greek-sculptures

"Yet despite this calm attitude, the figure throbs with movement; we can already see it passing from the left leg to the right and back to the left, swinging, elastic; it seems to prevent the action of her arms. And so the contour lines, the planes of the surface from the tips of the feet to the head with a slightly tired and nervous expression, up to the curls of the hair, all appear moved, fluctuating, continually varying direction and relief. Movement in rest: this is how the impression produced by this figure could be summed up. (Emanuel Löwy)"

"Lysippus makes the head smaller, but at the same time gives the whole figure tall, slender proportions. And the move is devoid of refinement, everything is casual and easy, and the whole exudes a noble elegance: he is an athlete of noble birth, of refined education, of high conscience, of ready, lucid intellectuality. (Pericle Ducati)"

"The attitude of the apoxyómenos is posed, with the body supported by the left leg and with the right stretched slightly backwards; yet the whole figure is crossed by a nervous throb of movement, since one gets the very vivid impression that, even with the simple action of wiping oneself with the strigil, the athlete continually changes in the support of the right leg to that of the left and so on . And the impression of lively liveliness of the arms also arises. Everything in this nervous elasticity is fluctuating, moved, agitated; yet the figure is at rest! (Pericle Ducati)"

"But the most notable of all was an ivory statue of Jupiter, the work of Phidias, son of the Athenian Charmides, of such greatness that although the temple is very high, nevertheless it seems to exceed the right proportion: for the artist he sat down; and yet it almost touches the roof with its head: so we then see that if it were to stand up it would uncover the temple. And some described the size of that statue, among others Callimachus in iambic verses. The painter Panenos, his nephew, cooperated greatly with Phidias in that work, to whom he was assigned together with Phidias, and embellished the statue with the ornamentation of colours, and mainly in the part of the drapery. (Strabo)"

"Pediments of the temple of Zeus in Olympia"

"Apollo depicted in the western pediment The artist of the temple of Zeus at Olympia depicted his simultaneously powerful and spiritual superiority in the way grander and more realistic. In the midst of the wildest tumult, the god suddenly appears, and his outstretched arm imposes calm. It is impossible to bring to expression in a more compelling way the entrance of the divine with all its illuminating clarity and his omniscient gaze. (Walter Friedrich Otto)"

"Statue of Zeus in Olympia"