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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4390.txt b/4390.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b54e56 --- /dev/null +++ b/4390.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5654 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of A History Of Greek Art, by F. B. Tarbell + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +A History of Greek Art + +With an Introductory Chapter on Art in Egypt and Mesopotamia + +BY F. B. TARBELL + +PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The art of any artistically gifted people may be studied with +various purposes and in various ways. One man, being himself an +artist, may seek inspiration or guidance for his own practice; +another, being a student of the history of civilization, may +strive to comprehend the products of art as one manifestation of a +people's spiritual life; another may be interested chiefly in +tracing the development of artistic processes, forms, and +subjects; and so on. But this book has been written in the +conviction that the greatest of all motives for studying art, the +motive which is and ought to be strongest in most people, is the +desire to become acquainted with beautiful and noble things, the +things that "soothe the cares and lift the thoughts of man." The +historical method of treatment has been adopted as a matter of +course, but the emphasis is not laid upon the historical aspects +of the subject. The chief aim has been to present characteristic +specimens of the finest Greek work that has been preserved to us, +and to suggest how they may be intelligently enjoyed. Fortunate +they who can carry their studies farther, with the help of less +elementary handbooks, of photographs, of casts, or, best of all, +of the original monuments. + +Most of the illustrations in this book have been made from +photographs, of which all but a few belong to the collection of +Greek photographs owned by the University of Chicago. A number of +other illustrations have been derived from books or serial +publications, as may be seen from the accompanying legends. In +several cases where cuts were actually taken from secondary +sources, such as Baumeister's "Denkmaler des klassischen +Altertums," they have been credited to their original sources. A +few architectural drawings were made expressly for this work, +being adapted from trustworthy authorities, viz.: Figs. 6, 51, 61, +and 64. There remain two or three additional illustrations, which +have so long formed a part of the ordinary stock-in trade of +handbooks that it seemed unnecessary to assign their origin. + +The introductory chapter has been kindly looked over by Dr. J. H. +Breasted, who has relieved it of a number of errors, without in +any way making himself responsible for it. The remaining chapters +have unfortunately not had the benefit of any such revision. + +In the present reissue of this book a number of slight changes and +corrections have been introduced. + +Chicago, January, 1905. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. ART IN EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA + II. PREHISTORIC ART IN GREECE + III. GREEK ARCHITECTURE + IV. GREEK SCULPTURE--GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS + V. THE ARCHAIC PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE, FIRST HALF: 625 (?)-550 B.C. + VI. THE ARCHAIC PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE. SECOND HALF: 550-480 B. C. + VII. THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE. 480-4506. C. +VIII. THE GREAT AGE OF GREEK SCULPTURE. FIRST PERIOD: 450-400 B. C. + IX. THE GREAT AGE OF GREEK SCULPTURE. SECOND PERIOD: 400-323 B. C. + X. THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE. 323-146 B. C. + XI. GREEK PAINTING + + + + + +A HISTORY OF GREEK ART. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ART IN EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA. + + +The history of Egypt, from the time of the earliest extant +monuments to the absorption of the country in the Roman Empire, +covers a space of some thousands of years. This long period was +not one of stagnation. It is only in proportion to our ignorance +that life in ancient Egypt seems to have been on one dull, dead +level. Dynasties rose and fell. Foreign invaders occupied the land +and were expelled again. Customs, costumes, beliefs, institutions, +underwent changes. Of course, then, art did not remain stationary. +On the contrary, it had marked vicissitudes, now displaying great +freshness and vigor, now uninspired and monotonous, now seemingly +dead, and now reviving to new activity. In Babylonia we deal with +perhaps even remoter periods of time, but the artistic remains at +present known from that quarter are comparatively scanty. From +Assyria, however, the daughter of Babylonia, materials abound, and +the history of that country can be written in detail for a period +of several centuries. Naturally, then, even a mere sketch of +Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian art would require much more +space than is here at disposal. All that can be attempted is to +present a few examples and suggest a few general notions. The main +purpose will be to make clearer by comparison and contrast the +essential qualities of Greek art, to which this volume is devoted. + +I begin with Egypt, and offer at the outset a table of the most +important periods of Egyptian history. The dates are taken from +the sketch prefixed to the catalogue of Egyptian antiquities in +the Berlin Museum. In using them the reader must bear in mind that +the earlier Egyptian chronology is highly uncertain. Thus the date +here suggested for the Old Empire, while it cannot be too early, +may be a thousand years too late. As we come down, the margin of +possible error grows less and less. The figures assigned to the +New Empire are regarded as trustworthy within a century or two. +But only when we reach the Saite dynasty do we get a really +precise chronology. + +Chief Periods of Egyptian History: + +OLD EMPIRE, with capital at Memphis; Dynasties 4-5 (2800-2500 B. +C. or earlier) and Dynasty 6. + +MIDDLE EMPIRE, with capital at Thebes; Dynasties 11-13 (2200-1800 +B. C. or earlier). + +NEW EMPIRE, with capital at Thebes; Dynasties 17-20 (ca. 1600-1100 +B. C.). + +SAITE PERIOD; Dynasty 26 (663-525 B. C.). + +One of the earliest Egyptian sculptures now existing, though +certainly not earlier than the Fourth Dynasty, is the great Sphinx +of Gizeh (Fig. 1). The creature crouches in the desert, a few +miles to the north of the ancient Memphis, just across the Nile +from the modern city of Cairo. With the body of a lion and the +head of a man, it represented a solar deity and was an object of +worship. It is hewn from the living rock and is of colossal size, +the height from the base to the top of the head being about 70 +feet and the length of the body about 150 feet. The paws and +breast were originally covered with a limestone facing. The +present dilapidated condition of the monument is due partly to the +tooth of time, but still more to wanton mutilation at the hands of +fanatical Mohammedans. The body is now almost shapeless. The nose, +the beard, and the lower part of the head dress are gone. The face +is seamed with scars. Yet the strange monster still preserves a +mysterious dignity, as though it were guardian of all the secrets +of ancient Egypt, but disdained to betray them + +"The art which conceived and carved this prodigious statue," says +Professor Maspero [Footnote: Manual of Egyptian Archaeology second +edition 1895 page 208] "was a finished art, an art which had +attained self mastery, and was sure of its effects. How many +centuries had it taken to arrive at this degree of maturity and +perfection?" It is impossible to guess. The long process of self- +schooling in artistic methods which must have preceded this work +is hidden from us. We cannot trace the progress of Egyptian art +from its timid, awkward beginnings to the days of its conscious +power, as we shall find ourselves able to do in the case of Greek +art. The evidence is annihilated, or is hidden beneath the sand +of the desert, perhaps to be one day revealed. Should that day +come, a new first chapter in the history of Egyptian art will have +to be written. + +There are several groups of pyramids, large and small at Gizeh and +elsewhere, almost all of which belong to the Old Empire. The +three great pyramids of Gizeh are among the earliest. They were +built by three kings of the Fourth Dynisty, Cheops (Chufu), +Chephren (Chafre), and Mycerinus (Menkere) They are gigantic +sepulchral monuments in which the mummies of the kings who built +them were deposited. The pyramid of Cheops (Fig. 1, at the right), +the largest of all, was originally 481 feet 4 inches in height, +and was thus doubtless the loftiest structure ever reared in pre- +Christian times. The side of the square base measured 755 feet 8 +inches. The pyramidal mass consists in the main of blocks of +limestone, and the exterior was originally cased with fine +limestone, so that the surfaces were perfectly smooth. At present +the casing is gone, and instead of a sharp point at the top there +is a platform about thirty feet square. In the heart of the mass +was the granite chamber where the king's mummy was laid. It was +reached by an ingenious system of passages, strongly barricaded. +Yet all these precautions were ineffectual to save King Cheops +from the hand of the spoiler. Chephren's pyramid (Fig. 1, at the +left) is not much smaller than that of Cheops, its present height +being about 450 feet, while the height of the third of this group, +that of Mycerinus, is about 210 feet. No wonder that the pyramids +came to be reckoned among the seven wonders of the world. + +While kings erected pyramids to serve as their tombs, officials of +high rank were buried in, or rather under, structures of a +different type, now commonly known under the Arabic name of +mastabas. The mastaba may be described as a block of masonry of +limestone or sun-dried brick, oblong in plan, with the sides +built "battering," i.e., sloping inward, and with a flat top. It +had no architectural merits to speak of, and therefore need not +detain us. It is worth remarking, however, that some of these +mastabas contain genuine arches, formed of unbaked bricks. The +knowledge and use of the arch in Egypt go back then to at least +the period of the Old Empire. But the chief interest of the +mastabas lies in the fact that they have preserved to us most of +what we possess of early Egyptian sculpture. For in a small, +inaccessible chamber (serdab) reserved in the mass of masonry were +placed one or more portrait statues of the owner, and often of his +wife and other members of his household, while the walls of +another and larger chamber, which served as a chapel for the +celebration of funeral rites, were often covered with painted bas- +reliefs, representing scenes from the owner's life or whatever in +the way of funeral offering and human activity could minister to +his happiness. + +One of the best of the portrait statues of this period is the +famous "Sheikh-el-Beled" (Chief of the Village), attributed to +the Fourth or Fifth Dynasty (Fig. 2). The name was given by the +Arab workmen, who, when the figure was first brought to light in +the cemetery of Sakkarah, thought they saw in it the likeness of +their own sheikh. The man's real name, if he was the owner of the +mastaba from whose serdab he was taken, was Ra-em-ka. The figure +is less than life-sized, being a little over three and one half +feet in height. It is of wood, a common material for sculpture in +Egypt. The arms were made separately (the left of two pieces) and +attached at the shoulders. The feet, which had decayed, have been +restored. Originally the figure was covered with a coating of +linen, and this with stucco, painted. "The eyeballs are of opaque +white quartz, set in a bronze sheath, which forms the eyelids; in +the center of each there is a bit of rock-crystal, and behind this +a shining nail" [Footnote: Musee de Gizeh: Notice Sommaire +(1892).]--a contrivance which produces a marvelously realistic +effect. The same thing, or something like it, is to be seen in +other statues of the period. The attitude of Ra-em-ka is the usual +one of Egyptian standing figures of all periods: the left leg is +advanced; both feet are planted flat on the ground; body and head +face squarely forward. The only deviation from the most usual type +is in the left arm, which is bent at the elbow, that the hand may +grasp the staff of office. More often the arms both hang at the +sides, the hands clenched, as in the admirable limestone figure of +the priest, Ra-nofer (Fig. 3). + +The cross-legged scribe of the Louvre (Fig. 4) illustrates another +and less stereotyped attitude. This figure was found in the tomb +of one Sekhem-ka, along with two statues of the owner and a group +of the owner, his wife, and son. The scribe was presumably in the +employ of Sekhem-ka. The figure is of limestone, the commonest +material for these sepulchral statues, and, according to the +unvarying practice, was completely covered with color, still in +good preservation. The flesh is of a reddish brown, the regular +color for men. The eyes are similar to those of the Sheikh-el- +Beled. The man is seated with his legs crossed under him; a strip +of papyrus, held by his left hand, rests upon his lap; his right +hand held a pen. + +The head shown in Fig. 5 belongs to a group, if we may give that +name to two figures carved from separate blocks of limestone and +seated stiffly side by side. Egyptian sculpture in the round never +created a genuine, integral group, in which two or more figures +are so combined that no one is intelligible without the rest; that +achievement was reserved for the Greeks. The lady in this case was +a princess; her husband, by whom she sits, a high priest of +Heliopolis. She is dressed in a long, white smock, in which there +is no indication of folds. On her head is a wig, from under which, +in front, her own hair shows. Her flesh is yellow, the +conventional tint for women, as brownish red was for men. Her eyes +are made of glass. + +The specimens given have been selected with the purpose of showing +the sculpture of the Old Empire at its best. The all-important +fact to notice is the realism of these portraits. We shall see +that Greek sculpture throughout its great period tends toward the +typical and the ideal in the human face and figure. Not so in +Egypt. Here the task of the artist was to make a counterfeit +presentment of his subject and he has achieved his task at times +with marvelous skill. Especially the heads of the best statues +have an individuality and lifelikeness which have hardly been +surpassed in any age. But let not our admiration blind us to the +limitations of Egyptian art. The sculptor never attains to freedom +in the posing of his figures. Whether the subject sits, stands, +kneels, or squats, the body and head always face directly forward. +And we look in vain for any appreciation on the sculptor's part of +the beauty of the athletic body or of the artistic possibilities +of drapery. + +There is more variety of pose in the painted bas-reliefs with +which the walls of the mastaba chapels are covered. Here are +scenes of agriculture, cattle-tending, fishing, bread-making, and +so on, represented with admirable vivacity, though with certain +fixed conventionalities of style. There are endless entertainment +and instruction for us in these pictures of old Egyptian life. Yet +no more here than in the portrait statues do we find a feeling for +beauty of form or a poetic, idealizing touch. + +As from the Old Empire, so from the Middle Empire, almost the only +works of man surviving to us are tombs and their contents. These +tombs have no longer the simple mastaba form, but are either built +up of sun-dried brick in the form of a block capped by a pyramid +or are excavated in the rock. The former class offers little +interest from the architectural point of view. But some of the +rock-cut tombs of Beni-hasan, belonging to the Twelfth Dynasty, +exhibit a feature which calls for mention. These tombs have been +so made as to leave pillars of the living rock standing, both at +the entrance and in the chapel. The simplest of these pillars are +square in plan and somewhat tapering. Others, by the chamfering +off of their edges, have been made eight-sided. A repetition of +the process gave sixteen-sided pillars. The sixteen sides were +then hollowed out (channeled). The result is illustrated by Fig. +6. It will be observed that the pillar has a low, round base, with +beveled edge; also, at the top, a square abacus, which is simply a +piece of the original four-sided pillar, left untouched. Such +polygonal pillars as these are commonly called proto-Doric +columns. The name was given in the belief that these were the +models from which the Greeks derived their Doric columns, and this +belief is still held by many authorities. + +With the New Empire we begin to have numerous and extensive +remains of temples, while those of an earlier date have mostly +disappeared. Fig. 7 may afford some notion of what an Egyptian +temple was like. This one is at Luxor, on the site of ancient +Thebes in Upper Egypt. It is one of the largest of all, being over +800 feet in length. Like many others, it was not originally +planned on its present scale, but represents two or three +successive periods of construction, Ramses II., of the Nineteenth +Dynasty, having given it its final form by adding to an already +finished building all that now stands before the second pair of +towers. As so extended, the building has three pylons, as they are +called, pylon being the name for the pair of sloping-sided towers +with gateway between. Behind the first pylon comes an open court +surrounded by a cloister with double rows of columns. The second +and third pylons are connected with one another by a covered +passage--an exceptional feature. Then comes a second open court; +then a hypostyle hall, i.e., a hall with flat roof supported by +columns; and finally, embedded in the midst of various chambers, +the relatively small sanctuary, inaccessible to all save the king +and the priests. Notice the double line of sphinxes flanking the +avenue of approach, the two granite obelisks at the entrance, and +the four colossal seated figures in granite representing Ramses +II.--all characteristic features. + +Fig. 8 is taken from a neighboring and still more gigantic temple, +that of Karnak. Imagine an immense hall, 170 feet deep by 329 feet +broad. Down the middle run two rows of six columns each (the +nearest ones in the picture have been restored), nearly seventy +feet high. They have campaniform (bell-shaped) capitals. On either +side are seven rows of shorter columns, somewhat more than forty +feet high. These, as may be indistinctly seen at the right of our +picture, have capitals of a different type, called, from their +origin rather than from their actual appearance, lotiform or +lotus-bud capitals. There was a clerestory over the four central +rows of columns, with windows in its walls. The general plan, +therefore, of this hypostyle hall has some resemblance to that of +a Christian basilica, but the columns are much more numerous and +closely set. Walls and columns were covered with hieroglyphic +texts and sculptured and painted scenes. The total effect of this +colossal piece of architecture, even in its ruin, is one of +overwhelming majesty. No other work of human hands strikes the +beholder with such a sense of awe. + +Fig. 9 is a restoration of one of the central columns of this +hall. Except for one fault, say Messrs. Perrot and +Chipiez,[Footnote: "Histoire de l'Art Egypte," page 576. The +translation given above differs from that in the English edition +of Perrot and Chipiez, "Art in Ancient Egypt," Vol. II., page +123.] "this column would be one of the most admirable creations of +art; it would hardly be inferior to the most perfect columns of +Greece." The one fault--a grave one to a critical eye--is the +meaningless and inappropriate block inserted between the capital +and the horizontal beam which it is the function of the column to +support. The type of column used in the side aisles of the hall at +Karnak is illustrated by Fig. 10, taken from another temple. It is +much less admirable, the contraction of the capital toward the top +producing an unpleasant effect. + +Other specimens of these two types of column vary widely from +those of Karnak, for Egyptian architects did not feel obliged, +like Greek architects, to conform, with but slight liberty of +deviation, to established canons of form and proportion. Nor are +these two by any means the only forms of support used in the +temple architecture of the New Empire. The "proto-Doric" column +continued in favor under the New Empire, though apparently not +later; we find it, for example, in some of the outlying buildings +at Karnak. Then there was the column whose capital was adorned +with four heads in relief of the goddess Hathor, not to speak of +other varieties. Whatever the precise form of the support, it was +always used to carry a horizontal beam. Although the Egyptians +were familiar from very early times with the principle of the +arch, and although examples of its use occur often enough under +the New Empire, we do not find columns or piers used, as in Gothic +architecture, to carry a vaulting. In fact, the genuine vault is +absent from Egyptian temple architecture, although in the Temple +of Abydos false or corbelled vaults (cf. page 49) do occur. + +Egyptian architects were not gifted with a fine feeling for +structural propriety or unity. A few of their small temples are +simple and coherent in plan and fairly tasteful in details. But it +is significant that a temple could always be enlarged by the +addition of parts not contemplated in the original design. The +result in such a case was a vast, rambling edifice, whose merits +consisted in the imposing character of individual parts, rather +than in an organic and symmetrical relation of parts to whole. + +Statues of the New Empire are far more numerous than those of any +other period, but few of them will compare in excellence with the +best of those of the Old Empire. Colossal figures of kings abound, +chiseled with infinite patience from granite and other obdurate +rocks. All these and others may be passed over in order to make +room for a statue in the Louvre (Fig. 11), which is chosen, not +because of its artistic merits, but because of its material and +its subject. It is of bronze, somewhat over three feet in height, +thus being the largest Egyptian bronze statue known. It was cast +in a single piece, except for the arms, which were cast separately +and attached. The date of it is in dispute, one authority +assigning it to the Eighteenth Dynasty and another bringing it +down as late as the seventh century B.C. Be that as it may, the +art of casting hollow bronze figures is of high antiquity in +Egypt. The figure represents a hawk-headed god, Horus, who once +held up some object, probably a vase for libations. Egyptian +divinities are often represented with the heads of animals-- +Anubis with the head of a jackal, Hathor with that of a cow, Sebek +with that of a crocodile, and so on. This in itself shows a lack +of nobility in the popular theology. Moreover it is clear that the +best talents of sculptors were engaged upon portraits of kings and +queens and other human beings, not upon figures of the gods. The +latter exist by the thousand, to be sure, but they are generally +small statuettes, a few inches high, in bronze, wood, or faience. +And even if sculptors had been encouraged to do their best in +bodying forth the forms of gods, they would hardly have achieved +high success. The exalted imagination was lacking. + +Among the innumerable painted bas-reliefs covering the walls of +tombs and temples, those of the great Temple of Abydos in Upper +Egypt hold a high place. One enthusiastic art critic has gone so +far as to pronounce them "the most perfect, the most noble bas- +reliefs ever chiseled." A specimen of this work, now, alas! more +defaced than is here shown, is given in Fig. 12. King Seti I. of +the Nineteenth Dynasty stands in an attitude of homage before a +seated divinity, of whom almost nothing appears in the +illustration. On the palm of his right hand he holds a figure of +Maat, goddess of truth. In front of him is a libation-standard, on +which rests a bunch of lotus flowers, buds, and leaves. The first +remark to be made about this work is that it is genuine relief. +The forms are everywhere modeled, whereas in much of what is +commonly called bas-relief in Egypt, the figures are only outlined +and the spaces within the outlines are left flat. As regards the +treatment of the human figure, we have here the stereotyped +Egyptian conventions. The head, except the eye, is in profile, the +shoulders in front view, the abdomen in three-quarters view, the +legs again in profile. As a result of the distortion of the body, +the arms are badly attached at the shoulders. Furthermore the +hands, besides being very badly drawn, have in this instance the +appearance of being mismated with the arms, while both feet look +like right feet. The dress consists of the usual loin-cloth and of +a thin, transparent over-garment, indicated only by a line in +front and below. Now surely no one will maintain that these +methods and others of like sort which there is no opportunity here +to illustrate are the most artistic ever devised. Nevertheless +serious technical faults and shortcomings may coexist with great +merits of composition and expression. So it is in this relief of +Seti. The design is stamped with unusual refinement and grace. The +theme is hackneyed enough, but its treatment here raises it above +the level of commonplace. + +Egyptian bas-reliefs were always completely covered with paint, +laid on in uniform tints. Paintings on a flat surface differ in no +essential respect from these painted bas-reliefs. The conventional +and untruthful methods of representing the human form, as well as +other objects--buildings, landscapes, etc.--are the same in the +former as in the latter. The coloring, too, is of the same sort, +there being no attempt to render gradations of color due to the +play of light and shade. Fig. 13, a lute-player from a royal tomb +of the Eighteenth Dynasty, illustrates some of these points. The +reader who would form an idea of the composition of extensive +scenes must consult works more especially devoted to Egyptian art. +He will be rewarded with many a vivid picture of ancient Egyptian +life. + +Art was at a low ebb in Egypt during the centuries of Libyan and +Ethiopian domination which succeeded the New Empire. There was a +revival under the Saite monarchy in the seventh and sixth +centuries B.C. To this period is assigned a superb head of dark +green stone (Fig. 14), recently acquired by the Berlin Museum. It +has been broken from a standing or kneeling statue. The form of +the closely-shaven skull and the features of the strong face, +wrinkled by age, have been reproduced by the sculptor with +unsurpassable fidelity. The number of works emanating from the +same school as this is very small, but in quality they represent +the highest development of Egyptian sculpture. It is fit that we +should take our leave of Egyptian art with such a work as this +before us, a work which gives us the quintessence of the artistic +genius of the race. + +Babylonia was the seat of a civilization perhaps more hoary than +that of Egypt. The known remains of Babylonian art, however, are +at present far fewer than those of Egypt and will probably always +be so. There being practically no stone in the country and wood +being very scarce, buildings were constructed entirely of bricks, +some of them merely sun-dried, others kiln-baked. The natural +wells of bitumen supplied a tenacious mortar. [Footnote: Compare +Genesis XI 3: "And they had brick for stone and slime had they for +mortar."] The ruins that have been explored at Tello, Nippur, and +elsewhere, belong to city walls, houses, and temples. The most +peculiar and conspicuous feature of the temple was a lofty +rectangular tower of several stages, each stage smaller than the +one below it. The arch was known and used in Babylonia from time +immemorial. As for the ornamental details of buildings, we know +very little about them except that large use was made of enameled +bricks. + +The only early Babylonian sculptures of any consequence that we +possess are a collection of broken reliefs and a dozen sculptures +in the round, found in a group of mounds called Tello and now in +the Louvre. The reliefs are extremely rude. The statues are much +better and are therefore probably of later date, they are commonly +assigned by students of Babylonian antiquities to about 3000 B.C. +Fig. 15 reproduces one of them. The material, as of the other +statues found at the same place, is a dark and excessively hard +igneous rock (dolerite). The person represented is one Gudea, the +ruler of a small semi-independent principality. On his lap he has +a tablet on which is engraved the plan of a fortress, very +interesting to the student of military antiquities. The forms of +the body are surprisingly well given, even the knuckles of the +fingers being indicated. As regards the drapery, it is noteworthy +that an attempt has been made to render folds on the right breast +and the left arm. The skirt of the dress is covered with an +inscription in cuneiform characters. + +Fig. 16 belongs to the same group of sculptures as the seated +figure just discussed. Although this head gives no such impression +of lifelikeness as the best Egyptian portraits, it yet shows +careful study. Cheeks, chin, and mouth are well rendered. The +eyelids, though too wide open, are still good; notice the inner +corners. The eyebrows are less successful. Their general form is +that of the half of a figure 8 bisected vertically, and the hairs +are indicated by slanting lines arranged in herring-bone fashion. +Altogether, the reader will probably feel more respect than +enthusiasm for this early Babylonian art and will have no keen +regret that the specimens of it are so few. + +The Assyrians were by origin one people with the Chaldeans and +were therefore a branch of the great Semitic family. It is not +until the ninth century B.C. that the great period of Assyrian +history begins. Then for two and a half centuries Assyria was the +great conquering power of the world. Near the end of the seventh +century it was completely annihilated by a coalition of Babylonia +and Media. + +With an insignificant exception or two the remains of Assyrian +buildings and sculptures all belong to the period of Assyrian +greatness. The principal sites where explorations have been +carried on are Koyunjik (Nineveh), Nimroud, and Khorsabad, and the +ruins uncovered are chiefly those of royal palaces. These +buildings were of enormous extent. The palace of Sennacherib at +Nineveh, for example, covered more than twenty acres. Although the +country possessed building stone in plenty, stone was not used +except for superficial ornamentation, baked and unbaked bricks +being the architect's sole reliance. This was a mere blind +following of the example of Babylonia, from which Assyria derived +all its culture. The palaces were probably only one story in +height. Their principal splendor was in their interior decoration +of painted stucco, enameled bricks, and, above all, painted +reliefs in limestone or alabaster. + +The great Assyrian bas-reliefs covered the lower portions of the +walls of important rooms. Designed to enrich the royal palaces, +they drew their principal themes from the occupations of the +kings. We see the monarch offering sacrifice before a divinity, +or, more often, engaged in his favorite pursuits of war and +hunting. These extensive compositions cannot be adequately +illustrated by two or three small pictures. The most that can be +done is to show the sculptor's method of treating single figures. +Fig. 17 is a slab from the earliest series we possess, that +belonging to the palace of Asshur-nazir-pal (884-860 B.C.) at +Nimroud. It represents the king facing to right, with a bowl for +libation in his right hand and his bow in his left, while a eunuch +stands fronting him. The artistic style exhibited here remains +with no essential change throughout the whole history of Assyrian +art. The figures are in profile, except that the king's further +shoulder is thrown forward in much the fashion which we have found +the rule in Egypt, and the eyes appear as in front view. Both king +and attendant are enveloped in long robes, in which there is no +indication of folds, though fringes and tassels are elaborately +rendered. The faces are of a strongly marked Semitic cast, but +without any attempt at portraiture. The hair of the head ends in +several rows of snail-shell curls, and the king's beard has rows +of these curls alternating with more natural-looking portions. +Little is displayed of the body except the fore-arms, whose +anatomy, though intelligible, is coarse and false. As for minor +matters, such as the too high position of the ears, and the +unnatural shape of the king's right hand, it is needless to dwell +upon them. A cuneiform inscription runs right across the relief, +interrupted only by the fringes of the robes. + +Fig. 18 shows more distinctly the characteristic Assyrian method +of representing the human head. Here are the same Semitic +features, the eye in front view, and the strangely curled hair and +beard. The only novelty is the incised line which marks the iris +of the eye. This peculiarity is first observed in work of Sargon's +time (722-705 B. C.). + +A constant and striking feature of the Assyrian palaces was +afforded by the great, winged, human-headed bulls, which flanked +the principal doorways. The one herewith given (Fig. 19) is from +Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. The peculiar methods of Assyrian +sculpture are not ill suited to this fantastic creature, an +embodiment of force and intelligence. One special peculiarity will +not escape the attentive observer. Like all his kind, except in +Sennacherib's palace, this bull has five legs. He was designed to +be looked at from directly in front or from the side, not from an +intermediate point of view. + +Assyrian art was not wholly without capacity for improvement. +Under Asshur-bam-pal (668-626), the Sardanapalus of the Greeks, it +reached a distinctly higher level than ever before. It is from his +palace at Nineveh that the slab partially shown in Fig. 20 was +obtained. Two demons, with human bodies, arms, and legs, but with +lions' heads, asses' ears, and eagles' talons, confront one +another angrily, brandishing daggers in their right hands. +Mesopotamian art was fond of such creatures, but we do not know +precisely what meaning was attached to the present scene. We need +therefore consider only stylistic qualities. As the two demons +wear only short skirts reaching from the waist to the knees, their +bodies are more exposed than those of men usually are. We note the +inaccurate anatomy of breast, abdomen, and back, in dealing with +which the sculptor had little experience to guide him. A marked +difference is made between the outer and the inner view of the +leg, the former being treated in the same style as the arms in +Fig. 17. The arms are here better, because less exaggerated. The +junction of human shoulders and animal necks is managed with no +sort of verisimilitude. But the heads, conventionalized though +they are, are full of vigor. One can almost hear the angry snarl +and see the lightning flash from the eyes. + +It is, in fact, in the rendering of animals that Assyrian art +attains to its highest level. In Asshur-bam-pal's palace extensive +hunting scenes give occasion for introducing horses, dogs, wild +asses, lions, and lionesses, and these are portrayed with a keen +eye for characteristic forms and movements. One of the most famous +of these animal figures is the lioness shown in Fig. 21. The +creature has been shot through with three great arrows. Blood +gushes from her wounds. Her hind legs are paralyzed and drag +helplessly behind her. Yet she still moves forward on her fore- +feet and howls with rage and agony. Praise of this admirable +figure can hardly be too strong. This and others, of equal merit +redeem Assyrian art. + +As has been already intimated, these bas-reliefs were always +colored, though, it would seem, only partially, whereas Egyptian +bas-reliefs were completely covered with color. + +Of Assyrian stone sculpture in the round nothing has yet been +said. A few pieces exist, but their style is so essentially like +that of the bas-reliefs that they call for no separate discussion. +More interesting is the Assyrian work in bronze. The most +important specimens of this are some hammered reliefs, now in the +British Museum, which originally adorned a pair of wooden doors in +the palace of Shalmaneser III. at Balawat. The art of casting +statuettes and statues in bronze was also known and practiced, as +it had been much earlier in Babylonia, but the examples preserved +to us are few. For the decorative use which the Assyrians made of +color, our principal witnesses are then enameled bricks. These are +ornamented with various designs--men, genii, animals, and floral +patterns--in a few rich colors, chiefly blue and yellow. Of +painting, except in the sense of mural decoration, there is no +trace. + +Egypt and Mesopotamia are, of all the countries around the +Mediterranean the only seats of an important, indigenous art, +antedating that of Greece. Other countries of Western Asia--Syria, +Phrygia, Phenicia, Persia, and so on--seem to have been rather +recipients and transmitters than originators of artistic +influences. For Egypt, Assyria, and the regions just named did not +remain isolated from one another. On the contrary, intercourse +both friendly and hostile was active, and artistic products, at +least of the small and portable kind, were exchanged. The paths of +communication were many, but there is reason for thinking that the +Phenicians, the great trading nation of early times, were +especially instrumental in disseminating artistic ideas. To these +influences Greece was exposed before she had any great art of her +own. Among the remains of prehistoric Greece we find, besides some +objects of foreign manufacture, others, which, though presumably +of native