Gudea Votive Statue

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Created in the Neo-Sumerian period, the votive statue of Gudea was created by the ruler of Lagash, Gudea. Gudea was a governor, and he carried out campaigns that helped build and restore many temples. Gudea placed votive figures of himself in temples and shrines as a representation to the gods. In this following essay, I will describe the formal qualities that this statue represents and how it has impacted the culture of art. The votive statue of Gudea was created out of Diorite, a very hard stone used by many sculptors during the Neo-Sumerian period. Because of the hard nature of the material used to create the statue, the statue looks to be more compact and even though it was carved in the round, it still has a solid appearance to it. The garment that Gudea is wearing, as well as his shoulders, add to the flat and two-dimensional aspect of the statue. The depth of the statue is more seen due to the roundness of the hat and face of Gudea. Gudea used a specific color that was a certain type of grey to create this sculpture of himself. Because grey was used, it makes the statue to become more…show more content…
Because one of his arms is shown and not the other, the representation of strength is obvious because of the bulge of the arm muscle, while the other arm is covered by Gudea’s robe. Because of the larger body and head, Gudea primarily focused on the face of the statue as well as the chest and shoulders because it stands out more than the rest of the statue. It brings attention to those specific areas rather than focusing on the other details in the sculpture. The Gudea seems to have something in his hands, what appears to be a vessel that was represented as a “gift”. Looking at the sculpture, specifically looking into his eyes, you can see that they are peeled open widely, which during this time showed strength, strain, and attention while he is looking
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