DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15098#0087
67
the duties they are to perform, or the conduct they are to
observe. They do not appear to be bearing anything in their
hands, but Millin remarks that there are two holes, one above
and another below the right hand of the young man, by which
it would appear that he must have held some object, which pos-
sibly he was about to commit to the females before him. Carrey's
drawing represents the right arm of the foremost figure raised as
if to receive something, but this probably was a mistake of his,
as that hand, which is represented in the cast, has not the ap-
pearance of a modern restoration, but of original Greek work.
Next in the procession advances a single female, attired like the
rest, and carrying a patera. The last figure in this plate, it will be
observed, has her left arm directed towards the edge of the slab ; the
hand indeed is sculptured upon the next, and is occupied in as-
sisting to carry a large object, probably a censer. See Plate VIII.
M. Millin observes that " this marble, before it was cleaned,
preserved traces not only of the encaustic colour with which, ac-
cording to the custom of the Greeks, they covered their sculpture,
but also of the real painting with which some parts were covered;
a custom which belongs to the practices of the infancy of art,
and from which they had not yet emancipated themselves. The
ground was blue, the hair and some parts of the body were gilt/'3
We have no record of such circumstances having been ob-
served upon any of the numerous pieces which now enrich the
Museum ; no traces of colour can now be detected, and we can
scarcely believe but that imagination had much to do with the
appearance of the blue and gold. Though we have not any
doubt that colour was extensively used in enhancing the beauty
and richness of this frieze, we entertain very great doubts about
the application of gold to the hair and flesh of the figures. The
brother of Phidias was celebrated as a painter of statues,4 but we
3 " Description d'un bas-relief " &c.
4 See Pliny, 1. xxxv. c. viii.
the duties they are to perform, or the conduct they are to
observe. They do not appear to be bearing anything in their
hands, but Millin remarks that there are two holes, one above
and another below the right hand of the young man, by which
it would appear that he must have held some object, which pos-
sibly he was about to commit to the females before him. Carrey's
drawing represents the right arm of the foremost figure raised as
if to receive something, but this probably was a mistake of his,
as that hand, which is represented in the cast, has not the ap-
pearance of a modern restoration, but of original Greek work.
Next in the procession advances a single female, attired like the
rest, and carrying a patera. The last figure in this plate, it will be
observed, has her left arm directed towards the edge of the slab ; the
hand indeed is sculptured upon the next, and is occupied in as-
sisting to carry a large object, probably a censer. See Plate VIII.
M. Millin observes that " this marble, before it was cleaned,
preserved traces not only of the encaustic colour with which, ac-
cording to the custom of the Greeks, they covered their sculpture,
but also of the real painting with which some parts were covered;
a custom which belongs to the practices of the infancy of art,
and from which they had not yet emancipated themselves. The
ground was blue, the hair and some parts of the body were gilt/'3
We have no record of such circumstances having been ob-
served upon any of the numerous pieces which now enrich the
Museum ; no traces of colour can now be detected, and we can
scarcely believe but that imagination had much to do with the
appearance of the blue and gold. Though we have not any
doubt that colour was extensively used in enhancing the beauty
and richness of this frieze, we entertain very great doubts about
the application of gold to the hair and flesh of the figures. The
brother of Phidias was celebrated as a painter of statues,4 but we
3 " Description d'un bas-relief " &c.
4 See Pliny, 1. xxxv. c. viii.