Kritios, Thomas Kuhn, and the “artistic revolution” in Greek art

Abstract

The article deals with the notion of “artistic revolution” and its application to ancient art history, focusing on the alleged impact of the Persian Wars on Greek art, soon after 480. After starting with Thomas Kuhn’s theory and his definition of “scientific revolution” – that is, the rejection of one long-held-theory and the shift of paradigm –, the article intends to shed new light on the transfer of the scientific notion to ancient art, in particular to the Tyrannicides group made by Kritios and Nesiotes in 477/6. In connection to the main topic, the second section investigates the technical term contrapposto and discusses literary sources related to this lemma; the third part is dedicated to the Athenian sculptor Kritios and his style as described in literary sources.