30 Millennia of Erotic Art. Victoria Charles
Greek. Marble, height: 116 cm. Acropolis Museum, Athens.
21. 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.
22. Anonymous, Dying Warrior, c. 500–480 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. Marble, height: 185 cm. Glyptothek, Munich.
Greek temples often featured large sculptures decorating the pediment, the triangular space under the eave of the roof. The first examples of pedimental sculpture show that the early artists were not adept at filling the awkward triangular space with a cohesive composition; the figures in the corners were shrunk to a diminutive scale in comparison to the central figures. However, in this pediment group from the end of the Archaic period, the sculptors showed new skill in conceiving the composition. The central figures, not shown, engage in lively battle, lunging and parrying with swords and shields. One archer crouches to take aim, his low position allowing him to fit into the smaller space toward the corner of the pediment. The Dying Warrior next to him fills that corner, the angle of his falling body perfectly fitting into the smallest part of the pediment. A single, cohesive narrative is thereby created across the triangular space, telling the story of a battle fought by local heroes.
23. Anonymous, Marble low-relief. Ancient Etruscan.
The Tomb of the Bulls, Tarquinia (Italy).
24. Euaichme Painter, Man Offering a Gift to a Youth, c. 530–430 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Athenian goblet with red figures. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
25. Anonymous, Man and Ephebe Having a Conversation, c. 420 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Dish with red figures (detail). Musée Municipal, Laon.
26. Euphronios, Ephebes at the Bath, Ancient Greek. c. 505–500 BCE.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.
27. Triptolemus Painter, Attican goblet (detail).
Ancient Greek. Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese, Tarquinia (Italy).
28. Anonymous, Scene of Debauchery, 510–500 BCE.
Goblet with red figures (detail). Ancient Greek. Private collection.
29. Brygos Painter, Erastes Soliciting an Eromenos. Attican goblet (detail).
Ancient Greek. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
30. Anonymous, Satyr, 470 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Bronze. Private collection, Athens.
31. Anonymous, after Myron, Discobolus, c. 450 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 148 cm. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.
In Myron’s Discobolus, we see the human form freed from the standing, frontal pose of earlier statues. Here, the artist is clearly interested not only in the body of the athlete, but in the movement of the discus thrower. His muscles tense and strain in preparation for his throw, his face focused on his activity. While the pose, with the arms forming a wide arc, is revolutionary, the piece is still meant to be viewed from the front. It would not be until the following century that artists began to conceive of sculpture that could be viewed from all sides.
Myron, a mid-5th century BCE Greek sculptor, worked almost exclusively in bronze. Though he made some statues of gods and heroes, his fame rested primarily upon his representations of athletes, for which he proved revolutionary by introducing greater boldness of pose and a more ideal rhythm. His most famous works, according to Pliny, were a cow, Ladas the runner, who fell dead at the moment of victory, and a discus-thrower, Discobolus (fig. 31). The cow seems to have earned its fame largely by serving as a peg on which to hang epigrams, which tells us nothing of the animal’s pose. Of the Ladas, there is no known copy; we are fortunate, however, in possessing several copies of the Discobolus. The athlete is represented at the moment he has swung back the discus with the full stretch of his arm, ready to hurl it with all the weight of his body. His face is calm and untroubled, but every muscle in his body is focused in effort.
Another marble figure, almost certainly a copy of a work of Myron’s, is a Marsyas eager to pick up the flutes Athena had thrown away. The full group is copied on coins of Athens, on a vase and in a relief representing Marsyas as oscillating between curiosity and fear of Athena’s displeasure. His face of the Marsyas is almost a mask; but from the attitude we gain a vivid impression of the passions affecting him.
The ancient critics say of Myron that, while he succeeded admirably in giving life and motion to his figures, he failed in rendering the mind’s emotions. To a certain degree this is evidenced here; the bodies of his men are of far greater excellence than the heads.
He was a somewhat older contemporary of Phidias and Polykleitos.
32. Anonymous, The Battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, c. 470–456 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Temple of Zeus, Olympia. Marble, height: 330 cm. Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
33. Anonymous, Heracles Receiving the Golden Apples of the Hesperides from the Hand of Atlas while Minerva Rests a Cushion on his Head, c. 470–456 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Temple of Zeus, Olympia. Marble, height: 160 cm. Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
This metope, or square component of the frieze of the temple, is from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the largest and most important structure of the first half of the 5th century. Together, the metopes of the Temple of Zeus told the story of the twelve labours of Heracles. Each metope showed one of his labours, or tasks. This metope shows the eleventh labour, the apples of the Hesperides. Heracles was told he had to steal apples belonging to Zeus. He met with Atlas, who had to hold up the world for all of time. Atlas said he would get the apples for Heracles if Heracles would hold the earth for him. In the scene shown, Atlas has returned with the apples, and Heracles must figure out how to get Atlas to take back the weight of the world. Athena stands behind Heracles, gently helping him hold his burden.
34. Anonymous, Leda and the Swan, copy after a Greek original created by Timotheus, first half of 5th century BCE.
Ancient Greek. Marble, height: