The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-12-17

oliths, the collosi, her chiseled mon
strosities. all are wonderful, but surely
never beautiful. On the other hand it
requires no peculiar culture, no re-
fined taste, to see the inherent beauty
of the ParthenOn. the Crechtheum, and
the many remnants of sculpture that
filled pediments and freize. In them,
art and science combined to produce
beauty.
A brief survey of Grecian art will
show us those underlying features
which gave to it that superiority which
has characterized it above every work
of its kind.
10 sculpture, the Greeks gave the
most poetic factors in the establish |
ment of their art as the standards OF
the future-naturaln life, activity,
expression, not mass Of cut stone, but
a ifelike rendition of the living figure,
of which study and observation gave
them profound knowledge. The
workmanship also must be regarded as
of the best to present nature In that
free masterful manner, and the power
of expressing in the dead marble
living idea, a universal truth.
We need only gaze upon the sculp-
lures of the ParthenOn to see that tidel-
: ity to nature, giving us in curving lines
of beauty the dstended nostril. the
flashing eye, the look Of wild intell-
gence, the flowing name. the arched
neck, plant muscle, the quiverlng
form of the tempered horse. every line
4 and curve accentuating its part of ma
t ture, the whole living. active simii-
tude. In the human form many eX-
amples are given in various attitudes,
each showing the delicate distinctive
I grace and finish, that harmony of line
, and position, that subtle style, which
stamps the best work of the great
. artists.
n Here sits Neptune in Watchful con-
;, versation with Apollo. We pause and
wonder. There a quiet trio of Athenian
II citizens wend their way to the cere-
t monies. Yonder stands the Fates,
daughters Of Nox and Erebus, ClOtho
n holding the distaff Lachesis drawing
TT the life thread AtrOpOs ready to sever
it when drawn. Near by stands tower
ing aoft in majestic stately dignity
the Goddess Athene, to whom the tenn
pie was dedicated Each and ali are
perfect in the attitude they copy. You
seem to listen for the words that fall
from the lips of Neptune, to partake
V of the restful quiet of the Athenian
e to wonder whose life thread Atropos
r next will sever, to acquire some OF the
q dignity that enshrouds Athene: surely
e ifelike. living. is the sculptured stone
d What matter it whether Phidias was
d the masterhand of all or a part of this
e great work. The art itself is there
e None can dispute that point, though
e we may be sure that the head of Phidias
s. did more than the hand that his brain
it conceived the plan others may have
e executed. The subsequent tragic enc
d of Phidias points the chief character
h istic of the Greek race.
d On every hand the nations of the
n dead past present us with grand struc
or lures of their religious life, but the
b. lapse of centuries has failed to produce
from the nations of earth the equal in
re beauty and grandeur of the Parthenon
n that lives on, outlined by the glory OF
re its past, through the gathering cycles
ic of time, in sublime grandeur upon the
ri Acropolis; and from that height o.
. glory radiates over Greece of old anC
~ :. the modern world an artistic spell, tina
IT, replaces the fervor of the old time
y worshiper with the enthusiasm of thu
ut artist of today, who bends, not to {
TO mythical goddess, but to living
80 breathing art.