DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0438
404 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
might otherwise have appeared too attenuated as it stood away up on its lofty
pedestal (over six meters high). The movement of the left hand and arm is
determined from the fragments, but that of the right is less sure. Experi-
ments by Herr Griittner, which made her catch the end of her garment with
this hand, showed that such a position would impede the movement of her
wings, and, besides, have hindered the sculptor in working out the back part
of the chiton, which, from the preserved fragments, is seen to have been
labored upon. As the mantle in the restoration sweeps, his chisel could,
without endangering the rest, have reached the hidden parts between it and
the body. In her right hand, which was lowered, but of which no fragments
are preserved, she may have held some symbol. This point alone is doubtful
in the restoration, where she receives the tcsnia, a symbol suitable to be borne
by the goddess of victory. On coins of this and the coming age, Nike bears
most frequently a round wreath, apparently of olive-leaves.773 On one coin
of Elis, however, she carries a long tcenia: very seldom does she bear the
loose olive-bough or palm-branch. 774 Of the head, the back and top alone are
preserved; but these show that her hair was bound about with a tcenia. In
representing her face, the restorer has followed the general type of the most
advanced faces of the Olympia marbles, but made its details more like the
faces of the latter half of the fifth century B.C.
How bold the subject of this statue for marble, which here, disregarding all
physical laws, fairly floats before us ! and how admirably suited the proportions
of the figure for the lofty place it once occupied ! When seen on a level with
the eye, it is unpleasantly long and drawn out, lacking altogether the robust
grace of the Parthenon figures. But when raised on high, as may be seen in
a cast in Berlin, the effect of air and perspective is such, that we forget alto-
gether this impression, and receive one of lithe and airy grace. Could we
imagine the colossal statue as standing on its lofty pedestal, in front of the
pillars of the great temple, and towering up in the midst of the surrounding
green of the sacred grove, then should we be fully able to judge of Paionios'
skill in giving wings to marble, and to participate in the admiration which this
statue aroused in antiquity, as witnessed to by its copies preserved in bronze
and terra-cotta.775
But what are the affinities of this remarkable statue by Paionios, so differ-
ent from every thing of this age transmitted to us from Attica ? A casual
glance might possibly notice in this Nike, with her agitated drapery, a resem-
blance to some of the figures of the Parthenon; but a more careful comparison
will show how vital the difference. In the nude, those matchless sculptures
throb with an inner life which we miss in the Nike. The protruding abdomen
below the tightly drawn girdle unpleasantly suggests the defects, not toned
down, of a living model, but imitated closely with a lack of the nobler taste
evident in the Parthenon figures. The drapery, moreover, is in places con-
might otherwise have appeared too attenuated as it stood away up on its lofty
pedestal (over six meters high). The movement of the left hand and arm is
determined from the fragments, but that of the right is less sure. Experi-
ments by Herr Griittner, which made her catch the end of her garment with
this hand, showed that such a position would impede the movement of her
wings, and, besides, have hindered the sculptor in working out the back part
of the chiton, which, from the preserved fragments, is seen to have been
labored upon. As the mantle in the restoration sweeps, his chisel could,
without endangering the rest, have reached the hidden parts between it and
the body. In her right hand, which was lowered, but of which no fragments
are preserved, she may have held some symbol. This point alone is doubtful
in the restoration, where she receives the tcsnia, a symbol suitable to be borne
by the goddess of victory. On coins of this and the coming age, Nike bears
most frequently a round wreath, apparently of olive-leaves.773 On one coin
of Elis, however, she carries a long tcenia: very seldom does she bear the
loose olive-bough or palm-branch. 774 Of the head, the back and top alone are
preserved; but these show that her hair was bound about with a tcenia. In
representing her face, the restorer has followed the general type of the most
advanced faces of the Olympia marbles, but made its details more like the
faces of the latter half of the fifth century B.C.
How bold the subject of this statue for marble, which here, disregarding all
physical laws, fairly floats before us ! and how admirably suited the proportions
of the figure for the lofty place it once occupied ! When seen on a level with
the eye, it is unpleasantly long and drawn out, lacking altogether the robust
grace of the Parthenon figures. But when raised on high, as may be seen in
a cast in Berlin, the effect of air and perspective is such, that we forget alto-
gether this impression, and receive one of lithe and airy grace. Could we
imagine the colossal statue as standing on its lofty pedestal, in front of the
pillars of the great temple, and towering up in the midst of the surrounding
green of the sacred grove, then should we be fully able to judge of Paionios'
skill in giving wings to marble, and to participate in the admiration which this
statue aroused in antiquity, as witnessed to by its copies preserved in bronze
and terra-cotta.775
But what are the affinities of this remarkable statue by Paionios, so differ-
ent from every thing of this age transmitted to us from Attica ? A casual
glance might possibly notice in this Nike, with her agitated drapery, a resem-
blance to some of the figures of the Parthenon; but a more careful comparison
will show how vital the difference. In the nude, those matchless sculptures
throb with an inner life which we miss in the Nike. The protruding abdomen
below the tightly drawn girdle unpleasantly suggests the defects, not toned
down, of a living model, but imitated closely with a lack of the nobler taste
evident in the Parthenon figures. The drapery, moreover, is in places con-