History of ancient art

general courses

Classroom

The lecture course will focus primarily on the arts of ancient Greece and Rome. The art of ancient Egypt and the Middle East will be considered only in general terms, mainly as the source of orientalization of Greek art in the archaic period. The Greek Bronze Age cultures, the Minoan and Mycenaean, will be given a summary treatment, focused primarily on the literary tradition (Homer) and the Cretan mythology. Apart from the discussion of the basic forms of expression in ancient art (architecture, sculpture, painting) the lectures will focus on the major monumental complexes (Acropolis in Athens, Olympia, Pompeii). The emphasis will be placed on the works of the classical and Hellenistic period in Greek art and on the arts of the Roman Empire - that is on the periods of most consequence for the future of European art.

The lectures concern the history of ancient art in Greece and Rome from Bronze Age (Aegean culture) till late antiquity. There are discussed the most important artistic phenomena in relation to development of Greek sculpture, its influence on Roman reality, on the originating of esthetic patterns and classicisms. Also the transformations in architecture and its decoration are emphasized, considered in the context of the topography of ancient cities and determined by the institutional evolution of the Greek “polis” and Roman “civitas”. Public buildings, first of all temples and theaters are analyzed from social and historical point of view, whereas private houses are seen through the structure and duties of the family, the self-presentation and the social status of inhabitants, which were decisive not only on the private architecture shapes but also on its sculptural, painting and mosaic decoration. Such formulated problems require an analysis of archeological, iconographic sources, but important are also the remarks of ancient authors (Pausanias, Pliny the Elder, Vitruvius and others).

1. Classical antiquity in the history of art

2. Continuity and change in Aegean civilization

3. Beginning of ancient Greek art – „miracle” o slow evolution

4. Anthropomorphic deities and their dwellings – temples

5. „Archaic smile” in Greek sculpture

6. Greek ceramics and vase painting

7. Doric temples in Sicily VI-V cent. B.C.

8. Olympia and Delphi

9. Greek athletes in sculpture V-IV cent. B.C.

10. Akropolis of Athens – Fidias and Kallimachos

11. Images of Aphrodite and a problem of female nude

12. Greek funerary art

13. Pergamon – symbol of Hellenistic period

14. Pompeii and the topography of Greek cities

15. Greek wall- and easel-painting

16. Roman art - problems with definition

17. Rome – Etruscan city

18. Roman temples of republican period

19. Greek and Roman theatre by Vitruvius – evolution of shape and function

20. Roman portrait and funerary art

21. Augustus and power of images

22. Roman honorific arches

23. Pompeian houses and its decoration

24. Imperial picture and "religion of loyalty"

25. Trajanus and Marc Aurelius Columns in Rome

26. Roman villa

27. Decoration of Roman sarcophagi

28. Ideal of Later Roman emperor

29. When the Roman art became Christian

30. Cyrenaica – instead of summary

E. Makowiecka, Sztuka grecka, Warszawa 2009

E. Makowiecka, Sztuka Rzymu. Od Augusta do Konstantyna, Warszawa 2010

E. Papuci-Władyka, Sztuka starożytnej Grecji, Warszawa-Kraków 2001

J. Boardman, Sztuka grecka, Toruń 1999

W. Müller-Wiener, Greckie budownictwo antyczne, wyd. Platan 2004

J.A. Ostrowski, Starożytny Rzym. Polityka i sztuka, Warszawa-Kraków 1999

P. Zanker, August i potęga obrazów, Poznań 1999

P. Veyne, Imperium grecko-rzymskie, Kęty 2008

P. Veyne (red.), Historia życia prywatnego, t. 1, Wrocław 2005

F. Kolb, Ideał późnoantycznego władcy, Poznań 2008

F.W. Deichmann, Archeologia chrześcijańska, Warszawa 1994

The lectures give the essential knowledge about the most important monuments of art in ancient Greece and Rome with particular regard to current problems investigated by scholars. There are indicated the different types of archaeological sources and an important role played by written sources in research conducted by classical archaeologists.

written exam based principally on recognition of artistic objects