DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.870#0041
31
The Torso, the perfection of which it would have been heresy but a short time ago to have
doubted, is a compound of manner, anatomical error and bombast. The thighs, which are of an
overcharged and unnatural form, are stuck on to the body without the appearance of any joint
whatever, and in contradistinction to that receding action of the head of the thigh bone so beautifully
and correctly described in the Theseus, they appear to expand at the hips instead of being confined
within the joints, and hence the distance between their inner surfaces is so great as to be in direct
opposition to the truth of nature. The weight of a body naturally flattens the seat when in a sitting
posture, but this figure seems as if seated on two round balls, which form cannot occur in the glutsei
muscles when they are pressed upon by the weight above them. The right thigh is so unnaturally
curved as to have the appearance of the bone being broken, and the inferior surface is loaded with
and the Laocoon;" replied, "infinitely superior to the Apollo Bclvidcre." And a little further he observed, in answer to a question
respecting the comparative merit of the Theseus with the Ilyssus, that " the back of the Theseus was the finest thing in the world, and that
the anatomical skill displayed in the front of the Ilyssus was not surpassed by any work of art."
On the same occasion, Sir Thomas Lawrence stated that " lie thought the Elgin Marbles were of a higher class than the Apollo
Belvidere, because he considered that there was in them an union of fine composition and very grand form, with a more true and natural
expression of the eject of action upon the human frame, than there is in t/ie dpollo, or in any other of the most celebrated statues." And in
another part of his evidence, in confirmation of his opinion that " tlie truth and imitation of nature added to their value," he observes,
"there is in them that variety which is produced in the human form, by the alternate action and repose of muscles, that strikes one
particularly. I have myself (he continues) a good collection of the best casts from the antique statues, and was struck with that difference
in them on returning from the Elgin Marbles to my own house." Such were the opinions of those gentlemen, and it is but justice to them
to take the present opportunity of observing that they discharged their duty with a proper feeling for the true interests of their profession,
disdaining any unworthy subserviency to modern dogmas, or antiquarian fastidiousness.
The Torso, the perfection of which it would have been heresy but a short time ago to have
doubted, is a compound of manner, anatomical error and bombast. The thighs, which are of an
overcharged and unnatural form, are stuck on to the body without the appearance of any joint
whatever, and in contradistinction to that receding action of the head of the thigh bone so beautifully
and correctly described in the Theseus, they appear to expand at the hips instead of being confined
within the joints, and hence the distance between their inner surfaces is so great as to be in direct
opposition to the truth of nature. The weight of a body naturally flattens the seat when in a sitting
posture, but this figure seems as if seated on two round balls, which form cannot occur in the glutsei
muscles when they are pressed upon by the weight above them. The right thigh is so unnaturally
curved as to have the appearance of the bone being broken, and the inferior surface is loaded with
and the Laocoon;" replied, "infinitely superior to the Apollo Bclvidcre." And a little further he observed, in answer to a question
respecting the comparative merit of the Theseus with the Ilyssus, that " the back of the Theseus was the finest thing in the world, and that
the anatomical skill displayed in the front of the Ilyssus was not surpassed by any work of art."
On the same occasion, Sir Thomas Lawrence stated that " lie thought the Elgin Marbles were of a higher class than the Apollo
Belvidere, because he considered that there was in them an union of fine composition and very grand form, with a more true and natural
expression of the eject of action upon the human frame, than there is in t/ie dpollo, or in any other of the most celebrated statues." And in
another part of his evidence, in confirmation of his opinion that " tlie truth and imitation of nature added to their value," he observes,
"there is in them that variety which is produced in the human form, by the alternate action and repose of muscles, that strikes one
particularly. I have myself (he continues) a good collection of the best casts from the antique statues, and was struck with that difference
in them on returning from the Elgin Marbles to my own house." Such were the opinions of those gentlemen, and it is but justice to them
to take the present opportunity of observing that they discharged their duty with a proper feeling for the true interests of their profession,
disdaining any unworthy subserviency to modern dogmas, or antiquarian fastidiousness.