have been destroyed, and the medals of the Carthaginians | Corinth irresistibly reminds us of the story of Demaratus, (though this people was a colony of Phoenicians) do not who is said to have been accompanied by the potters Euchir permit us to judge of the merits of their ancestors. and Engrammus; a circumstance evidently designed to express that Tarquinii derived from Greece her skill in handling clay, and the elegant drawing with which her vases were adorned. The earliest Etruscan statues were of clay; but the statues belonging to the first ages of Rome were almost uniformly of bronze, and the master-pieces which shed lustre on Etruscan art are all of the same material. That this art received its refinement from the Greeks, cannot, we think, be reasonably questioned. Works of primitive antiquity attest its original rudeness; and to the Greeks alone, improving on Egyptian models by a close study of the finer forms and proportions of nature, belonged that skill which throws life and beauty into the delineation of the human figure. Hence the subjects of many of the most beautiful Etruscan works of art are obviously taken from the Greek mythology, which, in Etruria, was found as well adapted to the purposes of the artist, as in the land to which it was native. But the Etruscans, when their taste had once been formed, treated their own conceptions in the spirit of their masters; and, though no doubt inferior in grace and delicacy of execution, they acquired a correctness in drawing which may almost be stated as a national characteristic. In the she-wolf of the Capitol, we have an example of the perfection to which Etruscan art had attained about the middle of the fifth century of Rome; nor are the finest gems probably of a much more recent date*.' The Etrurians, Etruscans, or ancient Tuscans, called by the Greeks Tyrrhenians or Tyrsenians, and by themselves Rasena, are the people who inhabited ancient Etruria, and who at a period when the rest of Europe was immerged in ignorance and barbarism are said to have attained a high degree of civil and social refinement; they are also said by some writers to have made considerable progress in sculpture, at an earlier period than the Greeks; but this opinion has been doubted by many, and it is even doubted whether the Etruscan has any right to be considered a distinct school of sculpture. Works of art were probably executed in Etruria, previous to the arrival of the Greek colonists in North Italy and South France; "but," says a writer on this subject, "the more rude and ancient specimens are exactly in the style of the very ancient Greeks; from whom they appear to have learnt all they knew; and whose primitive style they continued to copy, after a more elegant and dignified manner, founded upon more enlarged principles, had been adopted by the Greeks themselves. Hence their works may be justly considered as Greek, or, at least, as close imitations of the Greek; they having followed their archetypes strictly and servilely, though at a great distance, if reckoned by the scale of merit. The proximity of Italian colonies, where the arts were cultivated with the most brilliant success at a very early period, afforded them the most favourable opportunities of obtaining instruction; and if they availed themselves of it at all, it is rather wonderful that their progress should have been so slow and comparatively imperfect." ETRUSCAN PATERA. Another writer on this subject says:"The renown which belongs to a nation that excelled in the arts, has become, as it were, the inheritance of the Etruscans. But, from the peculiar constitution of government and society in ancient Etruria, it has been conjectured, not without appearance of reason, that the works in bronze and clay, and the bas-reliefs attributed to them, were the produce, not of the dominant race, but of their subject bondsmen or serfs; and that in reality the Etruscans, properly so called, were as little given to the arts as the Romans, by whom, in their turn, they were subdued. The striking difference observable between Tarquinii and Arretium in their works of art, seems to correspond with the different origin of the earlier inhabitants of Northern and Southern Etruria. Volaterra was naturally led, by the stone quarries in its neighbourhood, to engage in the works for which it became celebrated. The two former cities, however, wrought only, or chiefly, in clay. Arretium made red vases, with elegant figures in relief, in a style altogether peculiar. Those of Tarquinii were painted, and both in colour and design resemble some discovered near Corinth, of which Dodwell has given engravings. Painted vases are found only in the district of Tarquinii, and where they occur those of Arretium are never met with; besides, they differ from the Campanian in all those peculiarities for which the Greek works of the same kind are distinguished. The resemblance which is thus found to exist between the vases of Tarquinii and of The authenticity of many of the specimens, called Etruscan, which have reached our times, is liable to be questioned. Of the statues in marble, it is difficult to say whether they are early Greek