DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0349
o
16 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
are tempted to do, many of the later statues, such as the Minerva Giustiniani
in the Vatican, executed in Roman times, when the style and spirit of art were
diametrically opposed to the severe and unpretending simplicity and grace of
the Pheidian age in Athens.
Of the goddess Aphrodite, Pheidias executed three statues. One, an
Aphrodite Urania, in gold and ivory, was in Elis, and rested her foot on a turtle,
the symbol of woman's domestic seclusion.594 Of the two others, we only
know that an Aphrodite Urania, in Parian marble, stood in Athens, not far from
the Kerameicos; and that another, in marble, said to have been of great
beauty, was taken to Rome. 595 Of the gods besides Zeus, Pheidias is known
to have represented Apollo in a bronze, as the warder-off of locusts {Parnopios),
which was on the Acropolis ; as well as a Hermes in marble, at the entrance of
a temple in Thebes, and, consequently, called Pronaos.596
These creations of Pheidias, with the exception of the Miltiades of the
Delphic group, all of them belong to the realms of religion and myth. One
statue of a priestess with a temple-key (cleiditc/ios), and one of a bronze athlete
(not Pantarkes) at Olympia, putting on the fillet of victory, are the only sub-
jects we know of from a sphere nearer life.59?
In Roman times many other works were attributed to him, just as at present
pictures are fictitiously ascribed to such masters as Raphael, Titian, Michel
Angelo, or Correggio. Among the works thus falsely ascribed to Pheidias,
is one of the Horse-tamers, on the Monte Cavallo in Rome, from Constan
tine's time, or even later, but bearing on its pedestal the inscription, Opus
P/iidi(F. Its general character, and the style of the armor, mark it as a Roman
work, based, doubtless, on some Greek original 59s
Pheidias, like other ancient masters, is reputed to have been skilful also
in enchasing works of minute size, among which are mentioned, but with
how much truth is uncertain, a bee and a fly. Pliny ascribes to him skill in
painting.599 The great variety of Pheidias' subjects and technique must lead to
an exalted opinion of the versatility of his powers. Thus, a master in minia-
ture chasing, he also executed colossal chryselephantine statues, in themselves
architectural achievements: he cast in bronze, carved in marble, and worked in
wood, ivory, and gold. The latter materials seem to have been his preference,
as better adapted to express his subjects, which were not the skilled athletes
of Myron and Pythagoras, nor the fleet steeds, and forms of delicate feminine
grace, in which Calamis excelled. His themes were, as we have seen, the gods
themselves, and these not the minor gentler deities of Olympos, but Zeus and
Athena, the sublimest ideals of the Greek religion. He placed in the temples
of the Greeks higher conceptions of their supreme gods than had ever before
met the gaze of the devout, being thus an ideal sculptor in the loftiest sense.600
But Pheidias must only too soon have suffered the penalty of his friendship
to Pericles, whose enemies were gaining in power. Immediately upon the dedi-
16 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
are tempted to do, many of the later statues, such as the Minerva Giustiniani
in the Vatican, executed in Roman times, when the style and spirit of art were
diametrically opposed to the severe and unpretending simplicity and grace of
the Pheidian age in Athens.
Of the goddess Aphrodite, Pheidias executed three statues. One, an
Aphrodite Urania, in gold and ivory, was in Elis, and rested her foot on a turtle,
the symbol of woman's domestic seclusion.594 Of the two others, we only
know that an Aphrodite Urania, in Parian marble, stood in Athens, not far from
the Kerameicos; and that another, in marble, said to have been of great
beauty, was taken to Rome. 595 Of the gods besides Zeus, Pheidias is known
to have represented Apollo in a bronze, as the warder-off of locusts {Parnopios),
which was on the Acropolis ; as well as a Hermes in marble, at the entrance of
a temple in Thebes, and, consequently, called Pronaos.596
These creations of Pheidias, with the exception of the Miltiades of the
Delphic group, all of them belong to the realms of religion and myth. One
statue of a priestess with a temple-key (cleiditc/ios), and one of a bronze athlete
(not Pantarkes) at Olympia, putting on the fillet of victory, are the only sub-
jects we know of from a sphere nearer life.59?
In Roman times many other works were attributed to him, just as at present
pictures are fictitiously ascribed to such masters as Raphael, Titian, Michel
Angelo, or Correggio. Among the works thus falsely ascribed to Pheidias,
is one of the Horse-tamers, on the Monte Cavallo in Rome, from Constan
tine's time, or even later, but bearing on its pedestal the inscription, Opus
P/iidi(F. Its general character, and the style of the armor, mark it as a Roman
work, based, doubtless, on some Greek original 59s
Pheidias, like other ancient masters, is reputed to have been skilful also
in enchasing works of minute size, among which are mentioned, but with
how much truth is uncertain, a bee and a fly. Pliny ascribes to him skill in
painting.599 The great variety of Pheidias' subjects and technique must lead to
an exalted opinion of the versatility of his powers. Thus, a master in minia-
ture chasing, he also executed colossal chryselephantine statues, in themselves
architectural achievements: he cast in bronze, carved in marble, and worked in
wood, ivory, and gold. The latter materials seem to have been his preference,
as better adapted to express his subjects, which were not the skilled athletes
of Myron and Pythagoras, nor the fleet steeds, and forms of delicate feminine
grace, in which Calamis excelled. His themes were, as we have seen, the gods
themselves, and these not the minor gentler deities of Olympos, but Zeus and
Athena, the sublimest ideals of the Greek religion. He placed in the temples
of the Greeks higher conceptions of their supreme gods than had ever before
met the gaze of the devout, being thus an ideal sculptor in the loftiest sense.600
But Pheidias must only too soon have suffered the penalty of his friendship
to Pericles, whose enemies were gaining in power. Immediately upon the dedi-