VII.2 Classical and Hellenistic Greek Art
From the Birth of an Artistic Canon to
after Alexander the Great
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768)
Kritios Boy, from the
Acropolis, Athens, c.
480 BCE
Acropolis Museum,
Athens
Aristokidos kouros,
c. 510-500 BCE
Archaeological
Museum, Athens
Myron of Eleutherae
5th c. BCE (Early Classical Period)
Phidias of Athens
c. 493–430 BCE (High Classical Period)
Polykleitos of Argos
5th C. BCE (High Classical Period)
Praxiteles of Athens
c. 400–330 BCE (Late Classical Period)
Lysippos of Sicyon
4th C. BCE (Late Classical Period)
Zeus (or Poseidon), c. 470–460 BCE, bronze, 2.09 m high,
from a shipwreck off Cape Artemision
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Bronze statuette of Zeus or Poseidon, early 5th century BCE
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Zeus of Ugento, c. 530 BCE
Museo archeologico nazionale di Taranto
The Charioteer of
Delphi, c. 470 BCE
bronze, H: 1,80 m
Delphi Museum
Cavalier Rampin, marble, c. 550 BCE
Acropolis Museum, Athens
Leo von Klenze,
Reconstruction of
the Acropolis, 1846
Pinakothek
Museum, Munich
Recreation of the lost colossal statue by Phidias,
Athena Parthenos
Nashville Centennial Park
“The statue is created with ivory and gold. On the middle of
her helmet is likeness of the Sphinx ... and on either side of
the helmet are griffins in relief. ... The statue of Athena is
upright, with a tunic reaching to the feet, and on her breast
the head of Medusa is worked in ivory. She holds a statue
of Victory [Nike] that is approx. four cubits high, and in the
other hand a spear; at her feet lies a shield and near the spear
is a serpent. This serpent would be Erichthonius. On the
pedestal is the birth of Pandora in relief”
Pausanias, Description of Ancient Greece, 2nd century CE
Varvakeion, Roman marble copy of
Athena Parthenos by Phidias
(438 BCE), c. 130 CE
National Archaeological Museum,
Athens
Archibald Archer, Elgin Room, oil on canvas, 1819
British Museum, London
Phidias, Marble relief (Block XLI) from
the North frieze of the Parthenon,
438-432 BCE
British Museum, London
Kritios Boy, from the Acropolis,
Athens, c. 480 BCE
Acropolis Museum, Athens
Polykleitos, Doryphoros, roman copy,
pentelic marble, 198.12 x 48.26 x
48.26 cm, c. 120-150 BCE
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Westmacott Athlete, Roman copy of a Greek bronze
original from ca. 430 BCE, 150 x 61 x 55 cm
British Museum, London
“contrapposto”
Andrea Mantegna, Saint Sebastian,
tempera on canvas, 1475–1500
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1485
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
harmony & symmetria
Polykleitos, Diadoumenos, roman copy 1st
century CE of a Greek original
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Discobolus, interior from an Attic redfigured
cup, ca. 490 BCE
Musée du Louvre, Paris
After Lysippos, Portrait of Alexander the
Great (356-323 BCE), c. 330 BCE
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Alexander the Great on horseback, bronze, 1st century BCE
H: 49 cm; W: 47 cm; D: 29 cm
National Archaeological Museum of Naples, inv. 4996.
The Medici Riccardi Horse Head, ca. 350 BCE
bronze and gold, 81 × 95 × 40 cm
National Archaeological Museum of Florence
Detail from the ‘Alexander Sarcophagus’
ca. 312 BCE Pentelic marble
İstanbul Archaeological Museum
The ‘Alexander Sarcophagus’, c. 312 BCE, Pentelic marble and
polychromy, found in Sidon, 195 x 318 x 167 cm
İstanbul Archaeological Museum
Portrait of a Hellenistic ruler, marble, Roman copy after a lost
sculpture, probably of the 2nd century BCE
British Museum, London
Statue of a prince or dynast without crown, maybe Attalus II of
Pergamon, bronze, 3rd–2nd centuries BCE, H: 2,20 m
Museo nazionale romano di Palazzo Massimo, Rome
Apoxyomenos, Greek original of ca. 330 BCE
(left: Vienna, right: Croatian Apoxyomenos)
Detail of marble Apoxyomenos, Roman copy of the 1st
century CE after a Greek bronze original, marble, H: 2,5
m / Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Clementino
Pair of eyes, bronze, marble, frit, quartz, and
obsidian, 5th century BCE or later /
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Apoxyomenos, Roman copy of the
1st century CE after a Greek bronze
original, marble, H: 2,5 m
Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-
Clementino
Statue of a Victorious Youth, bronze with inlaid copper,
151.5 × 70 × 27.9 cm,, 300–100 BCE
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu
Statuette of a veiled and masked
dancer, 3rd–2nd century BCE
20.5 × 8.9 × 11.4 cm
Metropolitan Museum, New York
The Dying Galatian, Roman copy of a lost sculpture, marble, original in
bronze, from c. 230–220 BCE
Musei Capitolini, Rome
Ludovisi Gaul, Roman
copy of a lost bronze,
original from c. 230–220
BCE, H: 2,11 m
Palazzo Altemps, Rome
Marsyas, marble, H: 2,56 m, 2nd century
Roman copy from a bronze original,
Pergamon (?), ca. 200 BCE (?)
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Barberini Faun, c. 220 BCE, Roman copy, H: 2.15m
Glyptothek, Munich
Bronze statue of Eros sleeping, 3rd–2nd century BCE
41.9 × 35.6 × 85.2 cm, 124.7 kg
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Glykon, from the original by Lysippos, Farnese
Hercules, Roman copy c. 216 CE, original 4th
century BCE, H: 3,17 m
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples
The Three Graces Aglaia (Beauty), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and
Thalia (Abundance), 2nd century CE, original after the second
or first centuries BCE, 123 x 100 cm
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Raphael, The Three Graces
oil on panel, 17.1 cm × 17.1 cm, 1504–1505
Musée Condé, Chantilly
Farnese Bull, early third century CE, after an original from
the 2nd century BCE, marble, from the Baths of Caracalla
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples
Nike (or Victory) of Samothrace, Lartos and
Parian marbles, ca. 190 BCE, H: 3.28m
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Proposed Reconstruction by Karl Lehmann
Pergamon altar, reconstruction of the western façade, with frieze panels of the
Gigantomachy and original architectural elements, Pergamon, ca. 170 BCE
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung
Hagesandros, Athenedoros, and
Polydoros, Laocoon and His Sons,
Marble, Roman copy after an
original from ca. 200 BCE, found in
the Baths of Trajan, Rome, 1506
Vatican Museums