Early Cycladic female sculptures - Essay Example

According to Fitton, this kind of art existed in Crete, in addition to Greece’s mainland. The sculptures, at first were said to have a religious meaning and mostly represented either a goddess or a god, but in reality, they simply represented femaleness. It is said that they represented the great mother, goddess of fertility. This was very evident from the appearance of the sculptures. They mostly had a female shape with folded arms across the abdomen. They had a closed set of legs with dangling feet over the surface on which they were set to stand.

A research by Fitton indicates that these sculptures were mostly found in tombs and graves thus indicating that they were mostly used in funeral rituals (Fitton 22). This is a clear indication that they might have been used to represent past female legends and important personalities. The most common of the sculptures, one of a lady playing a harp in a sitting position, shows that the Cycladic people adored music and thus a female who was talented in music was considered a legend. Other familiar sculptures are of a lady playing a flute and that of a female folding hand (Christos 69).

The fact that these sculptures were made from hard marble material rather that some soft material shows that these figures were made to live for centuries and thus were so important to the people who curved them (Christos 49). They represented the dead family members and the heroes in the community. The figures are said to have no facial features and clothing. They mostly represented a naked female body. The feet were mostly made to stand on tiptoe, and the head and waist to be inclined backwards (Fitton 72).

Fitton state that the other facial features were added in terms of paint. They were painted to show other features such as eyes, ears, hair, mouth, and scars if the owner had any. The figures also had curves put in the right way and correct proportions. This shows that skilled artists made them. According to Fitton, some sculptures show some evidence that the same person made them. He argues that the measurement and textures of the sculptures seem to be the same and exact. He says that it is not easy for different artists to produce the same and exact sculptures.

In addition to this, traces of red pigments were observed on the front and the back of the sculptures. This was noticed mainly on the early Cycladic works of art and is a show that the surface of the sculpture shows how important the sculpture is. The importance of a sculpture could be easily noticed from the texture of the surface. It could also be noticed from the color painted on the surface. This is seen to be a good feature as it helped strangers to identify the historical legends in a community (Fitton 21).

The sculptures are also seen to be made to show the character and power of a person. A sculpture of a female leader was noticed to have strong muscle on hands, barely seen breasts, strong hips and downward pointing toes with highly convex soles (Fitton 142). This showed her exceptional command as a leader. It is also said that such sculptures were brightly painted. Such sculptures have also shown evidence that they were repaired over time. They had patches of additional pieces of marble. This shows the importance these sculptures had to the community.

Some sculptures were extracted from graves in full while others were extracted in pieces. The purpose of burying the sculptures as full or broken is not