The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

The concept of naturalism has been central to scholarly interpretations of the
stylistic development of ancient Greek art. This development has been conceived in
terms of an evolution that moves steadily from inadequately rendered representations of
the human form to extremely accurate ones exemplified by those of the Classical period.
For example, the theories of Emanuel Löwy, Ernst Gombrich, and John Boardman about
naturalistic style in Greek art, and the psychological, historical, and technical conceptions
that shape them respectively, focus on the human form and rely on the idea of a
generalized advancement of Greek art toward absolute naturalism. Boardman’s theory in
particular perceives a link between the progression of Greek naturalism, especially during
the Archaic and Classical periods, and a parallel progress in artistic techniques and
materials.
The present study has shown that animals are valuable guides to the ancient Greek
understanding of the phenomenon of naturalistic style in art. The ancient Greeks valued
naturalism or, more precisely, lifelikeness as a quality of works of art. They understood
artistic lifelikeness in terms of two distinct notions: accurate representation and aliveness.
Ancient texts ranging from the fifth century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. show that
animals occupied a central position in the ancient Greek, particularly Classical,
conception of artistic lifelikeness as such. In these texts, animals appear in two different
roles: as subjects of works of art that are praised for their lifelikeness and as judges of
lifelike art. Through their role as lifelike representational subjects, animals show that
ancient Greek society experienced lifelike art as alive while maintaining a conscious
understanding of its lifeless status. Further, through their role as judges of lifelike art,
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