In participating in a trip to Athens for research, this project explores my interest in fine art by comparing sculpture esthetics and techniques of ancient Greece to those of ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy. In narrowing this topic down, I am taking a close look at two specific sculptures in art history: Michelangelo’s David and Pythokritos’s Winged Victory of Samothrace. There are many similarities between these two art pieces because Italian artists took much of their inspiration from the Greeks; however, there are also many characteristics of the sculptures that set them apart. Artists of the Renaissance are known for building their art unproportionally and posed in the contrapposto stance. Another common trait of Renaissance work is femininity and exaggeration, whereas the Greeks embraced masculinity, movement, and proportions. In the instance of these two statues, the big giveaway is that the Greeks tended to only create with the Gods in mind; Roman Renaissance artists were moved by everyday people and religious figures.

As for my on-site research, I have decided to continue to look at sculpture, but, instead, how it evolved in ancient Greece into the art that inspired the Renaissance artists. When the Roman Empire conquered Greece, they took back some aspects of their culture with them. Artists like Michelangelo studied Greek art, many of the characteristics seen in his work, and that of many other creators, were interpreted from the ancient Greeks.