Art Paper Essay

For my final essay, the six works of art I am going to write about are the Sumerian sculptures, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhove, The Oath of Horatii, and the sculpture of David. I believe that these works of art have contributed to changes that are present in our society today. Sculptures as simple as the Sumerian sculptures from ancient Sumer to the more complex sculptures like David, have set guidelines and what the "beautiful" or "important" individual should look like in our society.   These works of art have changed social status for certain cultures and brought heroes to life. Art from classical Greece has also influenced icons in our society, like our president.
Art has existed from ancient times, like the Sumerian sculptures. I think these sculptures were one of the first to represent religious figures and heroes of their society. They had their own way of portraying their gods. These statues were kept in Sumerian temples. Once in the temples you would see figures and from these figures stood out the 30"" carved male. This is how Sumerians portrayed their divine. This figure was carved from alabaster and resembled a human. Compared to the Greeks their gods did not have strong bodies and were not defined beautiful. This sculpture looks divine because it is the oldest from the other figures. When staring at them the first thing you pay attention to are the eyes, which are huge.   I believe that these figures were the beginning of heroic sculptures and later came the Greeks.
The next art piece that I find interesting is the Venus de Milo from Classical Greece. In the Classic Period male and female sculptures were treated very differently. Male sculptures were usually portrayed fully nude and seen at many places like the Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus. I believe that this sculpture set forth for future nude images of women. This also divided the Greek concept of a woman. Women were classified as either the virgin or the whore. In...