DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0277
244
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
conceal the sharp muscular outlines, and impart to the skin an easy and grace-
ful flow. Throughout these forms only what is essential is represented. The
casual appearances of nature, as well as the life bursting from within, is left
unexpressed. The muscles seem to drive the machinery of the human frame,
but fail to link the members so as to suggest lifelike motion. The warriors
fight like recruits on the drilling-ground, not like trained veterans on the battle-
field ; and their arrows and lances we are sure can never fly to reach the enemy.
But the stern system of sharply defined plastic forms offered us by the ^Egine-
tan sculptors can only be the result of thoughtful, painstaking study, and long-
continued method. And so these men appear, not as experimenting each in
vague and erratic individual endeavors, but as developing sure artistic princi-
ples to become one of the priceless heirlooms of Greek sculpture.
Fig. 7 79. A Fallen Warrior from the East Pediment of the Temple of Athena on /Egina. Munich.
Of the sculptures of the east pediment, at the opposite end of the temple,
five figures only were tolerably preserved; but from these and other fragments
we may see, that, with very minor deviations, the composition was the same as
in the pediment already described. But the execution of the individual statues,
which are on a larger scale, is far superior. Here, also, Athena was the cen-
tral figure, clad in the same quaint and bound drapery; but over her extended
left arm and hand was caught up the fear-inspiring cegis, as though to be used
as a weapon. In her right hand a lance was brandished, and her whole move-
ment was more aggressive than that of the quiet Athena of the eastern
pediment. At her feet was, as in the eastern group, a fallen warrior, who,
however, lay on his back, not sinking in death as there, but feebly defending
himself from the enemy about his head. That he wore more armor than the
corresponding fallen figure in the other group, appears from his greaves, which
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
conceal the sharp muscular outlines, and impart to the skin an easy and grace-
ful flow. Throughout these forms only what is essential is represented. The
casual appearances of nature, as well as the life bursting from within, is left
unexpressed. The muscles seem to drive the machinery of the human frame,
but fail to link the members so as to suggest lifelike motion. The warriors
fight like recruits on the drilling-ground, not like trained veterans on the battle-
field ; and their arrows and lances we are sure can never fly to reach the enemy.
But the stern system of sharply defined plastic forms offered us by the ^Egine-
tan sculptors can only be the result of thoughtful, painstaking study, and long-
continued method. And so these men appear, not as experimenting each in
vague and erratic individual endeavors, but as developing sure artistic princi-
ples to become one of the priceless heirlooms of Greek sculpture.
Fig. 7 79. A Fallen Warrior from the East Pediment of the Temple of Athena on /Egina. Munich.
Of the sculptures of the east pediment, at the opposite end of the temple,
five figures only were tolerably preserved; but from these and other fragments
we may see, that, with very minor deviations, the composition was the same as
in the pediment already described. But the execution of the individual statues,
which are on a larger scale, is far superior. Here, also, Athena was the cen-
tral figure, clad in the same quaint and bound drapery; but over her extended
left arm and hand was caught up the fear-inspiring cegis, as though to be used
as a weapon. In her right hand a lance was brandished, and her whole move-
ment was more aggressive than that of the quiet Athena of the eastern
pediment. At her feet was, as in the eastern group, a fallen warrior, who,
however, lay on his back, not sinking in death as there, but feebly defending
himself from the enemy about his head. That he wore more armor than the
corresponding fallen figure in the other group, appears from his greaves, which