Iconic art in cradle of Chinese culture

And this is especially true in the sculptural arts. During the Hellenistic and Classical period, ancient Greek sculptors aimed to depict the human form realistically but in an idealized and harmonious manner. Ancient Greek sculptors carefully studied human anatomy and sought to capture the essence of physical perfection and inner vitality. They believed the human body reflected divine beauty, and their sculptures became a medium to express this belief. Deities were the common subjects featured in the sculptors' works.

There were also remarkable similarities in the works created by ancient Roman sculptors. Roman sculpture is known for its grandeur and realism. Many depict ideas, things, or people that were important in Roman history and culture, such as those related to mythology, historical events and political figures.

Like the Greeks, Roman sculptural art strove for perfection and illustrated its subjects in this manner, especially when it came to gods, goddesses and heroes. The Greek and Roman sculptural arts also pursued a similar level of aesthetics in geometry.

At the exhibition at Shanxi Museum, a total of 134 ancient Greek and Roman sculptures will be on display. The exhibition will be arranged in five sections to present the arts of different locales, periods and styles. The five sections are called "Gods of the Olympus", "Blessing from Gods", "the Grandeur of Augustan Arts", "Garden of Rome" and "External Vitality".

The Gods of Olympus section features the sculptures created in the Classical Period of ancient Greece, from 480 to 325 BC. The works highlight a style of harmony, grandeur and idealism. In addition, other cultural relics of that period, like attic-style vases and pottery vessels, will be on show.

There are also sculptures created by Roman sculptors imitating the classical Greek style. One exhibit is the Apollo Sauroktonos, a sculpture created by ancient Roman sculptor Praxiteles featuring a bow-holding Apollo fixing his sights on a lizard. Despite its inheritance of the classical style, a prominent characteristic of the sculpture is that Apollo was not portrayed as a god of grandeur, but a young man of beauty and tenderness.