Photos

CHARIOTEER OF DELPHI

I had previously posted a photo from Delphi, Center of the World, along with an extensive background note on this genuinely significant historical site in Central Greece. As a sequel to that image, I now submit this image from the Archaeological Museum in Delphi, and dedicate it to my friends — Danos, Hercules and Kostas.

The magnificent life-size bronze statue, "Charioteer of Delphi," is the unrivaled gem of the Archaeological Museum in Delphi. Crafted in 470 BC, it is a life size statue (1.80 meters or 5’11” tall), cast in Bronze, and highlighted in silver (head band), copper (eye lashes) and onyx (eyes). With a state of preservation that is extraordinary for its age of 2500 years, the Charioteer is one of the best know of ancient Greek statues.

Art historians characterize the Charioteer as an example of the "Severe" style. This young man, head held high, is just rolling his chariot into the judges’ area to accept the accolades for the victory that he has just earned. His posture indicates a slightly twisted torso, and a gentle lean to his right, where his hands clutch the reins. The Charioteer’s eyes gaze into the distance. He exudes pride, confidence, stoicism and humility — but above all, checked emotions! Full control of emotions is of paramount importance, a sign of the civilized man.

The well-proportioned athletic body is covered by a “xystis,” the garment worn by charioteers, and it features neat parallel folds around the upper arms and shoulders. A wide leather belt, and narrow leather strap, formed into a harness over his shoulders cross in the back — all designed to prevent the xystis from ballooning from the onrushing wind.

Greek art in this period, epitomized in the Charioteer, shows a metamorphism from the Archaic conventions to Classical ideals. There resonates a balance of idealism and realism. Before the Charioteer came the stiff Kouros statues. Within a few centuries would appear the likes of Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace (both in the Louvre, Paris), and the, Portrait of Alexander (Archaeological Museum, Istanbul).

This is a transformative time not only in art, but one that signals a leap forward in civilization itself. Just a quarter-century after this statue was created, Athens would see the erection of the unrivaled Parthenon, the greatest ‘Extrovert Building’ in History. And the following century would be ushered in by the likes of the great Athenian philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, with ideas that would revolutionize the thinking of the next two millennia.

In photographing and cropping this statue, as well as in the Portrait of Alexander, I was paying heed to a principle discovered in 1998 by Christopher Tyler, English-born psychologist living in San Francisco. In defining portraits created by the great artists, the vertical centerline (the bisector) passes very close to an eye (it can be the right or the left), but not the nose. This is true in Leonardo three portraits of women (including the Mona Lisa), in portraits by Rembrandt, even in many of Picasso portraits (e.g. in the various portraits of Dora Maar). This principle has never been taught in art schools, but the gifted painters, and so too photographers focus on one eye of the subject. This was also explained in my book, ‘Math and the Mona Lisa.’ If Picasso, known for breaking all prevailing rules, had known this principle, he would most likely have placed the eye in a corner of the painting! It is done intutitively.

Hand held Nikon D70, with 18-70 mm Nikkor lens. The background has been selectively darkened, as it was in the “Bust of Alexander.”