Bison carved in low relief, around 16,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Shelter of the Devil’s Furnace, Bourdeilles (France). Limestone, length: 30 cm. Musée national de préhistoire, les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
15. Anonymous, The Bison Licking Itself, Cave of La Madeleine (France), around 13,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Reindeer antler, length: 10.5 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
16. Anonymous, The Neighing Horse, 13,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Reindeer antler, length: 5.6 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
17. Anonymous, Tomb in Porto Ferro, called The White Goddess, around 9000–8000 BCE. Neolithic. Marble. Private collection, Alghero.
18. Anonymous, Human Effigy, around 6750–6250 BCE. Neolithic, Ain Ghazal (Jordan). Whitewashed clay, height: 84 cm. Department of Antiquities, Amman.
19. Anonymous, Mesolithic Sculpture, around 6000 BCE. Neolithic, Lepenski Vir (Serbia). Sandstone, 16 × 23 cm. Narodni Muzej, Belgrade.
20. Anonymous, The Mermaid, 4500 BCE. Neolithic, Lepenski Vir (Serbia), AD Galet Danube. Height: 40 cm. Narodni Muzej, Belgrade.
21. Anonymous, Two-Headed Statue, around 6000–5000 BCE. Neolithic, Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Private collection.
22. Anonymous, Kourotrophos, Woman Nursing a Child, 3500–3000 BCE. Neolithic, Sesklo (Greece). Clay, 1.65 × 0.65 cm. National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Athens.
23. Anonymous, Carved pebble, around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Private collection.
24. Anonymous, Figurine of a Bird of Prey (?), around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Stone. Private collection.
25. Anonymous, Figurine of a Bird of Prey (?), around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Stone. Private collection.
26. Anonymous, Bird (?), around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Pebble. Private collection.
Antiquity
27. Anonymous, The Gold Mask of Tutankhamun, Dynasty XVIII (1570–1320 BCE). Ancient Egyptian, Tutankhamun’s tomb, Valley of the Kings (Egypt). Lapis lazuli, quartz, gold, obsidian, amazonite and coloured glass, 39 × 54 cm. Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo.
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, the most famous Egyptologist in the world. Buried during the construction of the tomb of Ramses VI, devoted to the heir of the Amarna period, removed from the royal lists for heresy, Tutankhamun’s tomb was preserved from looting over the millennia. A pharaoh of uncertain ancestry, he died under mysterious circumstances when he was only twenty years old. Tutankhamun, born Tutankhaton, is particularly known for having restored the official religion of the worship of Amun, abolished some years before by the equally famous Amenhotep IV, who became Akhenaten. The death mask is probably the most famous piece of the treasure of Tutankhamen. A full-size replica of the features of the pharaoh, which enabled his soul to recognise him and get back into his mummified body for his resurrection, the mask covered the head of the mummy lying in the sarcophagus. On the shoulders and back of the mask, an engraved magic formula protects the deceased; this protection was reinforced by the royal symbols of the vulture and the uraeus at the top of the skull. an exceptional testimony of the artistic skill that the Egyptians were able to demonstrate, this work is distinguished by the richness of materials, such as gold, obsidian, quartz, lapis lazuli, and the many semi-precious stones and molten glass which is inlaid in the wide necklace of the deceased.
The cradle of civilisation, Egypt is probably the first culture that mastered statuary art to such an unprecedented degree of refinement (see The Gold Mask of Tutankhamun, opposite page). If the pose of the first efforts is still very simple and almost static, sometimes with tied feet, or one leg in a forward position, Egyptian statuary cannot be reduced to this hieratism, the power and balance of which gave the force to the statues of the first dynasties. Very early, in fact, the Egyptian artist demonstrates his skill in combining the solemn representation of the divine – where solemnity and hieratism are of the essence – and the realism of the subtopics. The ease of the sculptor, still anonymous at that time, is revealed very early, in achievements as well as in intent. Thus, the Seated Scribe (fig. 41), with his swollen belly and saggy look, reveals that the artist is not without humour. However, this art, precise and refined, took a long time to emerge in Mesopotamian statuary. Mesopotamian sculptures, in fact, and over a long period, are too entrenched and too static in proportions compared with Egyptian statuary. It is not until the beginning of the Assyrian dynasty that we see precision and scale reminiscent of Egyptian art.
As the ancient Greek city-states grew and evolved, literary arts developed somewhat in advance of painting and sculpture. At about the time that Homer was creating his epics, Greece saw the flourishing of the stylistic era identified as the Geometric period, lasting from about 950 to 750 BCE, a style dominated by rigid forms and in which the fluidity of the human figure was only just beginning to reveal itself. As the Greeks were increasingly exposed to foreign customs and material culture through trade, they were able to adapt and alter other artistic styles. The art of the Near East and of the Egyptians helped to shape Greek art of the Archaic period (c. 750 BCE to 480 BCE). During this time, the Greeks began to infuse their figures with a greater sense of life, as with the famous ‘archaic smile’ and with a new subtlety of articulation of the human body.
The remarkable evolution of Greek sculpture during the 5th century BCE is unparalleled in artistic history. Innovations achieved during that time shaped stylistic development for thousands of years, and belong not to a people in one moment but to all of humankind. The development of weight-shift in a single standing figure and the concomitant torsion and subtlety of bodily stance were major aspects of this new style, but equally significant were the perfection of naturalistic forms, the noble calm, the dynamic equilibrium of movement, the harmony of parts and the regulated proportions. All of this came to characterise the art of what we know as Classicism. The sculptors Polykleitos, Phidias (the sculptural master of the Parthenon project) and Myron worked in slightly divergent but compatible modes to achieve an art of moderation and perfection.
The 4th century BCE saw an expansion of the artistic goals of the previous generations of Greek sculptors. Lysippos and Praxiteles softened the human form, and a nonchalant grace informs their figures. Artists in this period humanised the gods and added an element of elegance to their movement and expression. Sculptors of the 4th century BCE increased the spatial complexity of the viewing experience: arms sometimes protrude into our space, groups are more dynamic in arrangement, and we benefit from walking around these sculptures and taking in the varied viewpoints.
The changes of the 4th century BCE can hardly prepare us for the explosion of styles that occurred in the Hellenistic period, which was a time of much exaggeration: extreme realism in rendering details and in capturing moments of daily
