DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1755#0067
40
CIIEST OF CYPSELUS.
<r'A
f'AJ-
tn.il, and hoofs. This may be taken as a Centaur; for a similar figure appears
on early Macedonian coins; and in later times a similar group occurs, but
with greater equine develop-
ment. Fig. 83 is a form of
the Centaur by no means
rare upon vases of this pe-
riod : in fact, the next stage to
the conception so beautifully
executed by Phidias, and seen
by Pausanias upon the chest
of Cypselus, who thus de-
scribes it:—" In the next
place, a C entaur presents him-
self to the view, whose hinder feet are those of a horse, and his front feet
those of a man." (Paus. v. 19, p. 57.) Chiron, the Centaur, is also so repre-
sented on the celebrated vase Clitias; a winged female figure, holding a lion
and leopard, being also on the same vase,—a description which perfectly corre-
sponds with a Diana upon the same chest. Pausanias describes every figure
upon the chest very minutely; being assisted by the name written over each
character "in Boustrophedon fashion," as well as by the twisted words already
alluded to.
In reviewing the leading features of Greek Art, in the age of which we have
been speaking, let us avail ourselves of the words of Flaxman:—" The early
arts of Greece," he says, "were interrupted in their progress by a succession of
political commotions and destructive wars; and we scarcely perceive any
improvement in them until the time of the Seven Sages, of Pythagoras and
JEsop, who were all contemporaries about 130 years before Phidias." "The
benign influence of their example," he adds, " was felt in the arts of design,
and prepared them for that beauty and perfection with which they were sub-
sequently graced in the time of Pericles, Alexander, and his successors.
The reader may feel some disappointment at the want of
beauty in the illustrations hitherto presented to him; but it
must be remembered that the most refined period of art was
of comparative short duration, forming only one step of an
extensive series, the whole of which course we propose to
follow. Greater attention is required, in treating of this rising period, than is
needful in the corresponding changes which took place when the artswere hasten-
ing to their extinction. The public games of the ancients and the constant
habit of bodily exercise must have greatly tended to increase the knowledge of
the human form, and to facilitate its representation. The athletee, or con-
III. — FROM THE
BATTLE OF MARA-
THON, B.C. 490, TO
THE DEFEAT OF
THE PERSIANS,
B.C. 466.
<*.•;■*
CIIEST OF CYPSELUS.
<r'A
f'AJ-
tn.il, and hoofs. This may be taken as a Centaur; for a similar figure appears
on early Macedonian coins; and in later times a similar group occurs, but
with greater equine develop-
ment. Fig. 83 is a form of
the Centaur by no means
rare upon vases of this pe-
riod : in fact, the next stage to
the conception so beautifully
executed by Phidias, and seen
by Pausanias upon the chest
of Cypselus, who thus de-
scribes it:—" In the next
place, a C entaur presents him-
self to the view, whose hinder feet are those of a horse, and his front feet
those of a man." (Paus. v. 19, p. 57.) Chiron, the Centaur, is also so repre-
sented on the celebrated vase Clitias; a winged female figure, holding a lion
and leopard, being also on the same vase,—a description which perfectly corre-
sponds with a Diana upon the same chest. Pausanias describes every figure
upon the chest very minutely; being assisted by the name written over each
character "in Boustrophedon fashion," as well as by the twisted words already
alluded to.
In reviewing the leading features of Greek Art, in the age of which we have
been speaking, let us avail ourselves of the words of Flaxman:—" The early
arts of Greece," he says, "were interrupted in their progress by a succession of
political commotions and destructive wars; and we scarcely perceive any
improvement in them until the time of the Seven Sages, of Pythagoras and
JEsop, who were all contemporaries about 130 years before Phidias." "The
benign influence of their example," he adds, " was felt in the arts of design,
and prepared them for that beauty and perfection with which they were sub-
sequently graced in the time of Pericles, Alexander, and his successors.
The reader may feel some disappointment at the want of
beauty in the illustrations hitherto presented to him; but it
must be remembered that the most refined period of art was
of comparative short duration, forming only one step of an
extensive series, the whole of which course we propose to
follow. Greater attention is required, in treating of this rising period, than is
needful in the corresponding changes which took place when the artswere hasten-
ing to their extinction. The public games of the ancients and the constant
habit of bodily exercise must have greatly tended to increase the knowledge of
the human form, and to facilitate its representation. The athletee, or con-
III. — FROM THE
BATTLE OF MARA-
THON, B.C. 490, TO
THE DEFEAT OF
THE PERSIANS,
B.C. 466.
<*.•;■*