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| Fragment of a head 440-430 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"Herodotus says: 'I think that the age of Hesiod and Homer was four hundred years before my time and no more. These are the ones who created for the Greeks a theogony, gave to the gods their titles, selected their offices and skills, and reported their different appearances. Since modeling and painting and sculpting were not yet in existence, likenesses of the gods were not even considered. Then there appeared Saurias of Samos, Crato of Sicyon, Cleanthes of Corinth, and a Corinthian maiden. Drawing with shadows was developed by Saurias, who drew a horse in the sun. Painting was invented by Crato, who outlined the shadow of a man and woman on a white tablet. From the maiden came the art of modeling small figures. Enamored with someone, she outlined his shadow on the wall as he was sleeping. Her father, pleased by the precision of the likeness (and being a clay-worker), applied clay to the outline and carved a relief of it. The cast is still preserved at Corinth."
– from Catalogus Architectorum: a lexicon of artists and their works by Franciscus Junius, first published in Latin in 1694, translated and edited by Keith Aldrich, Philipp Fehl and Raina Fel for University of California Press, 1991
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| Bust of a youth 425-300 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a male banqueter 400-300 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a woman 340-300 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a woman 350 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a woman 350-250 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a woman 350 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a woman 425-350 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a woman 450-350 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a youth 300-100 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a youth 300-250 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Musuem, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a man 325-275 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a man 425-400 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Head of a goddess 350-300 BC Greek terracotta from South Italy Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
According to Getty Museum curators, the ancient Greek colonists in Southern Italy made more use of terracotta as material for sculpture than their fellow Greeks on the mainland because the colonists had less access to sculpture-quality marble.