Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

STATIJARIA ARS. STATUARIA ARS. 1065
two pedinents of this temple. The greater part of Mor&ee, pi. 74 —78.) The figures of these marbles
these works is now in the British Museum, where are indeed free from the fetters of the ancient style,
they are collected under the name of the Elgin and show a true imitation of nature, but do not
Marbles. They have been described and con- nearly come up to the ideal simplicity of the works
mented upon so often, that they require no fuirther of Pheidias.
mention here. (See Diet. of Biog. s. v. Pheidias.) About the same time that the Attic school rose
3. The marble reliefs of the temple of Nike to its highest perfection under Pheidias, the school
Apteros belong indeed to a later age than that of of Argos was likewise raised to its summit by
Pheidias, but they are manifestly made in the spirit Polycleitus, who was inferior to the former in his
of his school. They represent with great liveliness statues of gods (Quinctil. xii. 10. ~ 7, &c.; Cic.
and energy contests of Greeks with Persians, and Brust. 18), though he advanced the toreutic art in
of Greeks among themselves. These also are in his colossal statue of Hera at Argos further than
the British Museum. Pheidias. (Plin. H.N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. ~ 2.) But
All these sculptures breathe on the whole the the art of making bronze statues of athletes was
same sublime spirit, though it would seem that carried by him to the greatest perfection: ideal
some, especially some figures of the metopes of the youthful and manly beauty was the sphere in which
Parthenon, were executed by artists who had not he excelled. Among his statues of gods we only
emancipated themselves entirely from the influ6nce know two, that of Hera and another of Hermes.
of an earlier age. With this exception and some Pliny mentions several of his representations of
other slight defects, which are probably the conse- human beings, in which without neglecting to give
quences of the place which the sculptures occupied them individuality, he made youthful figures in
in the temples they adorned, we find everywhere a their purest beauty, and with the most accurate
truth in the imitation of nature, which, without proportions of the several parts of the human body.
suppressing or omitting anything that is essential, (Plin. 1. c.; comp. Strab. viii. p. 372.) One of
and without any forced attempt to go beyond na- these statues, a youthful Doryphorus, was made
ture, produces the purest and sublimest beauty: with such accurate observation of the proportions
these works show lively movements combined with of the parts of the body, that it was looked upon
calmness and ease,'a natural dignity and grace by the ancient artists as a canon of rules on this
united with unaffected simplicity; no striving after point. (Cic. Bruzt. 86, Orat. 2; Quintil. v. 12.
effect, or excitement of the passions. These sculp- ~ 21; Lucian, de Saltat. 75.) Polycleitus is said
tures alone afford us ample means to justify the to have written a work on the same subject, and it
ancient critics, who state that the MetyaaXeiov and may be that his Doryphorus was intended to give a
re-lo'v, or the grand and sublime, were the charac- practical specimen of the rules he had laid down
teristic features of Pheidias and his school. (De- in his treatise. He gained a victory over Pheidias
nmetr. de Elocut. 14; Diolnys. Hal. de Isocrat. p. in the representation of an Amazon, which must
542.) Pheidias was the Aeschylus of statuary, consequently have been a figure in the greatest
and it may be safely asserted that, although the art luxuriance of female beauty combined with a manly
subsequentlymade certain progress in the execution character. (Miiller,_Archiaol. ~ 121.) Polvcleiof details, yet Pheidias and his school were never tus was also distinguished in portrait-statues, among
excelled by subsequent generations. which that of Artelnon Periphoretus, a mechaniBesides the sculptures of the three temples men- cian of the time of Pericles, is mentioned with estioned above, there are also similar ornaments of pecial praise. (Comp. Diet. of Biog. s. v.)
other temples extant, which show the influence Myron of Eleutherae, about O1. 87, was, like
which the school of Pheidas must have exercised Polycleitus, a disciple of A geladas, but adhered to a
in various parts of Greece, though they were exe- closer imitation of nature thll Polycleitus, and as
cuted in a different style. Of these we need only fir as the impression upon the senses was concerned,
mention two as the most important. his wvorks were most pleasing, but anii sensues
1. The Phigaleian marbles, which belonged to eeon exp?-essit, says Pliny (II. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. ~
the temple of Apollo Epicurius, built about 01. 86 3). The cow of Myron in bronze was celebrated
by Ictinus. They were discovered in 1812, and inall antiquity. (Tzetzes. U/dil. viii. 194, &c.; Proconsist of twenty-three plates of marble belonging pert. ii. 31. 7.) Pliny mentions a considerable
to the inner frieze of the cella. They are now in number of his works, among which a dog, a discothe British Museum. The subjects represented in bolus, pentathli and pancratiasts were most celethem are fights with centaurs and amazons, and brated; the last of them were especially disone plate shows Apollo and Artemis drawvn in a tinguished for their euztlthmiea and the animation
chariot by stags. Many of the attitudes of the displayed in their movements, as well as for the
figures appear to be repetitions of those seen on most beautiful athletic attitudes. Among his stathe Attic temples, but there are at the same time tues of gods we find only mention of a colossal
great differences, for the Phigaleian marbles some- group representing Heracles, Zeus, and Athena,
times shows a boldness of design which almost bor- which he made for the Samians. (Plin. 1. c. Cic.
ders on extravagance, while some figures are incor- c. Terar. iv. 3; Strab. xiv. p. 637.) In his execurectly drawn and in forced attitudes. The best tion of the hair he adhered, according to Pliny, to
descriptions of them are those in Bassi sellevi della the ancient style. (See Diet. of Bioq. a. s..)
Grccia, disegn. da G. M. Wagner (1814), and in The deviation from the sublime ideality of the
Stackelberg's,4pollotesnpel au Bassae inZ Arcadies Attic school of Pheidias was still more manifest in
st. die daselbst aus~/qegrab. Bildclerke, 1828. the works of Callimachus and Demetrius. The
2. Marbles of the temple of the Olympian Zeus, former executed his statues with the utmost possiwhich were made by Paeonius of Mende and Alca- ble accuracy and attention to the minutest details,
inenes of Athens. (Paous. v. 16.) Several fiag- but was careless in the conception as well as in the
Inents of these sculptures were discovered in 1 829, execations of the whole, which destroyed the value
and are now at Paris (ExLpedit. Scieatit. de cla of his works, whence he was designated by the