Themes - Summary 7

Question 1

4th century interest in anatomical details

Answer 1

Becomes even more important for 4th century artists. Idea of absolute symmetry and mathematical understanding of human body is abandoned for a notion of liveliness. Sculptors get more interested in the world as it is rather than as it should be.

Question 2

The portrayal of abstract ideas in 4th century

Answer 2

Eirene by Kephisodotos - for the first time, an abstract idea with an obscure mythological background is personified and depicted in monumental sculpture.

Question 3

The female nude in 4th century

Answer 3

Aphrodite of Knidos: first time in Greek art that female figure is represented nude; conceived to be viewed in the round.

Question 4

Interrelation between viewer and sculpture in 4th century

Answer 4

Apoxyomenos - the sculpture seems to invade the space while inviting him/her to appreciate the statue from multiple perspectives.

Question 5

The back of the image

Answer 5

Lysippos, in his Herakles Farnese, is the first to explore the back of an image and to put a major iconographic piece there - from the front, see Herakles resting on his club; from the back, he clutches apples.