The Fit for Passkeys for Employee and Consumer Sign-ins: FIDO Paris Seminar.pptx
Aegean Art: Chapter 4
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:
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
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)
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
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
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
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
30.
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
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
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.
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
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!
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
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
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
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….
BULL LEAPING Wall painting with areas of modern reconstruction, from the palace complex, Knossos, Crete. Late Minoan period, c. 1450-1375 BCE . Height approx. 24-1/2" (62.3 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. [Fig. 04-07]
FIGURE OF A WOMAN WITH A DRAWING SHOWING EVIDENCE OF ORIGINAL PAINTING AND OUTLINING DESIGN SCHEME Cyclades. c. 2600-2400 BCE . Marble, height 24-3/4" (62.8 cm). Figure: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Christos G. Bastis (68.148). Drawing: Elizabeth Hendrix. [Fig. 04-02a]
FIGURE OF A WOMAN WITH A DRAWING SHOWING EVIDENCE OF ORIGINAL PAINTING AND OUTLINING DESIGN SCHEME Cyclades. c. 2600-2400 BCE . Marble, height 24-3/4" (62.8 cm). Figure: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Christos G. Bastis (68.148). Drawing: Elizabeth Hendrix. [Fig. 04-02b]
HEAD WITH REMAINS OF PAINTED DECORATION Cyclades. c. 2500-2200 BCE . Marble and red pigment, height 9-11/16" (24.6 cm). National Museum, Copenhagen. (4697) [Fig. 04-03]
RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE "PALACE" COMPLEX, KNOSSOS, CRETE As it would have appeared during the New Palace period. Site occupied since the Neolithic period; the Minoan complex of the Old Palace period (c. 1900-1700 BCE ) was rebuilt during New Palace period (c. 1700-1450 BCE ) after earthquakes and fires; final destruction c. 1375 BCE . [Fig. 04-05]
EAST WING STAIRWELL "Palace" complex, Knossos, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1700-1450 BCE . [Fig. 04-06]
LANDSCAPE ("SPRING FRESCO") Wall painting with areas of modern reconstruction, from Akrotiri, Thera, Cyclades. Before 1630 BCE . National Archaeological Museum, Athens. [Fig. 04-14]
GIRL GATHERING SAFFRON CROCUS FLOWERS Detail of wall painting, Room 3 of House Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera, Cyclades. Before 1630 BCE . Thera Foundation, Petros M. Nomikos, Greece. [Fig. 04-01]
A CLOSER LOOK: The "Flotilla Fresco" from Akrotiri Detail of the left part of a mural from Room 5 of West House, Akrotiri, Thera. New Palace period, c. 1650 BCE . Height 14 5/16" (44 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
KAMARES WARE JUG From Phaistos, Crete. Old Palace period, c. 2000-1900 BCE . Ceramic, height 10-5/8" (27 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. [Fig. 04-04]
OCTOPUS FLASK From Palaikastro, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1500-1450 BCE . Marine-style ceramic, height 11" (28 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. [Fig. 04-11]
TWO VIEWS OF THE HARVESTER RHYTON From Hagia Triada, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1650-1450 BCE . Steatite, greatest diameter 4-1/2" (11.3 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. [Fig. 04-09a]
EXTERIOR VIEW OF THOLOS, THE SO-CALLED TREASURY OF ATREUS Mycenae, Greece. c. 1300-1200 BCE . [Fig. 04-23]
CORBEL VAULT, INTERIOR OF THOLOS, THE SO-CALLED TREASURY OF ATREUS Limestone vault, height approx. 43' (13 m), diameter 47'6" (14.48 m). [Fig. 04-24]
LION GATE, MYCENAE c. 1250 BCE . Historic photo showing Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann. [Fig. 04-17]
MASK OF AGAMEMNON Funerary mask, from Shaft Grave v, Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece. c. 1600-1550 BCE . Gold, height approx. 12" (35 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens. [Fig. 04-20]