Experiment 7: Comparing Sculpture

For this week, you’ll compare how children were represented in ancient Greek sculpture. Consider the following sculptures:
Terracotta statuette of a standing girl

Bronze statuette of an African (known as Ethiopian) youth

Analyzing art as historical sources can be challenging as we must connect what we know of the society to what we can reasonably conclude about the artist’s motivations and the reception of the piece. As with all history, we rely on evidence, whether from our secondary source readings or from the object itself, to help us make arguments. Most historians use careful language in their analysis. So rather than writing "This sculpture clearly demonstrates Roman attitudes on race. . " a historian might write "The depiction of the child suggests that . . . and may have indicated . . . , perhaps indicating . . . .." Being honest about the limits of what your evidence shows is an important skill in history.

Answer the following questions and submit your answers to the Experiment 7 discussion board. Each answer should be short paragraph of around 2-5 sentences.

  1. What was the historical context for the creation of these statues? Put another way, what was happening in this period and place that could have influenced the artist?
  2. What similarities and differences do you note between these two sculptures?
  3. Using these sculptures as examples, what can clothing on sculpture tell us about the society that produced the sculptures?
  4. Chose one sculpture. What do you think the artists would have responded to the statement: "all humans are deserving of human dignity when represented in art?" Use the sculpture to explain your answer.

Grading Criteria

Points will be awarded based on best faith answers to each question.