DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0195
xr
PORTRAIT SCULPTURE
175
Lucian came to speak of him in this way. Demetrius was
exactly contemporary with Antisthenes; and it has been sug-
gested by Dr. Arndt that in the portrait of Antisthenes we may
have one of the realistic works of Demetrius. The head bears
the name of Antisthenes in its inscription; it has the appear-
ance of being a fine and faithful portrait, and it possesses the
two features that its original comes from the age of Demetrius,
and that it is notably naturalistic in detail. It is, however,
reasonable to think that the excessive elaboration of the skin
is due really to a copyist of the Hellenistic age, and not to the
contemporary sculptor.
We may cite two portraits as well embodying the idealism
of the fourth century. The first is the well-known full-length
statue of Sophocles in the Lateran, the original of which was
probably set up in the Theatre at Athens in the time of Lycurgus,
about b.c. 325, when bronze statues of the great dramatists
were made to adorn the auditorium. There could scarcely
be a better comment on the plays of Sophocles than this
statue, which, in the language of Carlyle, "gives us a can-
dle to read them by." It portrays not only the face of the
man, but his elegant dress and his gentlemanly bearing.
But the representation is of Sophocles as mirrored in the
friendly minds of his admirers. It is eminently characteristic
of a poet noted rather for flawless excellence than for flashes of
inspiration.
But the most remarkable of the types of the fourth century
is that of Alexander the Great. Few men in the history of the
world have made a deeper impression upon it. Even to his
contemporaries he seemed a god rather than a man, and the
results of his campaigns in Asia lasted until Asia was overrun
by the Mohammedans. His influence on art was immense.
Every great artist of the time endeavoured to portray his
features, as Plutarch tells us. There is at Munich a remarkable
portrait of Alexander (Fig. 47) as a youth, which is conjectured
PORTRAIT SCULPTURE
175
Lucian came to speak of him in this way. Demetrius was
exactly contemporary with Antisthenes; and it has been sug-
gested by Dr. Arndt that in the portrait of Antisthenes we may
have one of the realistic works of Demetrius. The head bears
the name of Antisthenes in its inscription; it has the appear-
ance of being a fine and faithful portrait, and it possesses the
two features that its original comes from the age of Demetrius,
and that it is notably naturalistic in detail. It is, however,
reasonable to think that the excessive elaboration of the skin
is due really to a copyist of the Hellenistic age, and not to the
contemporary sculptor.
We may cite two portraits as well embodying the idealism
of the fourth century. The first is the well-known full-length
statue of Sophocles in the Lateran, the original of which was
probably set up in the Theatre at Athens in the time of Lycurgus,
about b.c. 325, when bronze statues of the great dramatists
were made to adorn the auditorium. There could scarcely
be a better comment on the plays of Sophocles than this
statue, which, in the language of Carlyle, "gives us a can-
dle to read them by." It portrays not only the face of the
man, but his elegant dress and his gentlemanly bearing.
But the representation is of Sophocles as mirrored in the
friendly minds of his admirers. It is eminently characteristic
of a poet noted rather for flawless excellence than for flashes of
inspiration.
But the most remarkable of the types of the fourth century
is that of Alexander the Great. Few men in the history of the
world have made a deeper impression upon it. Even to his
contemporaries he seemed a god rather than a man, and the
results of his campaigns in Asia lasted until Asia was overrun
by the Mohammedans. His influence on art was immense.
Every great artist of the time endeavoured to portray his
features, as Plutarch tells us. There is at Munich a remarkable
portrait of Alexander (Fig. 47) as a youth, which is conjectured