DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9188#0019
The Lamps of Greek Art
13
the nature of man as he might become, but the form of man
as he actually is in the world.
Not the forms only of the gods, but the history of their
appearances on earth and their dealings with mankind found
expression in painting and relief. Plato, as we know, con-
demned the myths of the gods as unworthy from the ethical
point of view. But we shall misjudge myths if we suppose
that they were actually believed in, or served to regulate
conduct. What they did was greatly to further the picturesque-
ness and joy of life. And when they became less important in
cultus they survived in poetry, and served greatly to temper
the harsh prose of actual life. We must remember that some
of the Jewish tales which have so much interested and charmed
our forefathers are hardly to be defended on strict ethical
principles, yet they have been a leavening and widening
influence. Who would wish to expel from churches the stories
of Adam and Eve, of Joseph and David, on grounds of ethical
purism ? The life of the many is not so highly decorated that
we should wish to expel from it elements so pleasing.
As the Gods tend more and more to take forms beautiful
but entirely human, so do the notable features of the landscape,
rivers and mountains, sky and sea, take on themselves human
shape. Sun and moon, wind and storm, are completely
humanized. The society of Olympus, the powers manifested
in nature, appear in sculpture as a human society, but of more
than human beauty and dignity. And such rendering of the
gods leads, as we shall presently see, to an ideal rendering of
men. As the gods come down in the likeness of men, so men
are raised to the level of the gods. Hence the intrinsic and
inexhaustible idealism of Greek sculpture, to which I will
presently return.
Few works of art more fully and more attractively show the
anthropomorphic tendency of Greek art than the sunrise vase
of the British Museum. It shows us the whole morning
13
the nature of man as he might become, but the form of man
as he actually is in the world.
Not the forms only of the gods, but the history of their
appearances on earth and their dealings with mankind found
expression in painting and relief. Plato, as we know, con-
demned the myths of the gods as unworthy from the ethical
point of view. But we shall misjudge myths if we suppose
that they were actually believed in, or served to regulate
conduct. What they did was greatly to further the picturesque-
ness and joy of life. And when they became less important in
cultus they survived in poetry, and served greatly to temper
the harsh prose of actual life. We must remember that some
of the Jewish tales which have so much interested and charmed
our forefathers are hardly to be defended on strict ethical
principles, yet they have been a leavening and widening
influence. Who would wish to expel from churches the stories
of Adam and Eve, of Joseph and David, on grounds of ethical
purism ? The life of the many is not so highly decorated that
we should wish to expel from it elements so pleasing.
As the Gods tend more and more to take forms beautiful
but entirely human, so do the notable features of the landscape,
rivers and mountains, sky and sea, take on themselves human
shape. Sun and moon, wind and storm, are completely
humanized. The society of Olympus, the powers manifested
in nature, appear in sculpture as a human society, but of more
than human beauty and dignity. And such rendering of the
gods leads, as we shall presently see, to an ideal rendering of
men. As the gods come down in the likeness of men, so men
are raised to the level of the gods. Hence the intrinsic and
inexhaustible idealism of Greek sculpture, to which I will
presently return.
Few works of art more fully and more attractively show the
anthropomorphic tendency of Greek art than the sunrise vase
of the British Museum. It shows us the whole morning