DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14134#0048
39
parts are now wanting. The group presents a somewhat
involved and complicated composition. The Centaur
grasps the female figure's left arm with his left hand; his
right arm, not shown, we must suppose to be passing round
the back of her waist. While the left foreleg of the
Centaur is firmly planted on the ground, his right foreleg
clasps the left leg of the female figure, pressing at the
back of her knee, so as to throw her off her balance. Her
dress, an ample chiton with a diploidion, is disordered in
the struggle so as to expose the right leg and thigh, and
the right side and greater part of the bosom. The action of
her right hand, as drawn by Carrey, indicates that she is
attempting to readjust the upper part of her chiton. Her
right leg from the knee to the ankle is supplied by a cast
from a fragment at Athens; the foot is cast from another
fragment, of which the original, exhibited in Wall-Case
C, has been in the Museum for many years, and
probably came with the marbles purchased from Lord
Elgin. It has not been possible to attach the marble foot
to its place on the cast, on account of its weight. The
action of this leg in the original design is very awkward
and ungainly. (Michaelis, pi. 3, xii.)
Next follow in Carrey's drawings thirteen metopes of
which we have only a few fragments. Of these, xxii,
xxiii, xxiv, represent Centaurs fighting with Lapiths;
xxv, a Lapith woman struggling with a Centaur; xvi,
a combat between two warriors, one of whom has fallen.
The remaining eight metopes represent subjects of which
the import is unknown to us, and in which draped female
figures predominate. From the character of these groups
it seems probable that they have a relation to the myth
and ritual of Demeter and other Attic divinities.
The following fragments have been recognised as
belonging to the thirteen metopes which have been
destroyed since Carrey's time :—(1) The body of a male
parts are now wanting. The group presents a somewhat
involved and complicated composition. The Centaur
grasps the female figure's left arm with his left hand; his
right arm, not shown, we must suppose to be passing round
the back of her waist. While the left foreleg of the
Centaur is firmly planted on the ground, his right foreleg
clasps the left leg of the female figure, pressing at the
back of her knee, so as to throw her off her balance. Her
dress, an ample chiton with a diploidion, is disordered in
the struggle so as to expose the right leg and thigh, and
the right side and greater part of the bosom. The action of
her right hand, as drawn by Carrey, indicates that she is
attempting to readjust the upper part of her chiton. Her
right leg from the knee to the ankle is supplied by a cast
from a fragment at Athens; the foot is cast from another
fragment, of which the original, exhibited in Wall-Case
C, has been in the Museum for many years, and
probably came with the marbles purchased from Lord
Elgin. It has not been possible to attach the marble foot
to its place on the cast, on account of its weight. The
action of this leg in the original design is very awkward
and ungainly. (Michaelis, pi. 3, xii.)
Next follow in Carrey's drawings thirteen metopes of
which we have only a few fragments. Of these, xxii,
xxiii, xxiv, represent Centaurs fighting with Lapiths;
xxv, a Lapith woman struggling with a Centaur; xvi,
a combat between two warriors, one of whom has fallen.
The remaining eight metopes represent subjects of which
the import is unknown to us, and in which draped female
figures predominate. From the character of these groups
it seems probable that they have a relation to the myth
and ritual of Demeter and other Attic divinities.
The following fragments have been recognised as
belonging to the thirteen metopes which have been
destroyed since Carrey's time :—(1) The body of a male