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Greek art progressed from the abstract, geometric designs of the Geometric Period (c. 900–700 BCE) to the more naturalistic kouros and kore figures of the Archaic Period (c. 700 to 480 BCE). In the Classical Period (c. 480–323 BCE), artists perfected ideal proportions and balance, exemplified by Polykleitos’s Doryphoros. The Late Classical Period (c. 400-323 BCE) introduced greater emotion and individuality, seen in Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Knidos and Lysippos’s dynamic figures.
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Etruscan art, though influenced by Greek styles, maintained a distinctive vitality rooted in its own cultural and spiritual traditions. While Greek artists pursued idealized perfection and balanced proportions, Etruscan sculptors emphasized warmth, movement, and emotional expression, as seen in the temple figures like Apollo of Veii. Moreover, Etruscan artists prioritized human connection and the afterlife, creating works that felt more animated and personal than their Greek counterparts.
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The Met Krater is a monumental Greek funerary vessel from the Geometric Period. It was used as a grave marker and for pouring libations, decorated with intricate horizontal bands of geometric patterns and scenes of mourning for the deceased. The stylized human figures and processional imagery on the krater reflect early Greek efforts to represent the human form and social ritual.
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The Sarcophagus of the Spouses is significant because it reflects the Etruscan focus on human intimacy, warmth, and the equality of men and women in both life and death. Unlike the solemn Greek funerary art of the time, it portrays a reclining couple in a tender, animated pose, celebrating the joy of companionship even in the afterlife.
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Hellenistic art (323–31 BCE) expanded upon Classical Greek traditions by emphasizing emotion, movement, and realism. Artists depicted a wider range of human experiences—suffering, joy, sensuality, and aging—with dramatic poses and intricate detail, as seen in the Laocoön and His Sons and Winged Victory of Samothrace. This period reflected a cosmopolitan world shaped by Alexander the Great’s empire, where art aimed to evoke feeling and individuality rather than ideal perfection.
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The Laocoön and His Sons exemplifies the dramatic intensity and emotional realism of Hellenistic art, capturing the agony of human struggle through dynamic movement and powerful anatomy. Its expressive detail and complex composition reveal the period’s fascination with suffering, fate, and the full range of human emotion.