The British Museum, London
The British History Museum in London arguably has one of the greatest collections of ancient artifacts and art in the world. It is not difficult to see why when you walk inside. It is impossible to cover the whole thing in one day!
These are Assyrian Lamassu, which means bull-man, statues. They used to flank the entrance to the throne room of Ashurbanipal and date back to the 6th century BC. They were revolutionary to the art world due to the fact that the artist attempted to make the statues look as though they were in motion. Each lamassu has an extra leg, so that as the viewer passed into the throne room, they appeared to be walking.
So, why, out of all the artifacts in the British Museum, did I decide to post a picture of these guys? For whatever reason, I distinctly remember discussing these particular statues in my summer art 100 class. I was so excited to get to see them. =)
10 comments:
Hello, I am currently taking ART3 and we too had a class discussion regarding these extraordinary guardian-protectors, human-headed winged lion. I was particularly interested in this statue Lamassu , because of the height and the way the legs were presented. Frontal view seems like the human headed winged lion is calm and still, but from the side, it looks like its striding or in motion with 5 legs!I am impressed by just looking at the pictures from books, internet sources and can imagine how mesmerizing it will be to get a chance to see it upclose face to face!
Hello, I also am taking Art 3 right now and it is wonderful to see a piece of artwork that out class has just recently discussed. This ancient artwork gives me chills just looking at it, it is amazing to have that effect on people. It is great engineering the fact that they created the extra leg to make people presume that is truly is walking amongst you. It seems so gracious, the face so stern yet relaxed. Thank you for posting this picture.
It is easy to see why this is the guardian to cities and palaces. The eagle, a very powerful bird symbolises the king's power as he looks over the ones he rules .The crowned human head represents intelligence, with the face of the Lamassu carved to represent the king who ruled at the time the sculpture was created. The head is a crown, which has horns which was a sign of divinity. I can image looking at this in person "WOW"
Robert Kierna Art 3 Summer
the half-man half-bull with their expressionless faces look like they are guards for Ashurbanipal. I also think that the artist's choice of using bulls were a good idea since it symbolizes power, bravery, and strength, the same characteristics that guards should have.
It seems like I'm always interested in mythological figures when it comes down to sculptures. When I first saw this sculture, it reminded me of the Sphinx, the half cat half man creature in Egyptian history. The half bull half man creature made me wonder if the creators of the two artworks were related in any way... Insightful art piece!
Without knowing what this is, i can guess its used for some kind of guardian just the way it looks! awesome.
Its so awesome how the Assyrian Lamassu was crafted in such a way that stiled sulpture can be seen as if it is in motion.
Nathernell Nelson
This sculpture is extraordinary as the artist is given a small area by which to make the piece and does such a great job in that. This sculpture is unique and different as the animal's body parts are so unique and defined while also maintaining an animal like appearance when wearing human like head wear and protection.
Brandon Tatera-Art 5
the lamassu is an amazing sculpture because the assyrians gave the creature the vibe as if it were to walk or move. it has unique image because its combined with several aimals as well as giving rule of saying im powerful what about you.
We discussed this in class as well. I love that they used techniques to show movement in the legs by adding a 5th leg the the sculpture.
((Macass Dodson))
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