30 Millennia of Sculpture. Patrick Bade

Kouros, called the Apollo from Tenea, c. 560–550 BCE. Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 153 cm. Glyptothek, Munich.

      119. Anonymous, Head of a Cavalier called the Cavalier Rampin, Acropolis, Athens, c. 550 BCE. Ancient Greek. Marble, traces of painting, height: 27 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

      When the Persians attacked Athens in 480 BCE, they destroyed the Acropolis, setting fire to the great temples it held. The scorched and broken relics of statuary were buried like victims of war by the Athenians. Archaeologists have since recovered the buried statues, and so we have a rich array of sculptural examples from Greece’s “Archaic” period. The examples include a number of korai, or standing females, but also this rare example of a figure on horseback. Like the earlier small bronze figurines of men on horseback, this life-size stone sculpture evokes a heroic figure. The rich patterns of the hair and beard are characteristic of Near Eastern art, a style presumably brought to Athens via the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. The name of the statue comes from the French diplomat who purchased the head, separated from the rest of the piece, in the 19th century. The head remains in Paris, in the Louvre, while the other fragments are housed on the Acropolis in Athens.

      120. Anonymous, Dipylon Head, Dipylon, Athens, c. 600 BCE. Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 44 cm. National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Athens.

      This fragment is a rare early example of the “kouros”, or standing male statue. Its name comes from the Dipylon Cemetery in Athens where it was found. There, in the 6th century BCE, statues were sometimes used as grave markers. While female statues were modestly dressed, the male versions were nude, perhaps indicating a god or a hero. Like the Auxerre Kore (fig. 113), these statues developed both from a local tradition of small figurines, and from the Egyptian tradition of large stone sculpture. The early date of this piece is revealed through the style, which is more decorative than realistic. The eyes and eyebrows are deeply-incised, the contours of the face are flat, and shape of the ear is indicated with concentric, curved lines. The hair is patterned in an Egyptian manner and held back with a band. Over the course of the 6th century, Greek sculpture would lose this patterned, decorative quality and become increasingly realistic and lifelike.

      121. Anonymous, The Naxian Sphinx, Earth Sanctuary, Delphi, c. 560 BCE. Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 232 cm. Archaeological Museum of Delphi, Delphi.

      This graceful creature is a composite of a lion, an eagle, and a woman. The grace and beauty of the sphinx emphasises its strength: this fierce creature was intended to protect all that it could oversee from its position atop a high column. The column and sphinx were erected as a votive offering by the people of Naxos at the sanctuary of Delphi. Such votive offerings, which could also include figurines and statues, reflect the “quid pro quo” nature of the Greeks’ relationship with their gods. They would ask a god for something, promising a votive gift if they got what they asked for. The sanctuary at Delphi was a popular location for this sort of prayer; people from all over Greece would go there to consult the oracle of the Temple of Apollo before they undertook any important act. If they received favour from Apollo, they would leave a votive offering.

      122. Anonymous, Kore 679, called the Peplos Kore, Acropolis, Athens, c. 530 BCE. Ancient Greek. Marble, traces of painting, height: 118 cm. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

      Known as the Peplos Kore, this piece was another victim of the Persian invasion, found buried in the ruins of the Acropolis in Athens. While her heavy garment hangs straight over her body, the sculptor has taken care to show the curves of her shoulders, breasts, and hips. Underneath the straight skirt, she wears the lightweight, crinkly linen chiton. Her full face has more life and realism in it than earlier korai. The vitality of the piece is heightened, for the modern viewer, by the remains of paint on the statue, and also through the very slight movement shown through the upraised arm and the left leg, which steps very slightly forward.

      123. Anonymous, Sarcophagus of a Couple from Cerveteri, c. 520–510 BCE. Ancient Etruscan. Painted terracotta, 111 × 194 × 69 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

      Though their civilisation flourished alongside that of the Greeks, our limited understanding of Etruscan language and culture has left a veil of mystery over the people who lived in Italy before the Roman Republic. Their art was strongly influenced by that of the Greeks, as evidenced by this terracotta sarcophagus with its echoes of the style of the Greek Archaic period. In Etruscan sculpture, however, we find more lively subjects, like this couple, animated in their easy affection for each other. Like so much of Etruscan art, this is a funerary piece, designed for placement in one of the elaborate tombs the Etruscans carved out of the soft volcanic bedrock of central Italy. It reveals the Etruscan view of the afterlife: an eternal party, where men and women would lounge at a banquet, enjoying good food, drink, and the company of their loved ones.

      124. Anonymous, Darius Trampling the Traitor Gaumata, detail of the rock of Bisotun, around 519–512 BCE. Ancient Near East, Plain Media (Iran). Limestone, 300 × 550 cm. In situ.

      125. Anonymous, Frieze of Archers, c. 510 BCE. Ancient Near East, Tell of the Apadana, the palace of Darius I, Susa (Iran). Siliceous glaze polychrome bricks, 475 × 375 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

      126. Anonymous, The Audience of King Xerxes, c. 510 BCE. Ancient Near East, Persepolis (Iran). Museum of Tehran, Iran.

      127. Anonymous, Heracles, Temple of Portonaccio, Veii (Italy), 510–490 BCE. Ancient Etruscan. Terracotta. Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giula, Rome.

      Unlike Greek temples, Etruscan, or Tuscan, temples were traditionally decorated with large terracotta sculptures balanced on the roof, along the ridgepole. One of the most important temples in Etruria was in the city of Veii. The temple at Veii, called the Portonaccio temple, featured a group of figures sculpted out of baked clay, or terracotta, along the ridge of the temple’s roof. The two principle figures of the group are Apollo (fig. 128) and Heracles. Heracles, shown here, is controlling a hind, a deer sacred to the goddess Artemis. The task of capturing the hind was one of the twelve labours of Heracles, a penance he was ordered to perform by the Oracle of Delphi as punishment for killing his family. The pose of Heracles as he rests his foot on the hind (the head of the animal is not preserved) is typical of the dynamism of Etruscan statuary. While Archaic Greek statues were still and static, this Archaic Etruscan example is frozen in motion, engaged in restraining the animal, showing the strength and power of Heracles.

      128. Anonymous, Apollo, Temple of Portonaccio, Veii (Italy), c. 510 BCE. Ancient Etruscan. Terracotta, height: 180 cm. Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giula, Rome.

      129. Anonymous, Kore 594, Acropolis, Athens, c. 500 BCE. Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 122 cm. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

      Kore 594 is another of the large group of statues of maidens from the Athenian Acropolis, buried after the destruction of the Acropolis by the Persian army. While the head is not preserved, the piece retains an air of regal elegance, due mainly to the complex folds of richly decorated clothing. Her right arm would have extended outwards, perhaps holding an offering to Athena. While the male statues of this period were completely nude, the female versions were not only clothed, but accessorised with an elaborate array of robes and fancy jewellery. The many patterns, drapes, and folds the sculptor has carved on her garments lend a rich, decorative quality to the piece, heightened by the effect of bright paint, much of which is preserved on her hair and gown.