DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0458
424 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
before Zeus, and in the one where Artemis watches the deserved fate of the
hunter Actaion (Fig. 190). According to one story, for boasting that he could
surpass the skill of this huntress-goddess, and according to another, for daring
to watch her as she bathed, Artemis turned Actaion into a stag, to be torn in
pieces by his own pack of fifty hounds. In the sculpture we see many of them
falling upon him ; but his form is still purely human, — a fine contrast to the
stiff drapery of the goddess. In the heavy forms and general conception, we
are, moreover, strongly reminded of the style of the still older Selinus sculp-
tures, of which these seem the natural outgrowth. With these metopes found
in Selinus, we close our survey of Greek sculpture developed during the latter
half of the fifth century B.C.
On reviewing the whole field for that age, we see that art stood on very
different levels at the same time in different parts of the ancient Greek world.
We find that Athens first, and then Argos, were the centres of artistic influ-
ence. By Athenians the lofty ideals of a Zeus, Athena, and Asclepios were
incorporated in numerous chryselephantine and marble statues; and in Argos
the athlete's sturdy form in bronze was perfected, and a canon of proportions
for the human frame established. The remains of temple sculptures showed
deeper, intenser passion beginning to be expressed ; but in the faces of gods,
goddesses, heroes, and men, we saw written only the noble being of the soul,
not its varying and fleeting emotions. We have seen a grandeur and power-
fulness of build for male and female forms, and a noble simplicity in drapery,
which characterized this age alone, and was in perfect harmony with its
sublime ideals.
But the broad field of human passion and individualism was not yet entered
upon, and many new ideals of gods and goddesses were still to be developed.
before Zeus, and in the one where Artemis watches the deserved fate of the
hunter Actaion (Fig. 190). According to one story, for boasting that he could
surpass the skill of this huntress-goddess, and according to another, for daring
to watch her as she bathed, Artemis turned Actaion into a stag, to be torn in
pieces by his own pack of fifty hounds. In the sculpture we see many of them
falling upon him ; but his form is still purely human, — a fine contrast to the
stiff drapery of the goddess. In the heavy forms and general conception, we
are, moreover, strongly reminded of the style of the still older Selinus sculp-
tures, of which these seem the natural outgrowth. With these metopes found
in Selinus, we close our survey of Greek sculpture developed during the latter
half of the fifth century B.C.
On reviewing the whole field for that age, we see that art stood on very
different levels at the same time in different parts of the ancient Greek world.
We find that Athens first, and then Argos, were the centres of artistic influ-
ence. By Athenians the lofty ideals of a Zeus, Athena, and Asclepios were
incorporated in numerous chryselephantine and marble statues; and in Argos
the athlete's sturdy form in bronze was perfected, and a canon of proportions
for the human frame established. The remains of temple sculptures showed
deeper, intenser passion beginning to be expressed ; but in the faces of gods,
goddesses, heroes, and men, we saw written only the noble being of the soul,
not its varying and fleeting emotions. We have seen a grandeur and power-
fulness of build for male and female forms, and a noble simplicity in drapery,
which characterized this age alone, and was in perfect harmony with its
sublime ideals.
But the broad field of human passion and individualism was not yet entered
upon, and many new ideals of gods and goddesses were still to be developed.