The Art of Ancient Greece

This is a lavishly illustrated guide to one of the finest collections of ancient Greek art.A major collection of ancient Greek art, owned by Baltimore businessman Henry Walters until his death in 1931, is presented here in this lavishly illustrated volume. The collection, now housed at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, includes some fine and historically important pieces: beautiful and enigmatic Cycladic idols which represent some of the only material artefacts of a culture about which we know very little; rare sculpture from the high Classical period which continues to define our ideals of the human body; major examples of all the various schools of pottery design and decoration; Roman copies of Greek sculpture and ceramics otherwise lost forever; the gorgeous and intricate jewellery of the Olbia Treasure.The collection is presented in chronological order with an introductory essay for each period, contextualising the work and tracing the development of artistic techniques and themes. Each piece is then discussed individually and in comparison to other known pieces, to bring out its distinct features and to emphasise its importance for our understanding of the customs and values of the period. These lucid and scholarly analyses enable the reader to appreciate the depth of cultural wealth embodied in this magnificent collection. I.B.Tauris