0:00:02 > 0:00:06There are many places where you can come face-to-face
0:00:06 > 0:00:08with the ancient world,
0:00:08 > 0:00:13but I have to say, this is hard to beat.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27This colossal stone head is almost 3,000 years old.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29It was made by the Olmec,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33the earliest civilisation in Central America.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39It really is big.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42His eyeballs are more than a foot across
0:00:42 > 0:00:46and he weighs in at almost 20 tonnes.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Between his lips, you can just about glimpse his teeth.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54And his irises are traced out on his eyes,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58and he has a furled, slightly frumpy brow.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02It's hard not to feel just a little bit moved
0:01:02 > 0:01:04by this close encounter
0:01:04 > 0:01:08with the image of a person from the distant past.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Since it was unearthed in 1939,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17this head has been a real puzzle.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Who does it depict?
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Why was it made?
0:01:22 > 0:01:25And why just a head?
0:01:25 > 0:01:29The Olmec left us very few clues.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33But what they did give us is a powerful, in-your-face reminder
0:01:33 > 0:01:39that, no matter where in the world, when civilisations first made art,
0:01:39 > 0:01:43they made it about us.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49I want to explore why that is.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53What were those early people doing this for?
0:01:54 > 0:01:58What part did images of the body play
0:01:58 > 0:02:02in the societies which first created them?
0:02:02 > 0:02:05I'm not just going to be concentrating on the artists -
0:02:05 > 0:02:07I want to take a different approach.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13I'll be trying to see these bodies through the eyes of the people
0:02:13 > 0:02:19who lived with them, used them, and looked at them.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21And that's not all.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30I want to show how one particular way of representing the human body -
0:02:30 > 0:02:34one that goes all the way back to ancient Greece -
0:02:34 > 0:02:39became more influential than any other,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42coming to shape our Western ways of seeing.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47And returning in the end to the Olmec,
0:02:47 > 0:02:53we'll see how the way we look can confuse and even distort
0:02:53 > 0:02:58our understanding of civilisations beyond our own.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Can we ever look through the eyes of people in the distant past?
0:03:46 > 0:03:50It's hard, but just occasionally we get the chance.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54It was some 2,000 years ago
0:03:54 > 0:03:58when the Roman Emperor Hadrian arrived in Thebes
0:03:58 > 0:04:00with his entourage.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07He'd come for a look-see around the fringes of his empire,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10and to take in the wonders of ancient Egypt,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13already thousands of years old.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Hadrian was by far the most committed traveller
0:04:20 > 0:04:21of all the Roman emperors.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23He seems to have got everywhere.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26And on this occasion, he wanted to visit
0:04:26 > 0:04:31perhaps the most famous heritage site in Egypt,
0:04:31 > 0:04:36perhaps the greatest five-star tourist attraction
0:04:36 > 0:04:38of the whole of the ancient world.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44It wasn't the great pyramids he longed to see,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46but these colossal statues.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Made around 1300 BC,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55they were originally statues of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57marking his tomb.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02But over time, their meaning had changed.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04And by Hadrian's day,
0:05:04 > 0:05:10they were thought to depict a mythical African king, Memnon.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And what had made them such a draw
0:05:13 > 0:05:17was that one of the statues could do things no other statues could.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22If you were lucky and came early in the morning,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26believe it or not, he could sing.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31It was a bit like a lyre with a broken string.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33And even in its prime,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36it couldn't be relied upon to make a sound every day.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39It was taken as a very good omen if it did.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46What's amazing is that Hadrian's encounter is recorded
0:05:46 > 0:05:48thanks to a piece of vandalism.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52For ancient tourists, part of the fun was to have their reactions
0:05:52 > 0:05:55carved onto the statue's leg.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00In Hadrian's party, the vandal was a lady-in-waiting, Julia Balbilla,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04who recorded her impressions in Greek verse.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I've waited half my life to be up here,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12searching out Balbilla's poetry.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Here is one of the things she wrote,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20and in some ways this is the beginning of her diary
0:06:20 > 0:06:22of the Memnon experience,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26because on this occasion she says that they got here really early
0:06:26 > 0:06:28but didn't hear anything.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30But there's another one.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34It's got Julia Balbilla's name written at the top
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and this is a bit more triumphalist
0:06:36 > 0:06:41cos here she says her Lord Hadrian actually heard Memnon.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45The truth is, it's not great poetry,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49but the verses do give us that kind of first-hand glimpse
0:06:49 > 0:06:52of what it felt like to be here.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55And there's something touching about being able to
0:06:55 > 0:06:59tread in the footsteps of Hadrian's party,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02to share their gaze,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04even if we can't actually hear the singing.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12Nobody knows exactly how the sound was made or why it stopped
0:07:12 > 0:07:14because the statue is completely silent now.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18But one thing I think is clear -
0:07:18 > 0:07:22the story of Memnon's statue is a great example
0:07:22 > 0:07:26of how images of the human body operate in the world.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32Not just as passive objects to be admired or wondered at,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37but as players, as part of an interactive, two-way relationship.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42Singing might be a rarity, but images often do something.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48Even more, the story is a reminder that the history of art
