Editing Sculpture (section)

====Ancient Greece====
{{main|Ancient Greek sculpture}}
[[File:Vognstyreren-fra Delfi2.jpg|thumb|[[Charioteer of Delphi]], [[Art in ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[bronze sculpture]], 5th century BCE, close up head detail]]
The first distinctive style of [[ancient Greek sculpture]] developed in the Early Bronze Age [[Cycladic]] period (3rd millennium BCE), where marble figures, usually female and small, are represented in an elegantly simplified geometrical style. Most typical is a standing pose with arms crossed in front, but other figures are shown in different poses, including a complicated figure of a harpist seated on a chair.<ref>[[commons:Category:Getty Villa - Harp player - inv. 85.AA.103|images of Getty Villa 85.AA.103]]</ref>

The subsequent [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] and [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] cultures developed sculpture further, under influence from Syria and elsewhere, but it is in the later [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] from around 650 BCE that the [[kouros]] developed. These are large standing statues of naked youths, found in temples and tombs, with the [[Kore (sculpture)|kore]] as the clothed female equivalent, with elaborately dressed hair; both have the "[[archaic smile]]". They seem to have served a number of functions, perhaps sometimes representing deities and sometimes the person buried in a grave, as with the [[Kroisos Kouros]]. They are clearly influenced by Egyptian and Syrian styles, but the Greek artists were much more ready to experiment within the style.

During the 6th century Greek sculpture developed rapidly, becoming more naturalistic, and with much more active and varied figure poses in narrative scenes, though still within idealized conventions. Sculptured [[pediment]]s were added to [[Greek temple|temples]], including the [[Parthenon]] in Athens, where the remains of the pediment of around 520 using figures in the round were fortunately used as infill for new buildings after the Persian sack in 480 BCE, and recovered from the 1880s on in fresh unweathered condition. Other significant remains of architectural sculpture come from [[Paestum]] in Italy, [[Corfu]], [[Delphi]] and the [[Temple of Aphaea]] in [[Aegina]] (much now in [[Munich]]).<ref>Cook, 72, 85–109; Boardman, 47–59</ref>  Most Greek sculpture originally included at least some colour; the [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek|Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum]] in Copenhagen, Denmark, has done extensive research and recreation of the original colours.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.glyptoteket.com/about-the-museum/research/|title=Research|work=Glyptoteket|access-date=September 23, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=September 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924044927/http://www.glyptoteket.com/about-the-museum/research/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trackingcolour.com/|title=Tracking Colour|website=www.trackingcolour.com|access-date=September 23, 2017|archive-date=December 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209145611/http://www.trackingcolour.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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File:Head figurine Spedos Louvre Ma2709.jpg|Cycladic statue 2700–2300 BCE. Head from the figure of a woman, H. {{convert|27|cm|in}}
File:Goulandris Master - Cycladic Female Figurine - Walters 23253.jpg|Cycladic Female Figurine, {{Circa|2500–2400 BCE}}, {{convert|41.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} high
File:Athens Bull Rhyton 020911.jpg|Mycenae, 1600−1500 BCE. Silver rhyton with gold horns and rosette on the forehead
File:Marble statue of a kouros (youth) MET DT263.jpg|Lifesize [[New York Kouros]], {{Circa|590}}–580 BCE, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:028MAD Sphinx.jpg|The "[[Naxos|Naxian]] [[Sphinx]]" from [[Delphi]], 570–560 BCE, the figure {{convert|222|cm|in|abbr=on}} high
File:ACMA 679 Kore 1.JPG|''[[Peplos Kore]]'', c. 530 BCE, [[Athens]], [[Acropolis Museum]]
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<gallery>
File:Aphaia pediment Laomedon E-XI Glyptothek Munich 85.jpg|Late Archaic warrior from the east pediment of the [[Temple of Aphaea]], {{Circa|500}}
File:Limestone sarcophagus- the Amathus sarcophagus MET DT257.jpg|The [[Amathus sarcophagus]], from [[Amathus]], [[Cyprus]], 2nd quarter of the 5th century BCE [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]], [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
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=====Classical=====
[[File:South metope 27 Parthenon BM.jpg|thumb|High Classical high relief from the [[Elgin Marbles]], which originally decorated the [[Parthenon]], c. 447–433 BCE]]
There are fewer original remains from the first phase of the Classical period, often called the [[Severe style]]; free-standing statues were now mostly made in bronze, which always had value as scrap. The Severe style lasted from around 500 in reliefs, and soon after 480 in statues, to about 450. The relatively rigid poses of figures relaxed, and asymmetrical turning positions and oblique views became common, and deliberately sought. This was combined with a better understanding of anatomy and the harmonious structure of sculpted figures, and the pursuit of naturalistic representation as an aim, which had not been present before. Excavations at the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia]] since 1829 have revealed the largest group of remains, from about 460, of which many are in the [[Louvre]].<ref>Cook, 109–19; Boardman, 87–95.</ref>

