Sheldon Scheney - Sculpture of The World - A History

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SHELDON CHE t
Author of X New World History oiArt
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WORLD Ui%y^^^ Berlin.
It has long seemed an impossible dream to
produce an adequate one-volume history of

sculpture in pictures and words, from the
CÂ^'^ô A>^ .
.Dresden
caveman to today, including the Oriental, •Paris -^^ , •^'i^^ %*^^^^

Nuremberg •
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African, and Amerindian along with the
'i^Strasboii^ 'Swtt^xt '^^^^^JCta;
Near Eastern and the more familiar Western 1
"^ DiioiL Mutuclx yicniu.
development, at a price within the reach of Basel
/if,* 'ZvLTich. _o-t/V -, «
the general reader. Sheldon Cheney, after l^S: s^îrzERLAND Aus-r^^ Budapest
twenty-five years of seeking, has accom- esEyzîes „
.isrescix
.Brescia,
H^
plished it book of more than 1100
in this
photographs, with a running text and cap-
tions that give all the needed background of
lUês
•Milan jyg^ce
.^. Bologna..*
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history, styles, techniques, schools, and per-
sonalities. It will join his major A New
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Jîeiu.
« 'T'Arezzo.
•Perugia
%^tL I
World History of Art, first published thirty

years ago, and its sequel. The Story of Mod-
*^ COXSJCJ X ^ ^ ^.
&_,^ \^ .Monte Cîssmo^
ern Art, as one of the basic art books for the
layman.
"My aim," he says, "has been first of all to
offer the reader pleasure in sculpture." This
art form can be reproduced in black-and-
white photographs better than any other,
and the pictures in this volume are an in-
vitation to enjoyment as well as knowledge.
In addition to the hundreds that trace the
jviediterraniIa
Western tradition from Greece and Rome
SES.
through medieval and modern Europe to the
present international scene, there are 120
examples from China, Japan, and Korea; 90
from India and Southeast Asia; 80 from pre-
Columbian America and the Eskimos; 140
from Egypt and the Near East— to name some
of the separate or tributary streams. Attrac-
tively arranged with informative captions, ,f EUROPE and
they present a gallery of the sculptural art
such as has never been assembled before in
as
NEAR EAST
important to the liisloix ol sculp-
one place.
iiuluclcd to show rchitivc locations.
The
aixl
text,
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though encv ?opedic
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in scope
nevertheless a
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runnin;: n ative thi 'imited to facts
(Co^ on back flap)
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RET'JRN TO CSNTRAL
730.9 Cheney, Sheldon; I886-

Sculpture of tlie world : a history. Viking 1968
538p illus
Maps on lining-papers
A "history of sculpture in pictures and words, from the caveman to today,
incUiding the Oriental, African, and Amerindian along with the Near
Eastern and tlie more familiar Western development." Publisher's note
For further reading: p513-17
Quarto volume
Mann Couiii; n;d Lrw-ary
1 Sculpture— History i TGi«fc Centsr Adm!nlitr3t»o« BuMng 730.9
'^"'^ '^ '"•• -^'^

LW 1/70
68W69 (
(W) Tho II. W. Wil.son Company
Sculpt ure
OF THE WORLD:
A History
ALSO BY SHELDON CHENEY;
A Nf If World History of Art

The Story of Modern Art
Expressionism in Art
A Primer of Modern Art
The Theatre
Men Who Hare Walked with God
and other books

Sculpture
lOF
THE WORLD:
A History by
SHELDON CHENEY
NEW YORK: THE VIKING PRESS

PHOTOGRAPHS PRECEDING THE TEXT
Title page, left to right:
Oar. Wood. Easter Island. Museum of Primitive Art, New York. Text reference on page 25
Bodhisattva. Dried lacquer, gilded. T'ang. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Text reference on page 216
Louise Brogiiiard. Stone. Jean Antoine Houdon. Louvre. (^Bulloz photo'). Text reference on page 463
Yellow Bird. Stone. Constantin Brancusi. 1925. Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Louise and Walter Arensherg Collection. Text reference on page 487
Preface heading:
Ostrich Hunt, impression from a seal. Persian, Achacmcnid. Walters Art
Gallery, Baltimore. Text reference on page 173
Note on Illustrations heading:

Awl with animals. Bronze. Scythian, c. 800 b.c. National Museum, Stockholm
Half title:
Lion. Aquamanile. Bronze. Flemish. 14th century. Victoria and Albert Museum
Copyright © 1968 by Sheldon Cheney. All rights reserved.

First published in 1968 by The Viking Press, Inc., 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022.
Published simultaneously in Canada by The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited.
Library of Congress catalog card number: 68-11554.
Set in Centaur and Fairfield types by Westcott & Thomson, Inc.
Plates made and printed in the United States of America by The Murray Printing Company.
Design: M. B. Click.
Acknowledgments for Text Quotations
The author and the publishers gratefully tion, published by Harper & Brothers, New York
acknowledge indebtedness for quotations in the and London, 1941; to Albert Toft for lines from
text of this book as follows: to Henry Moore for his Modelling and Sculpture, published by
lines from The Sculptor Speaks, first published Seeley, Service & Company, London, 1921; to
in The Listener, London, 1937; to George Pantheon Books for two brief excerpts from
Rickey for lines from a program note in the translations of Falconet and Maillol in Artists on
catalogue of an exhibition at the Kraushaar Gal- Art, compiled and edited by Robert Goldwater
New York, 1961; to Leonard Baskin for
leries. and Marco Treves, New York, 1905; and to
linesfrom a program note reprinted in New Douglas Pepler for an excerpt from Scidpture:
Images of Man, by Peter Selz, published by An Essay by Eric Gill, Ditchling, Sussex, 191 8.
the Museum of Modem Art, New York, 1959; (The several quotations from Michelangelo and
to Small, Maynard & Company for three brief one from Ghiberti have been rewritten from
quotations from Art, by Auguste Rodin, Boston, various translations, so frequently quoted and
1 91 6; to Raymond B. Blakney for an excerpt so variously phrased that acknowledgment to the
from his Meister Eckhart: A Modern Transla- two sculptors seems sufficient.)
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Preface
In writing this book I had one objective: that will pass with conventional educators. I
to bring within the covers of a single volume have depended very largely upon my own
a history of all the major phases of the art enjoyment. My aim has been first of all to
of sculpture, from the weapons and fetishes offer the reader pleasure in sculpture, and
of the cave men to the products of our latest imparting knowledge of types, styles, and
generation of carvers, modelers, and welders dates has been a lesser objective. But I did
of metal; and I wanted especially to include want something more than a picture book.
the story of Oriental as well as Western What we have in the text is a sketchy sum-
master)'. mary of the histor)' behind the creation of
There exist a score of books in English each national art, be it Egyptian or Greek,
that carry the title A History of Sciil-pture, Chinese or Indian. I may mention that I was
or a similar comprehensive designation. But brought up firmly in the classical tradition.
almost uniformly they exclude the magnifi- At home the Venus de Milo, The Dying
cent sculptural art of the Orient or compress Gaul, and the Boy Extracting a Thorn from
it into a footnote or an appendix with possi- His Foot, in replica, had places of honor on
bly tvvo or three illustrations; and almost uni- the living-room mantelpiece. My university
formly they ignore the primitive arts of un- was devotedly Greek. But at art school, con-
civdlized peoples. There are 102 illustrations currently, the influence of Rodin and Maillol
of Chinese subjects in the pages that follow, touched us all. Then a disaster occurred, as
and more than one hundred devoted to India my advisers and family saw it: I took up
and the Southeast Asian states. Scythian art with modern art. Lehmbruck ^vas the special
is brought into the world stor)', with a chapter instrument of my undoing. Study of modern-
of its own, perhaps for the first time in a ism, of course, led to appreciation of the
history of sculpture. Primitive sculpture, sculpture of the primitives and the Orientals.
whether that of the troglodytes or that of Many years later, in the mid-nineteen-
Oceania or pre-Columbian America or tribal forties, I planned this book and began to
Africa, is similarly represented. It seemed to assemble notes and photographs. After ten
me that the omission of the rich primitive years of assembling and exploration it became
and Oriental materials argued a cultural ar- evident that I had collected materials for an
rogance quite intolerable in books purportedlv encyclopedia of sculpture in three or four
covering the whole record of the art. volumes. What we all— author, advisers, pub-
In rewriting history I bring few credentials lishers—wanted was a simple one-volume
VI PRE FACE
work. We emerge finally with our one vol- convenience of having all the material in one
ume, and we have in it all the illustrations volume.
that might be expected in a three-volume When the book was planned there was one
encyclopedia. trouble ahead which we did not foresee:
From the start had set a goal of one
I history itself changed, almost epochally, dur-
thousand and I resisted all sug-

illustrations, ing the period of research and writing. Be-
gestions from editors and publishers that I tween 1940 and 1966 sculpture took on in-
be reasonable. In the end, with over iioo re- creasedstature as an art, and its leading
productions in the book, I feel that the illus- practitioners took over leadership in the
trations represent the better half of my con- avant-garde studios. Through the story of
tribution to the volume. They are mine in a Fauvism, futurism, and cubism, painters had
peculiar way: they comprise one man's se- been the inventors, the providers of a new
lection, out of his love for sculpture, from and revolutionary art. But, especially under
the vast world's store of sacred stones and the name expressionism, the sculptors eventu-
pieces less sacred. I alone am responsible if ally became the more inventive and more
an illustration of the A'pollo Belvedere was celebrated group. It is a sign of the times
omitted, and no one be blamed forelse is to that no English painter approaches in stature
inclusion of such unusual pieces as a Tajin the sculptor Henry Moore; that the radicalism
stone ax, a very exaggerated Marlik Stag, or of Lehmbruck and Barlach has been more of
two Chumash Whales. They seem to me to a world influence than any other that has
be in the great tradition of sculpture. come out of Germany; that the most interest-
I assume that my readers will go along ing figure in the school of Paris has been,
with me in the belief that there is a some- in recent years, the Swiss sculptor Giacometti.
thing that constitutes the essence of sculp- No living American painter has started up
ture, a spirit and form inseparable, to be so many unforeseen eddies of invention, in-
comprehended in terms of mass, three-dimen- ternationally, as the sculptor Alexander

