DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9188#0020
14
The Lamps of Greek Art
pageant of nature humanized. On the right appears the sun-
god driving a chariot of winged horses, who rise out of the sea.
Before him the stars, represented as youths, plunge into the
water. To the left is the moon-goddess on horseback, setting
behind the hills, on one of which is a mountain-god in an
attitude of surprise. Before the sun hurries Eos, the winged
dawn, who by a bold citation of mythology is represented as
pursuing Cephalus the hunter, of whom she was enamoured.
We have the features of the daybreak ; but they are all repre-
sented not as facts of nature, but in their influence on Gods and
men.
I do not figure this vase, as I have already done so in my
Principles of Greek Art; but instead I give an almost equally
beautiful representation from the lid of a toilet box in the
Sabouroff Collection at Berlin. We have here the same three
figures of the sun-god, the moon-goddess, and the winged
dawn, who, however, in this case is driving a chariot. The form
of the whole group and the radiate symbol in the midst stands
admirably for the vault of heaven (Fig. i).
Another extreme example of anthropomorphism is the
embodiment of the sustaining power of the pillar in the so-called
Caryatids of the Erechtheum (Fig. 2). Really they are Corae,
maidens dedicated to Athena, and willingly in her service
bearing up the weight of the architrave of her temple. Possibly
the notion is not wholly satisfactory ; but if it be tolerated,
could it have been more nobly carried out ? The square and
stalwart form of the women, the mass of hair which strengthens
their necks, the easy pose, all make us feel that the task is not
beyond their strength or oppressive.
Beside the Greek Caryatid I must be allowed to place
a modern version, by Rodin. For the power and the technique
of Rodin I have great admiration ; but when his works are
placed beside those of Greece, we feel at once their inferiority
in dignity, in simplicity, in ideality (Fig. 3).
The Lamps of Greek Art
pageant of nature humanized. On the right appears the sun-
god driving a chariot of winged horses, who rise out of the sea.
Before him the stars, represented as youths, plunge into the
water. To the left is the moon-goddess on horseback, setting
behind the hills, on one of which is a mountain-god in an
attitude of surprise. Before the sun hurries Eos, the winged
dawn, who by a bold citation of mythology is represented as
pursuing Cephalus the hunter, of whom she was enamoured.
We have the features of the daybreak ; but they are all repre-
sented not as facts of nature, but in their influence on Gods and
men.
I do not figure this vase, as I have already done so in my
Principles of Greek Art; but instead I give an almost equally
beautiful representation from the lid of a toilet box in the
Sabouroff Collection at Berlin. We have here the same three
figures of the sun-god, the moon-goddess, and the winged
dawn, who, however, in this case is driving a chariot. The form
of the whole group and the radiate symbol in the midst stands
admirably for the vault of heaven (Fig. i).
Another extreme example of anthropomorphism is the
embodiment of the sustaining power of the pillar in the so-called
Caryatids of the Erechtheum (Fig. 2). Really they are Corae,
maidens dedicated to Athena, and willingly in her service
bearing up the weight of the architrave of her temple. Possibly
the notion is not wholly satisfactory ; but if it be tolerated,
could it have been more nobly carried out ? The square and
stalwart form of the women, the mass of hair which strengthens
their necks, the easy pose, all make us feel that the task is not
beyond their strength or oppressive.
Beside the Greek Caryatid I must be allowed to place
a modern version, by Rodin. For the power and the technique
of Rodin I have great admiration ; but when his works are
placed beside those of Greece, we feel at once their inferiority
in dignity, in simplicity, in ideality (Fig. 3).