DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0097
V
FORMATION OF ARTISTIC TYPES
77
to remove any obvious weakness and would avoid any habits
which might in the result expose them to ridicule. What
a chance the sculptor would have, when he could daily watch
beautiful young bodies in every pose of strain and conflict!
And the constant use of oil would preserve a beautiful and
glossy skin.
—The Greek sculptor or painter, who spent a great part of his
day in watching the exercises of men, in seeing the most per-
fectly made of the youths in every pose of running, discus-
throwing, or wrestling, would start with such a knowledge of
the human frame as a modern artist can scarcely acquire. The
modern sculptor, no doubt, knows more of anatomy than the
Greek could acquire in the great age of ideal sculpture. But
sculpture has to do with the surface, with what the eye can
see; and a knowledge of the interior of the human frame car-
ried to great detail may serve as much to mislead as to help.
Greek statues in the Hellenistic Age show a knowledge of anat-
omy which is very exact; but no good judge regards them as
on the whole preferable to the masterpieces of early art.
But the Greek artist was not content to reproduce the ath-
lete of every day. He studied many forms, and tried by
taking what was best in each to form an ideal. Or rather,
he tried to form several ideals. For though strength and
beauty of outline are marks of all fine athletes, it is evident
that various kinds of exercise would produce varieties. The
boxer would be of heavier build; the runner lighter and more
supple. Most fully developed of all would be the pentathlos,
the man who tried to excel in the five exercises of running,
throwing the spear, hurling the discus, leaping and wrestling.
Such men, as we know, were regarded as the flower of Greek
athletes, and it was they whom the sculptors most closely
copied.1
1 This is how I render the statement of Pliny that the athletes who were
thrice victorious were more closely copied in their statues (Nat. Hist., 34, 1G).
The pentathlos who won in three of the above five contests took the prize.
FORMATION OF ARTISTIC TYPES
77
to remove any obvious weakness and would avoid any habits
which might in the result expose them to ridicule. What
a chance the sculptor would have, when he could daily watch
beautiful young bodies in every pose of strain and conflict!
And the constant use of oil would preserve a beautiful and
glossy skin.
—The Greek sculptor or painter, who spent a great part of his
day in watching the exercises of men, in seeing the most per-
fectly made of the youths in every pose of running, discus-
throwing, or wrestling, would start with such a knowledge of
the human frame as a modern artist can scarcely acquire. The
modern sculptor, no doubt, knows more of anatomy than the
Greek could acquire in the great age of ideal sculpture. But
sculpture has to do with the surface, with what the eye can
see; and a knowledge of the interior of the human frame car-
ried to great detail may serve as much to mislead as to help.
Greek statues in the Hellenistic Age show a knowledge of anat-
omy which is very exact; but no good judge regards them as
on the whole preferable to the masterpieces of early art.
But the Greek artist was not content to reproduce the ath-
lete of every day. He studied many forms, and tried by
taking what was best in each to form an ideal. Or rather,
he tried to form several ideals. For though strength and
beauty of outline are marks of all fine athletes, it is evident
that various kinds of exercise would produce varieties. The
boxer would be of heavier build; the runner lighter and more
supple. Most fully developed of all would be the pentathlos,
the man who tried to excel in the five exercises of running,
throwing the spear, hurling the discus, leaping and wrestling.
Such men, as we know, were regarded as the flower of Greek
athletes, and it was they whom the sculptors most closely
copied.1
1 This is how I render the statement of Pliny that the athletes who were
thrice victorious were more closely copied in their statues (Nat. Hist., 34, 1G).
The pentathlos who won in three of the above five contests took the prize.