High+Classical

The High classical period of Greek art starts around 450 BCE and ends in 400 BCE. For most of this period, Perikles was the ruling leader of Athens. Perikles was a great patron of the arts, as he supported the use of Athenian wealth for the adornment of the city and encouraging artists to promote a public image of peace, prosperity, and power. Perikles once said: "Future generations will marvel at us, as the present age marvels at us now". One of his most famous doings was his righteous idea to restore the Acropolis back to it's original state after it was destroyed by the Persian invaders. His hope was to create a visual expression of Athenian values and civic pride that would glorify the city of Athens and bolster it's status as the capital of his dream empire. In 447 BCE, Perikles hired the architect Iktinos, to finish building the Parthenon. The Parthenon was a very large Doric-ordered temple at the top of the Acropolis. Sculpture during the High classical period didn't have one ruling maker.
 * The High Classical Period**

During the High classical period of Greek art, the ruling sculptor was Polykleitos. Polykleitos was a Greek sculptor from the high classical period and he is considered as one of the most important sculptors of the classical antiquity. Little is actually known about the life of Polykleitos but he was born in Argos or Sicyon and was taught by the famous teacher Ageladas of Argos. His most important contribution to art was his Cannon of Polykleitos which emphasized a counterbalance between tension and hip movement (chiastic balance). Polykleitos made a lot of very famous sculptures during his reign, such as the Doryphoros. The reason that the Doryphoros is so famous is because it looks exactly like a real human-being, no matter what angle you are looking from. Although Polykleitos was the main sculptor, there are a lot of sculptures that we have found and cannot link to anyone. such as the Lapith fighting a Centaur piece. Now that you are studying Greek architecture, you should notice that the Greek artists tried to make you look to certain areas in their artworks. In this particular artwork, they create a circle that you can follow and have seen the entire artwork. This is the first period in which the Greeks decide to start making sculptures to place in the pediments of each side of a structure. Most of the sculptures placed on the Pantheon have been lost, but some still remain. About 40 feet of the 90 feet of space that was filled with sculptures has been destroyed or lost over the years.
 * Sculpture**

During this period there were two very big accomplishments in architecture; The Parthenon and the Erechtheion. Both of these buildings are located upon the Acropolis, the hill on which most of the temples and important buildings lie. The Erechtheion is one of the only lasting buildings that uses Caryatids, statues of women put in to act as columns for small sections of buildings. The Caryatids are located on the south porch of the structure, while the other is supported by Ionic order columns. During the High classical period, we start to see a subtle transition from Doric-order columns into Ionic-order columns. The main differences between the two are the capitals of the columns, and the switch from bland patterns in the Doric friezes, to creative patterns in the Ionic friezes. The capitals of Doric-order columns were rectangular and boring, where as the capitals on the Ionic columns looked sort of like handlebar mustaches. The patterns on the friezes of Doric-order buildings were rectangles, and the patterns on Ionic ones could be relief sculptures or engravings. Another way to tell whether a column is Doric or Ionic is to look at its girth. Although this doesn't work all of the time, most Doric columns are much bigger than Ionic ones.
 * Architecture**