0:07:48 > 0:07:51isn't just the history of artists,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55of the men and women who painted and sculpted -
0:07:55 > 0:07:59it's also the history of the men and women like Julia Balbilla
0:07:59 > 0:08:02who looked, who interpreted what they saw,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and of the changing ways in which they did so.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09If we want to understand images of the body,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12I think we've really got to put those viewers
0:08:12 > 0:08:14back into the picture of art.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21And one of the best places to do that is ancient Greece -
0:08:21 > 0:08:27in particular, the city of Athens from around 700 BC.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Never much more than a small town in our terms,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35it was a place where you could find people of different classes
0:08:35 > 0:08:41and backgrounds cheek by jowl in a grand experiment in urban living.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47And one of the most distinctive things about Athenian culture
0:08:47 > 0:08:52was an intense focus on the youthful, athletic body.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59This body was a symbol of political and moral virtue.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05And Athens became a whole city of images devoted to the human form.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Greek art almost never means landscape.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15It almost never means still life.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Greek art means statues and drawings,
0:09:18 > 0:09:23paintings and models of human beings.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26These images were everywhere.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30They were out in the world playing their part.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Imagine the public plazas and the shady sanctuaries
0:09:34 > 0:09:38full of people in stone as well as people in flesh and blood.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46We begin to get the point of all this if we look at the art form
0:09:46 > 0:09:49that contained more bodies than any other.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54The red and black of Athenian ceramics.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02These are some of the finest examples we have.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Made from around 600 BC,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10they were produced in luscious colours
0:10:10 > 0:10:14using an intricate process of multiple firings.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20They were turned out in their millions.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24And with almost every surface displaying pictures of people,
0:10:24 > 0:10:30it was pottery that made the human image ubiquitous across Athens.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35These are two of my very favourite Greek pots.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38This is ordinary crockery,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40it's everyday homeware,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44the kind of thing you might have found on the kitchen shelf
0:10:44 > 0:10:47in an Athenian house.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50The larger of the two is a rich man's wine cooler
0:10:50 > 0:10:53to be brought out at his drinking parties.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57The smaller one is an ordinary water jug.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02But the images on both are much more than just pleasing decorations.
0:11:03 > 0:11:09These images are telling the Athenians how to be Athenians.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13This one here is, in a sense, a template
0:11:13 > 0:11:15for being an Athenian wife.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17There she is.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20She's sitting down, she's being handed her baby
0:11:20 > 0:11:22by a servant girl
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and, at her feet, she's got a wool basket.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29That about sums up the answer to the question,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33what were Athenian wives for?
0:11:33 > 0:11:36They were for making babies and making wool.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40This one is a bit different
0:11:40 > 0:11:44because it's covered with mythical creatures called satyrs
0:11:44 > 0:11:48who are half human and half animal,
0:11:48 > 0:11:53and they're all over this getting absolutely plastered.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58They're balancing goblets in very silly places
0:11:58 > 0:12:04and this one here is having wine poured straight into his mouth
0:12:04 > 0:12:06from an animal skin.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08It's kind of the equivalent
0:12:08 > 0:12:11of drinking whisky straight from the bottle.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17Now, what was that doing on the drinking party table?
0:12:18 > 0:12:25If this pot was telling Athenian women how to be women,
0:12:25 > 0:12:30this one was raising more difficult questions
0:12:30 > 0:12:34about where the boundary really lies
0:12:34 > 0:12:37between the human and the animal,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41about how much wine you have to consume
0:12:41 > 0:12:44before you really do turn into a beast.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50These aren't government health warnings in our sense,
0:12:50 > 0:12:55but the images are one way in which the Athenians paraded
0:12:55 > 0:12:58their idea of what civilisation was,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02defining themselves against the barbarians beyond the city.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07And it's a version of civilisation that's a long way
0:13:07 > 0:13:11from the lofty ideas of Greek culture we're often pedalled.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16It's deeply gendered and rigidly hierarchical,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and it explicitly derides all those
0:13:19 > 0:13:24who have faces or bodies or habits that somehow don't fit -
0:13:24 > 0:13:28from barbarous foreigners to the old and ugly,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30the fat and the flabby.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33But, like it or not,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37what we are seeing here are visual images
0:13:37 > 0:13:43constructing one idea of a civilised human being.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Of course, the human body can do many different things
0:13:49 > 0:13:52and so can its images.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55And the Athenians exploited that range,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58creating other bodies for very different purposes.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05This is one of the most gorgeous memorial statues
0:14:05 > 0:14:08ever to have been found in ancient Greece.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Her name is Phrasikleia
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and that means something like "aware of her own renown".
0:14:19 > 0:14:24Phrasikleia was carved in marble around 550 BC,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27and was only rediscovered in 1972.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33She has a wonderfully patterned dress,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37clothed for eternity in her finest.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41And the traces of red pigment are a useful reminder
0:14:41 > 0:14:45that most Greek sculpture was richly, even gaudily, painted.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49And she wears that smile -
0:14:49 > 0:14:53that sign of life so common in early Greek sculpture.