sional volume, space around— and always that Calder. This change, since it is part of his-
intangible added by the artist, who relates tory, I have noted. It led to rewriting and
the creation to the world we know. enlargement of the final chapter.
I need pause no more than a moment over Traps are set for survey writers by scholars
the peregrinations of my notes and written in such fields as Egyptology and Sinology,
text. The original wordage, back in the "en- especially in the matter of transliteration of
cyclopedia" days, was double the present names. The Rosetta stone provided a key to
count. From this I cut a "final" text, which the meaning of the Egyptian hieroglyphic
proved still too large if we were to retain all language, but no key to its pronunciation. I
our pictures. Finally we— author and editors have adopted here, where consistency is im-
—accomplished the present text. As an in- possible, a system that will bring to the
stance of our methods, one-half of the Intro- reader names of gods, pharaohs, and men in
duction was cut away at a single stroke, as the most familiar forms. Cheops is the un-
was right because I had elaborated theory assailably popular transcription of the name
—aesthetics— to a degree unnecessary in a of the pharaoh of the Great Pyramid. The
factual book. The chapter forewords were pharaoh of the nearby "second" pyramid (at
in many cases drastically shortened. The run- Giza— or is it Gizeh?) is best known, at least
ning text was trimmed, sometimes to the in the literature of art, as Khafre; but he
bone. If the process of compression has in- would be transcribed as Chephren if we were
volved a loss of smoothness and some disre- following strictly the discipline that gives us
gard for subtle distinctions, I must ask my Cheops— who in turn would be Khufu if we
readers to forgive it for the sake of the greater followed the Khafre formula. The third pyra-
PREFACE VII
mid builder is named here (and in most they believe to be sculptural art, and that
histories) Myccrinus, in the Latin form, other most active school, the Pop artists. In
though some thorough Egyptologists have one case the assembly of "found objects" is
insisted upon Menkaura. There are many a litde too casual; in the other, the under-
such choices, and we have chosen Rameses lying thcor)'— that a thing is good because it
where others speak of Ramses; and Akhena- is commonplace— seems to me at variance

ton instead of Ikhnaton. When museums
the with every tenable philosophy of art. History,
have put names on the statues they own, we at present, ends rather with expressionism, in
have accepted their spelling in the captions, the broad sense, and includes absolute ab-
regardless of anomalies. straction and near-abstract works whether in
Inconsistencies are as common in tran- built-up boulder-like masses in stone or in
scribing Greek names into English, but there the meticulous, almost linear compositions of
is a more commonly accepted pattern. The the welders of metals.
sculptor Myron is here, as almost universally, Ahundred photographers have contributed
given his name in the Greek form; but if in to the book. We have put their names into
the following paragraph Plato is quoted, few the captions under the illustrations, and the
will object that the spelling is not Platon, listing there must convey our thanks. I am
which is technically correct. Having escaped indebted to as many collectors, directors of
Myro with the sanction of all parties, it is museums, and owners of galleries; my obli-
not so easy to choose among Polykleitos, gations to them are listed in a special section
Polycleitus,and Polyclitus; the last is the at the end of the book.
Latin form and most favored in English. But It remains for me to add here the acknowl-
to speak of the famous Doryphoros of Poly- edgment of a deeper debt to three individ-
clitus remains an inconsistency. In all these uals. Martha Candler Cheney has been a
matters we have tried to settle upon the form co-conspirator through the entire period of
that will be least likely to annoy the edu- twenty in search and research, in
years,
cated reader. Japanese scholars, with gov- traveland adventure. In short, we lived
ernment approval, issued a few years ago a much of the book together.
list of changes in spellings of Westernized A very different debt is owing to Bryan
Japanese words, beginning with such appar- Holme at my publishers'. His expertise in
ent barbarisms as Mount Huzi for Mount art books led him to recall the materials for
Fuji, and the Sinto religion for what we the book after the project had been dropped
have known as Shinto. The famous temple —before he became associated with Viking—
at Nara that contains so great a treasure of as impossible of realization at a marketable
ancient Japanese sculpture, the Horiuji or price. (The Viking was repeating only
Press
Hori-uji, became the Horyuzi. Even at risk what a dozen of the other most eminent
of being cut off by the Japanese government, publishers in America, and two or three
I have stuck by the familiar old-fashioned abroad, had told me— that I had dreamed up
spellings. a wholly impractical book.) Bryan Holme
In a time such as the present, when sculp- found a way to overcome the difficulties. I
ture has surged forward, when the operations shall always be grateful to him, as will any
of invention and experiment are all about, reader who finds pleasure in the volume,
whether in Philadelphia or Turin, London or for without his constructive aid there might
Seatde, it is particularly difficult for the his- well have been no book.
torian to judge where written history should The third of my collaborators, Milton
end, where mere experiment begins. I have Click, has shown not only great resource-
excluded from my history of sculpture the fulness and ability in designing a format
craftsmen who devise assemhlages, which that would contain the great number of il-
VIII PREFACE
lustrations, along with the book-length text, ment me-
the sculptor felt over his artistic
but a rare appreciation of the sculptural val- dium, and perhaps over his subject, we
ues in the photographic materials. He is cannot know. But the little knot of shaped
responsible for what seem to me the many masses speaks to us today as essential sculp-
happy juxtapositions of related or contrasting ture, stirs us aesthetically. I think that ever
pictures. since the experience of contemplating that

Space does not permit more than a gen- incredibly old bit of carving, I have subcon-
eral "thank you" to Marshall Best, a helpful sciouslv oriented my appreciation to the be-
friend for thirty years and editor of two of ginnings in the cave men's art. It is one
my earlier books, and to the other collabora- story, from there through the ages, to the
tors—editors, copy-editors, production experts products that grace this book's final chapter:
—who have become my friends at The Viking carvings, castings, forged and welded metals,
Press. Several have helped to make the book constructions. I have tried to convey the
what it is, and I am sincerely grateful. feeling, even something of the excitement of
In Paris there is a museum wherein one it, in narrative, through the whole progres-
can stand before an ivory figure of a woman, sion; and again in illustrations— photographs
of the sort known as "Prehistoric Venuses." are particularly kind to sculpture, reconsti-
It is a sculpture that has existed at least tuting the art, as it were, in a manner quite
30,000 years. Through this little image the unique. I end with the hope that the reader
emotion of an artist of the Old Stone Age is may find enjoyment in this well-meaning
projected across 300 centuries. What excite- review of the art.
6
7
Contents
PREFACE V
Introduction: The Art of Sculpture 1
1 : Primitive Sculpture: From the Cave Men to Our Stone Age Contemporaries 1 5
2 : Eg)'pt: The Eternal in Scul-pture 33
3 : The Mesopotamian Pageant: Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria 61
4 : The Animal Art of the Eurasian Steppes 78
5 : The Greeks Archaism,

: Classicism, Realism 87
6 : Etruscan and Roman Sculpture 13 2
7 : The Opulent Sculpture of Persia; The Legacy to Islam 16
8 : China: The World's Supreme Scidptural Achievement 18 4
9 : Korea and Japan : The Spread of Buddhist Sculpture 22 6
lo : India: The Maturing of the Opident Oriental Style 24 5
I I : The Flowering in Southeast Asia: Camhodia, Siam, ]ava 27 3
I 2 : Early Christian Sculpture : Coptic, Byzantine 294
I 3 : European Christian Sculpture: Barbarian, Romanesque, Gothic 310
14 : The Renaissance: From the Pisanos to Michelangelo 3 64
15 : The South Seas and Negro Africa: "Exotic" Sculpture 402
1 : Amerindian Sculpture and the Mexican-Mayan Masters 424
1 : Western Sculpture from the Baroque to Rodin 4 5 3
18: Modern Sculpture: Formalism, Expressionism, Abstraction 477
FOR FURTHER READING 513
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 518
INDEX 5 2 3
Note on Illustrations
Because a serial list would be useless for reference where so many titles are included,
the list of illustrations sometimes placed at this point is omitted.
Instead, the titles and artists are listed in the Index at the end of the book.
Italic figures, preceded by the letters ill, are employed for illustrations (e.g., ///., 497)
to distinguish them from text entries, which are in Roman figures (e.g., 497).
Sculpt ure
OF THE WORLD
Introduction
The Art of Sculpture
you take a block of stone, in formless the scene, nor can you effectively
natural
IF condition, and hack and chisel
its
and rub make a commentary on life. The dramatic

