"Primitive" Greek Artistry: Garden Statuary
"Primitive" Greek Artistry: Garden Statuary The primitive Greeks built the 1st freestanding statuary, an amazing achievement as most sculptures up until then had been reliefs cut into walls and pillars. Most of these freestanding sculptures were what is known as kouros figures, statues of young, attractive male or female (kore) Greeks. The kouroi were believed by the Greeks to typify beauty and were sculpted with one foot leading and an uncompromising firmness to their forward-facing poses; the male statues were always strapping, brawny, and nude. The kouroi grew to be life-sized beginning in 650 BC. Throughout the Archaic period, a big time of change, the Greeks were developing new forms of government, expressions of art, and a greater awareness of people and cultures outside Greece.
Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Greatest Fountains
Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Greatest Fountains The Barcaccia, Bernini's first fountain, is a magnificent chef d'oeuvre built at the bottom of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. This area continues to be filled with Roman locals and visitors who like to exchanging gossip or going over the day's news. Bernini would undoubtedly have been happy to know that people still flock to what has become one the city's most fashionable areas, that surrounding his amazing fountain. Dating back to around 1630, Pope Urbano VIII commissioned what was to be the earliest water fountain of the master's career. The fountain’s central motif is based on an enormous ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean.