THE GREEK RIDING-HORSE. 83 



likely that it was the want of technical skill 

 which prevented the artist from representing 

 what he had in mind to represent; then, too, 

 he might be fettered by convention. When 

 we look at a picture on an archaic vase, we 

 are standing at the very cradle of the art of 

 painting, — in order of time the last of the fine 

 arts which the Greeks developed. And we 

 see on vases of the more cultivated period 

 many things which illustrate the power which 

 lies in methods sanctified by custom — that is, 

 in convention — to over-ride the real know- 

 ledge of the art of painting and the greater 

 perfection of technique which existed at the 

 time of the production of such works. In 

 criticising an equestrian statue or a relief for 

 a frieze, one should always remember that it 

 was intended to be placed at a considerable 

 elevation and to be looked at from below, so 

 that exaggeration of certain parts was often 

 necessary, — such, for instance, as in the 

 treatment of the eyes of the famous horse's 

 head by Phidias * in the eastern pediment of 

 the Parthenon. But when all allowances are 

 made, a perfect horse is as rare a thing in 

 * See the opposite cut. 