it down to a shape conforming to a vision of happening that may stir the painter to crea-
order, that is sculpture. In endowing it with a tion affords no safe starting-point for a sculp-
form out of your feeling and vision, you will tor's imagination. The characters are too
naturally stick close to the block, respecting many, the background, whether landscape or
the stone. building, is unsculptural, the narrative ele-
You cannot go very far toward reproducing ment is impossible to sustain. There is some-
Womati. Stone. Cycladic, 3rd millennium B.C. About 5 in. high. ^Courtesy Spink & Sou, Lotidon^
THE ART OF SCULPTURE
thing about this art that is single, silent, and of the Bodhisattvas, breathing amplitude,
remote. quietness, and power, mark a peak of achieve-
John Ruskin said that in the disciplined ment in the art that is addressed to the spirit,
human mind there is no more intense or ex- not just to the senses and intellect of man.
alted desire than for evidence of re-pose. He A few sculptors, especially the Hindu and
believed that no work of art can be noble Indonesian masters of relief, the Chinese
without this element, and he added that "all artisans who designed and cast the Shang
art is great in proportion to the appearance of vases and jars, and the Mayan decorative
it." When he searched his memory for ex- stone-carvers, have pushed the art toward the
amples, he could recall but three artists who elaborated, the complicated, and the luxurious
illustrated his meaning supremely. Two of with wonderful results. There are, moreover,
them were sculptors. Dante alone, among all intimate and graceful manifestations, mostly
the rest of the artists known to history, miniature, in which the original massiveness,
seemed to Ruskin to be— when tested for the and the projected feeling of bulkiness and
exalted qualities inseparable from repose— the impersonality, are surrendered in favor of
peer of the creator of the Parthenon marbles lighter, crisper, and more harmonious expres-
and the carver of the figures in the Medici sion. In this category are amulets, seals, and
Chapel. coins. Few of us, moreover, would willingly
Supremely, sculpture is the art of funda- forgo enjoyment of the Assyrian hunting
mental things, of the stone core of the earth, scenes in relief, which are like masterly draw-
of the eternal mountains and the silent hills. ings traced on stone, or Ghiberti's panels on
It is lithic, massive— and serene. Least of all the Florentine Baptistry doors, which are
among the arts does it make concession to bronze approximations of paintings— though
man's occasional relish for the gay, the trivial, we may temper our enthusiasm because both
or the fantastic. Without loss of decorum, displays are unsculptural in conception.
music may descend from the realm of the There are other acceptable compromises
symphony to the precinct of the gay song and exceptions. The Chinese sculptured land-
and the merry dance and painting may be- scapes please us in a special way, whether on
come lightly decorative or prettily affected. the hill jars of ancient times or cut into the
But for the sculptor the path toward fancy, comparatively recent stone seals. The grace-
toward the buoyant and the jocund, is a way fully attenuated bronze animals of Luristan
of peril. and the similarly slenderized early worshipers
As sculpture is the soberest of the arts, it and warriors of the Etruscans are appeal-
has known a lesser popularity in recent cen- ing and delightful. But these are exceptions;
turies, during the decline of religions and the and the basic sculptural "fullness" remains
spread of materialism and agile intellectual- an ideal in the mainstream of Chinese, Etrus-
ism.But as religion remains the dependable can—and even Lur— invention.
companion of mankind, so the art that is most In the contemporary period (say, from
stable, noble, and nearest to direct revelation, 1930 to the mid-1960s), when sculpture has
offers to the observer an incomparably pro- expanded in accordance with the scientific
found experience. The Pieta of Michelangelo, advances of the space age, departures from
or any one of a hundred known Heads of the the historic norm have been innumerable and
Buddha by anonymous Cambodian sculptors, amazing. So unsculptural in the traditional
may remind us, by a mysterious and inex- sense are some of the results that thev scarcelv
plicable evocation, that the sculptor, beyond come within the basic definition of the art.
all other equipment, requires a clairvoyance, Such are the mobiles, constructivist skeletons,
toward the stone, toward his subject. The and many of the assemblages so widclv ex-
majestic Chinese statues of the Buddha and hibited under the label "sculpture." But these
works must of course be considered in our zenith in the Victorian era. A great many of
history. the illustrations in school textbooks are still
Sculpture in bronze may be considered a and unsculptural. From the

naturalistic, tame,
less substantial counterpart of stone sculpture, Ayollo and the Dying Gaul to
Belvedere
which is basically massive and masculine. Donatello's David and the sweet Saint
Bronze casting is dependent upon a prior Cecilia, and on down to Carpeaux's photo-
art of modeling in clay or wax or plaster. graphic nymphs and Bar)'e's photographic
Historically, sculptures clay form
in their animals, all the toitrs-de-force of exact coppng
and bronzes have been created by man since have been paraded, until the common taste
the late Neolithic Age and the dawn of the mistakes adroit duplication for creative effort.
Bronze Age. Their importance as purveyors The casts adorning schoolrooms and public
of sculptural emotion, their success in har- libraries (and still to be encountered in some
nessing plastic vitalit)', is not to be lightly dis- art museums) lent further authority to the
counted, whether in Athens, Ordos, or Ife. idea of representational realism as the aim
Yet carving in stone (or bone or ivor)' or and end-all of sculpture.
wood) was antecedent and has remained the A
perspecti\'e upon the histor)' of the art,
core of the art. upon ancient periods as well as modern, upon
When one's appreciation is thoroughly the Orient as well as the Occident, reveals
grounded in the basic attributes of sculpture, at a glance that the most glorious cycles of
one can better enjoy the lesser paths and sculptural creation have occurred in times and
b\nvays. To have lived with the noblest mon- places not embraced in the historv' of fac-
uments, whether of the Egy^ptians or the simile realism. Indeed a truth that must be
Chinese or the medieval Christian masters, to learned (in the West), for the fullest enjoy-
have absorbed the feeling of silent power and ment of the great pageant of sculpture illus-
supernatural grandeur in Michelangelo's trated in the following pages, is that the
tomb figures, or in a Nepalese Buddha, equips representation of the surface aspects of nature
one to respond spontaneously to the less deep is a minor virtue in sculptural art. A person
works of a Donatello, a Houdon, or an un- may be looking at a perfect transcription of a
named Negro car\'er. pretts' or characterful head in marble or
Up to 1930, through a period of at least bronze, vet not experience one iota of sculp-
two centuries, schooling, whether for the tural or aesthetic pleasure. On the other hand,
artist or for the la^Tnan, emphasized a photo- a Chinese monster or a Lur approximated
graphic realism and naturalistic perfection as animal may be wholly unlike any beast in the
criteria by which to judge the excellence of a zoological manuals, and an African car\'ed fig-
statue. The late Greeks and the less robust ure or mask may appear as a near-abstract ar-
but more prettily natural of the Renaissance rangement of the elements of the human
modelers were exalted, while all sculptors body or face; and yet any of these may evoke
who violated any aspect of natural appearance an immediate aesthetic response.
for the sake of aliveness or intensification of When we have escaped the habit of look-
emotion were cried down. The observer, the ing first for the representational element, we
amateur, was led to believe that transcription have gone about as far as knowledge can take
body
into stone or bronze of a naturally lovely us. No commentator can then help us unless,
or a posed model representing Flora or the by suggestion rather than instruction, he can
Goddess of Libert\- was the acme of sculp- quicken our perceptive senses. No one can
tural art. know ledgeably say what it is that the artist
Since 1930 there has been a revolt against creatively puts into the statue, what is the
the easy virtues of realism, and especially form-element, and how it speaks to the
against the facile naturalism that reached a aesthetic faculty of the obser\'er. But if he
4 THE ART OF SCULPTURE
Reclining Figure. Bronze. Henry Moore. C. 1938. Collection of Billy Wilder, Hollywood
can get down in words some intimation of ment now seen in perspective as twentieth-
the values— of the beauty, if you will— which century modernism. A sculptor, Elie Nadel-
his more accustomed eyes have experienced, man, a true internationalist who spent the
if he can communicate some hint of the latter part of his life in the United States,
serene pleasure, even the glow of the spirit, had already written, before Clive Bell crystal-
engendered in contemplation of certain lized the theory, that "the subject of any work
works, he may stir us to live in the presence of art is for me nothing but a pretext for
of great works of sculpture and to enjoy them creating significant form, relations of forms
to the full. which create a new life. . .
," Even earlier
It is generally agreed today that the creative the German sculptor Adolf Hildebrand had
sculptor or painter aims at producing a work written a book in the 1890s entitled The
endowed with an indescribable, precious, Prohlem of Form in Painting and Scul-pture
four-dimensional quality that most people call which foreshadowed the events and directions
form. It is form that speaks to us first when of twentieth-century art-progress. Hildebrand
we contemplate a Stone Age idol, a Greek pointed out that the true artist's aim is to
archaic kouros, or a reclining figure by Henry create a work "with a self-sufficiency apart
Moore. Form is the only word that can ex- from nature." The thing created resides, he
plain the pleasure afforded us by the abstract said, in a unity of form, or an architectonic
sculptures of, say, the ancient Tajin culture form, "lacking in objects as they appear in
of Mexico, or the Amerindians of the middle nature." In addition he spoke out for direct
Eastern states, modern Jean Arp.
or the cutting as against modeling.
The art of sculpture had its own perceptive One of the tests now most often applied is:
pioneers in the vast and determining move- Has the piece a life of its own, or does it
Twilight. Stone. Michelangelo. 1520-34.

Medici Chapel, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence. (Brogi photo')
merely reflect something in objective nature? the great middle ground of sculptural achieve-
The Hfe in a Michelangelo piece or in a ment, of the Assyrians and the late Greeks
Bodhisattva of the T'ang era leaves no doubt and the Romans, of Ghiberti and Donatello
that the intense vitality is that of an inde- and the della Robbias, of the baroque and
pendently living creation: the statue is an neo-classic modelers, of the impressionists—
organism conceived and brought into being and these are major names and periods of
bv the artist, owing only an impulse and a sculptural activity— survive importantly only
surface likeness to the model. Though the when the individual sculptor has infused
intensity diminishes as one comes down the some slight measure of creative formal life
scale toward facsimile realism, the works on into the statue.

