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December 21, 2007
noble simplicity and quiet grandeur
The general and most distinctive characteristics of the Greek masterpieces are, a noble simplicity and quiet grandeur, both in posture and expression. Just as the depths of the sea always remain calm however much the surface may rage, so does the expression of the figures of the Greeks reveal a great and composed soul even in the midst of passion.
Such a soul is reflected in the face of Laocoon. The physical pain and the nobility of soul are distributed with equal strength over the entire body and are, as it were, held in balance with one another. Laocoon suffers; his pain touches our very soul, but we wish that we could bear misery like this great man.
The expression of such nobility of soul goes far beyond the depiction of beautiful nature. The artist had to feel the strength of this spirit in himself and then impart it to his marble. Greece had artists who were at once philosophers. Wisdom extended its hand to art and imbued its figures with more than common souls.
Johann Joachim Winckelmann
Posted by amin at December 21, 2007 11:36 PM