The Archaic Smile
#Greeksculpture #kore #chios
The Chios Kore is one of those sculpture that retained traces of the original coloring and inspire debates about the painting of ancient sculptures.
Personally I think any tinting would have been a bit more delicate but look at the faded original and compare the reconstruction and decide for yourself and enjoy that fabulous archaic smile !
THE ARCHAIC SMILE - ONE
If there's one thing that particularly stands out about Archaic Greek Sculptures its the SMILE !
Assyrian sculptures tend to have rulers and courtiers who seem to be almost sneering and with Egyptian sculpture the smile seems to say I a powerful mortal have ascended to become a god but human or mortal the first large Hellenic statues SMILE.
The Unswept Floor.
A #mosaic #masterpiece that reminds us yes the Greeks could do detailed still lifes not just gods warriors and heroes. My favorite detail every time I see this is the mouse sniffing.
MEDOUSA #medousa #medusa
This is thought to be a roof tile and illustrates the strange ambiguity of Medusa half woman half monster with her elaborate curls and long thin braids carefully rendered eyebrows elegantly arched yet bulging eyes and tongue and fangs and an arch of sakes around her
MARGINALIA
This is a #renaissance #manuscript of #Herodotus
The #marginalia were added by scholar called VALLA
While many scholaras might have added notes in Latin Valla has chosen to add them in Greek.
Yes it doesnt look like modern Greek or a printed Greek font but remember refugees from the Fall of Byzantium were teaching in Italy. so this style of writing is not the same as that seen on earlier manuscripts or the fonts we use in modern books.
May is early summer a time of Flowers so here's a Minoan Krater.
KAMARES KRATER
#kamares #krater #minoan
We can see elements on this that appear in later Greek art though it was long centuries before Greek potters regained the skills of the Minoans.