THE ART OF SCULPT LI RE
you should ask what schools and names
If perception of the marvels of nature. "Above
would appear on a guide-map to that part of and before all, I repeat, study Nature. None
sculptural achievement wherein form-creation of her works aremean, low, ugly, or vulgar to
or form-expression is dominant, I would an- those who, with the patience born of reverent
swer: the primitives of all times and places, love, seek out her marvelous and minute
the early Greeks, the Romanesque masters, beauties." The other half of training, how-
the sculptors of the Orient— Scythia, Persia, ever, is recommended to be study of the
India, Indonesia, and China— and Jacopo Greek and Italian masters, for "inspiration."
della Quercia and Michelangelo. These There is Tio mention of anything created by
schools and masters have left us the works the sculptor in the nature of a formal or-
that are most highly charged with life; and ganization or sculptural life. The instance is
in general— except for the Greeks— they are typical of instruction during the century
the ones who have been more careless of their before the post-Rodin revolt into expression-
models. ism.
After Romanesque expressionism gave way Rodin himself lent his name to several
to Gothic realism in France, to Renaissance books. That is, companions and interviewers
realism in Italy, the art of sculpture in Europe transcribed his conversations and pieced out
entered into a slow but lengthy course of his occasional remarks into theories of sculp-
deterioration, interrupted only by the talent ture. The reported comments, or monologues,
of a Donatello or a Houdon, and by the are illuminating and provocative; but the
startlingly independent genius of Michel- modern reader concludes in the end that
angelo. Except for Michelangelo, the aesthetic Rodin was the last giant figure of the realistic
trend in sculpture ran steadily downward to schools and only marginally a modern. He
an intellectual academism and a weak natu- was the great, the incomparable impressionist,
ralism. When the tide finally turned, at the not properly a post-impressionist.
end of the nineteenth century, there was little Rodin speaks for his school when again
in the product of five centuries of European and again he notes the importance of "the
sculpture to afford either precedent or instruc- palpitating flesh"; or when he declares that
tion to the young radicals. Since they saw "the principal care of the artist should be to
naturalism as a dead end, since all the varia- form living muscles. The rest matters little."
tions of realism from Ghiberti to the impres- Of that specialty of the impressionist sculp-
sionists were being suddenly discredited, they tors, minute modeling of boss and hollow to
turned to the primitives— which indeed gained afford a shimmering effect, he said: "Color is
for the earlymoderns a massive strength— and These two qual-

the flower of fine modeling.
to the Orient, where a rhythmic vitality had ities always accompany each other, and it is
always been considered more important than these qualities which give to every master-
surface representation. piece of the sculptor the radiant appearance
of living flesh."
Back in the days when it was axiomatic These interesting observations are likely to
that the work of art is an imitation of nature, sharpen the reader's perception of certain
innumerable books were written by sculptors surface beauties in sculpture, but those who
as introductions to the practice or appreciation believe that a new dimension has been added
of the art. Many of these are instructive, for to sculptural creation since Rodin modeled
the lover of sculpture, both for what they say his naturalistic early works may well prefer
and what they leave unsaid. We may read
for his statement about the sculptor's obligation
with respect a book by Albert Toft, a British in modeling a portrait: "The resemblance
sculptor eminent in the 1920s, and agree with which he ought to obtain is that of the soul;
him that one-half of the artist's preparation is that alone matters." The saying seems to
sionate—that is what the sculptor must express
in stone or marble," he wrote. "The grandest,
the noblest, the most striking product of the
sculptor's genius should express only relation-
ships possible in nature— its effects, its fan-
tasies, its singularities."
At the beginning of the twentieth century

Aristide Maillol pointed out an inevitable
weakness in the realist's case: having only
nature's effects as his material, he exaggerates
nature's movements and locutions: "Dona-
tello's art does not really come out of nature;
it belongs to the studio. He exaggerates to
make it lifelike. His weeping children grim-
ace frightfully. One can express sorrow by
calm features, not by a twisted face and dis-
tended mouth."
If addiction to naturalism was cause

enough for the decline of sculpture in the
nineteenth centur)^, there was a companion
evil in the failure to comprehend the differ-
The Kiss. Marble. Auguste Rodin. C. 1890.
ences between stone-cutting and modeling.
Rodin Museum, Paris
Michelangelo wrote the most-quoted state-
ment about the between true sculp-

differences
bring him into the territory of the moderns, tural art and clay modeling: "By sculpture
where indeed he lingered long enough to I mean the thing that is executed by cutting
design the famous Balzac. (See page 472.) away from the block; the sort executed by
Better known, unfortunately, and fre- building up tends toward painting."
quently quoted by the devotees of realism, is Three hundred years later practically no
an early saying of Rodin's: "I obey Nature in sculptor in Europe was capable of cutting a
ever)'thing, and I never pretend to command stone block, and no school taught the process.
her. Aly only ambition is to be servilely faith- The most honored sculptors were clay-
ful to her." This well caps a progression of modelers. They, the "artists," made clay
sayings explanatory of the naturalism that sketches, and sometimes plaster models.
had gained steadily in Europe over a period Then, if the final statue was to be in stone,
of five centuries. "workmen," or praticiens, made the replica,
Lorenzo Ghiberti had written concerning using a pointing machine to assure perfect
the baptistry doors which he completed in copying. As the so-called sculptor never
Florence in 1452: "I tried to imitate nature touched the block, the sense of the stone, of
as closely as possible, with all the correct pro- lithic grandeur and heavy monumentality,
portions, and by using perspective I was able totally disappeared.
to produce excellent compositions graced with One of the results was that sculptures be-
many figures. . .
." But perhaps the most came light, complicated, spiky, and sketchy.
eloquent of all the exponents of the natural The easy thumbing of wet clay often brought
had been Etienne Falconet of the eighteenth sculpture into the estate of a second-rate and
century, whose nude nymphs are still coldly strained sort of painting. Subjects not suitable
charming. "Nature alive, breathing, and pas- to the stone abounded; goddesses holding aloft
<iJr.i-^l*^^^:^^^ ]^'- ^'•'

^
Goat. Stone. John B. Flannagan. 1930-31. Baltimore Museum of Art
torches of learning, soldiers bearing guns and and the Greek-born Polygnotos Vagis, have
bayonets, winged creatures naturalistically said that their approach was to wait until the
portrayed in flight. This was the heyday of stone or wooden block in hand created its
pictorial sculpture- own subject; until subconscious memory
Eric Gill, Gaudier, Mestrovic, and Lachaise yielded up an image that somehow belonged
were leaders among post-impressionist revolu- to the shape and texture and "feel" of the
tionaries who insisted upon a return to the rock mass. Flannagan wrote that an image
sculptural process, and upon the importance exists within every rock and that "the creative
of the "stone feeling" in the finished statue. act of realization merely frees it." Vagis, when
Eric Gill wrote a famous essay entitled "Sculp- looking at a field stone or boulder, let his
ture," and the opening lines are an echo sculptural "feeling" play over it until the hid-
of Michelangelo: "I shall assume that the den subject took over his mind. Then he was
word sculpture is the name given to that craft ready to begin cutting.
and art by which things are cut out of a solid This idea is not new. Shortly after the year
material, whether in relief or in the round. 1300, Meister Eckhart, the great preacher
... I oppose the word 'cut' to the word and mystic, wrote: "When an artist shapes a
'model.'" And again: "The sculptor's job is statue in wood or stone, it is not his subject
making out of stone things seen in the mind." that he puts into the wood; rather he cuts
The law that applies to basic sculpture, to away the covering material that has been
the statue cut in stone, applies to all the more hiding an image. what he imparts; it
It is less
refined or lesser varieties of the art. That is, is rather the stripping away of an obscuring
the finished work in wood or ivory or clay envelope so that what was hidden in the
will be true to the character of the material rough may shine out." Johannes Tauler,
and will bear the stamp of the sculptor's skill. another leader in that crowning century of
Two American sculptors, John Flannagan mystical perception, reported the incident of
THE ART OF SCULPTURE 9
Banner stones. Amerindian, Mound Builders culture, 100-500 a.d. Left: Ohio.
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York. Right: Illinois. Museum of the American Indian, New York
a sculptor who regarded a huge block of stone). Lending itself to facile carving or
marble and exclaimed, "What Godlike beauty abrasion, it sometimes appears where more dif-
is here hidden away!" ficult sculptural work was scarcely attempted;

