How did the statues of ancient Greece wind up dictating art history in the West? How did the material culture of the Greeks and Romans come to be seen as "classical" and as "art"? What does "classical art" mean across time and place? In this ambitious, richly illustrated book, art historian and classicist Caroline Vout provides an original history of how classical art has been continuously redefined over the millennia as it has found itself in new contexts and cultures. All of this raises the question of classical art's future. What we call classical art did not simply appear in ancient Rome, or in the Renaissance, or in the eighteenth-century Academy. Endlessly repackaged and revered or rebuked, Greek and Roman artifacts have gathered an amazing array of values, both positive and negative, in each new historical period, even as these objects themselves have reshaped their surroundings. Vout shows how this process began in antiquity, as Greeks of the Hellenistic period transformed the art of fifth-century Greece, and continued through the Roman empire, Constantinople, European court societies, the neoclassical English country house, and the nineteenth century, up to the modern museum. A unique exploration of how each period of Western culture has transformed Greek and Roman antiquities and in turn been transformed by them, this book revolutionizes our understanding of what classical art has meant and continues to mean.

'The book is part of a series of introductory studies intended to bring the latest developments in art history to students and general readers. But it offers something new to the specialist reader too [...] the quantity of illustrations is impressive for such a slim and inexpensive book ...Classical Art is illuminating, playful, provocative, and often (literally) iconoclastic' -Times Higher Education Supplement

John Boardman here explores Greek art as a foreign art transmitted to the non-Greeks of antiquity--peoples who were not necessarily able to judge the meaning of Greek art and who may have regarded the Greeks themselves with great hostility. Boardman's pioneering work assesses how and why the arts of the Classical world traveled and to what effect, roughly from the eighth century b.c. to early centuries a.d., from Britain to China. Since the Greeks were not always the intermediaries and the results were largely determined by the needs of the recipients, this becomes a study of foreign images accepted or copied usually without regard to their original function. In some places, such as Italy, these images were overwhelmingly successful. In Egypt, the Celtic world, the eastern steppes, and other regions with strong local traditions, they were never effectively assimilated. Finally, in cultures where there was a subtler blend of influences, notably in the Buddhist east, the Classical images could serve as a catalyst to the generation of effective new styles. Boardman's approach is as much archaeological as art-historical, and the processes he reveals pose questions about how images in general are copied and reinterpreted. In addition, the author has demonstrated for specialists and for a broader audience that looking at Greek art from the outside provides a wealth of new insights into Greek art itself.

An inquiry into the foundations of European culture. The account ranges from the Greek Dark Ages to the Christianisation of Rome, revealing how the experience of a constantly changing physical environment influenced the inhabitants of Ancient Greece and Rome.

"delightful, readable, and scholarly. The volume is profusely and well illustrated, each art example is clearly labelled and dated, and superb supplementary references for illustrations and supplementary suggestions for further reading are added to complete the study." Choice

Want to paint more like Manet and less like Jackson Pollock? Students of art hailed Classical Drawing Atelier, Juliette Aristides’s first book, as a dynamic return to the atelier educational model. Ateliers, popular in the nineteenth century, teach emerging artists by pairing them with a master artist over a period of years. The educational process begins as students copy masterworks, then gradually progress to painting as their skills develop. The many artists at every level who learned from Classical Drawing Atelier have been clamoring for more of this sophisticated approach to teaching and learning. In Classical Painting Atelier, Aristides, a leader in the atelier movement, takes students step-by-step through the finest works of Old Masters and today’s most respected realist artists to reveal the principles of creating full-color realist still lifes, portraits, and figure paintings. Rich in tradition, yet practical for today’s artists, Classical Painting Atelier is ideal for serious art students seeking a timeless visual education.

Eric Mantle presents the basics of classical theory in a clear & and concise manner for all beginning drawing and painting students. His book features diagrams that illustrate every concept. Students will see the complexities of color theory and understand how to create the illusion of volume and depth on a 2-dimensional surface. As an art student, Professor Mantle recalls, "I was frequently frustrated by instructional books that gave lengthy verbal descriptions of visual concepts and then showed small and/or unclear diagrams of those concepts. As an art teacher, I found that my students would ;gain a clearer understanding of a visual concept if my verbal explanation was combined with a diagram of that concept. A Visual Guide to Classical Art Theory is great for both traditional and non-traditional media. Each page, theory and diagram represents different tool for the artist to use. Through their use, the artist will find an infinite number of solutions. Artists also may use the book to create a trompe-l'oeil effect in graffiti art or the illusion of volume and depth on the computer. A Visual Guide to Art Theory is presented in a unique, non-verbal format that clearly illustrates the effect of perspective on color, light and shade.