The archaic tradition in Greece was the first time Greeks expressed interest in the human form and its musculature; however, those statues originated not in Greece but in Egypt, where the Ka statues represented the dead and were the first recorded instances of upright human figures that were almost anatomically correct.

First take note of the form and composition of the piece. The boxer has correct proportions- he is idealized and athletic. All of the answers allude to this. Take special note, though, of his emotional appearance. He is not stoic, and certainly not sultry. And since the use of bronze is not novel for Hellenistic Greece, the answer must be that he is in anguish, though perfectly moulded.

The boxer is not carved from stone; he is not carved at all. The sculptor used the lost wax process wherein the piece is made from bronze. Note the green tinge, indication of the oxidation of the metal. This is standard for all Greek pieces (it was the Romans who coped classical works using marble instead of metal).

The development of deep drillwork, which made the "corkscrew" curls of this portrait possible, occurred during the Flavian dynasty (Roman Early Imperial.)

Image: Portrait bust of a young Flavian woman, potentially Julia, daughter of Titus. Marble. c. 80-90 BCE. See page for author [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matronalivia2.jpg.

Contrapposto was the signature pose used in Greek and, through Grecian influence, Roman statuary. Literally the Italian for “counter-pose,” The sculpture of The Augustus of Prima Porta follows contrapposto perfectly. Augustus has one foot in front of the other, with his shoulders turned to face the viewer, creating tension and movement in the overall pose of the figure but a relaxed posture in the subject.

Greek and Roman sculpture, especially large-scale monumental works, was usually made out of marble. Needing fine skill and technical ability, marble was also imposing and costly, demonstrating the value of the work carved from the material. While generally perceived as finished when viewed as plain white marble, Roman sculptors finished their works with a brightly colored layer of paint to give fine detail to the sculpture.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue-Augustus.jpg

The Etruscan civilization flourished between about 800 and 200 BCE in the northern Italian peninsula. As represented by this work, the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Etruscans created large scale sculptures in terra cotta that were remarkable images of human figures, especially in funerary monuments such as this piece. Etruscan art was highly influential on Roman art, particularly after the Roman Empire generally overtook the Etruscan lands in Northern Italy.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louvre-Lens_-_Les_Étrusques_et_la_Méditerranée_-_191_-_Paris,_musée_du_Louvre,_DAGER,_Cp_5194_(Sarcophage_des_Époux)_(A).JPG

The Etruscan sculpture The Sarcophagus of the Spouses presents a married couple, lounging in an embrace at a dinner or a party. As this is a funerary monument, this pose is supposed to represent the lasting image of the couple, which indicates that this couple and Etruscan society in general greatly valued genuine affection between married couples. This kind of pose stands in stark contrast to Greek and Roman sculpture which often presented subjects in stern poses and also tended to separate men and women.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louvre-Lens_-_Les_Étrusques_et_la_Méditerranée_-_191_-_Paris,_musée_du_Louvre,_DAGER,_Cp_5194_(Sarcophage_des_Époux)_(A).JPG

Greek sculpture evolved as the people did, going from a stylized figure with Eastern tendencies and aesthetic qualities to a more natural, highly realistic sculpted figure. Though answers three of the answers have vocabulary related to the Greek aesthetic, they represent a de-evolution of Greek figure studies. The correct answer choice is the only one whose chronology is correct. This question tests a student's ability to recognize large patterns within aesthetic traditions while associating important words with the culture: contrapossto, anthropomorphized, and stylized are all features of Greek sculpture a student needs to recognize. The trick in this question is for the student to frame this vocabulary, and the movements they represent, within the histories they are a part of in a chronologically accurate way.

Concern with the way the figure moves is the best answer. Greek sculptures evolved to look like a living, breathing figure. The contrapossto style, while looking more natural, also makes the figure appear to be in motion, or capable of movement. By focusing on how the figure moves, artists more accurately depicted how it is. The emphasis is on external function, not internal, evolving to focus on not only how the figure moves through space, but also through time, as late Greek statues focused on the process of aging. Either way, an increasing realism across the chronology of Greek sculpture directly correlates to a heightened concern with movement.