Ancient Art essays

Ancient Art essays During the late Helladic times of 1100-1600 B.C. there were a number of settlers that settled along the southeastern shores of the Greek mainland. These inhabitants were called Mycenaeans. The Mycenaeans were the first regarded as having come from Crete but not agreed they were descendants of early Greek clans. These people led an inconspicuous pastoral existence in their new homeland. They had tombs that had simple potter and a couple bronze weapons. During the 100 B.C. they created impressive structures such as the Treasury of Atreus which was burial place that was built with stone blocks that taper inward toward the highest points. Another impressive structure built by them was the Lioness Gate at Mycenae, which was built from large stones with carvings of Lions. These Lions symbolized the King for them. The function of the lions were to act as guardians of the gate. It is said that the Mycenae were Egyptian influenced of burial customs together with strong artistic inf luence form Crete. During 1944 in Florence Italy Leonardo Da Vinci painted his most famous portrait, the Mona Lisa. This is portrait was built from very thing layers of glaze, so thin that the entire panel seems to glow with a gentle light form within. The fame of Mona Lisa did not come from the picture alone. The most intriguing part of the picture comes from the sitters personality. The smile of the sitter has been singled out as the most mysterious. The face of the person is very individual and the Leonardo has brought out tow opposites of harmonious balance. The smile can be read in different ways. Such as and echo of a monetary mood and as a timeless symbolic expression. She had an inner glowing, smirk. The identity of the sitter was a mystery for a very long time. Recently researchers found out that she was a wife of a Florentine merchant who was born around 1479. Leo ...