Ancient Art
Guide to Prehistoric Visual Arts: Cave Painting & Primitive Sculpture From Stone, Bronze & Iron Age to Greek Sculptures & Roman Art.
Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - HOMEPAGE

Stone Age Art (c.2,000,000 - 3500 BCE)

Paleolithic Art (c.2,000,000 – 10,000 BCE)

The earliest surviving Stone Age artworks, created during the Paleolithic Age are the "Venus of Tan-Tan", discovered in Morocco, and the "Venus of Berekhat Ram" a similar object discovered in Israel, bothing dating before 250,000 BCE.

Also, stone engravings have been found at the Blombos Cave in South Africa dating from 70,000 BCE. Although both artworks have been dated to before 250,000 BCE, doubt remains whether they were created by human hand.

Current scholarship considers that neither Homo Errectus nor the early sub-species of Homo Sapiens (Neanderthal man, who died out 35,000 BCE) were able to create works of art. Instead, most archeologists consider the earliest known human artwork dates from 35,000-10,000 BCE, such as the cave paintings from the Grotte Chauvet in Ardeche (France) (32,000 years old), the Lascaux caves (France) (15,000 years old), and the Spanish caves at Altamira.

Mesolithic Art (c.10,000-5,500 BCE)

Artworks created by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers include stylized cave paintings, sculptures, body adornments like bracelets as well as functional objects like paddles and weapons. These types of Mesolithic art have been located in many different areas around the world, including the Waterberg area in Africa, the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in India, Arnhem Land in Australia.

Neolithic Art (c.5500–2500 BCE)

During the Neolithic era, characterized by the development of agriculture, and animal husbandry, craftsmen produce less rock/cave painting and more portable art. Artworks become enhanced by the use of precious metals (eg. copper), and the design of new tools. Free standing sculpture, statues, pottery, primitive jewellery and decorated artifacts become more common during this time. The advent of hieroglyphic writing systems in Sumer heralds the arrival of pictorial methods of communication, while greater prosperity leads to more religious activity and religious artworks in temples and tombs. Two great examples of Neolithic art include: the "Thinker From Cernavoda," a sculpture found in Romania, and the Passage Tomb at Newgrange (Dún Fhearghusa), the UN World Heritage site in County Meath.

Bronze Age Art (c.3500-1100 BCE)

The best examples of Bronze Age art appeared in the 'cradle of civilization' around the Mediterranean in the Near East, during the rise of Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Greece, Crete (Minoan civilization) and Egypt. The emergence of cities, the use of written languages and the development of more sophisticated tools led the creation of a wider range of ceramics, and fine art painting. The latter included: murals, panel paintings and frescoes, in several painting genres. Other Bronze Age art included statues, sculptures and paintings of Gods. During this period, art began to assume a significant role in reflecting the community, its rulers and its relationship with the deities it worshipped.

Egyptian Art (from 3100 BCE)

Egypt is the first civilization with a recognizable style of art. In paintings and in low-relief sculpture, Egyptian artists depicted the head, legs and feet of their human subjects in profile, while portraying the eye, shoulders, arms and torso from the front. Other conventions dictated how Gods, Pharaohs and ordinary people should be portrayed, and regulated the size, colour and figurative positions of these images accordingly. Women were painted with fair skin, men with dark skin. Much of Egyptian art in tombs and temples (hieroglyphs, papyrus scrolls, murals, panel paintings, sculptures and architectural structures like the Pyramids) reflects religious themes, especially those concerning the afterlife. In modern times, a number of outstanding Egyptian encaustic wax paintings, known as the Fayyum portraits, dating from 50 CE, have been found preserved in coffins. These pictures offer a fascinating glimpse of Egyptian fine art.

Minoan Art (c.1600 BCE)

Minoan civilization (from King Minos), grew up during the bronze age on the island of Crete. By 2100 BCE they had built up a prosperous maritime trade with countries around the Mediterranean from buying tin and combining it with copper from Cyprus, to make bronze - the key metal of the time. This prosperity led to the construction of palaces and 'court buildings at Knossos, Phaestus, Akrotiri, Kato Zakros and Mallia, along with other public works. Thus emerged a Minoan art and culture noted for its sculpture, fresco painting, pottery, stone carvings (particularly seal stones), and metalwork. In about 1500 BCE, following an unknown catastrophe the Minoan civilization collapsed, and around 1425 BCE the Minoans were conquered by the Mycenaeans.

Iron Age Art (c.1100-200 BCE)

The Iron Age saw a huge growth in artistic activity, especially in Greece and around the eastern Mediterranean. It coincided with the rise of Hellenic (Greek-influenced) culture. The period is typically classified into several smaller periods: the Dark Ages (c.1200-900 BCE), the Geometric Period (c.900-700 BCE), Oriental-Style Period (c.700-625 BCE), the Archaic Period (c.625-500 BCE), the Classical Period (c.500-323 BCE), and the Hellenistic Period (c.323-100 BCE).

