A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 52

Ornament of roof-tile, found "on the gable of a small Greek church, that appears to have been on the site of a temple" "in the gardens at Athens, beyond Mount Anchesmus."--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 8-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 411.

Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 23, p. 131.

[Sidenote: =442.=]

Ornament of roof-tile found built into a modern house near the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates.--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 11 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 413. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 28, fig. 5, p. 144.

[Sidenote: =443.=]

Capital of Ionic column discovered by Inwood built into the wall of a small Greek chapel called Agia Marina on the left bank of the Ilissos at Athens. This is probably the site of the temple of Artemis Eucleia mentioned by Pausanias (i., 14, 5, and compare ix., 17, 1). Roses are sculptured in the eyes of the volutes. Inwood remarks (p. 136) that the central enrichment over the cymatium between the volutes is unusual. From the absence of mortices by which the capital could be secured to the architrave or to the shaft, he infers (p. 133) that this capital may have belonged to some sepulchral stele or other work, where great strength of construction was not required. Botticher, who engraves this or a similar capital, is of the same opinion. The opposite face of the capital is nearly all broken away.--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; width from centre of volute to centre of volute, 12-3/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 398. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, p. 132, pls. 24-25. Botticher, _Tektonik_, pl. 30, fig. 7, text, p. 299.

[Sidenote: =444.=]

Volute of Ionic capital. Inwood (p. 128) states that it was found near the site of the temple of Nike Apteros, and that from its scale it probably belongs to that temple. This, however, is not the case, as may be seen by comparing this fragment with the capital of the temple of Nike Apteros in Ross, _Akropolis von Athen_, pls. vii., viii. The pulvinus of this capital is ornamented with leaves, as in the example from Athens in Botticher's _Tektonik_, pl. 31, fig. 5, text, p.

299.--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot; breadth, 9-1/2 inches.

_Synopsis_, No. 404, where it is incorrectly described as a capital from the temple of Nike Apteros. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 21.

[Sidenote: =445.=]

Volute of Ionic capital, which, according to Inwood (p. 127) was found in a wall below the north side of the Acropolis at Athens. In the eye of this volute a rose is sculptured in relief. In the capitals of the Erechtheion there was a similar rose of bronze gilt, for which a recess is carved in the marble.--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 7-3/4 inches; breadth, 9 inches.

_Synopsis_, No. 410. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 20; Botticher, _Tektonik_, text, p. 299.

[Sidenote: =446.=]

Fragment of the shaft of a column which was fluted with twenty-four flutes, the diameter being about two feet two inches. The dimensions differ from those of the columns of the Erechtheion.--_Greece._ _Presented by W. R. Hamilton, Esq._

Marble; height, 1 foot 7 inches; width, 1 foot 6 inches.

[Sidenote: =447.=]

Capital of Corinthian column, from one of the porches of the building at Athens, commonly known as the Tower of the Winds, or more correctly as the Horologium of Andronicus Cyrrhestes (built probably in the 2nd century B.C.).--_Formerly in the Elgin Collection._

Marble; height, 1 foot 4-1/2 inches. Stuart, I., chap. III., pl.

7.

[Sidenote: =448.=]

Unfinished Ionic base.--_Formerly in the Elgin Collection._

Marble; height, 9 inches; diameter, 1 foot 10-3/4 inches.

AGORACRITOS OF PAROS.

[Sidenote: =460.=]

Fragment of colossal head, showing the right cheek, right eyelid and right side of the head as far as the ear. The hair is waved. On the crown of the head eleven holes are pierced in the marble, evidently for the attachment of a wreath or other ornament. The left side and back of the head have been cut or broken away. So far as can be inferred from the little original surface remaining, this head was in a fine style of the fifth century B.C.

The style and material of this work, and the place of its discovery, give good grounds for thinking that it is a fragment of the famous statue of Nemesis by Agoracritos of Paros. The exact date of Agoracritos is not recorded, but he is said to have been a favourite pupil of Pheidias. The statue of Nemesis is described as a colossal figure of the type of Aphrodite, holding in her hands an apple branch and a phiale, on which were figures of Aethiopians. She had no wings, and stood on a base, sculptured with subjects relating to the birth of Helen and the Trojan war. The figure wore a diadem, adorned with deer and figures of Victory of no great size. Compare the diadem of Pandora, described by Hesiod, _Theogony_, 581; the diadem of Hera of Polycleitos (Paus., ii., 17, 4); the Cypriote terracottas, in the Terracotta Room, wall cases 1 and 27; and the Cypriote sculptures in the Cyprus Room. The numerous holes mentioned above must have served for the attachment of an ornament of some weight, and so confirm the proposed identification.

