An Analysis of Art in Ancient China, Rome, and Northern Europe

Late Roman Empire Art only lasted for a short extent of time. During which many changes occurred in art, predominantly changes to sculpture. This change was a moving away from sculpture being meant for a particular person to sculpture being for the people of the Roman Empire.

We are also shown how these different forms of art change over time and how different cultures have adopted them and used them as their own form of art to express emotion, love, creativity, and passion. This book teaches us how art is viewed in different ways by the church and was very informative for me to obtain a better and deeper understanding of art and how the churches valued it.

This essay aims to investigate two different time periods in the history of art. It will scrutinize the influence that the respective societal contexts had on the different artists, which in turn, caused them to arrange the formal elements in a specific way. I will be examining an Egyptian sculpture of the god Isis nursing Horus, her son, as well as the Vladimir Virgin icon, which dates from the Byzantine era. Experts vary on the precise ‘lifetime’ of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, but according to Mason (2007:10) it existed from 3100 BCE up to 30 BCE. The Byzantine era, which

Beauty is an incredibly subjective thing; what might seem appealing to one’s eyes may be horrendously ugly in the eyes of another. However, the status of “beautiful” or “ugly” can be assigned rather objectively when art is examined from the perspectives of different philosophies. The beliefs and values of different philosophies can be used to find meaning and beauty in various art forms, allowing for a more straightforward determination of beauty. Because of the many layers of meaning most paintings entail, they are a perfect example of an art form that can be analyzed by numerous philosophical viewpoints to find meaning and beauty, and Ma Yuan’s painting Walking on a Mountain Path in Spring, which comes from the Song dynasty of Chinese and depicts a sole figure standing in a natural surrounding, is no exception. Ma Yuan’s painting is beautiful because it represents the ultimate achievements for the Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian philosophies.

In the contemplation of art, or rather the conceptually intangible definition it currently possess, it is imperative to be mindful that “art” has been utilized as a promotional device, ceremonial item, aesthetically purposed article or perhaps none of these or all. It is because of this vague term that Carolyn Dean, in her text, “The Trouble with (The Term) Art”, makes a case for the consequences of applying the term “art” in societies that lacked such a notion which also accounts for the Western-centric lens the field intrinsically utilizes when viewing non-Western art. The claim is deftly supported by the utilization of expert accounts in the subject, alternative perspectives for what is considered the current norm, and self-examining questions,

In 211 BCE, another ruler was thinking the same thing about himself. Shi Huangdi looks at the field of peasants laboring away. He liberated all of China, started the production of the Great Wall of China, reformed the political system, and put down any opposition dared to show its head. He smiles to himself, remembering his claim that his

The Qin Dynasty, under its first ruler, Qin Shi Huang di, would unite China as a single entity for the first time. His rule, which lasted from 221BC to 210BC, would bring together various warring factions under a single imperial authority. In doing so, this imperial authority would also attribute to itself an incredible degree of divine importance as perhaps is best demonstrated by the tomb constructed in his honor. The Qin Dynasty is remarkable for the ego and ambition of its emperor. Qin Shi Huang di may be demonstrated as a man of unparalleled conceit, with the extent of artifact evidence notable at his burial site standing in direct competition with that of any pharaoh or European king. That Qin was the first ruler to unify the parameters of what is now modern China, it may not be seen as so unreasonable that much of the artwork notable from his time was that which was built in tribute to him. Indeed, the beginnings of the Great Wall of China would come about in this time, and would be as much a testament to the remarkable vanity of Qin's ambitions as to the strategic justification for the erection of the enormous structure. However, the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di, contrary to the security-induced Great Wall, remains shrouded in mystery even to the present day. The plans behind its construction, the incredible detail and the sheer cruelty of what is implied by its many chambers give continued life to archeological speculation.

In ancient times there was always a main focus or theme to art that was created. Majority of the time this focus was on religion. Religion has inspired many artists to create great paintings, sculpture, and architecture. In this paper, I will focus mainly on religious architecture, beginning with Greece, reflecting on Rome, traveling to Tunisia, and ending in India. Though the structures being covered are different in religion and time period, they all have one thing in common, they are spaces that create a spiritual experience for an individual.

John Man 's book, The Terra Cotta Army is a combination of light historical entertainment and travelogue with archaeological factoids handpicked from specialist publications and interviews, the book is written in a lively and engaging style and extreme illustrated. For example he shows a picture of the First Emperors tomb and the terra cotta army pits. The pictures he has shown Man explains the dimensions and he words what he see to where we can visualized about what he is talking about . Although neither an academic historian, Man has done a creditable job of getting his facts right. He rightly dismisses the canard that each figure is the individualized portrait of an actual Qin

Now one of China’s most famous archaeological discoveries, the terracotta army was discovered completely on accident in 1974, when farmers were digging deep underground to create a well shaft. The farmers discovered fragments of a terracotta figure, along with bronze weapon pieces and a layer of bricks as they dug, prompting them to contact local authorities to investigate. In just over forty years since then, excavations have uncovered a sprawling model city underneath the earth, spanning miles and containing everything one emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, required for a paradisiacal afterlife.

Just as it’s human nature to believe in something larger or more powerful than oneself, it is also human nature to express that divinity through art, this is proven time and time again in human history. Picturing the divine is a type of testimony to show a cultures greatness. The painting Arhats Giving Alms to Beggars comes from the Chinese culture of the Southern Song period. Whereas, the mosaic Christ as Pantocrator comes from the Byzantine culture of the Greek Orthodox tradition. Although these paintings come from very different backgrounds both cultures show the divine and their pressure on mankind to follow the rules, such as giving away worldly desires. By doing so and letting go of material possessions, mankind can be hopeful of

Painting in the Golden Age Religion gives humans the feeling of having a purpose, and it assuages overwhelming fears, like that of mortality. On the other hand, art has the ability to take fears that are hard to describe in words and create a picture that transforms these feelings or solutions into

But on the contrary, art had almost as big of an influence as the church did; Byzantine Greek iconography was considered the “original model” for all Christian art, its capital Constantinople being a “major force in art and architecture” (Murray 70). The question over whether pictorial representations of important figures should be avoided or not has been a strong topic in the past, but studies have shown that mystics did indeed rely on them after all. McGinn mentions in his article on mysticism and art that “art...can [not only] be a way for mystics to communicate what they are trying to teach, but that images have also helped shape the minds and imaginations of mystics. If the mystic text is an experiment in saying the unsayable, then the mystical image-something far more widespread than once thought-emerges as a fascinating attempt to see the unseeable”(McGinn, 131). This information could possibly explain how a mystic’s visions of significant religious figures, particularly their deity, could be so vivid at times-they were influenced by images of God

Throughout the vast history of art, historians can find connections throughout the centuries. Artists from the beginning of humankind have been inspired by the world around them. From the Apollo 11 stones to present day, history and culture have provided inspiration and have been the focus of various pieces. Examining artwork from the 15th-18th century, viewers can be shown a whole world that would be unknown to us without these artist’s contributions. History, religion, and cultural events have sculpted the art world, and we can observe this through many pieces during the 15th-18th centuries.

For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and