The Sculptures of the Parthenon

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J. Murray, 1903 - 173 pages

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Page 118 - I trust, from ever forgetting—what is meant by the virtue of handling in sculpture. The projection of the heads of the four horses, one behind the other, is certainly not more, altogether, than three-quarters of an inch from the flat ground, and the one in front does not in reality project more than the one behind it, yet, by mere drawing,* you see the sculptor has got them to appear to recede in due order, and by the soft rounding of the flesh surfaces, and modulation of the veins, he has taken...
Page 118 - The projection of the heads of the four horses one behind the other is certainly not more altogether than three-quarters of an inch from the flat ground, and the one in front does not in reality project more than the one behind it, yet by mere drawing you see the sculptor has got them to appear to recede in due order, and by the soft rounding of the flesh surfaces and modulation of the veins he has taken away all look of flatness from the necks. He has drawn the eyes and nostrils with dark incision,...
Page 33 - Gr. Vasenmalerei iii. 33 ff. pl. 126].... It is true that the Greeks generally and Pheidias in particular regarded the east as on their left hand. On the base of his statue of Zeus at Olympia, representing the birth of Aphrodite, the sun was seen rising on the 'extreme left, the moon retiring on the right (Pausanias, v. 1 1, [8]), and on the base of his Athene in the Parthenon itself the same phenomenon occurs, if we may judge from the Lenormant copy of the statue.... But granting that this was a...
Page 119 - ... eyes and nostrils with dark incision, careful as the finest touches of a painter's pencil : and then, at last, when he comes to the manes, he has let fly hand and chisel with their full force, and where a base workman, (above all, if he had modelled the thing in clay first,) would have lost himself in laborious imitation of hair, the Greek has struck the tresses out with angular inci* This plate has been executed from a drawing by Mr.
Page 2 - Above the columns externally and round all the four sides of the temple were ninety two metopes, each consisting of a group of two figures two-thirds life size, in the highest possible relief, and full of the most beautiful workmanship. Within each of the two pediments or gables was an immense group of statues, the smallest equal to life size, the central figures colossal. Lastly, inside the Parthenon was the stupendous statue of Athene herself in gold and ivory by Pheidias. It was he who directed...

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