Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

Although most of the figures conform to the age-old conven-

tion of combined profile and frontal views, the sculptor singled out

one figure (FIG. 4-14, right) from his companions. He shakes a rat-

tle to beat time, and the artist depicted him in full profile with his

lungs so inflated with air that his ribs show. This is one of the first

instances in the history of art of a sculptor showing a keen interest in

the underlying muscular and skeletal structure of the human body.

The artist’s painstaking study of human anatomy is a remarkable

achievement, especially given the size of the Harvesters Vase,barely

five inches at its greatest diameter. Equally noteworthy is how the

sculptor recorded the tension and relaxation of facial muscles with

astonishing exactitude, not just for this figure but for his three clos-

est companions as well. This degree of animation of the human face

is without precedent in ancient art.

MINOAN DECLINE Scholars dispute the circumstances end-

ing the Minoan civilization, although they now widely believe that

Mycenaeans had already moved onto Crete and established them-

selves at Knossos at the end of the New Palace period. From the

palace at Knossos, these intruders appear to have ruled the island for

at least a half century, perhaps much longer. Parts of the palace con-

tinued to be occupied until its final destruction around 1200 BCE,

but its importance as a cultural center faded soon after 1400 BCE,as

the focus of Aegean civilization shifted to the Greek mainland.

Mycenaean Art

The origins of the Mycenaean culture are still debated. The only cer-

tainty is the presence of these forerunners of the Greeks on the

mainland about the time the old palaces were built on Crete—that

is, about the beginning of the second millennium BCE. Doubtless,

Cretan civilization influenced these people even then, and some be-

lieve that the mainland was a Minoan economic dependency for a

long time. In any case, Mycenaean power developed on the mainland

in the days of the new palaces on Crete, and by 1500 BCEa distinctive

Mycenaean culture was flourishing in Greece. Several centuries later,

Homer described Mycenae as “rich in gold.” The dramatic discover-

ies of Schliemann and his successors have fully justified this charac-

terization, even if today’s archaeologists no longer view the Myce-

naeans solely through the eyes of Homer.

4-14Harvesters Vase,from Hagia Triada (Crete), Greece, ca. 1500 bce.

Steatite, originally with gold leaf, greatest diameter 5. Archaeological

Museum, Herakleion.

The relief sculptor of the singing harvesters on this small stone vase

was one of the first artists in history to represent the underlying

muscular and skeletal structure of the human body.

4-15Aerial view of the citadel at Tiryns, Greece, ca. 1400–1200 bce.

In the Iliad,Homer called the fortified citadel of Tiryns the city “of the great walls.” Its huge, roughly cut stone blocks are examples of Cyclopean

masonry, named after the mythical one-eyed giants.

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