or Etruscan; the smaller ones in bronze are less to be doubted, being household divinities or merely ornaments. On the ancient relievos found in various parts of Italy, several are admitted to be genuine Etruscan; but the more elegant examples are believed to have been executed after the conquest of Etruria by the Romans, two hundred and eighty years before Christ. like The style of Etruscan sculpture is hard and overcharged, and becaine proverbial among the Romans on account of these defects. Quinctilian has expressly noticed it, and, when speaking of the work of some Greek sculptors, says, "Callon and Egesias made statues in the harder styles, and very the Tuscan figures: Calamis introduced a style which was not so stiff, and Myron made figures still more soft and bending." The most curious and interesting among Etruscan remains belong to the class of engraved bronzes, or patcræ, small vessels used in sacrificing; circular, and, in the single instance of the Etruscan, with a handle. Etruscan gems are also of exquisite workmanship. Gem engraving was brought to great perfection at an early period, both in Italy and Greece. SECTION III. ON GRECIAN SCULPTURE. We come now to the history of Grecian sculpture, and to the consideration of the causes which produced so great a superiority in the works of the artists of Greece, over those of all other nations. Ancient history informs us, that the Greeks did not emerge from a state of barbarism till long after the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and Indians had arrived at a considerable degree of civilization. By means of colonies from Egypt and Phoenicia, the original rude inhabitants of Greece were gradually civilized and led to adopt the arts efforts of Grecian art were rude, and in no way superior to and the religious worship of those countries. The first those of other nations; and the ancient, or archaic period, as it is called, of Grecian art extended through eight almost unknown centuries nearly to the time of Phidias. A variety of causes appear to have contributed in rendering the Greeks famous as sculptors. Their beautiful country was peopled, by the warm imagination of its people, with those beings, either divine or heroic, which constituted its theology. Their winding streams, flowery plains, and azure mountains, were looked upon as at once the residence and the representatives of these beings, and it is no wonder that attempts to present these objects in a more tangible form should lead to the exercise of skill, and should excite the emulation of ardent minds. The influence of climate over the human body is too evident to require that we should dwell on it here: and we may say with a modern writer, "Perhaps no country in the world enjoys a more serene air, less tainted with mist and vapours, or possesses, in a higher degree, that mild and genial warmth which can unfold and expand the human body into all the symmetry Encyclopædia Britannica. * of muscular strength, and all the delicacies of female beauty, in greater perfection, than the nappy climate of Greece; and never was there any people that had a greater taste for beauty, or were more anxious to improve it." The opportunity given to artists of studying their models in the public places, where the youths of Greece performed their exercises quite naked, may also be mentioned as a reason for the wonderful progress of this people in sculpture. Also, the high regard bestowed on those who attained to eminence in the art. "An artist could be a legislator, a commander of armies, and might hope to have his statue placed beside those of Miltiades and Themistocles, or those of the gods themselves. Besides, the honour and success of an artist did not depend on the caprice of pride or of ignorance. The productions of art were estimated and rewarded by the greatest sages in the general assembly of Greece; and the sculptor who had exercised his task with ability and taste, was confident of obtaining immortality." We have already spoken of Daedalus, the first sculptor among the Greeks who attained sufficient celebrity to ensure the existence of his fame. More than one artist, however, bore the name of Dædalus, and, indeed, this name among the ancients, appears to have been synonymous with universal genius; for Dædalus is said not only to have constructed the labyrinth of Crete, but to have been the inventor of the wedge, and of wings, besides being the greatest sculptor of his time. His invention of wings is said to have formed his means of escape from Crete, to avoid the revenge of Minos. Some understand this merely to mean that he put sails to the vessel which bore him from the island. The works of Dædalus were in wood: the first Greek sculptors that became famed for working marble are said to have been Dipanus and Scillis, about 580 years before Christ. At about the same period the art of casting brass, and melting it into statues, was taught by Rhocus and Theodorus, both Samians. The plastic art, or modelling in clay, appears to have been known considerably earlier. A fragment of a statue, believed to be the work of Rhocus, is now in the British Museum. It is a head of Diomede