No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
A New Fragment of the Parthenon Frieze?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
The story of the fragmentary head illustrated in fig. 1 is, in the words of Colonel Charles Healey, C.M.G., as follows:
24 Sussex Mansions,
London, S.W. 7.
8 July, 1935.
This fragment from the frieze on the Acropolis was given to me about the year 1890 by my father-in-law, Baron Ernst von Poellnitz. He was an officer in the Bavarian army when Prince Otto of Bavaria was placed on the throne of Greece. Baron Poellnitz' company was camped on the Acropolis with strict orders that no one should carry away any relics. On the long march back to Bavaria my father-in-law noticed one of his men obviously hampered by the weight of his knapsack, which contained this fragment. After making numerous efforts without success to return it to Athens, Baron Poellnitz retained the fragment, which he gave to me.
Colonel Healey has in turn given it to me, with this note of its origin.
The head is in low relief, facing right, with the lower part of the face broken away. The back of the marble has been knocked off, probably to lighten it. The upper side is preserved; and on it is to be seen the edge of the raised section behind. The distance from this edge to the face of the marble (the background of the head) is ·013 m.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1935
References
1 Numbering according to the British Museum publication, The Sculptures of the Parthenon, by A. H. Smith (1910).
2 And on the fragment in Vienna published by Eichler, in Jahrb. d. Kunsthist. Sammlungen in Wien, xxxv, 1920–1921, p. 237Google Scholar. He gives the dimension as ·015 m., against ·013 in this case. I owe this reference to Prof. Beazley; who has also helped me with some other points in this paper.
3 There are a few other examples on the South frieze of this, which is in so marked a contrast with the hair of almost all the figures of the W., N., and E. sides and the Eastern half of the South: for example, on slabs vi–ix; but the sculpture of vi and vii was never completed, and that of viii and ix is comparatively lifeless—the heads show ‘little character and freedom,’ as A. H. Smith said, and the same is true of the folds of the drapery and the horses. This is quite unlike No. 45 on slab xvii.
4 The British Museum has made a cast of the fragment and is sending a copy out to Athens. I would take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Forsdyke for his kindness in allowing me full facilities for working in the Elgin room.