DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.870#0043
33
THE ILYSSUS.
Plate 6. No. 70.
This beautiful recumbent statue represents the personification of a small stream that ran along
the south side of the plain of Athens.
It was placed on the left angle of the west pediment of the Parthenon. Its fidelity to nature is
equally conspicuous as in the Theseus, and the anatomical skill of the artist is manifested in an
extraordinary degree in the correct distinction observed between the muscles that are in action
and those that are in a quiescent stale.
On the upper surface of the body the line is simple and flaccid, changing its form only in
compliance with the bones of the pelvis. In the under surface the oblique muscles of the abdomen
appear perfectly pliant and pendulous, as well as the muscles of that thigh which is uppermost, and
the modulation of the knee of the lower thigh is such as to baffle all attempts at panegyric. The
division of the chest from the abdomen is most admirably described, and the partial protuberance of
the surface on the lower side clearly points out the seat of the stomach, which, in consequence of
the position of the body, is pressing against that particular part. The composition of this figure
alone is sufficient to refute the idea that the Greeks did not study anatomy, for the mere observance
of the surface of the naked figure would never have imparted that skill which is so manifest in this
admirable production.
THE ILYSSUS.
Plate 6. No. 70.
This beautiful recumbent statue represents the personification of a small stream that ran along
the south side of the plain of Athens.
It was placed on the left angle of the west pediment of the Parthenon. Its fidelity to nature is
equally conspicuous as in the Theseus, and the anatomical skill of the artist is manifested in an
extraordinary degree in the correct distinction observed between the muscles that are in action
and those that are in a quiescent stale.
On the upper surface of the body the line is simple and flaccid, changing its form only in
compliance with the bones of the pelvis. In the under surface the oblique muscles of the abdomen
appear perfectly pliant and pendulous, as well as the muscles of that thigh which is uppermost, and
the modulation of the knee of the lower thigh is such as to baffle all attempts at panegyric. The
division of the chest from the abdomen is most admirably described, and the partial protuberance of
the surface on the lower side clearly points out the seat of the stomach, which, in consequence of
the position of the body, is pressing against that particular part. The composition of this figure
alone is sufficient to refute the idea that the Greeks did not study anatomy, for the mere observance
of the surface of the naked figure would never have imparted that skill which is so manifest in this
admirable production.