of the size of life, and forms one of Mr. Knight's collection of bronzes. It would be foreign to our purpose to give a list of the numerous sculptors who adorned the age previous to the birth of Phidias. The little islands of Samos and Chios produced many skilful artists, and the cities of Sicyon, Ægina, Corinth, and Athens, whence arose the primitive schools of Greece, still continued to send forth sculptors worthy of their ancient celebrity. The birth of the great master of the art of statuary, the renowned Phidias, took place at Athens, in the 73rd Olympiad, about four hundred and eight years before Christ. His mind is said to have been early adorned with all the knowledge which bore on his profession. He was skilled in history, poetry, fable, geometry, and the optics of the day; and under the reign of Pericles, who commanded the treasury of Athens, and the allied states, he had the most favourable opportunities of exercising his talents. His chief talent appears to have lain in representing the divinities of his country. Cicero tells us that he did not copy visible objects, and thus represent their features and resemblances, but formed to himself an idea of true beauty, upon which he constantly fixed his attention, and which became at once his rule and model, and guided at once both his design and his hand. To the direction of this remarkable man, the public works of Athens were consigned, and under his superintendence the celebrated temple of the Parthenon was produced, the beauty of whose embellishments may be gathered from the remains of exquisite statues and alti and bassi relievi now in the British Museum and known as the Elgin Marbles. The Temple of Apollo Epicurius near Phygaleia was the work of the same master-mind, and it is believed that the Phygaleian (now also in the British Museum) were the early, and the Parthenon sculptures the finished, productions of Phidias's school. The statues in bronze executed by Phidias, were, in point of number and excellence, quite unrivalled. His ivory statues were also without parallel; and he even condesended to work in the meaner materials of wood and clay. Piiny and Pausanias have given us some account of the different methods used by Greek sculptors in the fabrietion of their metal statues. The latter historian describes a brazen statue of Jupiter at Lacedæmon, the most ancient of all the works in that metal then known. This statue *For an interesting notice of the Ivory Statues of the Ancients, see Saturday Magazine, Vol. XVI., p. 51. was of hammer-work, fabricated in separate portions, which were afterwards closely riveted together. The artist was Learchus, said to be a disciple of Diponus and Scillis, if not of Dedalus himself. Several statues of this hammerwork, made by Gitiadas, a citizen of Lacedæmon, were extant in the time of Pausanias. An improved method appears to have been subsequently adopted, the statue being formed from laminæ, placed one over another, like the weaving of a garment; that is, of plates carved and chased into the forms required. The casting of brass was afterwards discovered, as we have said, by Rhocus and Theodorus. The latter artist, it appears, likewise cast figures in iron. The discovery of the art of soldering iron is attributed to Glaucus, a native of Chios; and among the works in that metal noticed by Pausanias, are a group of Hercules and the Hydra, by an artist named Tisagoras, and the heads of a lion and a boar, which he saw in Pergamus, dedicated to Bacchus. He also mentions a statue of Epaminondas made of iron. We now proceed to give a brief account of the ideas of the Greeks concerning the standard of beauty in the different parts of the human body. With respect to the head, their ideas of beauty were consistent with a noble and dignified expression, as may be observed in what we call a Grecian style of countenance at the present day. The profile of such a countenance consists of a line almost straight, or marked by such slight inflections as are scarcely to be distinguished from a straight line. The forehead and nose, in the case of young persons, form a line very nearly approaching the perpendicular. The ideas of the Greeks respecting the forehead were very different from ours. Ancient artists and writers inform us that they reckoned a small forehead a mark of beauty, and a high forehead nothing less than deformity. To preserve the oval form of the face, it was customary to represent the forehead as partially hidden by the hair, which made a curve about the temples, and thus prevented the angular appearance of the upper part of the face, which would result from too great an exposure of the forehead. From similar ideas respecting beauty, the Circassians wore their hair hanging down over their foreheads almost to the eyebrows. As to the eyes, their form was deemed of more importance than their size, though large eyes were generally considered beautiful. In sculpture the eyes were always sunk deeper in the head than is natural, because by deepening the cavity the statuary increases the light and shade, and gains expression. In the statues of the different deities, the eye forms a very characteristic