B A S 



f. 



B A S 



intelligible and eaily recognised appearance, and the im 



\ii-w. or chingini: (In 



light. the altitudes inure tlian in i 



. nml, a* will al n u- than in u basso-rilicvo 



. . h.Aicu-r distinct thu outline U in !.:! 

 tiii- c;,ii-i iinpn --, .1 nml meaning ut 1 the figure i 



xtrerue outlines arc in a groat 



DiMMire suppressed: it i, in fail, by their being so sup- 

 ral form becomes so distinct. This i 

 also the case when one form i* relieved on another; it wit 

 be wen that the nearest ohject is very tin. 



. lliat its khadow may not interfere with tin 



luoro iui|H>rtant shadows of the outlines on the ground, ant 



i) ut'lcil hap|M)ii that the HIM 'ion is 



l*a*t r. ,.i-.cd. It wili thus be evident that, owing to this 



power of suppressing the accidental shades and preventing 

 them from rivalling or being confounded with the essential 

 ones, the choice of attitudes becomes less limited, and many 

 a composition which in full relief would present a mass 

 of confusion from its scattered and equally dark shades, 

 may be quite admissible mid agreeable in basso-rilievo. 

 Accordingly the attitudes of statues, which ore generally 

 unfit for alto-rilievo, frequently occur in the tint style. 

 Visconti even supposes that certain figures in the b*Jki- 

 rilievi of the Parthenon suggested the attitudes of cele- 

 hrnted statues afterwards executed; as, for instance, the 

 Jason, or Cincinnatus, and the Ludovir-i Mars. As a re- 

 markable 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-riliuvo, 

 whereas in the (lut style it is adopted whenever the subject 

 demands it. In the annexed (ketch of an early Greek 

 hasso-riliovo, 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 Gla- 

 diator may be quoted as a prominent example. Th 

 position of the lower limlw, 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 limbs on the other could then no lone-'r he 

 suppressed, nx it is in this case, but would rival the shadows 

 of the whole flgnre on the ground. Among the metopes 

 of the Parthenon, the Phigaleian marbles, and the nlli- 

 rilievi of the Temple of Theseus, there is not a single 111- 

 tUnceof the contracted action alluded to; while in tl. 

 latter examples, the contrary position, or open display nf the 

 tgure, reocatedly recurs, even to sameness, Jl must however 



he admitted, that this open display of the figure, although not 

 presenting the most energetic action. . it is 



intelligible, and hence the finest cxhibitim 

 quite compatible with the limited attitude 

 sculptors Uul wisely confined tl. 



which compelled this limitation being ;itirely ob- 



viated in basso-rilievo, by the power of supp: 

 sure the shadows within the contour, 

 vantage taken of the latitude which was thus ! 

 gained. 



A better example cannot be referred to than the flat 

 rilicvi already mentioned from the cella of the Parthenon. 

 (See the next illustration.) The subject ta the 



Panathcnaic procession, and although no perspective dimi- 

 nution is admitted, several equestrian figures are 

 partly relieved one upon the other. The conl 

 which results from the number of similar forms in the . 

 tituu of the horses' limbs, as well as in t: >1 the 



horsemen, must be admitted ; but perhaps the sub; 

 thus better expressed than by simp! . and 



Uiis treatment contrasts finely with the single figures. In 

 a procession of horsemen moving two or three :. 

 are at once aware that the figures are similar, and tl.. 

 is satisfied, as it would lie in nature, not in out 



each individual figure as if it had a separate principle of 

 action, but in comprehending the movement ami 

 for one indicates the whole. Where the figures thus 

 each other they are treated as a 'line of the 



whole group is distinct and hold, beii: u 

 sunk to the ground, but the outlines which come v. 

 the extreme outline arc very slightly rein 

 the principle here applied is precisely the same as that 

 observable in a single figure in the same sixle of relief: the 

 outline of the whole form is distinct. <>r rather n 

 when- it i^ most important, and the internal markings are 

 seldom suffered to rival it, but are made MI 

 general effect. The relative importance of the objects is, 

 indeed, the only consideration which is suffered to interfere 

 with this principle : thus loose drapery i* sometime*, slightly 

 relieved on the ground, while a significant form is IIOA 

 then strongly relieved even on r.nother figure. In com- 

 paring the slight varieties of treatment in these rilicvi, it is 

 to be remembered that the end p Aider 



than thu lateral colonnades. It is undoubtedly to this cir- 

 that the difference of treatment alluded to is to 

 be referred ; the figures in the end friezes are more sepa- 

 rated from one another, and consequently somewhat 

 relieved than the compact processions on the side walls. 



The fact that these hassi-nlievi. as well n- n:..-: of tlie 

 sculpture of the antients, were partially painted, has been pur- 

 posely left ciitt i.l i he account, because the \. .uices 

 resorted to are calculated to supply the absence of colour. 

 The custom in the best ago of On > painting archi- 

 ccturc and sculpture may be <! 



where; it may be, ho i-ked, that while the 



antifiit sculptors added colour after having employed every 

 expedient which could supply iu want, ti -, in 



'together rejecting it, often tail to make use uf those MTV 

 nvaattons which its absence de un- 

 it npp'-nr- that the principle -nig the relief 

 within the extreme contour which, with the strong marking 

 of the outliii.- it-r'.l, mainly constitutes llicMjleof basso- 

 rilnvo, wan employed by the antients in works of << 

 durable relief, in interiors, in particular lights, and probublv 



