A synoptic look at the friezes on the OCR Greek Art syllabus

I have individual videos on each of the three freezers on the OCR Greek art syllabus, but I thought it might be useful to do one that's a synoptic look at the freezers for you. For many reasons, one, it's important to be able to draw links between the different freezers as we develop them over time. It also allows for evaluative comments as well about the differences and perhaps the superiority of a particular freezer in one aspect, which will of course help you get those higher marks for analysis and evaluation. So I'm going to start by looking at the location of the different freezers. If we think first of all about the Sydney and Treasury, which is the one on the top right here, we've got that traditional freezer on the outside of the building. It runs all the way around to the front side and it's very accessible and visible to anybody who's passing through one of the spaces themselves. In contrast, however, we have to remember that the part that I'm freezing in the two images on the top line here is inside the main columns and it's on the outer side of the wall, which means that you've got to actually peek up and inside the columns to get a glimpse of it. The image on the left has been taken by a drone, otherwise you would not be able to see it from that angle. And if you look at it through the columns, you are getting an interrupted view of the procession, so that's going to mean that you're just going to get a slight screenshot of what's happening as opposed to, say today, you're in the British Museum standing with it front of you and unable to see the whole thing. So you need to bear that in mind in terms of the ancient experience. At the bottom, we've got a temple plan for the Temple of the Colour of Sapphire, and here this shows that the frieze is now actually inside the stele itself. And of course, there's going to be a couple of things to think about there. It's perhaps less accessible, but those who do go inside the temple will have a more intimate experience. They'll be able to see it a bit closer than they would if they were half an hour from the temple. We also have to consider that there would be restrictions of light, so there are two entrances to the stele. You can see one on the traditional entrance, and then there's one on the side as well. So there would be glimpses of light coming in, but you would get flashes of what's happening on that stele as we get those moments of light versus moments of shadow. So it would be, as Robin Elsbourne puts it, quite a dramatic flair of shadows and light. There's quite a difference, really, between the locations and the beauty experience of each of our friezes. When it comes to the subject matter, again, we've got a bit of variety there. The majority of the friezes have mythological stories. So on the Scythian treasury at Delphi, you'll be able to see on the top register here, the East Frieze shows the scenes of a Trojan War. We've got Achilles fighting Mennon, and the gods' encounters with the outlaws of Bathory. We've also, on the second register, got a drag-out comic. So lots of mythological stories. The purpose of these really are to show the interiority of the gods, because in every scene on the Scythian treasury, we can see, ultimately, that the gods punish those for bad behaviour, for hubris, in case of giants, who are interestingly dressed in green spotlight, to make that warning even more relatable, or, as I say with Trojan War, to form a council to be able to disperse the outlaws. And similarly at Bathcy, we have mythological stories of Central Romany and Amazonia. So there's two of those friezes, both looking as well at the relationship between Greeks and others in the Scythian calendar. The Parthenon Frieze is the exception. We've got more of an everyday occurrence there, with the Panathenaic procession, showcasing the celebration for Achilles' birthday. However, even then, it's still not entirely realistic, because it's more of an idealised view. There are elements of that procession that are emphasised. For example, the cavalrymen, who are, according to George Ordman, meant to represent the heroes from the battle of Marathon in 192 BC. We've also got the gods in attendance there as well. So an idealised image, but nonetheless one that is more everyday, When it comes to characterisation and individuals, and being able to pick out specific people from the frieze and identify them, again we've got a little bit of variety there. So it varies on the Scythian calendar. We have to remember that the Scythian Arcade is date, so there is going to be a little bit more generalised individuals than we might see in the later classical period. But, for example, if we just go to the Gigantomachy at the bottom, then we do have some recognisable characters here. The gods are a little bit more identifiable by their attributes. For example, there is, further on in this feed, a mirrored version of Apollo and Arcturus. But there is still, perhaps not as clear an attribution as the Scythian Parthenon, because we are struggling really on the Gigantomachy to decide whether we're looking at, perhaps, a Scythian or a Scythian in that character's dispute. Similarly, if we just have a look at the scene where you've got the gods in council in the top middle, there is hardly any distinguishing between Eos and Arcturus there. They are identical in pose, they are identical in drapery and hairstyle. So this is more about creating patterns than it is creating individuals. The Parthenon does this much more. We can see here Hermes and Dionysus on the top right. Hermes, identifiable by the traveler's hat on his knee. Dionysus with the raised arm, which no doubt held a wine cup. If you were to go along that breeze, you would see Demeter on a torch, and you would see Ares resting on a shield as well. So the attributes are much clearer on the Parthenon. With the Baphite breeze, on the whole, because it is a Centauromachy and an Amazonomachy, we've got less figures individually that we can identify, more about the chaos of the whole scene. But we can pick out Heracleion, who is fighting the queen of the Amazonas, because he has got his lion king behind him there. The portrayal of anatomy, all that we did, between the three creatures, and not the fight, because we are looking at three creatures of three different artistic states. The Scythian treasury is archaic, and you can really see that archaic anatomy reminiscent of when we see the three Scythian statues cutting through. We've got the long braided Egyptian style hair, for example, and much of the figure is actually covered up as well, so we are not able to see much of the body or the shirt. Where we do see anatomy, for example, on the Parthenon, this now is much more realistic, it's softer, it's more sculpted, and it feels very typical of that high-class portrait with the definition in the muscle. And also that distinguishing the different ages, for example, the beard, altogether a lot more developed. With the Bath library, whereas I would say the figures on the Parthenon are quite idealised in their anatomy, especially those of the Cavalryman, who look very much like the Doryphoros, the spear-bearer by Padishah Isaac. On the Bath library, if you have a look at that top right, these are now much more full-bodied figures, so more realistic, less idealistic like those from the Parthenon. This is perhaps to make it more relatable, because this is a tree which is coming in the decades after the