DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0244
2 12 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
pediment : but, in so doing, the early artist has not avoided great disproportion
between the lying, kneeling, and standing forms ; the latter, as in the Temple
of Assos, being amusingly small. In the crowded space, legs and arms cross
one another, doubtless to break in part the iron symmetry followed, but in
reality producing confusion. The movement of the figures is from the centre
outward, giving the impression that the giants flee on each side before the gods.
So unskilfully is this done, however, that even the gods seem to be in danger
of running their heads against the slope of the pediment. Much is left to color,
which is altogether conventional; hair, lips, and eyes alike having a fiery red.
In Boeotia, in the sixth century, archaic art seems to have been striving,
though in a feeble way, to express itself. In the different museums at Thebes,
Tanagra (Skimatari), Thespiai (Eumocastro), and Chaironeia (Capurna), are col-
lected many specimens of sculpture discovered in that state. Others are still
scattered throughout the land, and some have been removed to Athens.
Among the very earliest is the crude statue of a nude youth from Orchomenos,
after the exact scheme of the so-called Apollo's of Tenea and Thera.353 The
primitive artist here seems to attempt, with some independence, a representa-
tion, in rough Boeotian stone, of a pattern received, perhaps, from abroad. His
lack of success appears in the coarse features, and amusing anatomy of the mus-
cles of the abdomen. Another smaller statue, proved to be likewise originally
from Boeotia, and now in the British Museum, is much in advance of it, and,
while much ruined, still shows that a genuine striving to represent truthfully
the human form was attaining good results (Fig. 105). A work in very high
relief, discovered in a necropolis at Tanagra, shows a primitive and poor attempt
to combine two figures of this old type in one group.354 The accompanying in-
scription teaches us, that they represent Dermys and Kitylos ; but such is the
advanced character of the letters, that the sculpture must have been executed
late in the sixth century, and not as early as was at first conjectured from its
shockingly crude and barbarous forms. Compared with a monument of Aga-
thon and Aristocrates at Thespiai, which has the same style of letters, but a
vastly superior art, we see that the Dermys and Kitylos monument is not older
work, but that of men left far behind in the race. The fact that these old,
standing nude figures, with one foot in advance, were used for sepulchres, goes
to strengthen the idea that the Orchomenos and British-Museum statues, fol-
lowing the same type, were also not of gods, but heroed mortals. It seems
equally certain, however, that this very type, sometimes at least, represented
Apollo; since in a Pompeian picture the same figure appears with an altar be-
fore it. Whence this type came, and who the artists that originated it, are
questions that have long awakened inquiry.
With slight differences, the motive is the same in the Orchomenos, British-
Museum, Thera, and Tenea statues, as well as in two from Actium, now in
pediment : but, in so doing, the early artist has not avoided great disproportion
between the lying, kneeling, and standing forms ; the latter, as in the Temple
of Assos, being amusingly small. In the crowded space, legs and arms cross
one another, doubtless to break in part the iron symmetry followed, but in
reality producing confusion. The movement of the figures is from the centre
outward, giving the impression that the giants flee on each side before the gods.
So unskilfully is this done, however, that even the gods seem to be in danger
of running their heads against the slope of the pediment. Much is left to color,
which is altogether conventional; hair, lips, and eyes alike having a fiery red.
In Boeotia, in the sixth century, archaic art seems to have been striving,
though in a feeble way, to express itself. In the different museums at Thebes,
Tanagra (Skimatari), Thespiai (Eumocastro), and Chaironeia (Capurna), are col-
lected many specimens of sculpture discovered in that state. Others are still
scattered throughout the land, and some have been removed to Athens.
Among the very earliest is the crude statue of a nude youth from Orchomenos,
after the exact scheme of the so-called Apollo's of Tenea and Thera.353 The
primitive artist here seems to attempt, with some independence, a representa-
tion, in rough Boeotian stone, of a pattern received, perhaps, from abroad. His
lack of success appears in the coarse features, and amusing anatomy of the mus-
cles of the abdomen. Another smaller statue, proved to be likewise originally
from Boeotia, and now in the British Museum, is much in advance of it, and,
while much ruined, still shows that a genuine striving to represent truthfully
the human form was attaining good results (Fig. 105). A work in very high
relief, discovered in a necropolis at Tanagra, shows a primitive and poor attempt
to combine two figures of this old type in one group.354 The accompanying in-
scription teaches us, that they represent Dermys and Kitylos ; but such is the
advanced character of the letters, that the sculpture must have been executed
late in the sixth century, and not as early as was at first conjectured from its
shockingly crude and barbarous forms. Compared with a monument of Aga-
thon and Aristocrates at Thespiai, which has the same style of letters, but a
vastly superior art, we see that the Dermys and Kitylos monument is not older
work, but that of men left far behind in the race. The fact that these old,
standing nude figures, with one foot in advance, were used for sepulchres, goes
to strengthen the idea that the Orchomenos and British-Museum statues, fol-
lowing the same type, were also not of gods, but heroed mortals. It seems
equally certain, however, that this very type, sometimes at least, represented
Apollo; since in a Pompeian picture the same figure appears with an altar be-
fore it. Whence this type came, and who the artists that originated it, are
questions that have long awakened inquiry.
With slight differences, the motive is the same in the Orchomenos, British-
Museum, Thera, and Tenea statues, as well as in two from Actium, now in