A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and ArtWright, Thomas
History
A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art
Wright, Thomas
Caricature -- History
The subject of our second example of the Greek caricature is better
known. It is taken from an oxybaphon which was brought from the
Continent to England, where it passed into the collection of Mr.
William Hope.[7] The _oxybaphon_ (ὀξύβαφον), or, as it was called
by the Romans, _acetabulum_, was a large vessel for holding vinegar,
which formed one of the important ornaments of the table, and was
therefore very susceptible of pictorial embellishment of this
description. It is one of the most remarkable Greek caricatures
of this kind yet known, and represents a parody on one of the most
interesting stories of the Grecian mythology, that of the arrival of
Apollo at Delphi. The artist, in his love of burlesque, has spared
none of the personages who belonged to the story. The Hyperborean
Apollo himself appears in the character of a quack doctor, on his
temporary stage, covered by a sort of roof, and approached by wooden
steps. On the stage lies Apollo's luggage, consisting of a bag, a
bow, and his Scythian cap. Chiron (ΧΙΡΩΝ) is represented as labouring
under the effects of age and blindness, and supporting himself by the
aid of a crooked staff, as he repairs to the Delphian quack-doctor for
relief. The figure of the centaur is made to ascend by the aid of a
companion, both being furnished with the masks and other attributes of
the comic performers. Above are the mountains, and on them the nymphs
of Parnassus (ΝΥΜΦΑΙ), who, like all the other actors in the scene, are
disguised with masks, and those of a very grotesque character. On the
right-hand side stands a figure which is considered as representing the
_epoptes_, the inspector or overseer of the performance, who alone wears
no mask. Even a pun is employed to heighten the drollery of the scene,
for instead of ΠΥΘΙΑΣ, the Pythian, placed over the head of the
burlesque Apollo, it seems evident that the artist had written ΠΕΙΘΙΑΣ,
the consoler, in allusion, perhaps, to the consolation which the
quack-doctor is administering to his blind and aged visitor.
[7] Engraved by Ch. Lenormant et J. de Witt, "Elite des Monuments
Céramographiques," pl. xciv.
[Illustration: _No. 11. The Flight of Æneas from Troy._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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