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{{Short description|Ancient GreeceGreek 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 [[Ancient Macedonians|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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=== 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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{{Reflist}}
 
== Notes ==
<references group="note" />
== External links ==
 
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greek_sculpture"