At an early period the Greeks gave form to the great divinities to which they ascribed the government of the universe, also to the subordinate powers believed to superintend and direct the particular affairs of mankind.

These forms were at first invested with attributes, physical and intellectual, superior to those conferred on man; next with a majesty and dignity emblematical of the Divine nature; lastly, in them was embodied the perfection of human symmetry, to which was imparted an ideal grace and beauty.

Exhibited in temples, halls, and public places, or enshrined in private sanctuaries, they warmed the beholder to a sense of devotion more intelligible than could have been aroused by the mysterious relics of a barbarous antiquity.

Inspired by her handmaidens, Poetry and Painting, and chastened by the enlightened criticism of successive generations, who by familiarity from infancy with such sublime works had been schooled to a correct judgment, Sculpture eventually, as it were, breathed life into the marble figure, and touched into motion the complex group.

The history of Greek Sculpture may be divided into three periods :—

The Dædalian.

That of Pericles; or, the Heroic.

That of Alexander the Great.

THE FIRST ranged over several centuries, from B.C. 1200 to B.C. 550. Deities and Heroes were the subjects which chiefly engaged the attention of the Sculptor.

Materials used were clay, wood,* stone, marble, metals of various kinds. Opening the eyes, separating the feet, liberating the arms, and extending the limbs marked the works of this age as different from those of the primitive Egyptian stiff and formal style, according to which the eyes were closed, the feet placed together, and the arms held by the sides, indicating a representation of the dead rather than of the living person.

The names of some Statuaries distinguished in this era have been preserved. For what is known respecting them and the others alluded to, the reader is referred to the numerous writings upon Art, ancient and modern, collected in the Library.

Amongst the Sculptors are Dædalus, the Athenian; Smilis, of Crete; Eugrammus, who, with Euchir and Diopus, followed the fortunes of Damaratus (father of Tarquin, eventually King of Rome) in his flight from Corinth to Etruria, B.C. 664, and gave a new direction to Etruscan art. Theodorus, son of Rhæcus, and brother of Telecles, to whom credit is given for the invention, B.C. 600, of casting in moulds, although as it had been practised long before by the Phoenicians, B.C. 1005,† all justly due to him may be the honor of having introduced the practice into Greece. Malas, his son Micciades,

* The fig, sycamore, cedar, olive, ebony. Winck. i. 31.

† 1 Kings vii. 45.

his grandson Anthermus, with Bupalus and Athenis, his sons, sustained for nearly a century the reputation of the Isle of Chios.

Dipœnus and Scyllis, Cretans, who, according to Pliny, were the first to distinguish themselves as Sculptors in marble, left their native island and were established, about B.C. 590, at Sicyon, a town near Corinth, for ages the resort of Artists. Endous, of Athens, was their pupil.

Glaucus, about B.C. 570, made the important discovery of the mode of soldering metals, at which time Theodorus, grandson of him above named, obtained renown as a statuary in bronze.

Perillus, about B.C. 565, fabricated for Phalaris, of Agrigentum, a Brazen Bull, the well-known instrument of torture used by that tyrant, of which the inventor was the first victim. Tectæus and Angelion flourished about B.C. 548. Doryclidas and Medon, his brother, were of Sparta. The works of these Artists were distributed through Greece and its islands, and found their way to the colonies on the continent of Asia, and eventually to Italy.

Pliny states that Augustus placed in the Temple of the Palatine Apollo, at Rome, some statues by Bupalus and Athenis, adding that they wrought in Parian marble called lychnites, because quarried by the light of Xúxvos, a link or torch.

It is not probable that many productions of this school are now in existence, at least in a perfect state.

No representatives of the period are in this collection.

THE SECOND Combined with the grosser figures invented in the time of fable, as well as with the loveliness of female grace, the stateliness of heroic proportion developed into sublimity in gods and demigods. It extended from B.C. 550 to B.C. 390, and rose to the highest eminence after the memorable repulse of the Persian, Xerxes, B.C. 480. Pericles, being established in power at Athens, about B.C. 460, undertook to reconstruct the temples destroyed by the invader, and to embellish the capital of his contemplated confederation of the States of Greece,-a bond to unite which would have been the religion professed by all.

