THE ART OF FOUNDING IN BRASS, COPPER AND BRONZE. 487 



a wonder to behold. Few persons could embrace the thumbs, and the fingers 

 were longer than the bodies of most statues. Through the fractures were seen 

 large cavities, into which large stones had been placed to balance it whilst stand- 

 ing." After the fall of the Roman Empire, when the island of Rhodes was con- 

 quered by the general-in-chief of the CaHph Othman, he sold the metal lying on 

 the ground, weighing about 720,900 pounds, to a Jew, who loaded 980 camels 

 in transporting it to Alexandria. 



A statue of Zeus, executed at Tarentum 326 b. c. by Lysippus ^the master 

 of the maker of the Colossus of Rhodes), was forty cubits high, and though it 

 could be moved by a touch of the hand, yet resisted the force of storms by a sup- 

 port at the point of greatest stress. 



On the number of bronze statues in these ancient times often depended the 

 wealth of the State, cities such as Athens and Delphos having some thousands each. 



Of the vast number made by the ancient sculptors nothing but a few frag- 

 ments remain; but if the colossal head of Venus in the British Museum be taken 

 as a typical example, it will show with what thinness and fineness the figures were 

 cast. Or, again, as an instance of the quality of Greek bronze, the figure of 

 Siris, also in the British Museum, on which a plate of bronze will be seen beaten 

 out till it reaches the thinness of note paper. 



But if the larger works fail, there is an abundance of statuettes, candelabra 

 mirrors, cestas and vessels of all kinds, Greek, Roman and Etruscan. 



Works in relief {Noreuma), whether beaten out, chased, or cast, are compar- 

 atively rare, though this branch of the art was practiced by the greatest sculptors 

 The Temple of Athene Chalkoites in Sparta had its walls covered with bronze 

 reUefs, but this was an exception to the general rule adopted in the temple deco- 

 ration. 



The greater number of mirrors that exist are Etruscan ; a few may be Roman 

 and Greek. But the general rule of their being Etruscan reminds us of the repu- 

 tation the Etruscans had for the production of works in bronze — not perhaps of 

 high art, but what may be more correctly termed, "industrial art." 



They were also celebrated for modeling in clay, and this, according to Pliny 

 "was the stage of art which immediately preceded casting in bronze, and went 

 hand in hand with it." 



The mirrors give the finest examples of patina which we find; in the alloy 

 there seems to have been mixed a considerable quantity of silver in order to ob- 

 tain a highly reflecting surface. 



For articles of furniture the Romans employed Greek artists and workmen. 

 In bronze were made the sellae, square seats carried about at Roman entertain- 

 ments ; also footstools. 



In the excavations made at Pompeii and Herculaneum various works in 

 bronzes are found, showing the general adaptation made of bronze by the Ro- 

 mans. 



V— 31 



