Living With Art Chapter 14 Ancient Mediterranean Worlds

Wall Painting from the Tomb of Nebamun

- hierarchical scale - subject larger - color - funerals show culture - materials preserved - formal pose - triumph in journey to afterlife

"Riance Bronze Warriors"

- idyllic proportion (gladiator) - hollow cast bronze - missing helmets, swords, spears - contrapposto

entasis

- illusion of sense of order - columns look straight

Hellenistic Era

- last phase of Greek Art - spread of Greek culture

Mycenaean Culture

- master goldsmiths - "rhyton" - gold drinking cup in shape of lion's head

Amarna Period

- monotheism - no continuity - Amenhotep IV changed to Akhenaten - relaxed, natural, intimate portrayals - when Akhenaten dies, go back to continuity

"Mummy Case of Artemidoros"

- multicultural Rome - Egyptian - mummy with gods of Egypt - Rome - funeral portrait - Greek - lettering of name

Doric Order

- no base - simple - wide

"Queen Nefertiti"

- painted limestone - glazed with plaster - symmetric - sculptor Thutmose - model or sketch

"Seated Scribe"

- professional writer - 3D - respected - symmetrical/ reserved - realistic - intelligence/dignity

Roman portraiture

- realistic portrayals - emphasize age/ individuality - worn face shows wisdom/ experience

"Kritios Boy"

- smaller than life-size - more realistic - contrapposto - better description of anatomy

"Great Sphinx"

- stability, order, endurance, power - body of lion and head of man

Conventions

- style - established way of representing things - widely accepted by artists/ patrons at particular time/ place - conceptual principles over observation

Stylistic Continuity and Convention

- stylization - registers/ framing - scale (hierarchy) - composite view images - color continuity - zoomorphism - synthesis - continuous narrative

"Akhenaten and His Family"

- sunken relief - Aten - sun-disk - domestic scene - portrays Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and 3 daughters

Pantheon

- temple for all the gods - constructed during Hadrian reign - 1/2 of structure still intact (reutilized with Christianity) - concrete dome (sphere) - oculus - the eye - coffers - niches in ceiling

ziggurat

- temple/ shrine raised on a monumental stepped base - made of sun-dried brick

Corinthian Order

- thinner - delicate - elaborate - decorated by campus leaves

Ionic Order

- thinner - flutes and fillets - base - volutes (scrolls)

pediment

- top of structure - hold larger than life structures

"Assurbanipal and His Queen in the Garden"

- violent conqueror but look relaxed - heads as trees - adorned walls of citidel

Pompeii

- volcano erupted - lava/ ashes serve as time capsule

Archaic Period

move to naturalism

entablature

post and lintel

Continuity

principle message of Egyptian art

column

shaft, capital, and base

Peplos

simple, long woolen belt-like garment

jamb

vertical side of arch before curve

voussoirs

wedge-shaped stones

cuneiform

writing system of Mesopotamia ("wedge-shaped")

gothic vault

- 2 keystones - pointed arch

"Terracotta Head"

- Africa - lifesize heads (enlarged to emphasize intelligence) - covered by slip (shiny) - individualistic/ handmade - stylistic eyes, mouth, nose - adorning qualities (jewelry) - subtractive process - carving clay

"Sacking of Susa"

- Assyrians - low relief - warfare - citadel - walled city - tells a story - playing with scale

3 Aegean Cultures

- Cycladic - Minoan - Mycenaean

"Statuette of a Woman"

- Cycladic - simplified/ abstract - ritual use - fertility figures/ female deity - arms underrepresented - asymmetrical - lack emphasis in certain areas - not freestanding - strict set of geometric proportions - carved

"Achilles and Ajax"

- Exekias - potter and painter - black figure ware - amphora - used for storage - heroes relaxed and played a game

"Kouros"

- Greeks first introduced nudity with male figure - "anonymous young men" - physical beauty and proportion over status - rigidity emphasize permanence - Archaic period - reference Egyptian art

"Toreador Fresco"

- Minoan - bull - sport - movement of bull and tumbler

"Middle Aged Flavian Woman"

- Roman - aged

"Young Flavian Woman"

- Roman - drill work - youthful

"Palette of Narmer"

- Upper Egypt victory - hierarchical scale - Narmer big and at center (high status) - logical/ balanced - composite view - front of chest, side of legs, profile of face - zoomorph - hybrid animals - falcon (Horus) - god of sky - bulls tail - might of king phonetic hieroglyphics

Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater)

- Vespasian (began) and Titus (completed) - used for hunts/fights - barrel-vaulted interior - corinthian columns on top - ionic columns in middle - doric columns on bottom (stability) - orders used decoratively - made of concrete

Gold in Egypt

- associated with life-giving rays of sun - eternity (immortality)

"Aphrodite of Melos"

- balance and restraint - fluidity - idyllic body - perfection - sensual - symbol of love

"Head of Akkadian Ruler"

- bronze casting - stylized hair - naturalistic nose/ lips - destroy structure meant destroying the king

keystone

- center stone of arch - locks arch in place

Egyptian Proportion of Body

- continuity - 18 sq. tall - 6 sq. - top of knees - 16 sq. - shoulders (6 sq. wide)

"Villa of Mysteries"

- cult rituals with wine god (Dionysus) - unity with bands and figures - Pompeii

"Laocoon"

- dynamic/ active - emotional - snake as binding element - bronze - Roman copy - Apollo

"Three Goddesses"

- east pediment of Parthenon - marble sculpture - movement

"Venus of Willendorf" figures

- female idyllic beauty - paleolithic - fertility emphasized - face, arms, hands, feet understated - disproportionate arms/ feet - meant to be carried

Roman virtues

- fides - faith and fidelity - Concordia - harmony

Geometric Style

- first clearly defined Greek style - human figures - geometric motifs

Parthenon

- for goddess Athena - doric order of columns - Golden Section (9:4) - civic meaning - fully painted - entasis - pediment

"Double Portrait of Gratidia M.L. Chrite and M. Gratidius Libanus"

- funerary portrait - man shows signs of age - woman idealized

"Krater"

- geometric style - terracotta wine vase - paintings able to be preserved - funeral ceremony - grave marker

groin vault

intersecting arches

Classical

ancient Greek and Roman styles

barrel vault

arch repeated

ribbing

barrel vaults edged with masonry

Stylization

consistent characteristics

Neo-Babylonian

developed true arch and mastered decorative design for architecture

"Kore"

female version of Kouros figure

arch

first used by the Etruscans

Aura

goddess of wind and morning air