DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52591#0300
284 MONUMENT OF THE THESSALIAN PRINCES
deep in shadow under an upper eyelid, which on the out-
side hangs down in a swelling and on the inside disap-
pears in the depth at the root of the nose* The result is
that the look bursts forth like lightning from a mysterious
darkness* In the head of Agias this fiery look is quenched,
the cavity of the eye smaller, the lower eyelid more strongly
emphasized at the expense of the upper* Thus more energy
than pathos is attained in the expression. One may even
call it a look of momentary dejection* There is thus, in
spite of dependence, the beginning of a reaction against
Scopas, which becomes stronger in the later Lysippian
work, the Apoxyomenos. Still later in the Hellenistic age,
Scopas' conception of the eye as the form which gives
effect ends in mannerism, especially in the Pergamene
sculptures, where both the earth goddess in the Pergamene
frieze and the “ red Marsyas " equally illustrate the phrase
Aristophanes uses of one in despair “ to stretch the brows
like a bow.”1
The little expressive, slightly open mouth of Agias also
reminds us of Scopas, and likewise the whole shape of the
head and rendering of the bones (fig. 143). In Meleager
and Agias we get a solution of the similar lines in the Poly-
cleitan heads, with their hard collision of lines by the fore-
head and crown, and the skull becomes rounder and shorter*
In the emphasis laid on the bony structure of cheeks and
jaws, the head of Agias is more advanced than the heads
of Scopas, but here, too, the tradition of Scopas gives the
note. Of other details of the head, it may be pointed out
that the ear is small and placed too far back, that the hair
is roughly blocked out to receive colour, so that the copyist
can give us no idea of the treatment of the hair in the original
bronze of Lysippus. The head is small for the body :
the relation is already 1 : 8, which is exactly the Lysippian
proportion.
Dependence on Scopas is also noticeable in the build of
the body. There is not that sharp outlining, the clear
stylizing of the muscles, which we find in the Doryphorus,
where every muscle is a little province to itself, but simplified
outlines and clearly marked limits. The skin is not like
1 Τοξοποιεΐρ τά; δφρΰϊ, Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 8.
deep in shadow under an upper eyelid, which on the out-
side hangs down in a swelling and on the inside disap-
pears in the depth at the root of the nose* The result is
that the look bursts forth like lightning from a mysterious
darkness* In the head of Agias this fiery look is quenched,
the cavity of the eye smaller, the lower eyelid more strongly
emphasized at the expense of the upper* Thus more energy
than pathos is attained in the expression. One may even
call it a look of momentary dejection* There is thus, in
spite of dependence, the beginning of a reaction against
Scopas, which becomes stronger in the later Lysippian
work, the Apoxyomenos. Still later in the Hellenistic age,
Scopas' conception of the eye as the form which gives
effect ends in mannerism, especially in the Pergamene
sculptures, where both the earth goddess in the Pergamene
frieze and the “ red Marsyas " equally illustrate the phrase
Aristophanes uses of one in despair “ to stretch the brows
like a bow.”1
The little expressive, slightly open mouth of Agias also
reminds us of Scopas, and likewise the whole shape of the
head and rendering of the bones (fig. 143). In Meleager
and Agias we get a solution of the similar lines in the Poly-
cleitan heads, with their hard collision of lines by the fore-
head and crown, and the skull becomes rounder and shorter*
In the emphasis laid on the bony structure of cheeks and
jaws, the head of Agias is more advanced than the heads
of Scopas, but here, too, the tradition of Scopas gives the
note. Of other details of the head, it may be pointed out
that the ear is small and placed too far back, that the hair
is roughly blocked out to receive colour, so that the copyist
can give us no idea of the treatment of the hair in the original
bronze of Lysippus. The head is small for the body :
the relation is already 1 : 8, which is exactly the Lysippian
proportion.
Dependence on Scopas is also noticeable in the build of
the body. There is not that sharp outlining, the clear
stylizing of the muscles, which we find in the Doryphorus,
where every muscle is a little province to itself, but simplified
outlines and clearly marked limits. The skin is not like
1 Τοξοποιεΐρ τά; δφρΰϊ, Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 8.