DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0238
202
PliElDIAS IN OLYMPIA.
replied Apollonius, * * * ' for by his imagination ((pavraaia) the artist
fashioned these forms much more wisely than by imitation ; for imita-
tion only represents what it has seen, but imagination what it has
not seen, which is suggested to it by reference to existing things '
(71-pos T7]v dvacfropav rov ovros). The Greeks held that mind and body
were or ought to be in strict correlation and harmony. When there-
fore the artist set himself to give visible form to a god who ruled
the world by his power and wisdom, he conceived not a composite
symbolic monster like the barbarians, but a form not altogether
different from that of man, but as much higher, grander, nobler,
as is the mind of the Omniscient than the mind of man. For such
a being, as Cicero says, there is no model, nor was the conception of
it to be attained by any scientific rules, but only by the loftiest
genius in a moment of ecstatic inspiration.1 Yet ideal as he was,
in the highest sense of the word, he was far removed from the vague-
ness, the carelessness and caprice which are often thought to be
the natural attributes of transcendent genius.2
As we might expect from the characteristic bent of his genius,
Pheidias sought his subjects on the very summit of Olympus.
In a few instances, indeed, he condescended to represent man, but,
as Quintilian says, ' he was thought to have succeeded better in
making Gods than men.' It was in the creation of the super-sensual,
the ideal, that he had no rival, and no second.
Lastly, in forming an idea of the style of Pheidias, we must
remember that he had a conscious and intentional leaning towards an
archaic severity which was more in harmony with the awful dignity
and sublimity of the beings whom he loved to pourtray than the
softness and delicacy of the later Attic school.
1 ' Pheidias,' says the Scliol. to Suidas
'laKw&os 'larpds, 'practised his art tvBvaiwv,'
with his mind's eye ' in a fine frenzy roll-
ing.'
* Because genius, mostly of the second
order, is often allied with moral extrava-
gance, disorder and eccentricity, these are
sometimes supposed to be the signs and
natural concomitants of genius. But as
Schiller says: 'Das echte Kunstgenie ist
immcr daran zu erkennen, dass es bei dan
gliihtndsten Gefiihl fitr das Gauze, Kallc
und ausdaucrmk Gcduld fiir das Einzdtte,
behalf, und um der Vollkommenhcit keinen
Abbruch zu thun lieber den Genuss der
Vollendnog auibpfert.'
Ka\ tJ> efiTjfltr, oil rh -yfvvaiov ir\t7(tt0p /jlc-
Tf'xei, says Thucydidcs.
Nec quicquam magnum est nisi quod si-
mul est placidum. — Seneca.
PliElDIAS IN OLYMPIA.
replied Apollonius, * * * ' for by his imagination ((pavraaia) the artist
fashioned these forms much more wisely than by imitation ; for imita-
tion only represents what it has seen, but imagination what it has
not seen, which is suggested to it by reference to existing things '
(71-pos T7]v dvacfropav rov ovros). The Greeks held that mind and body
were or ought to be in strict correlation and harmony. When there-
fore the artist set himself to give visible form to a god who ruled
the world by his power and wisdom, he conceived not a composite
symbolic monster like the barbarians, but a form not altogether
different from that of man, but as much higher, grander, nobler,
as is the mind of the Omniscient than the mind of man. For such
a being, as Cicero says, there is no model, nor was the conception of
it to be attained by any scientific rules, but only by the loftiest
genius in a moment of ecstatic inspiration.1 Yet ideal as he was,
in the highest sense of the word, he was far removed from the vague-
ness, the carelessness and caprice which are often thought to be
the natural attributes of transcendent genius.2
As we might expect from the characteristic bent of his genius,
Pheidias sought his subjects on the very summit of Olympus.
In a few instances, indeed, he condescended to represent man, but,
as Quintilian says, ' he was thought to have succeeded better in
making Gods than men.' It was in the creation of the super-sensual,
the ideal, that he had no rival, and no second.
Lastly, in forming an idea of the style of Pheidias, we must
remember that he had a conscious and intentional leaning towards an
archaic severity which was more in harmony with the awful dignity
and sublimity of the beings whom he loved to pourtray than the
softness and delicacy of the later Attic school.
1 ' Pheidias,' says the Scliol. to Suidas
'laKw&os 'larpds, 'practised his art tvBvaiwv,'
with his mind's eye ' in a fine frenzy roll-
ing.'
* Because genius, mostly of the second
order, is often allied with moral extrava-
gance, disorder and eccentricity, these are
sometimes supposed to be the signs and
natural concomitants of genius. But as
Schiller says: 'Das echte Kunstgenie ist
immcr daran zu erkennen, dass es bei dan
gliihtndsten Gefiihl fitr das Gauze, Kallc
und ausdaucrmk Gcduld fiir das Einzdtte,
behalf, und um der Vollkommenhcit keinen
Abbruch zu thun lieber den Genuss der
Vollendnog auibpfert.'
Ka\ tJ> efiTjfltr, oil rh -yfvvaiov ir\t7(tt0p /jlc-
Tf'xei, says Thucydidcs.
Nec quicquam magnum est nisi quod si-
mul est placidum. — Seneca.