Clasical Art


This style of art is set in stone; literally. Architecture, statues, and other stone carvings make up this style. The Romans and Greeks idolized the human form and that is obviously the reason they have so many statues. Many of their statues were of their gods, characters from their myths, and important people in their community. These statues were tributes to the gods or person they were of. Their artwork also has many representations of the human form. The artists knew the muscle structure of the human body well and used it to nearly give statues life. The artists liked to depict people leaning slightly to emphasize the muscles. Their statues seem very real with the poses and expressions. Their art is also shown in their architecture. The Romans and Greeks had many different pillars and styles. Both are divided into three categories which are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Buildings weren't just functional, they had meaning. Some buildings had art carved in the walls, others open to the wind. They also wanted everything orderly and controlled. Landscaping was set to certain points and cut in ways they would never grow naturally to create gardens in their palaces.

This is an example of a Doric pillar. They rested on the ground and had round capitals at the top. These pillars were fluted and the height ranged from four to six and a half times the diameter of the base.


These are some Ionic pillars. They were fancier than Doric pillars in a few ways. The Ionic pillars had scroll capitols, and circular bases. They stood eight or nine times as tall as the diameter of the base.

The Corinthian pillars were much like the Ionic. The only difference is the Corinthian pillars had a very fancy leaf style capital.