The cradle of civilisation, Egypt is probably the first culture that mastered statuary art to such an unprecedented degree of refinement (see The Gold Mask of Tutankhamun, opposite page). If the pose of the first efforts is still very simple and almost static, sometimes with tied feet, or one leg in a forward position, Egyptian statuary cannot be reduced to this hieratism, the power and balance of which gave the force to the statues of the first dynasties. Very early, in fact, the Egyptian artist demonstrates his skill in combining the solemn representation of the divine – where solemnity and hieratism are of the essence – and the realism of the subtopics. The ease of the sculptor, still anonymous at that time, is revealed very early, in achievements as well as in intent. Thus, the Seated Scribe (fig. 41), with his swollen belly and saggy look, reveals that the artist is not without humour. However, this art, precise and refined, took a long time to emerge in Mesopotamian statuary. Mesopotamian sculptures, in fact, and over a long period, are too entrenched and too static in proportions compared with Egyptian statuary. It is not until the beginning of the Assyrian dynasty that we see precision and scale reminiscent of Egyptian art.

      As the ancient Greek city-states grew and evolved, literary arts developed somewhat in advance of painting and sculpture. At about the time that Homer was creating his epics, Greece saw the flourishing of the stylistic era identified as the Geometric period, lasting from about 950 to 750 BCE, a style dominated by rigid forms and in which the fluidity of the human figure was only just beginning to reveal itself. As the Greeks were increasingly exposed to foreign customs and material culture through trade, they were able to adapt and alter other artistic styles. The art of the Near East and of the Egyptians helped to shape Greek art of the Archaic period (c. 750 BCE to 480 BCE). During this time, the Greeks began to infuse their figures with a greater sense of life, as with the famous ‘archaic smile’ and with a new subtlety of articulation of the human body.

      The remarkable evolution of Greek sculpture during the 5th century BCE is unparalleled in artistic history. Innovations achieved during that time shaped stylistic development for thousands of years, and belong not to a people in one moment but to all of humankind. The development of weight-shift in a single standing figure and the concomitant torsion and subtlety of bodily stance were major aspects of this new style, but equally significant were the perfection of naturalistic forms, the noble calm, the dynamic equilibrium of movement, the harmony of parts and the regulated proportions. All of this came to characterise the art of what we know as Classicism. The sculptors Polykleitos, Phidias (the sculptural master of the Parthenon project) and Myron worked in slightly divergent but compatible modes to achieve an art of moderation and perfection.

      The 4th century BCE saw an expansion of the artistic goals of the previous generations of Greek sculptors. Lysippos and Praxiteles softened the human form, and a nonchalant grace informs their figures. Artists in this period humanised the gods and added an element of elegance to their movement and expression. Sculptors of the 4th century BCE increased the spatial complexity of the viewing experience: arms sometimes protrude into our space, groups are more dynamic in arrangement, and we benefit from walking around these sculptures and taking in the varied viewpoints.

      The changes of the 4th century BCE can hardly prepare us for the explosion of styles that occurred in the Hellenistic period, which was a time of much exaggeration: extreme realism in rendering details and in capturing moments of daily life; great elegance of the female form, as we see in the memorable Venus de Milo (fig. 205) and Nike of Samothrace (fig. 28); and extreme muscularity of male figures in action. The beauty and refinement of the Belvedere Apollo (fig. 189), now in the Vatican collection, stand as a refined continuation of the earlier Greek ideals. On the other hand, the high-relief figures from the altar of Pergamon, showing the battle of the gods and giants, are powerful in physique and facial expression, with deep-set eyes, thick locks of waving hair and theatrical gestures. Later, Michelangelo and Bernini would draw inspiration from the Hellenistic works, known to them from Greek originals and Roman copies.

      The Romans always remained to some extent in the sway of the Greeks, but developed their own modes of sculptural expression. The most striking of their early modes, not uninfluenced by Hellenistic models, was during the Republican period (until the second half of the 1st century BCE). In an unforgettable development of the portrait type, Roman sculptors rendered searing details of facial particulars and created works conveying a strong sense of moral character, representing such virtues as wisdom, determination and courage.

      Around the time of Augustus, a new kind of idealisation entered Roman art, exemplified by the harmonious and flowing compositional arrangement of the reliefs on the Ara Pacis Augustae (fig. 222). A marble, standing figure of Augustus, the Augustus Prima Porta (fig. 211), is a Romanised version of Greek tradition, with the contrapposto (weight-shift) stance and the idealised, youthful face of the ruler. Less Greek in concept are the details of his armour and the heavy drapery style. Through the rest of the duration of the Roman Empire, there was a continuous artistic struggle, without resolution, between idealism and realism. The background to this battle was formed by the flood of Greek originals and Roman copies of them that filled the gardens, courtyards and fora of the Romans, which ranged in style from the archaic to the Hellenistic.

      Aside from any dependence on the Greeks, the Romans developed their own traditions, and were especially inventive in arriving at new stylistic expressions in their public monuments. The vigorous narrative and variety of the reliefs on the Arch of Titus still impress, and it is not surprising that they inspired Renaissance artists. No less remarkable are the intricate reliefs on the Column of Trajan and the Column of Antoninus Pius. With scroll-like compositions, hundreds of figures adorn these columns in reliefs, showing military and – even more prominently – technological feats of the Roman armies. The figures seem large by comparison with their architectural surroundings, and the beginning of the ‘medieval’ relationship of the figure to its spatial circumstances begins here.

      The decline and fall of the Roman Empire formed a dramatic backdrop to the change of artistic style, including sculpture itself. By the late Empire of the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, at the time of the short-lived barracks emperors and during the experience of a host of troubles, portraiture achieved an extreme expression, sometimes capturing fear or cunning, and corresponding to the mood of the times. The subjective question of the decline in style can be seen by considering the Arch of Constantine (fig. 252): the side-by-side placement of earlier reliefs alongside those of the 4th century is telling in the squat proportions and repetitions of type and stance of the latter. Thus, even before the advent of Christianity, a decline in style and taste was evident. This is no more clear than in the art of portraiture; the noble facial expression and the bodily idealism and harmony of the classical style have disappeared, and one sees instead nude figures with smaller heads and flat, broad chests.

      The Christians, whose rise altered the character of Roman life, inherited the sculptural styles of the late Romans. Even some iconographic types were re-utilised; for example, Apollo-like features were given to Christ. Characteristic sculptural materials included an expansion of working in ivory, which remained a widespread medium in the Middle Ages. The Early Christian iconographic innovations were substantial, and a completely new range of subjects appeared in art. In the Eastern half of the fallen Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire would survive and persevere. Its sculptors retained features adapted from the late Roman style, and eventually the Byzantines would help to re-introduce some of the ancient Mediterranean artistic ideas into late medieval and proto-Renaissance Italy.

      28. Anonymous, Nike of Samothrace, c. 190 BCE. Ancient Greek.

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