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The East Pediment Sculptures of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Extract

At the Archaeological Congress which met at Athens in 1905 one of the most interesting sittings was that at which Furtwängler gave a brilliant exposition of his reconstitution of the Pediment Sculptures of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina, the result of his recent excavations in the island. Those who were present on that occasion were profoundly struck by an arrangement of the groups calculated to inspire the noble marbles with so much new and vivid life; in regard, however, to the grouping of the figures of the East Pediment there are said to have been not a few dissentient voices. This dissent related more especially to the disposal of the central groups right and left of the Athena and, in a particular way, to the falling pose given to the wounded hero on either side.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1909

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References

page 274 note 1 None who were present then could have foreseen that the work in Aegina was to be Furtwängler's last great achievement in archaeological science, and that many of the audience were then listening to him for the last time.

page 275 note 1 For the drawing of this reconstruction I have to thank the skill and artistic insight of Mr. Theodore Fyfe, who, at intervals, during more than three years, has devoted much self-sacrificing zeal to the working out of the design as it now stands. Some slight modifications, the result of later observations at Munich, were kindly inserted for me at Constantinople by Mr. Walter George.

page 275 note 2 Aegina, 343–6; Figs. 272–7.

page 276 note 1 I have warmly to thank Prof. Paul Wolters for his kind mediation with the Munich Academy of Sciences, which has secured for me permission to reproduce this and other illustrations from Aegina. I am also indebted to Mr. Arthur H. Smith, Keeper of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, for kindly obtaining permission for the reproduction here of Fig. 1.

page 278 note 1 Aegina, Fig. 173, H; pp. 244–8; Figs. 198–202.

page 278 note 2 ‘An der linken Körperseite der Figur nach dem Rücken zu ist die Witterung nachträglich in der Erde erheblich verstärkt’ (p. 248).

page 279 note 1 Compare the statue in the north corner of the West Pediment.

page 280 note 1 Compare the under side of the reclining warrior (Glypt. 85) in the same pediment and of all the reclining figures in the West Pediment.

page 281 note 1 Fig. 3 is after a special photograph placed at my disposal through the great courtesy of Prof. Wolters; Fig. 4 is after Aegina, Fig. 199.

page 284 note 1 Pl. XIX. B. This new opponent would in turn have a double, symmetrically corresponding to him in the south wing of the pediment. Thus reckoning the total of figures to be thirteen as in the West Pediment, Furtwängler's warrior G would be our H, and so on.

page 285 note 1 Furtwängler, p. 245, says of this foot: ‘die Stellung ist für einen Ausschreitenden unmöglich. But he thus seems to be instinctively warding off the possibility of an alternative which he is apprehensive may occur to the mind of his reader. He further says of the torso of our fallen hero in relation to his falling pose: ‘Der Winkel in welchen das linke Knie gebogen war, ist hier glücklicherweise erhalten.’ The suggestion, of course, is that there is a necessary connection between the left foot and the knee in question. But as the intervening leg-calf is missing the connection suggested is by no means established.

page 287 note 1 Furtwängler's vi. is a misprint.

page 288 note 1 For other examples see Furtwängler-Reichold, Serie I. Tafel 26, 55, 58, 61; Serie II. Tafel 74; Ibid. 75/76 is a sheer tour de force.

page 293 note 1 ‘An dem rechten Schenkel sind hinten die Ränder der Beinschiene plastisch angegeben, der rechte Rand mit erhobenem Saum, der linke glatt’ (p. 234).

page 293 note 2 ‘Am linken Schenkel ist die Trennung der Schiene hinten plastisch nicht angegeben, nur der Ansatz derselben oben ist angedeutet; wahrscheinlich war die Ausführung der Trennung hier der Malerei überlassen.’ (Ibid.)

page 293 note 3 ‘Da dann das linke Bein weiter zurückstand, wird jener Unterschied damit zusammenhängen.’ (Ibid.)

page 296 note 1 Furtwängler says of the arm: ‘die Witterung befindet sich auf der Ober. und Innenseite,’ p. 236. ‘Die Witterung befindet sich auf der Oberseite der Hand,’ p. 237.

page 297 note 1 Furtwängler, p. 237, further assigns to the figure of his falling warrior the fragment of a right fore-arm on Pl. 87, 59, and the right hand on Pl. 89, 60. It might be tempting to claim both for the figure of our fallen warrior, were it not that there are hardly sufficient data to determine a pose of the arm, in relation to that of our figure, which could have brought about the weathering, or what seems more like the corrosion, on the inner side of the arm as well as on its upper side, while the hand is apparently only weathered on the outside. Do the hand and the arm belong together? They do not fit.

page 298 note 1 Furtwängler assigns the heel of a right foot, Pls. 85 and 86, 74, to his G. On the other hand, he attributes the fragments of legs, Pl. 100, 61, Glypt. 125 and Pl. 86, 62 to his E. The question then is: may not all these fragments really belong to Glypt. 86? As regards the calf, Pl. 100, 63, Glypt. 124, also assigned by Furtwängler to his E, there is no intrinsic difficulty in assigning it to Glypt. 86, for, as Furtwängler remarks, the left leg of Glypt. 86 is lacking.

page 299 note 1 Fig. 6 a, b, c, are after original photographs which I owe to the kindness of Prof. Wolters.

page 302 note 1 The left check next the ear came under the same smoothing influence.

page 303 note 1 All this comes out quite clearly in the front view of the head shown in Fig. 6 b.

page 303 note 2 It is interesting to find that the Herakles, which on Furtwängler's own reconstruction is in partial profile to the left, has the same asymmetry and the same slightly more arched curve of the left eyebrow in the en face view, and that the corresponding asymmetry of the face is annulled by the new position which Furtwängler rightly gives to it.

page 304 note 1 The position of the mouth is correspondingly asymmetrical and is slightly towards the right. It thus appears symmetrically below the nose in the profile position. This may be noticed also in the camp-follower, the Herakles, and the recumbent figure at the north end of the pediment.

page 304 note 2 This exaggeration is even apparent in the reproduction given in Aegina, Pl. 97, 44, 2 which shows a slight turn of the head to its own left, A strict en face view like that of Fig. 6 b brings out the real plastic asymmetry in its true proportions.

page 305 note 1 For these I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Sieveking who has courteously prepared for me photographs from the cast at Munich.