The "High Classical" period lasted only a few decades from about 450 to 400, but has had a momentous influence on art, and retains a special prestige, despite a very restricted number of original survivals. The best known works are the [[Parthenon Marbles]], traditionally (since [[Plutarch]]) executed by a team led by the most famous ancient Greek sculptor [[Phidias]], active from about 465–425, who was in his own day more famous for his colossal [[Chryselephantine sculpture|chryselephantine]] [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]] (c. 432), one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]], his ''[[Athena Parthenos]]'' (438), the cult image of the [[Parthenon]], and ''[[Athena Promachos]]'', a colossal bronze figure that stood next to the Parthenon; all of these are lost but are known from many representations. He is also credited as the creator of some life-size bronze statues known only from later copies whose identification is controversial, including the ''[[Hermes Ludovisi|Ludovisi Hermes]]''.<ref>Lapatin, Kenneth D.S., ''Phidias'', [[Oxford Art Online]], accessed August 24, 2012.</ref>

The High Classical style continued to develop realism and sophistication in the human figure, and improved the depiction of drapery (clothes), using it to add to the impact of active poses. Facial expressions were usually very restrained, even in combat scenes. The composition of groups of figures in reliefs and on pediments combined complexity and harmony in a way that had a permanent influence on Western art. Relief could be very high indeed, as in the Parthenon illustration below, where most of the leg of the warrior is completely detached from the background, as were the missing parts; relief this high made sculptures more subject to damage.<ref>Cook, 119–31.</ref> The Late Classical style developed the free-standing female nude statue, supposedly an innovation of [[Praxiteles]], and developed increasingly complex and subtle poses that were interesting when viewed from a number of angles, as well as more expressive faces; both trends were to be taken much further in the Hellenistic period.<ref>Cook, 131–41.</ref>

=====Hellenistic=====
[[File:Fregio della gigantomachia 02.JPG|thumb|The Pergamene style of the Hellenistic period, from the [[Pergamon Altar]], early 2nd century]]
[[File:Tanagra o corinto, figura di donna seduta, 325-150 ac ca. 11.JPG|thumb|Small [[Greek terracotta figurines]] were very popular as ornaments in the home]]
The [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic period]] is conventionally dated from the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BCE, and ending either with the final conquest of the Greek heartlands by [[Roman Republic|Rome]] in 146 BCE or with the final defeat of the last remaining successor-state to Alexander's empire after the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BCE, which also marks the end of [[Republican Rome]].<ref name="ReferenceC">Alexander The Great and the Hellenistic Age, p. xiii. Green P. {{ISBN|978-0-7538-2413-9}}.</ref>  It is thus much longer than the previous periods, and includes at least two major phases: a "Pergamene" style of experimentation, exuberance and some sentimentality and vulgarity, and in the 2nd century BCE a classicising return to a more austere simplicity and elegance; beyond such generalizations dating is typically very uncertain, especially when only later copies are known, as is usually the case. The initial Pergamene style was not especially associated with [[Pergamon]], from which it takes its name, but the very wealthy kings of that state were among the first to collect and also copy Classical sculpture, and also commissioned much new work, including the famous [[Pergamon Altar]] whose sculpture is now mostly in Berlin and which exemplifies the new style, as do the   [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]] (another of the Seven Wonders), the famous ''[[Laocoön and his Sons]]'' in the [[Vatican Museums]], a late example, and the bronze original of ''[[The Dying Gaul]]'' (illustrated at top), which we know was part of a group actually commissioned for Pergamon in about 228 BCE, from which the [[Ludovisi Gaul]] was also a copy. The group called the [[Farnese Bull]], possibly a 2nd-century marble original, is still larger and more complex,<ref>Cook, 142–56.</ref>

