DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0070
5o THE EARLY CORINTHIAN ORIENTALIZING STYLE
which show many conceptions of form and decoration, and varying degrees
of excellence, but are stamped with the same intense conviction which gives
a vivid reality to Protocorinthian painting—a reality which is actually en-
hanced by the inevitable limitations of the age.
The common qualities of all these early schools are certainly the expression
of a particular period, and that the time when freedom from the constraint
of geometric drawing, and the revelation of a fabulous exotic world, were still
a comparatively recent experience. In Corinthian vase-painting, in the con-
temporary Rhodian and Attic orientalizing styles, there is little of this spirit
left. These styles have their own particular attraction: they are not un-
spontaneous, but they lack the particular spontaneity of the earlier period.
Early as they stand in the history of Greek art, they represent the closing
phases of an artistic cycle, and much of their character is the direct expression
of the relatively late period to which they belong. It would be a gross
exaggeration to say that the orientalizing world was already losing its in-
terest in the later seventh centurv: but it is undeniable that the centre of
interest is changing. To the earlier period, Eastern art had made a double
appeal—imaginative, as well as purely aesthetic; that is an absolutely certain
inference from the whole character of early seventh-century work. Now
the appeal is not so much to the imagination as to the eye. The purely
decorative interest is gaining ground.
In discussing the Transitional vases, we noticed the beginning of the new
movement, expressing itself in a predilection for certain decorative heraldic
groups, and in a tendency to reject the schemes of rapid movement in which
Protocorinthian, like early Rhodian artists, took a particular delight. Corin-
thian painters carry these tendencies still further; now and then one of the
earlier types survives—but with a difference which is not to the credit of the
later artist, as a comparison of the lions of pi. 18, 3 with those of pis.8,90m, 2
will show. In general, the preference of the period is for the schemes which
were suitable to the composition of decorative groups: slow motion, or no
motion, is now the rule.
An equally significant feature of Corinthian vase-painting is the constant
repetition of certain stereotyped heraldic groups. There is, as we have seen
(p. 29), very little of this in Protocorinthian vases: and the particular form of
heraldic composition which occurs most commonly in the Corinthian style
(a central figure flanked by confronting animals) is virtually unknown in the
earlier period (see p. 30). The fondness of Corinthian artists for composi-
tions of this kind is surely clear evidence of the changing point of view of the
later seventh century.1
1 The favourite stereotyped compositions for small still unknown in the Transitional period, is typical
vases are lions, panthers, sphinxes, and cocks, often of Corinthian work from the later seventh century
grouped about a central motive; the last of these, onwards. Moreover, on Transitional vases the
which show many conceptions of form and decoration, and varying degrees
of excellence, but are stamped with the same intense conviction which gives
a vivid reality to Protocorinthian painting—a reality which is actually en-
hanced by the inevitable limitations of the age.
The common qualities of all these early schools are certainly the expression
of a particular period, and that the time when freedom from the constraint
of geometric drawing, and the revelation of a fabulous exotic world, were still
a comparatively recent experience. In Corinthian vase-painting, in the con-
temporary Rhodian and Attic orientalizing styles, there is little of this spirit
left. These styles have their own particular attraction: they are not un-
spontaneous, but they lack the particular spontaneity of the earlier period.
Early as they stand in the history of Greek art, they represent the closing
phases of an artistic cycle, and much of their character is the direct expression
of the relatively late period to which they belong. It would be a gross
exaggeration to say that the orientalizing world was already losing its in-
terest in the later seventh centurv: but it is undeniable that the centre of
interest is changing. To the earlier period, Eastern art had made a double
appeal—imaginative, as well as purely aesthetic; that is an absolutely certain
inference from the whole character of early seventh-century work. Now
the appeal is not so much to the imagination as to the eye. The purely
decorative interest is gaining ground.
In discussing the Transitional vases, we noticed the beginning of the new
movement, expressing itself in a predilection for certain decorative heraldic
groups, and in a tendency to reject the schemes of rapid movement in which
Protocorinthian, like early Rhodian artists, took a particular delight. Corin-
thian painters carry these tendencies still further; now and then one of the
earlier types survives—but with a difference which is not to the credit of the
later artist, as a comparison of the lions of pi. 18, 3 with those of pis.8,90m, 2
will show. In general, the preference of the period is for the schemes which
were suitable to the composition of decorative groups: slow motion, or no
motion, is now the rule.
An equally significant feature of Corinthian vase-painting is the constant
repetition of certain stereotyped heraldic groups. There is, as we have seen
(p. 29), very little of this in Protocorinthian vases: and the particular form of
heraldic composition which occurs most commonly in the Corinthian style
(a central figure flanked by confronting animals) is virtually unknown in the
earlier period (see p. 30). The fondness of Corinthian artists for composi-
tions of this kind is surely clear evidence of the changing point of view of the
later seventh century.1
1 The favourite stereotyped compositions for small still unknown in the Transitional period, is typical
vases are lions, panthers, sphinxes, and cocks, often of Corinthian work from the later seventh century
grouped about a central motive; the last of these, onwards. Moreover, on Transitional vases the