Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller.
- Karl Otfried Müller
- Date:
- 1852
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller. Source: Wellcome Collection.
613/664 page 595
![II. SUBJECTS FROM HUMAN LIFE. A. OF AN INDIVIDUAL IQND. 1. HISTORICAL REPRESENTATIONS. 419. _ Greek art was in its nature so much a creation 1 emanating from within, and was so closely connected in its historical development with religion, mythology and poetry, that the representation of outward, experimental life could only occupy in it a subordinate rank. And even where ex- ternal experience furnished materials to the artist, represen- tations of definite individual transactions are much rarer than a conception of the subject in its general features. In Greece, 2 however, painting, from the coincidence of its development with the Persian wars, and the slighter connexion of its pro- ducts with religion (§. 73, 1.), was oftener than sculpture di- rected to the celebration of historical events of the past, and victories of the present [§. 99. R. 1. 109. R. 3. Temple of Nike Apteros] (§. 135, 2. 140, 5. 163, 6.); the life of sages and poets was also drawn into this circle. In works of sculpture, 3 if we disregard allusion to historical occurrences by the choice of mythi (§. 89, 3. 90, 3.), historical representations were very rare before the time of Alexander. There is, however, a certain 4 number of striking and wonderful stories of great filial devo- tion, love and the like, such as that of the Catanjean brothers, that of Hero and Leander, and some others, which have almost acquired the privileges of mythi in the formative art as well as m poetry. Real historical representations were more fre- 5 quent among the Romans, in which great military expeditions were completely unfolded on triumphal arches and columns; and even on coins many events were not merely mythically alluded to, but even directly represented, in earlier times as distmctions of particular families, afterwards as glorious deeds of the emperors; even in Rome, however, historical subjects 6 were seldom to be found apart from this class of monuments. Apotheoses can scarcely be ranked among historical events; 7 they form at least the transition from the sensible world to one fancied divine.—As in the warlike representations on 8 those honorary monuments their national character was also given to the Germans, Dacians and Sarmatians, it may be re- marked here that in the designation of foreign races ancient art exhibits much skill and accuracy in the appreciation of peculiar forms, 1. We are in a great measure indebted for this view to Winckel- 2 P](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2178016x_0613.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
