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