DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.999#0009
Pictures from
Greek Vases
TAKING the very numerous examples of Greek art which have happily been preserved to the present day,
there is perhaps no particular class or department of that art commanding more general attention than the
vases. Various causes combine to effect this result: to the collector there is the opportunity of acquisition,
in their case a matter of possibility, while as regards obtaining any really fine specimens of sculpture, the attempt
must almost be regarded as hopeless. To the scholar the subjects depicted on the vases offer illustrations of
myths, scenes from the dramatists and poets, or graphic studies of manners and customs of Greek life, of the
utmost value in elucidating passages which are frequently obscure in the classic writers. It is, however, by the
student and lover of art that the vases are probably most highly valued and appreciated. Their mere outlines give
palpable shape and substance to what might almost be termed a purely ideal conception of grace and elegance.
They are the commonplace for what is most perfect in conventional form. But it is the ornamentation that always
stands as the foremost factor in ceramic art, and it is therein that the student recognises the extreme importance
of the vases. The fact of their retaining and placing before our eyes the very touch and manipulation of the
artists of the best period—we refer to those of the end of the sixth, the whole of the fifth, and the first
half of the fourth centuries, B.C.—alone entitles them to a high place in our consideration. In sculpture, the
Greek Vases
TAKING the very numerous examples of Greek art which have happily been preserved to the present day,
there is perhaps no particular class or department of that art commanding more general attention than the
vases. Various causes combine to effect this result: to the collector there is the opportunity of acquisition,
in their case a matter of possibility, while as regards obtaining any really fine specimens of sculpture, the attempt
must almost be regarded as hopeless. To the scholar the subjects depicted on the vases offer illustrations of
myths, scenes from the dramatists and poets, or graphic studies of manners and customs of Greek life, of the
utmost value in elucidating passages which are frequently obscure in the classic writers. It is, however, by the
student and lover of art that the vases are probably most highly valued and appreciated. Their mere outlines give
palpable shape and substance to what might almost be termed a purely ideal conception of grace and elegance.
They are the commonplace for what is most perfect in conventional form. But it is the ornamentation that always
stands as the foremost factor in ceramic art, and it is therein that the student recognises the extreme importance
of the vases. The fact of their retaining and placing before our eyes the very touch and manipulation of the
artists of the best period—we refer to those of the end of the sixth, the whole of the fifth, and the first
half of the fourth centuries, B.C.—alone entitles them to a high place in our consideration. In sculpture, the