Editing Sculpture (section)

=====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
</gallery>