Two statues from the Athenian akropolis probably also made just after 479 are more Classical: the Kritios Boy (named for its resemblance to Harmodios), a quietly standing nude youth departing from the kouros format by shifting the preponderance of his weight to one leg; the Angelitos Athena, similarly innovative in stance and replacing the elaborately stylized linen chiton and mantle of the kore with the severe - and naturalistically rendered - woolen peplos. Both statues appear to have influenced later sculptors. Another akropolis statue, however, never again displayed after the sack, reminds us of how much was changing shortly before 480: the Euthydikos kore, whose dress is traditional but carved with inattentiveness that can only be willful; characterizing the sturdy figure underneath the patterned folds is what interested the artist, and the thrust of the girl’s nipples embodies his impatience with Archaic style. The face even more clearly breaks with tradition; the fullness of eyelids and mouth are in reaction against the linearity of such details in earlier sculpture, but the artist cannot have been unaware of the resulting expression, which has given his kore the nickname ‘‘Pouting Girl.’’ If tumultuous and exhilarating events caused artists to experiment and rebel, to prefer the newest techniques and trends, for Athenians the catalyst may have been not the pan-Hellenic campaign against Xerxes but Marathon or even the establishment of democracy.
Preliminary concentration on Athens seems inevitable. Historical circumstances make Athenian artifacts (including the Athenian Treasury at Delphi, now convincingly dated to the 480s - although its sculpture would seem earlier) invaluable in documenting what must ultimately be regarded as the full Classical revolution, c. 480. Additionally, Athens monopolized red figure vase painting, not the most prestigious medium but the most fully preserved, where unmistakable elements of post-Archaic style appear not only before 480 but before 500. In his Sack of Troy - another monument that may be either before or after 480 - the Kleophrades Painter has dramatized the catastrophe by using Archaic explicit action along with heightened suspense and pathos through Classical latent action and inaction. Kassandra, fully nude, clings for sanctuary to the Palladion; her body contrasts with the stiff, impenetrably draped statue (as though the sculptor of Euthydikos’ kore had carved her naked and hung her old-fashioned garment next to her). The Ilioupersis in Archaic art had typically highlighted the brutality of the triumphant Greeks, but the Kleophrades Painter depicts the Trojans with new empathy and resourcefulness - derived, some scholars understandably believe, from awareness of the sack of his own city (or, if earlier than 480, that of Miletos, a famous Athenian sorrow?). Whether or not the painting is connected with any specific event, it marks the culmination of this community with the Other. During the fifth century, victory over Troy, Greek atrocities de-emphasized, became a stock analogue, especially in Athens, for triumph over Persia.
World History
