenico_(1854-1938)_-_n._23185_-_Socrate_(Collezione_Farnese)_-_Museo_Nazionale_di_Napoli.jpg|thumb|179x179px|Bust of [[Socrates]], Roman copy. [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples|National Archaeological Museum of Naples]]]]
[[File:Paris_villa_Adriana_Louvre_Ma4708.jpg|thumb|313x313px|Attributed to [[Euphranor]]: Paris, Roman copy. [[Louvre]] Museum]]
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<gallery class="center">
File:0027MAN Paris or Perseus2.jpg|[[Antikythera Ephebe]], original. National Archaeological Museum of Athens
File:0003MAN-Afrodite.jpg|Attributed to [[Praxiteles]]: [[Aphrodite of the Syracuse]], Roman copy. [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]
File:Leda swan Musei Capitolini MC302.jpg|Timothy: Leda and the Swan, Roman copy. [[Capitoline Museums]]
File:Cupido4b.jpg|[[Lysippos]]: Eros stringing his bow, Roman copy. Capitoline Museums
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=== Terracottas ===
{{Main|Greek terracotta figurines}}
Making [[Terracottaterracotta]] objects is an ancient technique; however, its application has been more common in [[Pottery of ancient Greece|pottery]], with sculptural uses limited to decorative objects and small statuettes for popular usage, figuring actors, animals, and types of people. These had generally no great technical refinement and repeated crudely the formal principles of large sculpture. Larger and more refined pieces were rare, and would appear more often with the Hellenistic schools from the late 4th century B.C. onward. A rich artwork from Attica in the [[Louvre|Louvre Museum]] is worth mentioning, suggesting advanced practices in this field already during Classicism.
 
