Similarities and Differences between Ancient Greek Art and Italian Renaissance Art

In the Aegean Sea region more than three thousand years ago, a new nation emerged. This nation held a unique outlook on life and established city-states on the Greek Islands. As the different cultural characteristics of each region were fully maintained and respected, city-states differentiated rapidly and their number increased to thousands. The culture that was nurtured and born in these city-states was collectively called ancient Greek culture by later generations of scholars.

The foundation of a city-state is slaves, but its rulers are citizens. Cultural exchanges between city-states, including military conquest, accelerated the convergence and maturity of ancient Greek culture. Each city-state had a strong desire to conquer foreign countries, but these conquerors did not hate foreign civilizations, but relied on extensive immigration to assimilate or be assimilated to civilization. In this way, the war between city-states destroyed the weak states and weak cultures, but formed an increasingly unified and highly developed artistic civilization of opportunity realism and perfectionism.

The ancient Greeks prided themselves on having a perfect, strong physique. This is a national characteristic. In Homer's epic poems, warriors from various states are extremely good at self-recognition. Starting from their own race, they informed each other of all the bloodlines they could be proud of, and then went to war. So everyone died tragically. The winner is naturally glorious, and the loser is also great. Because wars between city-states have become a major event that every citizen is concerned about and participates in; strong warriors are needed to perform meritorious deeds in wars. The artistic thought formed by the national personality arising from this era background is naturally the infinite worship of the perfect body. And as an expression of this adoration, there is no more appropriate way than sculpture. The simplicity of life and the freedom from financial worries gave the ancient Greeks the leisure to create and appreciate the bodies of heroes and gods, although this was an ideal that had become alienated into objects.

As a result, sculpture became the soul of ancient Greek art.

The ancient Greeks worshiped heroes and their bodies that tended to be perfect, unlike the ancient Indians who indulged in the inferior worship of gods. Gods are just stronger and more athletic than human heroes. Their minds are not smarter than mortals, and their moral character is not noble. As for gods, mortals only fear their divine power. As for physical fitness, they have examples in the human world. Therefore, the expression of loyalty to the human body has become the most vivid way to express worship.

The love of nudity is one of the characteristics of ancient Greek sculpture. The sculptors of ancient Greece reached a state of perfection in their understanding of body structure, description of facial expressions and application of sculpture techniques. These sculptors were not profound masters of art, but merely craftsmen of architectural design. Therefore, they will not condense his personal heroic emotions on David like Michelangelo. They only strive for complete performance. Because of this, ancient Greek sculptures are only for appreciation and admiration, as well as solemn rather than exaggerated worship. Heroes such as Napoleon can never find some kind of spiritual coincidence in Milo's Aphrodite or the statue of Apollo. But David can give people great motivation and encouragement. Despite this, the ancient Greek sculptors' ultimate expression of beauty can still create works of art that are enough to shock the art world like never before.

It has strong external appeal and is another characteristic of ancient Greek sculpture. But this appeal must be calm. Ancient Greek sculptures' techniques for handling the facial expressions, postures, and clothing patterns of characters are mostly beyond the reach of later generations. Because most of those sculptural figures come from mythological stories, they are endowed with a strong legendary color and are placed in some unexpected event. Laoco?n, the discus thrower and the Samothrace goddess of victory, displayed this charm in a superb way. Standing in front of these statues, you can feel a suffocating scene, a fierce scene or a heroic momentum.

The pursuit of perfection was the goal of ancient Greek sculptors. Ancient Greek sculptures do not have a single symbolic meaning. They do not have a broad forehead to express the greatness of their thoughts, nor do they have a frown to express thinking or worry. Sculptors are more interested in the symmetry of the body structure, the strength and roundness of the muscles, and the strength of the legs and feet. The extremely perfect proportions are regarded as gods, so that sculptors can't help but admire their works and even want to marry marble. The sculpture itself is also meant to express appreciation for this perfection. The proportions of the body and head, the size and connection of each part, have all been found through hundreds of years of exploration to find the most perfect combination. In the eyes of a sculptor, using appropriate lines and correct proportions to express a perfect ideal is of course the most fundamental and authentic way.

How did the sculptors of ancient Greece possess such exquisite skills?

