DOI Artikel:
Waldstein, Charles: The Mantineian Reliefs
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8678#0319
THE MANTINEIAN RELIEFS.
301
by the inscription on this base the work has been assigned to the
second half of the fourth century B. c. It is thus beyond a doubt
that the Muses, as here rendered, have their closest analogies in works
of the age of Praxiteles, and if we add to this the general feeling in
the attitude, with slight inclination of the head, of the Muse with the
pipes, and consider the sentiment of all these figures, we cannot but
appreciate that they are in all their characteristics expressive of Praxi-
telean art. By this we do not mean that these sculptures are neces-
sarily by the hand of Praxiteles, but that they contain features which
point to his influence as it has been manifested to us in the works we
now assign to him.
To sum up: At Mantineia reliefs are found representing Muses
grouped with Apollo and Marsyas with the pipes. These reliefs are
better suited to decorate the front of the base of a large group of statues
than to any other function we can think of. From what we know of
the bases of such temple-statues the dimensions of four such slabs would
just correspond in extent to appropriate ornament of this purpose.
-The technical and artistic treatment of the relief, the conception of the
subject, the grouping of the figures, and the style and feeling of every
single figure, correspond most with the art of the period of Praxiteles.
We now read in Pausanias that the base of the temple-statues of Leto,
Artemis and Apollo was ornamented with a representation of Marsyas
with the pipes and a Muse. The conclusion seems evident. Is it pro-
bable that at Mantineia there existed another relief, not an architec-
tural frieze, nor a balustrade, representing the same subject as that
described by Pausanias, made without any relation to the same scene
as represented by the great artist in the same place ? It might be urged
that the present reliefs are a later copy of the earlier sculptures that
bad been injured or destroyed. Well! a bad Roman copy it certainly
is not; and we can see no reason for thus shirking the responsibility of
assigning to Praxitelean art a work which we have the good fortune
to possess. Such shirking reminds one of the pleasantry made by a
maintainor of the personality of Homer: that the Homeric poems
Were not written by Homer but by another man of the same name.
Charles AValdstein.
American School of Classical Studies at Athens,
January, 1890.
301
by the inscription on this base the work has been assigned to the
second half of the fourth century B. c. It is thus beyond a doubt
that the Muses, as here rendered, have their closest analogies in works
of the age of Praxiteles, and if we add to this the general feeling in
the attitude, with slight inclination of the head, of the Muse with the
pipes, and consider the sentiment of all these figures, we cannot but
appreciate that they are in all their characteristics expressive of Praxi-
telean art. By this we do not mean that these sculptures are neces-
sarily by the hand of Praxiteles, but that they contain features which
point to his influence as it has been manifested to us in the works we
now assign to him.
To sum up: At Mantineia reliefs are found representing Muses
grouped with Apollo and Marsyas with the pipes. These reliefs are
better suited to decorate the front of the base of a large group of statues
than to any other function we can think of. From what we know of
the bases of such temple-statues the dimensions of four such slabs would
just correspond in extent to appropriate ornament of this purpose.
-The technical and artistic treatment of the relief, the conception of the
subject, the grouping of the figures, and the style and feeling of every
single figure, correspond most with the art of the period of Praxiteles.
We now read in Pausanias that the base of the temple-statues of Leto,
Artemis and Apollo was ornamented with a representation of Marsyas
with the pipes and a Muse. The conclusion seems evident. Is it pro-
bable that at Mantineia there existed another relief, not an architec-
tural frieze, nor a balustrade, representing the same subject as that
described by Pausanias, made without any relation to the same scene
as represented by the great artist in the same place ? It might be urged
that the present reliefs are a later copy of the earlier sculptures that
bad been injured or destroyed. Well! a bad Roman copy it certainly
is not; and we can see no reason for thus shirking the responsibility of
assigning to Praxitelean art a work which we have the good fortune
to possess. Such shirking reminds one of the pleasantry made by a
maintainor of the personality of Homer: that the Homeric poems
Were not written by Homer but by another man of the same name.
Charles AValdstein.
American School of Classical Studies at Athens,
January, 1890.