Ετικέτα: αρχαιοελληνική γλυπτική

Archaeological Museum of Aegina, Kolona:

Funerary reliefs:

The fragment at the left is the earliest known representation of “dexiosis”. The deceased is presented enthroned, holding a pomegranate in her hand. Before her stands her husband. (c. 500 B.C)
Funerary stele with a pedimental top. The stele follows the type of the insular tombstones, where the deceased is presented with his dog, or as an athlete. The youth is shown enveloped in his himation, wearing sandals. The dog stands beside him. With his right hand he caresses the head of a slave-boy that faces him. From an Aegina workshop that follows Parian models. (Middle 5th century B.C)

Archaeological Museum of Aegina, Kolona:

Fragments of the pedimental composition of the east front of the Aphaia temple. (c. 480 B.C)

The Aphaia pediments were forcibly extracted from the site by the English architect Cockerell, and the German baron von Hallerstein in the beginning of the 19th century. The statuary was moved to Italy, and then purchased by Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1828 the pediments were put on display in the Glyptothek of Munich, where they received their first restoration by the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The pediments are still there to this day.

Sources for the photographs from the Glyptothek in captions under the pictures.

In exchange for the pediments, and other assorted antiquities, Ludwig I of Bavaria sent Greece his son Otto, the first King of Greece…so we are cool.

(i am kidding, we are so not cool).


Archaeological Museum of Aegina, Kolona:

A fine example of an early classical sphinx. The head is slightly turned to the side. The chthonic aspect of the creature is denoted through the disorderly rendering of the hair. Votive offering from the temple of Apollo. (c. 460 B.C). Similarities with the stature of Apollo of Omphalos have induced scholars to attribute the work to the Boeotian sculptor, Kalamis. It is most likely a local work.

Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki:

Trapezophoron (table support)

A marble table support depicting Leda resisting the advances of the swan. Attic workshop (Before 250 A.D)

The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki has a great number of extremely elegant trapezophora like this one. They all borrow their themes from greek mythology. Although the romanticization of mythical themes has already begun from the late Classical period, in the Roman period we can say that the stories that had been at the core of the social and religious growth of greek communities, are now products of aesthetic consumption. This underlines the position of Greece as a provincial resort for the Roman elite, a sort of theme park in which culture becomes fantasy.