Elements of terracotta in architectural decoration had great use in earlier and later periods but in Classicism rarely occurred. One type of terracotta that stands out is the statuettes with articulated limbs. This group has likely performed specific functions. They have been found in many tombs, suggesting an association with [[Chthonic|Cthonic]] deities. It is also speculated that they served as statues for domestic worship, as offerings to the gods, and as magical protection against evil forces. Many of them have holes in the back of their heads, indicating that they could be worn suspended, which allowed free movement of their limbs. It has been thought that they were children's dolls, but their fragility, preventing repeated handling, does not support this assumption. As for votive statues, a great syncretism of styles is observed, especially in Late Classicism, when archaic traits continue to appear in quantity, side by side with more progressive stylistic elements, following the conventions of monumental cult statuary.<ref>ROBERTSON, Donald Struan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=l3Ln6KMGio0C&dq=greek+terracotta&pg=PA195 ''Greek and Roman architecture'']. Cambridge University Press, 1969. p. 195</ref><ref>MURATOV, Maya B. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gtal/hd_gtal.htm "Greek Terracotta Figurines with Articulated Limbs"]. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', 2000.</ref><ref>MERKER, Gloria. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3oHHC9mrkFMC&dq=greek+terracotta&pg=PA23 ''Corinth: The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: Terracotta Figurines of the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods'']. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2000. p. 23</ref><ref>BARTMAN, Elizabeth. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wIkv01rT4cUC&dq=greek+classical+%22coroplastics%22&pg=PA16 ''Ancient Sculptural Copies in Miniature'']. BRILL, 1992. p. 20</ref>
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From the legacy transmitted by the Romans, early Christianity drew the models for starting its own art, but after the sixth century its policy changed. Until this time, immense amounts of sculpture had survived in temples and ancient monuments, but from then on, their ubiquitous nudity began to be seen as an offense to Christian morality, as well as being condemned as diabolical [[cult image]]s and bad reminders of [[paganism]]. Losing their former value, ancient works began to be destroyed. On the other hand, during the [[Renaissance]], classical culture fell back into the elites' favor and was the core of a recovery of the dignity of the body and of purely aesthetic pleasure. Christianity itself, after proscribing for centuries the pagan sculptural heritage, recovered it, transforming and adapting it to serve it and praise the heroes of the new order: the saints and martyrs of the faith. The Renaissance conception of art largely reproduces the idea formulated by the classical philosophers.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":7" /> The prestige that classical statuary knew in this period reached the borders of passion, as can be seen in this excerpt by [[Giovanni Pietro Bellori]]:
[[File:Belvedere_Apollo_Pio-Clementino_Inv1015.jpg|left|thumb|[[Leochares]]: Apolo[[Apollo Belvedere]], Roman copy. [[Vatican Museums]]]]
<blockquote>Painters and sculptors, choosing from among the most elegant beauties of the natural world, perfect the idea, and their works surpass and stand above Nature – which is the ultimate scope of these arts. [...] This is the origin of the veneration and awe we have for statues and paintings, and from this derives the reward and honor of Artists; this was the glory of Timantes, Apeles, Phidias and Lysippus, and of so many others renowned for their fame, all who, rising above human forms, achieved with their ideas and works an admirable perfection. This Idea may then be called the perfection of Nature, the miracle of art, the clairvoyance of the intellect, the example of the mind, the light of imagination, the rising sun, which from the east inspires the statue of Menon, and inflames the monument of Prometheus.<ref>ENGASS & BROWN, p. 15</ref></blockquote>For the [[Romanticism|Romantics]], especially in Germany, Greece continued to be seen as a model of life and culture. Nietzsche exclaimed, "Oh, the Greeks! They knew how to live!". Other scholars, likewise, despising the Roman filter, began to cultivate the ideals of Greek Classicism to such an extent that a veritable Grecomania was created, influencing all humanities and artistic forms.<ref>BEHLER, Ernst. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JIdcStQg4g0C&q=classical+greek+sculpture++%22legacy+%22 "The Force of Classical Greece in the Formation of Romantic Age in Germany"]. In THOMAS, Carol G. (ed). ''Paths from Ancient Greece''. Brill, 1988, p. 118- ss</ref><ref name=":9">Squire, Michael. "The Legacy of Greek Sculpture". In: Palagia, Olga (ed.). ''Handbook of Greek Sculpture''. Walter de Gruyter, 2019, pp. 657–689</ref> In [[Neoclassicism]], classical [[humanism]] was a significant impulse for the consolidation of democratic and [[Republicanism|republican]] concepts. According to [[George Winckelmann|Winckelmann]], one of the mentors of the movement, only the Greeks had managed to produce Beauty, and for him and his colleagues, the ''[[Apollo Belvedere]]'' was the most perfect achievement of sculpture of all time. Winckelmann is also credited with the distinction between High and Low Classicism, labeling the former as "grand and austere," and the latter as "beautiful and flowing." Meanwhile, Classicism crossed the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] and inspired the formation of the North American state and its school of sculpture.<ref>FEJFER, Jane. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-up2dc9Q9jkC&dq=michelangelo+%22Lysippos%22&pg=PA229 "Wiedewelt, Winkelmann and Antiquity"]. In FEJFER, Jane; FISCHER-HANSEN, Tobias & RATHJE, Annette. ''The rediscovery of antiquity''. 10 Acta Hyperborea, 2003. University of Copenhagen; Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 230</ref><ref>GONTAR, Cybele. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/neoc_1/hd_neoc_1.htm "Neoclassicism"]. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', 2000.</ref><ref>TOLLES, Thayer. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ambl/hd_ambl.htm "American Neoclassical Sculptors Abroad"]. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', 2000.</ref><ref>WHITLEY, p. 270</ref>
 
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{{Reflist}}
 
== Notes ==
<references group="note" />
== External links ==
 
* [http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/greek-art.htm ''Greek Art''. Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art]
* [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/530221/Western-sculpture/30347/The-Classical-period#ref=ref401159 ''Western Sculpture: Ancient Greek: The Classical period''. Encyclopaedia Britannica On line]
* [https://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561691/Greek_Art_and_Architecture.html ''Greek Art and Architecture''. Encyclopedia Encarta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028013850/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561691/Greek_Art_and_Architecture.html |date=28 October 2009 }}
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