1. AEGEAN ART
•Once upon a time, at the
height of the Bronze Age,
three successful civilizations
arose in what is today
southern Greece…

2. Cycladic: 3000-1600 BCE
(Cycladic islands in the Aegean Sea)
*Produced stylized statuettes of nude standing females and
nude males playing musical instruments
Minoan: 1900-1375 BCE (Island of Crete)
*Built mixed-use palaces with complex ground plans
Mycenaean: 1600-1100 BCE (Greece)
*Built massive citadels marked by cyclopean masonry and
corbelled vaulting
Aegean art’s three main civilizations:

3. The Cycladic
Islands

4. THE ANCIENT AEGEAN
WORLD
[Map 04-01]

6. Heinrich Schliemann 1822 - 1890 Arthur Evans (1851 - 1941
Who found all this stuff?

7. Sir Arthur Evans with a dandy find
Evans (from England) and
Schliemann (from Germany)
dug through the ancient ruins
of ancient Greece and the
Greek Islands to find stuff
They say these men did more
harm than good in the way
they uncovered the sites (not
very careful)
However, their names are still
recorded as pioneering
archaeologists

8. OVERVIEW OF
AEGEAN ART

9. ARCHITECTURE:
•Used CYCLOPEAN MASONRY: placed minimally cut blocks of
stone atop one another to create walls and buildings without mortar.
•Excelled at the CORBELLED ARCH: a type of vaulted space in
which the blocks of stone are gradually placed closer together as the
building rises, forming an inverted V-shaped roof.
CORBELLED
ARCH
cyclopean
masonry
(no mortar)

10. PAINTING
•Back in Egypt, artists painted on a dry wall (“fresco
secco”- dry fresco)
•Fresco secco is not permanent = chipping paint
•Aegean artists used BUON FRESCO technique
(“true fresco”)
•Buon fresco = paint applied to fresh plaster = long
lasting and durable
•Buon fresco: requires quick brushwork and
spontaneous work. This gives Aegean painting
fluidity (not rigid like Egypt)

11. BUON FRESCO EXAMPLE

12. SCULPTURE
•Used REPOUSSE
technique: fitting a thin
sheet of metal (gold or
bronze) onto a surface
•The metal is shaped with
small hammers from the
backside
•A design is beaten on the
inside of the object,
leaving a raised surface
on the exterior (made in
reverse pretty much)
•Working the metal from
the front is called
CHASING

13. Vapheio Cup c. 1650 – 1450 BCE

14. Now let’s talk about the
individual civilizations…..

15. CYCLADIC ART
•Found in grave sites on the Greek islands
•Figurines placed by the dead
•Women: always carved standing and nude
•Men: carved playing harps
•Men and women have heads tilted back
•Rendered in simple geometric shapes, which make them look modern
•Small traces of paint found on the figurines
Major works of Cycladic Art…

16. CYCLADIC FEMALE
2500 BCE, marble
•highly stylized nude woman
•arms folded around waist
•thin figure, prominent head
•feet too small to support the sculpture
•Meant to be placed on their straight
backs, lying down, next to the deceased
•Wedge-shaped pelvis and body

17. •triangular groin area
•modest breasts (nothing like Venus!)
•painted facial features
•head tilted back
•found in graves
•varied in size from large to small

19. HEAD WITH
REMAINS OF
PAINTED
DECORATION
Cyclades. c.
2500-2200
BCE. Marble
and red
pigment
About 10”
high

21. Harpist, c. 2500, marble
•Male figures
•Simple geometric shapes
•Large flat planes
•Head tilted back
•Not playing harp- holding it

22. Lyre Player c. 2000 BCE
•In the round sculpture
•Tubular
•Basic geometric forms
•Negative space

23. MINOAN

24. MINOAN ART
• Fluidity in figures (unique in art history at this point)
• Figures not “stuck” on ground line; they enjoy free movement and
dynamic vigor
• Curved lines dominate compositions
• Slow, S-shaped curves very common
• Figures have small waists, frontal shoulders, profile bodies
• Men painted darker than women
• Introduced pure landscape- lush vegetation with no human
presence

25. MINOAN ARCHITECTURE
•Unusual, complicated ground
plan
•Rooms stretching out next to
long corridors
•Spacious courtyards
•MEGARON= main audience
chamber in Minoan palace
•Megaron has wooden
columns that taper inward as
they go down
•Columns painted red or white
(to look nice, and to preserve
wood)
•Capitals are bulbous and painted black

26. PALACE AT KNOSSOS, c. 1700-1400 BCE, CRETE

27. RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE "PALACE"
COMPLEX, KNOSSOS, CRETE

28. Aerial view of Knossos today

29. •Low ceilings, intimate rooms
•Terraces and open galleries
•Capitals painted black sit like cushions on top
of columns
•Central courtyard
with rooms
attached around it
•Open-air
chambers flood
interior with light
•Labyrinth-like
ground plan
•wood columns
painted mostly red
or white
•Columns smaller
at bottom than at
top

31. Palace at
Knossos was also
a center for…
•business
•religion
•trade
•manufacturing
•politics
“restorations” have
obscured some of
the original design

32. MINOAN PAINTING:
•Murals done in FRESCO technique
•Large gaps filled in by modern
restorers
•Extremely curvilinear and lyrical line
•Vibrant colors, smooth lines and sense
of nature

33. Toreador Fresco, c. 1400 BCE, fresco

34. •Possibly a ritual
showing two women and
a man jumping over a
bull
•Woman on left grabs
horns
•Man jumping over bull
•Woman on right has just
landed (ta da!)
•Man darker than women
•Extremely thin waists
•Groundbreaking! –
figures in profile! Not
frontal torso like earlier
art, but still looks like
Egyptian Amarna style
•Figures have floating quality- no ground lines
•Sweeping curved lines
•S-shaped curve of bull’s body and tail
•Bull appears decorative and non -threatening

35. "SPRING FRESCO” (Landscape), c. 1650 BCE, fresco
How would you describe the
subject matter?

