Comparing Two Ancient Sculptures

Michael Cammarata

In this paper i will compare and contrast two ancient sculptures from the metropolitan museum of art, one greek and one roman. The first sculpture is the marble grave stele of a little girl. The second sculpture would be Marble Relief of a dancing maenad. Both are made at about the same time period in the 5th century b.c. Marble grave stele of a little girl is known to be found at the little girls grave, which is sad because she looks so young and innocent with her doves which might of been the doves from the olympics being that she was never aloud to attend them or could of been her pets. The marble relief of a dancing maenad was probably hung somewhere to show her beauty. Their are different types of sculptures, but both are bas or low relief. This means they are a projecting image with an overall depth. These sculptures were made of two of the most finest marble. Grave stele of a little girl is dressed in a peplos. A simple woolen garment folded over at the top
Although i can only see the front of both of them i can imagine it was a real human just from the style and texture. These sculptures are not small which also makes them more realistic. The grave stele of a little girl formal aspect refelcts its purpose. i think it was made to show the sorrow of the little girl. To show how she was a young girl who liked animals and had to say goodbye to them and not only them but to everyone being that this was her grave stone. The dancing maenad also reflected its purpose as to show the girls beauty. It shows how beautiful she dances and the twirling of her dress. I personally love the dancing maenad just because of the texture and feel of her. I can feel how she is feeling just from looking at her as she twirls her face with sorrow. She's probably thinking when she will be able to do what she wants and not have to follow what men told