origin, are yet more or less directly inspired by +Egyptian or oriental models. But when the true history of Greek +art begins, say about 600 B. C., the influences from Egypt and +Asia sink into insignificance. It may be that the impulse to +represent gods and men in wood or stone was awakened in Greece by +the example of older communities. It may be that one or two types +of figures were suggested by foreign models. It may be that a hint +was taken from Egypt for the form of the Doric column and that the +Ionic capital derives from an Assyrian prototype. It is almost +certain that the art of casting hollow bronze statues was borrowed +from Egypt. And it is indisputable that some ornamental patterns +used in architecture and on pottery were rather appropriated than +invented by Greece. There is no occasion for disguising or +underrating this indebtedness of Greece to her elder neighbors. +But, on the other hand, it is important not to exaggerate the +debt. Greek art is essentially self-originated, the product of a +unique, incommunicable genius. As well might one say that Greek +literature is of Asiatic origin, because, forsooth, the Greek +alphabet came from Phenicia, as call Greek art the offspring of +Egyptian or oriental art because of the impulses received in the +days of its beginning. [Footnote: This comparison is perhaps not +original with the present writer.] + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PREHISTORIC ART IN GREECE. + + +Thirty years ago it would have been impossible to write with any +considerable knowledge of prehistoric art in Greece. The Iliad and +Odyssey, to be sure, tell of numerous artistic objects, but no +definite pictures of these were called up by the poet's words. Of +actual remains only a few were known. Some implements of stone, +the mighty walls of Tiryns, Mycenae, and many another ancient +citadel, four "treasuries," as they were often called, at Mycenae +and one at the Boeotian Orchomenus--these made up pretty nearly +the total of the visible relics of that early time. To-day the +case is far different. Thanks to the faith, the liberality, and +the energy of Heinrich Schliemann, an immense impetus has been +given to the study of prehistoric Greek archaeology. His +excavations at Troy, Mycenae, Tiryns, and elsewhere aroused the +world. He labored, and other men, better trained than he, have +entered into his labors. The material for study is constantly +accumulating, and constant progress is being made in classifying +and interpreting this material. A civilization antedating the +Homeric poems stands now dimly revealed to us. Mycenae, the city +"rich in gold," the residence of Agamemnon, whence he ruled over +"many islands and all Argos," [Footnote: Iliad II, 108] is seen to +have had no merely legendary preeminence. So conspicuous, in fact, +does Mycenae appear in the light as well of archaeology as of +epic, that it has become common, somewhat misleading though it is, +to call a whole epoch and a whole civilization "Mycenaean." This +"Mycenaean" civilization was widely extended over the Greek +islands and the eastern portions of continental Greece in the +second millennium before our era. Exact dates are very risky, but +it is reasonably safe to say that this civilization was in full +development as early as the fifteenth century B.C., and that it +was not wholly superseded till considerably later than 1000 B.C. + +It is our present business to gain some acquaintance with this +epoch on its artistic side. It will be readily understood that our +knowledge of the long period in question is still very +fragmentary, and that, in the absence of written records, our +interpretation of the facts is hardly better than a groping in the +dark. Fortunately we can afford, so far as the purposes of this +book are concerned, to be content with a slight review. For it +seems clear that the "Mycenaean" civilization developed little +which can be called artistic in the highest sense of that term. +The real history of Greek art--that is to say, of Greek +architecture, sculpture, and painting--begins much later. +Nevertheless it will repay us to get some notion, however slight, +of such prehistoric Greek remains as can be included under the +broadest acceptation of the word "art." + +In such a survey it is usual to give a place to early walls of +fortification, although these, to be sure, were almost purely +utilitarian in their character. The classic example of these +constructions is the citadel wall of Tiryns in Argolis. Fig. 22 +shows a portion of this fortification on the east side, with the +principal approach. Huge blocks of roughly dressed limestone--some +of those in the lower courses estimated to weigh thirteen or +fourteen tons apiece--are piled one upon another, the interstices +having been filled with clay and smaller stones. This wall is of +varying thickness, averaging at the bottom about twenty-five feet. +At two places, viz., at the south end and on the east side near +the southeast corner, the thickness is increased, in order to give +room in the wall for a row of store chambers with communicating +gallery. Fig. 23 shows one of these galleries in its present +condition. It will be seen that the roof has been formed by +pushing the successive courses of stones further and further +inward from both sides until they meet. The result is in form a +vault, but the principle of the arch is not there, inasmuch as the +stones are not jointed radially, but lie on approximately +horizontal beds. Such a construction is sometimes called a +"corbelled" arch or vault. + +Similar walls to those of Tiryns are found in many places, though +nowhere else are the blocks of such gigantic size. The Greeks of +the historical period Viewed these imposing structures with as +much astonishment as do we, and attributed them (of at least +those in Argohs) to the Cyclopes, a mythical folk, conceived in +this connection as masons of superhuman strength. Hence the +adjective Cyclopian or Cyclopean, whose meaning varies +unfortunately in modern usage, but which is best restricted to +walls of the Tirynthian type; that is to say, walls built of large +blocks not accurately fitted together, the interstices being +filled with small stones. This style of masonry seems to be always +of early date + +Portions of the citadel wall of Mycenae are Cyclopean. Other +portions, quite probably of later date, show a very different +character (Fig. 24). Here the blocks on the outer surface of the +wall, though irregular in shape. are fitted together with close +joints. This style of masonry is called polygonal and is to be +carefully distinguished from Cyclopean, as above defined. Finally, +still other portions of this same Mycenaean wall show on the +outside a near approach to what is called ashlar masonry, in which +the blocks are rectangular and laid in even horizontal courses. +This is the case near the Lion Gate, the principal entrance to the +citadel. (Fig. 25) + +Next to the walls of fortification the most numerous early remains +of the builder's art in Greece are the "bee-hive" tombs of which +many examples have been discovered in Argolis, Laconia, Attica, +Boeotia, Thessaly, and Crete. At Mycenae alone there are eight +now known, all of them outside the citadel. The largest and most +imposing of these, and indeed of the entire class, is the one +commonly referred to by the misleading name of the "Treasury of +Atreus." Fig 26 gives a section through this tomb. A straight +passage, A B, flanked by walls of ashlar masonry and open to the +sky, leads to a doorway, B. This doorway, once closed with heavy +doors, was framed with an elaborate aichitectural composition, of +which only small fragments now exist and these widely dispersed in +London, Berlin, Carlsruhe, Munich, Athens, and Mycenae itself. In +the decoration of this facade rosettes and running spirals played +a conspicuous part, and on either side of the doorway stood a +column which tapered downwards and was ornamented with spirals +arranged in zigzag bands. This downward-tapering column, so +unlike the columns of classic times, seems to have been in common +use in Mycenaean architecture. Inside the doors comes a short +passage, B C, roofed by two huge lintel blocks, the inner one of +which is estimated to weigh 132 tons. The principal chamber, D, +which is embedded in the hill, is circular in plan, with a lower +diameter of about forty-seven feet. Its wall is formed of +horizontal courses of stone, each pushed further inward than the +one below it, until the opening was small enough to be covered by +a single stone. The method of roofing is therefore identical in +principle with that used in the galleries and store chambers of +Tiryns; but here the blocks have been much more carefully worked +and accurately fitted, and the exposed ends have been so beveled +as to give to the whole interior a smooth, curved surface. +Numerous horizontal rows of small holes exist, only partly +indicated in our illustration, beginning in the fourth course from +the bottom and continuing at intervals probably to the top. In +some of these holes bronze nails still remain. These must have +served for the attachment of some sort of bronze decoration. The +most careful study of the disposition of the holes has led to the +conclusion that the fourth and fifth courses were completely +covered with bronze plates, presumably ornamented, and that above +this there were rows of single ornaments, possibly rosettes. Fig. +27 will give some idea of the present appearance of this chamber, +which is still complete, except for the loss of the bronze +decoration and two or three stones at the top. The small doorway +which is seen here, as well as in Fig. 26, leads into a +rectangular chamber, hewn in the living rock. This is much smaller +than the main chamber. + +At Orchomenus in Boeotia are the ruins of a tomb scarcely inferior +in size to the "Treasury of Atreus" and once scarcely less +magnificent. Here too, besides the "bee-hive" construction, there +was a lateral, rectangular chamber--a feature which occurs only +in these two cases. Excavations conducted here by Schliemann in +1880-81 brought to light the broken fragments of a ceiling of +greenish schist with which this lateral chamber was once covered. +Fig. 28 shows this ceiling restored. The beautiful sculptured +decoration consists of elements which recur in almost the same +combination on a fragment of painted stucco from the palace of +Tiryns. The pattern is derived from Egypt. + +The two structures just described were long ago broken into and +despoiled. If they stood alone, we could only guess at their +original purpose. But some other examples of the same class have +been left unmolested or less completely ransacked, until in recent +years they could be studied by scientific investigators. +Furthermore we have the evidence of numerous rock-cut chambers of +analogous shape, many of which have been recently opened in a +virgin condition. Thus it has been put beyond a doubt that these +subterranean "beehive" chambers were sepulchral monuments, the +bodies having been laid in graves within. The largest and best +built of these tombs, if not all, must have belonged to princely +families. + +Even the dwelling-houses of the chieftains who ruled at Tiryns and +Mycenae are known to us by their remains. The palace of Tiryns +occupied the entire southern end of the citadel, within the +massive walls above described. Its ruins were uncovered in 1884- +85. The plan and the lower portions of the walls of an extensive +complex of gateways, open courts, and closed rooms were thus +revealed. There are remains of a similar building at Mycenae, but +less well preserved, while the citadels of Athens and Troy present +still more scanty traces of an analogous kind. The walls of the +Tirynthian palace were not built of gigantic blocks of stone, such +as were used in the citadel wall. That would have been a reckless +waste of labor. On the contrary, they were built partly of small +irregular pieces of stone, partly of sun-dried bricks. Clay was +used to hold these materials together, and beams of wood ("bond +timbers") were laid lengthwise here and there in the wall to give +additional strength. Where columns were needed, they were in every +case of wood, and consequently have long since decomposed and +disappeared. Considerable remains, however, were found of the +decorations of the interior. Thus there are bits of what must once +have been a beautiful frieze of alabaster, inlaid with pieces of +blue glass. A restored piece of this, sufficient to give the +pattern, is seen in Fig. 29. Essentially the same design, somewhat +simplified, occurs on objects of stone, ivory, and glass found at +Mycenae; and in a "bee-hive" tomb of Attica. Again, there are +fragments of painted stucco which decorated the walls of rooms in +the palace of Tiryns. The largest and most interesting of these +fragments is shown in Fig. 30. A yellow and red bull is +represented against a blue background, galloping furiously to +left, tail in air. Above him is a man of slender build, nearly +naked. With his right hand the man grasps one of the bull's horns; +his right leg is bent at the knee and the foot seems to touch with +its toes the bull's back; his outstretched left leg is raised high +in air. We have several similar representations on objects of the +Mycenaean period, the most interesting of which will be presently +described (see page 67). The comparison of these with one another +leaves little room for doubt that the Tirynthian fresco was +intended to portray the chase of a wild bull. But what does the +man's position signify? Has he been tossed into the air by the +infuriated animal? Has he adventurously vaulted upon the +creature's back? Or did the painter mean him to be running on the +ground, and, finding the problem of drawing the two figures in +their proper relation too much for his simple skill, did he adopt +the child-like expedient of putting one above the other? This last +seems much the most probable explanation, especially as the same +expedient is to be seen in several other designs belonging to this +period. + +At Mycenae also, both in the principal palace which corresponds to +that of Tiryns and in a smaller house, remains of wall-frescoes +have been found. These, like those of Tiryns, consisted partly of +merely ornamental patterns, partly of genuine pictures, with human +and animal figures. But nothing has there come to light at once so +well preserved and so spirited as the bull-fresco from Tiryns. + +Painting in the Mycenaean period seems to have been nearly, if not +entirely, confined to the decoration of house-walls and of +pottery. Similarly sculpture had no existence as a great, +independent art. There is no trace of any statue in the round of +life-size or anything approaching that. This agrees with the +impression we get from the Homeric poems, where, with possibly one +exception, [Footnote: Iliad VI, 273, 303.] there is no allusion to +any sculptured image. There are, to be sure, primitive statuettes, +one class of which, very rude and early, in fact pre-Mycenaean in +character, is illustrated by Fig. 31. Images of this sort have +been found principally on the islands of the Greek Archipelago. +They are made of marble or limestone, and represent a naked female +figure standing stiffly erect, with arms crossed in front below +the breasts. The head, is of extraordinary rudeness, the face of a +horse-shoe shape, often with no feature except a long triangular +nose. What religious ideas were associated with these barbarous +little images by their possessors we can hardly guess. We shall +see that when a truly Greek art came into being, figures of +goddesses and women were decorously clothed. + +Excavations on Mycenaean sites have yielded quantities of small +figures, chiefly of painted terra-cotta (cf. Fig. 43), but also of +bronze or lead. Of sculpture on a larger scale we possess nothing +except the gravestones found at Mycenae and the relief which has +given a name, albeit an inaccurate one, to the Lion Gate. The +gravestones are probably the earlier. They were found within a +circular enclosure just inside the Lion Gate, above a group of six +graves--the so-called pit-graves or shaft-graves of Mycenae. The +best preserved of these gravestones is shown in Fig. 32. The +field, bordered by a double fillet, is divided horizontally into +two parts. The upper part is filled with an ingeniously contrived +system of running spirals. Below is a battle-scene: a man in a +chariot is driving at full speed, and in front there is a naked +foot soldier (enemy?), with a sword in his uplifted left hand. +Spirals, apparently meaningless, fill in the vacant spaces. The +technique is very simple. The figures having been outlined, the +background has been cut away to a shallow depth; within the +outlines there is no modeling, the surfaces being left flat. It is +needless to dwell on the shortcomings of this work, but it is +worth while to remind the reader that the gravestone commemorates +one who must have been an important personage, probably a +chieftain, and that the best available talent would have been +secured for the purpose. + +The famous relief above the Lion Gate of Mycenae (Figs. 25, 33), +though probably of somewhat later date than the sculptured +gravestones, is still generally believed to go well back into the +second millennium before Christ. It represents two lionesses (not +lions) facing one another in heraldic fashion, their fore-paws +resting on what is probably to be called an altar or pair, of +altars; between them is a column, which tapers downward (cf. the +columns of the "Treasury of Atreus," page 53), surmounted by what +seems to be a suggestion of an entablature. The heads of the +lionesses, originally made of separate pieces and attached, have +been lost. Otherwise the work is in good preservation, in spite of +its uninterrupted exposure for more than three thousand years. The +technique is quite different from that of the gravestones, for all +parts of the relief are carefully modeled. The truth to nature is +also far greater here, the animals being tolerably life-like. The +design is one which recurs with variations on two or three +engraved gems of the Mycenaean period (cf Fig. 40), as well as in +a series of later Phrygian reliefs in stone. Placed in this +conspicuous position above the principal entrance to the citadel, +it may perhaps have symbolized the power of the city and its +rulers. + +If sculpture in stone appears to have been very little practiced +in the Mycenaean age, the arts of the goldsmith, silversmith, gem- +engraver, and ivory carver were in great requisition. The shaft- +graves of Mycenae contained, besides other things, a rich treasure +of gold objects--masks, drinking-cups, diadems, ear-rings, +finger-rings, and so on, also several silver vases. One of the +latter may be seen in Fig. 43. It is a large jar, about two and +one half feet in height, decorated below with horizontal flutings +and above with continuous spirals in repousse (i.e., hammered) +work. Most of the gold objects must be passed over, interesting +though many of them are. But we may pause a moment over a group of +circular ornaments in thin gold-leaf about two and one half inches +in diameter, of which 701 specimens were found, all in a single +grave. The patterns on these discs were not executed with a free +hand, but by means of a mold. There are fourteen patterns in all, +some of them made up of spirals and serpentine curves, others +derived from vegetable and animal forms. Two of the latter class +are shown in Figs. 34, 35. One is a butterfly, the other a cuttle- +fish, both of them skilfully conventionalized. It is interesting +to note how the antennae of the butterfly and still more the arms +of the cuttle-fish are made to end in the favorite spiral. + +The sculptures and gold objects which have been thus far described +or referred to were in all probability executed by native, or at +any rate by resident, workmen, though some of the patterns clearly +betray oriental influence. Other objects must have been, others +may have been, actually imported from Egypt or the East. It is +impossible to draw the line with certainty between native and +imported. Thus the admirable silver head of a cow from one of the +shaft-graves (Fig. 36) has been claimed as an Egyptian or a +Phenician production, but the evidence adduced is not decisive. +Similarly with the fragment of a silver vase shown in Fig. 37. +This has a design in relief (repousse) representing the siege of a +walled town or citadel. On the walls is a group of women making +frantic gestures. The defenders, most of them naked, are armed +with bows and arrows and slings. On the ground lie sling-stones +and throwing-sticks,[Footnote: So explained by Mr A. J. Evans in +The Journal of Hellenic Studies, XIII., page 199. ] which may be +supposed to have been hurled by the enemy. In the background there +are four nondescript trees, perhaps intended for olive trees. + +Another variety of Mycenaean metal-work is of a much higher order +of merit than the dramatic but rude relief on this silver vase. I +refer to a number of inlaid dagger-blades, which were found in two +of the shaft-graves. Fig. 38 reproduces one side of the finest of +these. It is about nine inches long. The blade is of bronze, while +the rivets by which the handle was attached are of gold. The +design was inlaid in a separate thin slip of bronze, which was +then inserted into a sinking on the blade. The materials used are +various. The lions and the naked parts of the men are of gold, the +shields and trunks of the men of electrum (a mixture of gold and +silver), the hair of the men, the manes of the lions, and some +other details of an unidentified dark substance; the background, +to the edges of the inserted slip, was covered with a black +enamel. The scene is a lion-hunt. Four men, one armed only with a +bow, the others with lances and huge shields of two different +forms, are attacking a lion. A fifth hunter has fallen and lies +under the lion's fore-paws. The beast has already been run through +with a lance, the point of which is seen protruding from his +haunch; but he still shows fight, while his two companions dash +away at full speed. The design is skilfully composed to fill the +triangular space, and the attitudes of men and beasts are varied, +expressive, and fairly truthful. Another of these dagger-blades +has a representation of panthers hunting ducks by the banks of a +river in which what may be lotus plants are growing, The lotus +would point toward Egypt as the ultimate source of the design. +Moreover, a dagger of similar technique has been found in Egypt in +the tomb of a queen belonging to the end of the Seventeenth +Dynasty. On the other hand, the dress and the shields of the men +engaged in the lion-hunt are identical with those on a number of +other "Mycenaean" articles--gems, statuettes, etc.--which it is +difficult to regard as all of foreign importation. The +probability, then, seems to be that while the technique of the +dagger-blades was directly or indirectly derived from Egypt, the +specimens found at Mycenae were of local manufacture. + +The greatest triumph of the goldsmith's art in the "Mycenaean" +period does not come from Mycenae. The two gold cups shown in Fig. +39 were found in 1888 in a bee-hive tomb at Vaphio in Laconia. +Each cup is double; that is to say, there is an outer cup, which +has been hammered into shape from a single disc of gold and which +is therefore without a joint, and an inner cup, similarly made, +whose upper edge is bent over the outer cup so as to hold the two +together. The horizontal parts of the handles are attached by +rivets, while the intervening vertical cylinders are soldered. The +designs in repousse work are evidently pendants to one another. +The first represents a hunt of wild bulls. One bull, whose +appearance indicates the highest pitch of fury, has dashed a +would-be captor to earth and is now tossing another on his horns. +A second bull, entangled in a stout net, writhes and bellows in +the vain effort to escape. A third gallops at full speed from the +scene of his comrade's captivity. The other design shows us four +tame bulls. The first submits with evident impatience to his +master. The next two stand quietly, with an almost comical effect +of good nature and contentment. The fourth advances slowly, +browsing. In each composition the ground is indicated, not only +beneath the men and animals, but above them, wherever the design +affords room. It is an example of the same naive perspective which +seems to have been employed in the Tirynthian bull-fresco (Fig. +30). The men, too, are of the same build here as there, and the +bulls have similarly curving horns. There are several trees on the +cups, two of which are clearly characterized as palms, while the +others resemble those in Fig. 37, and may be intended for olives. +The bulls are rendered with amazing spirit and understanding. +True, there are palpable defects, if one examines closely. For +example, the position of the bull in the net is quite impossible. +But in general the attitudes and expressions are as lifelike as +they are varied. Evidently we have here the work of an artist who +drew his inspiration directly from nature. + +Engraved gems were in great demand in the Mycenaean period, being +worn as ornamental beads, and the work of the gem-engraver, like +that of the goldsmith, exhibits excellent qualities. The usual +material was some variety of ornamental stone--agate, jasper, +rock-crystal, etc. There are two principal shapes, the one +lenticular, the other elongated or glandular (Figs. 40, 41). The +designs are engraved in intaglio, but, our illustrations being +made, as is usual, from plaster impressions, they appear as +cameos. Among the subjects the lion plays an important part, +sometimes represented singly, sometimes in pairs, sometimes +devouring a bull or stag. Cattle, goats, deer, and fantastic +creatures (sphinxes, griffins, etc.) are also common. So are human +figures, often engaged in war or the chase. In the best of these +gems the work is executed with great care, and the designs, though +often inaccurate, are nevertheless vigorous. Very commonly, +however, the distortion of the figure is carried beyond all +bounds. Fig. 40 was selected for illustration, not because it is a +particularly favorable specimen of its class, but because it +offers an interesting analogy to the relief above the Lion Gate. +It represents two lions rampant, their fore-paws resting on an +altar (?), their heads, oddly enough, combined into one. The +column which figures in the relief above the gate is absent from +the gem, but is found on another specimen from Mycenae, where the +animals, however, are winged griffins. Fig. 41 has only a standing +man, of the wasp-waisted figure and wearing the girdle with which +other representations have now made us familiar. + +It remains to glance at the most important early varieties of +Greek pottery. We need not stop here to study the rude, unpainted, +mostly hand-made vases from the earliest strata at Troy and +Tiryns, nor the more developed, yet still primitive, ware of the +island of Thera. But the Mycenaean pottery is of too great +importance to be passed over. This was the characteristic ware of +the Mycenaean civilization. The probability is that it was +manufactured at several different places, of which Mycenae may +have been one and perhaps the most important. It was an article of +export and thus found its way even into Egypt, where specimens +have been discovered in tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty and later. +The variations in form and ornamentation are considerable, as is +natural with an article whose production was carried on at +different centers and during a period of centuries. Fig. 42 shows +a few of the characteristic shapes and decorations; some +additional pieces may be seen in Fig. 43. The Mycenaean vases are +mostly wheel-made. The decoration, in the great majority of +examples, is applied in a lustrous color, generally red, shading +to brown or black. The favorite elements of design are bands and +spirals and a variety of animal and vegetable forms, chiefly +marine. Thus the vase at the bottom of Fig. 42, on the left, has a +conventionalized nautilus; the one at the top, on the right, shows +a pair of lily-like plants; and the jug in the middle of Fig. 43 +is covered with the stalks and leaves of what is perhaps meant for +seaweed. Quadrupeds and men belong to the latest period of the +style, the vase-painters of the early and central Mycenaean +periods having abstained, for some reason or other, from those +subjects which formed the stock in trade of the gem-engravers. + +The Mycenaean pottery was gradually superseded by pottery of an +essentially different style, called Geometric, from the character +of its painted decorations. It is impossible to say when this +style made its first appearance in Greece, but it seems to have +flourished for some hundreds of years and to have lasted till as +late as the end of the eighth century B. C. It falls into several +local varieties, of which the most important is the Athenian. This +is commonly called Dipylon pottery, from the fact that the +cemetery near the Dipylon, the chief gate of ancient Athens, has +supplied the greatest number of specimens. Some of these Dipylon +vases are of great size and served as funeral monuments. Fig. 44 +gives a good example of this class. It is four feet high. Both the +shape and the decoration are very different from those of the +Mycenaean style. The surface is almost completely covered by a +system of ornament in which zigzags, meanders, and groups of +concentric circles play an important part. In this system of +Geometric patterns zones or friezes are reserved for designs into +which human and animal figures enter. The center of interest is in +the middle of the upper frieze, between the handles. Here we see a +corpse upon a funeral bier, drawn by a two-horse wagon. To right +and left are mourners arranged in two rows, one above the other. +The lower frieze, which encircles the vase about at its middle, +consists of a line of two-horse chariots and their drivers. The +drawing of these designs is illustrated on a larger scale on the +right and left of the vase in Fig. 44; it is more childish than +anything we have seen from the Mycenaean period. The horses have +thin bodies, legs, and necks, and their heads look as much like +fishes as anything. The men and women are just as bad. Their heads +show no feature save, at most, a dot for the eye and a projection +for the nose, with now and then a sort of tassel for the hair; +their bodies are triangular, except those of the charioteers, +whose shape is perhaps derived from one form of Greek shield; +their thin arms, of varying lengths, are entirely destitute of +natural shape; their long legs, though thigh and calf are +distinguished, are only a shade more like reality than the arms. +Such incapacity on the part of the designer would be hard to +explain, were he to be regarded as the direct heir of the +Mycenaean culture. But the sources of the Geometric style are +probably to be sought among other tribes than those which were +dominant in the days of Mycenae's splendor. Greek tradition tells +of a great movement of population, the so-called Dorian migration, +which took place some centuries before the beginning of recorded +history in Greece. If that invasion and conquest of Peloponnesus +by ruder tribes from the North be a fact, then the hypothesis is a +plausible one which would connect the gradual disappearance of +Mycenaean art with that great change. Geometric art, according to +this theory, would have originated with the tribes which now came +to the fore. + +Besides the Geometric pottery and its offshoots, several other +local varieties were produced in Greece in the eighth and seventh +centuries. These are sometimes grouped together under the name of +"orientalizing" styles, because, in a greater or less degree, they +show in their ornamentation the influence of oriental models, of +which the pure Geometric style betrays no trace. It is impossible +here to describe all these local wares, but a single plate from +Rhodes (Fig. 45) may serve to illustrate the degree of proficiency +in the drawing of the human figure which had been attained about +the end of the seventh century. Additional interest is lent to +this design by the names attached to the three men. The combatants +are Menelaus and Hector; the fallen warrior is Euphorbus. Here for +the first time we find depicted a scene from the Trojan War. From +this time on the epic legends form a large part of the repertory +of the vase-painters. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +GREEK ARCHITECTURE. + + +The supreme achievement of Greek architecture was the temple. In +imperial Rome, or in any typical city of the Roman Empire, the +most extensive and imposing buildings were secular--basilicas, +baths, amphitheaters, porticoes, aqueducts. In Athens, on the +other hand, or in any typical Greek city, there was little or +nothing to vie with the temples and the sacred edifices associated +with them. Public secular buildings, of course, there were, but +the little we know of them does not suggest that they often ranked +among the architectural glories of the country. Private houses +were in the best period of small pretensions. It was to the temple +and its adjunct buildings that the architectural genius and the +material resources of Greece were devoted. It is the temple, then, +which we have above all to study. + +Before beginning, however, to analyze the artistic features of the +temple, it will be useful to consider the building materials which +a Greek architect had at his disposal and his methods of putting +them together. Greece is richly provided with good building stone. +At many points there are inexhaustible stores of white marble. The +island of Paros, one of the Cyclades, and Mount Pentelicus in +Attica--to name only the two best and most famous quarries--are +simply masses of white marble, suitable as well for the builder as +the sculptor. There are besides various beautiful colored marbles, +but it was left to the Romans to bring these into use. Then there +are many commoner sorts of stone ready to the builder's hand, +especially the rather soft, brown limestones which the Greeks +called by the general name of poros. [Footnote: The word has no +connection with porous] This material was not disdained, even for +important buildings. Thus the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, one of +the two most important religious centers in the Greek world, was +built of local poros. The same was the case with the numerous +temples of Acragas (Girgenti) and Selinus in Sicily. An even +meaner material, sun-dried brick, was sometimes, perhaps often, +employed for cella walls. Where poros or crude brick was used, it +was coated over with a very fine, hard stucco, which gave a +surface like that of marble. + +It is remarkable that no use was made in Greece of baked bricks +before the period of Roman domination. Roof-tiles of terra-cotta +were in use from an early period, and Greek travelers to Babylonia +brought back word of the use of baked bricks in that country. +Nevertheless Greek builders showed no disposition to adopt baked +bricks for their masonry. + +This probably hangs together with another important fact, the +absence of lime-mortar from Greek architecture. Lime-stucco was in +use from time immemorial. But lime-mortar, i.e., lime mixed with +sand and used as a bond for masonry, is all but unknown in Greek +work. [Footnote: The solitary exception at present known is an +Attic tomb built of crude bricks laid in lime-mortar] Consequently +in the walls of temples and other carefully constructed buildings +an elaborate system of bonding by means of clamps and dowels was +resorted to. Fig. 46 illustrates this and some other points. The +blocks of marble are seen to be perfectly rectangular and of +uniform length and height. Each end of every block is worked with +a slightly raised and well-smoothed border, for the purpose of +securing without unnecessary labor a perfectly accurate joint. The +shallow holes, III, III, in the upper surfaces are pry-holes, +which were of use in prying the blocks into position. The +adjustment having been made, contiguous blocks in the same course +were bonded to one another by clamps, I, I, embedded horizontally, +while the sliding of one course upon another was prevented by +upright dowels, II, II. Greek clamps and dowels were usually of +iron and they were fixed in their sockets by means of molten lead +run in. The form of the clamp differs at different periods. The +double-T shape shown in the illustration is characteristic of the +best age (cf. also Fig. 48). + +Another important fact to be noted at the outset is the absence of +the arch from Greek architecture. It is reported by the Roman +philosopher, Seneca, that the principle of the arch was +"discovered" by the Greek philosopher, Democritus, who lived in +the latter half of the fifth century B. C. That he independently +discovered the arch as a practical possibility is most unlikely, +seeing that it had been used for ages in Egypt and Mesopotamia; +but it may be that he discussed, however imperfectly, the +mathematical theory of the subject. If so, it would seem likely +that he had practical illustrations about him; and this view +receives some support from the existence of a few subterranean +vaults which perhaps go back to the good Greek period. Be that as +it may, the arch plays absolutely no part in the columnar +architecture of Greece. In a Greek temple or similar building only +the flat ceiling was known. Above the exterior portico and the +vestibules of a temple the ceiling was sometimes of stone or +marble, sometimes of wood; in the interior it was always of wood. +It follows that no very wide space could be ceiled over without +extra supports. At Priene in Asia Minor we find a temple (Fig. 49) +whose cella, slightly over thirty feet in breadth, has no interior +columns. The architect of the Temple of Athena on the island of +AEgina (Fig. 52) was less venturesome. Although the cella there is +only 21 1/4 feet in breadth, we find, as in large temples, a +double row of columns to help support the ceiling. And when a +really large room was built, like the Hall of Initiation at +Eleusis or the Assembly Hall of the Arcadians at Megalopolis, such +a forest of pillars was required as must have seriously interfered +with the convenience of congregations. We are now ready to study +the plan of a Greek temple. The essential feature is an enclosed +chamber, commonly called by the Latin name cella, in which stood, +as a rule, the image of the god or goddess to whom the temple was +dedicated. Fig. 47 shows a very simple plan. Here the side walls +of the cella are prolonged in front and terminate in antae (see +below, page 88). Between the antae are two columns. This type of +temple is called a templum in antis. Were the vestibule (pronaos) +repeated at the other end of the building, it would be called an +opisthodomos, and the whole building would be a double templum in +antis. In Fig. 48 the vestibules are formed by rows of columns +extending across the whole width of the cella, whose side walls +are not prolonged. Did a vestibule exist at the front only, the +temple would be called prostyle; as it is, it is amphiprostyle. +Only small Greek temples have as simple a plan as those just +described. Larger temples are peripteral, i.e., are surrounded by +a colonnade or peristyle (Figs. 49. 