Art History: Ancient to Medieval

Once again, like every society, ancient Greece had ideal beauty standards for both men and women, and what was seen as aesthetically pleasing to view. The Classical period is known for the extremely naturalistic art created during it. Therefore, it should be known that although not an ideal of beauty for actual humans, but more for an ideal that artists followed, they all wanted their art to look as naturalistic as possible. In addition, like today they had critics who have been famed with many findings such as Plato and Aristotle. Both philosophers emerged with new views on the meaning of beauty and what it meant for something to be beautiful. Aiste Celkyte, an author on various philosophical publications, outlines the beliefs that both men had on beauty. Beginning with Plato she writes, “Plato is best classified as a Form Theorist, a small number of passages in the Platonic corpus suggest a viewpoint derived from summetria, that is, a good proportion or ratio of parts. In the Timaeus, lacking summetria is associated with lacking beauty. Similarly, both in the Republicand the Sophist,beauty is said to derive from arrangements,” (Celkyte). For Plato beauty was found in symmetry, summetria, and refers to the beautiful harmony found in balance and proportion. Although Celkyte doesn’t state this outright Plato believed that if something is proportional it is beautiful; however, she also mentions in another passage that Aristotle had similar beliefs, but also had some interesting add-ons as well. “Aristotle named summetria one of the chief forms of beauty, alongside order and definiteness...At the same time, Aristotle did not think that summetria was a sufficient condition for beauty. He claimed that size was also necessary for beauty. In Nicomachean Ethics 4.3, beauty is said to imply a good sized body, so that little people might be well proportioned but not beautiful,” (Celkyte). With the knowledge that Aristotle was one of Plato’s students, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that their beliefs somewhat mirror each other; however, they weren’t the only men during the classical period who believed a proportional body was ideal and beautiful. In fact, they both believe in the idea that was written and coined by famous Classical sculptor Polykleitos. Celkyte states, “Polykleitos (5thcn. B.C.E.), who wrote a treatise entitled Canon containing the exact proportions that generate beauty and then made a statue, also entitled Canon, exemplifying this theory,” (Celkyte). The word “canon” translates as measure or rule, and it is referred to as the “ruled of canon”. Therefore, for Polykleitos as well, summetria or proportion and balance was a huge part of beauty. Furthermore, it seems that one major influence of beauty during this period of ancient Greece was that one had to be proportionately balanced to be considered beautiful.

With a simple understanding of the ancient Greek religion, its practices, and on the other hand the perceived aesthetical ideals it is easyto deduct how they both connect and work together. In the classical period, Greek artists provided a more naturalistic depiction of their beloved gods and deities, and with this provided a more spiritual experience for the worshipper. Professor Jeremy Tanner points out just how personal the connection between the depicted figures was felt by its worshippers, “viewing such images was, correspondingly, a real interaction with the deity, and oriented to eliciting action by the deity on the worshippers behalf...establishing a contemplative aesthetic attachment, this vocabular facilitated precipitation into that state of altered consciousness characteristic of religious awe at the mysterium tremendum of the manifestation of sacred power,” (Tanner 6-7). Tanner alludes to the fact that because the sculptures were so naturalized, to the most realistic capability of the artist, gave the follower a true one-on-one experience with the deity or God itself. Due to the fact that ancient Greeks daily lives were so entwined with their religious beliefs, this interaction would provide them with a sort of appeasement to both appreciate the god or gods they worshipped and have their wishes or prayers be answered. He also goes on to say how the cult statues were often described as“kallos kai megethos,” translating from Greek as beauty and grandeur. Further revitalizing the connection between the beauty ideals and artwork of religious figures.

In discussing a specific religious figure in Greek religion, as well as one that both followed the aesthetic ideals and broke some boundaries of art depicting the female nude, one has to look no further than Aphrodite of Knidos (Fig. 1). Sculpted by Praxiteles, it was originally commissioned by the island of Kos; however, due to his explorative artistic interpretation, he knew that a nude figure of Aphrodite would rise controversy, so he sculpted two. While the clothed sculpture went to the original commissioner on the island of Kos, the nude sculpture went to the temple of Aphrodite Euploiaat Knidos. The commissioner from Kos most likely didn’t except the nude figure of the goddess because it could be interpreted in a way that it might offend the goddess. Meaning that some may have believed that because she was shown in the nude, it could be an invasion of privacy; therefore, it could arise a negative emotion from Aphrodite herself, and she might punish the people who would display it. The sculpture was also the first of its kind to show a female goddess in the nude, since none of the earlier depictions of the female nude had been of a goddess. It was also widely known that all nude figures where usually based off of the bodies of prostitutes. Furthermore, by not only displaying the goddess Aphrodite nude, but to also depict her figures to be similar to one’s of a prostitute was considered obscene and disrespectful.

