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museum replica | artificial marble | size 20 x 12 x 6 cm (h/w/d)
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Sculpture "Socrates", artificial marble
"I know that I know nothing."
This saying should become the essence of the teaching of the man whom the Delphic Oracle proclaimed to be the wisest of his time. At Delphi, the god Apollo had killed the dragon Python. This spirit had overpowered the spirits of the animate and inanimate world. Thus the Greeks had erected a temple to reason.
Socrates, the son of a midwife and a stone sculptor, was born during this already illuminated age. It is unknown whether Socrates followed his father's footsteps but he had the money for equipment and weapons to take part as a hoplite in three campaigns, during which he proved himself to be strong in privation, prudent and courageous, for example, when he pulled his injured friend Alcibiades together with his weapons out of the midst of the battle.
Through his students, first and foremost Plato, we know that Socrates, who did not write down a legacy or anything, spent a large part of his life in the agora, the centre of life for the Athenians, to hold exploratory conversations with his fellow citizens. Whether with the craftsman, the merchant, the politician, the judge or the wise sophist, he wanted to discover what was correct in their thoughts and actions.
Socrates was convinced that the ability to recognise the good was inherent in every human being as a divine light or gift - like a god. Incidentally, in the biblical creation story, the same basic idea, positive in this case, was constructed into the tragic Fall.
Socrates developed a form of questioning dialogue, as a result of which interlocutors often needed to refute their supposed knowledge. He called this questioning technique his midwifery, his intellectual obstetrics. Because of these penetrating dialogues, he made friends, such as those who later founded schools of philosophy in his spirit. But he also made enemies, to whose vanity and career he stood in the way.
For Socrates, not knowing or faking knowledge was just as reprehensible as malicious deception, for: " A person behaves badly when he does not know the good!" Oh, how fitting to our times! Following the Delphic saying "Know thyself!" he did not cease to search for fundamental values, such as virtue, justice or bravery, in his love for wisdom, philosophy, for an ethical basis for right thought and action.
His opponents accused him. For "corrupting the youth" and "disrespecting the Greek gods", he was sentenced to death by the authorities of the still pubescent democracy. In his defence speech, he said that for his work he should rather receive a life honourary sentence, like the Olympic winners. Nevertheless, he accepted the miscarriage of justice, in keeping with his moral standards, because "it is better to suffer injustice than to do injustice".
With his sovereign way of accepting his death, he became immortal. "Do not forget to sacrifice a cock to Asclepius!" were his last words after he had drunk the cup of hemlock.
Where is the Socrates of our time? In each and every one of us! Let this sincerely wise man watch over your decisions.
Socrates (469-399 BC): Polymer museum replica. Artificial marble. Size 20 x 12 x 6 cm (h/w/d). Accurate portrait of the philosopher as an unfinished work after a figure from the 4th century BC in the British Museum.
Sculptural representation of person's head and shoulders.
Minoan art, Mycenean art
The Cretan art is also named Minoan art, after the legendary King Minos.
Cretan-Minoan art is the art of Crete from about 2900 - 1600 B.C., the Mycenaean art of Crete and the Greek mainland is dated from about 1600 - 1100 B.C., on Crete only to 1200 B.C.
German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered significant evidence of this culture in the shaft graves of Mycenae, which had its heyday in the 14th and 13th centuries B.C. A well-preserved testimony is the Lion Gate from the 13th century B.C.
Splendidly decorated vases are the artworks of ceramics that have best survived the turmoil of millennia. The Snake Goddess (around 1500 B.C.), a faience figurine, that has been discovered in the Repositories Temple of the Knossos palace are also famous. Bronze vessels of that time were primarily used in the household. Daggers, swords and armour were also made of bronze.
The jewellery of the Cretan-Mycenaean ladies was made of gold, rock crystal, lapis lazuli, ivory, faience and glass.
Geometric art
The geometric art developed as a continuation of the late Mycenaean art on the Greek mainland towards the end of the late 11th century B.C. Mathematically regulatory will of style entered the geometric art replacing the natural Crete-Mycenaean formal language. Another new feature was the use of the ruler and the compass. The jewellry of this time is also based on strict geometric principles.
Archaic art
The art of building developed on the temples developed in the 8th and 7th century B.C. Initially, mudbrick and wood were used for building, later the forms were transferred to stone. A monumental style developed in sculpture. Marble, bronze, clay and limestone were used as materials. Gods, heroes, victorious competitors were embodied in typical young nude statues. However, gods or other consecration figures were portrayed in clothes.
In addition to freestanding sculptures, relief art developed, which was preferably used for decoration of temples.
Statuettes made of clay and bronze first appeared in the 6th century B.C. They depicted humans, animals and mystical beings and are of high quality.
Classical art (5th and 4th century B.C.)
The beginning of the Greek Classical period coincides with the time of the great statesman Pericles. Because of his democratic politics, Athens became the centre of cultural life and artistic creation in ancient Greece.
The classic architecture refined the shapes and proportions to perfection. The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens and other major temple buildings were built in that time.
In the field of sculpture, the time of the Severe style began. The rigid forms of the earlier period were outdated, the human body was studied anatomically. Top works of the Severe style include the Charioteer of Delphi and the Artemision Bronze, which was recovered from the sea by fishermen.
A further increase brought the High Classical sculpture. Sculptors like Myron, Phidias and Polykleitos created sculptures that affect the statuary art to the present day (e.g. "Discobolus ", "Athena-Marsyas group" and "Riace bronzes" etc.)
In the 4th century, a romantic conception prevailed. Praxiteles and Lysippos determined the art of the time. Sculptures such as "Hermes and the Infant Dionysus", "Pouring Satyr" and especially the "Aphrodite of Knidos" are magnificent examples of the artistic conception of Classical Greece.
Hellenistic art
With Alexander the Great's campaigns of conquest, the Greek art dominated the Mediterranean and the Orient. In the temple construction, the Ionic and Corinthian style prevailed.
Lysippos initiated the sculptural art of the Hellenistic period. The temple complexes, such as the one in Pergamon, were richly decorated with statues. The "Winged Victory of Samothrace" was created at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. and the "Venus de Milo" – towards the end of the century. The era of Hellenistic sculpture reached a final climax with "Laocoön Group". The Painting of that period was determined by Apelles. The Hellenistic painters depicted themes like historical events, portraits and genre paintings.
Marble powder is polymer-bonded. Artificial marble is characterised by a fine white surface that appears very similar to marble.
A true-to-the-original reproduction of an artwork in the same size and with the best possible material and colour uniformity.
The mould is usually taken directly from the original so that the replication reproduces even the finest details. After casting the replication, using the most appropriate method, the surface is polished, patinated, gilded or painted according to the original.
A replication of ars mundi is a recognizable copy of the original.
A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.
While sculptures from wood, ivory or stone are made directly from the block of material, in bronze casting a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.
The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.