DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18218#0277
RELIEF OF NIOBIDS.
263
It is uncertain whether the original work was com-
posed as a medallion group, as in the present copy, or
whether it was in the form of a frieze, as on the other
copies. It is more probable that it was in the latter
form, as the figure of Artemis is best suited to the frieze
composition. The present copy is of the Graeco-Eoman
period. The date of the original is uncertain. According
to Heydemann it belonged to the end of the 4th century
B.C., and may perhaps have been the group of Apollo and
Artemis slaying the children of Niobe which Pausanias
(i. xxi. 5) saw in the cave behind the choragic monument
of Thrasyllos (cf. vol. L, p. 257).
It has also been suggested that the work is a copy of
one of the ivory panels which decorated the door of the
temple of the Palatine Apollo at Pome (Propertius, ii.
xxxi.), but of this there is no evidence, although the
form is not unsuitable. Furtwaengler connects the reliefs
with the group by Pheidias on the throne of the Olympian
Zeus.—Rome.
Fine-grained marble. Diameter, 3 feet 1 inch. Bought of Castellani,
1877. Heydemann, Sachs. Berichte, Phil.-hist. CI., 1877, p. 74,
pi. 1 ; Murray, Greek Sculpture, II., p. 322, pi. 39 ; Baumeister,
Denkmaeler, III., p. 1681; Academy, 1877, No. 273, p. 100;
Hauser, Die Neu-Attischen Reliefs, p. 74; Overbeck, Griech.
Kunstmythologie, IV., p. 292, and Sachs. Berichte, 1893, p. 58.
[Overbeck denies the authenticity of the relief, but cf. Furt-
waengler, Meisterwerke, pp. 68, 738.] The replicas quoted
above are as follows : (a) Stark, Niobe, pi. 3, fig. 1 ; Heydemann,
Sachs. Berichte, 1877, pi. 5, fig. 1 ; (b) Zoega, Bassiril. ant.,
II., pi. 104; Stark, pi. 3, fig. 3; Heydemann, pi. 5, fig. 2 ;
(c) Heydemann, pi. 4, fig. 1 ; (d) Stark, pi. 4a, fig. 2 ; Heyde-
mann, pi. 5, fig. 3 ; (e) Heydemann, pi. 3 ; (f) Antiq. du Bosp.
Cimme'rien, pi. 67 = Stark, pi. 6 ; Compte-rcndu (St. Peters-
burg), 1868, pi. 2, fig. 5.
2201. Eelief: Centaur carrying female figure, whom he
clasps round the waist with both hands. The Centaur
263
It is uncertain whether the original work was com-
posed as a medallion group, as in the present copy, or
whether it was in the form of a frieze, as on the other
copies. It is more probable that it was in the latter
form, as the figure of Artemis is best suited to the frieze
composition. The present copy is of the Graeco-Eoman
period. The date of the original is uncertain. According
to Heydemann it belonged to the end of the 4th century
B.C., and may perhaps have been the group of Apollo and
Artemis slaying the children of Niobe which Pausanias
(i. xxi. 5) saw in the cave behind the choragic monument
of Thrasyllos (cf. vol. L, p. 257).
It has also been suggested that the work is a copy of
one of the ivory panels which decorated the door of the
temple of the Palatine Apollo at Pome (Propertius, ii.
xxxi.), but of this there is no evidence, although the
form is not unsuitable. Furtwaengler connects the reliefs
with the group by Pheidias on the throne of the Olympian
Zeus.—Rome.
Fine-grained marble. Diameter, 3 feet 1 inch. Bought of Castellani,
1877. Heydemann, Sachs. Berichte, Phil.-hist. CI., 1877, p. 74,
pi. 1 ; Murray, Greek Sculpture, II., p. 322, pi. 39 ; Baumeister,
Denkmaeler, III., p. 1681; Academy, 1877, No. 273, p. 100;
Hauser, Die Neu-Attischen Reliefs, p. 74; Overbeck, Griech.
Kunstmythologie, IV., p. 292, and Sachs. Berichte, 1893, p. 58.
[Overbeck denies the authenticity of the relief, but cf. Furt-
waengler, Meisterwerke, pp. 68, 738.] The replicas quoted
above are as follows : (a) Stark, Niobe, pi. 3, fig. 1 ; Heydemann,
Sachs. Berichte, 1877, pi. 5, fig. 1 ; (b) Zoega, Bassiril. ant.,
II., pi. 104; Stark, pi. 3, fig. 3; Heydemann, pi. 5, fig. 2 ;
(c) Heydemann, pi. 4, fig. 1 ; (d) Stark, pi. 4a, fig. 2 ; Heyde-
mann, pi. 5, fig. 3 ; (e) Heydemann, pi. 3 ; (f) Antiq. du Bosp.
Cimme'rien, pi. 67 = Stark, pi. 6 ; Compte-rcndu (St. Peters-
burg), 1868, pi. 2, fig. 5.
2201. Eelief: Centaur carrying female figure, whom he
clasps round the waist with both hands. The Centaur