Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

STATUARIA ARS.

STATUARIA ARS.

for their artistic purposes. A third class of
statues, which were erected during this
period in great numbers, were those of the
victors in the national games, and, though
more rarely, of other distinguished persons
(avSpiavres). Those of the latter kind appear
generally to have been portraits (eix-di/es,
statuae iconicae). The first iconic statues
of Harmodius and Aristogiton were made
by Antenor in 509 is. c., and in 47 7 b. c.
new statues of the same persons were made
by Critias. It was also at the period we
are now describing that it became customary
to adorn the pediments, friezes, and other
parts of temples with reliefs or groups of
statues of marble. We still possess two
great works of this kind which are sufficient
to show their general character during this
period. 1. The Selinuntine Marbles, or the
metopes of two temples on the acropolis of
Selinus in Sicily, which were discovered in
1823, and are at present in the Museum
of Palermo. 2. The Aeginetan Marbles,
which were discovered in 1812 in the island
of Aegina, and are now at Munich. They
consist of eleven statues, which adorned
two pediments of a temple of Athena, and
represent the goddess leading the Aeacids
against Troy, and contain manifest allusions
to the war of the Greeks with the Persians.

III. Third Period, from 480 to 336 b. c.—
During this period Athens was the centre
of the fine arts in Greece. Statuary went
hand in hand with the other arts and with
literature : it became emancipated from its
ancient fetters, from the stiffness and con-
ventional forms of former times, and reached
its culminating point in the sublime and
mighty works of Phidias. His career begins
about 452 b. c. The genius of this artist
was so great and so generally recognised,
that all the great works which were exe-
cuted in the age of Pericles were placed
under his direction, and thus the whole host
of artists who were at that time assembled at
Athens were engaged in working out his de-
signs and ideas. Of these we have still
some remains :—1. Parts of the eighteen
sculptured metopes, together with the frieze
of the small sides of the cella of the temple of
Theseus. Ten of the metopes represent the
exploits of Hercules, and the eight others
those of Theseus. The figures in the frieze
are manifestly gods, but their meaning is un-
certain. Casts of these figures are in the
British Museum. 2. A considerable number
of the metopes of the Parthenon, which are
all adorned with reliefs in marble, a great
part of the frieze of the eella, some colossal
figures, and a number of fragments of the
two pediments of this temple. The greater

part of these works is now in the British
Museum, where they are collected under the
name of the Elgin Marbles. Besides the
sculptures of these temples, there are also
similar ornaments of other temples extant,
which show the influence which the school of
Phidias exercised in various parts of Greece.
Of these the most important are, the Phigalian
marbles, which belonged to the temple of Apollo
Epicurius, built about 436 b. c., by Ictinus.
They were discovered in 1812, and consist of
twenty-three plates of marble belonging to
the inner frieze of the cella. They are now
in the British Museum. The subjects repre-
sented in them are fights with Centaurs and
Amazons, and one plate shows Apollo and
Artemis drawn in a chariot by stags. About
the same time that the Attic school rose
to its highest perfection under Phidias, the
school of Argos was likewise raised to its
summit by Polycletus. The art of making
bronze statues of athletes was carried by him
to the greatest perfection : ideal youthful and
manly beauty was the sphere in which he ex-
celled. One of his statues, a youthful Dory-
phorus, was made with such accurate obser-
vation of the proportions of the parts of the
body, that it was looked upon by the ancient
artists as a canon of rules on this point.
Myron of Eleutherae, about 432 b. c., adhered
to a closer imitation of nature than Polycle-
tus, and as far as the impression upon the
senses was concerned, his works were most
pleasing. The cow of Myron in bronze was
celebrated in all antiquity. The change which
took place after the Peloponnesian war in the
public mind at Athens could not fail to show
its influence upon the arts also. It was espe-
cially Scopas of Paros and Praxiteles of
Athens, about one generation after Myron
and Polycletus, who gave the reflex of their
time in their productions. Their works ex-
pressed the softer feelings and an excited state
of mind, such as would make a strong im-
pression upon and captivate the senses of the
beholders. Both were distinguished as sculp-
tors in marble, and both worked in the same
style ; the legendary circles to which most of
their ideal productions belong are those of
Dionysus and Aphrodite, a fact which also
shows the character of the age. Cephisso-
dorus and Timarchus were sons of Praxiteles.
There were several works of the former at
Rome in the time of Pliny; he made his art
subservient to passions and sensual desires.
Most of the above-mentioned artists, however
widely their works differed from those of the
school of Phidias, may yet be regarded as
having only continued and developed its
principles of art in a certain direction ; but
towards the end of this pei iod Euphranor and