DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0153
132 THE ISLES AND SHRINES OF GREECE
of Phaleron seems to have been a funeral reformer,
who forbade the use of elaborate grave monuments,
and who thought three inexpensive varieties would
be enough. It was probably owing to earlier interfer-
ence with the stone-cutter's craft, and not to any pro-
longed period of public health, that the production of
Attic gravestones fell off in the fifth century, and
again, after a period of reaction, under Demetrius at
the end of the fourth.
These tombstones were not made for or by dis-
tinguished people; they were made for every-day
people by every-day workmen. We must treat them
as gravestones, not as achievements of art. They
were not made for competitive exhibition in this
Museum. Nevertheless it is remarkable to what an
extent technical ability had been developed, and
that so many sculptors could be found in Greece
capable of doing such excellent work. Some of
them pass beyond the ordinary level, and exemplify
the highest artistic skill.
The simplest form in which these monuments ap-
pear is that of a slab. In the sixth century before
Christ it was made tall and narrow, with variations
as to size in different parts of Greece and in succeed-
ing years. There are also great inequalities of depth :
sometimes the relief is very deep, sometimes only an
outline. Different kinds of technique seem to have
been in use at the same time. The lower part was
left rough, to be set in the ground, and sometimes the
stone was surmounted by a sculptured gable in low
relief. Though there are many inaccuracies in detail,
the total impression is often strikingly effective, and
originally was no doubt heightened by color. A
of Phaleron seems to have been a funeral reformer,
who forbade the use of elaborate grave monuments,
and who thought three inexpensive varieties would
be enough. It was probably owing to earlier interfer-
ence with the stone-cutter's craft, and not to any pro-
longed period of public health, that the production of
Attic gravestones fell off in the fifth century, and
again, after a period of reaction, under Demetrius at
the end of the fourth.
These tombstones were not made for or by dis-
tinguished people; they were made for every-day
people by every-day workmen. We must treat them
as gravestones, not as achievements of art. They
were not made for competitive exhibition in this
Museum. Nevertheless it is remarkable to what an
extent technical ability had been developed, and
that so many sculptors could be found in Greece
capable of doing such excellent work. Some of
them pass beyond the ordinary level, and exemplify
the highest artistic skill.
The simplest form in which these monuments ap-
pear is that of a slab. In the sixth century before
Christ it was made tall and narrow, with variations
as to size in different parts of Greece and in succeed-
ing years. There are also great inequalities of depth :
sometimes the relief is very deep, sometimes only an
outline. Different kinds of technique seem to have
been in use at the same time. The lower part was
left rough, to be set in the ground, and sometimes the
stone was surmounted by a sculptured gable in low
relief. Though there are many inaccuracies in detail,
the total impression is often strikingly effective, and
originally was no doubt heightened by color. A