The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-08-01

the British museum. A German
artist In seeing these statues for the first
time IL reported 10 have said: "They
seem formed as II In strict accord with
nature, aud yet have never had the
good fortune to behold such forms In
nature; they are beings OF n higher
sphere" What strikes the behoder
especially In these figures Is not only the
nobility of the expression OF the face,
the dignity and calmness Of the bearing,
but the ineffable grace and airiness OF the
entire group, and the complies mastery
OF the arrangement withla the lines snt
angles Of the neld Of the gable.
or all The preserved remains Of ancient
Cock sculpture nothing SO closely ap-
proximates the peditnent groups OF the
Parthenon In Attic hneness OF feeling
and loneliness as the relief that adorned
the balustrade OF the temple OF Wingless
Victory, sometimes called the Nike fneze,
from the row Of figures representing god
desses OF victory In all attitudes Of grace
full posture and triumphant motion.
constitute this relief.
From the later imitators of Phidias
originate those exquisite scpulchral re-
liefs that seem stepped as Il were in the
Attic beauty-loving spirit, full Of "noble
simplicity and calm grandeur" Such are
the beautiful sepulcher monuments OF
Derileus OF Hegeso that still grace the an
eient resting place OF the dead at
Athens.
THE GRAND STYLE.
II the school OF Phidias wrought espe-
eiallY In the noble and grand style, the
next school, that of Praxiteles, skopas
and Lysippus, affected especially the win
some and graceful style. As being more
in keeping with this style. the scnlptors OF
this period chose less lofty subjects for
their art. Zeus, Athena and Hera were
superseded as favorite diyinities for
representation by Hermes, Aphrodite
and Dionysus. A subtle taste for
the sensational and the yolup-
tuous began 10 manifest It.
self. The noblest specimens OF this
period. such as the Crispian Aphrodite
and the Hermes Of Praxitelcs (recently
found In the excavations at Olympia) the
Niobe group OF Skopas, and the Amazon
relief of the mausoleum from Halicarnas-
sus, to be seen In the British museum, give
evidence OF an exquisite touch and deli
cate beauty and a subtle pathos, which Is
Just on the verge OF suggesting the ease
with which this style could pass over into
the sensational and merely physical type
OF beauty.
But this tendency becomes more pro-
nounced In Lysippus, whose fertility Of
invention and prolific skill are sttested by
the greatest variety Of subjects. The num-
Der OF his works Is said 10 have been no
less than fifteen hundred, among which
were to DO found large groups, statues OF
gods and heroes, portrait figures. bigas,
hunting scenes, personihcations Of
abstracts ideas, such as kdiros, or ''the
right movement for action" and other
genre representations.
After Lysippus, who 6ourished In the
time OF Alexander the Great, Greek art
speedily declined. No new principle Of
technic and no new idea seem TO have
been introduced into the plastic art OF the
Greeks after this.
The spiritual leadership OF Athens IN art
departed with the loss Of her political In
dependence. Antioch. Pergamon and
Alexandria became the centres OF art cul-
ture. IL was the age Of extravagance and
imitation. In this period belong the
colossal and the realistic creations Of the
Rhodian school, which took delight In such
groups as the so-called Farnese bull and
the LAGOON, and IN single figures OF huge
proportions such as the Farnese Hercules
and the Colossus Of Rhodes.
But the old spirit which made beauty OF
form and grace of movement, combined
OF all endeayor, died hard. IL survives all
alterations and struggles to assert itself
In the midst Of strivings after shallow
effect and extravaganza. To IL we owe
such statues as that Of the Apollo Belvi-
dere and the Venus OF Milos, both Of
which give evidence Of poetic conception,
and beauty OF touch aud finish. But we
miss in them the simplicity and dignity Of
better days; they are too concious Of their
beauty; the refinement and elegance Of
their attire and equipment proclaim a
somewhat degenerate taste.
In later days the Greek spirit again
triumphed when the archalstic sculpture,
modelled especially In Rome, sought TO
reproduce the graces and catch the spirit
OF the genius OF Phidias and Praxiteles.
But 1t was all in vain-copies they were,
but nothing more; the spirit had forever
fled. When we contemplate the genius Of
the Greeks as illustrated In the various
departments OF intellectual and esthetic
activity, think we shall agree with
symonds Chapter ~, "The Greek Poets, 4"
second series) and take sculpture as the
Characteristic Hellenic art. In closing
this hasty skctch of the development OF
Greek architecture and sculpture, let me
say with him; Everything tends TO con-
firm the original perception that the sim
plicity OF form, the purity OF design, the
self-restraint, aud the parsimony both Of
expression and material, imposed by
sculpture on the artist, were observed as
laws by the Greeks In their mental activ.
fly, and more especially In their arts. II
is this which differentiates them from the
romantic nations. When, therefore, we
undertake 10 speak OF the genius Of Greek
art, We are justified In giving the FIRST
place 10 sculpture, and In assuming that
sculpture strikes the keynote Of the whole
music"
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DAMAsCENE WORK.
~ Al. A.