The art of Greece

Descripción

The Hellenistic Age links classical Greece with imperial Rome. Hellenistic man was pre-eminently a citizen of the world: they narrow limits of the city-state had given way to the boundless oikumene. In the old cities of Greece, in Italy, Asia Minor, and the new courts set up by Hellenistic dynasties between the death of Alexander the Great and the time of Julius Caesar, the period was marked by masterpieces which combined elegant craftsmanship with intense emotional force. At the same time architecture and town planning benefited from the advances in mathematics and engineering. Theatres, gymnasia, temples, porticoes and colonnades were built in cities old and new. In sculpture, the spirit of the age revealed itself in such works as the famous Laocoon and the Winged Victory from Samothrace (now in the Louvre). The author considers, in addition to these activities, the achievements of the Hellenistic Age in mosaic work, painting, terra-cottas, masks, coinage, and book-illustration. Professor Webster introduces his subject by examining the political and intellectual background of the Hellenistic Age and distinguishing between the Early, Middle, and Late Hellenistic periods. He shows that while the styles of Early Hellenistic art continued along the lines laid down in the fourth century B.C., new developments also occurred in realistic portraiture and pastoral art. The Middle Hellenistic period was dominated by Pergamon, the splendid city that claimed the title of “Athens of the East”, whereas the contribution of the Late Hellenistic was an academic classicizing art of great efficiency, refinement, and charm. T.B.L. Webster is Professor of Greek at University College, London, and the author of many books on Greek art and literature, including Greek Terra Cottas, Art and Literature in Fourth Century Athens, and Hellenistic Poetry and Art. In addition to 60 four-color plates, and 80 black-and-white illustrations, the book contains a map, chronological table, and glossary.