In Anatolia, now dominated by Persia, Greek sculptors still worked for the hellenized princes, in homeland styles, as on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, or encouraging local schools, as in Lycia. The Western Greeks are less active, though prosperous, and especially develop 'acrolithic' statues, heads and flesh parts in the scarce or imported marble, the rest in cheaper material, stone or wood.
'The 4th century' is not a style as the Classical of the 5th century had been, and in some respects the sculpture seems to be marking time before dramatic development in the following period. Pure realism is in its way an end in itself and any development from it has to abandon some of its basic principles.
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Last updated:
30 October, 2007
Text © John Boardman