DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0224
174 MARBLE STATUARY FROM THE HERAEUM
are all after one pattern, or closely follow the model —proprlum ad exemplum or unvm
exemplum. One can even recognize this in that it is thought necessary to draw atten-
tion to one definite attitude, the walking attitude, as peculiar to him, —proprium eius
est iDio crure ut insisterent signa excogitasse, — an advance over the stiffness of archaic
artists which the transitional sculptors, Pythagoras of Khegium, and Myron, had long
since achieved. And all his works are rather heavy and massive, vigorous and square in
type, — quadratae tamen esse ea tradit Varro, — sane and healthy and unsentimental,
like the Doryphorus. On the whole, with all his greatness and the lasting advance his
activity marks in the history of Greek art, he followed the conservative spirit of Argive
tradition as confirmed hy Ageladas and laid down in the archaic period by the sculptors
who said of themselves in an inscription that they practiced art " as handed down by
their forefathers." *
This Avas, in short, the estimate I had previously formed of the art of Polycleitus. Yet
even while enunciating these views, I had frequent misgivings when I realized the
supremely high place accorded him by antiquity, his juxtaposition with Phidias, so that
sometimes, as is done by Cicero, he is even placed highest in the scale. I felt that the
Doryphorus by itself, as we know that statue, could not account for the beauty and grace
ascribed to his statues and his heads, by trustworthy authorities. With the discovery of
our Heraeum marbles, and of the new and better copies of the Diadumenus and the
advance these mark in the treatment of the head, the doubt as to the fairness and
completeness of my former view became stronger, and a complete reconsideration of
the ancient literary records concerning that artist has convinced me of this one-sidedness.
While I feel that in general the former negative appreciation of the great master holds
good for the Doryphorus, I am convinced that such a view would apply to the artist's
career only at the earlier stages, to which the Doryphorus belongs (say somewhere about
B. c. 450), while the work at the Heraeum (circ. b. c. 420) marks a later and far more
advanced period. Who could do justice to Raphael if he only considered the works of
the earlier Peruginesque period ?
While thus, in spite of its one-sidedness and consequent exaggeration, my former view
does apply to one characteristic side of this great Argive sculptor, we must now realize
that there were many sides not adequately touched by it, and these not only present a
greater variety and versatility of subject, but even show that the quoted passages deal-
ing with his style and technique suggest a different interpretation in the light of the new
discoveries of the Diadumenus and of our Argive marbles.
The chief artistic qualities of Polycleitus are summed up by Quintilian as diligentia and
decor, qualities which I formerly felt were not naturally in harmony with the master
of the Doryphorus, the creator of the square, massive, healthy type of physical strength,
with broad chest and strong limbs standing in simple power upon one leg, the other
resting on the toes behind.
This decor, as we can now understand it, comes nearest to our word " beauty," the
absolute beauty of form. To render this absolute beauty of form in human beings, the
artist had to avoid the developed forms of mature manhood, and had to limit himself to
youth (nihil ausus ultra leves genas); and though he no doubt idealized the forms of
youth into complete harmony and beauty of proportion (which he established in his
canon) as they are not met with in nature, combining the actual details of life into the
1 rexvav 4Z6tzs 4k Trporepa>v> inscription on the work of mentioned by Pausanias, VI. 10. 4. ; Overbeck, Schrifl-
the early Argive sculptors Eutelidas and Chrysothemis, quellen, No. 388.
are all after one pattern, or closely follow the model —proprlum ad exemplum or unvm
exemplum. One can even recognize this in that it is thought necessary to draw atten-
tion to one definite attitude, the walking attitude, as peculiar to him, —proprium eius
est iDio crure ut insisterent signa excogitasse, — an advance over the stiffness of archaic
artists which the transitional sculptors, Pythagoras of Khegium, and Myron, had long
since achieved. And all his works are rather heavy and massive, vigorous and square in
type, — quadratae tamen esse ea tradit Varro, — sane and healthy and unsentimental,
like the Doryphorus. On the whole, with all his greatness and the lasting advance his
activity marks in the history of Greek art, he followed the conservative spirit of Argive
tradition as confirmed hy Ageladas and laid down in the archaic period by the sculptors
who said of themselves in an inscription that they practiced art " as handed down by
their forefathers." *
This Avas, in short, the estimate I had previously formed of the art of Polycleitus. Yet
even while enunciating these views, I had frequent misgivings when I realized the
supremely high place accorded him by antiquity, his juxtaposition with Phidias, so that
sometimes, as is done by Cicero, he is even placed highest in the scale. I felt that the
Doryphorus by itself, as we know that statue, could not account for the beauty and grace
ascribed to his statues and his heads, by trustworthy authorities. With the discovery of
our Heraeum marbles, and of the new and better copies of the Diadumenus and the
advance these mark in the treatment of the head, the doubt as to the fairness and
completeness of my former view became stronger, and a complete reconsideration of
the ancient literary records concerning that artist has convinced me of this one-sidedness.
While I feel that in general the former negative appreciation of the great master holds
good for the Doryphorus, I am convinced that such a view would apply to the artist's
career only at the earlier stages, to which the Doryphorus belongs (say somewhere about
B. c. 450), while the work at the Heraeum (circ. b. c. 420) marks a later and far more
advanced period. Who could do justice to Raphael if he only considered the works of
the earlier Peruginesque period ?
While thus, in spite of its one-sidedness and consequent exaggeration, my former view
does apply to one characteristic side of this great Argive sculptor, we must now realize
that there were many sides not adequately touched by it, and these not only present a
greater variety and versatility of subject, but even show that the quoted passages deal-
ing with his style and technique suggest a different interpretation in the light of the new
discoveries of the Diadumenus and of our Argive marbles.
The chief artistic qualities of Polycleitus are summed up by Quintilian as diligentia and
decor, qualities which I formerly felt were not naturally in harmony with the master
of the Doryphorus, the creator of the square, massive, healthy type of physical strength,
with broad chest and strong limbs standing in simple power upon one leg, the other
resting on the toes behind.
This decor, as we can now understand it, comes nearest to our word " beauty," the
absolute beauty of form. To render this absolute beauty of form in human beings, the
artist had to avoid the developed forms of mature manhood, and had to limit himself to
youth (nihil ausus ultra leves genas); and though he no doubt idealized the forms of
youth into complete harmony and beauty of proportion (which he established in his
canon) as they are not met with in nature, combining the actual details of life into the
1 rexvav 4Z6tzs 4k Trporepa>v> inscription on the work of mentioned by Pausanias, VI. 10. 4. ; Overbeck, Schrifl-
the early Argive sculptors Eutelidas and Chrysothemis, quellen, No. 388.