With the illustrious Phidias (pupil of Ageladas) as his director of works, he built the Parthenon, the temple of the virgin goddess Athene-Minerva of the Romans-of which the architects were Callicrates and Ictinus; the Propylæa, of which Mnesicles was the architect; the Odeum, a theatre for musical performances, and the Temple of Eleusis, on which Coroebus, Metagenes, and Xenocles were employed.

These buildings were adorned by Alcamenes and Agoracritus, instructed by Phidias, and others of the same school. To the statuaries already named may be added Polyclitus, Calamis, and Myron; Crysothemis and Eulitidas, of Argos; Amphicrates, Agasias or Hegesias, Menæchmus, and Soïdas, of Naupactus.

Gold, ivory, silver, many varieties of bronze and mixed metals, and the finest kinds of marble were employed. Statues made of the first two when used in combination were called chrys-elephantine; when various marbles were used for the purpose of producing variety of color, either to represent the hair, drapery, or ornaments, they were called polylithic; when that effect was accomplished by painting they were called polychromic. Eyes made of silver, crystal, glass, and paste were not unfrequently inserted, and this singular practice, so strangely at variance with our notions of pure taste, prevailed during the meridian splendor of the art. Wax, plaster, pitch, amber, aromatics, and costly perishable and combustible substances were also employed, according to the caprice of the artist or the extravagance or ostentation of the person for whom he wrought. The working of metals with sharp instruments, beating out, and embossing them with punches after they had been partially cast, was styled the Toreutic art.

The impetus given to Art by these extensive operations was much stimulated by the refinement thus produced, and materially influenced by the scientific study of Homer, whose poems had been collected by Pisistratus. The frequent representations of the tragedies of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who flourished at this time, gave also to the community an elevation of sentiment reflected in the severe and simple grandeur of design, the majesty of conception, the force, power, and delicacy of execution, which form the characteristics of the first division of this period.

Amongst the cotemporaries and immediate successors of the above-named Artists, were Ctesilaus, Naucydes, of Argos, Pythagoras, of Rhegium, in Italy, successful in a contest with Myron; Calamis, Phradmon, and Callimachus, inventor of the Corinthian column; Theocosmus, Dinomenes, Lycius, Canachus, and Patrocles, who, with others of greater or lesser fame, followed in the course of time.

Statues in the Museum, said to be of the Heroic period, are-No. 3, the Amazon; Nos. 26 27, the Discoboli; Nos. 36 37, the Gladiators. Respecting Nos. 32, the Fates, 41, the Horse's Head, 42, Ilissus, 61, Theseus, and the rest of the Elgin marbles, there is no doubt.

THE THIRD period may be extended so as to include from B.C. 390 to B.c. 146.

Moved by the success of the celebrated painters, Pamphilus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius, and Apelles, impressed by the subtle disquisitions of the Philosophers, and acted on directly by the increase of national wealth and luxury, Sculptors now bestowed more attention on the graceful flow of outline, on the skilful arrangement of the hair, on the becoming disposition of drapery. The ideal of human beauty was now produced in its perfection.

To the study of boldness and grandeur, to the heroic spirit and religious earnestness of the preceding age, succeeded the imitation of Nature, heightened by the charms of animated expression, enriched by the excellence and highly-wrought finish of execution.

The great works of the early part of this period were the Temple of Minerva, at Tegea, in Arcadia, the largest and most magnificent in the Peloponnesus, and the Mausoleum. The former was built under the direction of Scopas, of Paros, whose Venus-removed subsequently to the Temple of Mars, in Rome dedicated by Brutus Callaicus, was pronounced by Pliny to have surpassed in excellence even that of Praxiteles. The latter, a Sepulchre, reared B.C. 352, at Halicarnassus (the modern Budrum), by Artemisia, Queen of Caria, in honor of her husband, was decorated by the same Scopas, and by Bryaxis, Timotheus, and Leochares, Athenians, each of whom, as it is supposed, undertook the execution of the bas-reliefs on one side of the frieze of the peristyle, some of which were added, in 1846, to the vast collection in the British Museum.

