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For more on the why and how of the Sculpture Synopsis, see the first post in this series. The series is also available as a playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Characteristic examples of Classical Greek sculpture

The major difference between the Archaic period (see last week’s post) and the Classical period is that in the Classical period, the human body is treated as an organic whole, not a collection of well-studied parts.

• Early Classical: Zeus of Artemision, ca. 460 BC. National Archeological Museum, Athens.
• High Classical: Phidias, Parthenon pedimental sculptures, 430s BC. British Museum.
• Late Classical: Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper), ca. 330 BC. Museum Pio-Clementino, Vatican.

Dates of the Classical period

• Early Classical: ca. 490-ca. 450 BC
• High Classical: ca. 450-ca. 404 BC (end of the Peloponnesian War)
• Late Classical: ca. 404 BC-323 BC (death of Alexander the Great)

Location

Greek-speaking areas during the Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BC

Dominant ideas among Greeks of the Classical period

• Men are fascinating: worthy of study and accurate representation.
• Life on earth is important.
• Philosophy. Searching for the one in the many: the universe is constant change (Heraclitus, fl. 500 BC), the universe is unchanging (Parmenides), or the universe is made up of many distinct elements that randomly combine (Pluralists). Moving from there to epistemology: the universe is unknowable (Skeptics), so man must do whatever works (Sophists); or, man must discover how he gains knowledge so that he can determine what ethical behavior is (Socrates); or, true knowledge is only possible to philosopher-kings (Plato). By ca. 330 BC: Man can learn about the world by observation and logic (Aristotle).

Media

• Stone, often marble. Originally brightly painted: for an example of such polychrome sculptures, see the reconstructed Peplos Kore in last week’s post.
• Bronze: life-size figures cast from clay models, which allows more scope for changing major or minor details.

Subjects

• Mythological figures & stories
• A few portraits, incl. political figures (Pericles) and victorious athletes

Style

• Mature, idealized figures in a wide variety of poses, with anatomy accurately portrayed at rest and in motion.
• Early Classical: serious expressions, grand & dignified poses.
• High Classical: adds “wet drapery”, i.e., fabric that clings to the shapes beneath, revealing and emphasizing them.
• Late Classical: new poses and more realistic features (see next section).

Innovations during the Classical period

• Contrapposto (Early Classical): in a standing or walking figure, parts of the body shift to balance opposing forces. Example: Polykleitos, Spear-Bearer.
• Out-of-the-box figures that turn on an axis, lean to one side, or enclose space (Late Classical). Examples: Lysippos’s Apoxyomenos (see top of post) and Praxiteles’s Hermes with Infant Dionysus.
• Portrayal of emotion via facial expression rather than gesture. Example: Scopas’s Pothos (Longing).
• Interest in figures that are realistic rather than idealized. Example: portrait of Aristotle.

Big names in art

Only later copies of the works of these artists survive.

• Polykleitos (active ca. 450-420 BC): see under Innovations. The Spear-Bearer embodies his system of ideal, mathematically determined proportions.
• Phidias (d. 432 BC): most famous artist of the Greek and Roman world, responsible for the design of the Early Classical sculptures on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the High Classical sculptures of the Parthenon in Athens (see top of post).
• Lysippos (active mid- and late 4th c. BC): see Innovations.
• Praxiteles (mid-4th c. BC): see Innovations. His Aphrodite of Cnidos is the first free-standing female nude in Greek art.
• Scopas (active 4th c. BC): famous for first showing emotions via facial expression: see under Innovations.

Other important examples of Classical sculpture

• Temple of Aphaea at Aegina: the change from Archaic to Classical is visually summed up in the wounded warriors on the west pediment, ca. 490 BC (see last week’s post) and the east pediment, ca. 480 BC (Early Classical).

Where to see the originals

• National Museum, Athens
• Archeological Museum, Delphi
• Archeological Museum, Olympia
• Parthenon sculptures: British Museum (Elgin Marbles) and Acropolis Museum, Athens
• Roman copies of Classical works: Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Louvre, Vatican, Archeological Museum in Naples

Further reading

• John Boardman, Greek Sculpture of the Classical Period
• Gisela Richter, A Handbook of Greek Art
• Sandra Shaw, Windows on Humanity.
• Durante, Innovators in Sculpture, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6
• For fun: Mary Renault, Alexander the Great trilogy: Fire from Heaven (1969), The Persian Boy (1972), Funeral Games (1981)

More

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