Walters, Henry Beauchamp: Catalogue of the bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (London, 1899)

TNTRODUCTION.

xliii

others ; the rest are all Graeco-Romati copies or later originals. We are the
more grateful, therefore, when fortune has spared us even such fragments as
Nos. 265-267 in our collection, as specimens of Greek bronze work of the fifth
and fourth centuries. Of these, Nos. 266 and 267 reflect in their artistic qualities
the work of the two chief sculptors of the fourth century, Scopas and Praxiteles.
The heads of Scopas have all a strong individuality of their ovvn, in which the
rnost notable features are the low, broad forehead, the intensely-gazing, deep-
set eyes, and the large heavy nose. It is true that reasons have been given
for regarding the head No. 266 as from a copy of the Cnidian Aphrodite of
Praxiteles ; but this view is grounded chiefly on the hand holding drapery that
was found along with it, and it is not absolutely certain that the head is that of
Aphrodite at all.

No. 267, on the other hand, is undoubtedly Praxitelean. It bears a most
striking likeness to the head of the Apollo Sauroctonos, and the treatment of the
hair, the soft beauty of the head, and the whole artistic conception point to its
being, if not by Praxiteles, at any rate taken from an original by him. No. 271
also by its attitude suggests Praxiteles ; the S-shaped curve of the loosely-posed
body is seen in most of his productions, such as tire Hermes, the Satyr, and the
Apollo Sauroctonos.

In No. 269 we have a figure which rather in its conception than in its
treatment recalls Myron ; it is a copy of his Marsyas, and appears to date
about 150 years later. The rendering of the hair, for instance, is more
characteristic of the Pergamene school, with its rough and strongly accentuated
masses of locks ; but we read that Myron, though advanced in other respects,
in his treatment of the hair adhered to the conventions of the archaic period
(Pliny, H. N. xxxiv. 58). No. 268 is an interesting example of early portrait
sculpture, and probably belongs to the period of Lysippos. Other Lysippian
bronzes are the Poseidon, No. 274, which, both in proportions and in conception,
recalls the type created by that artist, and the heroic figure, No. 286.

With regard to copies of Greek statues, it may be remarked that in many
cases they rather conform to a recognised and familiar type than imitate any
particular statue. This is seen in the many reproductions of the Athene
Promachos (as Nos. 191, 1037), or of the Cnidian Aphrodite (as Nos. 1079, io97~
11C9). Or again we find a transference of typcs, as in No. 918, which, though a
Zeus, is yet in attitude and feeling wholly akin to the Doryphoros of Polycleitos.

The second section of this period in the Catalogue is devoted to reliefs
on mirror-cases, vases, or elsewhere (Nos. 285-311). Most of these have been
found in Greece itself, and furthermore we can be certain that they are all
genuine Greek originals, and not copies, so that the actual work can be dated
with more certainty than in the case of statuettes. The Siris bronzes (285)
have been so often and so fully discussed that it is not necessary to say more
about them here ; the heroic figure from Lake Bracciano (286) is a worthy rival
in style and beauty of execution, and also, as pointed out above, dates from thc
timc of Lysippos.