though it may be said that primitive peoples
Regarding the materials used in sculpture, did not let the intractability of materials
granite is the favorite hard stone, some artists check the native impulse toward artistic ex-
insisting that this lends itself best in the pression. Flint and basalt are typical Stone
creation of "sculptural feeling." Basalt dictates Age materials.
a severe simplification. Both of these in- The oldest shaped stones uncovered at pre-
tractable stones were used from the very start historic campsites and caves are weapons, and
of recorded history: the Egyptians, who con- it is a moot question whether these can be
sciouslyaimed to create images for eternity, considered sculpture. Certainly the desire to
used them for their tomb statues. render the shapes pleasing entered at some
Marble, the favorite stone for the middle stage of weapon design, and there came a
ground of sculpture, is not very hard; neither day when ceremonial hatchets and axes
is it soft like which are its
the limestones evolved out of the purely functional kinds,
Greek and Roman sculptors
closest relations. often with an animal form approximated in
favored marble, and even today marble re- the general design or as an added feature.
mains the chosen material for portrait busts But it may be that the first independent statu-
and monumental compositions. ettewas of bone or horn. One of the com-
The non-crystalline limestones have been monest early materials was ivory, from
freely used throughout the centuries, but they mammoth tusks. Of these three materials,
cannot be polished and are not durable if ivory is the only one extensively used
exposed to weather. The small sculptures in throughout history, from the age of the Cro-
alabaster have a translucent glow, but the Magnons until our own time. Curiously, the
material is one of the softest and needs pro- era of its greatest glory began in the so-called
tection. Another soft medium is steatite (soap- "Dark Ages."
Apart from stone and stonelike materials, as it ^vill ap'pear to the beholder in the mate-
only one other material lends itself to the rial of the final -piece. That is, if the sculptor
true sculptural process: wood. Impermanent envisages a bronze statue as the end-product,
by nature, subject to breakage and rot, the he is constrained to think metallically while
wooden statue has seldom survived the oldest producing the clay model, smoothing the sur-
though its presence can be surmised
cultures, faces and otherwise capitalizing upon the
from the time when sculpture first became effects characteristic of metal. If he has in
sculpture. Superbly right for car\ang, lend- mind a painted and refined product such as
ing itself to effects of fluent cutting and of colored porcelain (in the tradition of Sevres
agreeable texture impossible to any other or Meissen ware), his clay original will have
material, wood has become in the twentieth yet another sort of smoothnessand composi-
century, as it has been so often in history, tion.Whereas if the clay statuette is the
a prime vehicle of creative sculptural ex- whole aim of his endeavor, he may proceed
pression. in a self-proclaiming technique of chunk-
The rest of the stor)' of materials is in clay, upon-chunk, thumb-marked modeling; or he
but with it we turn away from basic sculp- may pursue naturalism with a detailing and
ture. The word "sculpture" is descended from a finesse of approach impossible to reproduce
the Latin word meaning to cut or car\'e, and in any transfer beyond the clay or plaster or
with clay we enter the field of modeling. A wax.
composition imprisoned in a block is no There are mar\'elous examples of clay (or
longer released by cutting away. Instead the mud) statuettes among the Chinese tomb
"sculptor" builds up by pressing
the image, figurines, and again among the Mexican
onto a central mass or core innumerable Stone Age relics. These are apt to be expres-
lumps of wet clay, thumbing and streaking sionist in the best sense: sculpturally alive,
them into final place. The piece as it appears true to the inner character of the subject, and
in the museum case may be labeled burnt tj'pically claylike. Among the moderns, sev-
mud, clay, or terra cotta, but the process is eral sculptors have specialized in capitalizing
much the same. It has been daubed together upon the capabilities inherent in clay; and the
by hand while the mud or clay was wet, then Swiss Herman Haller especially has served
fired, possibly in hot sunshine or in ashes, to prove that the terra-cotta figure can have
most often in an oven. distinctive and engaging virtues. Some of the
The apparent hostilit)' moderns
of the Lehmbruck terra-cotta pieces are among the
toward modeling arose when it was recog- masterpieces of modem sculpture, partly by
nized that whole generations of modelers had reason of the artist's scrupulous loyalty to the
been falsifying monumental work by creating clay as such.
in clay, in typical softened modeling tech- On the other hand, a study of contempo-
nique, then mechanically enlarging and rary bronzes should convince the observer
copying the effects in marble or bronze. They (where they
that the great recent sculptors
thus lost the characteristic virtues that inhere have not insisted upon working exclusively
in clay or stone or metal expression as such. in stone and wood, by direct cutting) have
Since there are legitimate uses for model- followed the rule of \asualizing the final metal
ing, and indeed some kind of original is effect during the period of producing the
inevitable for statues to be cast in metal, the model. Archipenko, Lachaise, Arp, and Moore
modems laid down a rule which seems likely provided excellent examples of the cast bronze
to govern creative sculptural efltort for a con-
Mail Drawing a Sivord.
siderable time to come: The clay shall be
Wood. Ernst Barlach. 1911.
manipulated by the artist always in ac- Museum of the Craiibrook Academy of Art,
cordance with a vision of the completed work Bloomfield Hills, ^lichigan
figure endowed with sheer and gHstcning
effects natural to metal but not to clay.
It must be added that very often, when a
terra-cotta piece has won an appreciative
audience, the sculptor's desire to perpetuate it
in more durable form has led to castina in

bronze, without modification. (Or after his
death eager executors duplicate clay sketches
happened with Degas, Rodin,
in metals, as has
and Renoir.) Thus in museum halls there are
many so-called modern statues that seem to
belie the modern passion for truth to mate-
rials.
Worse still, one of the greatest of the

twentieth-century progressives, Jacob Epstein,
in later years went back to the practice of
reproducing in cast bronze his sketchy, lumpy
clay portraits. Without wanting to detract in
any way from Epstein's genius and his early
service to the modern movement, one may
call attention to the illogical duplication in
bronze of his streaky and muddy-surfaced
modelings as the most instructive example
extant of a denial of the values of material.
No one can see what formal sculptural
values may be hidden in the materials now
entering into the manufacturing field of in-
dustrial design.There are new materials such
as chromium and magnesium to challenge the
sculptor. Archipenko, Brancusi, and Gonzalez
have experimented with direct cutting in
metals (as against casting), and Lehmbruck
produced many of his outstanding statues in
an artificial stone. As a stone and cement
agglomerate, the material led the artist to
express himself in a fairly smooth, stonelike

idiom, yet with a variation of surface not far
from that possible to clay. Most recendy a
new generation (after Gonzalez) has devel-
oped every phase of sculpture assembled by
welding, and the names of Armitage, Jacob-
sen, and David Smith have become familiar
at the great international showplaces.
There are scores of "new" theories about
the art of sculpture. These range from a frank
neo-primitivism, as in the few sculptures of
Growth. Bronze. Jean Arp. 1938. Modigliani and an early phase of Epstein's
Philadelphia Museutn of Art, Arensherg Collection work, through various profound and weighty
works, to the most complicated "light" con-
structions, as in the airy "mobiles" of Alexan-
der Calder— who was originally a sculptor but
is hardly to be contained now in any histor-
ical definition of the word.
It may be that it is only because we are
still so close to the triumphant days of realism
that a large group of innovators and settled
moderns remain near the neo-primitive, heavy
or simplified types of sculpture. In any case,
there is sufficient reason for the contemporary
sculptor's concern with ovoid, cubic, and
spherical forms, if their reiteration helps stir
in the collective public mind a long-dormant
love of reposeful, elemental things, of hard,
simple, solemn things. It may be that the
immediate art of appreciating sculpture hinges
upon some deep-down clairvoyance in this
regard, upon subconscious perception of ele-
mental form.
Henry Moore, speaking of shape-conscious-
ness, and of his own early devotion to bones,
shells, and pebbles, observes that "there are
universal shapes to which everybody is sub-

consciously conditioned and to which they
can respond if their conscious control does
not shut them off."
Subject-values are, of course, inseparable

from the others; but the proper order of rec-
ognition is an intuitive response to elemental

sculptural beauty, then intellectual pleasure
in the descriptive truth and the Jiterary
associations. Any alert mind is pleasantly en-
gaged by a cleverly exact transcription or by a
show of unusual virtuosity in smooth tech-
nique. But the mental delight thus awakened
is a poor substitute for the profoundly moving
and felicitous response to innate massive
rhythms, whether encountered in the form-
symphonies of Michelangelo or in the "uni-
versal shapes" of Henry Moore.
Montserrat. Sheet iron. Julio Gonzalez. 1936-37.

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
I
I : Primitive Sculpture:
From the Cave Men
to Our Stone Age Contemporaries
WE cannot know exactly when man began durable, it survives earthquakes and vandal-
to shape tools or weapons artistically, with ism, sudden injuries from wars, and the grad-
regard to the pleasure afforded by contrived ual silting over of ancient living-sites. Primi-
looks or "feel." Even more obscured is the tive sculpture, though long obscured and only
event of his first cutting an independent recently known in art museums, is properly
statuette. It is probable that sculpture as an the foundation for all study of the art.
art preceded drawing or painting. It goes back The primitives are the world's basic sculp-
to the very beginnings— as does dance, which tors, and from them each line of civilized de-
precedes music and poetry. Incomparably old velopment has branched. Their creations are
among figurative arts, sculpture is also in- fundamentally vigorous, innocent of reasoned
comparably represented among the relics of purpose, studied detail, and elaborate orna-
prehistoric cultures. By its nature heavy and ment. Whether a rough prehistoric "Venus"
Baton or symbol of authority. Reindeer horn. Aurignacian, c. 30,000 B.C.

Isturitz, Basses-Pyrenees. St. Germain Museum. (_Photo Charles Hurault, St. Germain^
16 PRIMITIVE SCULPTURE
of the Aurignacians from the Old Stone Age but there seems little doubt that many repre-
(of perhaps 30,000 B.C.) or a rhythmically sentations grew from religious impulses and
designed stone horse of the New Stone Age filled devotional or ritualistic needs. Instinc-
(of possibly 2000 B.C.) in Europe, or an idol tively men wanted to placate the spirits or to
of a South Sea island tribe living today under please their God or gods; certain objects
Stone Age conditions, the sculpture of the either contained a spirit or evoked it. They
primitive mind, a mind not yet developed to had "magic."
the point of possessing a written language, is Other manifestations of this art were
simple, strong, and true to the spirit rather merely utilitarian. To begin with, early man
than to the external and detailed reality of did only what was necessary. But after a
the model. while he polished down the tool or other
Primitive art cannot be delimited within object he had made and found it more pleas-
dates. In some areas the Stone Age has lasted ing visually than the first crude product. At
into our own time. The American Indian some point he playfully added ornament.
cultures north of Mexico were all at the level The instinct for ornamentation has been
of the Stone Age until they gave way before claimed by some students as the true origin
the pressures of the white man. Some Mela- of all visual arts. To them it seems that art,
nesian and Polynesian cultures and others in instead of originating independently, might
Africa, Australia, and the Arctic lands remain have evolved from such practices as body-
at the primitive level, and their arts are tech- painting and tattooing and the later tribal
nically prehistoric. fashion of wearing ornamental headdresses,
In the twentieth century we are at some- necklaces, and the like. But to interpret man's
thing of a loss to know how early man felt invention of art according to any one theory
about life or art and to fathom his reasons seems unnecessarily limiting.
for fashioning a javelin-thrower into an ap- we see the prehistoric
In the simplest terms
proximation of a stag or a lion, or to explain artist as aman who was extraordinarily lim-
why, in much later times, he carved a duck ited mentally, who understood some things
or an otter or a hawk upon his tobacco pipe. and met many others in the natural world
Archaeologists have evolved a number of that he was unable to explain. Swayed by
theories to explain the earliest works of art, instincts and emotions, he did not think about
Horse. Stone. Neolithic, 3rd or 2nd millennium B.C. Woldenberg, Germany. State Museum, Berlin.
QCourtesy Archiv fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin}
PRIMITIVE SCULPTURE 17
PERIOD DATE TYPE OF MAN SCULPTURAL ART

