WESTERN AND

CLASSICAL ART
TRADITIONS
 Timeline
Western and
Classical Art
Tradition

Ancient Art Classical Art

Egyptian Art Greek Art Roman Art

 Ancient Art

No Written
Language

Caves Characteristics Drawings

Sharp
Flint
Points
 Ancient Art

■ their way of communicating each other.

■ the archaeological evidence than a true picture of
human’s first created art.
■ animals that were usually correct in proportion.
EGYPTIAN ART
5,000 B.C. – 30 B.C.
 Egyptian Paintings
(Painting)
■ Shows mythological representations and
scenes of everyday activities.
■ Found on the walls of Pharaohs’ tombs
more than 5,000 years ago.
■ Egyptians are excellent in sense of line and
color.
 Egyptian Art
■ to make the deceased life place pleasant giving importance of
life after death and the preservation of the knowledge of the
past.
■ red, black, blue, gold and green derived from mineral pigments
that can withstand strong sunlight without fading.
 Egyptian Art

■ Their tombs required the most extensive use of

sculpture. Characteristics includes; symbolism to
represent the gods where composite creature
with animal heads on human body (Sphinx).
 Sculptures

■ Representing kings (Pharaohs), armies

servants and various animals. Statues are
idealized representations, immobile features
and always frontal in pose.
■ Strong geometric emphasis was given to the
body.
 Sculptures

Akhenaton and Nefertiti Khafre Enthroned

Sculptures

Statue of Rameses II
 Egyptian Art

■ Characteristics of Egyptian Architecture includes; thick

sloping walls with few openings to obtain stability,
exterior and interior walls along with the columns and piers
were covered with hieroglyphics and pictorial frescoes
with carvings painted in brilliant colors, ornamentations
were symbolic like scarab (sacred beetle), solar disk,
vulture and common motifs.
Pyramids of Giza
(Architecture)
■ 136 m (446 ft.) high
■ Made up of granite, sandstone, and
limestone.
 Folk Art

■ Jewelry and Amulets made for protection.

■ Amulet Often made with the shapes they
considered as lucky hieroglyphics.
– Ankh – An Emblem for life
 Egyptian Pectoral
■ A type of large necklace worn on the chest,
represents a vulture.
GREEK ART
ANCIENT GREECE
1,050 B.C. – 31 B.C.
 GREEK ART
■ Paintings during this period were most commonly
found in vases, panels and tomb.
■ reveal a grasp of linear perspective and naturalistic
representation.
■ battle scenes, mythological figures and everyday
scenes.
■ methods of Greek painting are Fresco or water based
painting and Encaustic or wax based painting.
Sculpture
Venus De Milo
■ Hellenistic Beauty
■ Marble
■ 205 cm
 Gods and Athletes were
favorite subjects during this
period.
Sculptors

 Phidias
 Polyclitus
 Praxiteles
 Lysippus
 ARCHITECTURE
■ Architectures showed temples consisting of a
central shrine or room in an aisle surrounded by
rows and columns. These buildings were
designed in one of three architectural style or
orders; Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.
 • THE GREATEST
MONUMENT OF GOLDEN
AGE (ATHENS, GREECE)

Architecture

Temple of Poseidon
Parthenon
(Paestum, Italy)
ROMAN ART
 Painting
■ Fresco technique was used
in brightly colored
backgrounds.
■ animals, everyday life, still
life, mythological subjects,
portraits and landscapes
(main innovation of
Roman painting from
Greek painting).
 Painting
■ Portray rituals, myths,
landscapes, still-life, and
scenes of daily activities.
■ Creates illusion “Aerial
perspective”
■ Ex. The grand hunt
– Antelope being
attacked
 Sculpture
■ made of monumental terra-
cotta.
■ did not attempt to compete
with the free-standing Greek
works of history and
mythology
■ reliefs in the Great Roman
triumphal columns with
continuous narrative reliefs
around.
 Sculpture
■ Realistic representation
of Images and figures.
■ Ex. The Capitoline Wolf
– Etruscan sculpture
associated with Roman
art.
– Romulus and Remus
 Architecture
■ Maison Caree
– Romans modified The
Greek Temple form.
– Expanded the interior
chamber so that it
reached the outer
columns, and raised the
temple on a podium.
BYZANTINE ART
Characteristics
■ Patterned within rigid
tradition
■ Less individual expression
■ Style is sophisticated
■ Strong expression of
religiosity
 Painting
■ styles which had been
invented in Greek and Rome
but this time for Christian
subjects.
■ By the 11th century, imposing
images which ornamented the
churches in large and small
forms.
 Mosaic
■ Mosaics are implemented to
decorate it in the walls and
domes of churches.
 Sculptures
■ Sculptures were religious,
everyday life scenes and
motifs from nature.
■ Animals were used as
symbols such as doves, deer,
and peafowl while some had
acrostic signs that contained
THE BARBERINI a great theological intent or
DIPTYCH significance.
 Architecture
■ Byzantine’s
advancement in
developing the dome
created a new style in
global architecture.
HAGIA SOPHIA
(ISTANBUL)
 ■ Oculus
– The highest point in the
dome
Pantheon
Interior, Rome
■ A temple to all Gods in
128 A.D.
ROMANESQUE ART
 Paintings
■traditions where
largely placed
mosaics on the walls
of the churches that
follow a strict
frontal pose
■ Christ in Majesty
 Sculptures
■ pieces of reliquaries, altar
frontals, crucifixes and
devotional images.
■ Lightweight devotional
images were usually carried
during processions both
inside and outside the
churches.
 Architecture
■ showed doorways of Romanesque
churches that were often grand
sculpted portals or door openings.
■ Wood or metal doors were
surrounded by elaborate stone
sculptures arranged in zones to fit
architectural elements.
■ Many castles were built during this
period but were greatly outnumbered
by the churches.
■ Groin-Vaulted Crypt of Worcester Cathedral
GOTHIC ART
 paintings
■ illumination of
manuscript pages and
the paintings of
frescoes on the walls
■ in elegant and
Lady and the Unicorn sophisticated manner.
Tapestry
 
 Paintings
■ depict popular legends
and love stories with
patterns l
■ Stained glass windows
were created to
transform the vast stone
Rose Window from the interiors with warm
North Trancsept  colors to instruct
 Sculptures
■ no longer lay closely against
the wall but begun to project
outward.
■ Figures were given their
own particular attitudes
instead of being set into
particular patterns but were
Resurrection of livelier and more realistic at
the same time.
 Architecture
■ pointed arch which
enabled builders to
construct much higher
ceiling vaults and stone
vaulting hauled on a
network of stone ribs
which were supported by
piers and clustered
pillars.