DOI article:
Essay VIII: The Athene Parthenos and gold and ivory statues
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0306
272
ESSAYS ON THE ART OF PHEIDIAS.
[VIII.
hand of Athene we must look to the smaller representation of
the chryselephantine statue on Athenian coins and reliefs1.
" The column below the right hand of the goddess which we
find associated with the newly-discovered statue is an unwelcome
addition to this composition, which I feel very reluctant to re-
cognise as a feature in the original design of Pheidias ; such an
adjunct seems a very clumsy expedient and unworthy of his
genius. It is true that such a support to the arm of the goddess
is found on an Athenian relief published by Boctticher2. But on
the other reliefs and on coins which represent the Athene Par-
thenos the arm is left free in mid-air. Michaelis in his recent
memoir argues that such a support may have been necessary on
account of the great weight of the Victory which is calculated
to have been 4 cubits, or about 6 feet high, and which he
assumes to have been like the goddess, gold and ivory. But I
am not aware that any ancient author tells us of what material
the Victory was formed, and in the absence of any evidence to
the contrary I think we are justified in assuming that this figure
was cast cither in gold or some other metal, gilt. This material
would I consider be much lighter than the chryselephantine work
with its inner core of wood.
"Michaelis says, the weight to be sustained would have re-
quired a structure such as would now be used. But why should
not the ancients, who were most skilful metallurgists, have had
within the chryselephantine arm of the goddess a bar of copper
or wrought iron, bent at the elbow, and affording a support quite
independent of the outer casing of wood on which the ivory was
attached ? Such a bar would be, what, in the language of modern
architecture, is called a cantelever, and the upper extremity
could have been securely attached to the inner frame or skeleton
of the statue''."
Added to what we already have, the Lenormant statuette,
the Strangford shield, and the fragments of the shield in the
Vatican and Capitolinc Museums, this newly-discovered Var-
vakeion statuette enables us to form a definite conception of the
actual pose and composition of the Athene Parthenos and the
details and accessories of this great work. The presence of an
1 See Michaelis, Parthenon. PI. xv. " Michaelis, PI. XV. Fig. 7.
3 Newton, Journal of Hellenic Studies 11. 1, pp. 1—4.
ESSAYS ON THE ART OF PHEIDIAS.
[VIII.
hand of Athene we must look to the smaller representation of
the chryselephantine statue on Athenian coins and reliefs1.
" The column below the right hand of the goddess which we
find associated with the newly-discovered statue is an unwelcome
addition to this composition, which I feel very reluctant to re-
cognise as a feature in the original design of Pheidias ; such an
adjunct seems a very clumsy expedient and unworthy of his
genius. It is true that such a support to the arm of the goddess
is found on an Athenian relief published by Boctticher2. But on
the other reliefs and on coins which represent the Athene Par-
thenos the arm is left free in mid-air. Michaelis in his recent
memoir argues that such a support may have been necessary on
account of the great weight of the Victory which is calculated
to have been 4 cubits, or about 6 feet high, and which he
assumes to have been like the goddess, gold and ivory. But I
am not aware that any ancient author tells us of what material
the Victory was formed, and in the absence of any evidence to
the contrary I think we are justified in assuming that this figure
was cast cither in gold or some other metal, gilt. This material
would I consider be much lighter than the chryselephantine work
with its inner core of wood.
"Michaelis says, the weight to be sustained would have re-
quired a structure such as would now be used. But why should
not the ancients, who were most skilful metallurgists, have had
within the chryselephantine arm of the goddess a bar of copper
or wrought iron, bent at the elbow, and affording a support quite
independent of the outer casing of wood on which the ivory was
attached ? Such a bar would be, what, in the language of modern
architecture, is called a cantelever, and the upper extremity
could have been securely attached to the inner frame or skeleton
of the statue''."
Added to what we already have, the Lenormant statuette,
the Strangford shield, and the fragments of the shield in the
Vatican and Capitolinc Museums, this newly-discovered Var-
vakeion statuette enables us to form a definite conception of the
actual pose and composition of the Athene Parthenos and the
details and accessories of this great work. The presence of an
1 See Michaelis, Parthenon. PI. xv. " Michaelis, PI. XV. Fig. 7.
3 Newton, Journal of Hellenic Studies 11. 1, pp. 1—4.