"The Stele of Girl with Doves"

In this essay, I seek to analyze two sculpture art pieces. The two art pieces are Stele of Girl with Doves and a Sculpture of Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Lives of Saint Peter and Christ number 48.76.2. The Stele of Girl with Doves is a relief sculpture, which indicates a young girl in sweet moments bidding farewell to her two pet doves. This sculpture presents itself artistically. The artist chose various types of materials to come up with this interesting artwork. The sculpture is made of marble, which is a Parian medium. The Sculpture of Stele of a Girl with Doves has a height of thirty-one and a half inches. This interesting sculpture was designed between the period of 450 and 425 B.C. in the Greek culture. The sculpture is grouped under stone sculpture in the works of art. More so, this statue has a fascinating posture. To be precise, many stone sculptures that come from Cycladic islands are mainly made from marble. Therefore, the sculptor of this work used marble creatively to bring out its fascinating posture.

The anatomy of this sculpture presents itself through a girl standing with her head bowing towards the ground with stern severity that is common in young people. Looking at her face, it is clearly firm and tranquil. The sculpture employs a posture of a girl wearing peplos, a woolen piece of cloth folded over at the top then tied up around the waist. She poses gently holding two birds in her hands. The edges of her garment lie open forming patterns that fold towards her right. This sculpture presents two views. The side view and the front view. The front view is the major viewpoint of the Sculpture of a Girl with Doves, which is clearly observed as she holds one bird passionately while the other gently patches itself on the other side of the hand.

The sculpture brings out the cultural context of the Greek people during ancient time. It gives the impression that there existed gender injustices among the Greek people where females were treated unfairly. Women in Greece were expected to get control from their husbands all through. This old-custom of the Greece people comes out vividly in this artwork. The sculpture exposes a girl at her tender age facing down in sorrow bidding bye to the doves. It shows how difficult it was for the female gender to live happily because of the perception from the community to women during that period. It indicates that the Greek community did not value duties of women thus taking them as housewives only. The girl clearly shows her sorrow towards women.

The girl in the sculpture appears to bow down her head. This describes how the women in Greece lived unhappy and how they underwent bitter moments during that period. Artists have encouraged women currently to achieve perfection through illustrating ideal feminist issues using subject that are real. The sculpture is brightly colored which gives it visible enough. This enables the viewer to observe and analyze critically the gender problems that existed during the ancient Greece. It is possible that the bright color indicates a bright future for women in the community if they can work towards gaining freedom.            

Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Lives of Saint Peter and Christ is a sculpture that contains Christian messages from Jesus and His disciples. He used to walk with them and give directions on how they should carry themselves as His true followers. The Sculpture of Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Lives of Saint Peter and Christ was made in 1313. It is made of marble like other sculptures of those days. It is classified as a stone sculpture with the overall dimension of 49.5*134*15.2 cm.

Christian Authority grew tremendously with Emperor Constantine recognizing this faith as the true religion in the Roman Empire in the year 1313. The centers that were most powerful included the new imperial capital of Rome, the old imperial capital of Rome, the New Rome Constantinople Alexandria Caesarea or Jerusalem and Antioch. In the fourth century, the Christian Church in Rome started developing images that stressed the importance of Saint Peter. They believed that Jesus gave the kingdom keys to Peter. This is according to Mathew sixteen verses 18-20 (metmuseum.org). The sculpture indicates traditional features of Christianity with Jesus and his Disciples. Peter being the most important of the disciples this images spread across all nations in Europe, which acknowledged Christianity to be the true religion.

One of the most important images of that period is the traditional Legis that has Jesus Christ Giving the Law to saint Peter. This sculpture shows Christ with a scroll containing the law in one hand and the other hand rose above. It gives the impression of the power that He releases to Peter. The Sculpture of Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Lives of Saint Peter and Christ has other disciples in the context (mlahanas.de). This shows that they were witnesses when Peter was given the authority to lead the church after the ascending of Jesus. To the left of the sculpture stands Saint Paul who was killed while spreading the word of God in Rome. He also acknowledges the authority that Saint Peter got from Jesus. Other four apostles still exist on this relief.

The scene in Sculpture of Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Lives of Saint Peter and Christ is placed within the traditional Roman sarcophagus, Byzantine culture. It depicts the religious belief practiced by the Romans during the early years. The sculpture takes two-dimensional form with protruding parts taking the largest share. It is from this point that the sculpture gives the impression of the church and its members. Through folds, the sculpture was able to produce imaginative work, which indicates universal of the believers. For instance, the members on the sculpture have a common interest of serving god. They rise up their hands during prayers to signify the existence of god among them (mlahanas.de). Columns decorated with putti in vine scrolls provide a good visual impression.

The sculpture is painted dark in the dents and light on the up folds creating the impression of depth although it is a two dimensional sculpture. There is an impression of faith through observing the sculptures raised hands. They suggest that they believe in a supreme being whom they cannot see (metmuseum.org). They appeal to people to be righteous in the house of almighty. The sculpture has doors and windows that give a suggestion of the ancient synagogues in which the Jesus used to pray. The sculpture below shows stele of a girl with doves.