0:14:55 > 0:15:02What I like about her so much is the way that she engages us as viewers.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04She's looking straight ahead
0:15:04 > 0:15:07and she's challenging us to look back at her.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10She's got a flower in her hand -
0:15:10 > 0:15:13it's not quite clear whether it's for her
0:15:13 > 0:15:16or she's about to give it to us.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21And in the inscription, she actually almost speaks to us.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26It says that it is the tomb sculpture of Phrasikleia
0:15:26 > 0:15:29and then, as if in her own voice, it says,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33"And I shall always be called a maiden
0:15:33 > 0:15:40"because I got that name from the gods, instead of marriage."
0:15:40 > 0:15:44That is, she died before her wedding day.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49But what's great about it is the encounter it sets up,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52and it's the encounter that, if we try hard,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54I think we can still enjoy.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Phrasikleia faces death in the most forthright way,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05resolutely refusing to be forgotten.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13But can an image of a person ever fix time,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16suspended death,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19or even, for a moment, deny it?
0:16:26 > 0:16:31That's what these vivid faces from Roman Egypt appear to do.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Though 2,000 years have passed since these people died,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42it feels like they're still with us.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45They looks like the kind of portraits
0:16:45 > 0:16:47that hang on gallery walls.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51And that's where we often see them.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58But these portraits actually belong on coffins.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Few have remained intact, but this is one of them.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10It contains a man named Artemidorus,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13and his extravagant sarcophagus portrays
0:17:13 > 0:17:16a cosmopolitan way of death.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22His mummy is a wonderful amalgam
0:17:22 > 0:17:27of the traditions of Egypt, of Greece and of Rome.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32On the casing, you can see typically Egyptian scenes -
0:17:32 > 0:17:35there's a mummy being laid out on a couch,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and those strange animal-headed Egyptian gods.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43His name is Greek.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47"Artemidorus, farewell," it says.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54His face is a quintessentially Roman portrait.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Of course, other cultures before had represented the human face,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03but it was the Romans who made this kind of individual likeness
0:18:03 > 0:18:04very much their own.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Modelled with light and shade,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12flesh layered in paint and wax,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15and a clever catch light in the eyes,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19these were the means by which Roman painters captured
0:18:19 > 0:18:23the infinite variety that we see in the human face.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29When Romans thought about where the impulse to portraiture came from -
0:18:29 > 0:18:32even the impulse to painting as a whole -
0:18:32 > 0:18:34they had a very vivid story to tell
0:18:34 > 0:18:38about a young woman who was the creative genius
0:18:38 > 0:18:41behind the very first portrait.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Her lover was going away on a long journey
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and before he went, she got a lamp
0:18:49 > 0:18:52and she threw his shadow against a wall
0:18:52 > 0:18:56and traced round it to create a silhouette.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59She was trying not just to memorialise him,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02but to keep his presence in her world.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07I think there's something like that going on
0:19:07 > 0:19:09with the face of Artemidorus.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Domestic ware and tear,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15even children's scribbles on some coffins,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19suggest that they weren't instantly confined to the grave.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23For a while, they may have stood in the land of the living,
0:19:23 > 0:19:27perhaps in the family home.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31These portraits, then, are not just memorials -
0:19:31 > 0:19:35they're attempts to keep the presence of the dead
0:19:35 > 0:19:36among the living
0:19:36 > 0:19:41and to blur the boundary between this world and the next.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49Painted faces and sculpted bodies always played vital roles
0:19:49 > 0:19:53in the lives of ancient people who lived with them and looked at them.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02But how do we make sense of those ancient statues
0:20:02 > 0:20:05that were not designed to be seen at all?
0:20:11 > 0:20:16China, as we know it, was born around 200 BC,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20united under its first emperor, Qin.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Just as the Romans would do in the West,
0:20:27 > 0:20:32he standardised everything in his efforts to exert control.
0:20:35 > 0:20:41Currency, weights and measures, taxes, roads and transport.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44They were sweeping reforms
0:20:44 > 0:20:48and he left his mark on all aspects of Chinese life.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54But no Roman emperor would ever be buried on the same grand scale
0:20:54 > 0:20:59as Qin, or with so many bodies.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03- TV:- It was just a mile away from the mound to the east
0:21:03 > 0:21:06that the Chinese made their historic discovery.
0:21:07 > 0:21:13It was 1974 when farmers in Shaanxi province discovered
0:21:13 > 0:21:16fragments of human forms buried in the earth.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Scenes of mass archaeology followed,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25the finds assembled in an extraordinary display.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29It lies beneath this vast hangar-like structure.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35It would capture the world's attention
0:21:35 > 0:21:38as the most surprising archaeological find
0:21:38 > 0:21:40of the 20th century.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49It was, of course, the Terracotta Army.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02It's a menacing sight,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07this grey, ghostly remnant of an army,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11rows and rows of life-sized terracotta soldiers.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18These figures represent the Imperial Guard of the Emperor Qin.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22They were buried with him at his funeral
0:22:22 > 0:22:25and stand guard over his tomb.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30There were once more than 7,000 of them,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33but only a fraction have been excavated,
0:22:33 > 0:22:39and that alone gives an idea of the vast scale of this whole complex.
