Telamones Tula.jpg

In European architectural sculpture, an atlas (also known as an atlant, or atlante or atlantid; plural atlantes)''Aru-Az
, Michael Delahunt
ArtLex Art Dictionary
, 1996–2008. is a support sculpted in the form of a man, which may take the place of a column, a pier or a pilaster. The Roman term for such a sculptural support is telamon (plural telamones or telamons).

The term ''atlantes'' is the Greek plural of the name Atlas—the Titan who was forced to hold the sky on his shoulders for eternity. The alternative term, ''telamones'', also is derived from a later mythological hero, Telamon, one of the Argonauts, who was the father of Ajax.

The caryatid is the female precursor of this architectural form in Greece, a woman standing in the place of each column or pillar. Caryatids are found at the treasuries at Delphi and the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens for Athene. They usually are in an Ionic context and represented a ritual association with the goddesses worshiped within. The Atlante is typically life-size or larger; smaller similar figures in the decorative arts are called terms. The body of many Atlantes turns into a rectangular pillar or other architectural feature around the waist level, a feature borrowed from the term. The pose and expression of Atlantes very often show their effort to bear the heavy load of the building, which is rarely the case with terms and caryatids. The herma or herm is a classical boundary marker or wayside monument to a god which is usually a square pillar with only a carved head on top, about life-size, and male genitals at the appropriate mid-point. Figures that are rightly called Atlantes may sometimes be described as herms.

Atlantes express extreme effort in their function, heads bent forward to support the weight of the structure above them across their shoulders, forearms often lifted to provide additional support, providing an architectural motif. Atlantes and caryatids were noted by the Roman late Republican architect Vitruvius, whose description of the structures, rather than surviving examples, transmitted the idea of atlantes to the Renaissance architectural vocabulary.

Origin

Not only did the Caryatids precede them, but similar architectural figures already had been made in ancient Egypt out of monoliths. Atlantes originated in Greek Sicily and in Magna Graecia, Southern Italy. The earliest surviving atlantes are fallen ones from the Early Classical Greek temple of Zeus, the ''Olympeion'', in Agrigento, Sicily. Atlantes, however, have played a more significant role in Mannerist and Baroque architecture.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many buildings were built with glorious atlantes that look much like the Greek ones. Their selection from the two proposed designs—the other design using Caryatids—for the entrance of the Hermitage Museum that was built for Tsar Nicholas I of Russia made atlantes become even more fashionable. The portico of this building has ten enormous atlantes, approximately three times life-size, carved from Serdobol granite, which were designed by Johann Halbig and executed by the sculptor Alexander Terebenev.

Mesoamerica

Similar carved stone columns or pillars in the shape of fierce men at some sites of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica are typically called Atlantean figures. These figures are considered to be "massive statues of Toltec warriors".

Examples

* Basilica di Santa Croce, Lecce, Italy
*Casa degli Omenoni, Milan, Italy
*Church of ''St. Georg'', Hamburg, Germany
*Dům U Čtyř mamlasů, Brno, Czech Republic
*Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
*House in Kanałowa Str. 17, Poznań, Poland
*Palazzo Davia Bargellini, Bologna, Italy
*Pavilion Vendôme, Aix-en-Provence, France
* Porta Nuova, Palermo, Italy
*Sanssouci, Potsdam, Germany
*Sunshine Marketplace, Victoria, Australia
*Temple of Olympian Zeus, Valle dei Templi, Agrigento, Italy
*Tyszkiewicz Palace, Warsaw, Poland
* Zwinger Palace, Germany
*Wayne County Courthouse, Wooster, Ohio, United States

Gallery

Thelemon in situ - Model of Temple of Zeus - Museo Archeologico Regionale - Agrigento - Italy 2015.JPG, Ancient Greek atlantes of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Agrigento, Sicily, original 5th century, Museo Archeologico Regionale, Agrigento

File:Atlantes cathedrale Sainte-Marie Oloron.jpg, Romanesque atlantes in chains, Oloron Cathedral, Paris, France

Chapiteau mozac atlantes 2.JPG, Romanesque capital with atlantes, Abbey of Saint-Pierre Mozac, Mozac, France

Fontainebleau - Le château - PA00086975 - 077.jpg, Renaissance fireplace with atlantes in the ballroom of the Palace of Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau, France

Hôtel de Ville (ancien) - Façade sur rue - Portail - Toulon - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00004290.jpg, Baroque atlantes of the Hôtel de Ville doorway, Toulon, France, by Pierre Puget, 1656

File:Herkulen Gartensaal Schloss Schleissheim.jpg, Rococo atlantes as decoration in Schleissheim Palace, Munich, Germany

File:Sans Souci 2.jpg, Rococo atlantes at Sanssouci, Potsdam, Germany

File:Atlantes-Saint Petersburg-6.jpg, Neoclassical atlantes of the New Hermitage, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Palatul domnitorului Alexandru Ioan Cuza (azi Muzeul „Unirii” - Complexul Național Muzeal Moldova) (2).jpg, Baroque Revival atlases on the Catargiu House, today the Union Museum, Iași, Romania

Entrée monumentale 15 rue du Louvre.jpg, Beaux Arts atlantes at a monumental entrance on Rue du Louvre, Paris

Paris 45 rue Saint-Roch 2012 02.jpg, Beaux Arts atlantes on Rue Saint-Roch no. 45, Paris

See also

*Telamon

References

Bibliography

*
*{{cite EB1911, wstitle=Telamones, volume=26

Columns and entablature
Architectural sculpture
Architectural history
Ancient Greek architecture
Ancient Roman architecture
Atlas (mythology)
Sculptures of Greek gods