50). In Fig. 49 the cella with +its vestibules has the form of a double templum in antis, in Fig +50 it is amphiprostyle. A further difference should be noted. In +Fig. 49, which is the plan of an Ionic temple, the antae and +columns of the vestibules are in line with columns of the outer +row, at both the ends and the sides; in Fig. 50, which is the plan +of a Doric temple, the exterior columns are set without regard to +the cella wall, and the columns of the vestibules. This is a +regular difference between Doric and Ionic temples, though the +rule is subject to a few exceptions in the case of the former. + +The plan of almost any Greek temple will be found to be referable +to one or other of the types just described, although there are +great differences in the proportions of the several parts. It +remains only to add that in almost every case the principal front +was toward the east or nearly so. When Greek temples were +converted into Christian churches, as often happened, it was +necessary, in order to conform to the Christian ritual, to reverse +this arrangement and to place the principal entrance at the +western end. + +The next thing is to study the principal elements of a Greek +temple as seen in elevation. This brings us to the subject of the +Greek "orders." There are two principal orders in Greek +architecture, the Doric and the Ionic. Figs. 51 and 61 show a +characteristic specimen of each. The term "order," it should be +said, is commonly restricted in architectural parlance to the +column and entablature. Our illustrations, however, show all the +features of a Doric and an Ionic facade. There are several points +of agreement between the two: in each the columns rest on a +stepped base, called the crepidoma, the uppermost step of which is +the stylobate; in each the shaft of the column tapers from the +lower to the upper end, is channeled or fluted vertically, and is +surmounted by a projecting member called a capital; in each the +entablature consists of three members--architrave, frieze, and +cornice. There the important points of agreement end. The +differences will best be fixed in mind by a detailed examination +of each order separately. + +Our typical example of the Doric order (Fig. 51) is taken from the +Temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina--a temple probably +erected about 480 B.C. (cf. Fig. 52.) The column consists of two +parts, shaft and capital. It is of sturdy proportions, its height +being about five and one half times the lower diameter of the +shaft. If the shaft tapered upward at a uniform rate, it would +have the form of a truncated cone. Instead of that, the shaft has +an ENTASIS or swelling. Imagine a vertical section to be made +through the middle of the column. If, then, the diminution of the +shaft were uniform, the sides of this section would be straight +lines. In reality, however, they are slightly curved lines, convex +outward. This addition to the form of a truncated cone is the +entasis. It is greatest at about one third or one half the height +of the shaft, and there amounts, in cases that have been measured, +to from 1/80 to 1/140 of the lower diameter of the +shaft.[Footnote: Observe that the entasis is so slight that the +lowest diameter of the shaft is always the greatest diameter. The +illustration is unfortunately not quite correct, since it gives +the shaft a uniform diameter for about one third of its height.] +In some early Doric temples, as the one at Assos in Asia Minor, +there is no entasis. The channels or flutes in our typical column +are twenty in number. More rarely we find sixteen; much more +rarely larger multiples of four. These channels are so placed that +one comes directly under the middle of each face of the capital. +They are comparatively shallow, and are separated from one another +by sharp edges or ARRISES. The capital, though worked out of one +block, may be regarded as consisting of two parts--a cushion- +shaped member called an ECHINUS, encircled below by three to five +ANNULETS, (cf. Figs. 59, 60) and a square slab called an ABACUS, +the latter so placed that its sides are parallel to the sides of +the building. The ARCHITRAVE is a succession of horizontal beams +resting upon the columns. The face of this member is plain, except +that along the upper edge there runs a slightly projecting flat +band called a TAENIA, with regulae and guttae at equal intervals; +these last are best considered in connection with the frieze. The +FRIEZE is made up of alternating triglyphs and metopes. A TRIGLYPH +is a block whose height is nearly twice its width; upon its face +are two furrows, triangular in plan, and its outer edges are +chamfered off. Thus we may say that the triglyph has two furrows +and two half-furrows; these do not extend to the top of the block. +A triglyph is placed over the center of each column and over the +center of each intercolumniation. But at the corners of the +buildings the intercolumniations are diminished, with the result +that the corner triglyphs do not stand over the centers of the +corner columns, but farther out (cf. Fig. 52). Under each triglyph +there is worked upon the face of the architrave, directly below +the taenia, a REGULA, shaped like a small cleat, and to the under +surface of this regula is attached a row of six cylindrical or +conical GUTTAE. Between every two triglyphs, and standing a little +farther back, there is a square or nearly square slab or block +called a METOPE. This has a flat band across the top; for the +rest, its face may be either plain or sculptured in relief. The +uppermost member of the entablature, the CORNICE, consists +principally of a projecting portion, the CORONA, on whose inclined +under surface or soffit are rectangular projections, the so-called +MUTULES (best seen in the frontispiece), one over each triglyph +and each metope. Three rows of six guttae each are attached to the +under surface of a mutule. Above the cornice, at the east and west +ends of the building, come the triangular PEDIMENTS or gables, +formed by the sloping roof and adapted for groups of sculpture. +The pediment is protected above by a "raking" cornice, which has +not the same form as the horizontal cornice, the principal +difference being that the under surface of the raking cornice is +concave and without mutules. Above the raking cornice comes a SIMA +or gutter-facing, which in buildings of good period has a +curvilinear profile. This sima is sometimes continued along the +long sides of the building, and sometimes not. When it is so +continued, water-spouts are inserted into it at intervals, usually +in the form of lions' heads. Fig 53 shows a fine lion's head of +this sort from a sixth century temple on the Athenian Acropolis. +If it be added that upon the apex and the lower corners of the +pediment there were commonly pedestals which supported statues or +other ornamental objects (Fig. 52), mention will have been made of +all the main features of the exterior of a Doric peripteral +temple. + +Every other part of the building had likewise its established +form, but it will not be possible here to describe or even to +mention every detail. The most important member not yet treated of +is the ANTA. An anta may be described as a pilaster forming the +termination of a wall. It stands directly opposite a column and is +of the same height with it, its function being to receive one end +of an architrave block, the other end of which is borne by the +column. The breadth of its front face is slightly greater than the +thickness of the wall; the breadth of a side face depends upon +whether or not the anta supports an architrave on that side (Figs. +47, 48, 49, 50). The Doric anta has a special capital, quite +unlike the capital of the column. Fig. 54 shows an example from a +building erected in 437-32 B. C. Its most striking feature is the +DORIC CYMA, or HAWK'S-BEAK MOLDING, the characteristic molding of +the Doric style (Fig. 55), used also to crown the horizontal +cornice and in other situations (Fig. 51 and frontispiece). Below +the capital the anta is treated precisely like the wall of which +it forms a part; that is to say, its surfaces are plain, except +for the simple base-molding, which extends also along the foot of +the wall. The method of ceiling the peristyle and vestibules by +means of ceiling-beams on which rest slabs decorated with square, +recessed panels or COFFERS may be indistinctly seen in Fig. 56. +Within the cella, when columns were used to help support the +wooden ceiling, there seem to have been regularly two ranges, one +above the other. This is the only case, so far as we know, in +which Greek architecture of the best period put one range of +columns above another. There were probably no windows of any kind, +so that the cella received no daylight, except such as entered by +the great front doorway, when the doors were open. [Footnote: This +whole matter, however, is in dispute. Some authorities believe +that large temples were HYPOETHRAL, i. e., open, or partly open, +to the sky, or in some way lighted from above. In Fig. 56 an open +grating has been inserted above the doors, but for such an +arrangement in a Greek temple there is no evidence, so far as I am +aware.] The roof-beams were of wood. The roof was covered with +terra-cotta or marble tiles. + +Such are the main features of a Doric temple (those last mentioned +not being peculiar to the Doric style). Little has been said thus +far of variation in these features. Yet variation there was. Not +to dwell on local differences, as between Greece proper and the +Greek colonies in Sicily, there was a development constantly going +on, changing the forms of details and the relative proportions of +parts and even introducing new features originally foreign to the +style. Thus the column grows slenderer from century to century. In +early examples it is from four to five lower diameters in height +in the best period (fifth and fourth centuries) about five and one +half, in the post classical period, six to seven. The difference +in this respect between early and late examples may be seen by +comparing the sixth century Temple of Posidon (?) at Paestum in +southern Italy (Fig. 57) with the third (?) century Temple of Zeus +at Nemea (Fig. 58). Again, the echinus of the capital is in the +early period widely flaring, making in some very early examples an +angle at the start of not more than fifteen or twenty degrees with +the horizontal (Fig. 59); in the best period it rises more +steeply, starting at an angle of about fifty degrees with the +horizontal and having a profile which closely approaches a +straight line, until it curves inward under the abacus (Fig. 51); +in the post-classical period it is low and sometimes quite conical +(Fig. 60). In general, the degeneracy of post-classical Greek +architecture is in nothing more marked than in the loss of those +subtle curves which characterize the best Greek work. Other +differences must be learned from more extended treatises. + +The Ionic order was of a much more luxuriant character than the +Doric. Our typical example (Fig. 61) is taken from the Temple of +Priene in Asia Minor--a temple erected about 340-30 B. C. The +column has a base consisting of a plain square PLINTH, two +TROCHILI with moldings, and a TORUS fluted horizontally. The Ionic +shaft is much slenderer than the Doric, the height of the column +(including base and capital) being in different examples from +eight to ten times the lower diameter of the shaft. The diminution +of the shaft is naturally less than in the Doric, and the entasis, +where any has been detected, is exceedingly slight. The flutes, +twenty-four in number, are deeper than in the Doric shaft, being +in fact nearly or quite semicircular, and they are separated from +one another by flat bands or fillets. For the form of the capital +it will be better to refer to Fig. 62, taken from an Attic +building of the latter half of the fifth century. The principal +parts are an OVOLO and a SPIRAL ROLL (the latter name not in +general use). The ovolo has a convex profile, and is sometimes +called a quarter-round; it is enriched with an EGG-AND-DART +ornament The spiral roll may be conceived as a long cushion, whose +ends are rolled under to form the VOLUTES. The part connecting the +volutes is slightly hollowed, and the channel thus formed is +continued into the volutes. As seen from the side (Fig. 63), the +end of the spiral roll is called a BOLSTER; it has the appearance +of being drawn together by a number of encircling bands. On the +front, the angles formed by the spiral roll are filled by a +conventionalized floral ornament (the so-called PALMETTE). Above +the spiral roll is a low abacus, oblong or square in plan. In Fig. +62 the profile of the abacus is an ovolo on which the egg-and-dart +ornament was painted (cf. Fig. 66, where the ornament is +sculptured). In Fig. 61, as in Fig. 71, the profile is a complex +curve called a CYMA REVERSA, convex above and concave below, +enriched with a sculptured LEAF-AND-DART ornament. [Footnote: The +egg-and-dart is found only on the ovolo, the leaf-and-dart only on +the cyma reversa or the cyma recta (concave above and convex +below) Both ornaments are in origin leaf-patterns one row of +leaves showing their points behind another row.] Finally, +attention may be called to the ASTRAGAL or PEARL-BEADING just +under the ovolo in Figs. 61, 71. This might be described as a +string of beads and buttons, two buttons alternating with a single +bead. + +In the normal Ionic capital the opposite faces are of identical +appearance. If this were the case with the capital at the corner +of a building, the result would be that on the side of the +building all the capitals would present their bolsters instead of +their volutes to the spectator. The only way to prevent this was +to distort the corner capital into the form shown by Fig. 64; cf. +also Figs. 61 and 70. + +The Ionic architrave is divided horizontally into three (or +sometimes two) bands, each of the upper ones projecting slightly +over the one below it. It is crowned by a sort of cornice enriched +with moldings. The frieze is not divided like the Doric frieze, +but presents an uninterrupted surface. It may be either plain or +covered with relief-sculpture. It is finished off with moldings +along the upper edge. The cornice (cf. Fig. 65) consists of two +principal parts. First comes a projecting block, into whose face +rectangular cuttings have been made at short intervals, thus +leaving a succession of cogs or DENTELS; above these are moldings. +Secondly there is a much more widely projecting block, the CORONA, +whose under surface is hollowed to lighten the weight and whose +face is capped with moldings. The raking cornice is like the +horizontal cornice except that it has no dentels. The sima or +gutter-facing, whose profile is here a cyma recta (concave above +and convex below), is enriched with sculptured floral ornament. + +In the Ionic buildings of Attica the base of the column consists +of two tori separated by a trochilus. The proportions of these +parts vary considerably. The base in Fig. 66 (from a building +finished about 408 B.C.) is worthy of attentive examination by +reason of its harmonious proportions. In the Roman form of this +base, too often imitated nowadays, the trochilus has too small a +diameter. The Attic-Ionic cornice never has dentels, unless the +cornice of the Caryatid portico of the Erechtheum ought to be +reckoned as an instance (Fig. 67). + +The capital shown in Fig. 66 is a special variety of the Ionic +capital, of rather rare occurrence. Its distinguishing features +are the insertion between ovolo and spiral roll of a torus +ornamented with a braided pattern, called a GUILLOCHE; the absence +of the palmettes from the corners formed by the spiral roll; and +the fact that the channel of the roll is double instead of single, +which gives a more elaborate character to that member. Finally, in +the Erechtheum the upper part or necking of the shaft is enriched +with an exquisitely wrought band of floral ornament, the so-called +honeysuckle pattern. This feature is met with in some other +examples. + +As in the Doric style, so in the Ionic, the anta-capital is quite +unlike the column-capital. Fig. 68 shows an anta-capital from the +Erechtheum, with an adjacent portion of the wall-band; cf. also +Fig. 69. Perhaps it is inaccurate in this case to speak of an +anta-capital at all, seeing that the anta simply shares the +moldings which crown the wall. The floral frieze under the +moldings is, however, somewhat more elaborate on the anta than on +the adjacent wall. The Ionic method of ceiling a peristyle or +portico may be partly seen in Fig 69. The principal ceiling-beams +here rest upon the architrave, instead of upon the frieze, as in a +Doric building (cf. Fig. 56). Above were the usual coffered slabs. +The same illustration shows a well-preserved and finely +proportioned doorway, but unfortunately leaves the details of its +ornamentation indistinct. + +The Ionic order was much used in the Greek cities of Asia Minor +for peripteral temples. The most considerable remains of such +buildings, at Ephesus, Priene, etc., belong to the fourth century +or later. In Greece proper there is no known instance of a +peripteral Ionic temple, but the order was sometimes used for +small prostyle and amphiprostyle buildings, such as the Temple of +Wingless Victory in Athens (Fig. 70). Furthermore, Ionic columns +were sometimes employed in the interior of Doric temples, as at +Bassae in Arcadia and (probably) in the temple built by Scopas at +Tegea. In the Propylaea or gateway of the Athenian Acropolis we +even find the Doric and Ionic orders juxtaposed, the exterior +architecture being Doric and the interior Ionic, with no wall to +separate them. One more interesting occurrence of the Ionic order +in Greece proper may be mentioned, viz., in the Philippeum at +Olympia (about 336 B.C.). This is a circular building, surrounded +by an Ionic colonnade. Still other types of building afforded +opportunity enough for the employment of this style. + +After what has been said of the gradual changes in the Doric +order, it will be understood that the Ionic order was not the same +in the sixth century as in the fifth, nor in the fifth the same as +in the third. The most striking change concerns the spiral roll of +the capital. In the good period the portion of this member which +connects the volutes is bounded below by a depressed curve, +graceful and vigorous. With the gradual degradation of taste this +curve tended to become a straight line, the result being the +unlovely, mechanical form shown in Fig. 71 (from a building of +Ptolemy Philadelphus, who reigned from 283 to 246 B.C.). Better +formed capitals than this continued for some time to be made in +Greek lands; but the type just shown, or rather something +resembling it in the disagreeable feature noted, became canonical +with Roman architects. + +The Corinthian order, as it is commonly called, hardly deserves to +be called a distinct order. Its only peculiar feature is the +capital; otherwise it agrees with the Ionic order. The Corinthian +capital is said to have been invented in the fifth century; and a +solitary specimen, of a meager and rudimentary type, found in 1812 +in the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, but since lost, was perhaps an +original part of that building (about 430 B. C). At present the +earliest extant specimens are from the interior of a round +building of the fourth century near Epidaurus in Argolis (Fig. +72). [Footnote: For some reason or other the particular capital +shown in our illustration was not used in the building, but it is +of the same model as those actually used, except that the edge of +the abacus is not finished.] It was from such a form as this that +the luxuriant type of Corinthian capital so much in favor with +Roman architects and their public was derived. On the other hand, +the form shown in Fig. 73, from a little building erected in 334 +B.C. or soon after, is a variant which seems to have left no +lineal successors. In its usual form the Corinthian capital has a +cylindrical core, which expands slightly toward the top so as to +become bell-shaped; around the lower part of this core are two +rows of conventionalized acanthus leaves, eight in each row; from +these rise eight principal stalks (each, in fully developed +examples, wrapped about its base with an acanthus leaf) which +combine, two and two, to form four volutes (HELICES), one under +each corner of the abacus, while smaller stalks, branching from +the first, cover the rest of the upper part of the core; there is +commonly a floral ornament on the middle of each face at the top; +finally the abacus has, in plan, the form of a square whose sides +have been hollowed out and whose corners have been truncated. In +the form shown in Fig. 73 we find, first, a row of sixteen simple +leaves, like those of a reed, with the points of a second row +showing between them; then a single row of eight acanthus leaves; +then the scroll-work, supporting a palmette on each side; and +finally an abacus whose profile is made up of a trochilus and an +ovolo. This capital, though extremely elegant, is open to the +charge of appearing weak at its middle. There is a much less +ornate variety, also reckoned as Corinthian, which has no scroll- +work, but only a row of acanthus leaves with a row of reed leaves +above them around a bell-shaped core, the whole surmounted by a +square abacus. In the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates the cornice +has dentels, and this was always the case, so far as we know, +where the Corinthian capital was used. In Corinthian buildings the +anta, where met with, has a capital like that of the column. But +there is very little material to generalize from until we descend +to Roman times. + +Some allusion has been made in the foregoing to other types of +columnar buildings besides the temple. The principal ones of which +remains exist are PROPYLAEA and STOAS. Propylaea is the Greek name +for a form of gateway, consisting essentially of a cross wall +between side walls, with a portico on each front. Such gateways +occur in many places as entrances to sacred precincts. The finest +example, and one of the noblest monuments of Greek architecture, +is that at the west end of the Athenian Acropolis. The stoa may be +defined as a building having an open range of columns on at least +one side. Usually its length was much greater than its depth. +Stoas were often built in sacred precincts, as at Olympia, and +also for secular purposes along public streets, as in Athens. +These and other buildings into which the column entered as an +integral feature involved no new architectural elements or +principles. + +One highly important fact about Greek architecture has thus far +been only touched upon; that is, the liberal use it made of color. +The ruins of Greek temples are to-day monochromatic, either +glittering white, as is the temple at Sunium, or of a golden +brown, as are the Parthenon and other buildings of Pentelic +marble, or of a still warmer brown, as are the limestone temples +of Paestum and Girgenti (Acragas). But this uniformity of tint is +due only to time. A "White City," such as made the pride of +Chicago in 1893, would have been unimaginable to an ancient Greek. +Even to-day the attentive observer may sometimes see upon old +Greek buildings, as, for example, upon ceiling-beams of the +Parthenon, traces left by patterns from which the color has +vanished. In other instances remains of actual color exist. So +specks of blue paint may still be seen, or might a few years ago, +on blocks belonging to the Athenian Propylaea. But our most +abundant evidence for the original use of color comes from +architectural fragments recently unearthed. During the excavation +of Olympia (1875-81) this matter of the coloring of architecture +was constantly in mind and a large body of facts relating to it +was accumulated. Every new and important excavation adds to the +store. At present our information is much fuller in regard to the +polychromy of Doric than of Ionic buildings. It appears that, just +as the forms and proportions of a building and of all its details +were determined by precedent, yet not so absolutely as to leave no +scope for the exercise of individual genius, so there was an +established system in the coloring of a building, yet a system +which varied somewhat according to time and place and the taste of +the architect. The frontispiece attempts to suggest what the +coloring of the Parthenon was like, and thus to illustrate the +general scheme of Doric polychromy. The colors used were chiefly +dark blue, sometimes almost black, and red; green and yellow also +occur, and some details were gilded. The coloration of the +building was far from total. Plain surfaces, as walls, were +unpainted. So too were the columns, including, probably, their +capitals, except between the annulets. Thus color was confined to +the upper members--the triglyphs, the under surface (soffit) of +the cornice, the sima, the anta-capitals (cf. Fig. 54), the +ornamental details generally, the coffers of the ceiling, and the +backgrounds of sculpture. [Footnote: Our frontispiece gives the +backgrounds of the metopes as plain, but this is probably an +error] The triglyphs, regulae, and mutules were blue; the taenia +of the architrave and the soffit of the cornice between the +mutules with the adjacent narrow bands were red; the backgrounds +of sculpture, either blue or red; the hawk's-beak molding, +alternating blue and red; and so on. The principal uncertainty +regards the treatment of the unpainted members. Were these left of +a glittering white, or were they toned down, in the case of marble +buildings, by some application or other, so as to contrast less +glaringly with the painted portions? The latter supposition +receives some confirmation from Vitruvius, a Roman writer on +architecture of the age of Augustus, and seems to some modern +writers to be demanded by aesthetic considerations. On the other +hand, the evidence of the Olympia buildings points the other way. +Perhaps the actual practice varied. As for the coloring of Ionic +architecture, we know that the capital of the column was painted, +but otherwise our information is very scanty. + +If it be asked what led the Greeks to a use of color so strange to +us and, on first acquaintance, so little to our taste, it may be +answered that possibly the example of their neighbors had +something to do with it. The architecture of Egypt, of +Mesopotamia, of Persia, was polychromatic. But probably the +practice of the Greeks was in the main an inheritance from the +early days of their own civilization. According to a well- +supported theory, the Doric temple of the historical period is a +translation into stone or marble of a primitive edifice whose +walls were of sun-dried bricks and whose columns and entablature +were of wood. Now it is natural and appropriate to paint wood; and +we may suppose that the taste for a partially colored architecture +was thus formed. This theory does not indeed explain everything. +It does not, for example, explain why the columns or the +architrave should be uncolored. In short, the Greek system of +polychromy presents itself to us as a largely arbitrary system. + +More interesting than the question of origin is the question of +aesthetic effect. Was the Greek use of color in good taste? It is +not easy to answer with a simple yes or no. Many of the attempts +to represent the facts by restorations on paper have been crude +and vulgar enough. On the other hand, some experiments in +decorating modern buildings with color, in a fashion, to be sure, +much less liberal than that of ancient Greece, have produced +pleasing results. At present the question is rather one of faith +than of sight; and most students of the subject have faith to +believe that the appearance of a Greek temple in all its pomp of +color was not only sumptuous, but harmonious and appropriate. + +When we compare the architecture of Greece with that of other +countries, we must be struck with the remarkable degree in which +the former adhered to established usage, both in the general plan +of a building and in the forms and proportions of each feature. +Some measure of adherence to precedent is indeed implied in the +very existence of an architectural style. What is meant is that +the Greek measure was unusual, perhaps unparalleled. Yet the +following of established canons was not pushed to a slavish +extreme. A fine Greek temple could not be built according to a +hard and fast rule. While the architect refrained from bold and +lawless innovations, he yet had scope to exercise his genius. The +differences between the Parthenon and any other contemporary Doric +temple would seem slight, when regarded singly; but the preeminent +perfection of the Parthenon lay in just those skilfully calculated +differences + +A Greek columnar building is extremely simple in form.[Footnote: +The substance of this paragraph and the following is borrowed from +Boutmy, "Philosophie de l'Architecture en Grece" (Paris, 1870)] +The outlines of an ordinary temple are those of an oblong +rectangular block surmounted by a triangular roof. With a +qualification to be explained presently, all the lines of the +building, except those of the roof, are either horizontal or +perpendicular. The most complicated Greek columnar buildings +known, the Erechtheum and the Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis, +are simplicity itself when compared to a Gothic cathedral, with +its irregular plan, its towers, its wheel windows, its +multitudinous diagonal lines. + +The extreme simplicity which characterizes the general form of a +Greek building extends also to its sculptured and painted +ornaments. In the Doric style these are very sparingly used; and +even the Ionic style, though more luxuriant, seems reserved in +comparison with the wealth of ornamental detail in a Gothic +cathedral. Moreover, the Greek ornaments are simple in character. +Examine again the hawk's-beak, the egg-and-dart, the leaf-and- +dart, the astragal, the guilloche, the honeysuckle, the meander or +fret. These are almost the only continuous patterns in use in +Greek architecture. Each consists of a small number of elements +recurring in unvarying order; a short section is enough to give +the entire pattern. Contrast this with the string-course in the +nave of the Cathedral of Amiens, where the motive of the design +undergoes constant variation, no piece exactly duplicating its +neighbor, or with the intricate interlacing patterns of Arabic +decoration, and you will have a striking illustration of the Greek +love for the finite and comprehensible. + +When it was said just now that the main lines of a Greek temple +are either horizontal or perpendicular, the statement called for +qualification. The elevations of the most perfect of Doric +buildings, the Parthenon, could not be drawn with a ruler. Some of +the apparently straight lines are really curved. The stylobate is +not level, but convex, the rise of the curve amounting to 1/450 of +the length of the building; the architrave has also a rising +curve, but slighter than that of the stylobate. Then again, many +of the lines that would commonly be taken for vertical are in +reality slightly inclined. The columns slope inward and so do the +principal surfaces of the building, while the anta-capitals slope +forward. These refinements, or some of them, have been observed in +several other buildings. They are commonly regarded as designed to +obviate certain optical illusions supposed to arise in their +absence. But perhaps, as one writer has suggested, their principal +office was to save the building from an appearance of mathematical +rigidity, to give it something of the semblance of a living thing. + +Be that as it may, these manifold subtle curves and sloping lines +testify to the extraordinary nicety of Greek workmanship. A column +of the Parthenon, with its inclination, its tapering, its entasis, +and its fluting, could not have been constructed without the most +conscientious skill. In fact, the capabilities of the workmen kept +pace with the demands of the architects. No matter how delicate +the adjustment to be made, the task was perfectly achieved. And +when it came to the execution of ornamental details, these were +wrought with a free hand and, in the best period, with fine +artistic feeling. The wall-band of the Erechtheum is one of the +most exquisite things which Greece has left us. + +Simplicity in general form, harmony of proportion, refinement of +line--these are the great features of Greek columnar architecture. + +One other type of Greek building, into which the column does not +enter, or enters only in a very subordinate way, remains to be +mentioned--the theater. Theaters abounded in Greece. Every +considerable city and many a smaller place had at least one, and +the ruins of these structures rank with temples and walls of +fortification among the commonest classes of ruins in Greek lands. +But in a sketch of Greek art they may be rapidly dismissed. That +part of the theater which was occupied by spectators--the +auditorium, as we may call it--was commonly built into a natural +slope, helped out by means of artificial embankments and +supporting walls. There was no roof. The building, therefore, had +no exterior, or none to speak of. Such beauty as it possessed was +due mainly to its proportions. The theater at the sanctuary of +Asclepius near Epidaurus, the work of the same architect who built +the round building with the Corinthian columns referred to on page +103, was distinguished in ancient times for "harmony and beauty," +as the Greek traveler, Pausamas (about 165 A. D.), puts it. It is +fortunately one of the best preserved. Fig. 74, a view taken from +a considerable distance will give some idea of that quality which +Pausanias justly admired. Fronting the auditorium was the stage +building, of which little but foundations remains anywhere. So far +as can be ascertained, this stage building had but small +architectural pretensions until the post classical period (i.e., +after Alexander) But there was opportunity for elegance as well as +convenience in the form given to the stone or marble seats with +which the auditorium was provided. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GREEK SCULPTURE.--GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. + + +In the Mycenaean period, as we have seen, the art of sculpture had +little existence, except for the making of small images and the +decoration of small objects. We have now to take up the story of +the rise of this art to an independent and commanding position, of +its perfection and its subsequent decline. The beginner must not +expect to find this story told with as much fulness and certainty +as is possible in dealing with the art of the Renaissance or any +more modern period. The impossibility of equal fulness and +certainty here will become apparent when we consider what our +materials for constructing a history of Greek sculpture are. + +First, we have a quantity of notices, more or less relevant, in +ancient Greek and Roman authors, chiefly of the time of the Roman +Empire. These notices are of the most miscellaneous description. +They come from writers of the most unlike tastes and the most +unequal degrees of trustworthiness. They are generally very vague, +leaving most that we want to know unsaid. And they have such a +haphazard character that, when taken all together, they do not +begin to cover the field. Nothing like all the works of the +greater sculptors, let alone the lesser ones, are so much as +mentioned by name in extant ancient literature. + +Secondly, we have several hundreds of original inscriptions +belonging to Greek works of sculpture and containing the names of +the artists who made them. It was a common practice, in the case +especially of independent statues in the round, for the sculptor +to attach his signature, generally to the pedestal. Unfortunately, +while great numbers of these inscribed pedestals have been +preserved for us, it is very rarely that we have the statues which +once belonged on them. Moreover, the artists' names which we meet +on the pedestals are in a large proportion of cases names not even +mentioned by our literary sources. In fact, there is only one +indisputable case where we possess both a statue and the pedestal +belonging to it, the latter inscribed with the name of an artist +known to us from literary tradition. (See pages 212-3.) + +Thirdly, we have the actual remains of Greek sculpture, a +constantly accumulating store, yet only an insignificant remnant +of what once existed. These works have suffered sad disfigurement. +Not one life-sized figure has reached us absolutely intact; but +few have escaped serious mutilation. Most of those found before +the beginning of this century, and some of those found since, have +been subjected to a process known as "restoration." Missing parts +have been supplied, often in the most arbitrary and tasteless +manner, and injured surfaces, e. g., of faces, have been polished, +with irreparable damage as the result. + +Again, it is important to recognize that the creations of Greek +sculpture which have been preserved to us are partly original +Greek works, partly copies executed in Roman times from Greek +originals. Originals, and especially important originals, are +scarce. The statues of gold and ivory have left not a vestige +behind. Those of bronze, once numbered by thousands, went long +ago, with few exceptions, into the melting-pot. Even sculptures in +marble, though the material was less valuable, have been thrown +into the lime-kiln or used as building stone or wantonly mutilated +or ruined by neglect. There does not exist to-day a single +certified original work by any one of the six greatest sculptors +of Greece, except the Hermes of Praxiteles (see page 221). Copies +are more plentiful. As nowadays many museums and private houses +have on their walls copies of paintings by the "old masters," so, +and far more usually, the public and private buildings of imperial +Rome and of many of the cities under her sway were adorned with +copies of famous works by the sculptors of ancient Greece. Any +piece of sculpture might thus be multiplied indefinitely; and so +it happens that we often possess several copies, or even some +dozens of copies, of one and the same original. Most of the +masterpieces of Greek sculpture which are known to us at all are +known only in this way. + +The question therefore arises, How far are these copies to be +trusted? It is impossible to answer in general terms. The +instances are very few where we possess at once the original and a +copy. The best case of the kind is afforded by Fig. 75, compared +with Fig. 132. Here the head, fore-arms, and feet of the copy are +modern and consequently do not enter into consideration. Limiting +one's attention to the antique parts of the figure, one sees that +it is a tolerably close, and yet a hard and lifeless, imitation of +the original. This gives us some measure of the degree of fidelity +we may expect in favorable cases. Generally speaking, we have to +form our estimate of the faithfulness of a copy by the quality of +its workmanship and by a comparison of it with other copies, where +such exist. Often we find two or more copies agreeing with one +another as closely as possible. This shows--and the conclusion is +confirmed by other evidence--that means existed in Roman times of +reproducing statues with the help of measurements mechanically +taken. At the same time, a comparison of copies makes it apparent +that copyists, even when aiming to be exact in the main, often +treated details and accessories with a good deal of freedom. Of +course, too, the skill and conscientiousness of the copyists +varied enormously. Finally, besides copies, we have to reckon with +variations and modernizations in every degree of earlier works. +Under these circumstances it will easily be seen that the task of +reconstructing a lost original from extant imitations is a very +delicate and perilous one. Who could adequately appreciate the +Sistine Madonna, if the inimitable touch of Raphael were known to +us only at second-hand? + +Any history of Greek sculpture attempts to piece together the +several classes of evidence above described. It classifies the +actual remains, seeking to assign to each piece its place and date +of production and to infer from direct examination and comparison +the progress of artistic methods and ideas. And this it does with +constant reference to what literature and inscriptions have to +tell us. But in the fragmentary state of our materials, it is +evident that the whole subject must be beset with doubt. Great and +steady progress has indeed been made since Winckelmann, the +founder of the science of classical archaeology, produced the +first "History of Ancient Art" (published in 1763); but twilight +still reigns over many an important question. This general warning +should be borne in mind in reading this or any other hand-book of +the subject. + +We may next take up the materials and the technical processes of +Greek sculpture. These may be classified as follows: + +(1) Wood. Wood was often, if not exclusively, used for the +earliest Greek temple-images, those rude xoana, of which many +survived into the historical period, to be regarded with peculiar +veneration. We even hear of wooden statues made in the developed +period of Greek art. But this was certainly exceptional. Wood +plays no part worth mentioning in the fully developed sculpture of +Greece, except as it entered into the making of gold and ivory +statues or of the cheaper substitutes for these. + +(2) Stone and marble. Various uncrystallized limestones were +frequently used in the archaic period and here and there even in +the fifth century. But white marble, in which Greece abounds, came +also early into use, and its immense superiority to limestone for +statuary purposes led to the abandonment of the latter. The +choicest varieties of marble were the Parian and Pentelic (cf. +page 77). Both of these were exported to every part of the Greek +world. + +A Greek marble statue or group is often not made of a single +piece. Thus the Aphrodite of Melos (page 249) was made of two +principal pieces, the junction coming just above the drapery, +while several smaller parts, including the left arm, were made +separately and attached. The Laocoon group (page 265), which Pliny +expressly alleges to have been made of a single block, is in +reality made of six. Often the head was made separately from the +body, sometimes of a finer quality of marble, and then inserted +into a socket prepared for it in the neck of the figure. And very +often, when the statue was mainly of a single block, small pieces +were attached, sometimes in considerable numbers. Of course the +joining was done with extreme nicety, and would have escaped +ordinary observation. + +In the production of a modern piece of marble sculpture, the +artist first makes a clay model and then a mere workman produces +from this a marble copy. In the best period of Greek art, on the +other hand, there seems to have been no mechanical copying of +finished models. Preliminary drawings or even clay models, perhaps +small, there must often have been to guide the eye; but the +sculptor, instead of copying with the help of exact measurements, +struck out freely, as genius and training inspired him. If he made +a mistake, the result was not fatal, for he could repair his error +by attaching a fresh piece of marble. Yet even so, the ability to +work in this way implies marvelous precision of eye and hand. To +this ability and this method we may ascribe something of the +freedom, the vitality, and the impulsiveness of Greek marble +sculpture--qualities which the mechanical method of production +tends to destroy. Observe too that, while pediment-groups, +metopes, friezes, and reliefs upon pedestals would often be +executed by subordinates following the design of the principal +artist, any important single statue or group in marble was in all +probability chiseled by the very hand of the master. + +Another fact of importance, a fact which few are able to keep +constantly enough in their thoughts, is that Greek marble +sculpture was always more or less painted. This is proved both by +statements in ancient authors and by the fuller and more explicit +evidence of numberless actual remains. (See especially pages 148, +247.) From these sources we learn that eyes, eyebrows, hair, and +perhaps lips were regularly painted, and that draperies and other +accessories were often painted in whole or in part. As regards the +treatment of flesh the evidence is conflicting. Some instances are +reported where the flesh of men was colored a reddish brown, as in +the sculpture of Egypt. But the evidence seems to me to warrant +the inference that this was unusual in marble sculpture. On the +"Alexander" sarcophagus the nude flesh has been by some process +toned down to an ivory tint, and this treatment may have been the +rule, although most sculptures which retain remains of color show +no trace of this. Observe that wherever color was applied, it was +laid on in "flat" tints, i.e., not graded or shaded. + +This polychromatic character of Greek marble sculpture is at +variance with what we moderns have been accustomed to since the +Renaissance. By practice and theory we have been taught that +sculpture and painting are entirely distinct arts. And in the +austere renunciation by sculpture of all color there has even +been seen a special distinction, a claim to precedence in the +hierarchy of the arts. The Greeks had no such idea. The sculpture +of the older nations about them was polychromatic; their own early +sculpture in wood and coarse stone was almost necessarily so; +their architecture, with which sculpture was often associated, was +so likewise. The coloring of marble sculpture, then, was a natural +result of the influences by which that sculpture was molded. And, +of course, the Greek eye took pleasure in the combination of form +and color, and presumably would have found pure white figures like +ours dull and cold. We are better circumstanced for judging Greek +taste in this matter than in the matter of colored architecture, +for we possess Greek sculptures which have kept their coloring +almost intact. A sight of the "Alexander" sarcophagus, if it does +not revolutionize our own taste, will at least dispel any fear +that a Greek artist was capable of outraging beautiful form by a +vulgarizing addition. + +(3) Bronze. This material (an alloy of copper with tin and +sometimes lead), always more expensive than marble, was the +favorite material of some of the most eminent sculptors (Myron, +Polyclitus, Lysippus) and for certain purposes was always +preferred. The art of casting small, solid bronze images goes far +back into the prehistoric period in Greece. At an early date, too +(we cannot say how early), large bronze statues could be made of a +number of separate pieces, shaped by the hammer and riveted +together. Such a work was seen at Sparta by the traveler +Pausanias, and was regarded by him as the most ancient existing +statue in bronze. A great impulse must have been given to bronze +sculpture by the introduction of the process of hollow-casting. +Pausanias repeatedly attributes the invention of this process to +Rhoecus and Theodorus, two Samian artists, who flourished +apparently early in the sixth century. This may be substantially +correct, but the process is much more likely to have been borrowed +from Egypt than invented independently. + +In producing a bronze statue it is necessary first to make an +exact clay model. This done, the usual Greek practice seems to +have been to dismember the model and take a casting of each part +separately. The several bronze pieces were then carefully united +by rivets or solder, and small defects were repaired by the +insertion of quadrangular patches of bronze. The eye-sockets were +always left hollow in the casting, and eyeballs of glass, metal, +or other materials, imitating cornea and iris, were inserted. +[Footnote: Marble statues also sometimes had inserted eyes] +Finally, the whole was gone over with appropriate tools, the hair, +for example, being furrowed with a sharp graver and thus receiving +a peculiar, metallic definiteness of texture. + +A hollow bronze statue being much lighter than one in marble and +much less brittle, a sculptor could be much bolder in posing a +figure of the former material than one of the latter. Hence when a +Greek bronze statue was copied in marble in Roman times, a +disfiguring support, not present in the original, had often to be +added (cf. Figs, 101, 104, etc.). The existence of such a support +in a marble work is, then, one reason among others for assuming a +bronze original. Other indications pointing the same way are +afforded by a peculiar sharpness of edge, e.g., of the eyelids and +the eyebrows, and by the metallic treatment of the hair. These +points are well illustrated by Fig. 76. Notice especially the +curls, which in the original would have been made of separate +strips of bronze, twisted and attached after the casting of the +figure. + +Bronze reliefs were not cast, but produced by hammering. This is +what is called repousse work. These bronze reliefs were of small +size, and were used for ornamenting helmets, cuirasses, mirrors, +and so on. + +(4) Gold and ivory. Chryselephantine statues, i.e., statues of +gold and ivory, must, from the costliness of the materials, have +been always comparatively rare. Most of them, though not all, were +temple-images, and the most famous ones were of colossal size. We +are very imperfectly informed as to how these figures were made. +The colossal ones contained a strong framework of timbers and +metal bars, over which was built a figure of wood. To this the +gold and ivory were attached, ivory being used for flesh and gold +for all other parts. The gold on the Athena of the Parthenon (cf. +page 186) weighed a good deal over a ton. But costly as these +works were, the admiration felt for them seems to have been +untainted by any thought of that fact. + +(5) Terra-cotta. This was used at all periods for small figures, a +few inches high, immense numbers of which have been preserved to +us. But large terra-cotta figures, such as were common in Etruria, +were probably quite exceptional in Greece. + +Greek sculpture may be classified, according to the purposes which +it served, under the following heads: + +(1) Architectural sculpture. A temple could hardly be considered +complete unless it was adorned with more or less of sculpture. The +chief place for such sculpture was in the pediments and especially +in the principal or eastern pediment. Relief-sculpture might be +applied to Doric metopes or an Ionic frieze. And finally, single +statues or groups might be placed, as acroteria, upon the apex and +lower corners of a pediment. Other sacred buildings besides +temples might be similarly adorned. But we hear very little of +sculpture on secular buildings. + +(2) Cult-images. As a rule, every temple or shrine contained at +least one statue of the divinity, or of each divinity, worshiped +there. + +(3) Votive sculptures. It was the habit of the Greeks to present +to their divinities all sorts of objects in recognition of past +favors or in hope of favors to come. Among these votive objects or +ANATHEMETA works of sculpture occupied a large and important +place. The subjects of such sculptures were various. Statues of +the god or goddess to whom the dedication was made were common; +but perhaps still commoner were figures representing human +persons, either the dedicators themselves or others in whom they +were nearly interested. Under this latter head fall most of the +many statues of victors in the athletic games. These were set up +in temple precincts, like that of Zeus at Olympia, that of Apollo +at Delphi, or that of Athena on the Acropolis of Athens, and were, +in theory at least, intended rather as thank-offerings than as +means of glorifying the victors themselves. + +(4) Sepulchral sculpture. Sculptured grave monuments were common +in Greece at least as early as the sixth century. The most usual +monument was a slab of marble--the form varying according to place +and time--sculptured with an idealized representation in relief +of the deceased person, often with members of his family. + +(5) Honorary statues. Statues representing distinguished men, +contemporary or otherwise, could be set up by state authority in +secular places or in sanctuaries. The earliest known case of this +kind is that of Harmodius and Aristogiton, shortly after 510 B.C. +(cf. pages 160-4). The practice gradually became common, reaching +an extravagant development in the period after Alexander. + +(6) Sculpture used merely as ornament, and having no sacred or +public character. This class belongs mainly, if not wholly, to the +latest period of Greek art. It would be going beyond our evidence +to say that never, in the great age of Greek sculpture, was a +statue or a relief produced merely as an ornament for a private +house or the interior of a secular building. But certain it is +that the demand for such things before the time of Alexander, if +it existed at all, was inconsiderable. It may be neglected in a +broad survey of the conditions of artistic production in the great +age. + +The foregoing list, while not quite exhaustive, is sufficiently so +for present purposes. It will be seen how inspiring and elevating +was the role assigned to the sculptor in Greece. His work destined +to be seen by intelligent and sympathetic multitudes, appealed, +not to the coarser elements of their nature, but to the most +serious and exalted. Hence Greek sculpture of the best period is +always pure and noble. The grosser aspects of Greek life, which +flaunt themselves shamelessly in Attic comedy, as in some of the +designs upon Attic vases, do not invade the province of this art. + +It may be proper here to say a word in explanation of that frank +and innocent nudity which is so characteristic a trait of the best +Greek art. The Greek admiration for the masculine body and the +willingness to display it were closely bound up with the +extraordinary importance in Greece of gymnastic exercises and +contests and with the habits which these engendered. As early as +the seventh century, if not earlier, the competitors in the foot- +race at Olympia dispensed with the loin-cloth, which had +previously been the sole covering worn. In other Olympic contests +the example thus set was not followed till some time later, but in +the gymnastic exercises of every-day life the same custom must +have early prevailed. Thus in contrast to primitive Greek feeling +and to the feeling of "barbarians" generally, the exhibition by +men among men of the naked body came to be regarded as something +altogether honorable. There could not be better evidence of this +than the fact that the archer-god, Apollo, the purest god in the +Greek pantheon, does not deign in Greek art to veil the glory of +his form. + +Greek sculpture had a strongly idealizing bent. Gods and goddesses +were conceived in the likeness of human beings, but human beings +freed from eery blemish, made august and beautiful by the artistic +imagination. The subjects of architectural sculpture were mainly +mythological, historical scenes being very rare in purely Greek +work; and these legendary themes offered little temptation to a +literal copying of every-day life. But what is most noteworthy is +that even in the representation of actual human persons, e.g., in +athlete statues and upon grave monuments, Greek sculpture in the +best period seems not to have even aimed at exact portraiture. The +development of realistic portraiture belongs mainly to the age of +Alexander and his successors. + +Mr. Ruskin goes so far as to say that a Greek "never expresses +personal character," and "never expresses momentary passion." +[Footnote: "Aratra Pentelici," Lecture VI, Section 191, 193.] These are +reckless verdicts, needing much qualification. For the art of the +fourth century they will not do at all, much less for the later +period. But they may be of use if they lead us to note the +preference for the typical and permanent with which Greek +sculpture begins, and the very gradual way in which it progresses +toward the expression of the individual and transient. However, +even in the best period the most that we have any right to speak +of is a prevailing tendency. Greek art was at all times very much +alive, and the student must be prepared to find exceptions to any +formula that can be laid down. + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ARCHAIC PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE. FIRST HALF: 625 (?)-550 +B.C. + + +The date above suggested for the beginning of the period with +which we have first to deal must not be regarded as making any +pretense to exactitude. We have no means of assigning a definite +date to any of the most primitive-looking pieces of Greek +sculpture. All that can be said is that works which can be +confidently dated about the middle of the sixth century show such +a degree of advancement as implies more than half a century of +development since the first rude beginnings. + +Tradition and the more copious evidence of actual remains teach us +that these early attempts at sculpture in stone or marble were not +confined to any one spot or narrow region. On the contrary, the +centers of artistic activity were numerous and widely diffused-- +the islands of Crete, Paros, and Naxos; the Ionic cities of Asia +Minor and the adjacent islands of Chios and Samos; in Greece +proper, Boeotia, Attica, Argolis, Arcadia, Laconia; in Sicily, the +Greek colony Selinus; and doubtless many others. It is very +difficult to make out how far these different spots were +independent of one another; how far, in other words, we have a +right to speak of local "schools" of sculpture. Certainly there +was from the first a good deal of action and reaction between some +of these places, and one chief problem of the subject is to +discover the really originative centers of artistic impulse, and +to trace the spread of artistic types and styles and methods from +place to place. Instead of attempting here to discuss or decide +this difficult question, it will be better simply to pass in +review a few typical works of the early archaic period from +various sites. + +The first place may be given to a marble image (Fig. 77) found in +1878 on the island of Delos, that ancient center of Apolline +worship for the Ionians. On the left side of the figure is +engraved in early Greek characters a metrical inscription, +recording that the statue was dedicated to Artemis by one Nicandra +of Naxos. Whether it was intended to represent the goddess Artemis +or the woman Nicandra, we cannot tell; nor is the question of much +importance to us. We have here an extremely rude attempt to +represent a draped female form. The figure stands stiffly erect, +the feet close together, the arms hanging straight down, the face +looking directly forward. The garment envelops the body like a +close-fitting sheath, without a suggestion of folds. The trunk of +the body is flat or nearly so at the back, while in front the +prominence of the breasts is suggested by the simple device of two +planes, an upper and a lower, meeting at an angle. The shapeless +arms were not detached from the sides, except just at the waist. +Below the girdle the body is bounded by parallel planes in front +and behind and is rounded off at the sides. A short projection at +the bottom, slightly rounded and partly divided, does duty for the +feet. The features of the face are too much battered to be +commented upon. The most of the hair falls in a rough mass upon +the back, but on either side a bunch, divided by grooves into four +locks, detaches itself and is brought forward upon the breast. +This primitive image is not an isolated specimen of its type. +Several similar figures or fragments of figures have been found on +the island of Delos, in Boeotia, and elsewhere. A small statuette +of this type, found at Olympia, but probably produced at Sparta, +has its ugly face tolerably preserved. + +Another series of figures, much more numerously represented, gives +us the corresponding type of male figure. One of the earliest +examples of this series is shown in Fig. 78, a life-sized statue +of Naxian marble, found on the island of Thera in 1836. The figure +is completely nude. The attitude is like that of the female type +just described, except that the left foot is advanced. Other +statues, agreeing with this one in attitude, but showing various +stages of development, have been found in many places, from Samos +on the east to Actium on the west. Several features of this class +of figures have been thought to betray Egyptian influence. +[Footnote: See Wolters's edition of Friederichs's "Gipsabgusse +antiker Bildwerke," pages 11 12.] The rigid position might be +adopted independently by primitive sculpture anywhere. But the +fact that the left leg is invariably advanced, the narrowness of +the hips, and the too high position frequently given to the ears-- +did this group of coincidences with the stereotyped Egyptian +standing figures come about without imitation? There is no +historical difficulty in the way of assuming Egyptian influence, +for as early as the seventh century Greeks certainly visited Egypt +and it was perhaps in this century that the Greek colony of +Naucratis was founded in the delta of the Nile. Here was a chance +for Greeks to see Egyptian statues; and besides, Egyptian +statuettes may have reached Greek shores in the way of commerce. +But be the truth about this question what it may, the early Greek +sculptors were as far as possible from slavishly imitating a fixed +prototype. They used their own eyes and strove, each in his own +way, to render what they saw. This is evident, when the different +examples of the class of figures now under discussion are passed +in review. + +Our figure from Thera is hardly more than a first attempt. There +is very little of anatomical detail, and what there is is not +correct; especially the form and the muscles of the abdomen are +not understood. The head presents a number of characteristics +which were destined long to persist in Greek sculpture. Such are +the protuberant eyeballs, the prominent cheek-bones, the square, +protruding chin. Such, too, is the formation of the mouth, with +its slightly upturned corners--a feature almost, though not quite, +universal in Greek faces for more than a century. This is the +sculptor's childlike way of imparting a look of cheerfulness to +the countenance, and with it often goes an upward slant of the +eyes from the inner to the outer corners. In representing this +youth as wearing long hair, the sculptor followed the actual +fashion of the times, a fashion not abandoned till the fifth +century and in Sparta not till later. The appearance of the hair +over the forehead and temples should be noticed. It is arranged +symmetrically in flat spiral curls, five curls on each side. +Symmetry in the disposition of the front hair is constant in early +Greek sculpture, and some scheme or other of spiral curls is +extremely common. + +It was at one time thought that these nude standing figures all +represented Apollo. It is now certain that Apollo was sometimes +intended, but equally certain that the same type was used for men. +Greek sculpture had not yet learned to differentiate divine from +human beings The so-called "Apollo" of Tenea (Fig. 79), probably +in reality a grave-statue representing the deceased, was found on +the site of the ancient Tenea, a village in the territory of +Corinth. It is unusually well preserved, there being nothing +missing except the middle portion of the right arm, which has been +restored. This figure shows great improvement over his fellow from +Thera. The rigid attitude, to be sure, is preserved unchanged, +save for a slight bending of the arms at the elbows; and we meet +again the prominent eyes, cheek-bones, and chin, and the smiling +mouth. But the arms are much more detached from the sides and the +modeling of the figure generally is much more detailed. There are +still faults in plenty, but some parts are rendered very well, +particularly the lower legs and feet, and the figure seems alive. +The position of the feet, flat upon the ground and parallel to one +another, shows us how to complete in imagination the "Apollo" of +Thera and other mutilated members of the series. Greek sculpture +even in its earliest period could not limit itself to single +standing figures. The desire to adorn the pediments of temples and +temple-like buildings gave use to more complex compositions. The +earliest pediment sculptures known were found on the Acropolis of +Athens in the excavations of 1885-90 (see page 147) The most +primitive of these is a low relief of soft poros (see page 78), +representing Heracles slaying the many-headed hydra. Somewhat +later, but still very rude, is the group shown in Fig. 80, which +once occupied the right-hand half of a pediment. The material here +is a harder sort of poros, and the figures are practically in the +round, though on account of the connection with the background the +work has to be classed as high relief. We see a triple monster, or +rather three monsters, with human heads and trunks and arms the +human bodies passing into long snaky bodies coiled together. A +single pair of wings was divided between the two outermost of the +three beings, while snakes' heads, growing out of the human +bodies, rendered the aspect of the group still more portentous. +The center of the pediment was probably occupied by a figure of +Zeus, hurling his thunderbolt at this strange enemy. We have +therefore here a scene from one of the favorite subjects of Greek +art at all periods--the gigantomachy, or battle of gods and +giants. Fig. 81 gives a better idea of the nearest of the three +heads. [Footnote: It is doubtful whether this head belongs where +it is placed in Fig 80, or in another pediment-group, of which +fragments have been found.] It was completely covered with a crust +of paint, still pretty well preserved. The flesh was red; the +hair, moustache, and beard, blue; the irises of the eyes, green; +the eyebrows, edges of the eyelids, and pupils, black. A +considerable quantity of early poros sculptures was found on the +Athenian Acropolis. These were all liberally painted. The poor +quality of the material was thus largely or wholly concealed. + +Fig. 82 shows another Athenian work, found on the Acropolis in +1864-65. It is of marble and is obviously of later date than the +poros sculptures. In 1887 the pedestal of this statue was found, +with a part of the right foot. An inscription on the pedestal +shows that the statue was dedicated to some divinity, doubtless +Athena, whose precinct the Acropolis was. The figure then probably +represents the dedicator, bringing a calf for sacrifice. The +position of the body and legs is here the same as in the "Apollo" +figures, but the subject has compelled the sculptor to vary the +position of the arms. Another difference from the "Apollo" figures +lies in the fact that this statue is not wholly naked. The +garment, however, is hard to make out, for it clings closely to +the person of the wearer and betrays its existence only along the +edges. The sculptor had not yet learned to represent the folds of +drapery + +The British Museum possesses a series of ten seated figures of +Parian marble, which were once ranged along the approach to an +important temple of Apollo near Miletus. Fig. 83 shows three of +these. They are placed in their assumed chronological order, the +earliest furthest off. Only the first two belong in the period now +under review. The figures are heavy and lumpish, and are +enveloped, men and women alike, in draperies, which leave only the +heads, the fore-arms, and the toes exposed. It is interesting to +see the successive sculptors attacking the problem of rendering +the folds of loose garments. Not until we reach the latest of the +three statues do we find any depth given to the folds, and that +figure belongs distinctly in the latter half of the archaic +period. + +Transporting ourselves now from the eastern to the western +confines of Greek civilization, we may take a look at a sculptured +metope from Selinus in Sicily (Fig. 84). That city was founded, +according to our best ancient authority, about the year 629 B.C., +and the temple from which our metope is taken is certainly one of +the oldest, if not the oldest, of the many temples of the place. +The material of the metope, as of the whole temple, is a local +poros, and the work is executed in high relief. The subject is +Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa. The Gorgon is trying to +run away--the position given to her legs is used in early Greek +sculpture and vase-painting to signify rapid motion--but is +overtaken by her pursuer. From the blood of Medusa sprang, +according to the legend, the winged horse, Pegasus; and the +artist, wishing to tell as much of the story as possible, has +introduced Pegasus into his composition, but has been forced to +reduce him to miniature size. The goddess Athena, the protectress +of Perseus, occupies what remains of the field. There is no need +of dwelling in words on the ugliness of this relief, an ugliness +only in part accounted for by the subject. The student should note +that the body of each of the three figures is seen from the front, +while the legs are in profile. The same distortion occurs in a +second metope of this same temple, representing Heracles carrying +off two prankish dwarfs who had tried to annoy him, and is in fact +common in early Greek work. We have met something similar in +Egyptian reliefs and paintings (cf. page 33), but this method of +representing the human form is so natural to primitive art that we +need not here assume Egyptian influence. The garments of Perseus +and Athena show so much progress in the representation of folds +that one scruples to put this temple back into the seventh +century, as some would have us do. Like the poros sculptures of +Attica, these Selinus metopes seem to have been covered with +color. + +Fig. 85 takes us back again to the island of Delos, where the +statue came to light in 1877. It is of Parian marble, and is +considerably less than life-sized. A female figure is here +represented, the body unnaturally twisted at the hips, as in the +Selinus metopes, the legs bent in the attitude of rapid motion. At +the back there were wings, of which only the stumps now remain. A +comparison of this statue with similar figures from the Athenian +Acropolis has shown that the feet did not touch the pedestal, the +drapery serving as a support. The intention of the artist, then, +was to represent a flying figure, probably a Victory. The goddess +is dressed in a chiton (shift), which shows no trace of folds +above the girdle, while below the girdle, between the legs, there +is a series of flat, shallow ridges. The face shows the usual +archaic features--the prominent eyeballs, cheeks, and chin, and +the smiling mouth. The hair is represented as fastened by a sort +of hoop, into which metallic ornaments, now lost, were inserted. +As usual, the main mass of the hair falls straight behind, and +several locks, the same number on each side, are brought forward +upon the breast. As usual, too, the front hair is disposed +symmetrically; in this case, a smaller and a larger flat curl on +each side of the middle of the forehead are succeeded by a +continuous tress of hair arranged in five scallops. + +If, as has been generally thought, this statue belongs on an +inscribed pedestal which was found near it, then we have before us +the work of one Archermus of Chios, known to us from literary +tradition as the first sculptor to represent Victory with wings. +At all events, this, if a Victory, is the earliest that we know. +She awakens our interest, less for what she is in herself than +because she is the forerunner of the magnificent Victories of +developed Greek art. + +Thus far we have not met a single work to which it is possible to +assign a precise date. We have now the satisfaction of finding a +chronological landmark in our path. This is afforded by some +fragments of sculpture belonging to the old Temple of Artemis at +Ephesus. The date of this temple is approximately fixed by the +statement of Herodotus (I, 92) that most of its columns were +picsented by Croesus, king of Lydia, whose reign lasted from 560 +to 546 B. C. In the course of the excavations carried on for the +British Museum upon the site of Ephesus there were brought to +light, in 1872 and 1874, a few fragments of this sixth century +edifice. Even some letters of Croesus's dedicatory inscription +have been found on the bases of the Ionic columns, affording a +welcome confirmation to the testimony of Herodotus. It appears +that the columns, or some of them, were treated in a very +exceptional fashion, the lowest drums being adorned with relief- +sculpture. The British Museum authorities have partially restored +one such drum (Fig. 86), though without guaranteeing that the +pieces of sculpture here combined actually belong to the same +column. The male figure is not very pre-possessing, but that is +partly due to the battered condition of the face. Much more +attractive is the female head, of which unfortunately only the +back is seen in our illustration. It bears a strong family +likeness to the head of the Victory of Delos, but shows marked +improvement over that. Some bits of a sculptured cornice +belonging to the same temple are also refined in style. In this +group of reliefs, fragmentary though they are, we have an +indication of the development attained by Ionic sculptors about +the middle of the sixth century. For, of course, though Croesus +paid for the columns, the work was executed by Greek artists upon +the spot, and presumably by the best artists that could be +secured. We may therefore use these sculptures as a standard by +which to date other works, whose date is not fixed for us by +external evidence. