DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1755#0064
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SCULPTURES OF SELINUS.
37
body by metal pins; even the head is movable, and the body having been
hollowed out was found to contain ashes. A bright red colour was traceable
on the drapery, on the sandals, and on the sides of the seat.
The sculptures of Selinus in Sicily, supposed to have been executed a few
years previous to the accession of Pisistratus, demand our notice, being
the most important architectural sculptures yet discovered, and ranking
second only to those
of Athens andiEgina.
They formed the me-
topes of two temples,
and were discovered in
1823 by Messrs. An-
gell and Harris. The
principal subjects are,
—Hercules carrying
off two robbers; and
Perseus, in the pre-
s ence of Minerva, cut-
ting off the head of
Medusa (Fig. 79).
Since that time other
metopes have been
discovered by the
Duke Serra di Falco,
in the same place. The
material of which they
are composed is a cal-
careous tufa, the coarse grains of which are filled up with cement and a coating
of paint; the extremities, however, are of marble. Statues so formed were
called acroliths. The proportions of these figures are very short and broad,
and the muscularity of the joints, especially in Hercules and Perseus, is very
remarkable. The faces have all the ugliness which has hitherto characterised
the sculptures exhibited on these pages, and the physiognomy is a violent
exaggeration of the face seen in Figs. 71 and 72. Minerva is represented
clothed in a peplos. It is quite simple and plain. All accessories must have
been added in colour alone ; and no Gorgon's head or helmet is indicated. In the
other metope Hercules appears without either club or lion's skin. The figures
are in high relief. The heads are presented in front, whilst the feet and legs
are turned sideways, in a manner resembling the figure from Nineveh (Fig.
33; see also Fig. 89, postea). The limbs are remarkably broad, and much
Fig. 79.—Pehskus cuti'ino off Mkditsa's Head.
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w
m\
SCULPTURES OF SELINUS.
37
body by metal pins; even the head is movable, and the body having been
hollowed out was found to contain ashes. A bright red colour was traceable
on the drapery, on the sandals, and on the sides of the seat.
The sculptures of Selinus in Sicily, supposed to have been executed a few
years previous to the accession of Pisistratus, demand our notice, being
the most important architectural sculptures yet discovered, and ranking
second only to those
of Athens andiEgina.
They formed the me-
topes of two temples,
and were discovered in
1823 by Messrs. An-
gell and Harris. The
principal subjects are,
—Hercules carrying
off two robbers; and
Perseus, in the pre-
s ence of Minerva, cut-
ting off the head of
Medusa (Fig. 79).
Since that time other
metopes have been
discovered by the
Duke Serra di Falco,
in the same place. The
material of which they
are composed is a cal-
careous tufa, the coarse grains of which are filled up with cement and a coating
of paint; the extremities, however, are of marble. Statues so formed were
called acroliths. The proportions of these figures are very short and broad,
and the muscularity of the joints, especially in Hercules and Perseus, is very
remarkable. The faces have all the ugliness which has hitherto characterised
the sculptures exhibited on these pages, and the physiognomy is a violent
exaggeration of the face seen in Figs. 71 and 72. Minerva is represented
clothed in a peplos. It is quite simple and plain. All accessories must have
been added in colour alone ; and no Gorgon's head or helmet is indicated. In the
other metope Hercules appears without either club or lion's skin. The figures
are in high relief. The heads are presented in front, whilst the feet and legs
are turned sideways, in a manner resembling the figure from Nineveh (Fig.
33; see also Fig. 89, postea). The limbs are remarkably broad, and much
Fig. 79.—Pehskus cuti'ino off Mkditsa's Head.
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