Peloponnesian War, so there is a renewed interest in showing scenes of warfare, and of effect as well on those involved, so perhaps this is to draw in the viewer and help them relate with the latter, in the taste and civilisation of civilised Greece. The use of drapery is also something else that you can have a look at, in terms of how it differs between the different trees. If we have a look at the Sydney Treasury at the bottom, as previously mentioned, there is a photograph here of the particular tree, and you can see that in the drapery, with the very ordered pattern to the cloning, the patina-y folds which you see on our clothes, and we've also got some lines and modern lines on the legs as well. With the Parthenon, there is still a desire to create patterns with our drapery, you can see the patina-y folds which are hanging off the drapery from a hollowed arm, and the very, very effective modern lines on the legs, which you can also see on the breasts through her clothing, so the drapery is also showing the body underneath, but it does feel altogether more natural now, and less rigid. The drapery seems to move with the body. When it comes to the Bathite trees, the drapery on the trees is described by Osborne, in fact criticised by Osborne as being rather too unpalatable, as it seems to swirl in the background of the scene. However, I do feel that that can also add to that feeling of chaos and conflict. So we can see it there on the top right, doing that, floating up in the background behind our laparoscopic landscape. It's also there revealing her body, and in fact that's one of the other uses for these drapery on the trees, is that kind of shock factor, that the drapery is being removed from these women, in order to expose them, and we see their vulnerability at the hands of the Bathite censors. In fact, if we just look at that woman who is being exposed fully in that top-level image, she's actually clutching onto a statue of Athena, which makes us even more horrified, because she should be really humbled by God at that moment in time. We can also look at the poses, and for this one, because it's a little bit more involved, I've just separated out the three different poses. When it comes to the poses on the Byzantine treasury, again like the drapery, with the gods, the poses can create a pattern, because we see the mirroring there of Eos and Artemis, and on that top-right image, we see the mirroring poses of Apollo and Artemis riding forward. There's a lot of overlapping to show that chaos, but there is also the use of poses to show vulnerability, if we look at those who are taller, for example, and lying horizontally on the ground, and looking out towards us, the viewer, as well. Because of the archaic period, some poses are a little bit impossible, and the body does not respond accurately to them. For example, the giant, who Apollo and Artemis are chasing, is running forward, but somehow, he is also, with his top half, able to look back at the body. With the Parthenon, because there are so many different parts, the poses of the four are going to differ, depending on which section we're having a look at. With the gods in council, and with Hermes and Dionysus there, well, sorry, not in council, with the gods there celebrating Athena's birthday, we can see that they are rather relaxed in their poses, and they turn around and talk to one another. Some of them recline, as well, to this area. This really symbolises the celebratory nature, and they're much less rigid than the poses on the treasury. Occasionally, we get very solemn, alt-right poses, reflected in a procession in nature, such as the women who are carrying a special object in the bottom left. But some of the poses that I find most interesting are to do with the cavalrymen, because there's such a combination amongst them. It really gives a feel of that procession, slowly starting with a walk, getting the horses ready, you can see that in the middle image there, slow and steady, they turn around and perhaps talk to one another, but they're very much at the beginning of it. Whereas those cavalrymen up ahead have already started to canter, and we can see them there with the horses, rearing up to show that movement. I think that's really effective, because the viewer walking alongside and looking up is going to get a glimpse of that procession starting to move as they're leading themselves. The bataille freeze, lots of overlapping to show conflict and to show depth. We can see Heracles and Hippolyta crossing over one another in these dynamic diagonals, which are always reminiscent of conflict in the scene. We have very violent poses as well. We have women trying to push off the centaurs, or we have, for example, that top right centaur biting a lapis who plunges his sword into the centaur's body and chaining it. Or we have poses that show the vulnerability of women, which in the scene I showed you before, where they're being exposed, and now their outstretched arms appeal to us as the viewer for help, making us much more involved in the bataille freeze than any other of the freezes that we have looked at. Finally, I should just note in the bottom left, and we'll talk about the freezes in a moment, that we've got very similar poses between the fallen Greeks and the fallen Amazons. Normally, if you were to watch my video on the other, you would see that the Greeks are often shown as different to those that they are right against, whether it's the Amazons, Trojans, for example, whether it's in appearance, or pose, or interiority. So this is rather unusual to see them both slumped in a way that encourages us to feel sympathy and also not to really know who we should be fighting in that particular moment. Emotion, as well, can be compared and contrasted between the two themes. There is emotion in everything. So for the city and treasury, we've got the emotion created by the mothers who are healing the lives of their sons. And it is done more through body language than it is through the facial features themselves. With the Parthenon, because it is a celebratory event, the emotion is very different. Again, body language, turning towards one another, they look animated, they look excited. We also get that emotion, perhaps that celebratory, patriotic feel from the cavalrymen looking to one another as they are taking part in the procession. Where the emotion, though, just feels so much more involved. I feel like I am saying this time and time again, that such a powerful piece is in the treatment of the figures on the bath-like trees, especially the women. And that is probably the most relatable element of the procession of the trees. And that brings me to my final point, which is why. Why do we have such strong emotion on the bath-like trees? And why do we have less of a distinguishing focus between our Greek and the other? And that has to do with what is happening in Greece at the time, or has happened in the decades preceding it. It is always worth looking back at the history. And that is the Peloponnesian War. And it is a civil war between Athens and her allies and Sparta and her allies. So we have got Greece fighting Greece. We make it much more difficult for the Greeks to identify who is the enemy. It is a little bit more difficult when it comes to Persia. And of course, as well, after decades of war, they will have felt the effects on those involved, particularly in civil wars like the war. And that is why we get this more somber tone, a less celebratory version of the war by Victoria.