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ARCHAIC PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE SECOND HALF 550-480 B.C. + + +Greek sculpture now enters upon a stage of development which +possesses for the modern student a singular and potent charm True, +many traces still remain of the sculptor's imperfect mastery. He +cannot pose his figures in perfectly easy attitudes not even in +reliefs, where the problem is easier than in sculpture in the +round. His knowledge of human anatomy--that is to say, of the +outward appearance of the human body, which is all the artistic +anatomy that any one attempted to know during the rise and the +great age of Greek sculpture--is still defective, and his means of +expression are still imperfect. For example, in the nude male +figure the hips continue to be too narrow for the shoulders, and +the abdomen too flat. The facial peculiarities mentioned in the +preceding chapter--prominent eyeballs, cheeks, and chin, and +smiling mouth--are only very gradually modified. As from the +first, the upper eyelid does not overlap the lower eyelid at the +outer corner, as truth, or rather appearance, requires, and in +relief sculpture the eye of a face in profile is rendered as in +front view. The texture and arrangement of hair are expressed in +various ways but always with a marked love of symmetry and +formalism. In the difficult art of representing drapery there is +much experimentation and great progress. It seems to have been +among the eastern Ionians perhaps at Chios, that the deep cutting +of folds was first practiced, and from Ionia this method of +treatment spread to Athens and elsewhere. When drapery is used, +there is a manifest desire on the sculptor's part to reveal what +he can, more, in fact, than in reality could appear, of the form +underneath. The garments fall in formal folds, sometimes of great +elaboration. They look as if they were intended to represent +garments of irregular cut, carefully starched and ironed. But one +must be cautious about drawing inferences from an imperfect +artistic manner as to the actual fashions of the day. + +But whatever shortcomings in technical perfection may be laid to +their charge, the works of this period are full of the indefinable +fascination of promise. They are marked, moreover, by a simplicity +and sincerity of purpose, an absence of all ostentation, a +conscientious and loving devotion on the part of those who made +them. And in many of them we are touched by great refinement and +tenderness of feeling, and a peculiarly Greek grace of line. + +To illustrate these remarks we may turn first to Lycia, in +southwestern Asia Minor. The so called "Harpy" tomb was a huge, +four sided pillar of stone, in the upper part of which a square +burial-chamber was hollowed out. Marble bas-reliefs adorned the +exterior of this chamber The best of the four slabs is seen in Fig +87 [Footnote: Our illustration is not quite complete on the right] +At the right is a seated female figure, divinity or deceased +woman, who holds in her right hand a pomegranate flower and in her +left a pomegranate fruit To her approach three women, the first +raising the lower part of her chiton with her right hand and +drawing forward her outer garment with her left, the second +bringing a fruit and a flower the third holding an egg in her +right hand and raising her chiton with her left. Then comes the +opening into the burial-chamber, surmounted by a diminutive cow +suckling her calf. At the left is another seated female figure, +holding a bowl for libation. The exact significance of this scene +is unknown, and we may limit our attention to its artistic +qualities. We have here our first opportunity of observing the +principle of isocephaly in Greek relief-sculpture; i.e., the +convention whereby the heads of figures in an extended composition +are ranged on nearly the same level, no matter whether the figures +are seated, standing, mounted on horseback, or placed in any other +position. The main purpose of this convention doubtless was to +avoid the unpleasing blank spaces which would result if the +figures were all of the same proportions. In the present instance +there may be the further desire to suggest by the greater size of +the seated figures their greater dignity as goddesses or divinized +human beings. Note, again, how, in the case of each standing +woman, the garments adhere to the body behind. The sculptor here +sacrifices truth for the sake of showing the outline of the +figure. Finally, remark the daintiness with which the hands are +used, particularly in the case of the seated figure on the right. +The date of this work may be put not much later than the middle of +the sixth century, and the style is that of the Ionian school. + +Under the tyrant Pisistratus and his sons Athens attained to an +importance in the world of art which it had not enjoyed before. A +fine Attic work, which we may probably attribute to the time of +Pisistratus, is the grave-monument of Aristion (Fig. 88). The +material is Pentelic marble. The form of the monument, a tall, +narrow, slightly tapering slab or stele, is the usual one in +Attica in this period. The man represented in low relief is, of +course, Aristion himself. He had probably fallen in battle, and so +is put before us armed. Over a short chiton he wears a leather +cuirass with a double row of flaps below, on his head is a small +helmet, which leaves his face entirely exposed, on his legs are +greaves; and in his left hand he holds a spear There is some +constraint in the position of the left arm and hand, due to the +limitations of space In general, the anatomy, so far as exhibited +is creditable, though fault might be found with the shape of the +thighs The hair, much shorter than is usual in the archaic period, +is arranged in careful curls The beard, trimmed to a point in +front, is rendered by parallel grooves The chiton, where it shows +from under the cuirass, is arranged in symmetrical plaits There +are considerable traces of color on the relief, as well as on the +background Some of these may be seen in our illustration on the +cuirass. + +Our knowledge of early Attic sculpture has been immensely +increased by the thorough exploration of the summit of the +Athenian Acropolis in 1885-90 In regard to these important +excavations it must be remembered that in 480 and again in 479 the +Acropolis was occupied by Persians belonging to Xerxes' invading +army, who reduced the buildings and sculptures on that site to a +heap of fire-blackened ruins This debris was used by the Athenians +in the generation immediately following toward raising the general +level of the summit of the Acropolis. All this material, after +having been buried for some twenty three and a half centuries, has +now been recovered. In the light of the newly found remains, which +include numerous inscribed pedestals, it is seen that under the +rule of Pisistratus and his sons Athens attracted to itself +talented sculptors from other Greek communities, notably from +Chios and Ionia generally. It is to Ionian sculptors and to +Athenian sculptors brought under Ionian influences that we must +attribute almost all those standing female figures which form the +chief part of the new treasures of the Acropolis Museum. + +The figures of this type stand with the left foot, as a rule, a +little advanced, the body and head facing directly forward with +primitive stiffness. But the arms no longer hang straight at the +sides, one of them, regularly the right, being extended from the +elbow, while the other holds up the voluminous drapery. Many of +the statues retain copious traces of color on hair, eyebrows, +eyes, draperies, and ornaments; in no case does the flesh give any +evidence of having been painted (cf. page 119). Fig. 89 is taken +from an illustration which gives the color as it was when the +statue was first found, before it had suffered from exposure. Fig. +90 is not in itself one of the most pleasing of the series, but it +has a special interest, not merely on account of its exceptionally +large size--it is over six and a half feet high--but because we +probably know the name and something more of its sculptor. If, as +seems altogether likely, the statue belongs upon the inscribed +pedestal upon which it is placed in the illustration, then we have +before us an original work of that Antenor who was commissioned by +the Athenian people, soon after the expulsion of the tyrant +Hippias and his family in 510, to make a group in bronze of +Harmodius and Aristogiton (cf. pages 160-4) This statue might, of +course, be one of his earlier productions. + +At first sight these figures strike many untrained observers as +simply grotesque. Some of them are indeed odd; Fig. 91 reproduces +one which is especially so. But they soon become absorbingly +interesting and then delightful. The strange-looking, puzzling +garments, [Footnote: Fig 91 wears only one garment the Ionic +chiton, a long; linen shift, girded at the waist and pulled up so +as to fall over conceal the girdle. Figs 89, 90, 92 93 wear over +this a second garment which goes over the right shoulder and under +the left This over-garment reaches to the feet, so as to conceal +the lower portion of the chiton At the top it is folded over, or +perhaps rather another piece of cloth is sewed on. This over-fold, +if it may be so called, appears as if cut with two or more long +points below] which cling to the figure behind and fall in formal +folds in front, the elaborately, often impossibly, arranged hair, +the gracious countenances, a certain quaintness and refinement and +unconsciousness of self--these things exercise over us an endless +fascination. + +Who are these mysterious beings? We do not know. There are those +who would see in them, or in some of them, representations of +Athena, who was not only a martial goddess, but also patroness of +spinning and weaving and all cunning handiwork. To others, +including the writer, they seem, in their manifold variety, to be +daughters of Athens. But, if so, what especial claim these women +had to be set up in effigy upon Athena's holy hill is an unsolved +riddle. + +Before parting from their company we must not fail to look at two +fragmentary figures (Figs. 94, 95), the most advanced in style of +the whole series and doubtless executed shortly before 480. In the +former, presumably the earlier of the two, the marvelous +arrangement of the hair over the forehead survives and the +eyeballs still protrude unpleasantly. But the mouth has lost the +conventional smile and the modeling of the face is of great +beauty. In the other, alone of the series, the hair presents a +fairly natural appearance, the eyeballs lie at their proper depth, +and the beautiful curve of the neck is not masked by the locks +that fall upon the breasts. In this head, too, the mouth actually +droops at the corners, giving a perhaps unintended look of +seriousness to the face. The ear, though set rather high, is +exquisitely shaped. + +Still more lovely than this lady is the youth's head shown in Fig. +96. Fate has robbed us of the body to which it belonged, but the +head itself is in an excellent state of preservation. The face is +one of singular purity and sweetness. The hair, once of a golden +tint, is long behind and is gathered into two braids, which start +from just behind the ears, cross one another, and are fastened +together in front; the short front hair is combed forward and +conceals the ends of the braids; and there is a mysterious puff in +front of each ear. In the whole work, so far at least as appears +in a profile view, there is nothing to mar our pleasure. The +sculptor's hand has responded cunningly to his beautiful thought. + +It is a pity not to be able to illustrate another group of Attic +sculptures of the late archaic period, the most recent addition to +our store. The metopes of the Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi, +discovered during the excavations now in progress, are of +extraordinary interest and importance; but only two or three of +them have yet been published, and these in a form not suited for +reproduction. The same is the case with another of the recent +finds at Delphi, the sculptured frieze of the Treasury of the +Cnidians, already famous among professional students and destined +to be known and admired by a wider public. Here, however, it is +possible to submit a single fragment, which was found years ago +(Fig. 97). It represents a four-horse chariot approaching an +altar. The newly found pieces of this frieze have abundant remains +of color. The work probably belongs in the last quarter of the +sixth century. + +The pediment-figures from Aegina, the chief treasure of the Munich +collection of ancient sculpture, were found in 1811 by a party of +scientific explorers and were restored in Italy under the +superintendence of the Danish sculptor, Thorwaldsen. Until lately +these AEginetan figures were our only important group of late +archaic Greek sculptures; and, though that is no longer the case, +they still retain, and will always retain, an especial interest +and significance. They once filled the pediments of a Doric temple +of Aphaia, of which considerable remains are still standing. There +is no trustworthy external clue to the date of the building, and +we are therefore obliged to depend for that on the style of the +architecture and sculpture, especially the latter. In the dearth +of accurately dated monuments which might serve as standards of +comparison, great difference of opinion on this point has +prevailed. But we are now somewhat better off, thanks to recent +discoveries at Athens and Delphi, and we shall probably not go far +wrong in assigning the temple with its sculptures to about 480 +B.C. Fig. 52 illustrates, though somewhat incorrectly, the +composition of the western pediment. The subject was a combat, in +the presence of Athena, between Greeks and Asiatics, probably on +the plain of Troy. A close parallelism existed between the two +halves of the pediment, each figure, except the goddess and the +fallen warrior at her feet, corresponding to a similar figure on +the opposite side. Athena, protectress of the Greeks, stands in +the center (Fig. 98). She wears two garments, of which the outer +one (the only one seen in the illustration) is a marvel of +formalism. Her aegis covers her breasts and hangs far down behind; +the points of its scalloped edge once bristled with serpents' +heads, and there was a Gorgon's head in the middle of the front. +She has upon her head a helmet with lofty crest, and carries +shield and lance. The men, with the exception of the two archers, +are naked, and their helmets, which are of a form intended to +cover the face, are pushed back. Of course, men did not actually +go into battle in this fashion; but the sculptor did not care for +realism, and he did care for the exhibition of the body. He +belonged to a school which had made an especially careful study of +anatomy, and his work shows a great improvement in this respect +over anything we have yet had the opportunity to consider. Still, +the men are decidedly lean in appearance and their angular +attitudes are a little suggestive of prepared skeletons. They have +oblique and prominent eyes, and, whether fighting or dying, they +wear upon their faces the same conventional smile. + +The group in the eastern pediment corresponds closely in subject +and composition to that in the western, but is of a distinctly +more advanced style. Only five figures of this group were +sufficiently preserved to be restored. Of these perhaps the most +admirable is the dying warrior from the southern corner of the +pediment (Fig. 99), in which the only considerable modern part is +the right leg, from the middle of the thigh. The superiority of +this and its companion figures to those of the western pediment +lies, as the Munich catalogue points out, in the juster +proportions of body, arms, and legs, the greater fulness of the +muscles, the more careful attention to the veins and to the +qualities of the skin, the more natural position of eyes and +mouth. This dying man does not smile meaninglessly. His lips are +parted, and there is a suggestion of death-agony on his +countenance. In both pediments the figures are carefully finished +all round; there is no neglect, or none worth mentioning, of those +parts which were destined to be invisible so long as the figures +were in position. + +The Strangford "Apollo" (Fig. 100) is of uncertain provenience, +but is nearly related in style to the marbles of Aegina. This +statue, by the position of body, legs, and head, belongs to the +series of "Apollo" figures discussed above (pages 129-32); but the +arms were no longer attached to the sides, and were probably bent +at the elbows. The most obvious traces of a lingering archaism, +besides the rigidity of the attitude, are the narrowness of the +hips and the formal arrangement of the hair, with its double row +of snail-shell curls. The statue has been spoken of by a high +authority [Footnote: Newton, "Essays on Art and Archaeology" page +81.] as showing only "a meager and painful rendering of nature." +That is one way of looking at it. But there is another way, which +has been finely expressed by Pater, in an essay on "The Marbles of +Aegina": "As art which has passed its prime has sometimes the +charm of an absolute refinement in taste and workmanship, so +immature art also, as we now see, has its own attractiveness in +the naivete, the freshness of spirit, which finds power and +interest in simple motives of feeling, and in the freshness of +hand, which has a sense of enjoyment in mechanical processes still +performed unmechanically, in the spending of care and intelligence +on every touch. ... The workman is at work in dry earnestness, +with a sort of hard strength of detail, a scrupulousness verging +on stiffness, like that of an early Flemish painter; he +communicates to us his still youthful sense of pleasure in the +experience of the first rudimentary difficulties of his art +overcome." [Footnote: Pater, "Greek Studies" page 285] + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE. 480-450 B. C. + + +The term "Transitional period" is rather meaningless in itself, +but has acquired considerable currency as denoting that stage in +the history of Greek art in which the last steps were taken toward +perfect freedom of style. It is convenient to reckon this period +as extending from the year of the Persian invasion of Greece under +Xerxes to the middle of the century. In the artistic as in the +political history of this generation Athens held a position of +commanding importance, while Sparta, the political rival of +Athens, was as barren of art as of literature. The other principal +artistic center was Argos, whose school of sculpture had been and +was destined long to be widely influential. As for other local +schools, the question of their centers and mutual relations is too +perplexing and uncertain to be here discussed. + +In the two preceding chapters we studied only original works, but +from this time on we shall have to pay a good deal of attention to +copies (cf. pages 114-16). We begin with two statues in Naples +(Fig. 101). The story of this group--for the two statues were +designed as a group--is interesting. The two friends, Harmodius +and Aristogiton, who in 514 had formed a conspiracy to rid Athens +of her tyrants, but who had succeeded only in killing one of them, +came to be regarded after the expulsion of the remaining tyrant +and his family in 510 as the liberators of the city. Their statues +in bronze, the work of Antenor, were set up on a terrace above the +market-place (cf. pages 124, 149). In 480 this group was carried +off to Persia by Xerxes and there it remained for a hundred and +fifty years or more when it was restored to Athens by Alexander +the Great or one of his successors. Athens however had as promptly +as possible repaired her loss. Critius and Nesiotes, two sculptors +who worked habitually in partnership, were commissioned to make a +second group, and this was set up in 477-6 on the same terrace +where the first had been After the restoration of Antenor's +statues toward the end of the fourth century the two groups stood +side by side. + +It was argued by a German archaeologist more than a generation ago +that the two marble statues shown in Fig. 101 are copied from one +of these bronze groups, and this identification has been all but +universally accepted. The proof may be stated briefly, as follows. +First several Athenian objects of various dates, from the fifth +century B.C. onward, bear a design to which the Naples statues +clearly correspond One of these is a relief on a marble throne +formerly in Athens. Our illustration of this (Fig. 102) is taken +from a "squeeze," or wet paper impression. This must then, have +been an important group in Athens. Secondly, the style of the +Naples statues points to a bronze original of the early fifth +century. Thirdly, the attitudes of the figures are suitable for +Harmodius and Aristogiton, and we do not know of any other group +of that period for which they are suitable. This proof, though not +quite as complete as we should like, is as good as we generally +get in these matters. The only question that remains in serious +doubt is whether our copies go back to the work of Antenor or to +that of Critius and Nesiotes. Opinions have been much divided on +this point but the prevailing tendency now is to connect them with +the later artists. That is the view here adopted + +In studying the two statues it is important to recognize the work +of the modern "restorer." The figure of Aristogiton (the one on +your left as you face the group) having been found in a headless +condition, the restorer provided it with a head, which is antique, +to be sure, but which is outrageously out of keeping, being of the +style of a century later. The chief modern portions are the left +hand of Aristogiton and the arms, right leg, and lower part of the +left leg of Harmodius. As may be learned from the small copies, +Aristogiton should be bearded, and the right arm of Harmodius +should be in the act of being raised to bring down a stroke of the +sword upon his antagonist. We have, then, to correct in +imagination the restorer's misdoings, and also to omit the tree- +trunk supports, which the bronze originals did not need. Further, +the two figures should probably be advancing in the same +direction, instead of in converging lines. + +When these changes are made, the group cannot fail to command our +admiration. It would be a mistake to fix our attention exclusively +on the head of Harmodius. Seen in front view, the face, with its +low forehead and heavy chin, looks dull, if not ignoble. But the +bodies! In complete disregard of historic truth, the two men are +represented in a state of ideal nudity, like the Aeginetan +figures. The anatomy is carefully studied, the attitudes lifelike +and vigorous. Finally, the composition is fairly successful. This +is the earliest example preserved to us of a group of sculpture +other than a pediment-group. The interlocking of the figures is +not yet so close as it was destined to be in many a more advanced +piece of Greek statuary. But already the figures are not merely +juxtaposed; they share in a common action, and each is needed to +complete the other. + +Of about the same date, it would seem, or not much later, must +have been a lost bronze statue, whose fame is attested by the +existence of several marble copies. The best of these was found in +1862, in the course of excavating the great theater on the +southern slope of the Athenian Acropolis (Fig. 103). The naming of +this figure is doubtful. It has been commonly taken for Apollo, +while another view sees in it a pugilist. Recently the suggestion +has been thrown out that it is Heracles. Be that as it may, the +figure is a fine example of youthful strength and beauty. In pose +it shows a decided advance upon the Strangford "Apollo" (Fig. +100). The left leg is still slightly advanced, and both feet were +planted flat on the ground; but more than half the weight of the +body is thrown upon the right leg, with the result of giving a +slight curve to the trunk, and the head is turned to one side. The +upper part of the body is very powerful, the shoulders broad and +held well back, the chest prominently developed. The face, in +spite of its injuries, is one of singular refinement and +sweetness. The long hair is arranged in two braids, as in Fig. 96, +the only difference being that here the braids pass over instead +of under the fringe of front hair. The rendering of the hair is in +a freer style than in the case just cited, but of this difference +a part may be chargeable to the copyist. Altogether we see here +the stamp of an artistic manner very different from that of +Critius and Nesiotes. Possibly, as some have conjectured, it is +the manner of Calamis, an Attic sculptor of this period, whose +eminence at any rate entitles him to a passing mention. But even +the Attic origin of this statue is in dispute. + +We now reach a name of commanding importance, and one with which +we are fortunately able to associate some definite ideas. It is +the name of Myron of Athens, who ranks among the six most +illustrious sculptors of Greece. It is worth remarking, as an +illustration of the scantiness of our knowledge regarding the +lives of Greek artists, that Myron's name is not so much as +mentioned in extant literature before the third century B.C. +Except for a precise, but certainly false, notice in Pliny, who +represents him as flourishing in 420-416, our literary sources +yield only vague indications as to his date. These indications, +such as they are, point to the "Transitional period." This +inference is strengthened by the recent discovery on the Athenian +Acropolis of a pair of pedestals inscribed with the name of +Myron's son and probably datable about 446. Finally, the argument +is clinched by the style of Myron's most certainly identifiable +work. + +Pliny makes Myron the pupil of an influential Argive master, +Ageladas, who belongs in the late archaic period. Whether or not +such a relation actually existed, the statement is useful as a +reminder of the probability that Argos and Athens were +artistically in touch with one another. Beyond this, we get no +direct testimony as to the circumstances of Myron's life. We can +only infer that his genius was widely recognized in his lifetime, +seeing that commissions came to him, not from Athens only, but +also from other cities of Greece proper, as well as from distant +Samos and Ephesus. His chief material was bronze, and colossal +figures of gold and ivory are also ascribed to him. So far as we +know, he did not work in marble at all. His range of subjects +included divinities, heroes, men, and animals. Of no work of his +do we hear so often or in terms of such high praise as of a +certain figure of a cow, which stood on or near the Athenian +Acropolis. A large number of athlete statues from his hand were to +be seen at Olympia, Delphi, and perhaps elsewhere, and this side +of his activity was certainly an important one. Perhaps it is a +mere accident that we hear less of his statues of divinities and +heroes. + +The starting point in any study of Myron must be his Discobolus +(Discus-thrower). Fig. 104 reproduces the best copy. This statue +was found in Rome in 1781, and is in an unusually good state of +preservation. The head has never been broken from the body; the +right arm has been broken off, but is substantially antique; and +the only considerable restoration is the right leg from the knee +to the ankle. The two other most important copies were found +together in 1791 on the site of Hadrian's villa at Tibur (Tivoli). +One of these is now in the British Museum, the other in the +Vatican; neither has its original head. A fourth copy of the body, +a good deal disguised by "restoration," exists in the Museum of +the Capitol in Rome. There are also other copies of the head +besides the one on the Lancellotti statue. + +The proof that these statues and parts of statues were copied from +Myron's Discobolus depends principally upon a passage in Lucian +(about 160 A. D.). [Footnote: Philopseudes, Section 18.] He gives a +circumstantial description of the attitude of that work, or rather +of a copy of it, and his description agrees point for point with +the statues in question. This agreement is the more decisive +because the attitude is a very remarkable one, no other known +figure showing anything in the least resembling it. Moreover, the +style of the Lancellotti statue points to a bronze original of the +"Transitional period," to which on historical grounds Myron is +assigned. + +Myron's statue represented a young Greek who had been victorious +in the pentathlon, or group of five contests (running, leaping, +wrestling, throwing the spear, and hurling the discus), but we +have no clue as to where in the Greek world it was set up. The +attitude of the figure seems a strange one at first sight, but +other ancient representations, as well as modern experiments, +leave little room for doubt that the sculptor has truthfully +caught one of the rapidly changing positions which the exercise +involved. Having passed the discus from his left hand to his +right, the athlete has swung the missile as far back as possible. +In the next instant he will hurl it forward, at the same time, of +course, advancing his left foot and recovering his erect position. +Thus Myron has preferred to the comparatively easy task of +representing the athlete at rest, bearing some symbol of victory, +the far more difficult problem of exhibiting him in action. It +would seem that he delighted in the expression of movement. So his +Ladas, known to us only from two epigrams in the Anthology, +represented a runner panting toward the goal; and others of his +athlete statues may have been similarly conceived. His temple- +images, on the other hand, must have been as composed in attitude +as the Discobolus is energetic. + +The face of the Discobolus is rather typical than individual. If +this is not immediately obvious to the reader, the comparison of a +closely allied head may make it clear. Of the numerous works which +have been brought into relation with Myron by reason of their +likeness to the Discobolus, none is so unmistakable as a fine bust +in Florence (Fig. 105). The general form of the head, the +rendering of the hair, the anatomy of the forehead, the form of +the nose and the angle it makes with the forehead--these and other +features noted by Professor Furtwangler are alike in the +Discobolus and the Riccardi head. These detailed resemblances +cannot be verified without the help of casts or at least of good +photographs taken from different points of view; but the general +impression of likeness will be felt convincing, even without +analysis. Now these two works represent different persons, the +Riccardi head being probably copied from the statue of some ideal +hero. And the point to be especially illustrated is that in the +Discobolus we have not a realistic portrait, but a generalized +type. This is not the same as to say that the face bore no +recognizable resemblance to the young man whom the statue +commemorated. Portraiture admits of many degrees, from literal +fidelity to an idealization in which the identity of the subject +is all but lost. All that is meant is that the Discobolus belongs +somewhere near the latter end of the scale. In this absence of +individualization we have a trait, not of Myron alone, but of +Greek sculpture generally in its rise and in the earlier stages of +its perfection (cf. page 126). + +Another work of Myron has been plausibly recognized in a statue of +a satyr in the Lateran Museum (Fig. 106). The evidence for this is +too complex to be stated here. If the identification is correct, +the Lateran statue is copied from the figure of Marsyas in a +bronze group of Athena and Marsyas which stood on the Athenian +Acropolis The goddess was represented s having just flung down in +disdain a pair of flutes; the satyr, advancing on tiptoe, +hesitates between cupidity and the fear of Athena's displeasure. +Marsyas has a lean and sinewy figure, coarse stiff hair and beard, +a wrinkled forehead, a broad flat nose which makes a marked angle +with the forehead, pointed ears (modern, but guaranteed by another +copy of the head), and a short tail sprouting from the small of +the back The arms, which were missing, have been incorrectly +restored with castanets. The right should be held up, the left +down, in a gesture of astonishment. In this work we see again +Myron's skill in suggesting movement. We get a lively impression +of an advance suddenly checked and changed to a recoil. + +Thus far in this chapter we have been dealing with copies Our +stock of original works of this period, however, is not small; it +consists, as usual, largely of architectural sculpture. Fig. 107 +shows four metopes from a temple at Selinus. They represent +(beginning at the left) Heracles in combat with an Amazon, Hera +unveiling herself before Zeus, Actaeon torn by his dogs in the +presence of Artemis, and Athena overcoming the giant Enceladus. +These reliefs would repay the most careful study, but the +sculptures of another temple have still stronger claims to +attention. + +Olympia was one of the two most important religious centers of the +Greek world, the other being Delphi. Olympia was sacred to Zeus, +and the great Doric temple of Zeus was thus the chief among the +group of religious buildings there assembled. The erection of this +temple probably falls in the years just preceding and following +460 B.C. A slight exploration carried on by the French in 1829 and +the thorough excavation of the site by the Germans in 1875-81 +brought to light extensive remains of its sculptured decoration. +This consisted of two pediment groups and twelve sculptured +metopes, besides the acroteria. In the eastern pediment the +subject is the preparation for the chariot-race of Pelops and +Oenomaus. The legend ran that Oenomaus, king of Pisa in Elis, +refused the hand of his daughter save to one who should beat him +in a chariot-race. Suitor after suitor tried and failed, till at +last Pelops, a young prince from over sea, succeeded In the +pediment group Zeus, as arbiter of the impending contest, occupies +the center. On one side of him stand Pelops and his destined +bride, on the other Oenomaus and his wife, Sterope (Fig. 108). The +chariots, with attendants and other more or less interested +persons follow (Fig. 109). The moment chosen by the sculptor is +one of expectancy rather than action, and the various figures are +in consequence simply juxtaposed, not interlocked. Far different +is the scene presented by the western pediment. The subject here +is the combat between Lapiths and Centaurs, one of the favorite +themes of Greek sculpture, as of Greek painting. The Centaurs, +brutal creatures, partly human, partly equine, were fabled to have +lived in Thessaly. There too was the home of the Lapiths, who were +Greeks. At the wedding of Pirithous, king of the Lapiths, the +Centaurs, who had been bidden as guests, became inflamed with wine +and began to lay hands on the women. Hence a general metee, in +which the Greeks were victorious. The sculptor has placed the god +Apollo in the center (Fig. 110), undisturbed amid the wild tumult; +his presence alone assures us what the issue is to he. The +struggling groups (Figs. 111, 112) extend nearly to the corners, +which are occupied each by two reclining female figures, +spectators of the scene. In each pediment the composition is +symmetrical, every figure having its corresponding figure on the +opposite side. Yet the law of symmetry is interpreted much more +freely than in the Aegina pediments of a generation earlier; the +corresponding figures often differ from one another a good deal in +attitude, and in one instance even in sex. + +Our illustrations, which give a few representative specimens of +these sculptures, suggest some comments. To begin with, the +workmanship here displayed is rapid and far from faultless. Unlike +the Aeginetan pediment-figures and those of the Parthenon, these +figures are left rough at the back. Moreover, even in the visible +portions there are surprising evidences of carelessness, as in the +portentously long left thigh of the Lapith in Fig. 112. It is, +again, evidence of rapid, though not exactly of faulty, execution, +that the hair is in a good many cases only blocked out, the form +of the mass being given, but its texture not indicated (e.g., Fig. +111). In the pose of the standing figures (e.g., Fig. 108), with +the weight borne about equally by both legs, we see a modified +survival of the usual archaic attitude. A lingering archaism may +be seen in other features too; very plainly, for example, in the +arrangement of Apollo's hair (Fig 110). The garments represent a +thick woolen stuff, whose folds show very little pliancy. The +drapery of Sterope (Fig. 108) should be especially noted, as it is +a characteristic example for this period of a type which has a +long history She wears the Doric chiton, a sleeveless woolen +garment girded and pulled over the girdle and doubled over from +the top. The formal, starched-looking folds of the archaic period +have disappeared. The cloth lies pretty flat over the chest and +waist; there is a rather arbitrary little fold at the neck. Below +the girdle the drapery is divided vertically into two parts; on +the one side it falls in straight folds to the ankle, on the other +it is drawn smooth over the bent knee. + +Another interesting fact about these sculptures is a certain +tendency toward realism. The figures and faces and attitudes of +the Greeks, not to speak of the Centaurs, are not all entirely +beautiful and noble. This is illustrated by Fig. 109, a bald- +headed man, rather fat. Here is realism of a very mild type, to be +sure, in comparison with what we are accustomed to nowadays; but +the old men of the Parthenon frieze bear no disfiguring marks of +age. Again, in the face of the young Lapith whose arm is being +bitten by a Centaur (Fig. 112), there is a marked attempt to +express physical pain; the features are more distorted than in any +other fifth century sculpture, except representations of Centaurs +or other inferior creatures. In the other heads of imperiled men +and women in this pediment, e.g., in that of the bride (Fig. 111), +the ideal calm of the features is overspread with only a faint +shadow of distress. + +Lest what has been said should suggest that the sculptors of the +Olympia pediment-figures were indifferent to beauty, attention may +be drawn again to the superb head of the Lapith bride. Apollo, too +(Fig. 110), though not that radiant god whom a later age conceived +and bodied forth, has an austere beauty which only a dull eye can +fail to appreciate. + +The twelve sculptured metopes of the temple do not belong to the +exterior frieze, whose metopes were plain, but to a second frieze, +placed above the columns and antae of pronaos and opisthodomos. +Their subjects are the twelve labors of Heracles, beginning with +the slaying of the Nemean lion and ending with the cleansing of +the Augean stables. The one selected for illustration is one of +the two or three best preserved members of the series (Fig. 113). +Its subject is the winning of the golden apples which grew in the +garden of the Hesperides, near the spot where Atlas stood, +evermore supporting on his shoulders the weight of the heavens. +Heracles prevailed upon Atlas to go and fetch the coveted +treasure, himself meanwhile assuming the burden. The moment chosen +by the sculptor is that of the return of Atlas with the apples. In +the middle stands Heracles, with a cushion, folded double, upon +his shoulders, the sphere of the heavens being barely suggested at +the top of the relief. Behind him is his companion and +protectress, Athena, once recognizable by a lance in her right +hand. [Footnote: Such at least seems to be the view adopted in the +latest official publication on the subject "Olympia; Die Bildwerke +in Stein und Thon," Pl. LXV.] With her left hand she seeks to ease +a little the hero's heavy load. Before him stands Atlas, holding +out the apples in both hands. The main lines of the composition +are somewhat monotonous, but this is a consequence of the subject, +not of any incapacity of the artist, as the other metopes testify. +The figure of Athena should be compared with that of Sterope in +the eastern pediment. There is a substantial resemblance in the +drapery, even to the arbitrary little fold in the neck; but the +garment here is entirely open on the right side, after the fashion +followed by Spartan maidens, whereas there it is sewed together +from the waist down; there is here no girdle; and the broad, flat +expanse of cloth in front observable there is here narrowed by two +folds falling from the breasts. + +Fig. 114 is added as a last example of the severe beauty to be +found in these sculptures. It will be observed that the hair of +this head is not worked out in detail, except at the front. This +summary treatment of the hair is, in fact, more general in the +metopes than in the pediment-figures. The upper eyelid does not +yet overlap the under eyelid at the outer corner (cf. Fig. 110). + +The two pediment-groups and the metopes of this temple show such +close resemblances of style among themselves that they must all be +regarded as products of a single school of sculpture, if not as +designed by a single man. Pausanias says nothing of the authorship +of the metopes; but he tells us that the sculptures of the eastern +pediment were the work of Paeonius of Mende, an indisputable +statue by whom is known (cf. page 213), and those of the western +by Alcamenes, who appears elsewhere in literary tradition as a +pupil of Phidias. On various grounds it seems almost certain that +Pausanias was misinformed on this point. Thus we are left without +trustworthy testimony as to the affiliations of the artist or +artists to whom the sculptured decoration of this temple was +intrusted. + +The so-called Hestia (Vesta) which formerly belonged to the +Giustiniani family (Fig. 115), has of late years been inaccessible +even to professional students. It must be one of the very best +preserved of ancient statues in marble, as it is not reported to +have anything modern about it except the index finger of the left +hand. This hand originally held a scepter. The statue represents +some goddess, it is uncertain what one. In view of the likeness in +the drapery to some of the Olympia figures, no one can doubt that +this is a product of the same period. + +In regard to the bronze statue shown in Fig. 116 there is more +room for doubt, but the weight of opinion is in favor of placing +it here. It is confidently claimed by a high authority that this +is an original Greek bronze. There exist also fragmentary copies +of the same in marble and free imitations in marble and in bronze. +The statue represents a boy of perhaps twelve, absorbed in pulling +a thorn from his foot. We do not know the original purpose of the +work; perhaps it commemorated a victory won in a foot-race of boys +The left leg of the figure is held in a position which gives a +somewhat ungraceful outline; Praxiteles would not have placed it +so. But how delightful is the picture of childish innocence and +self-forgetfulness! This statue might be regarded as an epitome of +the artistic spirit and capacity of the age--its simplicity and +purity and freshness of feeling, its not quite complete +emancipation from the formalism of an earlier day. