The British Museum

 Today was awesome! I was able to walk around the British Museum (and get lost a few times) and see amazing historical artifacts. Being in a building that large with so many people was very overwhelming at times, but it was worth it to be able to see statues of Greek Gods such as Zeus and Apollo. If there is one thing I have learned on this trip, it is that I honestly have such a hard time believing that the pieces of artwork that I am looking at are the original pieces that I have only seen in pictures. Sure, I have seen statues of Greek Gods before, but I am used to looking at recreations of these famous pieces of artwork. 

Statue of Apollo. 
Statue of Zeus. 


By far my favorite thing that I saw today was the statue of Cupid. When I was looking at it I was reminded of what David told us about a popular statue in Piccadilly Circus. Many think that the statue in Piccadilly Circus is of Cupid, but it is actually of Anteros, Eros' (Cupid's) brother. Regardless of the Anteros versus Eros statue miscommunication, I thought it was so cool to see the statue of Cupid. 

Statue of Cupid. 

I have always loved learning about Greek Mythology, and it reminds me of a project I did in middle school  where I made a clay statue of Hephaestus, Craftsman of the Gods. Greek Mythology has always been one of the topics that I am interested in, yet for some reason I have never taken the time to truly dive in and learn more about them. After seeing all of these super awesome statues today, I will definitely be finding the time to educate myself more on Greek Mythology. 

Statue of Discobolus

I really wish that there was even more status in the Greek section of the museum, but I am more than happy with what I got to see today, especially since it has inspired me to learn more! 

My two questions for today are: 

1) How long did it take to create these statutes? Why is this form of artwork not as often used today, especially since these pieces of art are absolutely beautiful? Though they are very fragile, how are these statues transported to places like the British Museum? Following that, I asked Laura today if it was common for people to wear clothes back when these statues were created, as every one of them was in the nude. Is there a specific reason for that? 

2) Many statues had obvious cracks and sometimes even limbs missing. Was it common for that to happen? If something of the sorts were to happen today, would it be a fixable mistake? Is it possible for pieces to break off over time, just because of how fragile they are? 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Taming of the Shrew Performance Review

  Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is, in my opinion, one of his most problematic and offensive plays. Though this play has been staged for many centuries, it is unclear to even the most knowledgeable Shapespearians if this is Shakespeare’s original text. The Taming of the Shrew was first published in the first Folio of Shakespeare’s works, but a similar play titled The Taming of a Shrew was published in a Quarto roughly thirty years prior. The two texts are similar in many ways, such as overarching storylines and characters, yet the two are also different from one another, such as the character Christopher Sly having more of an involvement in the text of The Taming of a Shrew . Regardless of whichever text is being performed or if it is a combination of the two, scholars (and myself) believe that this is the one Shakespeare play that should not be staged.  After a quick Google search, I found that the term “shrew” has been used since the 11th century, possibly even e...
Read more

Pericles Performance Review

  I can officially say that I have seen the most avant garde play after seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Pericles , and I loved it. The play Pericles is about the grief of losing your family, and being lucky enough to find them again. Obviously there is much more that goes into this play than losing and finding your family, but when I think about Pericles , I think about family. When originally reading the program for the Royal Shakespeare Company production, it made it seem that their specific production would revolve heavily around leadership - both good and bad - but after watching their production, I did not really find that to be the forefront of their approach. It seemed to me that they focused more on the loss and reuniting of family. All I could think about while watching act 5, scene 1 was “ that’s how you stage a family reunion!” When Pericles realized that Marina was his daughter, I had actual chills all over my body; it was done correctly in my opi...
Read more

I toured the Globe!

Image
      Today was one of the days that I have been so excited for because we got to tour Shakespeare's Globe! (Don't let the name be deceiving, they put on other plays that are not written by Shakespeare.) We began by looking at a new exhibition the Globe has going on, and it is all about Shakespeare's past as well as the history of the theatre. I really enjoyed going through it because it was interactive! They had tiny boxes all containing smells of the Borough Market - which I learned in the oldest fruit and vegetable market in London! They also had noise machines that were similar to how sound effects would have been produced back in Shakespeare's time such as wind storms and thunder. I find it super cool to learn about London's history dating back to the seventeenth-century and seeing what is still around today.  Inside the exhibition 
Read more