Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine (1907) (14777933621)

Identifier: romansculpturefr00stro (find matches)
Title: Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Strong, Eugénie Sellers
Subjects: Sculpture, Roman Sculpture, Greco-Roman
Publisher: London : Duckworth and Co. New York : C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University



Text Appearing Before Image:
the bear, and the hard bristlesof the boar. In order not to repeat himself too much,he has not chosen the actual episode of the chase for theLion Hunt, but the moment immediately succeeding theslaying of the brute, when the Emperor and his suitehave dismounted and stand discussing the event. Per-haps, too, the artist wished to mark out by a totallydifferent treatment what, in antiquity as now, wasdoubtless the coveted distinction of a sportsmans career.Anyhow, the subject stimulated him to a compositionwhich is one of the noblest in the history of art. TheEmperor and two personages form a central group skil-fully flanked by the groups of attendants holding ahorse on either side. The scene is in a forest, but allfive stand on a rocky ledge forming, with the lower seg-ment of the medallion, a kind of exergue within whichthe dying lion is seen stretched at full length. Theproud episode could not be told with quieter dignity,nor yet kept more closely within the bounds of archi- TLATK XLit
Text Appearing After Image:
rORTKAIT OF THE FLAVIAX rERIOD Braccio yiioro, Iaticnn FLAVIAN RELIEF 141 tectural design. The lion is a masterpiece—the finefeline stretch of the limbs, the once vigorous tail nowlying powerless, the big heavy head with the closingeyes and the panting tongue, are felt and expressed withgreat force. The skin is indicated by roughening of thesurface with occasional longer curly tufts, while the longfull mane is rendered with a touch of convention which,by imparting a sense of pattern, contributes to thesolidity of the design. For so fine a presentment of alion we must go back to the wonderful metope ofOlympia showing Herakles resting after slaying theNemean lion, with the dead brute at his feet. Com-parisons of the two should enable us to apprehend moreclosely the peculiar character of each without, it is hoped,causing us to praise either by detracting from the other.It is impossible to comment here on all the individualbeauties of these medallions—the dainty altars withtheir garla