WESTERN

CLASSICAL ARTS
TRADITION
 PREHISTORIC
ERA
• Pre-historic art is classified into three
periods such as; Paleolithic (Old Stone
Age), Mesolithic(Middle Stone Age),
and Neolithic (New Stone Age) Eras.
• Pre-historic includes all human
existence before the emergence of
writing. Their art is of interest not only
to the art historians but also to
archeologist and anthropologist, for
whom the art is only one clue- along
with fossils, pollens and other finds to
an understanding of early human life
and culture.
 Paintings from the
Pre-historic Era
• Their paintings were found inside the
caves which may have been their way of
communicating with each other. It may
also be for religious or ceremonial
purposes.
• These paintings may be more an artifact
of the archeological evidence than a true
picture of humans’ first created art.
 Paintings from Ancient Egypt
• The purpose of Egyptian paintings is to make
the deceased afterlife place pleasant. With this
in mind, themes include journey to the
underworld introducing the deceased to the
gods of the under world by their protective
deities.
• It emphasizes the importance of life after death
and the preservation of the knowledge of the
past.
• Most paintings were highly stylize,
symbolic, and shows profile view of an
animal or a person. The main colors used
were red, black, blue , gold and green
taken derived from mineral pigments that
can withstand strong sunlight without
fading.
 Paintings from Classical Greek
Era
• Paintings during the classical era were most
commonly found in vases, panels and tomb.
It depicts natural figures with dynamic
compositions.
• Most of the SUBJECTS were battle scenes,
mythological figures, and everyday scenes
• It reveals a grasp of linear perspective and
naturalist representation.
 common methods of Greek
painting:
• Fresco- method of painting water-based
pigments on a freshly applied plaster usually on
a wall surfaces. Ideal for murals, durable and
has a matte style.
• Encaustic– developed to use by Greek ship
builders, who used the hot wax to fill the cracks
of the ship. Soon pigments (colors) was added
and used to paint a wax hull
 Vase painting
• Most common motifs were mostly scenes
from the life of women (often exaggeratedly
idyllic), mythological beings that were popular
among the people of the black sea, or a
scene form mythical story or event. It used a
technique called POLYCROMY, combination
of different colors specially the brilliant one in
an artistic manner.
 Panel Painting
• There are paintings on flat panels of
wood. It can be either a small, single piece
or several panels joined together.
• Most of the panel paintings no longer exist
because of its organic composition.
 Tomb / Wall Painting
• Tomb or wall painting was very popular during
the classical period. It uses the method frescos
either tempera (water-base) or encaustic
(wax).
• It has a sharp, flatly outlined style of painting
and because it uses water-based materials, very
few samples survived.
• In tomb paintings, artists rely on the shade and
hues of paint to create depth and life-like
feeling.
Paintings from the Romantic Era
• Most of the paintings in this era were
copied or imitated from Hellenic Greek
paintings. Fresco technique was used in
brightly colored backgrounds.
• Roman paintings have a wide variety of
subjects, animals, everyday life, still life,
mythological subjects, portraits and
landscapes.
• The development of landscape painting is
the main innovation of Roman painting
from Greek painting.
 Mosaic
• It is an art process where an image is
created using an assemblage of small
pieces of colored glass, stones, or other
materials.
• This technique use for decorative art or
interior decorations.
 Paintings from
the Medieval Era
 Byzantine Painting
• The lively styles of paintings which had
been invented in Greek and Rome lived on
in Byzantium but this time for Christian
subjects.
• By the 11th century, the Greek and Oriental
styles seem to blend together in
magnificent, imposing images, which
adorned the churches in large and small
forms.
 Romanesque Painting
• These are largely placed mosaics on the walls
of the churches that follows a strict frontal pose.
• It has a remarkable variety of artistic traditions
such as modeling and treatment of faces and
draperies that follow Byzantine convention while
the refreshingly decorative feeling comes from
southern French styles.
 Paintings from the
Gothic Era
Subjects usually depicts popular legends
and love stories, patterns like “mille fleur” or
thousand flowers show influence which may
have been due to the Crusades.
• Stained glass windows
were created to transform the vast
stone interiors with warm and glowing
color and at the same time to instruct
Christians in their faith.
Sculptures from
the Early Age
 Pre-Historic Sculptures
• Materials used in sculptures vary
according to region and locality.
• Archeologists believed that their sculpture
is a result of natural erosion and not of
human artistry.
• Frequently carving may have mythological
or religious significance.
Sculptures from the Egyptian Era
• Symbolic elements were widely used such
as forms, hieroglyphics, relative size,
location, materials, color, actions and
gestures. Their tombs required the most
extensive used of sculpture.
• The most common materials used for
sculptures are wood, ivory and stones.
Characteristics of the sculptures:
1. Symbolisms were heavily used to represent the
gods. They were represented as composite
creature with animal heads on human bodies
2. Relief compositions were arranged in horizontal
lines to record an event or represent an action.
3. Most of the time the gods were shown larger
than humans, the kings larger than their
followers, the dead larger than the living.
