381 



SCULPTURE. 



SCULPTURE. 



392 



former however it lasted for a limited period only ; with the latter it 

 extended throughout their whole existence. 



The first sculptors whose names are recorded are Daedalus, Smilis, 

 and Endoeus. The earliest person called Daedalus was descended, 

 according to the ancient traditions, from a royal stock, being grandson 

 of Erectheus, king of Athens. He is said to be the first sculptor who 

 ventured to separate the legs of his statues. He also was the inventor 

 of the saw, the axe, lever, &c. It is impossible to say how much fable 

 and exaggeration have been admitted into the accounts of this 

 remarkable discoverer ; and it is equally vain to attempt to distinguish 

 the inventions of the earlier artificers who bore this name, from the 

 improvements introduced at subsequent times by others so called. 



his was in all probability a general title, for some time, given to 



any distinguished mechanist or figure-maker, as figures of a certain 



style or character were denominated Dacdala (AniSaAo). Pausanias 



(iz. 3, &c.) says " the ancients called wooden figures Dicdala ; " and he 



that he thinks it likely that the artist was called after the works, 

 rather than by his own name; thus making Daedalus a title or 

 surname. The same author was shown some wooden statues attributed 

 to Daedalus, which he admits were not beautiful, but he says there was 

 in them a certain air of grandeur (ii. 4). Smilis was a native of yEgina, 

 and the son of Euclides. He was said to be contemporary with 

 Daedalus, and he made a statue of Juno at Samoa. Endoeus was an 

 Athenian, and a scholar of Daedalus, and. according to ancient writers, 

 executed various important works. Pausanias (vii. 5) speaks of a 

 colossal statue in wood of Minerva Polios, which was preserved in his 

 time in the temple of Erythnc in Ionia. It was a seated figure. 

 Other statues by this artist are also mentioned, executed in stone and 

 in ivory. 



A mere list of the earlier Greek sculptors can throw little light upon 

 the state of the art ; more especially when the existence of many of 

 those whose names are handed down to modern times may fairly be 

 questioned, at least as to the dates assigned to them ; and of their 

 skill we certainly possess no authentic examples. 



About 869 B.C., Phidon of Argos is said to have struck the first 

 money in Greece, in the island of ,gina. Some extremely rude and 

 simple coins of that Island are extant ; the device is a tortoise ; and 

 from the very primitive style of execution, they are thought not to be 

 very remote from the period alluded to. It has been supposed that 

 the employment of metal for sculpture took place soon after the 

 striking of money under Phidon ; and about this time we find mention 

 made of statues of brass or bronze. 



Among the sculptors recorded in the annals of art is Oitiadas of 

 8|>arta, of whom there were works remaining at Lacedaemon at the 

 time of Pausanias (lib. iii. 17). Gitiadas exercised the profession of 

 architecture as well as sculpture. Learchus also, a sculptor of 

 Hhegium, is placed about this date. Pausanias mentions a bronze 

 .statue of Zeus at Lacedaemon, which was said to be by Learchus, 

 and he calls it the most ancient statue in that material known to exist. 

 The next names of importance that occur in the history of art are 

 Telecles, Rhrccus, and Theodoras, to whom sculpture seems to have 



indebted for various and great improvement*. Their reputation 

 for skill was so high, and their innovations in the practice of art so 

 important, that they were even called inventors of some branches of 

 it. which, however, it is obvious must have been known long before 

 they appeared. Such, fur instance, was the case with modelling, or the 

 plastic art, which Pliny (' Hist. Nat.', xxxv. c. 12), recording without 

 examination all that he read, says was attributed to them ; though he 

 himself declares that this discovery was claimed by or given to 

 Dibutades of Corinth. Uh'ncus and Theodorus were born at Samos. 

 (' Pans ', viii. 14.) There appear to have been two sculptors of the 

 latter name ; one the son of Ithwcus, the other of Telecles. Rhcecus, 

 .irchitect as well as statuary, is said by Herodotus (iii. 60) to have 

 Imilt the temple of Hera at Samoa. He was also considered the author 

 of a statue, of a female, which the Kpbcsians called Night. Pausanias 



that he was unable to find any bronze work of Theodorus ; but 

 Pliny alludes to several by an artist of that name. Theodorus, the 

 on of Telecles, was considered the inventor of on art which was rarely 



Ued by the ancients, that of casting figures in iron. According 

 to I [erodotus, Theodorus engraved the celebrated rinx of Polycrates, 

 tyrant (if Samos. He is also said to have made one of two magnificent 

 vases which were presented by Cncsus. king of Lydia, to the temple at 

 Delphi. It has been argued from this circumsfancu that Theodorus 

 must have lived at a later dale tlian that usually assigned to him. 

 IJut it in not stated that the vase was made expressly for Croesus. It 



re probable that it was among the treasures of the king, and from 



its age, the reputation of its maker, and its intrinsic value, might have 



been thought worthy of dedication. Theodorus is noticed by Pliny 



fur a work of great delicacy and minuteness, a statue in brass of him- 



i; in one hand a file, alluding probably to his profession; 



i i the other a quadriga, so small that a fiy might cover it with his 



. With respect to the dates of the above artists, Pliny says 



lived long prior to the expulsion of the Bacclu.id.i- from Corinth, 

 an event which occurred in the thirteenth Olympiad, about 659 B.C. 

 It is conjectured, therefore, that Khcocus, and the first and second 

 Theodorus, lived between 800 and 700 years B.C. 



