Statuary
Early Classical sculptors were also the first to break away from the
rigid and unnatural Egyptian-inspired pose of the Archaic kouroi.
This change is evident in the postures of the Olympia figures, but it
occurred even earlier in independent statuary.
KRITIOS BOY Although it is well under life-size, the marble
statue known as the Kritios Boy (FIG. 5-34)—so titled because it was
once thought the sculptor Kritios carved it—is one of the most im-
portant works of Greek sculpture. Never before had a sculptor been
concerned with portraying how a human being (as opposed to a
stone image) actually stands. Real people do not stand in the stiff-
legged pose of the kouroi and korai or their Egyptian predecessors.
Humans shift their weight and the position of the main body parts
around the vertical but flexible axis of the spine. When humans
move, the body’s elastic musculoskeletal structure dictates a harmo-
nious, smooth motion of all its elements. The sculptor of the Kritios
Boy was among the first to grasp this fact and to represent it in stat-
uary. The youth has a slight dip to the right hip, indicating the shift-
ing of weight onto his left leg. His right leg is bent, at ease. The head
also turns slightly to the right and tilts, breaking the unwritten rule
of frontality dictating the form of virtually all earlier statues. This
weight shift, which art historians describe as contrapposto (counter-
balance), separates Classical from Archaic Greek statuary.
RIACE WARRIORThe innovations of the Kritios Boy were car-
ried even further in the bronze statue (FIG. 5-35) of a warrior found
in the sea near Riace at the “toe” of the Italian “boot.” It is one of a pair
of statues divers accidentally discovered in the cargo of a ship that
sank in antiquity on its way from Greece probably to Rome, where
Greek sculpture was much admired. Known as the Riace Bronzes, they
had to undergo several years of cleaning and restoration after nearly
two millennia of submersion in salt water, but they are nearly intact.
The statue shown here lacks only its shield, spear, and helmet. It is a
masterpiece of hollow-casting (see “Hollow-Casting Life-Size BronzeEarly and High Classical Periods 1215-34Kritios Boy,
from the Acropolis,
Athens, Greece, ca.
480 bce.Marble,
3 10 high.
Acropolis Museum,
Athens.
This is the first
statue to show how
a person naturally
stands. The sculp-
tor depicted the
shifting of weight
from one leg to the
other (contrap-
posto). The head
turns slightly, and
the Archaic smile is
gone.5-35Wa r r i o r,
from the sea off
Riace, Italy, ca.
460–450 bce.
Bronze, 6 6 high.
Museo Archeo-
logico Nazionale,
Reggio Calabria.
The bronze Riace
warrior statue has
inlaid eyes, silver
teeth and eye-
lashes, and copper
lips and nipples
(FIG. I-17). The
contrapposto is
more pronounced
than in the Kritios
Boy(FIG. 5-34).1 ft.1 ft.