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The decoration of the Temple of Zeus, built at Olympia between 472 and 456 BC, reflects the new spirit of Greek sculpture in the aftermath of the Persian Wars. The metopes illustrate the twelve labors of Heracles, including the capture of the Cretan bull. Heracles is shown grappling with the bull, f...
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The Cleophrades Painter is one of the finest representatives of the Attic red-figure technique of the early fifth century BC. He seems to have been the first person to design a figured decoration which goes all the way around a large vase without interruption, as seen in the Louvre krater. The episo...
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This statuette is thought to be one of the earliest representations of Dionysus as a young man. The god of wine wears traveler's boots and probably held a kantharos in his right hand. The work bears witness to the aesthetic innovations introduced by Greek sculptors in the first half of the fifth cen...
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This figure of a man with a bull's head was part of the decoration of a studded tripod cauldron - an ex-voto made more precious by the rarity of bronze in the Geometric Era. Standing on the lip of the cauldron, the creature held one of its handles in its hands, thus also serving as a support. The st...
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This male figurine once adorned the handle of a studded tripod cauldron - an offering made all the more prestigious by the scarcity of bronze in the Geometric period. The figure - that of a horseman or a warrior - was probably accompanied by a small horse, and he would once have held a weapon and hi...
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This bronze horse is one of a number of animal statuettes dedicated at Olympia and other large temples in the 8th century BC. The rectangular plate on which it stands indicates that the figure may have originally adorned some wooden object, or that it was perhaps attached to an offering tablet. Vari...
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This face of a woman, strongly influenced by Cypriot coroplastics, was originally part of the lid of a Phenician anthropoid sarcophagus made in the Amrit region. This was the only known example of such a work in terracotta until 5 similar sarcophagi from the same region were found in 1996. This disc...
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This drawing, with portraits of Henry II and his wife Catherine de Medicis in the center, belongs to a series of allegorical and historical compositions on the rule of the Valois from Francis I to Charles IX. The series, titled Histoire françoyse de notre temps, dates from the reign of Charles IX. I...
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The story of Alexander III of Macedonia, whom we know as Alexander the Great, is as much the stuff of history as it is of legend. His youth and extraordinary destiny granted him unparalleled glory. But what do we really know about him? Only a few contemporary accounts have come down to us.
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Although hydriae in clay were used to hold water, their bronze counterparts found in temples were sometimes awarded to the victors of certain competitions, or used to hold the ashes of the dead. This hydria was created in the first half of the fifth century BCE by a workshop in the northern Peloponn...
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