feature. The eyes of Apollo, Jupiter, and Juno are large and round. Those of Pallas are also large, but shaded and softened by the lowering of the eyelids. In the Venus de Medicis we have an exam ple that large eyes are not essential to beauty. In this inimitable statue, the eyes are small, with the lower eyelid raised a little, and imparting an air of peculiar sweetness. The beauty of the eyebrows consists in the sharpness of the bones, and the fineness of the hair. The masters of the art considered the joining of the eyebrows a deformity, though it is sometimes found in ancient statues. Much of the expression of the face depends upon the form of the mouth; much more, in fact, than can be imagined by a person who has not attempted the delineation of the human features. In beautiful statues, the lower lip is always fuller than the upper, in order to give an elegant rounding to the chin. The teeth were very seldom allowed to appear. The Grecian artists never admitted a dimple, except to distinguish individuals, for they considered it by no means beautiful. Remarkable was the care and attention bestowed by the ancients on the execution of the ears. In their portraits they were as careful to secure an exact likeness of the ear, as of any of those features on which it is customary to lavish the principal share of attention. The careful finish of the ear is frequently sufficient of itself to distinguish an ancient statue from one of later times. Another distinguishing mark of antiquity is afforded by the manner in which the hair was formed. On hard and coarse stones the hair was short, and appeared as if it had been combed with a wide comb; in marble statues it was curled and flowing. In female heads, the locks were thrown back, and loosely tied behind in a waving manner; in very young persons the hair fell naturally over the shoulders. The most perfect necks of youths, in ancient sculpture, are nearly circular, like a portion of a column. The com mencement of the arms as they are affixed to the body has a bold and rounded form, and the whole of the limb, from its union to the trunk down to the wrist, is a diminishing cylinder. The hands of young persons were moderately plump, with little cavities or dimples at the joints of the fingers. The male hand and finger had more breadth and flatness, and the knuckles were more square and decided even in youth. The female hand was more rounded and fleshy, and the fingers more decidedly tapering and cylindrical than those of the male. The terminating joint was not bent as it appears in modern statues. The nails in men are more squared, and in women more rounded, long, and delicate. The ravages of time have indeed deprived a great number of the ancient statues of hands and feet, but from those which remain it is evident that the artists of those times were anxious to reach perfection in these as well as in the more conspicuous parts of their work. As the ancients did not cover the feet as we do, they studied them with much attention, and gave to them the most beautiful turning. Winkelman remarks that it is very rare to meet with beautiful knees in young persons, or even in the elegant representations of art. He states that the best-turned knees and most beautiful legs are preserved in the Apollo Saurocthones in the Villa Borghese; in the Apollo which has a swan at its feet; and in the Bacchus of the Villa Medicis. The breasts, in statues of men, were broad and elevated; in women, consisting of a gentle elevation only. The female figure is generally one-tenth shorter than the male; the bones are more straight, and less rugged towards the joints; the forms of the body and limbs are more rounded. The shoulders of the female are narrower in proportion than those of the male; the loins are narrower, and the hips broader. In infancy the proportions are of course extremely different, and there is a general roundness of limbs and body, little distinguished by the marking of bone at the joints, or projecting muscle between the joints. It seldom or never happens that equal perfection is found in every part of the same individual; hence, it becomes necessary that the sculptor should select the most beautifu! parts from different models; and that with such judgment and care, that all these detached beauties may form a complete and symmetrical whole. The Greek sculptors were very skilful in the disposition of the drapery in their figures, which was always so arranged as to heighten the general effect. The description of the vestments of the Greeks as given by Flaxman may be stated in an abridged form, that we may the better understand the draperies we find on antique statues. The largest and coarsest woollen garment worn by the men was the pallium, a large piece of cloth, square or nearly so, and seven feet in length, though considerably less in width. This was generally worn by being folded over, perhaps one-third of the breadth, one end applied to the left side of the body, carried under the right arm, and thrown over the left shoulder in front; it formed broad and simple masses before and behind, with a few bold and distinct folds, which left the body and limbs well