DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0296
EAST-PEDIMENT SCULPTURES, OLYMPIA.
263
ments. It will doubtless appear, when they are restored in the full size of
the originals, that the same severe harmony, varied by slightest changes, will
be preserved. The simple, unostentatious way in which this story is told,
shows us that the sculptors did not here seek complicated and intricate combi-
nations : and yet, in this stately central row, the old archaic forms are strug-
gling up to greater freedom ; and there is clearly an advance upon the prim,
stiffly isolated Athena of the ^Sgina pediments, who looks out alone upon us
from the throng of struggling warriors.
Much discussion has arisen concerning the placing of the figures immedi-
ately following on each side of this central group, affecting also the figures in
the corners. Curtius, whose
arrangement is followed in
the plate, is guided by the
fact, that directly below the
corner of the pediment, to
the left of Zeus, were found
together the three figures in
the position in which, as he
believes, they must have fall-
en. Treu considers this fact
of the discovery outweighed
by certain technical signs in
some of the statues, and
places them otherwise, with
a more strict correspondence
of one part to the other in
the pose of the individual
figures.465
On the same side of Zeus,
with Oinomaos, in front of
the horses, sits the charioteer, Myrtilos, and, on the other side, the charioteer
of Pelops. These forms fill up the vacant space below the horses' heads ; but
their place and pose are very strange, and it is difficult to imagine how they
thus held the steeds in the strained pose which the old sculptor has found
necessary to give them. Four horses appear on each side ; but, in the laconic
style of ancient art, the chariots are omitted. The pose of these expectant
animals is very quiet, and almost exactly alike : their long, stiff tails in the
marble may awaken a smile. But their forms are marked by a pleasing vigor,
in which is much realism.
Behind the horses, on each side, sits an elderly man. The one on Oino-
maos' side has a furrowed brow, and pensive, foreboding look, and rests his face
on his hand ; a part of the figure being represented in Fig. 125. He has some-
Fig. 125. Detail from East Pediment at Oiympia. The Head of the
Troubled Seer.
263
ments. It will doubtless appear, when they are restored in the full size of
the originals, that the same severe harmony, varied by slightest changes, will
be preserved. The simple, unostentatious way in which this story is told,
shows us that the sculptors did not here seek complicated and intricate combi-
nations : and yet, in this stately central row, the old archaic forms are strug-
gling up to greater freedom ; and there is clearly an advance upon the prim,
stiffly isolated Athena of the ^Sgina pediments, who looks out alone upon us
from the throng of struggling warriors.
Much discussion has arisen concerning the placing of the figures immedi-
ately following on each side of this central group, affecting also the figures in
the corners. Curtius, whose
arrangement is followed in
the plate, is guided by the
fact, that directly below the
corner of the pediment, to
the left of Zeus, were found
together the three figures in
the position in which, as he
believes, they must have fall-
en. Treu considers this fact
of the discovery outweighed
by certain technical signs in
some of the statues, and
places them otherwise, with
a more strict correspondence
of one part to the other in
the pose of the individual
figures.465
On the same side of Zeus,
with Oinomaos, in front of
the horses, sits the charioteer, Myrtilos, and, on the other side, the charioteer
of Pelops. These forms fill up the vacant space below the horses' heads ; but
their place and pose are very strange, and it is difficult to imagine how they
thus held the steeds in the strained pose which the old sculptor has found
necessary to give them. Four horses appear on each side ; but, in the laconic
style of ancient art, the chariots are omitted. The pose of these expectant
animals is very quiet, and almost exactly alike : their long, stiff tails in the
marble may awaken a smile. But their forms are marked by a pleasing vigor,
in which is much realism.
Behind the horses, on each side, sits an elderly man. The one on Oino-
maos' side has a furrowed brow, and pensive, foreboding look, and rests his face
on his hand ; a part of the figure being represented in Fig. 125. He has some-
Fig. 125. Detail from East Pediment at Oiympia. The Head of the
Troubled Seer.