With Sculpture in the Classical period we have some of the outstanding triumphs of Classical art: works which account for its reputation and which have left their stamp on Western art through the centuries. The most characteristic feature of this sculpture is its harmonious balance of opposites. This was something that altered for ever the way objects were portrayed in the plastic arts. Its emphasis on the human figure found expression, first and foremost, in an unremitting, irresolute relationship between ethos and pathos. At the heart of the process of nature and politics was the human figure. Wholeness was achieved in its portrayal by virtue of perfected control of technique. Gradually, and with no deep break with the past, Greek sculptors passed from the Archaic models to the Severe style, in measure as they became more and more able to represent the human body, whether in motion or at rest, in a realistic way. They were still interested in existing features, such as the reconstitution of form from its component elements, precise draughtmanship, and the proportion of the body's parts, features which are already fully-fledged when we encounter them in early Classical sculpture. Their main aim was to reproduce ideal form. But they also managed to present the particular and individual in the light of the generic and archetypal. This was to lead to portrait art; and realistic portraiture would reach its peak in later periods. |
This was no simple natural process. It was linked to a new and optimistic self-assurance, and a restlessness, that were the product of victory over the Persians. Classical drama posed questions about hybris, nemesis and thambos. Sculpture answered them with the calm certainty of people with full inner consciousness of the world and themselves. The unprecedented excellence of the figures of the Parthenon years owed its dynamism to three sources: the emergence of Athens as a leading power; anthropocentric trends in philosophy; and a rational approach to knowledge.
Like Athenian society at large,
The finest works of Classical sculpture were, as a rule, in bronze. Very little is known about these bronzes. Often we have to judge of their quality by Roman copies or by the very occasional surviving original in marble. These originals include architectural sculptures, and tomb and votive reliefs - the purpose of which was completely different from free - standing sculpture. |
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