0:22:39 > 0:22:45This is quite simply the biggest tableau of sculpture
0:22:45 > 0:22:49made anywhere in the planet ever.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03Millions come here to be wowed by the sight of the army.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10But it's not just the scale that's impressive - it's the detail, too.
0:23:14 > 0:23:20Up close, you can see the individual plates and rivets of their armour.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28And their heads have been modelled so no two look alike.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35The contours of their faces differ,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38eyes and ears delicately worked.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47And a range of styles and textures have been used for the hair.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53But the individuality that we're at first so struck by
0:23:53 > 0:23:56isn't quite as simple as it seems.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00It's true that no two of these figures are quite alike
0:24:00 > 0:24:05but the differences between them that the craftsmen have introduced
0:24:05 > 0:24:07turn out to be rather formulaic.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11There's not much more than a handful of different eyebrow types
0:24:11 > 0:24:14or different moustache types, for example.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20They're a very standardised, institutionalised version
0:24:20 > 0:24:21of individuality.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24As one archaeologist has nicely put it -
0:24:24 > 0:24:27their faces are likenesses,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30but they are likenesses of no-one.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35They're not, in the terms of Western art history, true portraits.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Some have admired this ancient form of artistic mass production,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48others feel it a perfect way of expressing a regimented army.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Whatever you feel about them,
0:24:50 > 0:24:56they certainly raise all kinds of questions about what a likeness is.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01But one thing is for sure -
0:25:01 > 0:25:05in the scale and complexity of the tomb
0:25:05 > 0:25:08and even, I think, in the artistic detail
0:25:08 > 0:25:11that the Emperor, dead or alive, could command,
0:25:11 > 0:25:16there's a strong assertion of imperial power.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19And that's definitely the message of what happened
0:25:19 > 0:25:23just a few years after the Emperor's death.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Because the famous Terracotta Army that we see
0:25:26 > 0:25:28were discovered in pieces,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31smashed and burnt by a rebel
0:25:31 > 0:25:34against the dynasty of the first Emperor
0:25:34 > 0:25:38who launched a direct attack on his tomb.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45There's something in that keen desire to destroy them
0:25:45 > 0:25:50that gives us our clearest sense of the power of these images.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56It was one thing to destroy the images
0:25:56 > 0:26:00of the Emperor's terracotta protectors,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04and so to nullify his power beyond the grave...
0:26:09 > 0:26:12..but power in the here and now called for
0:26:12 > 0:26:15bodies of an entirely different order.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33This is the figure of Ramesses II,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37who ruled Egypt around 1200 BC.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42He was the pharaoh who invested more in his image than any other.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46And his figure is found all over Egypt.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51But by far the most imposing and memorable
0:26:51 > 0:26:53are these great colossal statues
0:26:53 > 0:26:57that stand guard at his temple in Thebes.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04The one thing you really get here is that size matters.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07These vast monumental figures
0:27:07 > 0:27:10with that nice hint that they'd be even bigger
0:27:10 > 0:27:13if they bothered to stand up for you, simply dominate.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16They take over your field of vision.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19It's an assertion of the power of the Pharaoh
0:27:19 > 0:27:24through his huge, superhuman enthroned body.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31However fragile that power might have been in real life,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34the modern world has comprehensively bought in
0:27:34 > 0:27:38to the monumentality of the Egyptian ruler.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44And it's impossible not to think that when people walked past here
0:27:44 > 0:27:463,500 years ago
0:27:46 > 0:27:52that they, too, would have got what the message was intended to be.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58This kind of bombastic, bare-chested display
0:27:58 > 0:28:02fits the picture we have of autocrats today.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Impressive though such images are,
0:28:04 > 0:28:09I'm sure some ancient Egyptians would have found them as vulgar
0:28:09 > 0:28:11or as irritating as we might.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17But beyond the gates of the temple there's another set of statues
0:28:17 > 0:28:20whose power and purpose is harder to fathom.
0:28:23 > 0:28:29Deep inside, we're dominated by yet more vast images of Ramesses
0:28:29 > 0:28:33that can't be explained away as propaganda to the people.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Only those closest to the king were allowed
0:28:38 > 0:28:40into this part of the temple.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46So what was the point of these towering statues?
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Some think they were aimed at powerful elites
0:28:51 > 0:28:53to remind them who was boss.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Others think they were aimed at the all-seeing eye of the gods.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04I've got a different viewer in mind.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09And that's the pharaoh himself.
0:29:09 > 0:29:16Those of us with no inkling of power on a grand scale often forget
0:29:16 > 0:29:23how hard it must be to believe in oneself as monarch or autocrat.
