Wylie.p5.t4.Greek/Roman
During the Classical Period of Ancient Greece there was a birth of more form flowing, free, and realistic sculptures. The “Youth of Marathon” is one such sculpture that exemplified the free qualities of the Greek Classical period. Sculptors removed many of the ancient symmetric techniques, and moved into a more natural form which in turn created sculptures which looked almost exactly like humans. Many features of the Youth of Marathon symbolize and relate to the religion, science, and aesthetics of the Classical Period of ancient Greece.
The main focus of the piece is the beauty of the sculpture itself and its human body. In this era of aesthetics, the human body was valued in itself. In the Youth of Marathon, the focus of the art was the human body and its pose and not its surrounding environment. In the case of the Youth of Marathon the focus is in the defiant pose of the “Youth”.
Expressionless faces were seen as a symbol of control and nobility. The Youth of Marathon displays no emotion. Emotions were seen as for barbarians, and the only expressions needed were logic and reason
The Youth of Marathon displays many advances in proportion mathematics and the study of human the human figure. When the weight of the youth is shifted, his leg is straightened to keep balance. The muscles on the leg with the weight are also tightened more to show correct proportion within the human. With perfect proportions the artist created both a god and a man with aesthetic value.
Your point about the youth's emotionless face is very intriguing. There was definitely focus in that era on logic and reason, as we can see from our research on the great philosophers on the time.
ReplyDeleteThe connection you make to science through the study of the human body is not something everyone would have recognized, but it brings up an interesting topic of the study of human form during Greek/Roman times.
Our question would be how does this sculpture relate to faith? In looking up the sculpture, there seems to be some speculation that it was modeled after Greek god Hermes, which would certainly give it a direct relationship to the faith of the period.
An interesting and insightful take on the sculpture.