TOPIC ESSAY QUESTION III

Essay 3b

Truth and Beauty

QUESTION: Using specific art refernces, why did the Greeks consider "beauty" to be the same as "truth" and how different was this philosophy from that of the Romans? 

PART ONE:

SUMMARY: What I experienced in my attempt to answer this Topic Question was the difficulty in finding the right information on beauty, truth, and reality and how to incorporate it correctly in the essay.

REASON: The reason this question was asked was to see how different these two cultures are in perceiving their truth.

PURPOSE: The purpose this question was asked was to better understand the art of these cultures and how it relates to their perception of truth.

DIRECTION: I read any information I could find on Greek and Roman art, since all I knew of both cultures was its mythology.

IMPRESSION:  I struggled mostly writing this essay than I did with the previous two essays. I did learn about some of Plato philosophies.

PART TWO:

What is “beauty,” “truth,” or “reality”? One of the definitions of “beauty” is “the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind…” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/beauty?s=t).The word “truth” can mean “conformity with fact or reality” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/truth?s=t).  “

Reality” is the “resemblance to what is real” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reality?s=t).  In Greek art, the ideals of beauty was the main concept (Art History 4^th Edition, p 101).

The Greek Classical art has a connection with humanism, rationalism, and idealism (Art History 4^th Edition, p 119). “The ancient Greeks…followed these injunctions in their art: … [to] seek an ideal based on the human form;…seek the inner significance of forms; and …reproduce only essential forms” (Art History 4^th Edition, p 119).

Source Link The Charioteer

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            The Charioteer, a bronze life-size statue,  memorializes the achievement of a driver in the Pythian Games (Art History 4^th Edition, p 125). “The face of this handsome youth is highly idealized…” (Art History 4^th Edition, p 125). The youth’s solemn face is attributed to the fact that the Greeks believed that the show of emotions publicly was a sign of barbarism (http://www.greeklandscapes.com/greece/athens_museum_classical.html). The figure stands straight looking regal in a long folding robe (Art History 4^th Edition, p 125).

Source Link The Warrior

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            The Warrior, a bronze statue, blends the idealized “perfection” with the details in the body found through nature in observation (Art History 4^th Edition, p 125). The placement and details from the copper lips and nipples, to the colored glass and bone eyes, and silver teeth are elements that continue in the “High” Classical period. The figures stance is that of a contrapposto (Art History 4^th Edition, p 125).

Source Link Spear Bearer (Doryphoros)

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      “Studying the actual human beings closely and selecting those human attributes they [sculptures] considered most desirable…[were] combined…into single ideal of physical perfection” (Art History 4^th Edition, p 134). Polykleitos was a sculptor of the High Classical period (Art History 4^th Edition, p 134). He developed rules for proportions, written down and shown in the Doryphoros. Both are known as “The Canon” (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Polykleitos.aspx). This figure is positioned with it full weight on the right leg (contrapposto) and a spear in its left hand over its shoulder (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Polykleitos.aspx).

Greek art  and its ideal of beauty was parallel to the Greek philosophy(rt History 4^th Edition, p 171). “Beauty” is one of Plato’s examples of Forms or Ideas (http://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/Aesthetics/philos_artists_onart/plato.htm). “For Plato, these Forms are perfect Ideals, but they are also more real than physical objects” (http://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/Aesthetics/philos_artists_onart/plato.htm). He believed that the best life is one that attempts to understand and to imitate the Forms repeatedly (http://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/Aesthetics/philos_artists_onart/plato.htm).

Source Link Patrician Carrying Portrait Busts Of Two Ancestors (Barberini Togatus)

Source Link Portrait Head Of An Elder

Unlike Greek artists, which focused on the idealized human form, Romans emphasized realism in the rendering of portraiture (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Polykleitos.aspx). “The …portraiture in Roman art may stem from the early practice of creating likenesses… of revered figures and distinguished ancestors for display on public occasions… [and] funerals” (Art History 4^th Edition, p 170). The faces in these sculptures captured every aspect of the individual including its advanced age, as seen in the image above (Art History 4^th Edition, p 171).

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The Portrait Of A Married Couple is an example of realism in still-life and portraits of Roman art. This portrait was discovered on one of the walls of Pompeian houses (Art History 4^th Edition, p 185). The details, space and placement of facial features gave away the fact that these are painted observing this individuals closely. (Art History 4^th Edition, p 187).