The Glory That Was Greece: a survey of Hellenic culture and civilisationStobart, J. C. (John Clarke)
History
The Glory That Was Greece: a survey of Hellenic culture and civilisation
Stobart, J. C. (John Clarke)
Art, Greek; Greece -- Civilization -- To 146 B.C.
Advertisement, you see, was in the air. The almost extreme
self-repression of the individual was passing, and in the same spirit a
wealthy ruler of Caria who in Greek eyes was a tyrant and in Persian
eyes a satrap determined to raise a tomb for himself and his wife which
should also be a wonder of the world. His name was Mausolus, and the
Mausoleum he built consisted of a columned shrine raised upon a lofty
pedestal and surmounted with a pyramidal structure of ever-narrowing
square courses of masonry, the whole crowned by a colossal portrait
statue of Mausolus and his wife Artemisia in a chariot. Considerable
remains were found by Sir Charles Newton at Halicarnassus, and are now
in the British Museum. We know that Scopas and other famous artists were
employed upon the work. The most important relic is the colossal statue
of Mausolus, which, considering its situation, is in remarkably fine
preservation.[98] Here we have perhaps for the first time in all the
history of art a realistic portrait. The face of the prince is not in
the least conventional, has, in fact, a distinctly barbarian profile,
yet preserves a dignity and worth of its own, and visibly suggests a
foreign plutocrat. The reliefs[99] which adorned the pedestal are also
distinctive and interesting. We observe, as on the Mantinean basis, that
the figures are widely spaced. Their poses are visibly contrived for
decorative effect on a system of correspondences much less subtle, and
therefore much less effective, than on the Parthenon frieze. The
designer, who may have been Scopas himself, has not shrunk from
portraying violent action in the battle of Amazons, which is his
subject. Yet there is beauty in every figure, and remarkable technical
skill.
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