Compare/Contrast 2 Ancient Sculptures

But in 1905 the archeologist, Ludwig Pollack, discovered the original right arm of Laocoön and it was reconstructed in 1957-60 (“The Vatican” 185). The style of this sculpture is immediately classified as Hellenistic, because of the motion on the bodies of Laocoön and his sons. The agony on their faces portrays the anguish they were feeling at the time of their death, and the bulging muscles, and veins stick out as they try to free themselves of the snakes. The legend says that Laocoön was a Trojan priest of Apollo. The Greeks who had been trying to sack the city of Troy for years were unsuccessful, and devised a new plan. They created the Trojan horse to offer the city of Troy as a promise to stop the fighting. Laocoön saw that this was a trap and tried to warn his fellow Trojans of the danger. When he approached the alter of Poseidon to pray, the Gods Athena and Poseidon depending on which version you read, favored the Greeks and decided to punish Laocoön for his treachery by sending two giant snakes to kill him and his sons. However, there was one Trojan who heeded the warning, his name was Aeneas. Aeneas, fled Troy and this eventually led to the founding of Rome (“Musei Vaticani – sito ufficiale”). There are a lot of different theories just on this one story. I have seen that the snakes were sent by Athena, Poseidon, and even Apollo. There is also debate on whether the Trojan horse was a gift to the city of Troy or an offering to the gods.

Ancient Egyptian art and Ancient Near Eastern art share the distinguishing characteristic of hierarchy position with the rulers presenting how significant they are in the art. The most similar pieces of art that best showcase this is the Near Eastern piece Stele of Naram-Sin and the Ancient Egyptian piece Palette of Narmer. Both pieces have Naram-Sin and Narmer significantly big on the hierarchy scale to show how important they are in the art piece compared to the other individual figures.

The artworks of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are both strikingly different and similar at the same time. Consistent is the theme of serving the different gods the two cultures believed in. In Mesopotamia the various city-states each had their own protective deity, and in Egypt they sometimes differed from one dynasty to the next. Whatever the case, with the beginning of kingdoms and rulership came the need to justify a position of power and establish a hierarchy. And as more time passed came also the human need to leave an impression on their world. Looking at the example of the statues of Gudea from the Neo-Sumerian period and the Temple of Ramses II from the New Kingdom of Egypt in the 19th dynasty, will show how both rulers of

The artworks of Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, the Aegean cultures, and Ancient Greece have similarities that not only reflect objects and images, but also the media, style and representation. These countries were not always wealthy, clever, creative and powerful enough to gain supplies, but they all find a way to create art with what they had. They have all influenced on each other’s cultures and belief through their artistic values and ways, ranging from the materials and tools they use, position and representation of their monuments and their religious intent.

The “human form” has changed through art over long periods of time and how each civilization uses their own style to create these pieces is how art gets its depth. I'm going to be talking about one of each sculpture from every major period and explain how each one has its own flavor and own unique style. I will be talking about the Prehistoric period, Egyptian style, Greek style and Roman styles. I also have a list of vocabulary words i will be pointing out in bold to explain how these are used in sculptures.

The main purpose of this paper is to describe the visual analysis of the artwork. This paper examines an Egyptian half nude portrait art which is taken from Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig.1). The statue characterized both male and female seated figure with a Braid hair. In this essay, I will present a complete visual description of this artwork (its preservation, costume and iconography), and then I will compare it to another artwork which is chosen from Textbook that is Akhenaten and his Family (Fig. 2).

Throughout different time periods and civilizations come many different types of art that would never be comparable to those of another time or place. There are also the pieces that come from a completely different time and place, but yet they can still be compared to one another. The Torso of a God (Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, last decade of the reign of Amenhotep III, Granodiorite, 1359-1349 B.C.) and the Statue of Asklepios (Greek, Hellenistic period, Pentelic Marble, 2nd century B.C.) are two sculptures made hundreds of years apart, yet they both display many similarities and show how art is constantly changing whilst keeping the same core ideas.

