DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61301#0341
THE ALTAR OF EUMENES AT PERG AMOS. 303
that the group is successful. Careful symmetry is com-
bined with abundant variety. The figure of Athene
herself, swaying in swift movement to the right, probably
balanced the figure of Zeus in another corresponding
group swaying to the left. Within the limits of this
one Athene group, it is however abundantly balanced
by the figures of the giant to the one hand, and Nike to
the other. The gap between Athene and Nike is very
happily filled by the rising head and shoulders of GE.
The contrast of the nude giant and the heavily draped
Athene is pleasant, and his ample wings are answered
by the wings of Nike. The giant has four wings. It is
impossible to forget the old phantastic pattern of the
four-winged Assyrian demons. In these last days of
Greek art the fatal principle of phantastic expression is
returning ; the artist is not content to idealize, he must
goad and stimulate a jaded taste by this phantastic
sensationalism. The phantastic method is not here a
confession of technical weakness ; the artist does not give
to the giant four wings because he is unable to express
otherwise the notion of strength and swiftness ; rather it
is the utterance of satiety, the restless craving after the
stimulus of a new sensation. Phantastic, impossible forms
abound throughout the frieze, confined always to the
giant figures. The bodies of many of the giants end in
serpent coils ; some have the neck and ears of a buffalo,
others finny wings, others the head and claws of a lion.
that the group is successful. Careful symmetry is com-
bined with abundant variety. The figure of Athene
herself, swaying in swift movement to the right, probably
balanced the figure of Zeus in another corresponding
group swaying to the left. Within the limits of this
one Athene group, it is however abundantly balanced
by the figures of the giant to the one hand, and Nike to
the other. The gap between Athene and Nike is very
happily filled by the rising head and shoulders of GE.
The contrast of the nude giant and the heavily draped
Athene is pleasant, and his ample wings are answered
by the wings of Nike. The giant has four wings. It is
impossible to forget the old phantastic pattern of the
four-winged Assyrian demons. In these last days of
Greek art the fatal principle of phantastic expression is
returning ; the artist is not content to idealize, he must
goad and stimulate a jaded taste by this phantastic
sensationalism. The phantastic method is not here a
confession of technical weakness ; the artist does not give
to the giant four wings because he is unable to express
otherwise the notion of strength and swiftness ; rather it
is the utterance of satiety, the restless craving after the
stimulus of a new sensation. Phantastic, impossible forms
abound throughout the frieze, confined always to the
giant figures. The bodies of many of the giants end in
serpent coils ; some have the neck and ears of a buffalo,
others finny wings, others the head and claws of a lion.