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

1070 STATUARIA ARS. STATUARIA ARS.
of emperors were sometimes multiplied may be introduction of Christianity with the decay of the
inferred from the fact, that the senate sometimes arts is merely accidental. That the early Christians
ordained that the bust of an emperor should be in did not despise the arts as such, is clear from sethe house of every citizen. veral facts. We know that they erected statues to
After the time of the Antonines the symptoms their martyrs, of which we have a specimen in that
of decline in the arts becamre more and more visible. of St. Hippolitus in the Vatican library; and it is
The most numerous works continued to be busts expressly stated that Christians devoted themselves
and statues of the emperors, but the best among to the exercise of the arts. (Baronius, Anczal. ad A.
them are not free from affectation and mannerism. 303.) The numerous works, lastly, which have
The hair, especially in the representations of female been found in the Christian catacombs at Rome,
figures, becomes gradually utterly tasteless, and might alone be a sufficient proof that the early
instead of the natural hair the artists made it a Christians were not hostile towards the representapoint to show that it was a large peruque, which tion of the heroes of their religion in works of art.
in some cases might be put on and taken off at The hostility, such as it appears in the writings of
pleasure. [GALERaUS.] In the time of Caracalla Tatian and Augustine, cannot therefore have been
many statues were made, especially of Alexander general; and, in fact, Christianity during the midthe Great. Alexander Severus was a great ad- dle ages became as much the mother of the arts of
inirer of statues, not from a genuine love of art, modern times, as the religion of Greece was the
but because he delighted in the representations of mother of ancient art. Another very general and
great and good men. (Lamprid. Al. Sev. 25.) The yet incorrect notion is, that the northern barbarians
reliefs on the triumphal arch of Septimius Seve- after the conquest of Rome intentionally destroyed
rus, representing his victories over the Parthians, works of art. This opinion is not supported by
Arabs, and Adiabenians, have scarcely any artistic any of the contemporary historians, nor is it at all
merits. During this time of decay the custom probable. The barbarians were only anxious to
arose of adorning sarcophagi with figures in high carry with them the most precious treasures in
relief, representing scenes from the legends of De- order to enrich themselves; a statue must have
meter and Dionysus, and from the heroic ages of been an object of indifference to *them. W~hat
Greece, sometimes also the fable of Eros and perished, perished naturally by the circumstances
Psyche: all these contained allusions to the im- and calamities of the timles: in times of need
mortality of the soul. Art, however, now declined bronze statues were imelted down and the material
with great rapidity: busts and statues were more used for other purposes; marble statues were freseldom made than before, and are awkward and quently broken to pieces and used for building
poor; the hair is frequently indicated by nothing materials. If we consider the history of Rome
else but holes bored in the stone. The reliefs on during the first centuries after the conquest of Italy
the sarcophagi gradually become monotonous, life- by the Germans, we have every reason to wonder
less, and evidently executed without spirit. The that so many specimens of ancient art have conle
reliefs on the arch of Constantine, which are not down to our times.
taken from that of Trajan, are perfectly rude and The greatest destruction, at one time, of ancient
worthless, and those on the column of Theodosius works of art is supposed to have occurred at the
were not better. Art in the proper sense of the taking of Constantinople, in the beginning of the
word ceased to exist; statues of victors in the thirteenth century. The collection of statues had
public games continued to be erected down to the been made with great care, and their number had
fourth, and statues of the emperors (at Constanti- accumulated to an amount which seems quite surnople) down to the eighth century; but at Rome, prising when it is considered how long a time had
as at Constantinople, those who were honoured in elapsed since art had been encouraged or protected.
this way were more concerned about their rank At the period alluded to we are told that some of
and dress being properly represented in their sta- the finest works of the ancient masters were purtues, than about the real artistic merit of the work. posely destroyed; either in mere. wantonness, or
Statuary became mere manual labour, and required with the view of turning the material into money,
nothing but mechanical skill. At Constantinople, or for sale to the metal founders for the value
however, where statues had been collected from of the bronze. Among the few works saved from
Rome, Greece, and Asia Minor, the events of this devastation are the celebrated bronze horses
history allowed the plastic arts to die away more which now decorate the exterior of St. Mark's
gradually than in Italy. church at Venice. They have been ascribed, but
Before concluding, it remains to say a few words without sufficient authority, to Lysippus.
on the destruction of ancient works of art. During The finest collection of ancient bronzes is in the
the latter part of the reign of Constantine many Museo Borbonico at Naples. They have been
statues of the gods were destroyed and melted found chiefly in the ruins of Hlerculaneum and
down, and not long after his time a systematic de- Pompeii, and among them are some examples of
struction began, which under Theodosius spread great skill and beauty. A few of the heads offer
to all parts of the empire. The spirit of destruc- peculiarities in the treatment of the hair, the slnall
tion, however, was not directed against works of corkscrew curls, and the ends of the beards being
art in general and as such, but only against the formed of separate pieces of metal fastened on.
pagan idols. The opinion, therefore, which is en- Several of the statues have the eyes of paste, and
tertained by some, that the losses we have sustain- of stones, or sometimes of a different metal from
ed in works'of ancient art, are mainly attributable the material of the rest of the work. Silver was
to the introduction of Christianity, is too sweeping often united with bronze. Cicero ( Trerr. iv. 43)
and general. Of the same character is another mentions a statue of Apollo aeaeeus, ctjtss in femore
opinion, according to which the final decay of an- litterulis minutis aryenteis noazen il'fyronis eral inscient art was a consequence of the spiritual nature scripturs. In a bronze statue, of a youth, in the
of the new religion. The coincidence of the general collection at Paris, are the remains of a Creek