DOI Artikel:
Essay I: The provice, aim, and methos of the stuy of classical archaeology
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0056
36
ESSAYS ON THE ART OF PHEIDIAS.
[I-
have to study the topography of the district, and the local history,
from all of which he may receive additional evidence, if he has
but properly studied the work itself. The character of the work,
the site, and any traces of attributes on the figure, or even found
near the work, will help him in deciding upon his interpretation,
whether god or man, what god1 and what man, which particular
aspect of his nature. He will here have to draw upon his know-
ledge of Mythology. And finally he must turn to the literary
traditions concerning art, and see whether, and to what extent,
they confirm or disprove his inference gained by observation of
the work itself.
In the greatest number of cases, in the thousands of works
lying unrecognised in museums, we cannot hope to find any clue
from the records of ancient authors. Instead of shrinking from
the difficulties, our very object must be to study their forms and
enumerate their distinctive characteristics. We shall then in
many cases be able to assign them their place; especially when
once the work of putting within the reach of students a well-
formed manual of the identified monuments in their natural
sequence of time and place has been accomplished, and we can
fix in their minds and so lead them to grasp the characteristic
style of each epoch and school. The number of such 'represen-
tative' monuments is not great, although sufficient to furnish
types of the chief schools ; and the excavations have yielded and
are sure to yield in the future most valuable material for this
purpose. The more good research is carried on at present, and
the firmer and more highly developed this method grows, the
greater will be the facilities for making new discoveries. But this
1 In the study of art-mythology, the representations of each individual god and
hero are grouped together. This is now being done on a large scale by Prof. Overbeck
in his Kunstmythologie. We are thus enabled to distinguish the various gods and
heroes through the type of human form which is given to each. But we may go
further than this. A careful study of any one type will show us how it alters in
character in accordance with the different age or school or sculptor. So the early
Dionysos and Hermes are bearded, while later they are beardless; in early works
they are severe, in the great period they are dignified, and later they become
sentimental and even effeminate. In later works we notice a tendency to represent
figures like Apollo as more and more youthful, to accentuate the woman in Aphrodite,
the god of revelry in Dionysos, the god of commerce in Hermes. All these con-
siderations will have to be taken into account by the student who wishes to identify an
unrecognised statue.
ESSAYS ON THE ART OF PHEIDIAS.
[I-
have to study the topography of the district, and the local history,
from all of which he may receive additional evidence, if he has
but properly studied the work itself. The character of the work,
the site, and any traces of attributes on the figure, or even found
near the work, will help him in deciding upon his interpretation,
whether god or man, what god1 and what man, which particular
aspect of his nature. He will here have to draw upon his know-
ledge of Mythology. And finally he must turn to the literary
traditions concerning art, and see whether, and to what extent,
they confirm or disprove his inference gained by observation of
the work itself.
In the greatest number of cases, in the thousands of works
lying unrecognised in museums, we cannot hope to find any clue
from the records of ancient authors. Instead of shrinking from
the difficulties, our very object must be to study their forms and
enumerate their distinctive characteristics. We shall then in
many cases be able to assign them their place; especially when
once the work of putting within the reach of students a well-
formed manual of the identified monuments in their natural
sequence of time and place has been accomplished, and we can
fix in their minds and so lead them to grasp the characteristic
style of each epoch and school. The number of such 'represen-
tative' monuments is not great, although sufficient to furnish
types of the chief schools ; and the excavations have yielded and
are sure to yield in the future most valuable material for this
purpose. The more good research is carried on at present, and
the firmer and more highly developed this method grows, the
greater will be the facilities for making new discoveries. But this
1 In the study of art-mythology, the representations of each individual god and
hero are grouped together. This is now being done on a large scale by Prof. Overbeck
in his Kunstmythologie. We are thus enabled to distinguish the various gods and
heroes through the type of human form which is given to each. But we may go
further than this. A careful study of any one type will show us how it alters in
character in accordance with the different age or school or sculptor. So the early
Dionysos and Hermes are bearded, while later they are beardless; in early works
they are severe, in the great period they are dignified, and later they become
sentimental and even effeminate. In later works we notice a tendency to represent
figures like Apollo as more and more youthful, to accentuate the woman in Aphrodite,
the god of revelry in Dionysos, the god of commerce in Hermes. All these con-
siderations will have to be taken into account by the student who wishes to identify an
unrecognised statue.