Online Assignment #1

Paloma Mendez

HUA 101

Professor Harmon

14 March 2015

Egyptian and Greek & Roman Art

In the online video at Youtube that is called HarmonIntroEgyptianGreek, we can get important infromation and knowledge about what is Egyptian, Greek and Roman art. In Egyptian art, gods like Ramses who were half-sheep and half-man were carved. They also used compact figures, with a frontal position for royal people. Besides Ramses, cats were worshipped as gods of happiness and the sky god was an eagle with a cobra on top meaning it was a pharoh. In a lot of Egyptian art, the ankh symbol was used to symbolize life. In Egyptian art, people were shown with their left foot in front of the other.

Greek art showed people in more relaxed poses, capable of movement. Artists did Greek art with actual observations and calculations. Goddesses were drawn nude and art was more sensual. Goddesses like Aphrodite, goddess of love and sexual repture, were drawn half nude. Greek art also emphasized restrained emotion.

Roman art reflects more of a pratical nature, it was less idealistic. Roman portraits showed imperfections and old age because they emphasized physical accuracy. In the video, one of the Roman pieces shown, they used pigment to paint it. However, Roman attitudes began to change, and artists started losing confidence in the material world and turned to spiritual values that religions like Christianity offered. A huge 8 foot portrait reflected the changing attitudes.

This is an example of Egyptian art, showing a scene from the Book of the Dead. The symbolism in this art is from Egyptian art facilitating human passage into the afterlife. The Book of the Dead was written in hieroglyphic script on a papyrus scroll. Almost every Book of the Dead was unique, with different spells and order. These were made in preparation for a person's death.

This is an example of Greek art. It's a figurine called the Bell Idol and was made of terracotta, since clay was used often in these statuettes. It was a small statue with mobile legs. Tombs known as "hero's" had thousands of these small figurines. 

This is an example of Roman art. In Roman art, portraits were common. This one is a portrait bust of an old man. The head is covered suggesting it could be a priest. This portrait bust was made of marble, mid-first century BC. Portraits were made like this to depict people accurately, wrinkles and all. 

Finally in this essay we have learned that each art style is from a different part of the world such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Also it is easier to find the differences between each kind of art in size, material, color, gesture and symbolism. Although they are different, they still share the similarities of worshipping gods and making portraits of others.