The Saint Paul globe., 1900-09-09
SCULPTURE 0F GREECE
WORK or THE MASTER HANDS OF
PRE-CHRIsTIAN DAYS UNa
APPROACHED
PHYDIAs THE LEADER oE ALL
The Greek Theology Largely Re-
sponsibIe for the Magnificent
Marbles Left By the
AneIents.

of the human race is the extraordinary
development of the plastic art In ancient
Greece. Hundreds of nations have
striven for the supremacy in other
branches of learning. but in sculpture
they have yielded the laurel to Greece
without a, st1uggse. It Is humi tating in
the extreme, but when one stops to ana
we the true conception of art he is eom-
PEELED to acknowledge that there Is sonls-
thing wanting Tn the nature l may say,
character. of the modern age. Art is
far more than a mere imitation of nature,
II it extended no farther than this 1t
would soon become a mechanical proc
ess. According to the best authorities
art is the operation by which the pre-
conceived idea of the artist enters the
world of phenomena and assumes its own
visible or audible Ehape. Thus art be-
comes a reflection of the thoughts Of
men. Therefore since wo cannot produce
nowadays forms equal in beauty to the
"Venus-de-4ilo" or the 'CniGian Aphro-
dite" must we rot infer that the minds
Of men are no longer filled with such
high ideals3 Can It be that we are made
of baserZstuff? Surely the mechanical
means are net wanting for the perfection
of an art equal in merit to any that the
world has ever seen Now let US seek
an explanation. not of our failure, but
Of the success. of the ancients.
With.-the Greeks the greatest object IN
life was to attain perfect manhood. both
physically and mentally. 1t was to
achieve this that they exerted their
energy and expended their wealth Hence
we find schools for the training OF the
mind, and gymnasts for the development
Of the body. Now combine this no
bleness of purpose with the natural fac
ulty for imitation, and you have a fairly
good explanation of their grand success.
7 High ideals fertility of brain, what more
was wanting for the perfection of true
art2- SCULPTURE deals almost entirely with
the human form. In choosing subjects
for sculpture what could be more natural
than that the Greeks should select what
was to them the grandest work of ma
tUre7 Here was an unlimited opportunity
for the development Of character. No>
bleness. wisdom, strength might all be
depicted with marvellous accuracy upon
a block of marble Nor need the artist
stop at the imitation of the real He
might elevate himself above the ac-
Qualities of the world and create the
faultless image of the minds ideal.
| 1t is here that the Greek religion plays an
important part.
GREEK WAS PRACTICAL.
The Greek theogony is essentially an
thropomorphic, and it is this union of
the divine and the human in mythology
that we are indebted for the greatest
achievements in art. The Greek was in
| tensely practical in some respects, and
could tolerate no abstraction. The spir-
itual must always .partake of the cor
poreal form. and, on the other hand,
| the corporeal always had a spiritual i'm
port. Hence the images of the gods were
chiseled in marble The delties them
selves were regarded as being consumed
| with love or devoured by hate in quite
the same manner as mortals. This we
clearly perceive, was also favorable 10
art; it allowed the artist to portray -
gods IN various moods. In the earlier
times the identity Of god was made
known by his attribute, but later, as the
religion became more fixed, this sign was
no longer necessary. The features of Gne
respective deities were as familiar to a
Greek as were the faces of his parents.
notwithstanding this fact, there was no
| attempt to Specialize beauty. You may
compare all the statues of the ancient
world and you will find uniform beauty
! throughout This principle seems to have
been handed down through the ages
That same>divine expression of ccunte-
seen on the "Slstine Madonna of
Raphael. There is only the tendency to-
ward general perfection.
| The Christian religion, although more
! perfect and beautiful than the old forms
! of worship, may still, perhaps, be re-
| sponsible to some extent for the change
| in the artistic nature of men. Whereas,
| an image of the Supreme Being would
be an inspiration to a Greek, it would be
| inconceivable and repulsive TO us, for, ac-
cording to our belief, mo man may lttok
/ M
the Christian religion have tendency TO
do away with that independence of body
and soul which is SO necessary to the
/ plastic art This is where the Greeks
! had the advant&%g of US. To them the
| body was not the prison, but the beauti-
! full temple of the soul. The life of the
mortal was as joyous as that of the de-
! parted. Indeed, the existence Of the gods
was very similar to that of earthly be-
| ings. The gods slipped their nectar with
quite as keen enjoyment as their sub
| jects upon earth imbibed their wine.
Heaven and earth were united by a kind
! of bridge, over which the gods, demi-
gods and heroes passed to and fro. Gods
and men were one in origin. 1t was only
! their powers that differed Thus sur
rounded by deitieS, and living in an at
| mosphere half divine is it any wonder
that this primitive people arrived q
point of artistic culture bordering on
| perfection.
| Sculpture in Greece probably had it's orr
gin IN much the same way chat it 4
IN other countries. The early specimens
! that are preserved to us are quite as
crude as those of ancient Egypt. Anti
quarians tell US that there is positive
proof that the first art period began as
| early as 1900 B. G. But, since the discov-
cries of DR.. Schliemann have almost
proved the existence of the ancient city
of Troy. or a city of about the same age.
there is a bare possibility that Greece
may rival Egypt in point of antiquity
DAWN OF GREEK SCULPTURE.
Excepting the Pelasgian walls or Cy
called, perhaps among the oldest speci-
mems of Greek art, are Lion Gate at
Mycenae and the Niobe on Mount SipyIus.
They are SO old that even the Hellenic
people had no knowledge of their origin.
Archaeolog1StS differ widely in their opin-
ions, but it is generally conceded that
these treasures belong to a period not
later than loco B. G. From the period
assigned to the Homeric poems down to
the time of the first historical notices of
seufptors, several centuries elapsed
During this time sculpture made but lit
tie advancement, the interval being given
to work. in relief Iteis not until we find
work sin the round that names are
bronze preceded the working of marble
but never arrived at as great perfection
Many stories are handed down t. us about
the costliness of these works of art
Phidias, we are informed, modelled q
statue Of Zeus out of ivory and gold
which stood forty feet In height From
this we can see that unlimited enthusi-
asm must have have prevailed to make
such a collection of wealth possible Aft
er Sculptors began to work in marble i
tod no