DOI article:
Essay VI: The Athene from the Parthenon frieze and the Louvre plaque
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0245
VI.] THE ATHENE FROM THE PARTHENON FRIEZE. 215
ous fold just above the breakage, there are three parallel curves
in the folds which are quite similar in the drapery of the frieze.
Unluckily the terra-cotta is fractured at the lap of the figure
and the whole lower portion is wanting1.
On the other hand the greatest value is given to the plaque
in that the head has been perfectly preserved, and that we
can now complete in our mind the picture of the Athene from
the frieze whose mutilated head so painfully destroyed the effect
of the whole figure. And considering the smallness of the scale
of the terra-cotta relief we must be amazed at the delicacy and
nobility of the modelling of the face and neck. The firmness
of the features is still far removed from hardness, the cheek
is soft and yet firm and the texture of the hair is well set
off against that of the face. The whole has in character a
mixture of maidenly purity and graceful nobility. There is no
accentuation of the distinctively feminine charms, nay, from
one aspect the head is almost boyish in character. And this
quality of the head combined with the feminine forms of the
body, produces that mixture of attributes which characterised
the virgin daughter of Zeus in the less stern conception of the
patron goddess of Athens.
So fortunate and complete is this discovery that, with the
fatalistic scepticism which is inherent in us, the thorough coinci-
dence in all points will call forth within us a doubt " whether
it is not too good to believe," whether this terra-cotta is not
a forgery evoked by the importance of the subject represented
and the apparent facility of completing the fragmentary Athene
by restoring the head. The question that will have to be
answered before all things then will be: What exactly is the
plaque and what uses did it serve ?
Now there are three conceivable possibilities, (i) That it is
a modern forgery. (2) That it is an ancient copy from the
figure in Athens, ordered by some noble Roman of artistic tastes
1 This has now been found. Since these Essays were in type, the rest of the
Athene and the whole of the adjoining figure of Hephaistos have been discovered by
Mr A. Hamilton Smith in the Musco Kirchcriano at Rome. For all details concern-
ing this fragment, and other matters which have come to light since, relating to these
small replicas of the Parthenon frieze, I must refer the reader to Note F, which will
be found at the end of Essay VII.
ous fold just above the breakage, there are three parallel curves
in the folds which are quite similar in the drapery of the frieze.
Unluckily the terra-cotta is fractured at the lap of the figure
and the whole lower portion is wanting1.
On the other hand the greatest value is given to the plaque
in that the head has been perfectly preserved, and that we
can now complete in our mind the picture of the Athene from
the frieze whose mutilated head so painfully destroyed the effect
of the whole figure. And considering the smallness of the scale
of the terra-cotta relief we must be amazed at the delicacy and
nobility of the modelling of the face and neck. The firmness
of the features is still far removed from hardness, the cheek
is soft and yet firm and the texture of the hair is well set
off against that of the face. The whole has in character a
mixture of maidenly purity and graceful nobility. There is no
accentuation of the distinctively feminine charms, nay, from
one aspect the head is almost boyish in character. And this
quality of the head combined with the feminine forms of the
body, produces that mixture of attributes which characterised
the virgin daughter of Zeus in the less stern conception of the
patron goddess of Athens.
So fortunate and complete is this discovery that, with the
fatalistic scepticism which is inherent in us, the thorough coinci-
dence in all points will call forth within us a doubt " whether
it is not too good to believe," whether this terra-cotta is not
a forgery evoked by the importance of the subject represented
and the apparent facility of completing the fragmentary Athene
by restoring the head. The question that will have to be
answered before all things then will be: What exactly is the
plaque and what uses did it serve ?
Now there are three conceivable possibilities, (i) That it is
a modern forgery. (2) That it is an ancient copy from the
figure in Athens, ordered by some noble Roman of artistic tastes
1 This has now been found. Since these Essays were in type, the rest of the
Athene and the whole of the adjoining figure of Hephaistos have been discovered by
Mr A. Hamilton Smith in the Musco Kirchcriano at Rome. For all details concern-
ing this fragment, and other matters which have come to light since, relating to these
small replicas of the Parthenon frieze, I must refer the reader to Note F, which will
be found at the end of Essay VII.