DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22421#0152
88
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Letter IV.
servation, render this department very interesting. I must content
myself with noticing a few of the most remarkable.
A hydria, or water-vase (No. 447). On one side the Dionysiac
festival, with Ariadne, Mercury, Vulcan, and Bacchantes ; on the
other, the combat of Achilles and Memnon over the body of
Antilochus.
A hydria, No. 454, with Hercules at banquet, the strangling of
the Nemsean lion, and a stag-hunt.
A hydria, No. 475. On the one side the combat between
Hercules and Cycnus ; on the other, female figures drawing water
from the fountain of Calirrhoe.
A vase, No. 564, with the birth of Minerva from the head of
Jupiter, one of the richest and most interesting representations of
this subject; and with a warrior named Callias, with his charioteer
in a chariot.
The celebrated Panathenaic amphora, No. 569, discovered by
Mr. Burgon in 1813, without the walls of Athens. Of all the prize
vases, so called from the inscriptions showing them to have been
given as prizes in Athens, this, judging from the Biga and the
Minerva represented upon it, is probably the most ancient and re-
markable. Five other prize vases are also here.
I proceed now to those vases of a fine style, with yellow
figures on black grounds. The lover of Greek beauty will be
quite dazzled with the abundance here presented of the finest
things of this kind. The examination of the paintings on these
vases has renewed my conviction that many a thought of the great
Greek painters is embodied in the finest forms of beauty that we
possess. Meanwhile it is interesting to observe the variety of
artistic feeling which characterises these vases. The vases with
Bacchus and Ariadne, No. 42, and the sacrifice of Jason, No.
804, have that simplicity in the composition of the lines and
conception of the forms which we associate with the pictures of
Polygnotus. Menelaus and Helen, No. 807, unite with this some-
thing touching and dramatic, which reminds us of pictures by
Timanthes. The birth of Pallas, No. 741, is worthy to be placed
on a par with this last. Another vase, No. 1266, the subject of
which is unintelligible to me, is so graceful in the movements, so
delicate in drawing, so rich in tasteful accessories, and so complete in
execution, that we may fairly imagine we see in it a reflex of Apelles
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Letter IV.
servation, render this department very interesting. I must content
myself with noticing a few of the most remarkable.
A hydria, or water-vase (No. 447). On one side the Dionysiac
festival, with Ariadne, Mercury, Vulcan, and Bacchantes ; on the
other, the combat of Achilles and Memnon over the body of
Antilochus.
A hydria, No. 454, with Hercules at banquet, the strangling of
the Nemsean lion, and a stag-hunt.
A hydria, No. 475. On the one side the combat between
Hercules and Cycnus ; on the other, female figures drawing water
from the fountain of Calirrhoe.
A vase, No. 564, with the birth of Minerva from the head of
Jupiter, one of the richest and most interesting representations of
this subject; and with a warrior named Callias, with his charioteer
in a chariot.
The celebrated Panathenaic amphora, No. 569, discovered by
Mr. Burgon in 1813, without the walls of Athens. Of all the prize
vases, so called from the inscriptions showing them to have been
given as prizes in Athens, this, judging from the Biga and the
Minerva represented upon it, is probably the most ancient and re-
markable. Five other prize vases are also here.
I proceed now to those vases of a fine style, with yellow
figures on black grounds. The lover of Greek beauty will be
quite dazzled with the abundance here presented of the finest
things of this kind. The examination of the paintings on these
vases has renewed my conviction that many a thought of the great
Greek painters is embodied in the finest forms of beauty that we
possess. Meanwhile it is interesting to observe the variety of
artistic feeling which characterises these vases. The vases with
Bacchus and Ariadne, No. 42, and the sacrifice of Jason, No.
804, have that simplicity in the composition of the lines and
conception of the forms which we associate with the pictures of
Polygnotus. Menelaus and Helen, No. 807, unite with this some-
thing touching and dramatic, which reminds us of pictures by
Timanthes. The birth of Pallas, No. 741, is worthy to be placed
on a par with this last. Another vase, No. 1266, the subject of
which is unintelligible to me, is so graceful in the movements, so
delicate in drawing, so rich in tasteful accessories, and so complete in
execution, that we may fairly imagine we see in it a reflex of Apelles