Eolithic c. 2,000,000 years Homo habilis (?) Eoliths: crude weapons only slightly shaped
ago
Paleolithic
(Old Stone
Age):
Pre-Chellean C. 100,000 B.C. Java man Rudely chipped weapons, axes, scrapers, etc.
Chellean Peking man
Acheulean Tools improved. Bone implements.
Mousterian from Neanderthal man Wildenmannlisloch Venus (?)
Aurignacian c. 75,000 B.C. QHomo sapiens^
c. 25,000 B.C. Cro-Magnon man Wider range of shaped tools. Some engraving;
sculpture in the round.
Solutrean C. 20,000 B.C. Flint points greatly improved; other sculpture
almost lacking.
Magdalenian from Cro-Magnon man Culmination of cave-dwellers' art. (Painted
C.l6,OOQ B.C. murals.) Wide range of sculpture in the
round and in relief.
Mesolithic Age from possibly Uncertain tribal ele- Weapons and tools crude. No figurative sculp-
(Middle Stone 15,000 B.C. in ments hunters and
: ture. Rude beginnings of pottery.
Age) Europe, earlier fishers
elsewhere
Neolithic Age Begins possibly Confused racial pat- Peak of shapely stone weapons and tools, whence
(New Stone I 5,000 B.C. in terns. Man initiates alternate name
"Polished Stone Age." Dol-
Age) Asia, 8000 B.C. primitive agricul- mens, menhirs and other megalithic monu-
in Europe ture, housing, ani- ments. Extensive development of pottery;
mal culture, weav- then clay statuettes. Slow resumption of
ing. figurative sculpture in stone. Rare design in
copper.
Bronze Age Begins c. 4000 B.C. Man invents a metal Continuing Stone Age arts; but from c. 2500
in Orient, c. harder than copper. B.C., widespread use of bronze for weapons,
2000 B.C. in tools, bracelets, brooches, etc., and finally
Europe statuettes.
Iron Age Possibly c. 1800 Man a worker in iron. No epochal change in the sculptural arts, which
B.C. in Asia, c. had vastly expanded in the preceding period.
1000 B.C. in
Europe
the desirability of art as such. He merely had out of the other world, had an element of
the impulse to create. The process differs magic in it. If I use or wear it, it makes me
little from that which takes place among in- fine; I am set apart from other men, I am
tuitive artists today: first contemplation, then grander or more powerful, or I am more at-
the manipulation of materials until the image tractive to the opposite sex. Or again, if the
takes life in a new embodiment. Afterward piece is an ax head or javelin-thrower, not
come all and uses. In
the associative values only am I a greater natural hunter than the
the case of primitive man, if he created a others, but I am set apart by this display of
piece that really pleased him he might hunter symbols.

dedicate it to his gods or God. A likeness in But there is nothing that transcends the
sculpture, something brought mysteriously truth that art at its genesis exists to please
PRIMITIVE SCULPTURE
some deep-rooted faculty in us, to satisfy an lasted until the dawn of the Bronze Age.
aesthetic hunger. The attraction an agreeable Some authorities believe the latter to have
shape holds for us is as basic as our impulse started in some parts of the world as early
to create rhythmic forms in dance or music. as 4000 B.C., others say 2500 b.c. This great
The immediate response to a formal creation era of prehistoric art lasted until the dawn of
is elementary and profound; later may come Sumer, Egypt, and China, and
civilized art in
the realization and the delight of seeing some- included the bulk of Amerindian, African,
thing familiar reproduced. and South Sea island art.
What is at present known about earliest At the beginning of the New Stone Age,
man and his sculptural art is shown in the the skills of the preceding ages were not
chart on page 17. The Old Stone or Paleolithic transmitted, except in the field of weapon-
Age covers roughly the vast period from the rise and tool-making. Pottery was substantially a
of man
in the Pleistocene epoch to the culture Neolithic art, and stone sculpture in the
of the Cro-Magnons, an undetermined time monumental sense was resumed only here
from about 1,000,000 to 30,000 years ago. Dur- and there at varying and generally untrace-
ing the first four of the seven periods of the able dates. Men, no longer dependent wholly
Old Stone Age a slow development
there was upon hunting, turned their attention to agri-
from the crudest implement to hand-
sort of culture and the domestication of animals. The
axes and symmetrically shaped scrapers and manufacture of stone weapons reached a re-
points. The fifth period, the Aurignacian, fined stage, as indicated in the name Polished
witnessed the rise of the Cro-Magnon race Stone Age. was the age also of the dolmens
It
and the appearance of improved weapons and menhirs and cromlechs, the megalithic
such as harpoons and javelin-throwers, nu- or "large-stone" art, which appeared as at
merous sculptures in the round, and engrav- Stonehenge and in the French prehistoric
ings on bone. The following period, the tombs, sometimes as architectural or arranged
Solutrean, named after a people who moved monuments, sometimes as monoliths. The
across to what is now France from the East, stones are usually not sufficiently shaped to
is remarkable only for the flint blades and be classed as sculpture, though occasionally a
points, made by the pressure flaking process. menhir is traced over with engraved designs
The culmination of Cro-Magnon art, and and some of the carefully fashioned stones
therefore of all Paleolithic art, occurred in do, in fact, evoke an aesthetic response hardly
the Magdalenian period (or Reindeer Age) to be distinguished from our response to basic
with the paintings of its cave-dwellers, then sculpture.

using not only caves but some rude outside At the beginning of the Bronze Age there
shelters. The sculptors of the period worked in was little change in sculpture, but a major
stone, mammoth ivory, reindeer horn, bone, advance toward industrialization. Neolithic
and clay. No known, but animal
pottery is man had used copper for ornaments and oc-
figures were modeled in the round and draw- casionally for representational sculpture, but
ings of figures were incised upon the wet the era of metals really opened with the in-
walls of the cave. The only claim of transi- vention of alloys, notably bronze. From about
tional Mesolithic art upon the attention of the 2500 B.C. bronze was used increasingly for
art-lover is the invention of a rude sort of weapons and for such ornaments as brooches
pottery. The deterioration of other art forms and bracelets, and for statuettes. The Stone
may be attributable to the drastic changes of Age arts, especially flint-chipping and pottery-
climate due to glacial shiftings. making, continued through the Bronze Age;
The New Stone Age, or Neolithic era, typically Bronze Age arts persisted in some
known also as the Polished Stone Age, pos regions long after others started using iron.
sibly dates from as early as 15,000 B.C. It In most regions of Europe, the Iron Age,
dating from about 1300 B.C., was not pre- man's existence on earth." Equally starding
historic, but the Hallstatt and La Tene cul- was the still-debated opinion that man is de-
tures, pertaining to peoples known to the scended physically from the Australopithe-
Greek-Roman civilization as barbarians, were cines, the so-calledman-apes of South Africa
technically primitive. Most of the sculpture who walked and supposedly used stone,
erect
is small and incidental to manufacture, as on bone, and wooden weapons to overcome their
urns, pins, and swords. prey. However, many anthropologists today be-
The plates which illustrate this chapter lieve that despite their upright posture and
suggest how basic and universal is man's im- tool-using capability the Australopithecines
pulse to create, how instinctive his urge to were not direcdy ancestral to men, but in-
improve. From the start man seems to have stead represent an offshoot of the evolutionary
had an interior sensibility, a sense of form, line that led to man. It is possible that these
an aesthetic impulse. Primitive sculpture is hominids lived concurrently with the earliest
evocative of contemplative pleasure, of a known true man, Homo hahilis.
sculptural emotion, as is all great plastic art. As to dating, the lay reader does well to al-
In the 1960s, new discoveries by anthropolo- low, near the dawn of art, a hundred centuries
gists in East Africa have given rise to articles here and there. The dates in this book are per-
appearing under such startling headlines as haps as near right as is possible in a period of
"Scientists add a million years to the span of scientific guessing and scholarly controversy.
Feline. Petroglyph. Solutrean, c. 20,000 B.C.

Les Combarelles, Dordogne. C^J'chives Photographiques, Parish
II
THERE is a marginal theory that the complex of activities known as the figurative
first pieces of sculpture treasured by arts. It is supposed that from such a begin-
men were bits of stone or bone which had ning, perhaps 100,000 years ago, the activity
been worn down by the elements into shapes was carried forward by the Neanderthal
resembling animals or human beings. Early hunter-savage, then Cro-Magnon man.
by
man would value such nature-formed figures After possibly seven hundred centuries, in
as luck pieces. A pebble approximating the the late Old Stone Age, artists achieved the
mass of a bison or a human head would sort of animal image shown in the illustration
appeal to him as a token bestowed by the of the reindeer-horn sculpture from Isturitz,
spirits, as a precious link with them. It might which is supposed to be an ornament or a baton
itself seem to be instilled with magic. of authority of the Aurignacian epoch. It is
Through rude improve and then

efforts to pleasing but hardly more than rudely resem-
to duplicate the nature-formed luck pieces, blant. (Illustrated on page 15.)
the theory goes on, there arose the whole There is only one figurative sculpture that
Reindeer; Bison. Javdin-throwcrs. Ivory. Magdalcnian, c. 15,000 B.C.

