Kaitlin Knapp Writing Assignment No.

Three One of the most interesting facts about Egyptian art is that it remained the same for three thousand years. This was mainly due to the fact that Egyptians used a modular system or canon to create their sculptures and carvings of pharaohs and other Egyptian figures. In the sculpture of the pharaoh Khafre we !now that it is not a realistic rendering of him. This can be compared to the "ree! sculpture of Kouros because there are not many distinguishing features which would label him as a realistic rendering of a particular person. #oth of these sculptures appear to show the ideal male body and face. Another similarity is the way they were posed. #oth figures are very rigid and stiff. Even though the Kouros sculpture implies that the man is wal!ing he is very stiff and his movements do not seem fluid. Another comparison that is important to note between Egyptian and early "ree! sculpture is that they are not decorative. #oth of these sculptures depict a deity figure. Khafre being shown as a god because $orus the symbol for the sun god is present and his headdress. As I have previously stated Egyptian art remained relatively unchanged over a three thousand year period. Also in the previous paragraph I proved that early "ree! sculpture showed a close relationship to ancient Egyptian art. While "ree! sculpture may have begun Egyptian%li!e in style it continued to change throughout time. If you ta!e a loo! at &oly!leitos' sculpture of (oryphoros you can see that there have been significant changes for e)ample the rela)ed nature of the figure's stance. In the Kouros sculpture the figure is rigid and stiff but he still showed some implied movement. The (oryphoros sculpture shows contrapposto or weight shift and is much more rela)ed. Artists still show a need to recreate the perfect human figure by accentuating the muscles in an unrealistic way as well as the continuous use of a canon to create a balanced body. Another e)ample of evolution throughout time is the amount of realism that is shown in the (oryphoros sculpture. "ree!s had gone from generic faces to realistic ones that displayed emotion. A third e)ample of an evolutionary change from early "ree! sculpture is way the canon was used. *uch li!e in Egyptian art the Kouros used a specific canon that created a perfectly balance and symmetrical figure. The (oryphoros is obviously not symmetrical on both sides but still uses this idea of a canon to create a lifeli!e figure. &oly!leitos wrote that +#eauty derives from the harmonious relationship between parts,. This -uote directly relates to his use of a canon because his main goal was to create beauty in balance. This statement tells me that without harmony and balance you cannot achieve the full potential of a figure's beauty. This status was intended to illustrate &oly!leitos' words and he achieved this by the commensurability or proportions of the parts of the body. Everything

responds and can be related to another part whether it be a finger to the other fingers or the forearm to the upper arm etc. The body and its parts are perfectly harmonious and balanced to one another. .nfortunately the original copy of (oryphoros was lost and all that remain are the +bloc!ish, /oman copies. The original was made out of basalt which gives it a bron0e effect. We can tell this is a /oman copy because they are e)clusively copied in marble which was used by /oman sculptures during this time.