However, as bad as that sounds this depiction of Aphrodite followed many of the rules in what was considered beautiful. Not only that, but it also garnered many tourists, and sparked an erotic interest from all men who viewed it. Although the original sculpture made by Praxiteles was destroyed, many Roman sculptures sought to create their own copies of the original. One which is considered one of the best derivatives is the copy displayed in the Vatican’s Museum, called Colonna Knidia. This sculpture manages to follow Polykleitos’ idea of canon, and it seems fitting that a sculpture of Aphrodite would fit and follow those rules of the ideal female figure. Not to mention the fact that the sculpture shows the goddess standing in contrapposto, with both her hips and shoulders tilting in opposite directions creating a sort of “s” shape and or curve of the body. Although not previously discussed, Professor Jeremy Tanner explains what the ideal figure is for a women in ancient Greece, “of course the selection of these distinctive features in in part socially and culturally determined: Greek medical writers favored ‘large and bulky breasts’ in mature women as an index of suitability for child-rearing,” (Tanner 12). As the goddess of sexual love, beauty, and most famously fertility, it seems important that in according to ancient Greek ideals to have her depicted with larger breasts to allude to the fact that she is to aid in fertility. In other passages Tanner writes about special physical attributes given to Aphrodite specifically, “on the Parthenon frieze, a ‘matronal’ Demeter, a ‘boyish’ Athena, and Aphrodite ‘a fuller more fleshy figure’, consonant with their particular religious functions as a goddess of fertility, a virgin-warrior goddess, and the goddess of sexual love respectively,” (Tanner 2). Colonna Knidia is in fact also a fuller-figured woman with round hips, and even though there are liminal indentations of a toned abdomen, she does have a softness to her stomach. Although the Roman copy might not have been able to capture the true essence of the Greek original, this sculpture still manages to entrap the enchantment that Aphrodite has. She is believed to be shown interrupted during a bath, holding a cloth in left hand, while her left is only delicately covering her most intimate parts. This stance provides an alluring and mysterious feel, as if Aphrodite is daring the viewer to look upon her.

Ancient Greek aesthetic ideals of what makes something beautiful had a prevalent foothold in the depictions made of religious figures in artwork during the Classical period. What made someone beautiful in ancient Greece has been commented on by a few philosophers from that time including Polykleitos, Plato, and Aristotle. Although all men had different variations of each explanation they gave, much of the basic understanding was similar. All of the men believed that beauty comes from summetria, or a balanced and proportional body. For the ancient Greeks their religion was so deeply incorporated in their daily life that it should be no surprise that their art was often of religious figures. Many if not all Greeks paid homage to certain gods and deities, whether for a festival or holiday, or even just to say thanks to the divine. In paying homage, they would go to temples which more often than not had one cult statue, housed in the cella where offerings were given. With these religious depictions, the sculptures of the gods and deities were naturalistic. That being said, the naturalistic nature of the sculptures provided the worshippers with a more ‘life-like’ experience because they believed that a piece representing the figure could hold the sacred power that the specific god or deity had. However, in the depictions of the figures the artists often blended both common beliefs in what said god or deity appeared like in human form, along with the beauty ideals of that period. For example, Aphrodite of Knidos, originally sculpted by Praxiteles was a sculpture of the goddess Aphrodite. Praxiteles sculpture follows the description of the goddess of love and fertility, as well as one of the ideals of female beauty in ancient Greece. Furthermore, during the Classical period of ancient Greece, religious figures were often depicted in ways that followed the aesthetic ideals.

Works Cited

•Tanner, Jeremy. “Nature, Culture and the Body in Classical Greek Religious Art.”World Archaeology, vol. 33, no. 2, 2001, pp. 257–276.JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/827902. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020.

•Lloyd-Jones, Hugh. “Ancient Greek Religion.”Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 145, no. 4, 2001, pp. 456–464.JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1558184. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020.

•Celkyte, Aiste. "Ancient Aesthetics." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,www.iep.utm.edu/anc-aest/. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020