Hellenistic sculpture greatly expanded the range of subjects represented, partly as a result of greater general prosperity, and the emergence of a very wealthy class who had large houses decorated with sculpture, although we know that some examples of subjects that seem best suited to the home, such as children with animals, were in fact placed in temples or other public places. For a much more popular home decoration market there were [[Tanagra figurine]]s, and those from other centres where small pottery figures were produced on an industrial scale, some religious but others showing animals and elegantly dressed ladies. Sculptors became more technically skilled in representing facial expressions conveying a wide variety of emotions and the portraiture of individuals, as well representing different ages and races. The reliefs from the Mausoleum are rather atypical in that respect; most work was free-standing, and group compositions with several figures to be seen in the round, like the ''Laocoon'' and the Pergamon group celebrating victory over the Gauls became popular, having been rare before. The [[Barberini Faun]], showing a [[satyr]] sprawled asleep, presumably after drink, is an example of the moral relaxation of the period, and the readiness to create large and expensive sculptures of subjects that fall short of the heroic.<ref>Cook, 142–54.</ref>

After the conquests of Alexander [[Hellenistic culture]] was dominant in the courts of most of the Near East, and some of [[Central Asia]], and increasingly being adopted by European elites, especially in Italy, where [[Magna Graecia|Greek colonies]] initially controlled most of the South. Hellenistic art, and artists, spread very widely, and was especially influential in the expanding Roman Republic and when it encountered Buddhism in the easternmost extensions of the Hellenistic area. The massive so-called [[Alexander Sarcophagus]] found in [[Sidon]] in modern Lebanon, was probably made there at the start of the period by expatriate Greek artists for a Hellenized Persian governor.<ref>Cook, 155–58.</ref>  The wealth of the period led to a greatly increased production of luxury forms of small sculpture, including [[engraved gem]]s and cameos, jewellery, and gold and silverware.

<gallery widths="175px" heights="200px">
File:Reggio calabria museo nazionale bronzi di riace.jpg|The [[Riace Bronzes]], very rare bronze figures recovered from the sea, c. 460–430
File:Hermes and the infant Dionysus by Praxiteles.jpg|''[[Hermes and the Infant Dionysos]]'', possibly an original by [[Praxiteles]], 4th century
File:Italia del sud, due statuette femminili dolenti, 350-300 ac. ca.JPG|Two elegant ladies, pottery figurines, 350–300
File:Bronze statuette of a horse MET DP120125.jpg|''Bronze Statuette of a Horse,'' late 2nd – 1st century BCE [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Nike of Samothrake Louvre Ma2369 n4.jpg|''The [[Winged Victory of Samothrace]]'', {{circa|190 BCE}}, [[Louvre]]
File:Venus de Milo Louvre Ma399 n4.jpg|''[[Venus de Milo]]'', {{circa|130}}–100 BCE, [[Culture of Greece|Greek]], the [[Louvre]]
File:Laocoön and his sons group.jpg|''[[Laocoön and his Sons]]'', Greek, (Late [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]]), perhaps a copy, between 200 BCE and 20 CE, [[white marble]], [[Vatican Museum]]
File:0 Apollon du Belvédère - Cortile Ottagono - Museo Pio-Clementino - Vatican (2).JPG|[[Leochares]], ''[[Apollo Belvedere]]'', {{circa|130}}–140 CE. Roman copy after a Greek bronze original of 330–320 BCE. Vatican Museums
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