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.
645/664 page 627
![Cavaceppi, Piranesi's Vasi and elsewhere. The difficulty of distinguish- ing different kinds of plants on ancient works of art is remarked by Sprengel, Hist, rei herbariae i. p. 29. Imitations of fruits in wax, §. 305. R. 4., and in rhyparography [rhopography] §. 163. E. 6. 210. R. 6. 211. R. 1. Ant. Ere. i, 9. 11. 45. 47. and many others. 3. Marcel de Serres Ueber die Wunderthiere der .alten Kunst, Bibl. univ. 1834. F6vr. p. 160. also finds much truth to nature in these fantastic compositions.—The sphinx on the coins of Chios as well as Gergis, Streber Miinchner Denkschr. Philol. i. s. 200. (an allusion to the Sybil) is that of Egypt, only more slender, and winged [as in Eurip. Phoeniss. 809.]. Orif- fms §. 361. at the end, Tragelaphi and other grotesque animal figures on the vases §. 75. R. 2. 171. R. 2., comp. 238. R. 4. Such were esteemed on silver vessels iu Tforo^ii Juven. i, 7. Bockh, Staatsh. ii. s. 305. On the composition of the protomae of different animals on gems and coins (lion and bull, bull and goat, and the like, often with wings) §. 241. R. 3. The winged sow of the Clazomenian popular legend (^lian H. A. xii, 38.) is even found on very old gold coins of the city, M. Brit, xiii, 23. A fine panther with wings and horns killing a stag, Woburn Marb. 11. Two- griffins on a stag, Impr. d. Inst, iii, 91.—The monster on the walls of Amphipolis, Cousinery Voy. pi. 8., bears some resemblance to that on the coins oi Alexandria, Eckhel Syll. tb. 6, 15. 4. The Grylli (§. 163. R. 3.) chiefly in jasper, Lipp. i, ii, 517 ff. Suppl. ii, 413—428. Raponi tv. 52. Tassie p. 709. Impr. d. Inst, iii, 48. iv, 67. 68. They are also found on coins, especially of Signia, Steinbiichel Al- terth. s. 78. 144. 244. They sometimes spring from the conjunction of Bacchian masks with other countenances.—The representations of ani- mals, especially insects, in human occupations, in mural paintings and gems, are not to be taken in the spirit of the animal apologue, but only as sports. ' 2, ARABESQUES, LANDSCAPE. 435, The living and genial co'iception of nature which 1 pervades ancient art was well adapted for arabesques (§. 24.; K 2.), the age of which in Greek art reaches very far back; on the contrary landscape in the modern sense was just as little suited to the ancient style of art; we only find it at a later period and on a small scale. Greek art required of its 3 subjects an intimate relation, a close connexion of life and form, of spirit and embodiment; everything in it received pre- cisely thereby a decided character, a distinct physiognomy. The mysterious boding twilight of spirit which the landscape breathes into us, must have seemed to the ancients, from their tendency of mind, incapable of artistic development; their landscapes therefore were generally conceived rather in a play- ful manner than with earnestness and feeling; the pleasing effect of a variety of buildings and pleasure-grounds, and numc- 2 R](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2178016x_0645.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
