ALTO RILIKVO. 



ALTO RILII'V.i. 



and flattened in order tbt it* shadow may not interfere with flip 

 important shadows of the outlines on the ground, and hence it may 

 often hpi-cn that the nearest projection is lout relieved. It will Ural 

 be erident that, owing t.. this power of suppressing the accidental 

 od preventing them from rivalling or being confounded with 

 ittitude* become* Ion limited, and 



the 



one*, the choice of attitude* 



many a composition which in full relief would present a mass of con- 

 fusion from its scattered and equally dark shades, may be quite 

 admissible and agreeable in basso-rilievo. Accordingly the attitudes of 

 statues, which are generally unfit for alto-rilievo, frequently occur in 

 the flat style. Visconti even supposes that certain figures in the bassi- 

 rilievi of the Parthenon suggested the attitudes of celebrated statues 

 afterwards executed ; as, for instance, the Jason, or Cincinnati^, and 

 the Ludovisi Mars. As a remarkable proof how much the attitudes 

 were limited in alto-rilievo compared with the flat style, it may be 

 observed, that the contrasted action of the upper and lower limbs, 

 which gives so much energy and motion to the figure, is perhaps never 

 to be met with in the fine examples of alto-rilievo, whereas in the flat 

 style it is adopted whenever the subject demands it. In the annexed 

 "ketch of an early Greek basso-rilievo, representing Castor managing a 

 horse (from the third room of the gallery of the British Museum), the 

 action of the upper and lower limbs is contrasted, as is the case in all 

 statues which are remarkable for energy and elasticity of movement : 

 the statue called the Fighting Gladiator may be quoted as a prominent 

 example. This disposition of the lower limbs, or the alternate action 

 in which one of the arms would cross the body, never occurs in alto- 

 rilievo, because the shadow of the arm on the body or of one of the 



lower liml- mi the other could then no longer be suppressed, as it is 

 in this cane, but would rival the shadows of the whole figure on the 

 ground. Among the metopes of the Parthenon, the Phigaleian marbles, 



mid the alti-rilievi of the Temple of Thest-u*. then- i* not .1 

 instance of the contrasted action alluded to ; while in the two latter 

 examples, the contrary position, or O]HMI display of the figure, repeatedly 

 recur*, eren to sameness. It nni-t oowvrtr 1- admitted, that this 

 "|HMI display of the figure, although not presenting the most en 

 .Tti'.n, is as beautiful as it i* intelligible, and hence the finest .Alii 

 l.itioiin of form were quite compatible with the limit..! attil: 

 whirh the sculptor* thu* wisely confined themselves. The . .bj. 

 which ooni|ielled this limitation Wing however entirely obviated in 

 Insso-rilievo, by the power of suppressing at pleasure the *had..n n 

 within the contour, we find the fullest advantage taken of the latitude 

 which was thus legitimately gained. 



A letter example cannot be referred to than the flat rilievi already 

 mentioned from the cella of the Parthenon. (Sec the next llliisti 

 The Kiibject represents the I' procession, and although no 



|ierspective diminution i admitted, several equestrian figures are some- 

 times partly relieved one upon the other. Tlie confusion which results 

 from the number of similar forms in the repetition of the horses' liml-. 

 as well as in the actions of the horsemen, must be admitb-d ; 1'iit |H-I 

 h.i| w the subject is thus better expressed than by a simpler arrangement . 

 and this treatment contrasts finely with the single figures. In a 

 procession of horsemen moving two or three abreast, we are at once 

 aware that the figures are similar, and the eye is satisfied, as it would 

 be in nature, not in searching out each individual figure as if it had a 

 separate principle of action, but in comprehending the movement and 

 the mass, for one indicates the whole. Where the figures thus cross 

 each other they are treated as a mass ; the outline of the whole group 

 is distinct and bold, being more or less abruptly mink to the ground, 

 but the outlines which come within the extreme outline are v,r\ 

 slightly relieved. In short, the principle here applied is precisely the 

 same as that observable in a single figure in the same style of relief : 

 the outline of the whole form is distinct, or rather most distinct win-n- 

 it is most important, and the internal markings are seldom suffered to 

 rival it, but are made subservient to this general effect. The relath.- 

 importance of the objects is, indeed, the only consideration which i- 

 suffered to interfere with this principle : thus loose drapery is some- 

 times slightly relieved on the ground, while a significant form '* 

 and then strongly relieved even on another figure. In comparing the. 

 slight varieties of treatment in these rilievi, it is to be remembered 

 that the end porticoes were a little wider than the lateral colonnade*. 

 It is undoubtedly to this circumstance that the difference of treatment 

 alluded to is to be referred; the figures in the end friezes are more 

 separated from one another, and consequently somewhat more relieved 

 than the compact processions on the side walls. 



The fact that these bassi-rilievi, as well as most of the sculpture of 

 the ancients, were partially painted, has been purposely left out of tin- 

 account, because the very contrivances resorted to are calculated to 

 supply the absence of colour. The custom in the best age of Grecian 

 art of ] minting architecture and sculpture may be defended or excused 

 elsewhere; it may be however here remarked, that while the ancient 

 sculptors added colour after having employed every expedient which 

 could supply it want, the moderns, in altogether rejecting it, often fail 

 to make use of those very conventions which its absence demands. 



It appears that the principle of suppressing the relief within the 

 extreme contour which, with the strong marking of the outline itself, 

 mainly constitutes the style of bnsso-rilievo, was employed by th- 

 ancient* in works of considerable relief, in interiors, in |nrticular light*, 

 and probably at some distance or elevation. The real projection which 

 works thus strictly belonging to the class of bsasi-rilievi may sometimes 

 present, points out the essential difference between basso and 

 rilievo : a work, even if in very slight general relief, which has the 

 parts that are nearest the most relieved, belongs to inezxo-rilievo ; while 

 a work which has the nearest parts least relieved, constitutes basso- 

 rilievo, whatever its general projection may be. In the former, the 

 outline is thus less apparent than the forms within it ; in the latter, 

 the outline is more apparent than the forms within it. The early 

 Greek and Etruscan rilievi, which, however flat, have the nearest parts 

 the fullest, while the outline is scarcely, if at all, rectangular in it 

 section, have thus the principle of mezzo-rilievo. They are even fitted 

 for near inspection, and cannot be said to present any unsatisfactory 

 convention ; for the bulk, however really thin, is proportionate in its 

 relief, and is so far directly imitative ; inasmuch as the eye consents to 

 a diminished scale of bulk as easily as to a diminished scale of height, 

 while the indistinctness of the outline has the effect of rounding the 

 form. Such works are besides fitted for near examination, because 

 they can scarcely command any shadow. Various specimens may be 

 seen in the British Museum. 



The antique vases of Arezzo were ornamented with figures in this 

 kind of relief. Certain silver vases mentioned by Pliny were of the 

 same description. The Egyptian intaglio, for so it may be called, 

 i.iih. r than rilievo, belongs to the same style. The Egyptian artist*. 

 instead of cutting away the background from the figure, sunk the out- 

 line, and slightly rounded the figure, on the principle of mezzo-rilievo, 

 within. Thus no part of the work projected beyond the general sur- 

 face, and the architectural profile was preserved. There are, however, 

 many very ancient examples at Thebes of figures slightly relieved from 

 the ground, somewhat on the principle of basso-rilievo as practised by the 

 Greeks, that is, with the nearest parts least relieved, and with out- 