The introduction of casting in metal forms an interesting epoch in 

 the history of art, and it ii to be regretted that our information with 



respect both to time and place, that is, the part of the country in 

 which it was first practised by artists of Greece and Asia Minor, is so 

 limited. The fact of Learchus of Rhegium being recorded as one of 

 the earliest statuaries would lead to the inference that the art was 

 known in Italy before it was adopted in Greece. 



Some antiquaries place Dipcenua and Scyllis between 800 and 700 

 B.C., a date which Flaxman (' Lect.', p. 75. 79) adopts in speaking of 

 these sculptors. Others supposed they lived as late as 540 B.C. They 

 have been called the first artists who employed marble for sculpture 

 (Pliu., ' Hist. Nat.', xxxvi. 4), but it is more likely that the expression 

 upon which this opinion has been founded means that they were 

 eminently distinguished for their skill (which may have been extra- 

 ordinary at the time) in working in that beautiful material. They 

 were employee! by the Sicyonians to make for them certain statues of 

 their gods ; but we are told that having taken some offence, they 

 quitted Sicyou, leaving their work unfinished. The country was soon 

 after afflicted with famine ; and, upon consulting the oracle, the 

 Sicyonians were told that it would cease when the statues of the gods 

 were completed. Dipoenus and Scyllis were persuaded to return, and 

 they finished the statues ; they were of Apollo, Artemis, Heracles, and 

 Athene. Among their numerous scholars we find Learchus of 

 Rhegium, which will account for the earlier date that is assigned 

 them. They are also called the masters of Tectaous and Angelion, 

 Doryolidas, Dontas, Medon, and Theocles. (' Paus.', ii. 32 ; iii. 17, &c.) 

 Dipoenus and Scyllis were considered the founders of the school of 

 Corinth. 



From the earlier time of which mention has been made, down to 

 about 550 B.C., there probably was little change in the style of sculp- 

 ture, although great improvement in execution or mechanical power 

 doubtless extended the extensive practice which the growing admira- 

 tion of art occasioned. In a country in which all the efforts of genius 

 were justly appreciated, sculptors, who were called upon to represent 

 the most exalted objects, were likely to exert themselves to the utmost 

 to arrive at perfection ; and the remains of art afford sufficient evidence 

 that from the time alluded to, that is, between the 6th and 7th cen- 

 turies before our era, when the first difficulties had been surmounted, 

 the advancement of sculpture was rapid and uninterrupted. 



It is not necessary to give a mere list of names of the artists who are 

 supposed to have lived to this time. So much that is uncertain is 

 mixed up with the notices of them that are found in Pliny, Pausanias, 

 and others who refer to them, that the inquiry into their personal 

 history would rather impede than advance our present object. 



Up to the period at which we are now arrived, sculpture seems to 

 have been practised most generally and successfully in the Greek 

 colonies of Asia ; but the consequences of the revolt against Darius, 

 the son of Hystaspes, were utterly destructive to their further progress. 

 Many of the temples were burnt by the Persians, and the inhabitants 

 were carried to distant places, or were reduced to a state of slavery. 

 But as art fell in Asia, it acquired vigour in Europe, and the artists of 

 vEgina, Sicyon, and Corinth diffused the principles of good taste and 

 the knowledge of art throughout neighbouring countries ; a feeling for 

 a grand style of sculpture was soon exhibited wherever any opportunity 

 occurred for the practice of the art. It is interesting to be able to 

 refer, in illustration of the character of the art at this time, to some 

 undoubted remains of sculpture of a period certainly not very remote 

 from that under consideration. These consist of eleven statues which 

 decorated the western and five statues that stood in the eastern pedi- 

 ments of a temple in the island of /Egina, where they were discovered, 

 in the year 1812, by some English and German travellers. An account 

 of them, with a detailed notice of their style of execution, is given 

 under yEiaxKTAN ART. 



The Selinuntine marbles, so called from their having been found at 

 Seliuunte, on the site of the ancient Selinus, in Sicily, are very curious 

 examples of early art. They consist of fragments of marble alti-rilievi, 

 and seem to have formed part of the decoration of two temples, of which 

 traces still remain. There are some peculiarities about these sculptures 

 which are characteristic of two different styles of art. Those which 

 belonged to one (distinguished as the Eastern) temple, have many 

 points of close resemblance to the style of the Archaic (^Eginetan) 

 school, while those of the western temple appear to have come either 

 from a more barbarous hand, or to be of a much earlier date than the 

 others. Without having the sculpture to refer to, it is difficult to 

 explain in what these peculiarities consist, but a comparison of ' what 

 remains of a head of Athene, and that of a dying or wounded warrior, 

 with some others of the collection, will suggest the inference we have 

 ventured to draw. The head of the dying figure closely resembles (in 

 character) that of the warriors in the marbles of /Egiua ; in the other 

 figures there is a greater resemblance to the full overcharged forms 

 described as characteristic of the very earliest art, and approaching 

 indeed in some degree to the works of the Egyptians. At a later 

 period than that to which these sculptures may be referred, the artists 

 of ^Egina were invited by the tyrants of Sicily to execute works in 

 that country. It is highly probable, therefore, that in more remote 

 times, and when art was still less known or practised there, foreign 

 artists should have been employed in furnishing the decoration of the 

 temples of newly founded cities. These artists would be the most 

 esteemed of the time, and the rising school of yKgina would doubtless 

 take a high rank amongst them. Joined with these, or probably 