36. *Joyful patterns of undulating lines and fanciful plant
forms dominate composition
*Cheerful application of color
*Geometrically simplified swallows fly through the air
One of the
earliest pure
landscapes in
existence
next time you’re in
Athens, go to the
museum and check it out

37. GIRL GATHERING SAFFRON
CROCUS FLOWERS, 1630 BCE.
•Buon fresco
•In room dedicated to women’s
initiation ceremonies
•Young woman picks saffron
plant- used for dye, food, and
medicine
•Girl wears typical Minoan
flounced skirt
•Short sleeve shirt
•Jewelry
•Hairstyle of a child
•Light blue color of scalp shows
childhood shaved head is
growing out

38. Images of The "Flotilla Fresco" from Akrotiri
c. 1650 BCE.

39. Buon fresco
Minoans lived on
the island of Crete.
Thus, sea life was a
popular theme

40. gone fishin’

41. Plant designs. Minoans love landscape!

42. Alphone Mucha, from Europe
c. 1900
Minoan
Influences?

43. ….and let’s see some Minoan sculpture…

44. SNAKE GODDESS, c. 1600 BCE,
gold and ivory
•Goddess? Fertility image? Assistant to the
goddess?
•Minoan thin waist, exposed breasts
•Flounced skirt in layers
•Apron layered on top
•Wide-eyed, astonished expression
•Cat image on head dress (crazy cat lady!)
•Holds snake in each hand
•Frontal, symmetrical
•No visible legs

45. and she’s not the only one!
This one was made
with the “faience”
technique.
Remember how they
used that in Egypt
too?
from Egypt

46. Navajo Pottery
KAMARES WARE JUG
c. 2000 BCE, ceramic
Connection?

47. Kamares Ware Jug
*Introduction of potter’s wheel
in early 2000’s BCE!
*Extremely thin walls
*Graceful, stylized, painted
decoration
*Beaked pouring spout
*Rounded contours compliment
bold, curving plant forms
painted on

48. OCTOPUS FLASK
c. 1500-1450 BCE.
Marine-style ceramic,
height 11”
•“Marine Style”
•Depictions of sea life on
surface
•Celebrates the sea
•Floating creatures
•Grace and energy of
natural forms
•Stylized design in
harmony with vessel’s
spherical shape

49. Harvester Vase
c. 1650-1450 BCE
4 ½ -inch diameter!
•Made of steatite (stone)
•a RHYTON (vessel used
for pouring liquids)
•Egg-shaped
•May have been covered in
gold leaf (sheets of
hammered gold, oooo!)
•Rowdy procession of 27
men
•Emotion shows in faces
•March and chant to beat of
rattle

50. Look at this guy
singing his heart out!
Men have large,
coarse features
Muscular bodies with
ribs sticking out
Festival? Religious
procession? Dance?
Warriors?
Laborers?
Who knows!

51. Carved in low relief – note overlapping

52. Bull’s Head Rhyton, c.1550-1450 BCE,
Steatite with shell, rock crystal, and red jasper.
Gilt-wood horns restored, 12” high
•Incised lines
•Found in Palace of Knossos
•Like an animal portrait
•Lightly engraved lines filled with white
powder to make them stand out
•Short curly hair on top of head, shaggy strands
on sides, circular patterns on neck
•Shell outlines nostrils. Rock crystal and red
jasper for eyes
•Horns- wood covered in gold leaf
•Liquid poured into hold in neck and flows out
mouth, cool!

53. MYCENEAN ART
•CYCLOPEAN MASONRY and CORBELLED
ARCHES are key characteristics
•Influenced by Minoan painting- figures have
narrow waists and broad shoulders
•Overall movement away from delicate Minoan
forms to a more realistic concept

54. CORBELLED
GALLERY
c. 1400-1200 BCE
•Cyclopean masonry, looks
powerful
•Corbel vault
•Walls have massive
appearance but hallway is
claustrophobic

55. TREASURY OF ATREUS EXTERIOR VIEW c. 1300 BCE
Long entranceway
Let’s go inside!!!

56. TREASURY OF ATREUS
Interior View, c. 1300 BCE
43’ high, limestone
*Misnamed in the belief it
was storage for treasures
(probably originally a
tomb for THOLOS)
*Corbel vaulted
*Largest interior domed
space until the Romans
*Precision cutting of stone

61. LION GATE, c. 1300 BCE, limestone

62. • Triangular group over doorway
• An early PEDIMENT on a post-
and-lintel gate
• Minoan column between two
lions (heads fell off, oops!)
• Heads were turned to face
observer
• Narrow, tall passageway leading
to gate, built for defensive
purposes- protected entrance of
a Mycenean citadel.
• Stones grooved into place, no
mortar
• CORBELLED VAULT

63. LION GATE, MYCENAE
Historic photo showing
Heinrich and Sophia
Schliemann.

64. LION GATE from the other side

65. MASK OF AGAMEMNON
Funerary mask
Mycenae, Greece. c.
1600 BCE. Gold
•Gold, worked in
REPOUSSE
•Found in royal shaft
grave
•Mask placed on the
deceased’s face (like
Egyptian burial)
•Curlicue ears
•Eyes rendered as slits
•Hair detailed with long,
thin incised marks
Let’s not forget sculpture….

66. Vapheio Cup c. 1650 – 1450 BCE