Bruniquel, Tarn ct Garonne; La Madeleine, Dordogne. British Museum;
Les Eyzies Museum QHurauIt photo')
is considered by archaeologists to belong to typical bulk and the typical movement of a

an earlier period than this baton. Its subject stag or doe, of a wild horse, bison, or panther.
is Woman. The piece from the Wilden- And to the look of the animal they ex-
mannlisloch Cave, an Alpine site in eastern pressively added the feeling of it. Their little
Switzerland, is not only the oldest example "statues" form a worthy parallel to the virile
of sculpture known but a unique specimen and sometimes superb paintings on the walls
dated to Mousterian times, and thus pre- of their rock shelters.
sumably at least 40,000 years earlier than the The Cro-Magnon people believed that pos-
Aurignacian finds. Some archaeologists refuse session of an image of the hunted bison or
to believe that this graceful knot of sculptural stag would afford the hunter mastery in the
masses was shaped by men, for prior to 1926, chase, and so the sculptors concentrated upon
when the unique piece was discovered, it had quarry animals. There is nevertheless a con-
been assumed that Neanderthal man pos- siderable range of material, stone and clay and
sessed no aesthetic sense at all. He had rough horn, and of method, from full-round to in-
stone weapons and tools, but no art. Author- cised drawings and figures in low relief. See
ities therefore suggested that the stone had the illustration of a petroglyph of a feline
more or less automatically developed into its from Les Combarelles on page 19.
present human shape while being used as a To return to the human figure, the unique
utilitarian scraper. Then when some sensitive Venus of Wildenmannlisloch, which is now
obser\'er saw in it an image of a woman he widely accepted as man's handiwork, seems to
mounted it in a segment of a cave bear's be a forerunner of the figures known as

jawbone. This mounting has lasted through Venuses of Aurignacian times. Scores of
possibly 70,000 years. Not only the general
shape of the statue but the suggestion of
details such as the eyes and nose seem to Woman. Bone. Neanderthal, c. 70,000 B.C.
Wildenmannlisloch Cave, S\^•itzerland.
other scholars to indicate human artifice.
Heimatmuseum, St. Gallen
The Reindeer and Bison represent animal
figures carx'ed on useful objects such as
javelin-throwers. They are characteristic of a
stage attained by the sculptors of the Mag-
dalenian epoch, when the images had become
vigorously lifelike and there was a maturer
feeling for rhythmic design.
These are examples of the art of the Cro-
Alagnons, successors in Europe of the Nean-
derthalers. The Cro-Magnons painted the
walls and ceilings of their sanctuary cave-
rooms with amazingly truthful pictures of the
animals they hunted. In addition to this,
archaeologists have found such objects as

broken javelin-throwers, flint and points,
stone skull-crushers, which have helped them
to piece together a rudimentary picture of
how these early men lived. It seems safe to
assume that they were exclusively a hunting

people. In their ivory or bone sculptures (they
did not use metal) they caught the obser\'ed
character, the alertness and the stance, the
examples have been recovered from European
and Asian caves and campsites. For illustra-
tion here I have selected the so-called Venus
of Lespngiie and Venus of Willendorf. These
miniature Venuses are generally heavy and
bulgy, with emphasis on the womanly parts.
The faces are mostly without features. Fer-
tility rites were among the earliest religious or
conjuring activities of primitive peoples, and
the Venuses are presumed to have been ritu-
alistic objects or fetishes, designed to induce

fecundity.
The figures indicate a long apprenticeship

in the use of chipping and cutting instru-
ments. They are of interest to theorists of art
as revealing a bent, at so early a time, toward
fluent outlining and rhythmic ordering of
sculptural masses. They interest ethnologists
because the bulginess of certain body parts
seems to link the Cro-Magnon goddesses with
the similarly steatopygous women of the
present-day Bushmen tribes of Africa.
This type of art disappeared from Europe

soon after the last glacial age, possibly about
10,000 or 12,000 B.C., and figurative sculp-
ture is then wholly absent. The date when the
practice of carving figures in stone was re-
sumed in Europe and Asia is unknown,
though it would seem to be in the New Stone
or Polished Stone Age. Neolithic cultures
appeared at widely separated dates in differ-
ent parts of the world, and some survive

today. For that reason the word "primitive,"
like the word "Neolithic," has come to desig-
nate art of a certain type or spirit, rather than
art of a measured time-period.
The resumption of a typical primitive
practice in the Neolithic Age is illustrated
in the early Cycladic figure shown be-
side the Venus of Willendorf. The subject
is rare (but not unique) among Cycladic
pieces in that it seems to be directly in
Venus of Lespugue. Ivory. Magdalenian,

c. 15,000 B.C. Grotte des Ridcaux, Lespugue,
Basses-Pyrenees. Musee de I'Homme, Paris.
(^Photo Giraudon, Paris')
Venus of Willendorf. Stone. Aurignacian. Willen- Idol. Stone. Early Cycladic,

dorf, Austria. Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna 3rd millennium B.C.
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York
line of descent from the Aurignacian Venuses. Mention of the Polished Stone Age sug-
It has the featureless face and, in the body, gests a second line of sculptural development,
the steatopygous fatness of the earlier fig- and one that bridges the gap between Pale-
ures. It is at the same time more advanced olithic and Neolithic cultures. In both ages
as a design, clearly a step toward the schema- weapons and tools were fashioned with
tized Cycladic figures. The piece was found notable feeling for abstract form. The art of
in Malta but is thought to be of Pentelic shaping volumes beautifully is illustrated
marble. in the evolution of ax head and javelin
The Cycladic marbles from the Greek isles point. The handsome skull-crushers and the
in the Aegean were mostly of human figures, attractive hatchets of the New Stone Age
ranging from practically abstract pieces, like indicate a conscious delight in the tactile
fat fiddles, to statuettes slighdy more detailed appeal of the sleek worked stone, as well as
than the one shown on page i. Primitive an intuitive feeling for volume organization.
simplicityand vigor are inherent, along with The most ancient artifacts were rudely
a captivating rhythmic expressiveness. The chipped scrapers or points, but an increase in
sculptors escaped the pitfalls of intricacy of sensitivity of design can be traced through
design, over-ornamentation, and naturalistic the Paleolithic epochs. The thin, almost
detailing. elegant laurel-leaf blades of the Solutrean
Crescent stone, spear point, ceremonial

baton, boat ax. Stone. Stone Age. Ohio;
Australia; Tennessee; Ostergotland.
Ohio StateMuseum; British Musemn; Department
of Anthropology, University of Tennessee;
State Historical Museum, Stockholm
epoch marked a high point of Cro-Magnon non-utilitarian sculpture that is abstract, in

artisanshipand were surpassed only by the the absolute meaning of the word, innocent
poHshed knives and points of NeoHthic times. of suggestion of natural The im-
objects.
In part of Asia the semi-civiHzation of the mediate followers of early man had begun
New Stone Age came perhaps as early as to treasure polychrome pebbles and bright
15,000 and in Europe as early as 8000
B.C., crj'stals, as well as shells and teeth, and the
B.C. Through hundreds of generations there- cultures of later prehistoric men yield numer-
after the changes in weapons and other tools ous types of abstract ornament and fetish. But
most clearly indicate an awareness of sculp- it is the stone weapons that are central to the
tural beauty. exhibit.
This obviously originated less from man's From the useful axes and points and clubs
desire to imitate nature than out of an instinct the series goes on to ceremonial weapons,
to create rhythmically and to shape things patently elaborated for display. Often in the
into aesthetically pleasing forms. Tools bear ritual axes there was evidence of the grasp
out this theory, as do the menhirs or "long of the finer nuances of plastic order, of bal-
stones" set up on primitive sites, which sur- anced weight and related mass, and of pleas-
vive today as impressively grand, if non- ingly adjusted outline. The advance from
figurative, monuments; and a store of small, simpler contour and casual form to such
elaborated clubs as those of the Maoris and to Lurs and the early art of the civilized
the rhythmic oars or paddles of the Easter Persians.
Islanders was accompanied by growing ap- If the growth of sculptural awareness can
preciation of woods and stones. These mate- thus be traced in the weapons or tools of
rials were valued for their texture or their earlyman, there is also confirmation of his
markings. Eventually, in this line, there growing feeling for sculptural form in non-
appeared the exquisitely fashioned ceremonial utilitarian objects. The shaped stones of the
objects of the Chinese, in precious jades. North American Indians, sometimes appar-
The Bronze Age, marked by the epochal ently treasured for ornamental values alone,
introduction of a metal harder than copper, sometimes symbolic, and sometimes being
dawned some Near Eastern regions as early
in used as fetishes, are among the most lovingly
as 2700 B.C. As always when an art enters fashioned sculptures to survive from primitive
upon a new phase, the idioms and methods times. Though thousands of banner stones of
of the past survive for a while. The knives the North Central Indians have been found,
and axes were at first modeled after the there is no evidence that they served any pur-
examples created in the Stone Age, but, as pose beyond pleasing the senses. Variations of
the Bronze Age progressed, refinements ap- the type, known as lunar winged
stones,
peared. For instance, the axes and adzes of stones, double-crescent stones, and so on, are
the people of Luristan, while preserving a commonly met with in the museums; but the
primitive vitality, began to take on a fluency banner stone is, sculpturally speaking at least,
and elegance seldom seen in the weapons of the most engaging exhibit. It is typical
the Stone Age. Even though the artists primitive art with vigorous simplicity, force-
worked animal compositions into their ful thrust, and direct decorative expressive-
weapon or tool designs, the whole retained a ness. Two banner stones are illustrated in the
virile simplicity. This is transitional sculpture, Introduction on page 9.
between prehistoric and civilized art. And in- A second line of Amerindian sculptures
deed there is no dividing line between the approaches the abstract in forms abstracted
superbly right semi-primitive sculpture of the from nature or poetically summarizing it.
The "long stone" art. Pre-Celtic. Part of temple remains, Stonehenge, England.
CKean Archives, Philadelphia^
Adze head. Bronze.
1000-800 B.C. Luristan, Persia.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Club. Wood. Maori. New Zealand.