0:29:23 > 0:29:29The person who really needs to be convinced that he is pre-eminent
0:29:29 > 0:29:31above the common herd
0:29:31 > 0:29:37is that ordinary human being who is masquerading as omnipotent ruler.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40That's why, as a basic rule of thumb,
0:29:40 > 0:29:45we find more pictures of kings and queens in all their finery
0:29:45 > 0:29:50in royal palaces than anywhere else in the world -
0:29:50 > 0:29:53and here in Egypt, too.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Monumental images of pharaohs,
0:29:56 > 0:30:01commissioned by pharaohs themselves in vast numbers,
0:30:01 > 0:30:05played their part in convincing the pharaoh
0:30:05 > 0:30:08of his own pharaonic power.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15These sculptures help the name of Ramesses live on.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20But the style of this statuary would have a different
0:30:20 > 0:30:22and very extraordinary legacy.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Almost certainly inspiring the earliest statues
0:30:27 > 0:30:30of the human form in Ancient Greece.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40We are now on the Greek island of Naxos.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45It's a place famed since ancient times for its marble.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54With a coarse grain and grey-blue tint,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57it was easy to quarry and easy to work.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09From way back, it was shipped off to make
0:31:09 > 0:31:13some of the earliest monumental Greek sculptures.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19They were large, rigid and stylised figures like this.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29And up in the hills of Naxos, there's a disused quarry
0:31:29 > 0:31:32where you can find one of those giant figures
0:31:32 > 0:31:34which never made it off the island.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40I've read lots about this.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44But I've never actually seen it.
0:31:47 > 0:31:53What it is, is a vast marble statue,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56half-finished, still in its quarry.
0:32:00 > 0:32:08This half-man, half-mountain was hewn out perhaps as early as 700 BC.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13As you can see, it was going to be
0:32:13 > 0:32:16one of those massive, static early Greek sculptures.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Here are his feet.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28And I'm now walking up past his legs.
0:32:31 > 0:32:37This thing here, this must be his outstretched arm
0:32:37 > 0:32:44and then right up here, we come to his head.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47And by the looks of it,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49he was going to have a beard, and they have already
0:32:49 > 0:32:52roughed out the shape.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57LAUGHS: Makes me think that some men can be very stubborn.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02But this guy hasn't budged in 2,500 years.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Quite why he's still here is a mystery.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11Something must have gone wrong but, whatever, this figure gives us
0:33:11 > 0:33:16a great view of how the Greek sculptors went about their work.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20They must have cut a trench out all the way round it
0:33:20 > 0:33:22in order to get to it to work,
0:33:22 > 0:33:27and you can see a rather neatly worked trench at the back.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31For me, it's just a wonderful illustration
0:33:31 > 0:33:34of the number of people
0:33:34 > 0:33:38that must have been involved in making a statue like this.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40And every one of these little pockmarks
0:33:40 > 0:33:42has been made by somebody's tool,
0:33:42 > 0:33:48with hundreds of men hacking away to get this statue like this.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58I find it a bit sort of weirdly surreal.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03But his feet make an extremely nice place to sit.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Forever lying here in repose,
0:34:10 > 0:34:11he's a remnant of the style
0:34:11 > 0:34:14that the Greeks were soon to leave behind.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Because shortly after he'd been abandoned,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Greek sculptors developed an astonishing new style
0:34:23 > 0:34:25that was distinctly their own.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32There is a fundamental
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and universal paradox at the heart of the sculptors' art.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41The lived human body,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43its mobility, it's warmth,
0:34:43 > 0:34:47its changing character, has to be fixed...
0:34:48 > 0:34:53..suspended in the cold and lifeless mass that is stone.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58It's always an artificial compromise.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06But the beginnings of the fifth century BC
0:35:06 > 0:35:10sees Greek sculpture spring almost to life.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15The rigid figures of the past give way
0:35:15 > 0:35:17to daring experiments in form...
0:35:20 > 0:35:22..nuance and subtlety...
0:35:24 > 0:35:26..movement and musculature.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33In under 200 years, Greek sculptors seemed to have developed
0:35:33 > 0:35:38the tricks and techniques to weave the illusion of a living human body.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42So radical was the change
0:35:42 > 0:35:46that it has been called the Greek Revolution.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52The exact cause of this revolution
0:35:52 > 0:35:55is one of the great mysteries of the history of art.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59Some believe it was Greek democracy,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01of its new respect for the individual that launched it.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06Others, that Greek artists just got better.
