Greek Sculptures facts

While investigating facts about Greek Sculptures Painted and Greek Sculptures Marbles, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Ancient Greek sculptures were not always white. They were often painted bright and colorful

how greek sculptures were made?

Ancient Roman and Greek sculptures originally were colorful, white marble fashion came with Renaissance

What are greek sculptures made out of?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what were greek sculptures made of. Here are 14 of the best facts about Greek Sculptures Of Gods and Greek Sculptures In The Louvre I managed to collect.

what features are characteristic of early greek sculptures?

1. Ancient Greek sculpture was done in marble and stone when creating monuments. Gold monuments were less common and because they were more fragile, only fragments of these sculptures have survived.

2. Classical Greek sculptures were not all idealized fantasies. It is now thought a number of the exquisite statues from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BC were cast from life -- a real person was covered with plaster, and the mould created was then used to make the sculpture.

3. Gypsum was used by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians for a variety of uses such as making sculptures and for mortar in pyramids.

4. Greeks were probably the first to attempt a sculptural representation of the Buddha. Before that, buddhist art was “aniconic”.

5. Greek and Roman sculptures were routinely painted, back in the day. The idea that they were always all white is a modern fabrication

6. There are four piles of uncarved stone atop the four columns on the front façade of The Met. These were originally meant to be sculptures but money ran out, and the stone piles remain today. They would have been sculptures representing the Egyptian, Greek, Renaissance, and Modern art eras.

7. The sculptures removed from the Parthenon by Thomas Bruce in the 1800s were sold to the British Museum. They are known as the Elgin Marbles and Greek government has been attempting to have them returned since the 1980s. The British government has refused to return them thus far.

8. Ancient Greek sculptures typically depicted small penises partly because large penises were considered comical, and partly due to the belief at the time that small penises were better for procreation because the sperm had less distance to travel

9. The statue Venus de Milo, one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture, was discovered by a peasant.

Why do greek sculptures have missing body parts?

You can easily fact check why were greek sculptures so realistic by examining the linked well-known sources.

In 2010, a German magazine doctored an image of a famous Greek sculpture to highlight their concerns about a EU bailout for Greece. This was the magazine cover.

The reason old greek sculptures have such small penis sizes modelled onto them was because large penises often made the man look 'ugly, lustful, animalistic and primitive', whereas small penises made you seem more smart and rational at the time. - source