Both Etruscan and Roman tomb sculpture function to memorialize the departed allowing them to move on from the world of the living and seeks to comfort those who have lost the ones they love. The two societies have differing practices in regards to death and therefore sculptures concerning the subject are somewhat different with a few identifiable similarities. While both societies seek to comfort the living and commemorate the dead this is achieved through different approaches. The Etruscan Sarcophagus with reclining couple from Cerveteri, Italy and the Mummy of Artemidorus from Roman Egypt are two examples of contrasting representations of the dead. When analyzing tomb sculpture one of the main questions is whether the work adapts a retrospective approach (presentation of the deceased as they were in life) or a prospective one (the viewpoint of looking forward to life beyond the grave). While the Etruscan sarcophagus gives a more retrospective memorialization through the depiction of the couple in a state of regularity the Roman Mummy of Artemidorus presents a more prospective approach concerning the deceased through the emphasis of funerary practices.

I have chosen as the subject of my essay to contrast and compare two female statuettes from ancient cultures. The first is an ancient Egyptian statuette named The Offering Bearer which was discovered about 1920 in the tomb of Meketre in Thebes and appears to have been made around 1985 B.C.E. by an unknown. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007). The second is an unnamed figurine commonly referred to as Statuette of A Standing Woman. This statuette, whose artist is unknown, is one of several figurines collectively called the Tanagra

Starting with Bastet, this free-standing statue hails from Late –Ptolemaic Period (664–30 B.C) from Egypt. Medium used was bronze, precious metal and black bronze inlays. The dimensions are H. 5 cm (4 1/8 in.); W. 3.2 cm (1 1/4 in.); D. 3.9 cm (1 9/16 in.). This statuette was donated to the Museum by George and Florence Blumenthal in 1934 and is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134.

This essay will compare and contrast the work of two sculptors who use the human form as a basis of their artwork. The first sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was created in 1622 and portrays a Romanian story. Where as “Two Women” by Ron Mueck is a hyper realistic sculpture made by an Australian contemporary artist.

Our world is full of so many grandiose monuments, eye-catching sculptures, and stunning statues, each having an individual story to tell. Thousands of them have been created however, only a small number of them are actually extraordinary and picture-worthy. This paper will compare and contrast two of those picture-worthy sculptures. Furthermore, I will examine the aspects of each of these sculptures. I will compare and contrast what each of them represents, the differences in texture, their size and their tone.

When we look back at these two different periods of art sculpture we can see the great difference between the two stylistic choices of art. Behind each hunk of stone reads perfect anatomy and certain expressions. One features a more dazed stone face and one gives life for more emotion made within the stone. The Classical Period and Hellenistic period also look somewhat similar from a glance are very different in feeling and meaning.

Over the years of art history, there are many great empires that we think of and two of those were ancient Greek and Egyptian. When talking about Greek and Egyptian art history, it is the sculptures that come to mind when you are comparing and contrasting artworks. Egyptian art and Greek art both had mesmerizing sculptures but Egyptian art was more oriented towards religion and Greek art was more focused on philosophy. The Egyptian statue of the Menkaure and a Queen was similar to the Greek statue of Metropolitan Kouros in their posture but both of these statues also had many differences. Menkaure and a queen statue was created from an unusual stone and the statue was discovered in Menkaure’s valley temple. The sculpture has a hard texture and because of the time-consuming task of polishing this sculpture was never completely polished. So, the sculpture is greywacke and has traces of red paint on king’s face, ears and neck because male figures were traditionally painted red and there are traces of black in queen’s hair. The sculpture itself is 54 ½ inches in height and is displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Metropolitan Kouros was created from marble which seems like it has a rough and hard texture. The statue is 6 feet in height and is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This essay is an attempt to address the marble sculpture commonly known as Laocoon and His Sons, and why exactly I believe it to be a work of high art, of great value and significance to the species.