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE GREAT AGE OF GREEK SCULPTURE FIRST PERIOD 450-400 B.C. + + +The Age of Pericles, which, if we reckon from the first entrance +of Pericles, into politics, extended from about 466 to 429, has +become proverbial as a period of extraordinary artistic and +literary splendor. The real ascendancy of Pericles began in 447, +and the achievements most properly associated with his name belong +to the succeeding fifteen years. Athens at this time possessed +ample material resources, derived in great measure from the +tribute of subject allies, and wealth was freely spent upon noble +monuments of art. The city was fled with artists of high and low +degree. Above them all in genius towered Phidias, and to him, if +we may believe the testimony of Plutarch, [Footnote: Life of +Pericles Section 13] a general superintendence of all the artistic +undertakings of the state was intrusted by Pericles. + +Great as was the fame of Phidias in after ages, we are left in +almost complete ignorance as to the circumstances of his life. If +he was really the author of certain works ascribed to him, he must +have been born about 500 B.C. This would make him as old, perhaps, +as Myron. Another view would put his birth between 490 and 485, +still another, as late as 480. The one undisputed date in his life +is the year 438, when the gold and ivory statue of Athena in the +Parthenon was completed. Touching the time and circumstances of +his death we have two inconsistent traditions. According to the +one, he was brought to trial in Athens immediately after the +completion of the Athena on the charge of misappropriating some of +the ivory with which he had been intrusted but made his escape to +Elis, where, after executing the gold and ivory Zeus for the +temple of that god at Olympia he was put to death for some +unspecified reason by the Eleans in 432-1. According to the other +tradition he was accused in Athens, apparently not before 432, of +stealing some of the gold destined for the Athena and, when this +charge broke down, of having sacrilegiously introduced his own and +Pericles's portraits into the relief on Athena's shield, being +cast into prison he died there of disease, or, as some said, of +poison. + +The most famous works of Phidias were the two chryselephantine +statues to which reference has just been made, and two or three +other statues of the same materials were ascribed to him. He +worked also in bronze and in marble. From a reference in +Aristotle's "Ethics" it might seem as if he were best known as a +sculptor in marble, but only three statues by him are expressly +recorded to have been of marble, against a larger number of bronze +His subjects were chiefly divinities, we hear of only one or two +figures of human beings from his hands. + +Of the colossal Zeus at Olympia, the most august creation of Greek +artistic imagination, we can form only an indistinct idea. The god +was seated upon a throne, holding a figure of Victory upon one +hand and a scepter in the other. The figure is represented on +three Elean coins of the time of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) but on too +small a scale to help us much. Another coin of the same period +gives a fine head of Zeus in profile (Fig. 117),[Footnote: A more +truthful representation of this coin may be found in Gardner's +"Types of Greek Coins," PI XV 19] which is plausibly supposed to +preserve some likeness to the head of Phidias's statue. + +In regard to the Athena of the Parthenon we are considerably +better off, for we possess a number of marble statues which, with +the aid of Pausanias's description and by comparison with one +another, can be proved to be copies of that work. But a warning is +necessary here. The Athena, like the Zeus, was of colossal size. +Its height, with the pedestal, was about thirty-eight feet. Now it +is not likely that a really exact copy on a small scale could +possibly have been made from such a statue, nor, if one had been +made, would it have given the effect of the original. With this +warning laid well to heart the reader may venture to examine that +one among our copies which makes the greatest attempt at +exactitude (Fig. 118). It is a statuette, not quite 3 1/2 feet +high with the basis, found in Athens in 1880. The goddess stands +with her left leg bent a little and pushed to one side. She is +dressed in a heavy Doric chiton, open at the side. The girdle, +whose ends take the form of snakes' heads, is worn outside the +doubled-over portion of the garment. Above it the folds are +carefully adjusted, drawn in symmetrically from both sides toward +the middle; in the lower part of the figure there is the common +vertical division into two parts, owing to the bending of one leg. +Over the chiton is the aegis, much less long behind than in +earlier art (cf. Fig. 98), fringed with snakes' heads and having a +Gorgon's mask in front. The helmet is an elaborate affair with +three crests, the central one supported by a sphinx, the others by +winged horses; the hinged cheek-pieces are turned up. At the left +of the goddess is her shield, within which coils a serpent. On her +extended right hand stands a Victory. The face of Athena is the +most disappointing part of it all, but it is just there that the +copyist must have failed most completely. Only the eye of faith, +or better, the eye trained by much study of allied works, can +divine in this poor little figure the majesty which awed the +beholder of Phidias's work. + +Speculation has been busy in attempting to connect other statues +that have been preserved to us with the name of Phidias. The most +probable case that has yet been made out concerns two closely +similar marble figures in Dresden, one of which is shown in Fig. +119. The head of this statue is missing, but its place has been +supplied by a cast of a head in Bologna (Fig. 120), which has been +proved to be another copy from the same original. This proof, +about which there seems to be no room for question, is due to +Professor Furtwangler, [Footnote: "Masterpieces of Greek +Sculpture" pages 4 ff.] who argues further that the statue as thus +restored is a faithful copy of the Lemnian Athena of Phidias, a +bronze work which stood on the Athenian Acropolis. The proof of +this depends upon (1) the resemblance in the standing position and +in the drapery of this figure to the Athena of the Parthenon, and +(2) the fact that Phidias is known to have made a statue of Athena +(thought to be the Lemnian Athena) without a helmet on the head-- +an exceptional, though not wholly unique, representation in +sculpture in the round. + +If this demonstration be thought insufficient, there cannot, at +all events, be much doubt that we have here the copy of an +original of about the middle of the fifth century. The style is +severely simple, as we ought to expect of a religious work of that +period. The virginal face, conceived and wrought with ineffable +refinement, is as far removed from sensual charm as from the +ecstasy of a Madonna. The goddess does not reveal herself as one +who can be "touched with a feeling of our infirmities"; but by the +power of her pure, passionless beauty she sways our minds and +hearts. + +The supreme architectural achievement of the Periclean age was the +Parthenon, which crowned the Athenian Acropolis. It appears to +have been begun in 447, and was roofed over and perhaps +substantially finished by 438. Its sculptures were more extensive +than those of any other Greek temple, comprising two pediment- +groups, the whole set of metopes of the exterior frieze, ninety- +two in number, and a continuous frieze of bas-relief, 522 feet 10 +inches in total length, surrounding the cella and its vestibules +(cf. Fig. 56). After serving its original purpose for nearly a +thousand years, the building was converted into a Christian church +and then, in the fifteenth century, into a Mohammedan mosque. In +1687 Athens was besieged by the forces of Venice. The Parthenon +was used by the Turks as a powder-magazine, and was consequently +made the target for the enemy's shells. The result was an +explosion, which converted the building into a ruin. Of the +sculptures which escaped from this catastrophe, many small pieces +were carried off at the time or subsequently, while other pieces +were used as building stone or thrown into the lime-kiln. Most of +those which remained down to the beginning of this century were +acquired by Lord Elgin, acting under a permission from the Turkish +government (1801-3), and in 1816 were bought for the British +Museum. The rest are in Athens, either in their original positions +on the building, or in the Acropolis Museum. + +The best preserved metopes of the Parthenon belong to the south +side and represent scenes from the contest between Lapiths and +Centaurs (cf. page 174). These metopes differ markedly in style +from one another, and must have been not only executed, but +designed, by different hands. One or two of them are spiritless +and uninteresting. Others, while fine in their way, show little +vehemence of action. Fig. 121 gives one of this class. Fig. 122 is +very different. In this "the Lapith presses forward, advancing his +left hand to seize the rearing Centaur by the throat, and forcing +him on his haunches; the right arm of the Lapith is drawn back, as +if to strike; his right hand, now wanting, probably held a sword. +.... The Centaur, rearing up, against his antagonist, tries in +vain to pull away the left hand of the Lapith, which, in Carrey's +drawing [made in 1674] he grasps." [Footnote: A. H. Smith, +"Catalogue of Sculpture in the British Museum," page 136.] Observe +how skilfully the design is adapted to the square field, so as to +leave no unpleasant blank spaces, how flowing and free from +monotony are the lines of the composition, how effective (in +contrast with Fig. 121) is the management of the drapery, and, +above all, what vigor is displayed in the attitudes. Fig. 123 is +of kindred character. These two metopes and two others, one +representing a victorious Centaur prancing in savage glee over the +body of his prostrate foe, the other showing a Lapith about to +strike a Centaur already wounded in the back, are among the very +best works of Greek sculpture preserved to us. + +The Parthenon frieze presents an idealized picture of the +procession which wound its way upward from the market-place to the +Acropolis on the occasion of Athena's chief festival. Fully to +illustrate this extensive and varied composition is out of the +question here. All that is possible is to give three or four +representative pieces and a few comments. Fig. 124 shows the best +preserved piece of the entire frieze. It belongs to a company of +divinities, seated to right and left of the central group of the +east front, and conceived as spectators of the scene. The figure +at the left of the illustration is almost certainly Posidon, and +the others are perhaps Apollo and Artemis. In Fig. 125 three +youths advance with measured step, carrying jars filled with wine, +while a fourth youth stoops to lift his jar; at the extreme right +may be seen part of a flute-player, whose figure was completed on +the next slab. The attitudes and draperies of the three advancing +youths, though similar, are subtly varied. So everywhere monotony +is absent from the frieze. Fig. 126 is taken from the most +animated and crowded part of the design. Here Athenian youths, in +a great variety of dress and undress, dash forward on small, +mettlesome horses. Owing to the principle of isocephaly (cf. page +145), the mounted men are of smaller dimensions than those on +foot, but the difference does not offend the eye. In Fig. 127 we +have, on a somewhat larger scale, the heads of four chariot-horses +instinct with fiery life. Fig. 132 may also be consulted. An +endless variety in attitude and spirit, from the calm of the ever- +blessed gods to the most impetuous movement; grace and harmony of +line; an almost faultless execution--such are some of the +qualities which make the Parthenon frieze the source of +inexhaustible delight. + +The composition of the group in the western pediment is fairly +well known, thanks to a French artist, Jacques Carrey, who made a +drawing of it in 1674, when it was still in tolerable +preservation. The subject was, in the words of Pausanias, "the +strife of Posidon with Athena for the land" of Attica. In the +eastern pediment the subject was the birth of Athena. The central +figures, eleven in number, had disappeared long before Carrey's +time, having probably been removed when the temple was converted +into a church. On the other hand, the figures near the angles have +been better preserved than any of those from the western pediment, +with one exception. The names of these eastern figures have been +the subject of endless guess-work. All that is really certain is +that at the southern corner Helios (the Sun-god) was emerging from +the sea in a chariot drawn by four horses, and at the northern +corner Selene (the Moon-goddess) or perhaps Nyx (Night) was +descending in a similar chariot. Fig. 128 is the figure that was +placed next to the horses of Helios. The young god or hero +reclines in an easy attitude on a rock; under him are spread his +mantle and the skin of a panther or some such animal. In Fig. 129 +we have, beginning on the right, the head of one of Selene's +horses and the torso of the goddess herself, then a group of three +closely connected female figures, known as the "Three Fates," +seated or reclining on uneven, rocky ground, and last the body and +thighs of a winged goddess, Victory or Iris, perhaps belonging in +the western pediment. Fig. 130, from the northern corner of the +western pediment, is commonly taken for a river-god. + +We possess but the broken remnants of these two pediment-groups, +and the key to the interpretation of much that we do possess is +lost. We cannot then fully appreciate the intention of the great +artist who conceived these works. Yet even in their ruin and their +isolation the pediment-figures of the Parthenon are the sublimest +creations of Greek art that have escaped annihilation. + +We have no ancient testimony as to the authorship of the Parthenon +sculptures, beyond the statement of Plutarch, quoted above, that +Phidias was the general superintendent of all artistic works +undertaken during Pericles's administration. If this statement be +true, it still leaves open a wide range of conjecture as to the +nature and extent of his responsibility in this particular case. +Appealing to the sculptures themselves for information, we find +among the metopes such differences of style as exclude the notion +of single authorship. With the frieze and the pediment-groups, +however, the case is different. Each of these three compositions +must, of course, have been designed by one master-artist and +executed by or with the help of subordinate artists or workmen. +Now the pediment-groups, so far as preserved, strongly suggest a +single presiding genius for both, and there is no difficulty in +ascribing the design of the frieze to the same artist. Was it +Phidias? The question has been much agitated of late years, but +the evidence at our disposal does not admit of a decisive answer. +The great argument for Phidias lies in the incomparable merit of +these works; and with the probability that his genius is here in +some degree revealed to us we must needs be content. After all, it +is of much less consequence to be assured of the master's name +than to know and enjoy the masterpieces themselves. + +The great statesman under whose administration these immortal +sculptures were produced was commemorated by a portrait statue or +head, set up during his lifetime on the Athenian Acropolis; it was +from the hand of Cresilas, of Cydonia in Crete. It is perhaps this +portrait of which copies have come down to us. The best of these +is given in Fig 131. The features are, we may believe, the +authentic features of Pericles, somewhat idealized, according to +the custom of portraiture in this age. The helmet characterizes +the wearer as general. + +The artistic activity in Athens did not cease with the outbreak of +the Peloponnesian War in 431. The city was full of sculptors, many +of whom had come directly under the influence of Phidias, and they +were not left idle. The demand from private individuals for votive +sculptures and funeral reliefs must indeed have been abated, but +was not extinguished; and in the intervals of the protracted war +the state undertook important enterprises with an undaunted +spirit. It is to this period that the Erechtheum probably belongs +(420?-408), though all that we certainly know is that the building +was nearly finished some time before 409 and that the work was +resumed in that year. The temple had a sculptured frieze of which +fragments are extant, but these are far surpassed in interest by +the Caryatides of the southern porch (Fig. 67). The name +Caryatides, by the way, meets us first in the pages of Vitruvius, +a Roman architect of the time of Augustus; a contemporary Athenian +inscription, to which we are indebted for many details concerning +the building, calls them simply "maidens." As you face the front +of the porch, the three maidens on your right support themselves +chiefly on the left leg, the three on your left on the right leg +(Fig. 132), so that the leg in action is the one nearer to the end +of the porch. The arms hung straight at the sides, one of them +grasping a corner of the small mantle. The pose and drapery show +what Attic sculpture had made of the old Peloponnesian type of +standing female figure in the Doric chiton (cf. page 177). The +fall of the garment preserves the same general features, but the +stuff has become much more pliable. It is interesting to note +that, in spite of a close general similarity, no two maidens are +exactly alike, as they would have been if they had been reproduced +mechanically from a finished model. These subtle variations are +among the secrets of the beauty of this porch, as they are of the +Parthenon frieze. One may be permitted to object altogether to the +use of human figures as architectural supports, but if the thing +was to be done at all, it could not have been better done. The +weight that the maidens bear is comparatively small, and their +figures are as strong as they are graceful. + +To the period of the Peloponnesian War may also be assigned a +sculptured balustrade which inclosed and protected the precinct of +the little Temple of Wingless Victory on the Acropolis (Fig. 70). +One slab of this balustrade is shown in Fig. 133. It represents a +winged Victory stooping to tie (or, as some will have it, to +untie) her sandal. The soft Ionic chiton, clinging to the form, +reminds one of the drapery of the reclining goddess from the +eastern pediment of the Parthenon (Fig. 129), but it finds its +closest analogy, among datable sculptures, in a fragment of relief +recently found at Rhamnus in Attica. This belonged to the pedestal +of a statue by Agoracritus, one of the most famous pupils of +Phidias. + +The Attic grave-relief given in Fig. 134 seems to belong +somewhere near the end of the fifth century. The subject is a +common one on this class of monuments, but is nowhere else so +exquisitely treated. There is no allusion to the fact of death. +Hegeso, the deceased lady, is seated and is holding up a necklace +or some such object (originally, it may be supposed, indicated by +color), which she has just taken from the jewel-box held out by +the standing slave-woman. Another fine grave-relief (Fig. 135) may +be introduced here, though it perhaps belongs to the beginning of +the fourth century rather than to the end of the fifth. It must +commemorate some young Athenian cavalryman. It is characteristic +that the relief ignores his death and represents him in a moment +of victory. Observe that on both these monuments there is no +attempt at realistic portraiture and that on both we may trace the +influence of the style of the Parthenon frieze. + +Among the other bas-reliefs which show that influence there is no +difficulty in choosing one of exceptional beauty, the so-called +Orpheus relief (Fig. 136). This is known to us in three copies, +unless indeed the Naples example be the original. The story here +set forth is one of the most touching in Greek mythology. Orpheus, +the Thracian singer, has descended into Hades in quest of his dead +wife, Eurydice, and has so charmed by his music the stern +Persephone that she has suffered him to lead back his wife to the +upper air, provided only he will not look upon her on the way. But +love has overcome him. He has turned and looked, and the doom of +an irrevocable parting is sealed. In no unseemly paroxysm of +grief, but tenderly, sadly, they look their last at one another, +while Hermes, guide of departed spirits, makes gentle signal for +the wife's return. In the chastened pathos of this scene we have +the quintessence of the temper of Greek art in dealing with the +fact of death. + +Turning now from Athens to Argos, which, though politically weak, +was artistically the rival of Athens in importance, we find +Polyclitus the dominant master there, as Phidias was in the other +city. Polyclitus survived Phidias and may have been the younger of +the two. The only certain thing is that he was in the plenitude of +his powers as late as 420, for his gold and ivory statue of Hera +was made for a temple built to replace an earlier temple destroyed +by fire in 423. His principal material was bronze. As regards +subjects, his great specialty was the representation of youthful +athletes. His reputation in his own day and afterwards was of the +highest; there were those who ranked him above Phidias. Thus +Xenophon represents [Footnote: Memorabilia I., 4, 3 (written about +390 B. C).] an Athenian as assigning to Polyclitus a preeminence +in sculpture like that of Homer in epic poetry and that of +Sophocles in tragedy; and Strabo[Footnote: VIII., page 372 +(written about 18 A. D.).] pronounced his gold and ivory statues +in the Temple of Hera near Argos the finest in artistic merit +among all such works, though inferior to those of Phidias in size +and costliness. But probably the more usual verdict was that +reported by Quintilian, [Footnote: De Institutione Oratoria XII, +10, 7 (written about 90 A. D.).] which, applauding as unrivaled +his rendering of the human form, found his divinities lacking in +majesty. + +In view of the exalted rank assigned to Polyclitus by Greek and +Roman judgment, his identifiable works are a little disappointing. +His Doryphorus, a bronze figure of a young athlete holding a spear +such as was used in the pentathlon (cf. page 168), exists in +numerous copies. The Naples copy (Fig. 137), found in Pompeii in +1797, is the best preserved, being substantially antique +throughout, but is of indifferent workmanship. The young man, of +massive build, stands supporting his weight on the right leg; the +left is bent backward from the knee, the foot touching the ground +only in front. Thus the body is a good deal curved. This attitude +is an advance upon any standing motive attained in the +"Transitional period" (cf. page 165). It was much used by +Polyclitus, and is one of the marks by which statues of his may be +recognized. The head of the Doryphorus, as seen from the side, is +more nearly rectangular than the usual Attic heads of the period, +e.g., in the Parthenon frieze. For the characteristic face our +best guide is a bronze copy of the head from Herculaneum (Fig. +138), to which our illustration does less than justice. + +A strong likeness to the Doryphorus exists in a whole series of +youthful athletes, which are therefore with probability traced to +Polyclitus as their author or inspirer. Such is a statue of a boy +in Dresden, of which the head is shown in Fig. 139. One of these +obviously allied works can be identified with a statue by +Polyclitus known to us from our literary sources. It is the so- +called Diadumenos, a youth binding the fillet of victory about his +head. This exists in several copies, the best of which has been +recently found on the island of Delos and is not yet published. + +An interesting statue of a different order, very often attributed +to Polyclitus, may with less of confidence be accepted as his. Our +illustration (Fig. 140) is taken from the Berlin copy of this +statue, in which the arms, pillar, nose, and feet are modern, but +are guaranteed by other existing copies. It is the figure of an +Amazon, who has been wounded in the right breast. She leans upon a +support at her left side and raises her right hand to her head in +an attitude perhaps intended to suggest exhaustion, yet hardly +suitable to the position of the wound. The attitude of the figure, +especially the legs, is very like that of the Doryphorus, and the +face is thought by many to show a family likeness to his. There +are three other types of Amazon which seem to be connected with +this one, but the mutual relations of the four types are too +perplexing to be here discussed. + +It is a welcome change to turn from copies to originals. The +American School of Classical Studies at Athens has carried on +excavations (1890-95) on the site of the famous sanctuary of Hera +near Argos, and has uncovered the foundations both of the earlier +temple, burned in 423, and of the later temple, in which stood the +gold and ivory image by Polyclitus, as well as of adjacent +buildings. Besides many other objects of interest, there have been +brought to light several fragments of the metopes of the second +temple, which, together with a few fragments from the same source +found earlier, form a precious collection of materials for the +study of the Argive school of sculpture of about 420. Still more +interesting, at least to such as are not specialists, is a head +which was found on the same site (Fig. 141), and which, to judge +by its style, must date from the same period. It is a good +illustration of the uncertainty which besets the attempt to +classify extant Greek sculptures into local schools that this head +has been claimed with equal confidence as Argive [Footnote: So by +Professor Charles Waldstein, who directed the excavations.] and as +Attic in style. In truth, Argive and Attic art had so acted and +reacted upon one another that it is small wonder if their +productions are in some cases indistinguishable by us. + +The last remark applies also to the bronze statue shown in Fig. +142, which is believed by high authorities to be an original Greek +work and which has been claimed both for Athens and for Argos. The +standing position, while not identical with that of the +Doryphorus, the Diadumenos, and the wounded Amazon, is strikingly +similar, as is also the form of the head. At all events, the +statue is a fine example of apparently unstudied ease, of that +consummate art which conceals itself. + +The only sculptor of the fifth century who is at once known to us +from literary tradition and represented by an authenticated and +original work is Paeonius of Mende in Thrace. He was an artist of +secondary rank, if we may judge from the fact that his name occurs +only in Pausanias; but in the brilliant period of Greek history +even secondary artists were capable of work which less fortunate +ages could not rival. Pausanias mentions a Victory by Paeonius at +Olympia, a votive offering of the Messenians for successes gained +in war. Portions of the pedestal of this statue with the +dedicatory inscription and the artist's signature were found on +December 20, 1875, at the beginning of the German excavations, and +the mutilated statue itself on the following day (Fig. 143). A +restoration of the figure by a German sculptor (Fig. 144) may be +trusted for nearly everything but the face. The goddess is +represented in descending flight. Poised upon a triangular +pedestal about thirty feet high, she seems all but independent of +support. Her draperies, blown by the wind, form a background for +her figure. An eagle at her feet suggests the element through +which she moves. Never was a more audacious design executed in +marble. Yet it does not impress us chiefly as a tour de force. The +beholder forgets the triumph over material difficulties in the +sense of buoyancy, speed, and grace which the figure inspires. +Pausanias records that the Messenians of his day believed the +statue to commemorate an event which happened in 425, while he +himself preferred to connect it with an event of 453. The +inscription on the pedestal is indecisive on this point. It runs +in these terms: "The Messenians and Naupactians dedicated [this +statue] to the Olympian Zeus, as a tithe [of the spoils] from +their enemies. Paeonius of Mende made it; and he was victorious +[over his competitors] in making the acroteria for the temple." +The later of the two dates mentioned by Pausanias has been +generally accepted, though not without recent protest. This would +give about the year 423 for the completion and erection of this +statue. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE GREAT AGE OF GREEK SCULPTURE. SECOND PERIOD: 400-323 B. C. + + +In the fourth century art became even more cosmopolitan than +before. The distinctions between local schools were nearly effaced +and the question of an artist's birthplace or residence ceases to +have much importance Athens, however, maintained her artistic +preeminence through the first half or more of the century. Several +of the most eminent sculptors of the period were certainly or +probably Athenians, and others appear to have made Athens their +home for a longer or shorter time. It is therefore common to speak +of a "younger Attic school," whose members would include most of +the notable sculptors of this period. What the tendencies of the +times were will best be seen by studying the most eminent +representatives of this group or school. + +The first great name to meet us is that of Scopas of Paros. His +artistic career seems to have begun early in the fourth century, +for he was the architect of a temple of Athena at Tegea in Arcadia +which was built to replace one destroyed by fire in 395-4. He as +active as late as the middle of the century, being one of four +sculptors engaged on the reliefs of the Mausoleum or funeral +monument of Maussollus, satrap of Caria, who died in 351-0, or +perhaps two years earlier. That is about all we know of his life, +for it is hardly more than a conjecture that he took up his abode +in Athens for a term of years. The works of his hands were widely +distributed in Greece proper and on the coast of Asia Minor. + +Until lately nothing very definite was known of the style of +Scopas. While numerous statues by him, all representing divinities +or other imaginary beings, are mentioned in our literary sources, +only one of these is described in such a way as to give any notion +of its artistic character. This was a Maenad, or female attendant +of the god Bacchus, who was represented in a frenzy of religious +excitement. The theme suggests a strong tendency on the part of +Scopas toward emotional expression, but this inference does not +carry us very far. The study of Scopas has entered upon a new +stage since some fragments of sculpture belonging to the Temple of +Athena at Tegea have become known. The presumption is that, as +Scopas was the architect of the building, he also designed, if he +did not execute, the pediment-sculptures. If this be true, then +we have at last authentic, though scanty, evidence of his style. +The fragments thus far discovered consist of little more than two +human heads and a boar's head. One of the human heads is here +reproduced (Fig. 145). Sadly mutilated as it is, is has become +possible by its help and that of its fellow to recognize with +great probability the authorship of Scopas in a whole group of +allied works. Not to dwell on anatomical details, which need casts +for their proper illustration, the obvious characteristic mark of +Scopadean heads is a tragic intensity of expression unknown to +earlier Greek art. It is this which makes the Tegea heads so +impressive in spite of the "rude wasting of old Time." + +The magnificent head of Meleager in the garden of the Villa Medici +in Rome (Fig. 146) shows this same quality. A fiery eagerness of +temper animates the marble, and a certain pathos, as if born of a +consciousness of approaching doom. So masterly is the workmanship +here, so utterly removed from the mechanical, uninspired manner of +Roman copyists, that this head has been claimed as an original +from the hand of Scopas, and so it may well be. Something of the +same character belongs to a head of a goddess in Athens, shown in +Fig. 147. + +Fig. 148 introduces us to another tendency of fourth century art. +The group represents Eirene and Plutus (Peace and Plenty). It is +in all probability a copy of a bronze work by Cephisodotus, which +stood in Athens and was set up, it is conjectured, soon after 375, +the year in which the worship of Eirene was officially established +in Athens. The head of the child is antique, but does not belong +to the figure; copies of the child with the true head exist in +Athens and Dresden. The principal modern parts are: the right arm +of the goddess (which should hold a scepter), her left hand with +the vase, and both arms of the child; in place of the vase there +should be a small horn of plenty, resting on the child's left arm. +The sentiment of this group is such as we have not met before. The +tenderness expressed by Eirene's posture is as characteristic of +the new era as the intensity of look in the head from Tegea. + +Cephisodotus was probably a near relative of a much greater +sculptor, Praxiteles, perhaps his father. Praxiteles is better +known to us than any other Greek artist. For we have, to begin +with, one authenticated original statue from his hand, besides +three fourths of a bas-relief probably executed under his +direction. In the second place, we can gather from our literary +sources a catalogue of toward fifty of his works, a larger list +than can be made out for any other sculptor. Moreover, of several +pieces we get really enlightening descriptions, and there are in +addition one or two valuable general comments on his style. +Finally two of his statues that are mentioned in literature can be +identified with sufficient certainty in copies. The basis of +judgment is thus wide enough to warrant us in bringing numerous +other works into relation with him. + +About his life, however, we know, as in other cases, next to +nothing. He was an Athenian and must have been somewhere near the +age of Scopas, though seemingly rather younger. Pliny gives the +hundred and fourth Olympiad (370-66) as the date at which he +flourished, but this was probably about the beginning of his +artistic career. Only one anecdote is told of him which is worth +repeating here. When asked what ones among his marble statues he +rated highest he answered that those which Nicias had tinted were +the best. Nicias was an eminent painter of the period (see page +282, foot note). + +The place of honor in any treatment of Praxiteles must be given to +the Hermes with the infant Dionysus on his arm (Figs. 149, 150). +This statue was found on May 8, 1877, in the Temple of Hera at +Olympia, lying in front of its pedestal. Here it had stood