Introduction to Herakles in Greek Art

This first section of "Herakles in Art" is devoted to a few basic concepts and styles, which will hopefully assist with later, more in-depth, discussions of iconograpy and variations in art. 

           Herakles, half god, half mortal, is one of the most well known figures from ancient Greece.  His lasting popularity is a result of the combination of both literary works and his overwhelming appearance in ancient art.  While there are depictions of Herakles dating back to the 9^th century BC (the late Geometric period), these instances are few and far between and it is therefore easier to study him as a subject of later periods--specifically the Archaic and Classical periods.

            In its two most popular styles, black and red figure, Archaic vase painting (700-480 BC) brings us hundreds of examples of Herakles dealing with events ranging from everyday life to his world renowned twelve labors. 

The Black figure technique, begun around 700, is characterized by silhouetted figures on a plain background.  By etching into the black paint, allowing the lighter colored background to show through, the artist could create a certain amount of detail in his work (Ex. 1).

While colors were not often used, details were sometimes improved upon by the use of both red and white paint (Ex. 2).

  Women, as well, were distinguished in this fashion--while men appeared in silhouette, the female figure was painted utterly white.  This is a stunning aspect, especially when a lone female, such as Athena, appears alongside multiple silhouetted figures (Ex. 3). 

After approximately 100 years of black figure painting, another technique emerged--red figure.  Exactly the inverse of black figure, this new approach allowed the actual subject matter of the vase to reveal the underlying, pale-colored, pottery while the background now became solid black.  Details were painted onto the subjects at hand, and as the advantages of painting rather than etching were discovered, artists achieved both a new kind of freedom and realistic quality which had been unobtainable in the previous black figure pieces (compare Ex 4,5).   

Around 480 BC the Classical period began.  This period is often characterized by the artists' use of emotion in the facial expressions and by the new- found freedom with which they choose to represent the human form.  In sculpture, figures began to display a shift of weight to one foot, hence breaking the strict symmetrical lines which had once dominated the previous era of Greek art.  Painting as well was undergoing dramatic changes.  Depth and perception began to take on important roles, as did shading, introduced by Apollodoros of Athens, in later years (Ex. 6).

As for Architecture, there were two major orders: Doric and Ionic.  While the two orders differed greatly from each other in detail, the layout was predominately similar.  Both the Doric and Ionic temples consisted of columns (with a base, shaft and capital), an entablature (composed of the architrave, frieze and cornice), and the Pediment (including the tympanum, cornice and raking cornice) (Ex. 7,8,9).   Beyond these aspects, the comparison ends.  Ionic temples display an ornamental and sophisticated nature unknown to the rigidly plain character of the Doric order (compare Ex. 10,11).  On temple pediments and friezes, gods and heroes were depicted in sculpture.  (BS)