Next in order of time and repute came Lysippus,* respecting whom Alexander the Great published an edict that no other person should represent him in bronze, as he had also directed in favor of Apelles, the painter, with regard to his portrait, and of Pyrgoteles,† the lapidary, with respect to engraving his figure on gems. The school of Lysippus, at Sicyon, was continued under Euthycrates, Daippus and Bedas, his sons; Lysistratus, his brother; Chares, Phoenix, Eutychides, Phanis, and Tisicrates, his pupils; while at Athens flourished Praxiteles, with his sons, Cephisodotus and Timarchus; Euphranor, skilled also as a painter, and memorable as a writer upon Art; and Apollodorus, father of Cleomenes, to whom the Venus de Medici was for some time attributed.

They were followed by Pyromachus, to whom commentators on Pliny give the credit of being the author, in bronze, of the figure known as the Dying Gladiator; and Silanion, whose statue of Sappho, styled by Cicero "so perfect, so elegant, so elaborate," is enumerated amongst the spoils of Verres.

The intestine troubles which continued to distract Greece, after the death of Alexander, drove many distinguished artists forth to seek protection and encouragement from the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Seleucidæ of Asia, and the kings and people of Sicily. When Carthage fell beneath the arms of Scipio, and Corinth was destroyed by Mummius, the Art treasures of both cities were transferred to Rome, which began to absorb the wealth and attract the talent of other countries.

With these important events this period may be said to have closed.

Statues in the Museum assigned to this era are Nos. 6 and 7, Apollos; No. 12, The Boxers; No. 14, The Boy and Goose; Nos. 33 and 34, Fauns; and Nos. 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, Venuses.

The history of Sculpture under the Romans may, for convenience, be made to embrace from B.C. 146 to A.D. 180.

Architecture, the construction of roads to enable them to extend and retain their conquests, aqueducts, theatres, and vast arenas for the exhibition of their cruel sports, instituted to amuse and finally employed to enthrall the people, engrossed this warlike race. They may be regarded as admirers of art, rather than as a nation producing artists from amongst themselves. Unlike the Greeks, who forbade the practice of Sculpture by any but persons of gentle birth, and who annexed to the study of its rules a protracted and expensive training, the Romans considered the arts of war and government* their chief pursuit; they esteemed most highly the military distinctions which led to the principal civil preferments, and they willingly surrendered to others the supremacy in those accomplishments which required more finely-organized perceptions, more discriminating habit of thought, more cultivated and polished manners than they themselves could boast. Thus it was that they delegated the practice of most of the fine arts, as well as of the allied employments, to captives brought from abroad to swell the pomp of successive triumphs, or to slaves expressly educated for the purpose.

Genius, repressed in this servile condition, refused to display itself in such vigor as when, in the full enjoyment of liberty, it had been courted and honoured by the great; accordingly, it has been observed that the Romans seem to have contented themselves at first with copies of those remarkable statues which had not been transported to the capital. These were not in all instances rendered with strict fidelity to the originals, and a trifling deviation from the model was accepted as a compensation for the absence of the inventive faculty.

As taste ripened a more generous spirit grew up, and the enfranchisement of the Artist led to the emancipation of the intellect, and a consequent improvement in the style of Art.

Still the creative power, the embodiment of the workings of fancy and of the imagination, are not to be expected at the hands of a people eminently practical in their social, political, and religious institutions. Portraiture exact in minute detail, imitation unenlivened by any departure from the actual and the real, mark this period.

The magnificence of the buildings erected in the age of the early Cæsars, of the Flavian family, of Hadrian, and the Antonines, and the unprecedented splendor of the public shows, gave ample occupation to Artists; but the spirit thus awakened soon degenerated in consequence of the growing effeminacy of manners, and Artists were degraded into ministers of the pride, caprice, and wanton luxury of profligate Emperors.