accounted for beneath. It was, according to the convenience of the wearer, thrown in a variety of different manners: sometimes one arm was wrapped in it, sometimes the other, and sometimes nearly both: all the statues of philosophers, except the Cynics, are clothed in this manThere were other garments much resembling the pallium; particularly the manly peplus, the chief difference in which was the finer texture of the material, and the more numerous folds into which it consequently fell. The corners of this garment were sometimes ornamented with tassels, or knots. ner. Of a still finer and lighter description was the chlæng, a garment of smaller size than the peplus, but still in the shape of a long square. This garment is particularly appropriate to youthful heroes. The tunic, or kiton, was an under garment also worn by men in early times; this had no sleeves, and hung over the left shoulder, leaving the right shoulder entirely bare, not to impede action; in after times it had short sleeves, was full in the body, and when not girded hung down below the mid-leg; but, when collected by the girdle, did not reach lower than the knees. This seems to have been made in general of the same material with the chlæna. The chlamys is a military and hunting cloak, fastened with a button on the right shoulder, as that worn by the Apollo Belvidere. The dress of the Greek women was not materially different from that of the men. The tunic was generally made to pass over each shoulder, except in the case of Amazons, or female warriors, who sometimes had the right shoulder le ft bare; the tunic of females reached to the feet, and was lower than the ankles, even when girded with a zone. It was made of a finer material than that worn by men, and produced long and variegated folds without lessening the distinct appearance of the figure underneath. The peplus, or long veil, is described as a dignified garment by Homer; it was worn in the same manner by women as by men, and is a characteristic of dignity, as Juno, Minerva, Vesta, and Ceres, are seldom or never seen without it in a placid state. Besides the tunic or kiton, the dignified Greek females had another garment called the peplo-kiton, which appears to have been one piece of cloth doubled over at the top, folded round the left side, the left arm having passed through the top. It was open on the right side, which presented two cascades of folds. This garment is very commonly represented on Greek vases. Many other garments were worn by women, and answered in some measure to those in use at the present time, but they are of less consequence to notice than the vestments above described. It remains to notice the Roman toga, so entirely appropriated by the Romans, that they are thence called gens togata. Collected in its folds it appears to have been of an oval figure, through the opening of which, the head, the right arm, and half the body on the right side passed, the garment resting on the left shoulder, being supported by the left hand, falling below the middle of the right leg, and presenting almost innumerable curvilinear folds, which encircle the figure before and behind from the left shoulder downwards. A lap of this garment was brought from behind over the left shoulder, tucked into the upper part in front under the right breast, which fold was called the cinctus Gabinus, and was said to be a fashion brought from the city of Gabia. It was worn by emperors, consuls, noblemen, and Roman citizens; in general, it was made of a fine woollen cloth, as most of the Roman gar ments were. "In reflecting on the beauty of drapery," says Flaxman, "we must always refer to the beauty of the human figure, which it covers; and as garments are worn as a defence against the weather, or from motives of modesty, they should never be such an incumbrance as to impede action or overload figure, either by their quantity, or mode of wearing; which rule being observed, the general idea of form and action will always be intelligible underneath; and thus, however the figure may be covered, the plainer parts of the garment will give a breadth of light and shadow to the mass, and its folds a beautiful variety of form, either in harmony with, or in opposition to, the form of the limbs and body. The cascade, or zig-zag fold of a long full garment hanging from the shoulder towards the feet, by the irregular geometrical effects of its light and shadow, shade the undulations of living forms on the opposite side of the figure, whether covered with drapery or not, with an advantageous variety. "The fine and web-like draperies, such as that of the Flora Farnese, show all the forms of the body and limbs, with nearly the same distinctness as if they had remained uncovered, at the same time that the gentle radiated curvilinear folds, upon a near examination, contrast the beautiful forms of the body by variation of lines tenderly assimilated with the flesh, in such a manner as induces the spectator to believe that the least motion of the body will produce a different, and equally pleasing new arrangement of the drapery." Grecian sculpture in general, may be distinguished as appertaining to the ancient