Greek Buildings: Represented by Fragments in the British Museum

Front Cover
B. T. Batsford, 1908 - 218 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 70 - Pythius, one of the antients, architect of the noble temple of Minerva at Priene, says, in his commentaries, that an architect should have that perfect knowledge of each art and science which is not even acquired by the professors of any one in particular, who have had every opportunity of improving themselves in it.
Page 84 - ... universal plenty ; for as so many kinds of labour, and such a variety of instruments and materials were requisite to these undertakings, every art would be exerted, every hand employed, almost the whole city would be in pay, and be at the same time both adorned and supported by itself.
Page 98 - I have not yet touched at all ; nor that the least important, — namely, the actual method and style of handling. A great sculptor uses his tool exactly as a painter his pencil, and you may recognize the decision of his thought, and glow of his temper, no less in the workmanship than the design.
Page 98 - ... 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, careful as the finest touches...
Page 83 - ... period of twenty years nearly all the great works of that country were begun and completed. Plutarch writes of these wonders in these words : " Hence we have the more reason to wonder that the structures raised by Pericles should be built in so short a time, and yet built for ages. For as each of them, as soon as it was finished, had the venerable air of antiquity, so now that they are old they have the freshness of a modern building. A bloom is diffused over them which preserves their aspect...
Page 136 - The head, which is said to have been knocked off by a Turk, is in my possession. I received it four years afterwards...
Page 89 - ... painted by him ; and being more celebrated as a painter than a sculptor, Pausanias, with a negligence not unusual with antient authors, has mentioned them as paintings. The colours are still perceptible on a close inspection. The armour and accessories have been gilt, to represent gold or bronze : the drapery is generally green, blue, or red, which seem to have been the favourite colours of the Greeks. The scene took place in the open air, which is represented by being painted blue.
Page 39 - ... feet, and the southern 126. The entire circumference may therefore be reckoned at 472 feet, the whole of this area being cut out of the native rock, to depths varying from 2 to 16 feet below the surface of the surrounding fields. Where the rock has failed at the sides, the line of cutting is continued as a wall, formed of large oblong blocks. The inner part of this quadrangle has been paved with large slabs of a greenish stone one foot thick, and when first cleared of earth, was strewn with frusta...
Page 12 - For if any one should reckon up the buildings and public works of the Grecians, they would be found to have cost less labour and expense than this labyrinth ; though the temple in Ephesus is deserving of mention, and also that in Samos. The pyramids likewise were beyond description, and each of them comparable to many of the great Grecian structures. Yet the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. For it has twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other, six facing the north, and...

Bibliographic information