DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0586
55°
THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
and conception of these later Athenian reliefs, which are all, however, of a
more summary and inferior workmanship. It represents, like the Athenian
reliefs, not a plane surface, as in the older monuments, but, in a most pictorial
manner, an actual grotto, sacred to Pan and the nymphs, those deities of
rustic nature. Thus, all around its entrance are seen rocks, among which are
perched doves, the central one even dressing its feathers. In some Attic
reliefs, a flock of goats take this place. In one corner sits Pan, the ancient
Attic god, with his goat-legs crossed, and piping on his syrinx ; while, led by
Hermes, the nymphs, a lovely sisterly trio, dance. Holding hands, with
rhythmic step, they seem to move toward the altar, their long garments blown
Fig. 224. Votive Relief to Pan and to the Ntj/nuhs Vienna.
back by the wind. The last one alone accompanies the movement by raising
gracefully over her head the hand, in which were, doubtless, the sounding cotala,
or castanets, like those in her left hand. Not only the height of her girdle,
directly under the breasts, but also the elaborate coiffure of all these figures, in
which the hair lies like parallel skeins over the head, are peculiarities which
abound on objects of the third century B.C., but are not met with in those of
an earlier clay. Such variations in female costume serve as a reliable guide
in determining the age of ancient monuments. In the Parthenon marbles,
and Erechtheion maidens of the fifth century, the girdle was worn, as we have
seen, far down near the hips. In the next, the fourth century, it slipped up
somewhat higher, as seen in the Amazons of the Mausoleum. By the second
century, however, the time of the Great Pergamon Altar, we find the girdle
bound directly below the bosom, as will be seen in the goddesses of the frieze.
THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
and conception of these later Athenian reliefs, which are all, however, of a
more summary and inferior workmanship. It represents, like the Athenian
reliefs, not a plane surface, as in the older monuments, but, in a most pictorial
manner, an actual grotto, sacred to Pan and the nymphs, those deities of
rustic nature. Thus, all around its entrance are seen rocks, among which are
perched doves, the central one even dressing its feathers. In some Attic
reliefs, a flock of goats take this place. In one corner sits Pan, the ancient
Attic god, with his goat-legs crossed, and piping on his syrinx ; while, led by
Hermes, the nymphs, a lovely sisterly trio, dance. Holding hands, with
rhythmic step, they seem to move toward the altar, their long garments blown
Fig. 224. Votive Relief to Pan and to the Ntj/nuhs Vienna.
back by the wind. The last one alone accompanies the movement by raising
gracefully over her head the hand, in which were, doubtless, the sounding cotala,
or castanets, like those in her left hand. Not only the height of her girdle,
directly under the breasts, but also the elaborate coiffure of all these figures, in
which the hair lies like parallel skeins over the head, are peculiarities which
abound on objects of the third century B.C., but are not met with in those of
an earlier clay. Such variations in female costume serve as a reliable guide
in determining the age of ancient monuments. In the Parthenon marbles,
and Erechtheion maidens of the fifth century, the girdle was worn, as we have
seen, far down near the hips. In the next, the fourth century, it slipped up
somewhat higher, as seen in the Amazons of the Mausoleum. By the second
century, however, the time of the Great Pergamon Altar, we find the girdle
bound directly below the bosom, as will be seen in the goddesses of the frieze.