Preview

Ancient Art - Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
757 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ancient Art - Essay Example
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast two works of Ancient Art from two different museums. This paper will explore the materials used, the style, the meaning, the symbolism in the techniques used in creating the artworks.

Ancient Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, the Louvre, Paris, France, and the Smithsonian Institute's Freer Gallery and Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC have some of the most impressive examples of ancient art in the world. This paper will look at works from two of these museums for comparison.
One of the pieces of art that I have chosen is located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It is entitled Seated Harp Player and was created ca. 2800–2700 B.C. E., in the Early Cycladic period. It is a three dimensional work of art, possessing height, width, and depthhighly. It is approximately 11.5 cm tall. The material it is made of is marble and the technique is considered a sculpture in the around, because it can be viewed from all sides. The texture of the marble appears to be unpolished. The value scale of the marble is white in color, although it is discolored with age.
The form and line of this sculpture is a depiction of a man seated in a high back chair playing the harp. The molding of the arms and legs of the man distinguish this work. The hands are depicted as strong, but sensitive. The elbow joints, fingers, and ears are carefully articulated and molded with sensitivity. Through the look on the face of the man and his position in the chair, the artist is this telling us that this man and the people of that era loved music and the arts in general. The attention to detail in this sculpture is remarkable in the fact that this sculpture is 5000 years old. One can only imagine what the artist had to do to get this amount of detail into his work using the tools that were available at that time. Even the belt or penis strap around his waist is a good example of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The two sculptures I chose were The Statue of the Goddess Sakhmet and Monumental Figure. The Sakhmet statue is from the New Kingdom era, 18th Dynasty. Dated all the way back to ca. 1390-1352 B.C. in Egypt. It is made out of granodiorite. There are two identical at the museum in New York. The Monumental Figure is from the 9th century. It was found in Mexico, it is from the Mayan culture. The statue is classified as a stone-sculpture. You can find the Monumental figure in gallery 358 and the Goddess Sakhmet you can find in gallery 135 at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.…

    • 2089 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By comparing the two sculptures of Khafre, image 3-11 ca. 2520-2494 BCE (1), with the statue of Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), image 5-40 ca. 450-440 BCE (2) you get a true sense of the evolution of art, from Pharaonic Egypt to Classical Athenian Greece two millennia later. This was not just a revolution in art but also philosophy, which transported itself into not only the types sculptures created but also the style used by their creators.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the bottom of the piece are four men; two on each side that mirror each other. They all hold what seem to be spears in one hand and a scepter in the other. They are all modeled in the classic Egyptian style, where they seem to be standing in unrealistic poses; most hold their scepters in a way that look like they would be appearing in front of them, but they are depicted being held behind their back. Throughout the rest of the piece are hieroglyphics, and in the top center appears to be another image of a man sitting; this area has taken damage, so it is impossible to imagine what the rest of the image depicted.…

    • 1976 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Tiber Muse, originally discovered in the vicinity of the Tiber River in Rome in 1885, is a product of the Graeco-Roman era and is dated around the 2nd-1st century BCE. This date and other formal qualities of the sculpture such as the pose, drapery and medium suggest that it was produced during the Hellenistic Period of Greece and Asia Minor, and then imported to Rome at a later date. The importation, copying, and public display of Greek art were common from the start of Roman conquering of Greek territories and throughout the Roman Imperial era. The formal qualities of this piece, to be explored later in this exhibition, are comparable to those of the Nike of Samothrace in that they both exhibit the dramatic, elaborate techniques common of the Hellenistic Period (323-30 BCE) that embrace a range of emotions, providing us with an overpowering, multi-sensory experience as we view these pieces. The qualities and purpose of art during the Hellenistic Period were quite different from those of the Byzantine Era, to be further explored by comparing these two sculptures with the Justinian and Attendants mosaic from San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. Through a formal analysis of these three works, the meaning, purpose and values of the culture that produced them will become clear, and we can further understand the historical context of these two very different time periods.…

