DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0226
206
PRINCIPLES OF GREEK ART
CHAP.
As regards composition, our information is very defective.
We have no descriptions of great works by Parrhasius or Apel-
les in Pausanias, and the descriptions of paintings left us by
such authors as Philostratus and writers of the Anthology
have very little value. The greatest pictures of later Greece,
such as the Helen of Zeuxis, the Theseus of Euphranor, the
Demos of Parrhasius, the Alexander of Apelles, were single
figures. It has been suggested that the well-known Pompeian
painting which represents the sacrifice of Iphigeneia 1 is derived
from a painting of much earlier time. Dr. Helbig observes
in regard to it:2 " The composition is regulated according
to the rules of early and strict symmetry: around the central
group" (which consists of Iphigeneia herself borne by two
Greeks) "we find corresponding to one another, below, the
figures of Calchas and Agamemnon; above, Artemis and a
nymph. Any crossing of the lines of the figures is as far as
possible avoided, so that but little modification would be
needed before translating the group into relief. The figures
who hold Iphigeneia are represented on a smaller scale than
Calchas and Agamemnon, according to the ideal principle of
early art, which expresses the importance of various figures by
their dimensions. In the garments of the king, Calchas, and
the supposed Diomedes, we see clearly the old style of treat-
ment of folds." It has been suggested that this picture may
go back to a work of Timanthes, who is said to have painted
the subject, and to have represented Agamemnon (as here)
with face veiled to hide his grief. But if Helbig's criticism is
correct, as I hold it to be, it would point to an earlier stage of
art than the time of Timanthes, who was a fourth-century
artist.
One of the most striking of all ancient pictures is the Pom-
1 Museo Borbonico, IV., 3. This engraving, which is stylistically quite
worthless, is repeated by Baumeister and Roscher s.v. Iphigeneia.
1 Wandegemalde Campaniens, p. 283.
PRINCIPLES OF GREEK ART
CHAP.
As regards composition, our information is very defective.
We have no descriptions of great works by Parrhasius or Apel-
les in Pausanias, and the descriptions of paintings left us by
such authors as Philostratus and writers of the Anthology
have very little value. The greatest pictures of later Greece,
such as the Helen of Zeuxis, the Theseus of Euphranor, the
Demos of Parrhasius, the Alexander of Apelles, were single
figures. It has been suggested that the well-known Pompeian
painting which represents the sacrifice of Iphigeneia 1 is derived
from a painting of much earlier time. Dr. Helbig observes
in regard to it:2 " The composition is regulated according
to the rules of early and strict symmetry: around the central
group" (which consists of Iphigeneia herself borne by two
Greeks) "we find corresponding to one another, below, the
figures of Calchas and Agamemnon; above, Artemis and a
nymph. Any crossing of the lines of the figures is as far as
possible avoided, so that but little modification would be
needed before translating the group into relief. The figures
who hold Iphigeneia are represented on a smaller scale than
Calchas and Agamemnon, according to the ideal principle of
early art, which expresses the importance of various figures by
their dimensions. In the garments of the king, Calchas, and
the supposed Diomedes, we see clearly the old style of treat-
ment of folds." It has been suggested that this picture may
go back to a work of Timanthes, who is said to have painted
the subject, and to have represented Agamemnon (as here)
with face veiled to hide his grief. But if Helbig's criticism is
correct, as I hold it to be, it would point to an earlier stage of
art than the time of Timanthes, who was a fourth-century
artist.
One of the most striking of all ancient pictures is the Pom-
1 Museo Borbonico, IV., 3. This engraving, which is stylistically quite
worthless, is repeated by Baumeister and Roscher s.v. Iphigeneia.
1 Wandegemalde Campaniens, p. 283.