DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0183
CHAP. X
DRESS AND DRAPERY
163
nish a wonderful instance to show how worthily the Ionian
dress may be used; the massive beauty of the forms is scarcely
more than toned down by the extremely beautiful lines and
folds of the dress: body and dress are combined into an unity.
In the fourth century variety in dress is constantly increasing;
and the growing mastery of sculptors finds continually new
adaptations. We see these in the sculpture of the Mausoleum
as well as anywhere. In the noble figures of Mausolus and his
wife Artemisia we have examples of the Ionic dress used in a
wonderfully dignified way; no statues could be more stately
or more commemorative; naturally in such figures the artist
does not go out of his way in search of sensuous effects. But
this can hardly be said of the sculptor of the Amazon frieze,
who tries many experiments with the scanty Doric chitons of
the woman combatants, whose underlying femininity he can-
not forget. (See Fig. 28.)
In such works as the basis of Praxiteles from Mantinea,
where the Muses are portrayed, or in the mourning women of
the sarcophagus of Constantinople, we perceive to what a num-
ber of beautiful schemes of dress the two simple garments of the
Greek lady can be adapted. No two figures are altogether
alike; and it would be hard indeed to award among them the
palm of beauty. Still greater variety exists among the delight-
ful terra-cotta statuettes from Tanagra and other places; and
in their case the beauty of form is enhanced by the bright col-
ouring of the garments.
But Greek representation of dress, no less than Greek archi-
tecture, has the defects of its qualities. In the fourth century
we find the beginnings of a tendency to dwell upon the beauty
of the lines of dress for their own sake, and not merely because
they enhance the beauty of the person to whom the dress be-
longs as a whole. Even in the exquisite figure of Victory fasten-
ing her sandal, from the balustrade of the temple of Nike at
Athens, one may trace something of this tendency; the folds
DRESS AND DRAPERY
163
nish a wonderful instance to show how worthily the Ionian
dress may be used; the massive beauty of the forms is scarcely
more than toned down by the extremely beautiful lines and
folds of the dress: body and dress are combined into an unity.
In the fourth century variety in dress is constantly increasing;
and the growing mastery of sculptors finds continually new
adaptations. We see these in the sculpture of the Mausoleum
as well as anywhere. In the noble figures of Mausolus and his
wife Artemisia we have examples of the Ionic dress used in a
wonderfully dignified way; no statues could be more stately
or more commemorative; naturally in such figures the artist
does not go out of his way in search of sensuous effects. But
this can hardly be said of the sculptor of the Amazon frieze,
who tries many experiments with the scanty Doric chitons of
the woman combatants, whose underlying femininity he can-
not forget. (See Fig. 28.)
In such works as the basis of Praxiteles from Mantinea,
where the Muses are portrayed, or in the mourning women of
the sarcophagus of Constantinople, we perceive to what a num-
ber of beautiful schemes of dress the two simple garments of the
Greek lady can be adapted. No two figures are altogether
alike; and it would be hard indeed to award among them the
palm of beauty. Still greater variety exists among the delight-
ful terra-cotta statuettes from Tanagra and other places; and
in their case the beauty of form is enhanced by the bright col-
ouring of the garments.
But Greek representation of dress, no less than Greek archi-
tecture, has the defects of its qualities. In the fourth century
we find the beginnings of a tendency to dwell upon the beauty
of the lines of dress for their own sake, and not merely because
they enhance the beauty of the person to whom the dress be-
longs as a whole. Even in the exquisite figure of Victory fasten-
ing her sandal, from the balustrade of the temple of Nike at
Athens, one may trace something of this tendency; the folds