In ancient Greek city-states, citizens were leisurely people who lived a carefree life. They have nothing more important than war and politics. But for the war, they had to maintain long-term exercise to ensure a strong physique. Their love of competition and showing off led them to create sports competitions. During the competition, the Greek robes were thrown away and the athletes revealed their muscular bodies. Then, the daily workouts also took place while showing off their naked bodies. Sculptors can observe various nude postures, the changes of each muscle, the length of the bones and the bite of the joints at any time. After hundreds of years of modification and review, one of the most exquisite proportions has gradually formed.

There are hundreds of sculptures that need to be completed every year, and sculptors have no time to spare. This is how geniuses are born. Like orators, these great masters were able to convey their ideas to others completely and with precision and without waste.

What is especially rare is that the sculptures of ancient Greece are not only perfect in form, but also express the artistic ideals of the sculptors. The face of the sculpted figure has almost no expression, there are no eyeballs in the eyes, and the body has no color. What the work wants to express is solemnity and tranquility, which is completely in line with the ideal image of gods in people's minds. On the one hand, it is limited by the nature of the material and the narrow scope. On the other hand, these restrictions also enhance the solemnity of the statue; it does not express changes in facial expressions, turbulent emotions, special and abnormal phenomena, leaving everything else to Painting and literature, in order to show abstract proportions and pure form. ——As a result, sculpture became the central art of ancient Greek art.

Other styles in ancient Greek art, such as architecture, painting, etc., apart from their actual use value, existed as a supplement to sculpture. The stone pillars of the temple were also sculpted into goddesses to add to the solemn and solemn atmosphere. The overall artistic characteristics are based on a realistic and awe-inspiring humanized description of God. There is no grandeur of Gothic art in the architecture, and there is no tedious and detailed carving of the Rococo style in the paintings. There are only all the expressive features that are consistent with sculptures.

Ancient Rome was not a city-state, but a country that gradually developed into an empire. Changes in its economic foundation and political structure put forward different requirements for artists' creations. The social reality they want to express is more complex. Sports competitions have evolved into gladiatorial battles, happy competitions have turned into cruel killings, and the struggles between people have become more hidden and inhumane.

The difference between ancient Greek art and ancient Roman art lies first in the origin of culture. The origin of culture is inseparable from national characteristics and regional environment. The unique originality of ancient Greek art originated from real life, but it expressed the needs and ideals of praising the gods. The ancient Greeks were leisurely, full of rational thinking and wisdom, and tried to explain everything clearly and perfectly; the ancient Romans were good at fantasies that no one could match, worshiped the passion of personal heroism, and were keen on territorial expansion. Of course, they also produced A mind filled with a sense of crisis. Ancient Greek art expresses an abstract, outside-in, pure beauty based on proportional relationships; ancient Roman art expresses something concrete, inside-out, based on brilliant excitement, and something closely related to reality. intention. Therefore, ancient Greek art was based on reality but was otherworldly; while in ancient Roman art, the beauty of art was exploited by earthly forces.

In ancient Greece, the mind and body were integrated and not separated. People are happy and life is peaceful; in ancient Rome, nudity began to exist for art, and the naturally existing human body could not be found in life. Instead, it was the shame of facing nudity, or obscene thoughts, or means of insult. The crowd was filled with excitement and religious fervor. Works produced in this state of consciousness can only be caused by the artist's personal thoughts taking over the creation, making the artwork a need to worship and praise heroes, a political need, and a need to incite citizens' warlike sentiments. The statue of Augustus accurately attests to this judgment.

Of course, the art of later generations has more or less retained the imprint of ancient Greek art. Ancient Roman art was particularly deeply influenced. But this influence is formal, such as the treatment of the folds of the coat fluttering in the wind and the depiction of posture. All the advantages of realism have been faithfully preserved. However, the art forms of ancient Rome were richer and the expressive ability was stronger. At the same time, it was mixed with many personal emotional factors of the artist, so the ideas it expressed were more complex and the field was broadened. As for the later Renaissance, it was a distant recollection and worship of the classic art form of ancient Greek sculpture. The bourgeois humanistic ideas of individual freedom and human liberation it expressed and promoted were something that ancient Greek sculpture did not have. Content that is also disdainful.