The
severe style, or
Early Classical style, was the dominant idiom of
Greek sculpture in the period ca. 490 to 450 BCE. It marks the breakdown of the canonical forms of archaic art and the transition to the greatly expanded vocabulary and expression of the classical moment of the late 5th century. It was an international style found at many cities in the Hellenic world and in a variety of media including:
bronze sculpture in the round,
stelae, and
architectural relief. The style perhaps realized its greatest fulfillment in the
metopes of the
Temple of Zeus, Olympia.