style, the grand style, or the graceful style. The most authentic records of the ancient style are medals containing an inscription, which leads us back to very distant times. The writing is from right to left, in the Hebrew, and this alone is sufficient to prove their antiquity, since the practice was abandoned in the time of Herodotus. The statue of Agamemnon, at E, which was made by Ornatas, has an inscription from right to left. This artist flourished fifty years before the time of Phidias. In the primitive schools of sculpture, from the time of Dædalus to that of some of the more immediate pradecessors of Phidias, (a period embracing several centurie,) sculpture can scarcely be considered as a regular art. The founders of those schools, with their pupils, were little more than ingenious mechanics, who followed carving among other avocations. Such were Endæus of Athens, celebrated for three statues of Minerva; Epeus, immortalized as the fabricator of the Trojan horse; Iemulous, spoken of in the Odyssey as having sculptured the throne of Penelope; and many others who kept up the knowledge of sculpture during the heroic ages, though they appear to have male but little improvement in the art. The schools of Crete, of Samos, and Chios have been already spoken of. The Chian school claims the praise of having first introduced the use of the material to which sculpture is mainly indebted for its perfection, namely, marble. Malas, the father of a race of sculptors, and who is said to have lived about six hundred and forty-nine years before the Christian era, was the first to make the application of this material; and the beautiful marbles of their native island furnished to him and his successors, one rich means of superiority. The age of Dipenus and Scyllis, brothers, and of the school of Sicyon, forms an era in the history of ancient art, marking the first decided advances towards the succeeding style. Before their time the style of sculpture had been extremely dry and minute. The designing was energetical, but harsh; it was animated, but without gracefulness; and the violence of the expression deprived the whole figure of beauty. While the limbs and countenance were rude and incorrect in form and expression, the ornamental details were worked with the most elaborate care. This taste for extreme finish arose from the limited resources of the art itself, from the manner of dressing prevalent at that period, and more especially from the mediocrity of artists, leading them to bestow on parts, that application which should have been directed towards the perfecting of the whole. The fault of fastidiousness and ill-bestowed labour also attaches to the works of the artists we have named, but a great improvement was effected by them, and their names are therefore deservedly recorded as the benefactors of the art in that period. Their execution was much more free, the whole effect more powerful, and the forms better selected and composed. There are at present in the British Museum, colossal heads of Hercules and Apollo, believed to be the work of Diponus and Scyllis, which admirably illustrate the style of art at this early period. Sculpture was now practised throughout a large extent of country, and the school of Magna Græcia, which had long been rising in importance, now began to vie with those of Sicyon, Chios, &c. Five hundred and seventeen years before Christ the fame of all preceding sculptors suffered by the reputation of two Chian brothers, Bupalus and Anthemis, who brought to a high degree of perfection the discovery of their ancestors, sculpture in marble. Their works were highly valued in succeeding ages, and formed part of the treasures removed to Rome by order of Augustus. The arts flourished at Athens under the government of Pisistratus, and under his protection many esteemed artists employed their skill with advantage to themselves and their country. A corresponding zeal for the arts, and for sculp-| ture in particular, now manifested itself in various parts of Greece. The victory of Marathon, which took place four hundred and ninety years before the Christian era, gave fresh life and energy to the institutions of Greece, and by the artists of this period up to the time of Pericles the grand style was practised, and finally, by the renowned Phidias, brought to perfection. Of the immediate predecessors, or early contemporaries of Phidias, the following are a few of the principal names. Onatas and Glaucias of Ægiha, Critias, Calamis, Pythagoras of Rhegium, Polycletus, Scopas, Alcamenes, and last and greatest of the early school, Myron. From the severe and simple majesty of the grand style a progressive change commenced even in the life-time of Phidias, to one of more studied elegance and softer character. "Sublimity," says Dr. Memes, "is in its own nature a more simple sentiment than beauty, and the sources whence it springs infinitely more limited. If, then, we find the true sublime in Grecian sculpture confined almost to the age and labour of one man, is this to be wondered at, when the same is the case, not only in their poetry, an art far more abundant in resources, but in the poetical literature of every people? The sculptors, then, who followed the era of Pericles to the death of Alexander, can be called inferior to Phidias, only in the same sense as the poets who succeeded will be termed inferior to Homer. In both instances, the change was but the application of principles, which in their essence could not vary, the subjects requiring a modification of certain distinguishing qualities. The third style of Grecian sculpture was the graceful or beautiful. It was introduced by Praxiteles and Lysyppus. They designed to please rather than to astonish by their performances, and to raise admiration by giving delight. Praxiteles was a native of Magna Græcia, born about three hundred and sixty-four years before Christ. 