4. Empty space were filled with figures or
hieroglyphics
5. All individual components were all brought to
the plane of representation and laid out like
writing
Sculptures from the
Classical Period
 Greek Sculptures
• Early Greek sculptures were tense and
stiff, their bodies were hidden within
enfolding robes. After three centuries of
experiments, Greek sculptures had finally
evolved and showed all the points of
human anatomy and proportion.
• One of the most popular styles of the
Greek sculptures was the Hellenistic style.
Hellenistic denotes a preference in
sculpture for more elaborated patterns,
mannered arrangement of figures and
groups, and an emphasis on the
representation of movement for dramatic
effects.
 Roman Sculptures
• Most Roman sculptures are made of
monumental terra-cotta. They did not
attempt to compete with the free standing
Greek works of history or mythology but
rather they produced reliefs in the Great
Roman triumphal columns with continuous
narrative reliefs around.
 Byzantine Sculptures
• The dominant themes in Byzantine sculptures
are religious, everyday life scenes, and motifs
from nature.
• Animals were used as symbols (dove, deer,
peafowl) while some had acrostic signs (form of
writing in which taking the first letter; syllable or
word of different lines and putting them together
it can be read a message) that contained a
great theological significance.
 Romanesque Sculptures
• Some of the famous sculptural pieces
are reliquaries, altar frontals, crucifixes,
and devotional images. Small individual
works of art were generally made of costly
materials for royal and aristocratic patrons.
These lightweight devotional images were
usually carried in the processions both
inside and outside the churches
 Gothic Sculptures
• Gothic sculptures have a greater freedom
of style. They no longer lay closely against
the wall, but begun to project outward.
Figures were given their own particular
attitudes instead of being set into particular
patterns and are more lively and realistic.
Architecture from
the Early Age
 Pre-Historic Architecture
• Man has developed a form of architecture based
on megaliths (a big rock) from the Greek word
lithos (stone) and megas (big).
Megalith is made of huge stone blocks which
were probably intended for burial.
• Megalithic monuments have always ignited
man’s imagination. It provided plenty of legends
and superstition.
 Three main types of megalith
stones:
1. Menhir: a huge stone standing vertically on the
ground, usually standing in the middle of the
field or arranged in rows.
2. Dolmens: originated from the expression
taolmaen, means “stone table”. These
structures are in a form of table consisting of
two huge standing stones supporting a
horizontal giant stone. It is believed that it
served as grave or as an altar.
3. Cromlech: a Brythonic word “crom” means
bent or curved and “llech” which means slab or
flagstones. Literary it is a circle of standing
stones.
• Stonehenge: best preserved megalithic site in
Europe, a group of stones arranged in
concentric circles, with a large external circle of
triliths (Greek word meaning three stones), two
internal circles built in a similar manner and altar
shape stone in the center. It is a temple where
rituals were held.
 Egyptian Architecture
• Pyramids of Giza It is the most substantial
ancient structure of the world. The three
pyramids are the funerary structures of the three
kings of the fourth dynasty (2575 to 2465 BC)
• Khufu (Cheops) whom the Great Pyramid was
attributed to; Khafa (Chepren)whom the
pyramid next to the Great Pyramid is attributed;
and the smallest is attributed to Menkaura
(Mycerinus).
Mastaba
• It is a type of Egyptian tomb in the form of
a flat roofed, rectangular structure with
outward sloping sides. It was made of
mud-bricks or stone.
 Greek Architecture
• Temples consisted of a central shrine or room in
an aisle surrounded by rows of columns. These
buildings were designed in one of three
architectural style or orders:
DORIC IONIC CORINTHIAN
The Parthenon 447-432 BC, Athens
• The Greatest Classical temple, ingeniously
engineered to correct an optical illusion.
The columns were slightly contorted,
swollen at the center and leaning inward to
correct what would otherwise have been
an impression of deadness and top
heaviness.
 Roman Architecture
• They built sturdy stone structures both for
use and to perpetuate their glory.
• The emperors erected huge halls and
arenas for public games, baths and
procession. They built them of gigantic
arches of stone, bricks and concrete or
with barrel vaults.
The Colosseum, AD 70-82, Rome
 Byzantine Architecture
• It has a lot in common with the early
Christian architecture. Mosaic decoration
was perfected by the Byzantines, as was
the use of clerestory to bring light in from
high windows. Byzantine's advancement in
developing the dome created a new style
in global architecture.
 Romanesque Architecture
• Romanesqeu architecture displayed solid
masonry walls, rounded arches and masonry
vaults. It is the period of great building activities
in Europe, castles, churches, monasteries arose
everywhere.
• The doorways of Romanesque’s churches are
often grand sculptured portals. Wood or metal
doors are surrounded by elaborate stone
sculpture arranged in zones to fit architectural
elements.
 Gothic Architecture
• This design included two new devices:
pointed arch which enabled builders to
construct much higher ceiling vaults and
stone vaulting borne on a network of
stone ribs supported by piers and
clustered pillars.