Classical Art 1B
Early classic drawing:
Euthymides’ party, c. 510 BC:
o Figure drawing; details like the main figure’s spine turning to
show movement
Classical sculpture:
Riace bronzes, c. 470-60 BC:
o Found in a roman shipwreck
o Warrior A: Was probably carrying a shield in the left hand and
a spear in the right hand
o Early 5th century long hair.
o Warrior B: missing helmet
o Both of them may have been part of a larger group
o Hair on both sculptures was made separately and attached
later
The Zeus of Artemisium (may be Poseidon), 470-460 BC:
o Innovative: capturing a continuous action by depicting a
freeze-frame
o Not fa cing the viewer: unusual for a deity
o Designed to be seen from an angle, possibly by walking
around it
The Parthenon, Athens, 447-432 BC:
o Doric order columns & ionic order columns
o Adjusted interior structure, two spaces
o The frieze -riders and hydria- around the Parthenon shows a
festival that took place in Athens
The Hermes of Praxiteles, Olympia, c. 350 BC:
o Small head, short hair
The Aphrodite of Cnidos, roman copy of original of c.340-330 BC:
o First female nude
, o Getting into a bath
o Shown in a shrine, getting a walk-around view
o No original but lots of roman copies
Painted room from the tomb of Philip II at Vergina, late 4th c. BC.
Doryphoros of Polycleitos, a copy of Greek original of c. 450 BC
The Colosseum, Rome, 72-80 BC:
o Use of concrete
The Pantheon, Rome, 125-128 AD:
o Uses a dome
Reinventing Classicism
18th c: the original doesn’t matter in the same sense anymore; the
meaning is more valued, the idea that even the copies represent.
Hogarth criticizes the fact that patrons would rather invest in
antique copies etc. than in modern artists.
Bigger value to artists that had done the Grand Tour first; they drew
inspiration from the antique that they had witnessed first-hand.
Not a strict copy of classicism, but a reinvention.
Neoclassicism often uses bright colours
Piranesi, View of the Colosseum, c. 1760s:
o Idea, identity of Rome
o Sense of decay: great monument of the past
Angela Kauffman, Zeuxis Selecting his Models for Helen of Troy,
1764:
o Classical idea that nothing is perfect, we live in a kind of ruin
of what once was perfect; on the painting, Zeuxis is choosing
parts of multiple women to compose a Helen that is beautiful
enough, since no single woman was.
Hybridity; mixing art genres together.
Anton Raphel Mengs, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, after 1755:
o The first art historian; unlike Vasari and his successors, who
wrote biographies of artists, Winckelmann wrote a history of
Greek sculpture.
, o JJW gives value to Greek antiquity.
J. L. David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799:
o Story about the founding of Rome
o The picture is much more Greek than Roman, including an
idea of masculinity that’s taken from Winckelmann.
Revivals and recreations of classicism in the 18 th century are very
diverse, and directed by the demands of what modern art and
culture should be.
Enlightenment theory in Scotland and the wider world
18th c. Britain: rapid changes
emergence of the ‘public sphere’
^newspapers etc cause the emergence of this abstract public
sphere; debates on national and public issues
Founding of the Royal Society in 1660s London
Idea of progress, improving the world, starting to become uncertain
Jacob de Wet, Views of Yester House, East Lothian, 1685:
o idea of trees being both material/commercial and symbolic
objects
o power of the land & landed culture
Hodges: extraordinary landscape pictures of New Zealand, Tahiti on
a voyage
o Painting in open air
o View of Matavai Bay in Otaheite (1776), View of Point Venus,
Matavai Bay, Tahiti (1773)
o Familiarises the unfamiliar
o Europe-trained
o Influenced by the philosophy of the Scottish enlightenment
o Progressive understanding of history
Scotland starts depicting the progress and changes happening all
around the world; becomes a microcosm of the world
One of the great problems of this progress: 18 th century moves on,
notion of progress and commercialization worries many thinkers.
How can there be a sense of society if commercial societies promote
, individualization? According to Adam Smith, what binds a society
together is the sense of compassion and empathy for others.
^Thinkers focus on the capacity to feel in the society, e.g. David
Hume
Chinese Calligraphy
tradition dating to the 2nd millennial BC: earliest evidence of Chinese
art, found on an oracle bone, used for divination and showing the
earliest Chinese script.
From a method of communication among the elite, to an art form
First major event: unification of China. Until 221 BC, China was
made up of different feudal states, until it was unified into one state.
For the first time, a standardized way of writing the Chinese script
was established. That is because the emperor needed to establish a
“universal” method of communication, understood by all the feudal
states that were unified as one.
Different types of scripture: oracle bone, greater seal, lesser seal,
clerkly script, running script, cursive script, modern simplified, etc.
The Chinese invented the writing brush; different sizes, different
purposes, from very small ones to huge ones for floor calligraphy
etc.
Calligraphy: the highest form of art. The elite needs to be able to
write
Possible to tell a writer’s emotional state based on the brushstrokes
in their calligraphy
Writing is very central to Chinese culture; historic calligraphers:
Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Qianlong, Mao Zidong.