According to tradition the statue was made of a block of Parian marble, which was brought by the Persians, before the battle of Marathon, to be erected as a trophy for the capture of Athens. (Paus., i., 33. 2; _Anthol. Pal. App. Plan._, iv., 221, 222, 263). Found on the site of the _Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnus_.--_Presented by J. P.

Gandy Deering, Esq., 1820._

Parian marble; height, 1 foot 4-1/2 inches. _Uned. Antiquities of Attica_, p. 43; Leake, _Athens and Demi of Attica_, II., p. 108; _Synopsis_, No. 325 (273); _Elgin Room Guide_, II., No. E. 4; Six, _Num. Chron. 3rd. Ser._, II., p. 94; _cf._ coin of Cyprus, _ibidem_, pl. 5; Gardner, _Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, VIII., p.

47; Rossbach, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, XV., p. 64; Overbeck, _Schriftquellen_, 834-843.

POLYCLEITOS OF ARGOS AND THE PELOPONNESIAN SCHOOL.

Polycleitos of Argos was, as has already been observed (p. 90), one of the great pupils of Ageladas of Argos, who was also the master of Myron and perhaps of Pheidias.

Nothing is recorded as to the life of Polycleitos; his age, as compared with that of Pheidias, is not accurately known. It is probable that he was rather younger than Pheidias, as he was working at a later date. Pliny gives the 90th Olympiad, or 420 B.C., as the date of Polycleitos. This may be the date of his great statue of Hera at Argos, the older temple of Hera having been burnt in 422 B.C., and it was probably near the end of the sculptor's life.

No original works by the hand of Polycleitos survive, but several sculptures are known which can be shown with probability to have been copied more or less directly from originals, of which the character is thus ascertained.

Polycleitos was famous in antiquity as the author of a methodical system of proportions for the human form. One in particular of his figures, the Doryphoros, was known as the _Canon_, and was adopted as the ideal type of a youthful male figure by later sculptors. This figure, and its companion the Diadumenos (see below, Nos. 500, 501), are known to us from copies. They are of vigorous make and square build, but somewhat heavy when compared with the graceful youths of the Parthenon frieze. But the words of Quintilian, who says (_Inst.

Orat._, xii., 10, 7) that some critics objected to the works of Polycleitos as being wanting in weight and unduly elegant, suggest that the extant copies do not convey an accurate impression of the bronze originals, and in fact some of the numerous Doryphoros heads which have been found in Italy present a profile which strikingly recalls the profiles of the youths on the Parthenon frieze.

Polycleitos was also noted for his technical skill and perfect workmans.h.i.+p.

The works that have been a.s.sociated with Polycleitos, in the British Museum, are here described (Nos. 500-503). A fragment, however, of a group of two boys playing with knuckle-bones (_Mus. Marbles_, ii., pl. 31), which was ascribed by Winckelmann to Polycleitos (_Hist. de l'Art_, Bk. vi., chap. 2; Pliny, _H. N._, x.x.xiv., 10), is no doubt of a later period, and is therefore omitted.

[Sidenote: =500.=]

Graeco-Roman copy of the Diadumenos of Polycleitos. Statue of a nude youth, tying a band (taenia) about his head. He stands princ.i.p.ally on the right leg, resting lightly on the left leg, and has both hands raised. The left hand is lost. The band was made of bronze, and holes remain for its attachment. The left side of the face has been very much rubbed down. By the side of the figure is a tree-stump.

That this figure is the Diadumenos of Polycleitos is indicated by its close resemblance in style to the figure at Naples, believed to be a copy of the Doryphoros (see No. 502). It would be a remarkable coincidence if we had two companion statues representing respectively a Diadumenos and a Doryphoros, known from the number of replicas to be copies of important works, and agreeing in style with what would be expected of the art of Polycleitos, but yet derived from independent sources.

The head was found at a distance of two-thirds of a mile from the torso. The torso was found in 1862 in the _Roman Theatre, at Vaison (Vaucluse)_.

Marble; height, 6 feet 1 inch. Restorations:--Nose, fingers of right hand, parts of left thigh and of left s.h.i.+n and heel; also the upper part of the stump. The figure should perhaps be set with the ancient surface of the base horizontal, and so lean less forwards. _Mon. dell' Inst._, X., pl. 49, figs. 1-3; _Annali dell'

Inst._, 1878, p. 11 (Michaelis); Rayet, _Monuments_, I., No. 30 and text; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 388; Murray, I., pl. 10, p. 274; Wolters, No. 508.

Other examples more or less nearly reproducing this type are:--(_a_) A bronze from the De Janze Collection in the French Bibliotheque Nationale. _Annali dell' Inst._, 1878, pl. B, p. 11 (Michaelis); Rayet, _Monuments_, I., No. 31; Babelon, _Le Cabinet des Ant. a la Bibl. Nationale_, pl. 13. (_b_) A terracotta statuette in an English private collection. _Journ. of h.e.l.len.