A superb catalogue of Greek, Hellenistic and Roman sculpture displayed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens containing some of the finest art works of the ancient world. A short introduction provides the background to the Archaic period through to the end of Antiquity followed by the catalogue of examples classified by period and by type. With more than 700 photographs, this is a stunning visual record of art from the ancient world.

This catalogue contains all the sculptures on display in the National Archaeological Museum. Every entry is supplemented by a full bibliography and is written clearly so as to be readily understood not only by experts but also by the general reading public. A useful short introduction, written for non-specialists, offers readers an overview of ancient Greek sculpture from the Archaic period to the end of Antiquity.

This brief guide informs the reader about the collections of the National Archaeological Museum and the wealth and variety of its exhibits, which span the long history of the ancient world. Rather than giving detailed descriptions of the various items on display, it gives general information about all the collections, with an emphasis on the way they are presented in the rooms of the Museum. At the same time it illustrates works which are representative of each collection and which bear witness to the artistic quality and value of the exhibits in the largest and most important museum in Greece.

For the general public and specialists alike, the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) and its diverse artistic legacy remain underexplored and not well understood. Yet it was a time when artists throughout the Mediterranean developed new forms, dynamic compositions, and graphic realism to meet new expressive goals, particularly in the realm of portraiture. Rare survivors from antiquity, large bronze statues are today often displayed in isolation, decontextualized as masterpieces of ancient art. Power and Pathos gathers together significant examples of bronze sculpture in order to highlight their varying styles, techniques, contexts, functions, and histories. As the first comprehensive volume on large-scale Hellenistic bronze statuary, this book includes groundbreaking archaeological, art-historical, and scientific essays offering new approaches to understanding ancient production and correctly identifying these remarkable pieces. Designed to become the standard reference for decades to come, the book emphasizes the unique role of bronze both as a medium of prestige and artistic innovation and as a material exceptionally suited for reproduction. Power and Pathos is published on the occasion of an exhibition on view at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from March 14 to June 21, 2015; at the J. Paul Getty Museum from July 20 through November 1, 2015; and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from December 6, 2015, through March 20, 2016.

Greek Sculpture is probably the most well known aspect of Greek art, for a contemporary it expresses the most beautiful ideal and plastic perfection. It is the first of the Ancient Arts that looked to free itself from the imitative constraints, of the faithful representation of nature. Only a small part of the production of Greek Sculpture is known to us. Many of the masterpieces described by Antique literature are henceforth lost or badly damaged, and a large part, we know are copies, more or less skillful and faithful to the Roman era. Many have been restored by Western Sculptors, from the Renaissance to nowadays, and often in a meaning very different from the original work: a discobolous is thus turned into a dying gladiator, this god received the attributes of another, the legs of this statue are transplanted to the torso of this other one. “The soul of Greek Sculpture contains in it all sculpture. Its essential simplicity, defies all definition. We can feel it, but we can not express it. ‘Open your eyes, study the statues, look, reflect and look again,’ is the perpetual perception of anyone who wants to learn or know about Greek Sculpture.”