Poseidon and 2 OM 5) is the best-preserved slab from the eastern frieze, and shows us Poseidon, in his sturdy form resembling Zeus, and near him, with uplifted arm, Dionysos. The graceful female figure beyond is Peitho, or perhaps Demeter. When we compare one por tion of the frieze with another, we find differences in the execution which imply the workmanship of different artisans; but the unity, the simplicity, the grandeur, of the frieze as a whole leave us no other alternative than to attribute it to Pheidias.
Sculpture: Amason age which succeeded Pheidias takes us away from the divine ideals into a sphere of human energy and passion and graceful sentiment. No artist distinguished him self more in expressing passionate movement than Skopas. In the relief from the Amazon frieze (pl. 4,Xc. io) from the Mausoleum at Ilalikarnassos (about 35o B.c) was selected a subject which required great vigor of treat ment. In the lines of the figures and the swing of the drapery we see all this love of motion, but with it a loss of naturalness and simplicity and a posing for effect. It may be referred to the school of Skopas.
Eircne and the spirit of Pheidias is the figure of Eirene, or Peace, holding the babe Ploutos, the god of wealth (fig. The original of which this is a copy was seen by Pausanias and attributed to Kephisodotos, the father of the great Praxiteles. It is of special interest in showing the transition from the majestic style to the graceful beauty of the younger Attic school. This statue is also interesting from its having in all probability suggested the pose for the famous statue by Praxiteles of Hernrcs will/ the Infant Dionysos (pl. 9, 0.—This is no doubt the very statue seen by Pansanias, and mentioned by him, in his account of his visit to Olympia, as standing in the Temple of Hera, where it was discovered by the German excavators in 1S77. In it we see the athletic type of Hermes tenderly playing with his nursling, the young Dionysos, whom he carries for safekeeping to the care of the nymphs. Unfortunately, the right arm and hand, in which lie may have held a thyrsus, or more prob ably a bunch of grapes, are missing. In the treatment of the skin and drap ery the workmanship shows more skill than was to be expected, and the whole conception exhibits great nobility of form. Although not so highly prized in antiquity as some other works of Praxiteles, to us it is one of the most precious marbles we have inherited from the ancient world.
The .1throdileqf Knaos in Asia Minor—another statue by Praxiteles was held in such high esteem that to see it pilgrimages were made from all parts of the ancient world. It is known to us only from coins and copies of a later date, such as that given in Figure 12 (j51. 41, but even these pre sent to us a nobility and a purity of form which are wanting in many of the Roman conceptions of this goddess. The keen art-critic of antiquity, the poet Lucian, in describing the ideal of female beauty, says: " Let her head be like that of the Knidian Aphrodite; the parts about hair and fore head, and the beautiful cut of the eyebrows, like that there rendered by Praxiteles. Let her eye have the soft, swimming expression, the brilliant lustre and charming loveliness, of the eye of Praxiteles' Aphrodite, and her age be that chosen by the master for the goddess." Coins and 13 is an Athenian coin of the middle of the third century 13. c., on which appears the head of Pallas Athena; a compar ison with Figure 3 will show the advance which has been made in Athenian coinage. Figure 15 is a Sicilian coin of a somewhat earlier date, represent ing the head of Dionysos, bearded and ivy-crowned. Figure 14 is the impression of a gem representing a discus-thrower before an acrolithic bust of Hermes; the discus-thrower preserves the type of a statue by Myron, which is known to us also by several marble replicas. The god Hermes presided over athletic games.
The _Viobe ancients debated in their day whether to ascribe to Praxiteles or to Skopas the original of the Niobe group. The tragic and pathetic story of the sons and daughters of Niobe stricken down by the arrows of Artemis and Apollo because of their mother's pride was peculiarly adapted to the genius of Skopas, while the grace and beauty of some of the group, even in the replicas known to us, seem to reflect the work of Praxiteles. Figure 16 represents the central figures of the group, the mother, Niobe, in her anguish clinging to her youngest child.
The Praying Boy (fig. admirable bronze from the Berlin Museum—shows us the transition to the slender forms of Lysippos. Although found in Rome, in technical qualities it is unlike Roman bronzes, and is no doubt more or less closely affiliated with the statue of the praying boy mentioned by Pliny as from the hand of BoiMas, the son of 1,ysippos.