DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5596#0101
76
ANCIENT ART.
scarcely open, expressing pain, but neither fear nor
played to the eye the internal anatomy of bone or muscle, sinew
or aponeurosis. All these she and they knew the mind of the
observer dislikes and abhors. A hard anatomical style can only
be corrected by copying from the life."—The Anatomy of the
External Forms of Man, 8vo. Lond. 1849.
The same principles are maintained by the Dilettanti Society,
vol. i. p. xlii. Mr. Bell, the author of " Observations on
Italy," not the same as the author of " The Anatomy and
Philosophy of Expression," though fully alive to the im-
portance of anatomy, admits that whether the ancients were
acquainted with anatomy or not, their observance of nature,
and their greater facilities for observation, render their works
superior to any produced by the study of anatomy by the
moderns. In speaking of the Antinous he says : " With models
such as this, and other precious remains of ancient sculpture, it
seems wonderful that John of Bologna and other great artists
should have fallen into the error of so constantly seeking to dis-
play their knowledge of anatomy, frequently injuring their finest
productions, by forcing the features of that science into notice.
Because the moderns, among their other philosophic discoveries (?)
found that the human body was composed of bones, muscles,
tendons, and ligaments, is the statuary called upon perpetually
to remind us of this circumstance ? Why was it so beautifully
clothed with skin, but to hide the interior mechanism, and render
the form attractive ? Anatomy is useful as a corrector, but no
more. Its influence ought only to be felt. In the Antinous the
anatomist would look in vain to detect even the slightest mistake
or misconception...... In the finest works of the ancients
I have never seen a muscle caricatured...... This science
should not be brought into evidence in a statue—it is the beau-
tiful round fleshy forms of the living body only that should be
displayed, even in high energetic action...... Even in the
Dying Gladiator there is no obtrusive anatomy. Sinews, tendons,
and muscles are all in play; but hid as in the beautiful forms of
youth, not strongly expressed or obtruded on the eye." So in
ANCIENT ART.
scarcely open, expressing pain, but neither fear nor
played to the eye the internal anatomy of bone or muscle, sinew
or aponeurosis. All these she and they knew the mind of the
observer dislikes and abhors. A hard anatomical style can only
be corrected by copying from the life."—The Anatomy of the
External Forms of Man, 8vo. Lond. 1849.
The same principles are maintained by the Dilettanti Society,
vol. i. p. xlii. Mr. Bell, the author of " Observations on
Italy," not the same as the author of " The Anatomy and
Philosophy of Expression," though fully alive to the im-
portance of anatomy, admits that whether the ancients were
acquainted with anatomy or not, their observance of nature,
and their greater facilities for observation, render their works
superior to any produced by the study of anatomy by the
moderns. In speaking of the Antinous he says : " With models
such as this, and other precious remains of ancient sculpture, it
seems wonderful that John of Bologna and other great artists
should have fallen into the error of so constantly seeking to dis-
play their knowledge of anatomy, frequently injuring their finest
productions, by forcing the features of that science into notice.
Because the moderns, among their other philosophic discoveries (?)
found that the human body was composed of bones, muscles,
tendons, and ligaments, is the statuary called upon perpetually
to remind us of this circumstance ? Why was it so beautifully
clothed with skin, but to hide the interior mechanism, and render
the form attractive ? Anatomy is useful as a corrector, but no
more. Its influence ought only to be felt. In the Antinous the
anatomist would look in vain to detect even the slightest mistake
or misconception...... In the finest works of the ancients
I have never seen a muscle caricatured...... This science
should not be brought into evidence in a statue—it is the beau-
tiful round fleshy forms of the living body only that should be
displayed, even in high energetic action...... Even in the
Dying Gladiator there is no obtrusive anatomy. Sinews, tendons,
and muscles are all in play; but hid as in the beautiful forms of
youth, not strongly expressed or obtruded on the eye." So in