3 Perfections: poetry, calligraphy, painting. combining them
together, starting in traditional China
Chinese Painting
Early classic drawing:
Euthymides’ party, c. 510 BC:
o Figure drawing; details like the main figure’s spine turning to
show movement
Classical sculpture:
Riace bronzes, c. 470-60 BC:
o Found in a roman shipwreck
o Warrior A: Was probably carrying a shield in the left hand and
a spear in the right hand
o Early 5th century long hair.
o Warrior B: missing helmet
o Both of them may have been part of a larger group
o Hair on both sculptures was made separately and attached
later
The Zeus of Artemisium (may be Poseidon), 470-460 BC:
o Innovative: capturing a continuous action by depicting a
freeze-frame
o Not fa cing the viewer: unusual for a deity
o Designed to be seen from an angle, possibly by walking
around it
The Parthenon, Athens, 447-432 BC:
o Doric order columns & ionic order columns
o Adjusted interior structure, two spaces
o The frieze -riders and hydria- around the Parthenon shows a
festival that took place in Athens
The Hermes of Praxiteles, Olympia, c. 350 BC:
o Small head, short hair
The Aphrodite of Cnidos, roman copy of original of c.340-330 BC:
o First female nude
, o Getting into a bath
o Shown in a shrine, getting a walk-around view
o No original but lots of roman copies
Painted room from the tomb of Philip II at Vergina, late 4th c. BC.
Doryphoros of Polycleitos, a copy of Greek original of c. 450 BC
The Colosseum, Rome, 72-80 BC:
o Use of concrete
The Pantheon, Rome, 125-128 AD:
o Uses a dome
Reinventing Classicism
18th c: the original doesn’t matter in the same sense anymore; the
meaning is more valued, the idea that even the copies represent.
Hogarth criticizes the fact that patrons would rather invest in
antique copies etc. than in modern artists.
Bigger value to artists that had done the Grand Tour first; they drew
inspiration from the antique that they had witnessed first-hand.
Not a strict copy of classicism, but a reinvention.
Neoclassicism often uses bright colours
Piranesi, View of the Colosseum, c. 1760s:
o Idea, identity of Rome
o Sense of decay: great monument of the past
Angela Kauffman, Zeuxis Selecting his Models for Helen of Troy,
1764:
o Classical idea that nothing is perfect, we live in a kind of ruin
of what once was perfect; on the painting, Zeuxis is choosing
parts of multiple women to compose a Helen that is beautiful
enough, since no single woman was.
Hybridity; mixing art genres together.
Anton Raphel Mengs, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, after 1755:
o The first art historian; unlike Vasari and his successors, who
wrote biographies of artists, Winckelmann wrote a history of
Greek sculpture.
, o JJW gives value to Greek antiquity.
J. L. David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799:
o Story about the founding of Rome
o The picture is much more Greek than Roman, including an
idea of masculinity that’s taken from Winckelmann.
Revivals and recreations of classicism in the 18 th century are very
diverse, and directed by the demands of what modern art and
culture should be.
Enlightenment theory in Scotland and the wider world
18th c. Britain: rapid changes
emergence of the ‘public sphere’
^newspapers etc cause the emergence of this abstract public
sphere; debates on national and public issues
Founding of the Royal Society in 1660s London
Idea of progress, improving the world, starting to become uncertain
Jacob de Wet, Views of Yester House, East Lothian, 1685:
o idea of trees being both material/commercial and symbolic
objects
o power of the land & landed culture
Hodges: extraordinary landscape pictures of New Zealand, Tahiti on
a voyage
o Painting in open air
o View of Matavai Bay in Otaheite (1776), View of Point Venus,
Matavai Bay, Tahiti (1773)
o Familiarises the unfamiliar
o Europe-trained
o Influenced by the philosophy of the Scottish enlightenment
o Progressive understanding of history
Scotland starts depicting the progress and changes happening all
around the world; becomes a microcosm of the world
One of the great problems of this progress: 18 th century moves on,
notion of progress and commercialization worries many thinkers.
How can there be a sense of society if commercial societies promote
, individualization? According to Adam Smith, what binds a society
together is the sense of compassion and empathy for others.
^Thinkers focus on the capacity to feel in the society, e.g. David
Hume
Chinese Calligraphy
tradition dating to the 2nd millennial BC: earliest evidence of Chinese
art, found on an oracle bone, used for divination and showing the
earliest Chinese script.
From a method of communication among the elite, to an art form
First major event: unification of China. Until 221 BC, China was
made up of different feudal states, until it was unified into one state.
For the first time, a standardized way of writing the Chinese script
was established. That is because the emperor needed to establish a
“universal” method of communication, understood by all the feudal
states that were unified as one.
Different types of scripture: oracle bone, greater seal, lesser seal,
clerkly script, running script, cursive script, modern simplified, etc.
The Chinese invented the writing brush; different sizes, different
purposes, from very small ones to huge ones for floor calligraphy
etc.
Calligraphy: the highest form of art. The elite needs to be able to
write
Possible to tell a writer’s emotional state based on the brushstrokes
in their calligraphy
Writing is very central to Chinese culture; historic calligraphers:
Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Qianlong, Mao Zidong.
3 Perfections: poetry, calligraphy, painting. combining them
together, starting in traditional China
Chinese Painting