    • 1687 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Successful sculptural forms are created through careful attention to common artistic elements and techniques. In order to discover an artist’s intentions while looking at a sculptural piece, it is vital to note the artist’s visual cues. Such visual cues may include form, shape, texture, material, lighting, space, and dynamism. In addition, classical sculpture is commonly comprised of well-balanced idealized forms, with a sense of naturalistic beauty and elegance in mind. Great sculpture also must convey a strong sense of gracefulness and stability. The Lansdowne Bust of Athena of Velletri very successfully exhibits artistic qualities and sculptural…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As I was touring the Museum of Fine Arts this past Monday, I was drawn to the statue or sculpture of King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and his queen. For a moment, I was able to relate with Ben Stiller and how he felt in the movie Night at the Museum. I genuinely felt the textbook come alive and I was able to relate with the artwork since it was covered in class. (Figure 1-29) Although having encountered other artworks that were covered in class, for some reason this artwork resonated with me the most. However, when I started looking around I found a similar artwork that caught my eye even more. A greywacke sculpture from Giza known as the Triad of King Mycerinus and two Goddesses that dates back to the period of the Mycerinus Dynasty, 2548-2530 B.C. I would not have found this sculpture as interesting if it had not been placed next to the sculpture of King Mycerinus and one of his wives. The contrast between the two statues brought out the beautiful differences between them, that raised a lot of questions, but at the same time informed me of what may have been the purpose of such a statue to be sculpted.…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The piece I have chosen is entitled the Steleophorus Statue. It is from Dynasty 18, Reigns of Tuthmosis III and IV from around 1479 to 1390 BCE. The statue depicts a male figure that is kneeling. He is also holding part of a large stela rising to his chin while placed on his knees with hieroglyphic writing on it that has damaged and worn over time. The most prominent destruction is seen on the left side where a large chunk of the tablet has been broken off. In addition to the fragmented stela, much of the original paint has been removed, leaving the figure with orange blotches on his arm and face. His hair is stylized and looks as if he has some type of headwear, descending to his shoulders. The object is a sculpture of a single subject carved…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. What are the basic features of the work? Is the process used subtractive (such as low or high relief carving) or additive (such as modeling or assemblage)? What is its medium? Describe the sculpture’s dimensions. Can you detect any damage or evidence of restoration?…

    • 1078 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Art Essay 101

    • 1252 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Citations: Sayre, Henry M. A World Of Art. 6th Edition. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2010. 1, 3, 35, 42. Print.…

    • 1252 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Art Paper Outline

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There we observed the change in the form of statues. Being able to see the statues and painting we’ve studied and saw in our textbook in real life amused me. Being able to go up to them and look at the details rather than staring at the photographs also made me more interested in the art itself. For this assignment I decided to compare “Seated Statue of Gudea” and “Statue of Eros Sleeping”.…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Greek Art Timeline Report

    • 2054 Words
    • 9 Pages

    As the museum’s new curator I have been informed that my goal is to improve the content of the museum’s website. After reviewing the guidelines and instructions set forth, I have decided to proceed with my commitment by focusing on the chosen art medium of sculptures and figurines. In addition, I intend to include ten chosen examples of thematically linked artwork in the area of Greek figural sculptures. So, before I precede any further I would like to give you a brief introduction into Greek Art in the seventh century.…

    • 2054 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    On my visit to the Dallas Museum of Arts, I was stunned by so many different types of arts that ranged in the forms of sculptures to paintings in different eras and areas of the. One of the most visually stunning artworks I’ve witnessed is The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife by Nicholas Mignard located in the Rococo section of the European Art floor.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the years, throughout the world there are being discovered important art pieces created by known, unknown artists or simply by people who want to pay tribute to someone in particular, who has different and special elements behind. Around the world, investigators have discovered millions of beautiful and significant pieces that symbolize some important events in the lives of a culture, of a people or a civilization. Such is the case of the discovery of two statues of great goddesses; Nike of Samothrace and Coatlicue, both have strong similarities as well as differences, they had different cultures and myths, and also had artistic and symbolic elements.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout Egypt, during the middle empire art evolved as a symbol for power and permanence featuring straight lines and powerful figures; as time passed art evolved again morphing from simply representational images of man to the more idealized and anatomically correct style of Roman art. As art became more and more prevalent through the late 3rd and early 4th century’s artists began to focus more on anatomical perfection and realism borrowing artistic elements from other cultures such as the Greeks. Though the artistic styles of ancient Egypt and early Roman art vary widely, the underlying symbolism remains the same. This is clear in both the Egyptian Sculpture Vizier (Figure 1) and the Roman sculpture Bust of and Unknown Man (Figure 2). Where the ideas and concepts of both sculptures are essentially the same, their vastly different styles are evident of the time periods in which they were made.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Legion of Honor

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Throughout different time periods and civilizations come many different types of art that would never be comparable to those of another time or place. There are also the pieces that come from a completely different time and place, but yet they can still be compared to one another. The Torso of a God (Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, last decade of the reign of Amenhotep III, Granodiorite, 1359-1349 B.C.) and the Statue of Asklepios (Greek, Hellenistic period, Pentelic Marble, 2nd century B.C.) are two sculptures made hundreds of years apart, yet they both display many similarities and show how art is constantly changing whilst keeping the same core ideas.…

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays