Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
The head of the _Agias_ is turned slightly upward and to the left.
Treu found traces of the use of a file on the back of the neck of
the head from Olympia, which show from their position, what also
was clear from the muscles of the throat, that this head also was
inclined somewhat to the left and upward, possibly more than that of
the _Agias_. The outlines of the face—lean and bony in both—are oval,
in the head from Olympia somewhat broader, rounder, and fleshier
toward the chin. In both the forehead is remarkably low, with a low
depression or crease in the middle, and with a prominently projecting
superciliary arcade, which breaks the continuous line from forehead
to nose very perceptibly. This line is concave above and below, but
convex at the projection itself, though this is less prominent in the
_Agias_. The powerful framing of the eyes, which are deep-set and
thrown into heavy shadows by the projecting bony structure of the brows
and the overhanging masses of flesh, the eyeballs slightly raised and
peering eagerly into the far distance, the slight upward inclination
of the head, and the prominent forehead drawn together, all combine
to give both heads (though young and vigorous) a pensive, even a sad
look of heroic dignity, a look seemingly of one who takes no joy nor
pleasure in victory, though it is not mournful. This humid and pensive
expression was doubtless a characteristic of works of Lysippos—it was,
as we know, present in his portraits of Alexander—but he did not treat
it with as great intensity as did Skopas.
The eyeballs in both heads are strongly arched, though the inner angles
are not so deep as in Skopaic heads; the raised upper lids form a
symmetrically narrow and sharply defined border over the eyeball,
and in neither head is this lid covered by a fold of skin at the outer
corners, as in the Tegea heads; the mass of flesh at the outer corners
is heavier in the head from Olympia, and the expression of the eyes is
more free and defiant than in the more meditative _Agias_. In both, the
cheek bones are high and prominent. The elegant contour of the lips of
the _Agias_ is wholly wanting in the head from Olympia, in which the
lips are broken off, like the nose and the chin, but it is clear that
the lips were slightly parted, just showing the teeth—not, however, as
in the Tegea examples, as if the breath were being drawn with great
effort. The look of pensiveness is also increased by the open lips. The
contour of the jawbone is not so visible as in the _Agias_, where it is
clearly discernible beneath the closely drawn skin, giving the face a
look of greater leanness, as of an athlete in perfect training.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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