Topic Question Essay #3

ESSAY #3b 
ESSAY TITLE: TRUTH & BEAUTY

Young Flavian Woman

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

PART I

SUMMARY: I found that there is a big difference between Greek art and Roman art, in a lot of ways that I never considered before.  I found it a lot of fun to try and find good examples that flowed well together.

REASON:  I think that the big reason for the question was simply for me to see the difference between Roman art and Greek art and how that is shown through their beliefs.

PURPOSE:  I believe that the purpose was to show that anything even what you believe can be strongly reflected within art.

DIRECTION:  The direction that this question has taken me in was that the Greeks and the Romans have very different beliefs that show strongly in their art.

IMPRESSION:  A big surprise to me was when I was reading about the Young Flavian Woman and how much drill work it took to make her hair look the way it did, I think that's just amazing!

PART 2

The Greeks consider beauty to be the same thing as truth, and even to the extreme that if a person is not beautiful that they are nothing more than a person that does not speak anything of truth. This to me seems to be quite a way to judge someone, but even in Greek art this shows. As apposed to the Romans that believed that they came from the Gods themselves and their art reflects this as well.

Metropolitan Kourous

Take for example the Metropolitan Kourous, that is six feet tall and dates back to 600 BCE. (Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 114) To me this is a classic example of what the Greeks considered beauty, "...he stands rigidly upright, arms at his sides, fists clenched, and one leg slightly in front of the other."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 114)  He seems to be a strong man as shown in his stance, and in that time period I'm sure was considered to be beautiful.  "The eyes are relatively large and wide open, and the mouth forms a conventional closed-lip expression known as the Archaic smile."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 114)

The Charioteer of Dephi

 "Scholars have associated Greek Classical art with three general concepts: humanism, rationalism, and idealism."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 119) This to me is also very interesting because it seemed that making art of normal people and not Gods was becoming more common among the Greeks(not like the Romans who made themselves in the same category as the Gods). An example of Greek art of a God is the amazing life size Charioteer, that was found at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi and seemed to be casted sometime in about 470 BCE.(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 125) Wow, is all that I can seem to say about this.  The Charioteer has his head turned to the said and his gaze away from the viewer (Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 125) almost in a I'm-too-good-to-look-your-way kind of glance.  Clearly this also shows beauty and respect that the Greeks must have had to make such an amazing piece.

Nike (Victory) of Samothrace

Nike (Victory) of Samothrace

The next art piece that I picked from the Greeks to show beauty and truth is "Nike of Samothrace."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 155) Which is the Goddess of Victory, that is standing on top of a ship, some say that the ship she is on is the Trihemiolia Rhodian.(http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Nike.htm) She is the spitting image of beauty with the"powerful backwards thrust of her enormous wings"(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 156) She is an image that once you see it will always be a reminder of the word victory and what it means, not the sneakers.

My personal favorite story of how Rome came to be in my opinion reflects a lot of Roman thought and also the art of the Romans. "The Romans saw themselves as descendents of heroic ancestors. Two popular legends told the story of Rome's founding. One focused on Romulus and Remus, twin sons of the God Mars and a mortal woman, who were abandoned on the banks of the Tiber River and discovered by a she-wolf, who nursed then as her own pups."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 168)  This explained a lot to me about Roman thought and why they thought of themselves to be related to the Gods and have a strong feeling about being the best and the most powerful.  It seemed that power was a strong influence to the Romans, they didn't think of things like truth and beauty being the same thing, they didn't really care, all they wanted to do was expand.

Augustus of Primaporta

 Roman art I believe reflects their arrogance showing people to be almost in the likeness of a God, for example Augustus of Primaporta, who has the same look to him as the Greek Charioteer of Delphi with the same gaze. "But unlike Greek sculptors who created unspecific, ans thus timeless, procession for the Parthenon, the Roman sculptors of the Ara Pacis depicted actual individuals participating in a specific event at a known time."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 155)

Young Flavian Woman

 Another example of Roman art is the Young Flavian Woman, who "is idealized in a manner similar to the Augustus of Primaporta."(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 190)  She has a strong nose and jaw, deep set eyes and a long neck that is a contrast to her soft lips and skin.(Art History, 4th Edition, M. Stokstad/M.W. Cothren, p. 190) She is young and God-like in image just like the Augustus of Primaporta.