0:36:08 > 0:36:09In truth, we don't know.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15But whatever the causes, over the next centuries,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20it was to have some truly astonishing artistic consequences.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46This is one of the places that the Greek Revolution leaves.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52It's impossible not to see this as an amazing work of art.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04Dating is hard, but my guess is that it was cast around 100 BC.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Here, the hallmarks of the Greek Revolution
0:37:08 > 0:37:11are brought together and trained on the body
0:37:11 > 0:37:12of a battered and bruised boxer.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20Boxing was always an important part of the ancient athletic repertoire.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24And you can tell that he once had a fit body,
0:37:24 > 0:37:26but it's really suffered.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32What is equally striking is the loving care
0:37:32 > 0:37:36with which this wreck of a human being has been depicted.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41He's got a broken nose and cauliflower ears,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44flabby from where he has taken all those blows.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49And, in fact, he is still bleeding from fresh wounds.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52There, the blood is shown in copper
0:37:52 > 0:37:56and the bruises on his cheeks are brought out
0:37:56 > 0:37:59by the slightly different colour
0:37:59 > 0:38:02of a slightly different bronze alloy.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06It's almost as if the bronze
0:38:06 > 0:38:09has become the man's skin.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14What makes the boxer so impressive
0:38:14 > 0:38:17isn't just the extraordinary technique.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20It's the point the piece is making.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24The artist has used the descriptive powers
0:38:24 > 0:38:28of this version of realism to launch a devastating attack
0:38:28 > 0:38:33on the body culture that obsessed the Ancient Greeks.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37He introduces a very different type of character
0:38:37 > 0:38:43from those early, youthful, well-toned athletes.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Not just in the wounds and the scars,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48but in the emotional collapse.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55In a world in which there was something of a cult
0:38:55 > 0:38:59of youthful athletic prowess,
0:38:59 > 0:39:03all those telling realistic details add up to a reminder
0:39:03 > 0:39:09that the body beautiful was not so very far from the body brutalised.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13This work of art is prodding
0:39:13 > 0:39:16at the awkward underbelly of Greek culture.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23It's the incisive brilliance of sculptures like The Boxer
0:39:23 > 0:39:26that gives the impression that the Greek Revolution
0:39:26 > 0:39:30was an unalloyed triumph of artistic achievement.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36But there is another way of looking at the Greek Revolution,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and at its losses as well as its gains.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Remember Phrasikleia, who died unmarried?
0:39:47 > 0:39:51She was made long before that revolutionary change.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57What I love is her elegance and simplicity.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03The way she reaches out, offering a gift, or meeting us eye-to-eye.
0:40:07 > 0:40:13That directness is exactly what gets lost in the Greek Revolution.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Later sculptures may be more supple than Phrasikleia,
0:40:17 > 0:40:21they may seem to move more adventurously,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24but they don't engage us in the same way.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27In fact, if you try to look them in the eye,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31many of them coyly avoid your gaze.
0:40:31 > 0:40:37And many of them, like The Boxer, seem lost in their own world.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41It's almost as if the involved viewer
0:40:41 > 0:40:44has become an admiring voyeur,
0:40:44 > 0:40:51and we are one step on the way to sculpture becoming an art object.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57Phrasikleia is determinedly resisting being an art object,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and one thing she is not is coy.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07But the problems of the Greek Revolution don't stop here.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Just a few hundred years after Phrasikleia,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24this is what female sculptures in the Greek world had become.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34This sculpture exposes some of the dangers
0:41:34 > 0:41:36in the pursuit of realism,
0:41:36 > 0:41:42and that blurry and perilous boundary between artefact and flesh.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51This notorious body belongs to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54It is a Roman version of a ground-breaking
0:41:54 > 0:41:57statue by the sculptor Praxiteles
0:41:57 > 0:41:59in the fourth century BC.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03In the ancient world, this was celebrated
0:42:03 > 0:42:07as a milestone in classical art
0:42:07 > 0:42:11because it was the first naked statue of a woman.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16Today, it's difficult to see beyond
0:42:16 > 0:42:19the ubiquity of images like this
0:42:19 > 0:42:22and recapture just how daring and dangerous
0:42:22 > 0:42:25it would have been for the ancient Greeks.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31This sculpture broke through social conventions.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36It wasn't just that up to this point
0:42:36 > 0:42:39female statues had been clothed.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43In some parts of the Greek world, real-life women -
0:42:43 > 0:42:46at least among the upper-class - went around veiled.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51But, in fact, it wasn't just the nakedness -
0:42:51 > 0:42:57this Aphrodite broke the mould in a decidedly erotic way.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04Just look at her hands.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Are they modestly trying to cover herself up?
0:43:09 > 0:43:12Are they pointing us in the direction
0:43:12 > 0:43:13of what we want to see most?
0:43:15 > 0:43:17Or are they simply a tease?
0:43:20 > 0:43:21Whatever the answer,
0:43:21 > 0:43:27Praxiteles has established that edgy relationship
0:43:27 > 0:43:29between a statue of a woman
0:43:29 > 0:43:31and an assumed male viewer
0:43:31 > 0:43:33that has never been lost
0:43:33 > 0:43:35from the history of European art.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41But that difficult boundary between statue and flesh
0:43:41 > 0:43:44was understood by the Greeks themselves.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49They told a tale that shows how they, too, knew of the perils
0:43:49 > 0:43:52they faced in creating what they saw
0:43:52 > 0:43:55as realistic images of the human body.
