compare sculptures

Perceptions of death from funerary visages in the ancient Greco-Roman world

One of the oldest subjects for art , death is an inescapable aspect of human existence that has an enormous amount of cultural speculation and taboo to it . In many cultures how we perceive and deal with death is a reflection on who we are while we live . The study of funerary art is an excellent window into the world of death in culture as it can give us clues not only on how death was perceived by the culture as a

whole , but also by the different socio-economic levels within the society

The Grave stele of a girl with doves (27 .45 ) and the Badminton sarcophagus of Dionyos and retinue (55 .11 .5 ) give us two very different perceptions of death from two different , yet deceptively similar cultures . The grave stele offers a very personal and poignant tribute to , what we assume based on the marker , is a young girl , whereas the sarcophagus offers us a grandiose and heroic visage with little notice to the person it was commissioned in memorial of . Death in these two pieces has vastly different implications

The grave stele is a Greek funerary relief from approximately 450-440 B .C . The relief is in white marble and fairly well preserved Aesthetically it well kept as facial damage to the relief is minimal save for one of the girl 's doves which fortunately does not diminish the piece 's impact . The grave stele is deceptively...