Showing posts with label Ancient Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ancient Art. Show all posts

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Poseidon of Melos


We just learned about the Statue of Zeus at Olympia.

Another sculpture from the Hellenistic Art time is the Poseidon of Melos.

Poseidon in Greek mythology was a god of the sea.
The statue is made of marble, and is over 8 feet tall.

The statue's right arm is lifted up to hold a trident that was lost.
He is looking into the distance with a strong powerful pose.


(from: wikipedia - poseidon of melos)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Charing Cross Bridge - Derain

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Elgin Marbles


We just learned about the ancient sculpture of the Jockey of Artemision.

Another ancient sculpture from the Classical Period is the Elgin Marbles also known as the Parthenon Marbles.

These are marble sculptures that were once in the large building known as the Parthenon.
They were made by a team of sculptors that worked for the famous Greek Sculptor named Phidias.


(from: wikipedia - elgin marbles)



(from: wikipedia - elgin marbles)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Basket of Apples - Cézanne

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Jockey of Artemision


We just learned about the sculpture the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Another sculpture from ancient Greece is the Jockey of Artemision.

This is a big bronze statue of a young boy riding a horse, made over 2000 years ago.
There are not a lot of statues from this time and place, because so many of the statues were melted down for the bronze.

This statue was not melted down because it was on a ship that crashed and sank, and was found around 100 years ago.

It is the size of an actual horse, over 6 feet tall and over 9 feet long.
The artist made it in pieces using the lost wax process and then the pieces were welded together.
They sculpted it to look like the horse is in the middle of galloping in a race.


(from: wikipedia - jockey of artemision)


(from: wikipedia - jockey of artemision)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: First Abstract Watercolor - Kandinsky

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Moschophoros


We just learned about the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Another ancient Greek statue is Moschophoros.

This is a statue of someone holding a cow carrying it to a sacrifice.


(from: wikipedia - moschophoros)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Primavera Botticelli

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Charioteer of Delphi


We just learned about the ancient Egyptian sculpture the Block Statue of Pa-Ankh-Ra.

The ancient Greeks were also very famous for their sculptures.
One famous sculpture that has survived through the years is the Charioteer of Delphi.

It is a bronze sculpture of a man on a chariot, made to honor someone after they had won a race in a competition like the Olympics.
It was made to look like the person at the end of the race after winning, calm, confident and happy.

The statue has lost it's arm, and it used to have horses with it also.
It still has it's glass eyes, but it is missing its silver eyelashes and headband.

Many bronze statues were melted down for the metal long after they were made, but this statue had been buried under a building that had collapsed, so it survived and was found hundreds of years later.

Statues like this were usually made in a few different pieces and then put together when they were all sculpted.


(from: wikipedia - charioteer of delphi)


(from: wikipedia - charioteer of delphi)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Detroit Industry Murals - Diego Rivera

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Tutankhamun's Mask


We just learned about the Statue of Gudea.

Another ancient sculpture is Tutankhamun's Mask.

The mask is made of gold and weighs 22 lbs.
The face of the mask is a sculpture of the pharaoh's face.
It has inlays of colored glass and gems made of lapis lazuli, quartz, obsidian, carnelian, feldspar, turquoise, amazonite, faience and others.

The beard is inlaid with lapis lazuli.

On the back and shoulders are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that write out what was thought of as a protective spell in ancient Egypt.



(from: wikipedia - tutankhamun's mask)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Thinker - Auguste Rodin

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Statue of Gudea


We just learned about the Cylinder Seal sculptures.

Another set of sculptures are the many statues of Gudea.

Gudea was a king in the land of Mesopotamia thousands of years ago.
The people he ruled over made many statues of him, and many of them survived for thousands of years.

The statues were made of different types of stone called alabaster or diorite.


(from: wikipedia - statues of gudea)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Charles IV of Spain and His Family - Francisco Goya

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Cylinder Seal


We just learned about the sculpture the Lyres of Ur.

Other famous sculptures are the ancient Cylinder Seals.

Around 3,500 years ago, people would take stone, metal or even jewels and carve them into a cylinder shape.
Then they would carve a hole through the middle so they were like a tube.
On the outside of the tube they would carve pictures that would tell a story, send a message, or maybe be like a signature for someone.

Then they would roll the cylinder along some wet soft clay, and it would leave a print on clay.
The clay dried and they would have a picture.


(from: wikipedia - cylinder seal)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: No. 5, 1948 - Jackson Pollock

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Lyres of Ur


We just learned about the Copper Bull sculpture.

Another ancient sculpture is the Bull's Lyre, a bull's head sculpture that was part of three ancient lyres (also known as harps) discovered that were over 4,000 years old.

These lyres are believed to be the oldest stringed instruments still intact.

The sculpture of the bull's head is made of gold, with eyes made of mother-of-pearl and lapis lazuli.
Other parts of the bull's body were made of wood but they did not survive after the thousands of years it was buried.


(from: wikipedia - lyres of ur)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Copper Bull


We just learned about the ancient sculpture Ram in a Thicket.

Another ancient sculpture is the Copper Bull.

This sculpture was discovered in 1923 in the country of Iraq, and it was made over 4,000 years ago.

The sculpture was made of wood covered in sticky black bitumen (also known as asphalt), and then copper plates were nailed to the outside of it.


(from: wikipedia - copper bull)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Snail - Henri Matisse

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Ram in a Thicket


We just learned about the ancient sculpture the Trundholm Sun Chariot.

Another ancient sculpture is called Ram in a Thicket.

This is a sculpture of a ram that is caught in some sort of a bush. There were two of these sculptures found, and they seem to be a pair that stood across from each other.

The person that found them named them ram in a thicket after the story of Abraham where God provided a ram for him to sacrifice.

Since it was very old and had been buried under a lot of dirt, some parts of the statue were rotten and had to be remade to try and make it look like it did long ago.

This sculpture has a wooden middle, that was carved for the face and legs.
The head and legs are covered in gold leaf hammered to the wood and stuck there with a sticky black gooey oil called bitumen or asphalt.
The ears are made of copper which has turned green.
The ram's horns and fleece on it's shoulders are made of lapis lazuli.
The fleece on the body is made of shells stuck to bituman.
It's belly is made of silver plate.
The tree or bush is covered in gold leaf and gold flowers.
It is standing on a small rectangle covered in shells, red limestone and lapis lazuli.
There used to be small silver chains around the ram and trees, but those were too old to recover.



(from: wikipedia - ram in a thicket)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Relativity - M.C. Escher

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Guennol Lioness


We just learned about the swimming reindeer prehistoric art.

Some ancient art from an area known as Mesopotamia is called the Guennol Lioness.

It is a sculpture of a woman mixed with a lion.

(from: wikipedia - guennol lioness)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Guernica