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Before the Greeks, the great civilizations of the world produced art that was rigid, formal, symbolic rather than realistic.. In Greek art the human figure emerged as a moving, breathing, entity, a severe, totally abstract style flourished. No other civilization has had so much of its art pillaged and destroyed. Lysippus is the most praised of Greek artists. Lysippus created Alexander's portrait as a god. But only copies of his works exist today.

"The older artists represented men as they are,
I represent them as they appear to the eye."
Lysippus ;

By studying the development of the human figure in Greek sculpture, we can see the perfection of naturalistic art emerging from the chrysalis of what went before.

Greek Sculpture

The "Agamemnon" Mask
Gold, from Tomb V at Mycenae
Sixteenth century BC
National Archeological Museum, Athens

Athena
Marble, h. 173 cm (5 1/2 ft)
First-century copy after a fifth-century BC original by Myron
Found in the Gardens of Lucullus, Rome
Liebighaus Museum, Frankfurt

Belvedere Apollo
Marble
h. 2.24 m (7 ft)
Roman copy of a Greek original from the fifth century BC
Pio Clementino Museum, Vatican

Discobolos (Discus Thrower)
c. 450 BC
Roman marble copy after the bronze original by Myron
height 155 cm (61 in)
Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome

Head of a Blond Youth
Marble
Around 485 BC
Acropolis Museum, Athens

Hagesandros, Athenodoros and Polydoros of Rhodes
Laocoon and his sons
c. 175-150 BC
Marble, height 242 cm (95 1/2 in)
Museo Pio Clementino, Vatican

Man with Helmet
Bronze found in 1972 in the Bay of Riace, Calabria, Italy
The Greek original has been attributed to Phidias
Around 440 BC
National Museum, Reggio di Calabria

Venus de Milo
Parian marble, h 2.02 m (6 1/2 ft)
Found at Milo
130-120 BC
Musee du Louvre, Paris

Winged Victory of Samothrace
Marble, h. 3.28 m (11 ft)
Found on the island of Samothrace
Around 190 BC
Musee du Louvre, Paris