DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.999#0021
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the form more expensive than any other, allows only the printing of a very limited number of copies, hence the price
for an extended series would have been necessarily too high to come within the means of many to whom the subject
may present special attractions. But even restricted to twelve plates, it may be claimed that the series constitutes a
sufficiently ample representation of the lekythi for those desirous of becoming acquainted with their more intrinsically
important characteristic—their artistic quality. The plates also, we may venture to hope, may be serviceable for a further
reason. The learned and valuable works dealing with the Attic lekythi to which we have previously referred, contain
a certain number of illustrations of their decorative pictures, sometimes executed in chromo-lithography. Fac-
simile representation is never attempted in these illustrations, and the lithographs, it must be confessed, are generally
drawn in a hasty, sometimes even in a slovenly manner. Blame cannot fairly be attached to the distinguished writers,
since the works, appealing only to specialists, their sale is limited, and the expense of publication must follow
similar lines. It may even be claimed that for their particular purpose these summary prints are sufficient. The
student is supposed to be familiar with the actual vases, and the illustrations are therefore intended only to assist him
in understanding the text and to save lengthened description by the writer. Hence for both parties concerned the end
is attained. But it is different with the general reader, especially when he cannot obtain ready access to museums or
private collections possessing examples of the lekythi. For him such prints as we have described are distinctly
misleading. The charm of the pictures is in their refined execution, or, as we have said, in the frequently lovely effects
which have been superadded by the kindly action of natural causes. He sees nothing of these in the black and cutting
lines of the engravings, printed on a cold white surface. They may afford him a knowledge of the dry bones of the
art, but no acquaintance with its living spirit. It is science presented under her least gracious aspect. An example of
the shortcomings from an artistic point of view of the plates we refer to, may be taken from a work justly prized by
students of Greek ceramic art, and where the illustrations are really the production of an accomplished draughtsman.
This occurs in Dumont's La cdramique de la GrSce ftroftre, Plate 35, which is taken from the same vase as Plate V. of
the present series. In the French publication the outline of the female figure is restored throughout; the two figures
are rendered in lines of an even thickness, and the remains of the drapery of the man is worked up in smooth and even
tints ; but in concentrating his attention on an attempted restoration of the original, the draughtsman has overlooked
essential parts of the design, like the indications of the drapery of the girl, together with other details. Thus the
the form more expensive than any other, allows only the printing of a very limited number of copies, hence the price
for an extended series would have been necessarily too high to come within the means of many to whom the subject
may present special attractions. But even restricted to twelve plates, it may be claimed that the series constitutes a
sufficiently ample representation of the lekythi for those desirous of becoming acquainted with their more intrinsically
important characteristic—their artistic quality. The plates also, we may venture to hope, may be serviceable for a further
reason. The learned and valuable works dealing with the Attic lekythi to which we have previously referred, contain
a certain number of illustrations of their decorative pictures, sometimes executed in chromo-lithography. Fac-
simile representation is never attempted in these illustrations, and the lithographs, it must be confessed, are generally
drawn in a hasty, sometimes even in a slovenly manner. Blame cannot fairly be attached to the distinguished writers,
since the works, appealing only to specialists, their sale is limited, and the expense of publication must follow
similar lines. It may even be claimed that for their particular purpose these summary prints are sufficient. The
student is supposed to be familiar with the actual vases, and the illustrations are therefore intended only to assist him
in understanding the text and to save lengthened description by the writer. Hence for both parties concerned the end
is attained. But it is different with the general reader, especially when he cannot obtain ready access to museums or
private collections possessing examples of the lekythi. For him such prints as we have described are distinctly
misleading. The charm of the pictures is in their refined execution, or, as we have said, in the frequently lovely effects
which have been superadded by the kindly action of natural causes. He sees nothing of these in the black and cutting
lines of the engravings, printed on a cold white surface. They may afford him a knowledge of the dry bones of the
art, but no acquaintance with its living spirit. It is science presented under her least gracious aspect. An example of
the shortcomings from an artistic point of view of the plates we refer to, may be taken from a work justly prized by
students of Greek ceramic art, and where the illustrations are really the production of an accomplished draughtsman.
This occurs in Dumont's La cdramique de la GrSce ftroftre, Plate 35, which is taken from the same vase as Plate V. of
the present series. In the French publication the outline of the female figure is restored throughout; the two figures
are rendered in lines of an even thickness, and the remains of the drapery of the man is worked up in smooth and even
tints ; but in concentrating his attention on an attempted restoration of the original, the draughtsman has overlooked
essential parts of the design, like the indications of the drapery of the girl, together with other details. Thus the