DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0511
476 THE AGE OF SCOPAS, PRAXITELES, AND LYSIPPOS.
Scopas and sometimes to Praxiteles, masters of a later time, much more prone
to express the extreme emotion embodied in such myth.947
The group thus ascribed to these two great masters was originally in Asia
Minor, and was brought to Rome by C. Sosius, Anthony's legate in Syria and
Kilikia in 38 B.C. This general held his triumphal entry into Rome in 35
B.C., and, as was customary, graced it with treasures from the Orient, among
which was, probably, the Niobe group, which he afterwards placed in the
temple he built to Apollo, called, after him, Sosianus, and in which the sacred
statue was a cedar-wood Apollo, likewise from the Orient.948 So indefinite
are the statements of Pliny with regard to these statues, that we know noth-
ing of their original use, nor of the mode in which they decorated Sosius'
shrine. The subject, however, is so appropriate for one of those grand
funereal monuments so numerous in Asia Minor, that the supposition made by
Milchhofer, that the group originally decorated a tomb, is most plausible,
although in opposition to the older theory, that it was connected with a Temple
of Apollo at Holmoi in Kilikia.949
When, in 1583, twelve statues, many of which clearly related to the Niobe
myth, were unearthed near the Lateran at Rome, they were hailed as the
original group brought from Asia Minor, and were immediately purchased by
the Medici family.95° A group of wrestlers, found on the same site, was set
aside as not belonging with them. After 1593 the restorer's hand was put
to the statues, nine of which are in Pentelic marble; and the interest roused
by the group was such that other statues were sought out from among antique
marbles, and added to the number. In 1775 all were removed from the Villa
Medici to Florence, and in 1794 were put up in the Uffizi, where the figures
now stand. Since, however, numerous genuine Greek sculptures of the fourth
century B.C. have been brought to light, and we have become familiar with
the freshness and vigor of their style, the fond dream, that these Niobe statues
of the Florence gallery are the originals by Scopas or Praxiteles, is dispelled,
and the conviction takes its place, that they are Roman reproductions of the
great work, which, alas ! has disappeared. The finding in still other museums
of better replicas, and of figures clearly belonging to the group, spurs on to a
search for missing members; while the repetition of the same statue in the
Florence gallery shows the necessity of sifting out superfluous figures, to dis-
cover, if possible, the composition of the original.
About the main figures, both grouped and single, there is no difference of
opinion (Fig. 201). Thus, there can be no doubt about Niobe's seven unhappy
sons, whose well-knitted and compact forms, short-cut hair, and peculiarly
shaped ears (where not restored), are those of the youthful athlete ; while their
energetic faces express different shades of apprehension or actual suffering,
and their position indicates flight, death, or falling wounded by the arrows of
the gods. The figure of one of these youths (Fig. 2or, a), of which there
Scopas and sometimes to Praxiteles, masters of a later time, much more prone
to express the extreme emotion embodied in such myth.947
The group thus ascribed to these two great masters was originally in Asia
Minor, and was brought to Rome by C. Sosius, Anthony's legate in Syria and
Kilikia in 38 B.C. This general held his triumphal entry into Rome in 35
B.C., and, as was customary, graced it with treasures from the Orient, among
which was, probably, the Niobe group, which he afterwards placed in the
temple he built to Apollo, called, after him, Sosianus, and in which the sacred
statue was a cedar-wood Apollo, likewise from the Orient.948 So indefinite
are the statements of Pliny with regard to these statues, that we know noth-
ing of their original use, nor of the mode in which they decorated Sosius'
shrine. The subject, however, is so appropriate for one of those grand
funereal monuments so numerous in Asia Minor, that the supposition made by
Milchhofer, that the group originally decorated a tomb, is most plausible,
although in opposition to the older theory, that it was connected with a Temple
of Apollo at Holmoi in Kilikia.949
When, in 1583, twelve statues, many of which clearly related to the Niobe
myth, were unearthed near the Lateran at Rome, they were hailed as the
original group brought from Asia Minor, and were immediately purchased by
the Medici family.95° A group of wrestlers, found on the same site, was set
aside as not belonging with them. After 1593 the restorer's hand was put
to the statues, nine of which are in Pentelic marble; and the interest roused
by the group was such that other statues were sought out from among antique
marbles, and added to the number. In 1775 all were removed from the Villa
Medici to Florence, and in 1794 were put up in the Uffizi, where the figures
now stand. Since, however, numerous genuine Greek sculptures of the fourth
century B.C. have been brought to light, and we have become familiar with
the freshness and vigor of their style, the fond dream, that these Niobe statues
of the Florence gallery are the originals by Scopas or Praxiteles, is dispelled,
and the conviction takes its place, that they are Roman reproductions of the
great work, which, alas ! has disappeared. The finding in still other museums
of better replicas, and of figures clearly belonging to the group, spurs on to a
search for missing members; while the repetition of the same statue in the
Florence gallery shows the necessity of sifting out superfluous figures, to dis-
cover, if possible, the composition of the original.
About the main figures, both grouped and single, there is no difference of
opinion (Fig. 201). Thus, there can be no doubt about Niobe's seven unhappy
sons, whose well-knitted and compact forms, short-cut hair, and peculiarly
shaped ears (where not restored), are those of the youthful athlete ; while their
energetic faces express different shades of apprehension or actual suffering,
and their position indicates flight, death, or falling wounded by the arrows of
the gods. The figure of one of these youths (Fig. 2or, a), of which there