Olympian Gods - From the Collection of Sculptures, Dresden

Featuring ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, this book explores the artistic history and legacy of ancient statues of the gods. For people in ancient Greece, ornately and imposingly fashioned statues depicting the gods symbolised power or ideal beauty. During the Roman Empire, when sculptors copied Greek models, the sculptures conveyed an aura of education and scholarship. This volume showcases antique sculptures that represent the most important Greek Olympian gods. Culled from the collection of the The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, this book features objects that are so prominent that they are named after their location, such as the Dresden Zeus. The sculptures express the Greek ideal of beauty and the remarkable creative powers of these artists as well as showing the development of Greek sculpture and illustrating antique mythology with its stories of gods and the conventions of their representation. AUTHORS: Ortrud Westheider is Director of the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Michael Philipp is Chief Curator of the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Stephan Koja is Director of the Gemaaumlldegalerie Alte Meister and Skulpturensammlung (classical antiquity to 1800) in Dresden, Germany. 50 colour images