0:43:56 > 0:44:01One night, it was said, a young man became so aroused by this statue,
0:44:01 > 0:44:07he forced himself upon it, leaving a stain of lust on her thigh.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12He later threw himself over a cliff to his death, in shame.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20That story of the stain not only shows
0:44:20 > 0:44:24how a female statue can drive a man mad,
0:44:24 > 0:44:29but also how art can act as an alibi
0:44:29 > 0:44:32for what was - let's face it - rape.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Don't forget - Aphrodite never consented.
0:44:40 > 0:44:41But however troubling
0:44:41 > 0:44:44the Greek Revolution was in its own time,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48there's a deeper legacy that reaches the modern age.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50One to which we are often blind.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04Inherited by Ancient Rome, rekindled in the European Renaissance,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08faith in the Greek version of realism persisted through time.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22And as the reverence for the classical style grew,
0:45:22 > 0:45:25it would be invested with even greater meaning.
0:45:27 > 0:45:32Not just as a model for figurative art to aspire to,
0:45:32 > 0:45:37but nothing less than a barometer of civilisation itself.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44To understand the forces at work,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48you have to follow in the footsteps of the classical bodies
0:45:48 > 0:45:51that left their original habitat of Greece and Rome...
0:45:56 > 0:45:58..and by the 18th century
0:45:58 > 0:46:03had found themselves in distinctly foreign worlds,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06adorning the mansions and palaces of Northern Europe.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17Syon House was once the fashionable country house
0:46:17 > 0:46:20of the first Duke and Duchess of Northumberland.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29In the mid-1700s, they transformed the house
0:46:29 > 0:46:34into a vivid and imagined expression of the classical world.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Here, we're in the company of ancient bodies -
0:46:43 > 0:46:46both originals and imitations.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52And it can seem an oppressive space
0:46:52 > 0:46:54in which no other way
0:46:54 > 0:46:57of representing the human form is permitted.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05The climactic set piece of the house
0:47:05 > 0:47:07is in a central hall
0:47:07 > 0:47:11where two great masterpieces of ancient sculpture face off.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16At one end, the Dying Gaul...
0:47:18 > 0:47:21..a figure who is said to embody the ancient virtue
0:47:21 > 0:47:24of nobility in defeat.
0:47:29 > 0:47:30But in this room,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34he is forever overshadowed by what stands opposite.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49By far the most important sculpture in the entire house is this one.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53It's a replica of a classical work
0:47:53 > 0:47:56originally made perhaps around 300 BC.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01In the 18th century, it would achieve
0:48:01 > 0:48:07unparalleled fame as the greatest sculpture ever made.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09He is known as the Apollo Belvedere.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17The Apollo takes his name from the Belvedere Sculpture Court
0:48:17 > 0:48:21in the Vatican, where, since the early 16th century,
0:48:21 > 0:48:23he stood on display.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Lovely as he is, that is probably where he would have stayed,
0:48:28 > 0:48:34one sculpture among many, had it not been for the international fame
0:48:34 > 0:48:39given to him by one man - Johann Joachim Winckelmann.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45"This was quite simply", he wrote,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48"the most sublime statue of antiquity
0:48:48 > 0:48:50"to have escaped destruction.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55"An eternal spring time," he went on,
0:48:55 > 0:49:00"clothes the alluring virility of his mature years
0:49:00 > 0:49:03"with a pleasing youth
0:49:03 > 0:49:09"and plays with soft tenderness upon the lofty structure of his limbs."
0:49:10 > 0:49:13"How is it possible," he asked, "to describe it?"
