place of Greece, to be seen and admired by the whole people. The number of statues erected on different occasions was immense; of course the number of artists must have been great, their emulation ardent, and their progress rapid. As most of their statues were decreed for those who vanquished in the public games, the artists had an opportunity of seeing excellent models; for those who surpassed in running, wrestling, box. ing, &c., must in general have been well formed, yet would exhibit different kinds of beauty.

An

The high estimation in which sculptors were held, was very favorable to their art. Socrates declared the artists the only wise men. artist could be a legislator, a commander of armies, and might hope to have his statue placed beside those of Miltiades and Themistocles, or those of the gods themselves. Besides, the honour and success of an artist did not depend upon the caprice of pride or of ignorance. The productions of art were estimated and rewarded by the greatest sages in the general assembly of Greece, and the sculptor who had executed his work with ability and taste, was confident of obtaining immortality."

CHAPTER II.

The grand Style in Greece-Phidias and his Works-Alcamenes and Agarocrites-Other Artists-Tomb of Mausolus-NiobeGraceful or Beautiful Style-Praxiteles-Two VenusesChoic of Phryne-Lysippus and his Works-Decline of the Art-The Art among the Romans-Column of Trajan-Ro man Sculpture in Britain-Saxon Imitations.

Such were the powerful influences operating in favor of sculpture, when Phidias seized the chisel, and commenced the epoch of the grand style of the art. Appollodorus, Zeuxis, and Parrhasius, at the same time employed the pencil in executing the grand and beautiful in painting, while such men as Pericles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Miltiades, Themistocles, Aristides, and Cimon, gave lustre to the Areopagus and the camp.

Phidias was an Athenian, and first applied himself to painting, but, before he became very proficient, he abandoned it, and embraced that of sculpture. Such was his proficiency, that he soon excelled all of his predecessors and contemporaries, and he was constantly employed in adorning the temples and groves with statues of gods and heroes. The number of his works is immense, and the bas-relievos in the British museum, that ornamented the entablature of the Parthenon denominated the Elgin marbles, are the production of his chisel. But his greatest production, a work never excelled or even equalled, was his Jupiter at Olympia. This statue was executed after he had been ill treated by the Athenians. He abandoned the city of his birth which he had made glorious by his works, and

C

took refuge in Elis. Animated by the ingrati tude of his countrymen, Phidias determined to produce a work surpassing all his former efforts, and with this view he commenced his Jupiter Olympus, for the Elians. In order that he might have the advantage of unbiassed criticism, he exhibited his work to the public as it progressed, and concealing himself near, heard all remarks and suggestions concerning it, and profited by them. This statue was in a sitting posture, and yet, from the base of the throne to the crest, it was about sixty feet in height. On his head was an olive wreath, in his right hand a Victory, in his left a sceptre, surmounted by an eagle, and upon his drapery were the figures of various animals painted. The materials of which this statue was made, were wood, gold, ivory, and precious stones. The Victory was made of gold and ivory; the sceptre of gold and other shining metals; the sandals of gold; the throne of ivory, ebony, and precious stones, ornamented with a variety of bas-relievos. It has been estimated that the tusks of three hundred elephants were necessary to furnish the requisite quantity of ivory used in this statue.

Many tales have been related concerning this wonderful production of art. Pausanias, who had a great taste for the marvellous, relates, that when the artist had finished this magnificent statue, Jupiter himself applauded his labours; for, when Phidias urged the god to show by some sign if the work was agreeable to him, the pavement of the temple was immediately struck with lightning. The grandeur of this work is undoubted; and Livy relates that when Paulus Emilius went up to Olympia he saw many admi

rable things; but on beholding the statue of Jupiter, he was struck with awe as if in the presence of a god!

era.

Next in point of excellence to Phidias, was Alcamenes, his pupil who endeavored to rival his master. He was born at Athens, in the eighty-seventh Olympiad, or about four hundred and thirty-two years before the Christian He worked in bronze and marble, and his productions were very numerous. Contemporary with Alcamenes, was Agarocrites, who was also a pupil of Phidias. These two rivals made a trial of skill, in producing a statue of Venus. The palm of excellence was awarded to Alcamenes, although it is said that it was given him more on account of his being an Athenian, than for his superior merit.

Immediately following these contemporaries of Phidias, was Mys, who also produced cameo figures in silver, and wrought the battle of the centaurs in relievo on the buckler of Minerva. Ctesilaus wrought Amazons in bronze for the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and his statues ranked next to those of Phidias. Polycletes, Onates, Myron and Scopas, are also mentioned as the immediate successors of the great master. Polycletes and Scopas were the most celebrated. The former was a native of Sicyon, where the art of sculpture was first cultivated in Greece, and was the first who represented statues supporting themselves only upon one leg. Scopas was a native of Paros, and sculptured in both bronze and marble. This artist, assisted by Bryaxis, Timotheus, and Lochares, ornamented the sepulchral monument erected by queen Artemesia to the memory of her husband Mausolus.

This monument, called mausoleum, from the name of its inmate, was esteemed the seventh wonder of the world. It was an oblong square, surrounded by thirty-six columns, and enriched with an immense number of sculptures. It was one hundred and eleven feet in circumference, and one hundred and forty feet high. Scopas adorned the side that faced the east, Timotheus had the south, Lochares the west, and Bryaxis or Bruxis, the north. Another sculptor named Pithis, was employed in raising a pyramid over this magnificent tomb, which was surmounted by a chariot drawn by four horses. The immense expense of this monument caused Anaxagoras the philosopher to exclaim on beholding it, "How much money changed into stones!" is said that Artemisia, who thus testified her affection for her lord, was so disconsolate at the event of his death, that she drank up his ashes.*

It

Probably one of the most beautiful monuments of the grand style, is the statues of Niobe and her daughters; yet some have attributed this group to the graceful style, which immediately succeeded that of the grand. Of the Niobe group, several varieties are known, for it doubtless was a fruitful subject for the chisels and pencils of the imaginative Greeks. The best group is represented in the engraving on the next page. The story of Niobe is thus told in ancient record.

Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, and was blessed with seven sons and as many daughters.

It was a common custom among the ancients to burn their dead, and preserve the ashes in urns. If not the whole body, the heart was thus preserved. Hence we see urns upon sepulchral monuments, even at the present day; and we may also observe the force of the poetic allusion to the "urn of memory."