Mycenean Art (c.1400-1000 BCE)

Mycenae was an ancient Greek city in the Peloponnese. But the term "Mycenaean" or "Mycenean" culture commonly denotes mainland Greek culture as a whole during the late Bronze Age (c.1650-1200 BCE). At first, Mycenean/Greek arts were dominated by Minoan culture. Minoan artists and painters visited Greece regularly. In contrast to the Minoans, Mycenean kings were warriors with a tradition of conquest. Mycenean painters and sculptors emphasized military and other mythological exploits, in a more formal 'geometric' style than that of the Minoans. Mycenean art encompassed ceramics, pottery, carved gemstones, jewellery, glass ornaments, as well as tomb and palace murals, frescoes and sculptures.

Celtic Art (c.500 BCE - c.17 CE)

By around 1100 BCE, the Celts, an Indo-European group of tribes had established themselves in a controlling position astride the main trade routes along the river systems of the Rhone, Seine, Rhine and Danube. Between 1100 and 700 BCE, they were the first non-Mediterranean people to develop iron which gave them the technological superiority to colonize their neighbours throughout France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia. Two styles of Celtic Iron Age art emerged: Hallstatt and La Tene. The more advanced La Tene art form was characterized by its distinctive geometric designs and stylized bird and animal forms, as exemplified by the decorative designs on the stonework of the Turoe Stone, one of the earliest examples of visual art in Ireland. Celtic metalwork also achieved an extremely high standard of craftsmanship, as exemplified by the Irish Petrie Crown and Broighter Collar. The La Tene style was strongly influenced by the Mediterranean culture of the Greek and Etruscan civilizations and continued to flourish until the advent of the Roman Empire.

For details of exquisite ceramics from China produced during this time, such as the Terracotta Army, and early forms of porcelain, see: Chinese Pottery.

Classical Greek Art (500-323 BCE)

Before the beginning of the sixth century BCE, there is Archaic Greek painting, and Archaic Style Greek Sculpture. In addition, there is another category called Daedalic style of Sculpture. From 500 BCE, Athens was the strongest of the Greek city states, a position it maintained for the next few centuries. During the 5th century BCE, Greece witnessed a creative Renaissance which, when rediscovered by Renaissance Europe 2000 years later, became the absolute artistic standard for another four centuries. Most Greek painting and Greek sculpture have been destroyed, but the Greek genius has survived through Roman copies and clay sculpture in the form of Greek Pottery. The Parthenon in Athens remains the supreme example of classical Greek art. Among the foremost sculptors were Polykleitos, Myron, and Phidias. Polykleitos, in particular, was renowned for his mastery of Contrapposto. Classical Greek painting is rather scarce, sculpture less so, which is why art historians tend to subdivide sculptures from this era into early classical, high classical and late classical. period. The Greek mastery of perspective and naturalist representation remained unsurpassed until the Italian Renaissance.

Hellenistic Art (323-31 BCE)

This period of Greek culture replaced classical realism with greater solemnity and heroicism, an almost Baroque-like dramatization of subject matter. The principal art-forms were Hellenistic painting, Hellenistic free-standing sculpture and reliefs. Famous examples of Greek sculpture include: "Dying Gaul" (c.232 BCE) by Epigonus; the frieze "Altar of Zeus" at Pergamum(c.180 BCE); "Aphrodite, Pan and Eros" (c.100 BCE); the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" (c.1st/2nd century BCE), now in the Louvre; "Laocoon and His Sons" by Hagesandrus, Polydorus and Athenodorus (c.40-31 BCE). The famous marble sculpture "Venus de Milo" (or "Aphrodite de Milo"), now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, was completed around 100 BCE. In addition, Greek art left an important legacy in its panel and mural painting and metalwork. During this period, new forms secular patrons of the visual arts emerged who influenced the choice of subject matter in sculpture, painting and mosaics. Meanwhile, the rise of Roman power caused many Greek artists to move to Italy to participate in the growing Roman art market.

Art of Ancient Rome (c.200 BCE - 400 CE)

Roman architecture and engineering was always grandiose, but its paintings and sculptures remained largely imitative of Greek art. Greek styles, reworked with Roman clothes and accessories, were used to reinforce Rome's power and majesty. Early Roman art (c.200-27 BCE) was realistic and direct. Portraits of their leaders were detailed and unidealized, but they, along with sculptural reliefs, friezes and wall paintings, were used nevertheless to convey political messages through the poses and subject matter. Later Hellenistic Roman art (c.27 BCE - 200 CE) during the height of Empire, was more heroic. Decorative arts flourished throughout the Roman area, largely through a proliferation of murals. Panel painting was regarded more highly, being executed in tempera or in encaustic pigments. Roman sculpture was commissioned mainly for its visual effect on the public. The underlying message of Roman greatness was rarely far from the surface. Late Roman art (200-400 CE) came under the influence of the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople, and also during this period we ssee the emergence of both Celtic Roman art and Christian Roman art.

• For more about painting and sculpture from Antiquity, see: Irish Art Guide.

• How to Update This Mini Review of Ancient Art.

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