when +Pausanias saw it and recorded that it was the work of Praxiteles. +The legs of Hermes below the knees have been restored in plaster +(only the right foot being antique), and so have the arms of +Dionysus. Except for the loss of the right arm and the lower legs, +the figure of Hermes is in admirable preservation, the surface +being uninjured. Some notion of the luminosity of the Parian +marble may be gained from Fig. 150. + +Hermes is taking the new-born Dionysus to the Nymphs to be reared +by them. Pausing on his way, he has thrown his mantle over a +convenient tree-trunk and leans upon it with the arm that holds +the child. In his closed left hand he doubtless carried his +herald's wand; the lost right hand must have held up some object-- +bunch of grapes or what-not--for the entertainment of the little +god. The latter is not truthfully proportioned; in common with +almost all sculptors before the time of Alexander, Praxiteles +seems to have paid very little attention to the characteristic +forms of infancy. But the Hermes is of unapproachable perfection. +His symmetrical figure, which looks slender in comparison with the +Doryphorus of Polyclitus, is athletic without exaggeration, and is +modeled with faultless skill. The attitude, with the weight +supported chiefly by the right leg and left arm, gives to the body +a graceful curve which Praxiteles loved. It is the last stage in +the long development of an easy standing pose. The head is of the +round Attic form, contrasting with the squarer Peloponnesian type; +the face a fine oval. The lower part of the forehead between the +temples is prominent; the nose not quite straight, but slightly +arched at the middle. The whole expression is one of indescribable +refinement and radiance. The hair, short and curly, illustrates +the possibilities of marble in the treatment of that feature; in +place of the wiry appearance of hair in bronze we find here a +slight roughness of surface, suggestive of the soft texture of +actual hair (cf. Fig. 146 and contrast Fig. 138). The drapery that +falls over the tree-trunk is treated with a degree of elaboration +and richness which does not occur in fifth century work; but +beautiful as it is, it is kept subordinate and does not unduly +attract our attention. + +For us the Hermes stands alone and without a rival. The statue, +however, did not in antiquity enjoy any extraordinary celebrity, +and is in fact not even mentioned in extant literature except by +Pausanias. The most famous work of Praxiteles was the Aphrodite of +Cnidus in southwestern Asia Minor. This was a temple-statue; yet +the sculptor, departing from the practice of earlier times, did +not scruple to represent the goddess as nude. With the help of +certain imperial coins of Cnidus this Aphrodite has been +identified in a great number of copies. She is in the act of +dropping her garment from her left hand in preparation for a bath; +she supports herself chiefly by the right leg, and the body has a +curve approaching that of the Hermes, though here no part of the +weight is thrown upon the arm. The subject is treated with +consummate delicacy, far removed from the sensuality too usual in +a later age; and yet, when this embodiment of Aphrodite is +compared with fifth century ideals, it must be recognized as +illustrating a growing fondness on the part of sculptor and public +for the representation of physical charm. Not being able to offer +a satisfactory illustration of the whole statue, I have chosen for +reproduction a copy of the head alone (Fig. 151). It will help the +reader to divine the simple loveliness of the original. + +Pliny mentions among the works in bronze by Praxiteies a youthful +Apollo, called "Sauroctonos" (Lizard-slayer). Fig. 152 is a +marble copy of this, considerably restored. The god, conceived in +the likeness of a beautiful boy, leans against a tree, preparing +to stab a lizard with an arrow, which should be in the right hand. +The graceful, leaning pose and the soft beauty of the youthful +face and flesh are characteristically Praxitelean. + +Two or three satyrs by Praxiteles are mentioned by Greek and Roman +writers, and an anecdote is told by Pausanias which implies that +one of them enjoyed an exceptional fame. Unfortunately they are +not described; but among the many satyrs to be found in museums of +ancient sculpture there are two types in which the style of +Praxiteles, as we have now learned to know it, is so strongly +marked that we can hardly go wrong in ascribing them both to him. +Both exist in numerous copies. Our illustration of the first (Fig. +153) is taken from the copy of which Hawthorne wrote so subtle a +description in "The Marble Faun." The statue is somewhat restored, +but the restoration is not open to doubt, except as regards the +single pipe held in the right hand. No animal characteristic is to +be found here save the pointed ears; the face, however, retains a +suggestion of the traditional satyr-type. "The whole statue, +unlike anything else that ever was wrought in that severe material +of marble, conveys the idea of an amiable and sensual creature-- +easy, mirthful, apt for jollity, yet not incapable of being +touched by pathos." [Footnote: Hawthorne, "The Marble Faun," Vol +I, Chapter I.] + +In the Palermo copy of the other Praxitelean satyr (Fig. 154) the +right arm is modern, but the restoration is substantially correct. +The face of this statue has purely Greek features, and only the +pointed ears remain to betray the mixture of animal nature with +the human form. The original was probably of bronze. + +With Fig. 155 we revert from copies to an original work. This is +one of three slabs which probably decorated the pedestal of a +group by Praxiteles representing Apollo, Leto, and Artemis; a +fourth slab, needed to complete the series, has not been found The +presumption is strong that these reliefs were executed under the +direction of Praxiteles, perhaps from his design. The subject of +one slab is the musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas, while +the other two bear figures of Muses. The latter are posed and +draped with that delightful grace of which Praxiteles was master, +and with which he seems to have inspired his pupils The execution, +however, is not quite faultless, as witness the distortion in the +right lower leg of the seated Muse in Fig. l55--otherwise an +exquisite figure. + +Among the many other works that have been claimed for Praxiteles +on grounds of style, I venture to single out one (Fig. 156). The +illustration is taken from one of several copies of a lost +original, which, if it was not by Praxiteles himself, was by some +one who had marvelously caught his spirit. That it represents the +goddess Artemis we may probably infer from the short chiton, an +appropriate garment often worn by the divine huntress, but not by +human maidens. Otherwise the goddess has no conventional attribute +to mark her divinity. She is just a beautiful girl, engaged in +fastening her mantle together with a brooch. In this way of +conceiving a goddess, we see the same spirit that created the +Apollo Sauroctonos. + +The genius of Praxiteles, as thus far revealed to us, was +preeminently sunny, drawn toward what is fair and graceful and +untroubled, and ignoring what is tragic in human existence. This +view of him is confirmed by what is known from literature of his +subjects. The list includes five figures of Aphrodite, three or +four of Eros, two of Apollo, two of Artemis, two of Dionysus, two +or three of satyrs, two of the courtesan Phryne, and one of a +beautiful human youth binding a fillet about his hair, but no work +whose theme is suffering or death is definitely ascribed to him. +It is strange therefore to find Pliny saying that it was a matter +of doubt in his time whether a group of the dying children of +Niobe which stood in a temple of Apollo in Rome was by Scopas or +Praxiteles. It is commonly supposed, though without decisive +proof, that certain statues of Niobe and her children which exist +in Florence and elsewhere are copied from the group of which Pliny +speaks. The story was that Niobe vaunted herself before Leto +because she had seven sons and seven daughters, while Leto had +borne only Apollo and Artemis. For her presumption all her +children were stricken down by the arrows of Apollo and Artemis. +This punishment is the subject of the group. Fig. 157 gives the +central figures; they are Niobe herself and her youngest daughter, +who has fled to her for protection. The Niobe has long been famous +as an embodiment of haughtiness, maternal love, and sharp +distress. But much finer in composition, to my thinking, is Fig. +158. In this son of Niobe the end of the right arm and the entire +left arm are modern. Originally this youth was grouped with a +sister who has been wounded unto death. She has sunk upon the +ground and her right arm hangs limply over his left knee, thus +preventing his garment from falling. His left arm clasps her and +he seeks ineffectually to protect her. That this is the true +restoration is known from a copy in the Vatican of the wounded +girl with a part of the brother. Except for this son of Niobe the +Florentine figures are not worthy of their old-time reputation. As +for their authorship, Praxiteles seems out of the question. The +subject is in keeping--with the genius of Scopas, but it is safer +not to associate the group with any individual name. + +This reserve is the more advisable because Scopas and Praxiteles +are but two stars, by far the brightest, to be sure, in a +brilliant constellation of contemporary artists. For the others it +is impossible to do much more here than to mention the most +important names: Leochares and Timotheus, whose civic ties are +unknown, Bryaxis and Silanion of Athens, and Euphranor of Corinth, +the last equally famous as painter and sculptor. These artists +seem to be emerging a little from the darkness that has enveloped +them, and it may be hoped that discoveries of new material and +further study of already existing material will reveal them to us +with some degree of clearness and certainty. A good illustration +of how new acquisitions may help us is afforded by a group of +fragmentary sculptures found in the sanctuary of Asclepius near +Epidauros in the years 1882-84 and belonging to the pediments of +the principal temple. An inscription was found on the same site +which records the expenses incurred in building this temple, and +one item in it makes it probable that Timotheus, the sculptor +above mentioned, furnished the models after which the pediment- +sculptures were executed. The largest and finest fragment of these +sculptures that has been found is given in Fig. 159. It belongs to +the western pediment, which seems to have contained a battle of +Greeks and Amazons. The Amazon of our illustration, mounted upon a +rearing horse, is about to bring down her lance upon a fallen foe. +The action is rendered with splendid vigor. The date of this +temple and its sculptures may be put somewhere about 375. + +Reference was made above (page 215) to the Mausoleum. The artists +engaged on the sculptures which adorned that magnificent monument +were, according to Pliny, Scopas, Leochares, Bryaxis, and +Timotheus. [Footnote: The tradition on this point was not quite +uniform Vitruvius names Praxiteles as the fourth artist, but adds +that some believed that Timotheus also was engaged] There seem to +have been at least three sculptured friezes, but of only one have +considerable remains been preserved (cf. Fig. 65). This has for +its subject a battle of Greeks and Amazons, a theme which Greek +sculptors and painters never wearied of reproducing. The preserved +portions of this frieze amount in all to about eighty feet, but +the slabs are not consecutive. Figs. 160 and 161 give two of the +best pieces. The design falls into groups of two or three +combatants, and these groups are varied with inexhaustible +fertility and liveliness of imagination. Among the points which +distinguish this from a work of the fifth century may be noted the +slenderer forms of men and women and the more expressive faces. +The existing slabs, moreover, differ among themselves in style and +merit, and an earnest attempt has been made to distribute them +among the four artists named by Pliny, but without conclusive +results. + +Since the Hermes of Praxiteles was brought to light at Olympia +there has been no discovery of Greek sculpture so dazzling in its +splendor as that made in 1887 on the site of the necropolis of +Sidon in Phenicia. There, in a group of communicating subterranean +chambers, were found, along with an Egyptian sarcophagus, sixteen +others of Greek workmanship, four of them adorned with reliefs of +extraordinary beauty. They are all now in the recently created +Museum of Constantinople, which has thus become one of the places +of foremost consequence to every student and lover of Greek art. +The sixteen sarcophagi are of various dates, from early in the +fifth to late in the fourth century. The one shown in Fig. 162 may +be assigned to about the middle of the fourth century. Its form is +adapted from that of an Ionic temple. Between the columns are +standing or seated women, their faces and attitudes expressing +varying degrees of grief. Our illustration is on too small a scale +to convey any but the dimmest impression of the dignity and beauty +of this company of mourners. Above, on a sort of balustrade, may +be been a funeral procession. + +The old Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (cf page 140) was set on fire +and reduced to ruins by an incendiary in 356 B.C., on the very +night, it is said, in which Alexander the Great was born. The +Ephesians rebuilt the temple on a much more magnificent scale, +making of it the most extensive and sumptuous columnar edifice +ever erected by a Greek architect. How promptly the work was begun +we do not know, but it lasted into the reign of Alexander, so that +its date may be given approximately as 350-30. Through the +indefatigable perseverance of Mr J. T. Wood, who conducted +excavations at Ephesus for the British Museum in 1863-74, the site +of this temple, long unknown, was at last discovered and its +remains unearthed. Following the example of the sixth century +temple, it had the lowest drums of a number of its columns covered +with relief sculpture. Of the half dozen recovered specimens Fig. +163 shows the finest. The subject is an unsolved riddle. The most +prominent figure in the illustration is the god Hermes, as the +herald's staff in his right hand shows. The female figures to +right and left of him are good examples of that grace in pose and +drapery which was characteristic of Greek sculpture in the age of +Scopas and Praxiteles. + +The most beautiful Greek portrait statue that we possess is the +Lateran Sophocles (Fig 164). The figure has numerous small +restorations, including the feet and the box of manuscript rolls. +That Sophocles, the tragic poet, is represented, is known from the +likeness of the head to a bust inscribed with his name. He died in +406 B.C. The style of our statue, however, points to an original +(if it be not itself the original) of about the middle of the +fourth century. There were probably in existence at this time +authentic likenesses of the poet, on which the sculptor based his +work. The attitude of the figure is the perfection of apparent +ease, but in reality of skilful contrivance to secure a due +balance of parts and anety and grace of line. The one garment, +drawn closely about the person, illustrates the inestimable good +fortune enjoyed by the Greek sculptor, in contrast with the +sculptor of to-day, in having to represent a costume so simple, so +pliant, so capable of graceful adjustment. The head, however much +it may contain of the actual look of Sophocles, must be idealized. +To appreciate it properly one must remember that this poet, though +he dealt with tragic themes, was not wont to brood over the sin +and sorrow and unfathomable mystery of the world, but was serene +in his temper and prosperous in his life. + +The colossal head of Zeus shown in Fig. 165 was found a hundred +years or more ago at Otricoli, a small village to the north of +Rome. The antique part is a mere mask; the back of the head and +the bust are modern. The material is Carrara marble, a fact which +alone would prove that the work was executed in Italy and in the +imperial period. At first this used to be regarded as copied from +the Olympian Zeus of Phidias (page 185), but in the light of +increased acquaintance with the style of Phidias and his age, this +attribution has long been seen to be impossible. The original +belongs about at the end of the period now under review, or +possibly still later. Although only a copy, the Otricoli Zeus is +the finest representation we have of the father of gods and men. +The predominant expression is one of gentleness and benevolence, +but the lofty brow, transversely furrowed, tells of thought and +will, and the leonine hair of strength. + +With Lysippus of Sicyon we reach the last name of first-rate +importance in the history of Greek sculpture. There is the usual +uncertainty about the dates of his life, but it is certain that he +was in his prime during the reign of Alexander (336-23). Thus he +belongs essentially to the generation succeeding that of Scopas +and Praxiteles. He appears to have worked exclusively in bronze; +at least we hear of no work in marble from his hands. He must have +had a long life. Pliny credits him with fifteen hundred statues, +but this is scarcely credible. His subjects suggest that his +genius was of a very different bent from that of Praxiteles. No +statue of Aphrodite or indeed of any goddess (except the Muses) is +ascribed to him; on the other hand, he made at least four statues +of Zeus, one of them nearly sixty feet high, and at least four +figures of Heracles, of which one was colossal, while one was less +than a foot high, besides groups representing the labors of +Heracles. In short, the list of his statues of superhuman beings, +though it does include an Eros and a Dionysus, looks as if he had +no especial predilection for the soft loveliness of youth, but +rather for mature and vigorous forms. He was famous as a portrait- +sculptor and made numerous statues of Alexander, from whom he +received conspicuous recognition. Naturally, too, he accepted +commissions for athlete statues; five such are mentioned by +Pausanias as existing at Olympia. An allegorical figure by him of +Cairos (Opportunity) receives lavish praise from a late +rhetorician. Finally, he is credited with a statue of a tipsy +female flute-player. This deserves especial notice as the first +well-assured example of a work of Greek sculpture ignoble in its +subject and obviously unfit for any of the purposes for which +sculpture had chiefly existed (cf. page 124). + +It is Pliny who puts us in the way of a more direct acquaintance +with this artist than the above facts can give. He makes the +general statement that Lysippus departed from the canon of +proportions previously followed (i.e., probably, by Polyclitus and +his immediate followers), making the head smaller and the body +slenderer and "dryer," and he mentions a statue by him in Rome +called an Apoxyomenos, i.e., an athlete scraping himself with a +strigil. A copy of such a statue was found in Rome in 1849 (Fig. +166). The fingers of the right hand with the inappropriate die are +modern, as are also some additional bits here and there. Now the +coincidence in subject between this statue and that mentioned by +Pliny would not alone be decisive. Polyclitus also made an +Apoxyomenos, and, for all we know, other sculptors may have used +the same motive. But the statue in question is certainly later +than Polyclitus, and its agreement with what Pliny tells us of the +proportions adopted by Lysippus is as close as could be desired +(contrast Fig. 137). We therefore need not scruple to accept it as +Lysippian. + +Our young athlete, before beginning his exercise, had rubbed his +body with oil and, if he was to wrestle, had sprinkled himself +with sand. Now, his exercise over, he is removing oil and sweat +and dirt with the instrument regularly used for that purpose. His +slender figure suggests elasticity and agility rather than brute +strength. The face (Fig. 167) has not the radiant charm which +Praxiteles would have given it, but it is both fine and alert. The +eyes are deeply set; the division of the upper from the lower +forehead is marked by a groove; the hair lies in expressive +disorder. In the bronze original the tree-trunk behind the left +leg was doubtless absent, as also the disagreeable support (now +broken) which extended from the right leg to the right fore-arm. + +The best authenticated likeness of Alexander the Great is a bust +in the Louvre (Fig. 168) inscribed with his name: "Alexander of +Macedon, son of Philip." The surface has been badly corroded and +the nose is restored. The work, which is only a copy, may go back +to an original by Lysippus, though the evidence for that belief, a +certain resemblance to the head of the Apoxyomenos, is hardly as +convincing as one could desire. The king is here represented, one +would guess, at the age of thirty or thereabouts. Now as he was +absent from Europe from the age of twenty-two until his death at +Babylon at the age of thirty-three (323 B.C.), it would seem +likely that Lysippus, or whoever the sculptor was, based his +portrait upon likenesses taken some years earlier. Consequently, +although portraiture in the age of Alexander had become +prevailingly realistic, it would be unsafe to regard this head as +a conspicuous example of the new tendency. The artist probably +aimed to present a recognizable likeness and at the same time to +give a worthy expression to the great conqueror's qualities of +character. If the latter object does not seem to have been +attained, one is free to lay the blame upon the copyist and time. + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD OF GREEK SCULPTURE. 323-146 B.C. + + +The reign of Alexander began a new era in Greek history, an era in +which the great fact was the dissemination of Greek culture over +wide regions to which it had been alien. This period, in which +Egypt and western Asia were ruled by men of Greek or Macedonian +blood and gradually took on more or less of Greek civilization, is +often called the Hellenistic period. + +Under the new political and social order new artistic conditions +were developed. For one thing, Athens and the other old centers of +artistic activity lost their pre-eminence, while new centers were +created in the East, The only places which our literary sources +mention as seats of important schools of sculpture in the two +centuries following the death of Alexander are Rhodes and +Pergamum. + +Then again a demand now grew up for works of sculpture to be used +as mere ornaments in the interiors of palaces and private houses, +as well as in public buildings and places. This of course threw +open the door for subjects which had been excluded when sculpture +was dominated by a sacred purpose. Sculptors were now free to +appeal to the lower tastes of their patrons. The practice of "art +for art's sake" had its day, and trivial, comical, ugly, +harrowing, or sensual themes were treated with all the resources +of technical skill. In short, the position and purposes of the art +of sculpture became very like what they are to-day. Hence the +untrained modern student feels much more at home in a collection +of Hellenistic sculpture than in the presence of the severer, +sublimer creations of the age of Phidias. + +It is by no means meant to pass a sweeping condemnation upon the +productions of the post-classical period. Realistic portraiture +was now practiced with great frequency and high success. Many of +the genre statues and decorative reliefs of the time are admirable +and delightful. Moreover, the old uses of sculpture were not +abandoned, and though the tendency toward sensationalism was +strong, a dignified and exalted work was sometimes achieved. But, +broadly speaking, we must admit the loss of that "noble simplicity +and quiet grandeur"--the phrase is Winckelmann's--which stamped +the creations of the age of Phidias. Greek sculpture gained +immensely in variety, but at the expense of its elevation of +spirit. + +Although this sketch is devoted principally to bronze and marble +sculpture, I cannot resist the temptation to illustrate by a few +examples the charming little terra-cotta figurines which have been +found in such great numbers in graves at Tanagra and elsewhere in +Boeotia (Figs. 169, 170). It is a question whether the best of +them were not produced before the end of the period covered by the +last chapter. At all events, they are post-Praxitelean. The +commonest subjects are standing or seated women; young men, lads, +and children are also often met with. Fig. 170 shows another +favorite figure, the winged Eros, represented as a chubby boy of +four or five--a conception of the god of Love which makes its +first appearance in the Hellenistic period. The men who modeled +these statuettes were doubtless regarded in their own day as very +humble craftsmen, but the best of them had caught the secret of +graceful poses and draperies, and the execution of their work is +as delicate as its conception is refined. + +Returning now to our proper subject, we may begin with the latest +and most magnificent of the sarcophagi found at Sidon (Fig. 171; +cf. page 234). This belongs somewhere near the end of the fourth +century. It is decorated with relief-sculpture on all four sides +and in the gables of the cover. On the long side shown in our +illustration the subject is a battle between Greeks and Persians, +perhaps the battle of Issus, fought in 333. Alexander the Great, +recognizable by the skin of a lion's head which he wears like +Heracles, instead of a helmet, is to be seen at the extreme left. +The design, which looks crowded and confused when reduced to a +small scale, is in reality well arranged and extremely spirited, +besides being exquisitely wrought. But the crowning interest of +the work lies in the unparalleled freshness with which it has kept +its color. Garments, saddle-cloths, pieces of armor, and so on, +are tinted in delicate colors, and the finest details, such as +bow-strings, are perfectly distinct. The nude flesh, though not +covered with opaque paint, has received some application which +differentiates it from the glittering white background, and gives +it a sort of ivory hue. The effect of all this color is thoroughly +refined, and the work is a revelation of the beauty of +polychromatic sculpture. + +The Victory of Samothrace (Fig. 172) can also be dated at about +the end of the fourth century. The figure is considerably above +life-size. It was found in 1863, broken into a multitude of +fragments, which have been carefully united. There are no modern +pieces, except in the wings. The statue stood on a pedestal +having the form of a ship's prow, the principal parts of which +were found by an Austrian expedition to Samothrace in 1875. These +fragments were subsequently conveyed to the Louvre, and the +Victory now stands on her original pedestal. For determining the +date and the proper restoration of this work we have the fortunate +help of numismatics. Certain silver coins of Demetrius +Poliorcetes, who reigned 306-286 B.C., bear upon one side a +Victory which agrees closely with her of Samothrace, even to the +great prow-pedestal. The type is supposed on good grounds to +commemorate an important naval victory won by Demetrius over +Ptolemy in 306. In view, then, of the close resemblance between +coin-type and statue, it seems reasonably certain that the Victory +was dedicated at Samothrace by Demetrius soon after the naval +battle with Ptolemy and that the commemorative coins borrowed +their design directly from the statue. Thus we get a date for the +statue, and, what is more, clear evidence as to how it should be +restored. The goddess held a trumpet to her lips with her right +hand and in her left carried a support such as was used for the +erection of a trophy. The ship upon which she has just alighted is +conceived as under way, and the fresh breeze blows her garments +backward in tumultuous folds. Compared with the Victory of +Paeonius (Figs. 143, 144) this figure seems more impetuous and +imposing. That leaves us calm; this elates us with the sense of +onward motion against the salt sea air. Yet there is nothing +unduly sensational about this work. It exhibits a magnificent +idea, magnificently rendered. + +From this point on no attempt will be made to preserve a +chronological order, but the principal classes of sculpture +belonging to the Hellenistic period will be illustrated, each by +two or three examples. Religious sculpture may be put first. Here +the chief place belongs to the Aphrodite of Melos, called the +Venus of Milo (Fig. 173). This statue was found by accident in +1820 on the island of Melos (Milo) near the site of the ancient +city. According to the best evidence available, it was lying in +the neighborhood of its original pedestal, in a niche of some +building. Near it were found a piece of an upper left arm and a +left hand holding an apple; of these two fragments the former +certainly and perhaps the latter belong to the statue. The prize +was bought by M. de Riviere, French ambassador at Constantinople, +and presented by him to the French king, Louis XVIII. The same +vessel which conveyed it to France brought some other marble +fragments from Melos, including a piece of an inscribed statue- +base with an artist's inscription, in characters of the second +century B.C. or later. A drawing exists of this fragment, but the +object itself has disappeared, and in spite of much acute +argumentation it remains uncertain whether it did or did not form +a part of the basis of the Aphrodite. + +Still greater uncertainty prevails as to the proper restoration of +the statue, and no one of the many suggestions that have been made +is free from difficulties. It seems probable, as has recently been +set forth with great force and clearness by Professor Furtwangler, +[Footnote: "Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture," pages 384 ff.] that +the figure is an adaptation from an Aphrodite of the fourth +century, who rests her left foot upon a helmet and, holding a +shield on her left thigh, looks at her own reflection. On this +view the difficulty of explaining the attitude of the Aphrodite of +Melos arises from the fact that the motive was created for an +entirely different purpose and is not altogether appropriate to +the present one, whatever precisely that may be. + +It has seemed necessary, in the case of a statue of so much +importance, to touch upon these learned perplexities; but let them +not greatly trouble the reader or turn him aside from enjoying the +superb qualities of the work. One of the Aphrodites of Scopas or +Praxiteles, if we had it in the original, would perhaps reveal to +us a still diviner beauty. As it is, this is the worthiest +existing embodiment of the goddess of Love. The ideal is chaste +and noble, echoing the sentiment of the fourth century at its +best; and the execution is worthy of a work which is in some sense +a Greek original. + +The Apollo of the Belvedere (Fig. 174), on the other hand, is only +a copy of a bronze original. The principal restorations are the +left hand and the right fore-arm and hand. The most natural +explanation of the god's attitude is that he held a bow in his +left hand and has just let fly an arrow against some foe. His +figure is slender, according to the fashion which prevailed from +the middle of the fourth century onward, and he moves over the +ground with marvelous lightness. His appearance has an effect of +almost dandified elegance, and critics to-day cannot feel the +reverent raptures which this statue used to evoke. Yet still the +Apollo of the Belvedere remains a radiant apparition. An attempt +has recently been made to promote the figure, or rather its +original, to the middle of the fourth century. + +As a specimen of the portrait-sculpture of the Hellenistic period +I have selected the seated statue of Posidippus (Fig. 175), an +Athenian dramatist of the so-called New Comedy, who flourished in +the early part of the third century. The preservation of the +statue is extraordinary; there is nothing modern about it except +the thumb of the left hand. It produces strongly the impression of +being an original work and also of being a speaking likeness. It +may have been modeled in the actual presence of the subject, but +in that case the name on the front of the plinth was doubtless +inscribed later, when the figure was removed from its pedestal and +taken to Rome. Posidippus is clean-shaven, according to the +fashion that came in about the time of Alexander. There is a +companion statue of equal merit, which commonly goes by the name +of Menander. The two men are strongly contrasted with one another +by the sculptor in features, expression, and bodily carriage. Both +statues show, as do many others of the period, how mistaken it +would be to form our idea of the actual appearance of the Greeks +from the purely ideal creations of Greek sculpture. + +Besides real portraits, imaginary portraits of great excellence +were produced in the Hellenistic period. Fig. 176 is a good +specimen of these. Only the head is antique, and there are some +restorations, including the nose. This is one of a considerable +number of heads which reproduce an ideal portrait of Homer, +conceived as a blind old man. The marks of age and blindness are +rendered with great fidelity. There is a variant type of this head +which is much more suggestive of poetical inspiration. + +Portraiture, of course, did not confine itself to men of +refinement and intellect. As an extreme example of what was +possible in the opposite direction nothing could be better than +the original bronze statue shown in Fig. 177. It was found in Rome +in 1885, and is essentially complete, except for the missing +eyeballs; the seat is new. The statue represents a naked boxer of +herculean frame, his hands armed with the aestus or boxing-gloves +made of leather. The man is evidently a professional "bruiser" of +the lowest type. He is just resting after an encounter, and no +detail is spared to bring out the nature of his occupation. +Swollen ears were the conventional mark of the boxer at all +periods, but here the effect is still further enhanced by +scratches and drops of blood. Moreover, the nose and cheeks bear +evidence of having been badly "punished," and the moustache is +clotted with blood. From top to toe the statue exhibits the +highest grade of technical skill. One would like very much to know +what was the original purpose of the work. It may have been a +votive statue, dedicated by a victorious boxer at Olympia or +elsewhere. A bronze head of similar brutality found at Olympia +bears witness that the refined statues of athletes produced in +the best period of Greek art and set up in that precinct were +forced at a later day to accept such low companionship. Or it may +be that this boxer is not an actual person at all, and that the +statue belongs to the domain of genre. In either case it testifies +to the coarse taste of the age. + +By genre sculpture is meant sculpture which deals with incidents +or situations illustrative of every-day life. The conditions of +the great age, although they permitted a genre-like treatment in +votive sculptures and in grave-reliefs (cf. Fig. 134), offered few +or no occasions for works of pure genre, whose sole purpose is to +gratify the spectator. In the Hellenistic period, however, such +works became plentiful. Fig. 178 gives a good specimen. A boy of +four or five is struggling in play with a goose and is triumphant. +The composition of the group is admirable, and the zest of the +sport is delightfully brought out. Observe too that the +characteristic forms of infancy--the large head, short legs, plump +body and limbs--are truthfully rendered (cf. page 222). There is a +large number of representations in ancient sculpture of boys with +geese or other aquatic birds; among them are at least three other +copies of this, same group. The original is thought to have been +of bronze. + +Fig. 179 is genre again, and is as repulsive as the last example +is charming. It is a drunken old woman, lean and wrinkled, seated +on the ground and clasping her wine-jar between her knees, in a +state of maudlin ecstasy. The head is modern, but another copy of +the statue has the original head, which is of the same character +as this. Ignobility of subject could go no further than in this +work. + +It is a pleasure to turn to Fig. 180, which in purity of spirit is +worthy of the best time. The arms are modern, and their direction +may not be quite correct, though it must be nearly so. This +original bronze figure represents a boy in an attitude of prayer. +It is impossible to decide whether the statue was votive or is +simply a genre piece. + +Hellenistic art struck out a new path in a class of reliefs of +which Figs. 181 and 182 are examples. There are some restorations. +A gulf separates these works from the friezes of the Parthenon and +the Mausoleum. Whereas relief-sculpture in the classical period +abjured backgrounds and picturesque accessories, we find here a +highly pictorial treatment. The subjects moreover are, in the +instances chosen, of a character to which Greek sculpture before +Alexander's time hardly offers a parallel (yet cf. Fig. 87). In +Fig. 181 we see a ewe giving suck to her lamb. Above, at the +right, is a hut or stall, from whose open door a dog is just +coming out; at the left is an oak tree. In Fig. 182 a lioness +crouches with her two cubs. Above is a sycamore tree, and to the +right of it a group of objects which tell of the rustic worship of +Bacchus. Each of the two reliefs decorated a fountain or something +of the sort. In the one the overturned milk-jar served as a water- +spout; in the other the open mouth of one of the cubs answered the +same purpose. Generally speaking, the pictorial reliefs seem to +have been used for the interior decoration of private and public +buildings. By their subjects many of them bear witness to that +love of country life and that feeling for the charms of landscape +which are the most attractive traits of the Hellenistic period. + +The kingdom of Pergamum in western Asia Minor was one of the +smaller states formed out of Alexander's dominions. The city of +Pergamum became a center of Greek learning second only to +Alexandria in importance. Moreover, under Attalus I. (241-197 +B.C.) and Eumenes II. (197-159 B.C.) it developed an independent +and powerful school of sculpture, of whose productions we +fortunately possess numerous examples. The most famous of these is +the Dying Gaul or Galatian (Fig. 183), once erroneously called the +Dying Gladiator. Hordes of Gauls had invaded Asia Minor as early +as 278 B.C., and, making their headquarters in the interior, in +the district afterwards known from them as Galatia, had become the +terror and the scourge of the whole region. Attalus I. early in +his reign gained an important victory over these fierce tribes, +and this victory was commemorated by extensive groups of sculpture +both at Pergamum and at Athens. The figure of the Dying Gaul +belongs to this series. The statue was in the possession of +Cardinal Ludovisi as early as 1633, along with a group closely +allied in style, representing a Gaul and his wife, but nothing is +certainly known as to the time and place of its discovery. The +restorations are said to be: the tip of the nose, the left knee- +pan, the toes, and the part of the plinth on which the right arm +rests,[Footnote: Helbig, "Guide to the Public Collections of +Classical Antiquities in Rome," Vol I, No 533.] together with the +objects on it. That the man represented is not a Greek is evident +from the large hands and feet, the coarse skin, the un-Greek +character of the head (Fig. 184). That he is a Gaul is proved by +several points of agreement with what is known from literary +sources of the Gallic peculiarities--the moustache worn with +shaven cheeks and chin, the stiff, pomaded hair growing low in the +neck, the twisted collar or torque. He has been mortally wounded +in battle--the wound is on the right side--and sinks with drooping +head upon his shield and broken battle-horn. His death-struggle, +though clearly marked, is not made violent or repulsive. With +savage heroism he "consents to death, and conquers +agony."