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Winckelmann had worked his way up as librarian
0:49:20 > 0:49:25and right-hand man to some of the biggest art collectors of the day,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28and, finally, he had become Director of Antiquities
0:49:28 > 0:49:30at the Vatican itself,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34and the author of some of the most important books on art history ever.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Winckelmann was a man who had enthused over
0:49:39 > 0:49:42any number of Greco-Roman bodies,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45but the Apollo Belvedere really tipped him over the edge.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56But Winckelmann offered more than words of adoration.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03He would devise a brand-new theory
0:50:03 > 0:50:06that would leave an awkward and lasting legacy.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11In the library at Syon is the book
0:50:11 > 0:50:15in which Winckelmann first laid out his theories.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21Originally published in 1764,
0:50:21 > 0:50:25it was in these pages that the Apollo was elevated
0:50:25 > 0:50:28above a mere artwork to stand
0:50:28 > 0:50:32as the ultimate symbol of civilisation itself.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40This is Winckelmann's most influential book,
0:50:40 > 0:50:44History Of The Art Of The Ancient World,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46and on the front page, there is, in fact,
0:50:46 > 0:50:51a lovely drawing which includes the Apollo Belvedere.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55And what he did that no-one had systematically done before
0:50:55 > 0:51:00was to say that the best art
0:51:00 > 0:51:05was made at the time of the best politics.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08It was almost as if he was wanting to argue
0:51:08 > 0:51:11that you could track the history,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14the rise and fall of civilisation
0:51:14 > 0:51:17through the rise and fall
0:51:17 > 0:51:19of the representation of the human body.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Winckelmann's views would seduce
0:51:23 > 0:51:26even our most esteemed art historians.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32- KENNETH CLARK:- This is the figure of the most admired
0:51:32 > 0:51:34piece of sculpture in the world.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39The Apollo surely embodies a higher state of civilisation.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43For more than 200 years,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46Greek sculpture was regarded
0:51:46 > 0:51:51as a beacon of a superior Western civilisation.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56The northern imagination takes shape in an image of fear and darkness.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00The Hellenistic imagination
0:52:00 > 0:52:03in an image of harmonised proportion and human reason.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10But for me, Winckelmann's legacy goes even further.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13The inheritance of Winckelmann
0:52:13 > 0:52:19has been a distorting and sometimes divisive lens,
0:52:19 > 0:52:22deeply affecting the way people in the West
0:52:22 > 0:52:25have encountered and judged
0:52:25 > 0:52:28the art of other very different civilisations.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32I think Winckelmann
0:52:32 > 0:52:36has caught us in a narrow way of seeing
0:52:36 > 0:52:39that's difficult to perceive, much harder to escape.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50But there is a place we can pin down the legacy of Winckelmann.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54It is back where we started, with the art of the Olmec.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03It was 1964,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07and Mexico was investing in a new national identity
0:53:07 > 0:53:11that asserted the glories of its ancient past,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14and central to the project was art.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22A new museum was purpose-built
0:53:22 > 0:53:24to showcase the depth of Mexican history...
0:53:27 > 0:53:30..and the treasures of its great civilisations
0:53:30 > 0:53:32laid out for all to see.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36Of vital importance
0:53:36 > 0:53:41was the celebration of Mexico's earliest civilisation -
0:53:41 > 0:53:42the Olmec.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Along with this and other colossal heads
0:53:47 > 0:53:50was an array of extraordinary Olmec bodies.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57This gathering of stone figurines
0:53:57 > 0:53:59was found exactly as you see them.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08Whether religious symbolism or ancient vanity,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11this clay figure clasps a mirror to its chest.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18And what looks like a baby
0:54:18 > 0:54:22was one of hundreds known from Olmec cemeteries.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31But star of the show was a brand-new acquisition.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41It was the statue known as The Olmec Wrestler.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45Its display of anatomical detail
0:54:45 > 0:54:47and Greek-style proportion
0:54:47 > 0:54:51made it one of a kind in Olmec art.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00Held as proof that the Olmec Civilisation
0:55:00 > 0:55:04was every bit as sophisticated as any in the classical world,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07he quickly became a poster boy.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12Not just for the Olmec, but for all of ancient Mexico.
0:55:17 > 0:55:22And it is with The Wrestler that we see the impact of Winckelmann
0:55:22 > 0:55:27and his version of classical form on our Western way of seeing.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40What appeals to us about him are those shades of Greco-Roman art
0:55:40 > 0:55:42that seem to fit with our own expectations
0:55:42 > 0:55:44of artistic achievement -
0:55:44 > 0:55:47the expressive twist of the body,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50the apparently naturalistic muscles
0:55:50 > 0:55:53and strikingly realistic face.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55There's even the name that he's been given
0:55:55 > 0:55:58with its echo of classical Greek sport.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03If this is the work of an outstanding Olmec sculptor,
0:56:03 > 0:56:10it's one who, by chance, got later Western tastes spot-on.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16But so perfectly does he measure up to Western ideals,
0:56:16 > 0:56:21that some now believe that he is, in fact, a fake -
0:56:21 > 0:56:26the work of someone who understood the all pervasive allure
0:56:26 > 0:56:29of the classical style.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32If true, it shows how Winckelmann's legacy
0:56:32 > 0:56:35can cloud our appreciation of other cultures,
0:56:35 > 0:56:39even taint our understanding of the past.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42But, real or fake,
0:56:42 > 0:56:47The Olmec Wrestler shows that ancient images of human figures
0:56:47 > 0:56:52can tell us much about the past, and even more about ourselves.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57When we admire The Olmec Wrestler,
0:56:57 > 0:57:01we are also facing our own assumptions
0:57:01 > 0:57:05about what makes a satisfying image of a human being.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09But it does more than that.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14Because it always shifts the focus onto us as viewers
0:57:14 > 0:57:15and onto our own prejudices.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22So in a way, The Wrestler is an acute reminder
0:57:22 > 0:57:26of one fundamental truth of the art of the body -
0:57:26 > 0:57:29that it's not just about how people in the past
0:57:29 > 0:57:33chose to represent themselves or what they looked like.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37It is also about how we look.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44The Open University has produced a free poster
0:57:44 > 0:57:47that explores the history of different civilisations
0:57:47 > 0:57:48through artefacts.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52To order your free copy, please call...
0:57:58 > 0:58:00Or go to the address on screen
0:58:00 > 0:58:02and follow the links for The Open University.