DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0064
41
PRINCIPLES OP GREEK ART
CHAP.
out regard to the purposes of the building which he is decorating.
On the contrary, he makes his compositions, both in line and in
colouring, suitable to the structure. He works in high relief in
the metopes, which are deeply recessed, in low relief in the frieze,
which adorns a flat surface. He cultivates extreme simplicity,
avoids the crossing of lines and of shadows, fills his space in such
a way that there are no blank spaces. In speaking of sculpture
we shall return to this subject.
When we examine in detail even the simplest architectural
decoration, we discover a similar combination of care, sense of
proportion, and reason. The flutings of an Ionic column are
not in section mere arcs of a circle, but made up of a combination
of curves which produce a beautiful optical effect; the lines of
decoration, as may be best seen in the case of the Erechtheum,
are cut with a marvellous delicacy. Instead of trying to in-
vent new schemes, the mason contents himself with improving
the regular patterns until they approach perfection, and he
takes everything into consideration. Mouldings on the outside
of a temple, in the full light of the sun, are differently planned
from those in the diffused light of the interior. Mouldings
executed in soft stone are far less fine than those in marble.
The mason thinks before he works, and while he works, and
thinks in entire correspondence with his surroundings.
The Greek artistic mind is in some respects like nature. As
nature in the elaboration of species seems sometimes to make a
wrong departure and to produce forms unfitted for survival, so
the Greek architect sometimes violated the fitnesses of things
and took a step which was not followed up. For instance, in the
archaic temple of Artemis at Ephesus the lower drums of the
columns were adorned with reliefs representing human beings of
about the size of life. This variation may probably have
arisen from the early custom of surrounding the pillars of
temples when they were made of wood with a coating of bronze
plates; and as these plates did not bear any actual strain, there
PRINCIPLES OP GREEK ART
CHAP.
out regard to the purposes of the building which he is decorating.
On the contrary, he makes his compositions, both in line and in
colouring, suitable to the structure. He works in high relief in
the metopes, which are deeply recessed, in low relief in the frieze,
which adorns a flat surface. He cultivates extreme simplicity,
avoids the crossing of lines and of shadows, fills his space in such
a way that there are no blank spaces. In speaking of sculpture
we shall return to this subject.
When we examine in detail even the simplest architectural
decoration, we discover a similar combination of care, sense of
proportion, and reason. The flutings of an Ionic column are
not in section mere arcs of a circle, but made up of a combination
of curves which produce a beautiful optical effect; the lines of
decoration, as may be best seen in the case of the Erechtheum,
are cut with a marvellous delicacy. Instead of trying to in-
vent new schemes, the mason contents himself with improving
the regular patterns until they approach perfection, and he
takes everything into consideration. Mouldings on the outside
of a temple, in the full light of the sun, are differently planned
from those in the diffused light of the interior. Mouldings
executed in soft stone are far less fine than those in marble.
The mason thinks before he works, and while he works, and
thinks in entire correspondence with his surroundings.
The Greek artistic mind is in some respects like nature. As
nature in the elaboration of species seems sometimes to make a
wrong departure and to produce forms unfitted for survival, so
the Greek architect sometimes violated the fitnesses of things
and took a step which was not followed up. For instance, in the
archaic temple of Artemis at Ephesus the lower drums of the
columns were adorned with reliefs representing human beings of
about the size of life. This variation may probably have
arisen from the early custom of surrounding the pillars of
temples when they were made of wood with a coating of bronze
plates; and as these plates did not bear any actual strain, there