[Footnote: Byron, "Childe Harold," IV, 150] Here, then, a +powerful realism is united to a tragic idea, and amid all +vicissitudes of taste this work has never ceased to command a +profound admiration. + +Our knowledge of Pergamene art has recently received a great +extension, in consequence of excavations carried on in 1878-86 +upon the acropolis of Pergamum in the interest of the Royal Museum +of Berlin. Here were found the remains of numerous buildings, +including an immense altar, or rather altar-platform, which was +perhaps the structure referred to in Revelation II. 13, as +"Satan's throne." This platform, a work of great architectural +magnificence, was built under Eumenes II. Its exterior was +decorated with a sculptured frieze, 7 1/2 feet in height and +something like 400 feet in total length. The fragments of this +great frieze which were found in the course of the German +excavations have been pieced together with infinite patience and +ingenuity and amount to by far the greater part of the whole. The +subject is the gigantomachy, i.e., the battle between the gods and +the rebellious sons of earth (cf. page 134). + +Fig. 185 shows the most important group of the whole composition. +Here Zeus recognizable by the thunderbolt in his outstretched +right hand and the aegis upon his left arm, is pitted against +three antagonists. Two of the three are already disabled. The one +at the left, a youthful giant of human form, has sunk to earth, +pierced through the left thigh with a huge, flaming thunderbolt. +The second, also youthful and human, has fallen upon his knees in +front of Zeus and presses his left hand convulsively to a wound +(?) in his right shoulder. The third still fights desperately. +This is a bearded giant, with animal ears and with legs that pass +into long snaky bodies. Around his left arm is wrapped the skin of +some animal; with his right hand (now missing) he is about to hurl +some missile; the left snake, whose head may be seen just above +the giant's left shoulder, is contending, but in vain, with an +eagle, the bird of Zeus. + +Fig. 186 adjoins Fig 185 on the right of the latter. [Footnote: +Fig 186 is more reduced in scale, so that the slabs incorrectly +appear to be of unequal height.] Here we have a group in which +Athena is the central figure. The goddess, grasping her antagonist +by the hair, sweeps to right. The youthful giant has great wings, +but is otherwise purely human in form. A serpent, attendant of +Athena, strikes its fangs into the giant's right breast. In front +of Athena, the Earth-goddess, mother of the giants, half emerging +from the ground, pleads for mercy. Above, Victory wings her way to +the scene to place a crown upon Athena's head. + +If we compare the Pergamene altar-frieze with scenes of combat +from the best period of Greek art, say with the metopes of the +Parthenon or the best preserved frieze of the Mausoleum, we see +how much more complicated and confused in composition and how much +more violent in spirit is this later work. Yet, though we miss the +"noble simplicity" of the great age, we cannot fail to be +impressed with the Titanic energy which surges through this +stupendous composition. The "decline" of Greek art, if we are to +use that term, cannot be taken to imply the exhaustion of artistic +vitality. + +The existence of a flourishing school of sculpture at Rhodes +during the Hellenistic period is attested by our literary sources, +as well as by artists' inscriptions found on the spot. Of the +actual productions of that school we possess only the group of +Laocoon and his sons (Fig. 187). This was found in Rome in 1506, +on the site of the palace of Titus. The principal modern parts +are: the right arm of Laocoon with the adjacent parts of the +snake, the right arm of the younger son with the coil of the snake +around it, and the right hand and wrist of the older son. These +restorations are bad. The right arm of Laocoon should be bent so +as to bring the hand behind the head, and the right hand of the +younger son should fall limply backward. + +Laocoon was a Trojan priest who, having committed grievous sin, +was visited with a fearful punishment. On a certain occasion when +he was engaged with his two sons in performing sacrifice, they +were attacked by a pair of huge serpents, miraculously sent, and +died a miserable death. The sculptors--for the group, according to +Pliny, was the joint work of three Rhodian artists--have put +before us the moving spectacle of this doom. Laocoon, his body +convulsed and his face distorted by the torture of poison, his +mouth open for a groan or a cry, has sunk upon the altar and +struggles in the agony of death. The younger son is already past +resistance; his left hand lies feebly on the head of the snake +that bites him and the last breath escapes his lips. The older +son, not yet bitten, but probably not destined to escape, strives +to free himself from the coil about his ankle and at the same time +looks with sympathetic horror upon his father's sufferings. + +No work of sculpture of ancient or modern times has given rise to +such an extensive literature as the Laocoon. None has been more +lauded and more blamed. Hawthorne "felt the Laocoon very +powerfully, though very quietly; an immortal agony, with a strange +calmness diffused through it, so that it resembles the vast rage +of the sea, calm on account of its immensity." [Footnote: "Italian +Note-books," under date of March 10,1858.] Ruskin, on the other +hand, thinks "that no group has exercised so pernicious an +influence on art as this; a subject ill chosen, meanly conceived, +and unnaturally treated, recommended to imitation by subtleties of +execution and accumulation of technical knowledge," [Footnote: +"Modern Painters," Part II, Section II, Chap. III.] Of the two verdicts +the latter is surely much nearer the truth. The calmness which +Hawthorne thought he saw in the Laocoon is not there; there is +only a terrible torment. Battle, wounds, and death were staple +themes of Greek sculpture from first to last; but nowhere else is +the representation of physical suffering, pure and simple, so +forced upon us, so made the "be-all and end-all" of a Greek work. +As for the date of the group, opinion still varies considerably. +The probabilities seem to point to a date not far removed from +that of the Pergamene altar; i.e., to the first half of the second +century B.C. + +Macedonia and Greece became a Roman province in 146 B.C.; the +kingdom of Pergamum in 133 B.C. These political changes, it is +true, made no immediate difference to the cause of art. Greek +sculpture went on, presently transferring its chief seat to Rome, +as the most favorable place of patronage. What is called Roman +sculpture is, for the most part, simply Greek sculpture under +Roman rule. But in the Roman period we find no great, creative +epoch of art history; moreover, the tendencies of the times have +already received considerable illustration. At this point, +therefore, we may break off this sketch. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +GREEK PAINTING. + + +The art of painting was in as high esteem in Greece as the art of +sculpture and, if we may believe the testimony of Greek and Roman +writers, achieved results as important and admirable. But the +works of the great Greek painters have utterly perished, and +imagination, though guided by ancient descriptions and by such +painted designs as have come down to us, can restore them but +dimly and doubtfully. The subject may therefore here be dismissed +with comparative brevity. + +In default of pictures by the great Greek masters, an especial +interest attaches to the work of humbler craftsmen of the brush. +One class of such work exists in abundance--the painted +decorations upon earthenware vases. Tens of thousands of these +vases have been brought to light from tombs and sanctuaries on +Greek and Italian sites and the number is constantly increasing. +Thanks to the indestructible character of pottery, the designs are +often intact. Now the materials and methods employed by the vase- +painters and the spaces at their disposal were very different from +those of mural or easel paintings. Consequently inferences must +not be hastily drawn from designs upon vases as to the composition +and coloring of the great masterpieces. But the best of the vase- +painters, especially in the early fifth century, were men of +remarkable talent, and all of them were influenced by the general +artistic tendencies of their respective periods. Their work, +therefore, contributes an important element to our knowledge of +Greek art history. + +Having touched in Chapter II. upon the earlier styles of Greek +pottery, I begin here with a vase of Attic manufacture, decorated, +as an inscription on it shows, by Clitias, but commonly called +from its finder the Francois vase (Fig. 188). It may be assigned +to the first half of the sixth century, and probably to somewhere +near the beginning of that period. It is an early specimen of the +class of black-figured vases, as they are called. The propriety of +the name is obvious from the illustration. The objects represented +were painted in black varnish upon the reddish clay, and the vase +was then fired. Subsequently anatomical details, patterns of +garments, and so on were indicated by means of lines cut through +the varnish with a sharp instrument. Moreover, the exposed parts +of the female figures--faces, hands, arms, and feet--were covered +with white paint, this being the regular method in the black- +figured style of distinguishing the flesh of female from that of +male figures. + +The decoration of the Francois vase is arranged in horizontal +bands or zones. The subjects are almost wholly legendary and the +vase is therefore a perfect mine of information for the student of +Greek mythology. Our present interest, however, is rather in the +character of the drawing. This may be better judged from Fig. 189, +which is taken from the zone encircling the middle of the vase. +The subject is the wedding of the mortal, Peleus, to the sea- +goddess, Thetis, the wedding whose issue was Achilles, the great +hero of the Iliad. To this ceremony came gods and goddesses and +other supernatural beings. Our illustration shows Dionysus +(Bacchus), god of wine, with a wine-jar on his shoulder and what +is meant for a vine-branch above him. Behind him walk three female +figures, who are the personified Seasons. Last comes a group +consisting of two Muses and a four-horse chariot bearing Zeus, the +chief of the gods, and Hera, his wife. The principle of isocephaly +is observed on the vase as in a frieze of relief-sculpture (page +145). The figures are almost all drawn in profile, though the body +is often shown more nearly from the front, e.g., in the case of +the Seasons, and the eyes are always drawn as in front view. Out +of the great multitude of figures on the vase there are only four +in which the artist has shown the full face. Two of these are +intentionally ugly Gorgons on the handles; the two others come +within the limits of our specimen illustration. If Dionysus here +appears almost like a caricature, that is only because the +decorator is so little accustomed to drawing the face in front +view. There are other interesting analogies between the designs on +the vase and contemporary reliefs. For example, the bodies, when +not disguised by garments, show an unnatural smallness at the +waist, the feet of walking figures are planted flat on the ground, +and there are cases in which the body and neck are so twisted that +the face is turned in exactly the opposite direction to the feet. +On the whole, Clitias shows rather more skill than a contemporary +sculptor, probably because of the two arts that of the vase- +painter had been the longer cultivated. + +The black-figured ware continued to be produced in Attica through +the sixth century and on into the fifth. Fig. 190 gives a specimen +of the work of an interesting vase-painter in this style, Execias +by name, who probably belongs about the middle of the sixth +century. The subject is Achilles slaying in battle the Amazon +queen, Penthesilea. The drawing of Execias is distinguished by an +altogether unusual care and minuteness of detail, and if the whole +body of his work, as known to us from several signed vases, could +be here presented, it would be easily seen that his proficiency +was well in advance of that of Clitias. Obvious archaisms, +however, remain. Especially noticeable is the unnatural twisting +of the bodies. A minor point of interest is afforded by the +Amazon's shield, which the artist has not succeeded in rendering +truthfully in side view. That is a rather difficult problem in +perspective, which was not solved until after many experiments. + +Some time before the end of the sixth century, perhaps as early as +540, a new method of decorating pottery was invented in Attica. +The principal coloring matter used continued to be the lustrous +black varnish; but instead of filling in the outlines of the +figures with black, the decorator, after outlining the figures by +means of a broad stroke of the brush, covered with black the +spaces between the figures, leaving the figures themselves in the +color of the clay. Vases thus decorated are called "red-figured." +In this style incised lines ceased to be used, and details were +rendered chiefly by means of the black varnish or, for certain +purposes, of the same material diluted till it became of a reddish +hue. The red-figured and black-figured styles coexisted for +perhaps half a century, but the new style ultimately drove the old +one out of the market. + +The development of the new style was achieved by men of talent, +several of whom fairly deserve to be called artists. Such an one +was Euphronius, whose long career as a potter covered some fifty +years, beginning at the beginning of the fifth century or a little +earlier. Fig. 191 gives the design upon the outside of a cylix (a +broad, shallow cup, shaped like a large saucer, with two handles +and a foot), which bears his signature. Its date is about 480, and +it is thus approximately contemporary with the latest of the +archaic statues of the Athenian Acropolis (pages 151 f.). On one +side we have one of the old stock subjects of the vase-painters, +treated with unapproached vivacity and humor. Among the labors of +Heracles, imposed upon him by his taskmaster, Eurystheus, was the +capturing of a certain destructive wild boar of Arcadia and the +bringing of the creature alive to Mycenae. In the picture, +Heracles is returning with the squealing boar on his shoulder. The +cowardly Eurystheus has taken refuge in a huge earthenware jar +sunk in the ground, but Heracles, pretending to be unaware of this +fact, makes as though he would deposit his burden in the jar. The +agitated man and woman to the right are probably the father and +mother of Eurystheus. The scene on the other side of the cylix is +supposed to illustrate an incident of the Trojan War: two +warriors, starting out on an expedition, are met and stopped by +the god Hermes. In each design the workmanship, which was +necessarily rapid, is marvelously precise and firm, and the +attitudes are varied and telling. Euphronius belonged to a +generation which was making great progress in the knowledge of +anatomy and in the ability to pose figures naturally and +expressively. It is interesting to note how close is the +similarity in the method of treating drapery between the vases of +this period and contemporary sculpture. + +The cylix shown in Fig. 192 is somewhat later, dating from about +460. The technique is here different from that just described, +inasmuch as the design is painted in reddish brown upon a white +ground. The subject is the goddess Aphrodite, riding upon a goose. +The painter, some unnamed younger contemporary of Euphronius, has +learned a freer manner of drawing. He gives to the eye in profile +its proper form, and to the drapery a simple and natural fall. The +subject does not call, like the last, for dramatic vigor, and the +preeminent quality of the work is an exquisite purity and +refinement of spirit. + +If we turn now from the humble art of vase-decoration to painting +in the higher sense of the term, the first eminent name to meet us +is that of Polygnotus, who was born on the island of Thasos near +the Thracian coast. His artistic career, or at least the later +part of it, fell in the "Transitional period" (480-450 B.C.), so +that he was a contemporary of the great sculptor Myron. He came to +Athens at some unknown date after the Persian invasion of Greece +(480 B.C.) and there executed a number of important paintings. In +fact, he is said to have received Athenian citizenship. He worked +also at Delphi and at other places, after the ordinary manner of +artists. + +Painting in this period, as practiced by Polygnotus and other +great artists, was chiefly mural; the painting of easel pictures +seems to have been of quite secondary consequence. Thus the most +famous works of Polygnotus adorned the inner faces of the walls of +temples and stoas. The subjects of these great mural paintings +were chiefly mythological. For example, the two compositions of +Polygnotus at Delphi, of which we possess an extremely detailed +account in the pages of Pausanias, depicted the sack of Troy and +the descent of Odysseus into Hades. But it is worth remarking, in +view of the extreme rarity of historical subjects in Greek relief- +sculpture, that in the Stoa Poicile (Painted Portico) of Athens, +alongside of a Sack of Troy by Polygnotus and a Battle of Greeks +and Amazons by his contemporary, Micon, there were two historical +scenes, a Battle of Marathon and a Battle of OEnoe. In fact, +historical battle-pieces were not rare among the Greeks at any +period. + +As regards the style of Polygnotus we can glean a few interesting +facts from our ancient authorities. His figures were not ranged on +a single line, as in contemporary bas-reliefs, but were placed at +varying heights, so as to produce a somewhat complex composition. +His palette contained only four colors, black, white, yellow, and +red, but by mixing these he was enabled to secure a somewhat +greater variety. He laid his colors on in "flat" tints, just as +the Egyptian decorators did, making no attempt to render the +gradations of color due to varying light and shade. His pictures +were therefore rather colored drawings than genuine paintings, in +our sense of the term. He often inscribed beside his figures their +names, according to a common practice of the time. Yet this must +not be taken as implying that he was unable to characterize his +figures by purely artistic means. On the contrary, Polygnotus was +preeminently skilled in expressing character, and it is recorded +that he drew the face with a freedom which archaic art had not +attained. In all probability his pictures are not to be thought of +as having any depth of perspective; that is to say, although he +did not fail to suggest the nature of the ground on which his +figures stood and the objects adjacent to them, it is not likely +that he represented his figures at varying distances from the +spectator or gave them a regular background. + +It is clear that Polygnotus was gifted with artistic genius of the +first rank and that he exercised a powerful influence upon +contemporaries and successors. Yet, alas! in spite of all research +and speculation, our knowledge of his work remains very shadowy. A +single drawing from his hand would be worth more than all that has +ever been written about him. But if one would like to dream what +his art was like, one may imagine it as combining with the +dramatic power of Euphronius and the exquisite loveliness of the +Aphrodite cup, Giotto's elevation of feeling and Michael Angelo's +profundity of thought. + +Another branch of painting which began to attain importance in the +time of Polygnotus was scene-painting for theatrical performances. +It may be, as has been conjectured, that the impulse toward a +style of work in which a greater degree of illusion was aimed at +and secured came from this branch of the art. We read, at any +rate, that one Agatharchus, a scene-painter who flourished about +the middle of the fifth century, wrote a treatise which stimulated +two philosophers to an investigation of the laws of perspective. + +The most important technical advance, however, is attributed to +Apollodorus of Athens, a painter of easel pictures. He departed +from the old method of coloring in flat tints and introduced the +practice of grading colors according to the play of light and +shade. How successfully he managed this innovation we have no +means of knowing; probably very imperfectly. But the step was of +the utmost significance. It meant the abandonment of mere colored +drawing and the creation of the genuine art of painting. + +Two artists of the highest distinction now appear upon the scene. +They are Zeuxis and Parrhasius. The rather vague remark of a Roman +writer, that they both lived "about the time of the Peloponnesian +War" (431-404 B.C.) is as definite a statement as can safely be +made about their date. Parrhasius was born at Ephesus, Zeuxis at +some one or other of the numerous cities named Heraclea. Both +traveled freely from place to place, after the usual fashion of +Greek artists, and both naturally made their home for a time in +Athens. Zeuxis availed himself of the innovation of Apollodorus +and probably carried it farther. Indeed, he is credited by one +Roman writer with being the founder of the new method. The +strength of Parrhasius is said to have lain in subtlety of line, +which would suggest that with him, as with Polygnotus, painting +was essentially outline drawing. Yet he too can hardly have +remained unaffected by the new chiaroscuro. + +Easel pictures now assumed a relative importance which they had +not had a generation earlier. Some of these were placed in temples +and such conformed in their subjects to the requirements of +religious art, as understood in Greece. But many of the easel +pictures by Zeuxis and his contemporaries can hardly have had any +other destination than the private houses of wealthy connoisseurs. +Moreover, we hear first in this period of mural painting as +applied to domestic interiors. Alcibiades is said to have +imprisoned a reluctant painter, Agatharchus (cf. page 278), in his +house and to have forced him to decorate the walls. The result of +this sort of private demand was what we have seen taking place a +hundred years later in the case of sculpture, viz.: that artists +became free to employ their talents on any subjects which would +gratify the taste of patrons. For example, a painting by Zeuxis of +which Lucian has left us a description illustrates what may be +called mythological genre. It represented a female Centaur giving +suck to two offspring, with the father of the family in the +background, amusing himself by swinging a lion's whelp above his +head to scare his young. This was, no doubt, admirable in its way, +and it would be narrow-minded to disparage it because it did not +stand on the ethical level of Polygnotus's work. But painters did +not always keep within the limits of what is innocent. No longer +restrained by the conditions of monumental and religious art, they +began to pander not merely to what is frivolous, but to what is +vile in human nature. The great Parrhasius is reported by Pliny to +have painted licentious little pictures, "refreshing himself" +(says the writer) by this means after more serious labors. Thus at +the same time that painting was making great technical advances, +its nobility of purpose was on the average declining. + +Timanthes seems to have been a younger contemporary of Zeuxis and +Parrhasius. Perhaps his career fell chiefly after 400 B. C. The +painting of his of which we hear the most represented the +sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis, The one point about the picture +to which all our accounts refer is the grief exhibited in varying +degrees by the bystanders. The countenance of Calchas was +sorrowful; that of Ulysses still more so; that of Menelaus +displayed an intensity of distress which the painter could not +outdo; Agamemnon, therefore, was represented with his face covered +by his mantle, his attitude alone suggesting the father's poignant +anguish. The description is interesting as illustrating the +attention paid in this period to the expression of emotion. +Timanthes was in spirit akin to Scopas. There is a Pompeian wall- +painting of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, which represents Agamemnon +with veiled head and which may be regarded, in that particular at +least, as a remote echo of Timanthes's famous picture. + +Sicyon, in the northeastern part of Peloponnesus--a city already +referred to as the home of the sculptor Lysippus--was the seat of +an important school of painting in the fourth century. Toward the +middle of the century the leading teacher of the art in that place +was one Pamphilus. He secured the introduction of drawing into the +elementary schools of Sicyon, and this new branch of education was +gradually adopted in other Greek communities. A pupil of his, +Pausias by name, is credited with raising the process of encaustic +painting to a prominence which it had not enjoyed before. In this +process the colors, mixed with wax, were applied to a wooden panel +and then burned in by means of a hot iron held near. + +Thebes also, which attained to a short-lived importance in the +political world after the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.), developed +a school of painting, which seems to have been in close touch with +that of Athens. There were painters besides, who seem to have had +no connection with any one of these centers of activity. The +fourth century was the Golden Age of Greek painting, and the list +of eminent names is as long and as distinguished for painting as +for sculpture. + +The most famous of all was Apelles. He was a Greek of Asia Minor +and received his early training at Ephesus. He then betook himself +to Sicyon, in order to profit by the instruction of Pamphilus and +by association with the other painters gathered there. It seems +likely that his next move was to Pella, the capital of Macedon, +then ruled over by Philip, the father of Alexander. At any rate, +he entered into intimate relations with the young prince and +painted numerous portraits of both father and son. Indeed, +according to an often repeated story, Alexander, probably after +his accession to the throne, conferred upon Apelles the exclusive +privilege of painting his portrait, as upon Lysippus the exclusive +privilege of representing him in bronze. Later, presumably when +Alexander started on his eastern campaigns (334 B.C.), Apelles +returned to Asia Minor, but of course not even then to lead a +settled life. He outlived Alexander, but we do not know by how +much. + +Of his many portraits of the great conqueror four are specifically +mentioned by our authorities. One of these represented the king as +holding a thunderbolt, i.e., in the guise of Zeus--a fine piece of +flattery. For this picture, which was placed in the Temple of +Artemis at Ephesus, he is reported, though not on very good +authority, to have received twenty talents in gold coin. It is +impossible to make exact comparisons between ancient and modern +prices, but the sum named would perhaps be in purchasing power as +large as any modern painter ever received for a work of similar +size. [Footnote: Nicias, an Athenian painter and a contemporary of +Apelles, is reported to have been offered by Ptolemy, the ruler of +Egypt, sixty talents for a picture and to have refused the offer.] +It has been mentioned above that Apelles made a number of +portraits of King Philip. He had also many sitters among the +generals and associates of Alexander; and he left at least one +picture of himself. His portraits were famous for their truth of +likeness, as we should expect of a great painter in this age. + +An allegorical painting by Apelles of Slander and Her Crew is +interesting as an example of a class of works to which Lysippus's +statue of Opportunity belonged (page 239). This picture contained +ten figures, whereas most of his others of which we have any +description contained only one figure each. + +His most famous work was an Aphrodite, originally placed in the +Temple of Asclepius on the island of Cos. The goddess was +represented, according to the Greek myth of her birth, as rising +from the sea, the upper part of her person being alone distinctly +visible. The picture, from all that we can learn of it, seems to +have been imbued with the same spirit of refinement and grace as +Praxiteles's statue of Aphrodite in the neighboring city of +Cnidus. The Coans, after cherishing it for three hundred years, +were forced to surrender it to the emperor Augustus for a price of +a hundred talents, and it was removed to the Temple of Julius +Caesar in Rome. By the time of Nero it had become so much injured +that it had to be replaced by a copy. + +Protogenes was another painter whom even the slightest sketch +cannot afford to pass over in silence. He was born at Caunus in +southwestern Asia Minor and flourished about the same time as +Apelles. We read of his conversing with the philosopher Aristotle +(died 322 B.C.), of whose mother he painted a portrait, and of his +being engaged on his most famous work, a picture of a Rhodian +hero, at the time of the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius (304 B.C.). +He was an extremely painstaking artist, inclined to excessive +elaboration in his work. Apelles, who is always represented as of +amiable and generous character, is reported as saying that +Protogenes was his equal or superior in every point but one, the +one inferiority of Protogenes being that he did not know when to +stop. According to another anecdote Apelles, while profoundly +impressed by Protogenes's masterpiece, the Rhodian hero above +referred to, pronounced it lacking in that quality of grace which +was his own most eminent merit. [Footnote: Plutarch, "Life of +Demetrius," Section 22.] There are still other anecdotes, which give an +entertaining idea of the friendly rivalry between these two +masters, but which do not help us much in imagining their artistic +qualities. As regards technique, it seems likely that both of them +practiced principally "tempera" painting, in which the colors are +mixed with yolk of eggs or some other sticky non-unctuous medium. +[Footnote: Oil painting was unknown in ancient times.] Both +Apelles and Protogenes are said to have written technical +treatises on the painter's art. + +There being nothing extant which would properly illustrate the +methods and the styles of the great artists in color, the best +substitute that we have from about their period is an Etruscan +sarcophagus, found near Corneto in 1869. The material is +"alabaster or a marble closely resembling alabaster." It is +ornamented on all four sides by paintings executed in tempera +representing a battle of Greeks and Amazons. "In the flesh tints +the difference of the sexes is strongly marked, the flesh of the +fighting Greeks being a tawny red, while that of the Amazons is +very fair. For each sex two tints only are used in the shading and +modeling of the flesh. ... Hair and eyes are for the most part a +purplish brown; garments mainly reddish brown, whitish grey, or +pale lilac and light blue. Horses are uniformly a greyish white, +shaded with a fuller tint of grey; their eyes always blue. There +are two colors of metal, light blue for swords, spear-heads, and +the inner faces of shields, golden yellow for helmets, greaves, +reins, and handles of shields, girdles, and chain ornaments." + +Our illustration (Fig. 193) is taken from the middle of one of the +long sides of the sarcophagus. It represents a mounted Amazon in +front of a fully armed foot-soldier, upon whom she turns to +deliver a blow with her sword. "Every reader will be struck by the +beauty and spirit of the Amazon, alike in her action and her +facial expression. The type of head, broad, bold, and powerful, +and at the same time young and blooming, with the pathetic- +indignant expression, is preserved with little falling off from +the best age of Greek art. ... In spirit and expression almost +equal to the Amazon is the horse she bestrides." [Footnote: The +quotations are from an article by Mr. Sidney Colvin in The Journal +of Hellenic Studies, Vol. IV., pages 354 ff] The Greek warrior is +also admirable in attitude and expression, full of energy and +determination. + +Although the paintings of this sarcophagus were doubtless executed +in Etruria, and probably by an Etruscan hand, they are in their +style almost purely Greek. The work is assigned to the earlier +half of the third century B.C. If an unknown craftsman was +stimulated by Greek models to the production of paintings of such +beauty and power, how magnificent must have been the achievements +of the great masters of the brush! + +For examples of Greek portrait painting we are indebted to Egypt, +that country whose climate has preserved so much that elsewhere +would have perished. It will be remembered that Egypt, having been +conquered by Alexander, fell after his death to the lot of his +general, Ptolemy, and continued to be ruled by Ptolemy's +descendants until, in 30 B.C., it became a Roman province. During +the period of Macedonian rule Alexandria was the chief center of +Greek culture in the world, and Greeks and Greek civilization +became established also in the interior of the country; nor did +these Hellenizing influences abate under Roman domination. To this +late period, when Greek and Egyptian customs ere largely +amalgamated, belongs a class of portrait heads which have been +found in the Fayyurn, chiefly within the last ten years. They are +painted on panels of wood (or rarely on canvas), and were +originally attached to mummies. The embalmed body was carefully +wrapped in linen bandages and the portrait placed over the face +and secured in position. These pictures are executed principally +by the encaustic process, though some use was made also of +tempera. The persons represented appear to be of various races-- +Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew, negro, and mixed; perhaps the Greek type +predominates in the specimens now known. At any rate, the artistic +methods of the portraits seem to be purely Greek. As for their +date, it is the prevailing opinion that they belong to the second +century after Christ and later, though an attempt has been made to +carry the best of them back to the second century B.C. + +The finest collection of these portraits is one acquired by a +Viennese merchant, Herr Theodor Graf. They differ widely in +artistic merit; our illustrations show three of the best. Fig. 194 +is a man in middle life, with irregular features, abundant, waving +hair, and thin, straggling beard. One who has seen Watts's picture +of "The Prodigal Son" may remark in the lower part of this face a +likeness to that. Fig. 195 is a charming girl, wearing a golden +wreath of ivy-leaves about her hair and a string of great pearls +about her neck. Her dark eyes look strangely large, as do those of +all the women of the series; probably the effect of eyes naturally +large was heightened, as nowadays in Egypt, by the practice of +blackening the edges of the eyelids. Fig. 196 is the most +fascinating face of all, and it is artistically unsurpassed in the +whole series. This and a portrait of an elderly man, not given +here, are the masterpieces of the Graf collection. It is much too +little to say of these two heads that they are the best examples +of Greek painting that have come down to us. In spite of the great +inferiority of the encaustic technique to that of oil painting, +these pictures are not unworthy of comparison with the great +portraits of modern times. + +The ancient wall-paintings found in and near Rome. but more +especially in Pompeii, are also mostly Greek in character, so far +as their best qualities are concerned. The best of them, while +betraying deficient skill in perspective, show such merits in +coloring, such power of expression and such talent for +composition, as to afford to the student a lively enjoyment and to +intensify tenfold his regret that Zeuxis and Parrhasius, Apelles +and Protogenes, are and will remain to us nothing but names. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of A History Of Greek Art, by F. B. 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