Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-11-21
SCHOOLS OF AIT.
The school OF Phidias OF Athens.

BY ROBERT NEWMAN.
Phidias, the foremost name in Greek art,
educated as painter by the magnificent
opportunities of the time, renowned the
art Of painting for sculpture, and becoming
through Pericles, director of public works
resred upon the waste field of ashes, to
which Athens was reduced by the Persians,
q series of works so unique and harmoni-
GUS in design, so wonderful in finish and
execution, that when completed Athens
was known TO the envious world IS "the
ornament" the jewel Of Attica. When
the rays Of the morning sun struck the
temples of the Acropolis, the gilded fanes
scintillated with an smulous glory, the
Doric shafts of the Parthenon caught the
tints Of rose bedded in blue shadows, ma
iestic works of sculpture surrounding,
stood blandly off from the blue heaven of
Greece. Minerva, the symbolic type of
Greek intellect lowered gigantic, and
guided the mariner of the Egean to a
haven of beauty.
The heroic Greeks in shining armor de-
filing through these portals, Athenians in
white robes and crowns Of flowers throng-
ing the battlements, the priests around the
altar of sacrifice, the ascending smoke OF
its offerings, give picture that leads us az
once to appreciate the stimulus Of the
Greek intellect and It's boast "know myself
to be man and become God"
From the rigor and horror of war, Mars
in panoply of steel lay at the feet of Venus
over Swallowed with roses; after the battle
the bower Of love.
This furious impulse moved through 3
century to exhaustion, with the appearance
of Alexander upon the scene, and period
of conquest, a food of Persian luxury
poured over Greece, the decline in Greek
art was signal, final and complete; her
scuptors and painters became ministers to
the vanity of the Romans and in the fourth
century of the Christian Era the decrepid
figure tumbled into its grave.
Shiploads of these works were lost in
the transit from Athens and Delphi to
Rome. Pliny and Pausanias number those
remaining by thousands. Many were de-
stroyed in the siege of Athens by the Vene-
tians and the spoliation of Lord Elgin left
the Acropolis a werck, a few broken columns
and crumbling walls; by these pillars stand
the Albanian robber where once stood the
calm figures of Socrates and Plato. The
remnants and fragments of these works,
the grandest and most glorious of them in
a rnutilated condition, fill the galleries OF
Rome, Florence and Paris.
The predominating featme Of Greek art
is in its simplicity and fullness Of beauty.
Pericles, in bis Grafton over the dead Of the
first and second years of the Peloponesian
war laws down its fundamental law. We
Athenians differ from others, said he, in this:
We unite taste with economy.
Auguste Comte, the Positivist, has said
that Art with Philosophy has passed
throu ii its triple state and is now in pro
cess OF transition impatiently awaiting
new impulse. Shall we of the new World
essay to re-echo the glory OF the past, or
shall we turn from this and boldly advance
with the new work.
All great Art is but reflex OF the glory
ard heroism, the elegance and beauty OF
people of perfect health and full develop
mept, physical and Intellectual. Have we
these elements in our midst? Do our
leaders point in that direction2 We have
but to regard attentively the fine sculptures
Of the Greeks to arrive at the conception OF
Its desira5ility. -