Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-03-02
The Art Lectures.

The Art Lectures.
Nc. .. OF TEE SECOND sERIEs-THE PARTHESoN
By PROF. ToRRET.
The second lecture of the Art course, las
evening, filed the room, with the customary
choice audience. A large drawing of the
front elevation of the Parthenon, measuring
tifully executed by Mr.. Augustus Torrey. c.
E, stood on an easel on one side of the stand,
and WAS of great assistance in illustrating
the very clear and graphic descriptions OF
the lecturer. Behind the stand hung a mum.
Der of large photographs of some of the
most noted sculptures of the Parthenon, fur,
nished by Rev. l.. .. Brastow and Mr.. Ware.
1HE LECTURE
opened with brief allusion to the famous
thoughts in marble" the products of the
great age of Art, the age OF Phidias which
adorned the plateau about as large as the
College Park of the Athenian Acropolis,
two thousand years ago. Chief among these.
towering over them, and enriched with the
finest sculptures the world las ever seen,
was the stately iarthenou. supreme in ar
chitecture. The conditions under which
such mOnumrnt of gepir became possible
were: |. A region and elm ats friendly to Art,
the deep blue sky of Attica, against which
her marble temples stood out brilliantly, the
pellucid air IN which every sculptured line
was distinct and every shadow was crisp and
tender. , The stimulus of beautiful
landscape. ;. A heenly responsive aesthetic
nature III the people, over whom beauty and
especially the beauty of the human form had
almost the power OF Religion, and whose
pride and public spirit made them willing to
devote the aecumulations in the public trea-
sury, to public works of such vast cost 4.
A great Past, which furnished in History and
legend, the noblest subjects to the sculptor.
5. A mountain Of white marble, Mt Peuteli-
Gus. a few miles from Athens, which sup
piled the most perfect material. unsurpassed
in all the world, in purity and tineness of
texture. 6. The clear head the genius and
the eloquence of Pericles ''the Olympian,
in whom as her foremost citizen was repre-
sented the sovereignty of the Athenian State
and who without thought of self aggrandize-
ment took into his hands the chief Offices of the
State; whose busy brain conceived the splen-
did establishment OF the Acropolis; and
whose resistless oratory secured, against the
opposition of Thucydides and others the vast
appropriations needed Tor the work.
The Partbenon did not differ essentially
in plan from the other Doric temples which
had long crowned so many of the hills
OF Greece. 1t was in its absolute proper
tions, its faultless lines, and the richness of
its scuptural adornments, with its fifty stat
ues OF superhumsn size upon its pediments,
It's 81 metopes Tor psnels) adorned with
high relief. and the 500 feet of inner
frl,ze, crow ded with figures in low relief,
that II surpassed them all. Within was the
Colossal statue of Athene Parthenos, of
gold and ivory, from which it took its
maine. Within eight years, or according
to the most recent estimates, sixteen years,
this stulendOus work was wholly con-
-tructed Or the stir IT Athens while
1t was building P!utarch tells US. There |
were, he says, on the one hand the mate |
rials, the stone. bronze, ivory, gold. ebony, |
cypress wood, and on the other the various |
hsndicrafts-the builders ,sculptors, brsziers,
stone-cutters, dyers, gold heaters, painters |
on ivory, embroiderers. carvers, the en- gi- |
neers and miners, and their assistants, each |
profession having a great throng OF hired
labJrers, and bringing workers of every
age and employment into requisition.
Though 1t would be an error to attribute
the whole merit of the building to lctinus
and Callicrates, its architects, or of its
adjournment to Phiiias, the genius Of Pbidias
shone through it all directing the hundreds
OF nameless artizans whose skill entitled
them to the name Of artist. and who
wrought out his dream in marble.
The Parthenon was not a temple for wor-
ship. Ii had no altar. Religiously. it was
a magnificent vctive Offering to Athene,
and the shrine Of her greatest statue. Ii
Lad also secular use, as the State treasury
and Exchange, the theatre OF coronations,
and the memorial of the power and pomp
Of the Athenian State.
