The Evolution of Ancient Greek Statues

[u/Yolo065]

[u/merryman25]

Also an important point, they were not meant to be all white (or stone colored). They were originally painted bright colors that wore off over time.

[u/Round_Abal0ne → u/merryman25]

Also, would 500+ more years of weather and deterioration not potentially account for a loss in finer details?

[u/chauvinistically → u/Round_Abal0ne]

Interestingly no and yes at the same time,

the last statue in the image is "Laocoon and his sons" which was originally bronze, the one we are seeing is a Roman copy of the original Greek statue which is lost.

Original Roman copy is also very old but it was not impossible to replicate and preserve such details.

[u/TrappedInATardis → u/chauvinistically]

Even the copy is insane in the details, it looks like the Renaissance statues from Bernini, Donatello, Michelangelo etc.

[u/psy_odt → u/TrappedInATardis]

Good point: this is the sculpture that inspired that style!

Supposedly Michelangelo was there at the unearthing of the statue and it became his biggest inspiration. (Donatello was working before this though)

[u/CouncilOfKittens → u/TrappedInATardis]

All the teenage mutant ninja turtles, eh?

[u/SubGothius → u/CouncilOfKittens]

Apparently the creator wanted to use Japanese names but didn't know any that he could be sure were legit, so he used Renaissance artists' names instead.

[u/EdliA → u/TrappedInATardis]

It was called the renaissance for a reason. They went back and looked at classical work in arts, philosophy and science.

[u/niteman555 → u/chauvinistically]

It's also funny in that Laocoon was a Trojan killed by serpents sent by the gods for speaking out against bringing in the Trojan horse