456 



ANNUAL REGISTER, I8l6. 



Alcamenes is classed with Critias, 

 Nestocles, and Hegias, who are 

 called the rivals of Phidias. The 

 name of Colotes is preserved as 

 another of his scholars. 



The other great sculptors, who 

 Avere living at the same time with 

 Phidias, and flourished very soon 

 after him, were Agelades, Ca!U)n, 

 Polycletus, Phragmon, Gorgias, 

 Lacon, Myron, Pythagoras, Sco- 

 pas, and Pereliiis. 



The passage in which Pausani- 

 ns mentions tlie sculptures on the 

 pediments is extremely short, and 

 to this effect : " As you enter the 

 temple, which they call Parthenon, 

 all that is contained in what is 

 termed the (eagles') pediments, 

 relates in every jiarticular to the 

 birth oi' INIinerva ; but on the o])- 

 ))osite or back front is the contest 

 of Minerva and Neptune for the 

 land ; but the statue itself is 

 formed of ivory and gtdd." T!ie 

 state of dilapiiiation into which 

 this temple was fallen, when 

 Stuart visited it in 17-tI, and 

 made moit correct drawings for 

 his valuable woik, left little op- 

 portunity of examining and com- 

 paring what remained upon that 

 part of the temple with the ])as- 

 sage referred to : but an account 

 is preserved by tiavellers, who 

 about 80 years earlier found one 

 of these pediiuents in tolerable 

 preservation, before the war be- 

 tween the Turks and Venetians, 

 in 1687, had done so much da- 

 mage to this admirable structure. 

 The observations of one of these 

 (Dr. Spon, a Fiench physician) 

 may be literally translated thus : 



" The highest part of the front 

 which tiie Greeks called ' the 

 Eagle,' and our architects ' the 

 Fronton,' is enriched with a 



groupe of beautiful figures, in 

 marble, which appear from below 

 as large as life. They are of en- 

 tire relief, and wonderfully well 

 worked. Pansanias says nothing 

 more, than that this sculpture re- 

 lated to the birth of Minerva. 

 The general design is this : 



" Jupiter, who is under the 

 highest angle of the pediment 

 (fronton) has the right arn) brok- 

 en, in whic'i, j)robably, he held 

 his thunderbolt ; his legs are 

 thrown wide fiom each other, 

 without doubt to make room for 

 his eagle. Although these two 

 characteristics are wanting, one 

 cannot avoid recognizing him by 

 his beaid, and by the majesty 

 with which the sculptor has in- 

 vested him. He is naked, as they 

 usually represonted him, and |)ar- 

 ticularly the Greeks, who for the 

 most jjart made their figures 

 naked ; on his right is a statue, 

 which has its head and arms mu- 

 tilated, drajted to about half the 

 leg, which one may judge to be a 

 victory, which precedes the cai' of 

 Miner va, whose horses she leads. 

 They are the wi.ik of some hand 

 as bcdd as it was delicate, which 

 would not perhaps have yielded 

 to Phidias, or Praxiteles, so re- 

 nowned for (representing) hor.-es. 

 Minerva is sitting upon the car, 

 rathei' in the habit of a go, bless 

 of the sciences, than of war ; for 

 she is not dressed as a warrior, 

 having neither helmet, nor shield, 

 ntu' heai'i of jNIedusa upon her 

 breast : she has the aii- of youth, 

 and her head-dress is not dif- 

 ferent from that of Venus. Ano- 

 ther female figure without a head 

 is sitting behind her with a child, 

 whifh she hokU upon her knee.s, 

 I cannot sav v.'ho she isj but I 



had 



