DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0495
THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES.
459
The beauty of the design is equalled by the perfection of the
execution, which the entirely uninjured surface of the marble enables
us to follow in its minutest details. The more closely we examine it,
the more deeply are we moved to admiration by the combination of
truth and beauty in the moulding of the forms. The myriad risings
and depressions of the surface of the tender and elastic skin, which
require the hand as well as the eye to appreciate, show a knowledge
of nature, and a skill in reproducing her effects, beyond the reach of
any but the greatest sculptors of the highest period of plastic art.
' When we compare such a work,' says Prof. Treu,' with the piecework
(Kopisteu-mackc) of a copyist like the Belvedere Mercury of the Vatican,
we might undertake to prove the originality of every inch of the
Olympian statue from a mere comparison of the two figures.'1
The figure, as we see, is in heroic nudity, but the agreeable
contrast between the smooth and glossy skin, and the coarser texture
of the dress, is secured by the chlamys, which he has thrown loosely
over the tree on which he rests, as if to leave his limbs in perfect ease
and freedom.
The Hermes at Olympia offers many points of comparison and
resemblance with the Belvedere Mercury mentioned above, on the one
hand, and the Apoxyomenos after Lysippus, on the other. It is not
so broad and solid as the former, nor so long and slim as the latter,
but forms as it were a transition from the canon of Polycleitus to
the canon of Lysippus. The similarity to the Belvedere Hermes is
in the general outline and pose, and in the arched hip and position of
the legs ; while in some parts, especially the neck and breast, it is
wonderfully like the Apoxyomenos. The beautiful JMelcagcr of the
Vatican, too, has been referred to a Praxitclean original, and is
certainly related in style to the younger Attic school.
We may notice, in conclusion, that on its first discovery traces of
a reddish-brown colour were found in the hair of Hermes which even
now shows darkly against the brilliant surface of the nude. If colour
was really used, we shall be the less surprised at the want of care and
finish observable in the treatment of the hair.
1 Trcu. Hermes, er-v. p. 10.
459
The beauty of the design is equalled by the perfection of the
execution, which the entirely uninjured surface of the marble enables
us to follow in its minutest details. The more closely we examine it,
the more deeply are we moved to admiration by the combination of
truth and beauty in the moulding of the forms. The myriad risings
and depressions of the surface of the tender and elastic skin, which
require the hand as well as the eye to appreciate, show a knowledge
of nature, and a skill in reproducing her effects, beyond the reach of
any but the greatest sculptors of the highest period of plastic art.
' When we compare such a work,' says Prof. Treu,' with the piecework
(Kopisteu-mackc) of a copyist like the Belvedere Mercury of the Vatican,
we might undertake to prove the originality of every inch of the
Olympian statue from a mere comparison of the two figures.'1
The figure, as we see, is in heroic nudity, but the agreeable
contrast between the smooth and glossy skin, and the coarser texture
of the dress, is secured by the chlamys, which he has thrown loosely
over the tree on which he rests, as if to leave his limbs in perfect ease
and freedom.
The Hermes at Olympia offers many points of comparison and
resemblance with the Belvedere Mercury mentioned above, on the one
hand, and the Apoxyomenos after Lysippus, on the other. It is not
so broad and solid as the former, nor so long and slim as the latter,
but forms as it were a transition from the canon of Polycleitus to
the canon of Lysippus. The similarity to the Belvedere Hermes is
in the general outline and pose, and in the arched hip and position of
the legs ; while in some parts, especially the neck and breast, it is
wonderfully like the Apoxyomenos. The beautiful JMelcagcr of the
Vatican, too, has been referred to a Praxitclean original, and is
certainly related in style to the younger Attic school.
We may notice, in conclusion, that on its first discovery traces of
a reddish-brown colour were found in the hair of Hermes which even
now shows darkly against the brilliant surface of the nude. If colour
was really used, we shall be the less surprised at the want of care and
finish observable in the treatment of the hair.
1 Trcu. Hermes, er-v. p. 10.