DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0252
ANCIENT PORTRAIT HEAD. 219
the profile, the delicate moulding of the chin and cheek, which mark Attic
heads in the round, in the fifth century, as distinguished from those of the
Argive school, were due to the practice and feeling developed in first repre-
senting the profile of the face in relief. The Argive school, on the other
hand, developing exclusively statuary, seems to have worked more from the
front view, and thus came to emphasize the chin too strongly for beauty of
profiled
Opposite to Attica lies the large island of ^Egina, which Pindar describes
as a great seat of commerce, a heaven-set pillar for strangers of every clime.
Here, there is reason to believe, was also a flourishing art in this sixth century.
Tradition gives us the name of Smilis as one of its oldest sculptors, who exe-
cuted a Hera for her great temple at Samos, as well as the Hours for the
Temple of Hera at 01ympia.369 Of the Hera we may perhaps form a faint,
although not very favorable, idea, from figures of the goddess on ancient coins
of Samos, in which the extended arms seem to rest on supports, and the body
appears no better than a covered log.37° Of works which can be assigned to
the sixth century, purporting to come from ^Egina, there are very few. One
of these, a marble head owned by M. Saburoff, is worthy of notice as a witness
to the attempts at portraiture made by the art of this olden time.37' This
head has very short hair and beard, and a carefully finished, fuzzy mustache.
The corners of the mouth have a friendly expression, and are well executed.
This care is seen also even in such details as the glands in the inner corners of
the eyes. Around the forehead the hair is represented with all the irregular-
ities of nature. The softness of the flesh is given admirably in the highly
finished cheeks, almost shining with their fine polish. But the protruding
eyes, and the ears adhering to the head, show the necessity of improvement
before the celebrated y£gina marbles in Munich could be produced.
Although no excavations have as yet been made at Chalkis or Eretria, very
ancient colonies of the Ionians, and most important centres of trade during the
sixth century, still it is possible, from the analogy of vases and inscriptions,
that thence were exported to Italy very many of the bronzes which have, hith-
erto, been called Etruscan.372 Such are probably the horse-eared and horse-
hoofed satyrs, which are found in different places.373
Having mustered the characteristic specimens of very archaic sculptures
in Greece and its adjoining lands, we may turn to its colonies in Sicily and
Southern Italy. But one sculptor, Clearchos from Rhegion, who seems to have
been a scholar of Dipoinos and Skyllis, is mentioned from this remoter part
of the Greek world ; but of the works of this master we know almost nothing.374
Temple sculptures have, however, been preserved to us from the old colony
of Selinus in Sicily, and are now in Palermo. The ruins of three temples
are still to be seen in ancient Selinus, which was founded by Doric colo-
nists from Megara in Sicily, a town which had itself been founded by Doric
the profile, the delicate moulding of the chin and cheek, which mark Attic
heads in the round, in the fifth century, as distinguished from those of the
Argive school, were due to the practice and feeling developed in first repre-
senting the profile of the face in relief. The Argive school, on the other
hand, developing exclusively statuary, seems to have worked more from the
front view, and thus came to emphasize the chin too strongly for beauty of
profiled
Opposite to Attica lies the large island of ^Egina, which Pindar describes
as a great seat of commerce, a heaven-set pillar for strangers of every clime.
Here, there is reason to believe, was also a flourishing art in this sixth century.
Tradition gives us the name of Smilis as one of its oldest sculptors, who exe-
cuted a Hera for her great temple at Samos, as well as the Hours for the
Temple of Hera at 01ympia.369 Of the Hera we may perhaps form a faint,
although not very favorable, idea, from figures of the goddess on ancient coins
of Samos, in which the extended arms seem to rest on supports, and the body
appears no better than a covered log.37° Of works which can be assigned to
the sixth century, purporting to come from ^Egina, there are very few. One
of these, a marble head owned by M. Saburoff, is worthy of notice as a witness
to the attempts at portraiture made by the art of this olden time.37' This
head has very short hair and beard, and a carefully finished, fuzzy mustache.
The corners of the mouth have a friendly expression, and are well executed.
This care is seen also even in such details as the glands in the inner corners of
the eyes. Around the forehead the hair is represented with all the irregular-
ities of nature. The softness of the flesh is given admirably in the highly
finished cheeks, almost shining with their fine polish. But the protruding
eyes, and the ears adhering to the head, show the necessity of improvement
before the celebrated y£gina marbles in Munich could be produced.
Although no excavations have as yet been made at Chalkis or Eretria, very
ancient colonies of the Ionians, and most important centres of trade during the
sixth century, still it is possible, from the analogy of vases and inscriptions,
that thence were exported to Italy very many of the bronzes which have, hith-
erto, been called Etruscan.372 Such are probably the horse-eared and horse-
hoofed satyrs, which are found in different places.373
Having mustered the characteristic specimens of very archaic sculptures
in Greece and its adjoining lands, we may turn to its colonies in Sicily and
Southern Italy. But one sculptor, Clearchos from Rhegion, who seems to have
been a scholar of Dipoinos and Skyllis, is mentioned from this remoter part
of the Greek world ; but of the works of this master we know almost nothing.374
Temple sculptures have, however, been preserved to us from the old colony
of Selinus in Sicily, and are now in Palermo. The ruins of three temples
are still to be seen in ancient Selinus, which was founded by Doric colo-
nists from Megara in Sicily, a town which had itself been founded by Doric