66 Finding the highest sublimities in the more masculine graces of the art already reached, perceiving also that the taste of his age tended thitherwards, he resolved to woo exclusively the milder and gentler beauties of style. In this pursuit he attained eminent success. None ever more happily succeeded in uniting softness with force,-elegance and refinement with simplicity and purity: his grace never degenerates into the affected, nor his delicacy into the artificial." Among the known works of this master are his Cupid, Apollo, the Lizard-killer, Satyr, and Bacchus with a Faun. The celebrated Venus of Gnidos was his work. Lysippus, a Sicyonian, contemporary and rival of Praxiteles, is said to have wrought only in metal. This sculptor was born in the lowest walks of life, and was in a great measure self-taught. He was a diligent follower of nature, and seems to have been distinguished by a more masculine character than was common in art at that period. He produced colossal and equestrian statues in bronze, and his Tarentine Jupiter, sixty feet in height, was equal in magnitude to any of the undertakings of preceding sculptors. Alexander showed this artist particular favour, and to Lysippus alone was granted permission to cast the prince's statue. He also executed twenty-one equestrian statues of Alexander's body-guard who fell at the Granicus. Not only was he famous in works that demanded a forceful and vigorous composition, but he also excelled in delicacy of finish, and knowledge of symmetry. So great was the renown of this artist, that even the tyrannical Tiberias was seized with apprehension at an insurrection of the Roman people, caused by the removal of the figure of Lysippus from one of the public baths. On the death of Alexander, a fatal and immediate decline was visible in the fine arts, and the period of that decline extended from the dismem berment of the Macedonian empire to the final reduction of Greece into a Roman province,—a space of nearly two hundred years. The unrivalled excellence of Greek sculpture is sufficiently attested by the works of ancient art still remaining; some of the most highly famed of these are as follows:-The Apollo Belvidere, justly deemed one of the most admirable works of Grecian art; the Dying Gladiator, greatly valued for its truth and beauty, and its admirable execution; the statues of Venus, Diana, Mercury, and Bacchus, illustrative of the best days of Grecian sculpture; the Faun of the Florence Gallery, restored by Michael Angelo. The ancient groups are perhaps yet more precious monuments of the sublimity, beauty, and heroism of Greece. The Laocoon, animated with the hopeless agony of the father and sons, is the work of Apollodorus, Athenodorus, and Agesander of Rhodes. The groups of Dirce, Hercules, and Antæus, Atreus, Orestes, and Electra, and Ajax supporting Patroclus, are examples of fine form, character, and sentiment. Niobe and her youngest daughter, by Scopas, is esteemed an exquisite specimen of art. The difficult but harmonious composition representing the Wrestlers must not be omitted, nor, for graceful proportion, Cupid and Psyche. The Elgin marbles, belonging as they do to a period when the art had reached its highest excellence, may well be considered a peculiar treasure to the British nation. For further particulars respecting these marbles, we refer our readers to the Saturday Magazine, Vol. XVI., p. 217 and 233. Our frontispiece represents two antique figures illustrative of ancient Grecian art. One is a terminal statue of Pan playing upon a pipe. He is generally represented naked, but the long robe with which he is here clothed, and the diadem which decorates his head, not only evince the custom but likewise show the manner in which the ancients occasionally clothed the statues of their deities. In this figure "the act of breathing into the instrument is so admirably expressed, that we may almost fancy we hear the sounds of the music; and it is not improbable, that this statue may be a copy of the one which gave rise to the Greek epigram of Arabius. The point of this epigram is, that the artist had animated the figure of Pan, by infusing breath into it." The other figure is that of Phocion, an Athenian commander, one of the most virtuous characters of antiquity, who lived about 377 B.C. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIEPENCE. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. |