1t was opened to the public for the first
time at the great Pan-Athensic festival.
in the year 435 before Christ. Let US ioin
the procession which then passed through
the splendid portals Of the Acropolis. lii
midsummer. For days the gymnastic
games and the poetical and musical con-
tests have been going on. The torch-races
TILED the night before with splendor. 1t is
Athene's birthday. and the procession
starts at sunrise. The busy srchons and
heralds, on foot and horseback, marshal the
throng. Ii is religious ce. emory, and ,
its object Is to bear the sacred vestment to
cover the wooden image Of Athene, the
patron divinity OF the city, in the temple
OD the Acropolis. Note the basket bearers,
.
whom are the menials bearing seats and
Iars o. water. These are the wives Of the 7
aliens. Then come the aliens in red tunics c
bearing trays filed with cakes of wax for
The sacrifice ; and next the Attic citizens.
prominent among them the victors in the Q
saInes, and the odd men with olive branch a
Is. holding place of honor because of their +,
beauty. The players upon instru- !.
nents are there. and following them the
brilliant parade CT four-horse chsriots and
avalry. the rich men on their Thessalian v
hargers and the youths on horses kept at .
tate expense for this occasion Next come
be sleek kline tor the Sacrifices and people
rom the Islands and the colonies bringing
herr offerings OF sheep and cattle. The R
ing Procession winds through the CITY.
aseing on its way to the Acropolis, the low =.
Ill. On which. nearly five centuries later. a u
IAN whom the Atbenlans will call bah IL
Ter, will stand with words of Christian n
'lth which shall long outlast their asthet- U
ldolatries. We pass with the procession ~
ithin the lower gateway to the height and u
nd ourselves at the foot Of a staircase of RI
lre white marble. seventy feet broad, md II
hundred long. Above, il ends in a porch al
purest Pen,eile marble, cleaning like . g
'ystal from the brow of the Acropolis-the te
nous PrOpylaea. At the top, a heller is
Tor sacrifice TO the small Ionic temple of IN
lctory unSlnged-ttey have taken off ct
u wings. Tor she must abide now at Athens tn
the pearl Of Attic architecture. Among p
e sculptures on its psrapet will be seen a
sceiul form bending forward to loose pc
om her raised foot the sandal, while sbe S
alntains her poise like bird by the aut-
ring OF her wings. A cast OF this IL in hu
Park Gallery. 1t we could stop in the Ii
ii oil the Propyl;ea, on the left, We should
there the finest paintings Of which Greece in
ald Boast. the work OF Polyg notus Pas de
Y through one of the five great gates sa,
10 doors oil bronze beyond the Propyl,si, ne
emerge upon tie AcropUlis plateau. De
front rises an immense bronze figure
on lofty pedestal--the Athene Promacbos IL.
the hand Of Phidias The majestic Ioru a !
the wsrlike goddess. so feet 10 height
ks down from IFS towering pedestal upon wa
city. and sailors leagues away catch the s3
tier oi her helmet and the fash of her I
ar The Parthonon is now before us mai
the prOces>lur moves around TO its a I,
ut at the further end Of the plateau onI
sacr ices; the carrying of the sacred eip
'lum to the Erechtheum, to DO placed an for
" Atnehe follas, and the cOron- the
IN OF the champions Of the day. in the nal
'thenOn, follow. e
ne lecturer proceeded to describe the the
thenon. IL stands on marble terrace in ,
hree steps the firm base OF the strnc. rec,
.. The upper surface of this is the s,v. n
Ute, or platform, loo feet wide, 225 feet can
Z. On which stand the columns. Reli. CON-
a. art. and building require something ava
e than horizontal lines and surtace. of !
y demand the vertical line and surface t;or
ding, because 1t must enclose space and S2I
supports art. because it must have tha,
trasts; religion, because the unward This
expresses aspiration. These demands
met IN The 81 great huted columns
ca surround the building and determin,
for no private house was
Sed To nave rows Of columns
re are eight of these ON each ina,
Being Of the sturdy Doric order ma !
have no bases. They are SIX teet twn Hai
es IN diameter and "a feet biyb e.cS bull
e OF many blocks. fitted with the M. ny,
skhi, AID huted after they were on I
ted. The Hating breaks up the surf.ce be Z