With Sculpture in the Classical period we have some of the outstanding triumphs of Classical art: works which account for its reputation and which have left their stamp on Western art through the centuries. The most characteristic feature of this sculpture is its harmonious balance of opposites. This was something that altered for ever the way objects were portrayed in the plastic arts. Its emphasis on the human figure found expression, first and foremost, in an unremitting, irresolute relationship between ethos and pathos. At the heart of the process of nature and politics was the human figure. Wholeness was achieved in its portrayal by virtue of perfected control of technique. Gradually, and with no deep break with the past, Greek sculptors passed from the Archaic models to the Severe style, in measure as they became more and more able to represent the human body, whether in motion or at rest, in a realistic way. They were still interested in existing features, such as the reconstitution of form from its component elements, precise draughtmanship, and the proportion of the body's parts, features which are already fully-fledged when we encounter them in early Classical sculpture. Their main aim was to reproduce ideal form. But they also managed to present the particular and individual in the light of the generic and archetypal. This was to lead to portrait art; and realistic portraiture would reach its peak in later periods. |