University Museum, Philadelphia
Although the banner stones are wholly The stone pestles made by the Marquesans
nonrepresentational, the bird stones of the and by the Amerindians of the Antilles prob-
same tribes are abstractions in this second ably passed through a long metamorphosis
sense. While these forms are very far from before they approached the type pictured,
realistic, they are nevertheless endowed with with a head or heads terminating the neck
bird feeling. The beauty is at once that of of the pestle. The usefulness of the objects
the bird-subject and that of the artist's crea- continued unimpaired, but art had been
tion. added. The sculptors who carved the bird and
The lovingly polished miniature whales human figures on the stone pipes of the
and other animals found on sites of Amer- American Mound Builders may have done so
indian communities along the coast of Cal- for ritualistic occasions. Non-ceremonial ob-
ifornia (chiefly on the islands of the Channel jects would call for less elaboration.
Archipelago) are close to realistic representa- The evolution of pottery is another factor
tion. Yet they never lose the simplicity of to be considered in any study of the origins of
statement common to untutored peoples. art. The making vessels in sunbaked
craft of
The whales, especially, are highly attractive. or fired clay came fairly late in the rise of
The fishhook is from the same culture. primitive man; meanwhile shells, gourds, and
Primitive man, certain pragmatists assert, hollowed stones served his need for a dish or
had no other purpose in life than to obtain a jar. No pottery has been found among the
food, protect and propagate his kind, and relics of unsettled, exclusively hunting or
develop skills that would serve practical ends. migratory peoples. But, once invented, the
Imitational sculpture, they say, originated as baked clay vessel became almost the com-
a side issue of manufacture. Only when prac- monest expression of man's skill, from the
tical demands had been satisfied did art come epoch of primal agriculture to a period just
into being as a playful or pretty addition to short of civilization. The line of sculptural de-
the plain tool, weapon, or vessel. velopment, from abstract shaping to elaborated
figurative design, can be traced once more in vessel. Prehistoric Italian dishes of the Picene
ceramic pot and storage jar and in rudimentary culture afFord eloquent if crude testimony
statuettes. about the beginnings of rim figures, and in-
At first the abstract elements of composition numerable early Middle American and South
were more important than the art of copying American earthenware vases have incidental
from nature. But very soon the baked clay sculpture on their sides. Peruvian wares are
vessels began to be embellished with repre- endlessly interesting for the ingenuity with
sentational elements; and, at some undeter- which the sculptors integrated illustrational
mined point in prehiston,', the common manu- features with the design of the pot or bottle,
facture of clay figurines began. without impairing its function or disturbing
The feeling for good proportion, pleasing the decorative unity of the vessel.
outlines, and massing was instinctive with Another line of evolution is shown in ves-
primitive pot-makers; and when ornamenta- sels designed in the shape of a head or a
tion was added, it rarely became excessive or body. In the beginning, face urns were
ran counter to functional laws, except, per- modeled with hardly more than a representa-
haps, in ceremonial or libation vases. The tion of eyes and a mouth, or eyes and a nose;
most ancient vessels are forerunners, on a sometimes they are found with utilitarian
primitive level, of the exquisite Chinese Sung ears pierced for handles. The vase with breast
bowls and the sixth-century vases of the forms is not an uncommon type. Indeed any
Greeks. shapely or symmetrical part of the body might
The art historian usually considers as sculp- suggest variations of the contours of the clay
tural only those vessels that have representa- vessel. This progression leads on to dishes and
tional forms in the modeling. At first the jars completely composed to approximate the
primitive potters seem to have experimented appearance of a man or a woman, an animal,
with faintly or crudely imitational details in and sometimes a fruit.
handles or on the rim, neck, or shoulder of a The primitive artist was likely to geome-
Fishhook; Whale. Stone. Amerindian,

Chumash. Channel Islands, California
American Museum of Natural History;
Museum of Science, Buffalo
Bird stones. Amerindian. Michigan; Illinois.

American Museum of Natural History;
Museum of the American Indian, New York
Pestles. Stone. Left: Amerindian. West Indies. Museum fi'ir Volkerkunde, Berlin. QPhoto courtesy
Archiv fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin. j Right: Polynesian. Marquesas Islands.
Musee de I'Homme, Paris
Bird; Man. Effigy pipes. Amerindian, Mound Builders culture, pre-Columbian. South central
United States. American Museum of Natural History; Brooklyn Museum
trize or conventionalize the natural forms in primitive with their simple massiveness and
clay as he did in his stone effigies. The gift rhythmic modeling. These were executed by
for formalization and for subordinating the sculptors living under Neolithic conditions
representational features to the formal needs and they mark a final point in the progress of
of the craft is illustrated in thousands of early prehistoric artists toward naturalism.

American vessels such as the human-effigy Realism cannot, however, be considered a
vase from Chihuahua, Mexico, with its ex- primary aim of the primitive artist. In spite
treme simplifications, or distortions of nature. of evidences of his keen observation, the un-
The two Tarascan effigy jars, simulating lettered sculptor usually remained true to the
realistically a child and a dog, are essentially spirit rather than the visual fact of his subject-
EflBgy vessels. Clay. Amerindian, Stone Age.

University of Tennessee; American Museum of Natural History
EflBgy Jars. Clay. Tarascan, pre-Columbian. Mexico. American Museum of Natural History
matter. The last two clay sculptures shown in

this chapter are of the type of idol or fetish
found at the dawn of civilization. They are
simple, directly and generally
expressive,
formalized. The representational element— so
highly praised by archaeologists and historians
in an earlier generation— now seems less sig-
nificant than the artist's intuitive mastery of

sculptural method. The figure of a woman
with stubby arms is from the culture called
Amlash, recently discovered in northern
Persia on the border of the Caspian Sea. The
black clay Mother Goddess figure with a sug-
gestion of outstretched arms, in the Univer-
sit)^ Museum, Philadelphia, is more clearly
a fetish, a descendant of the fertility goddess
commonly found in the Middle East. This
example also comes from a northern Persian
culture, centered to the eastward of the
Human-effigy vessel. Clay. Chihuahua, Mexico.

Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe
Mother Goddess. Clay. Bronze Age. Asterabad, Woman. Clay. Amlash culture, 2nd millennium
Persia. University Museum, Philadelphia B.C. Persia. Bertha Schacfcr Gallery, York New
Amlash finds. The Dancing Girl in wood The chapter concludes with a Neolithic
(from a Chinese tomb) was made a half- Jaguar in stone, from Panama, which is so
millennium later and, though very different stylized that it might have been carved by a
in mood, is still an example of primitive sim- neoprimitive modern of this century. It illus-
plicity, vigor, and directness of statement. trates a common sort of geometrization evi-
dent also in the effigy vase from Chihuahua.

Squared or rounded forms, graceful elliptical
contours, and massive simplification add up to
a primitive style replete with plastic life.
For rhythmic massing and pleasing finish,
the Jaguar might be compared with the Horse

shown on page i6. It is obviously of the Stone
Age, found at Woldenberg in Germany and
attributed to a prehistoric culture two or three
millennia earlier than that which produced
the jaguar. This demonstrates a common
generic likeness existing in prehistoric sculp-
ture, whether dated at 10,000 or 5000 B.C.
in Asia, or 2000 b.c. in Middle Europe, or
A.D. 1000 in America. The combination, in
this horse, of the profoundest sculptural qual-
ities with such crudities as the faltering lines
of dots on head and mane remind us that the
Neolithic artists, distributed over all the con-
tinents, and tenants of Asia through perhaps
one hundred and twenty centuries, worked in
societies at the level of hunting or rudi-
mentary agriculture and long before the in-
vention of the art of writing. And yet, intu-
itively, the Neolithic artist grasped the values

of monumental massing, melodious propor-
tioning, and vigorous statement of the essen-
Dmicing Girl. Tomb figure, wood. tial character of his subject.

4th-3rd century b.c. Chang-Sha, Hunan, China.
Fuller Collection,
Seattle Art Museum
Jaguar. Mortar, stone. Neolithic. Panama.
:
2 Egypt
:
The Eternal in Sculpture
HERODOTUS said that "the Egyptians Cretan and Mycenaean forebears of the
were the first to erect to the gods akars and Greeks had formed a style so primar)% so
temples; and they carved in stone the figures single, and so national. A piece of Nilotic
of animals." This Greek historian, writing in sculpture is recognizably so, whether of the
the fifth century B.C., was one of the first to Old Kingdom of 2600 b.c. or of the Middle
circulate the untruth that the Egyptians in- Kingdom of 1900 B.C. or of the Saitic period
vented the and sculpture.
arts of architecture thirteen centuries later, just before Herodotus
Coming himself from a country young and visited the cities of the Nile. The massiveness
not too firmly established, Herodotus must and expressive monumentality combined with
have found the relics of three thousand years a plastic sensitivity place Egyptian accom-
of Egyptian culture an overwhelming token plishment far ahead of that of any other
of age. In the statues of the gods and phar- people of pre-Classic times.
aohs— and animals— he would find the ele- The distinguishing trait of Egyptian sculp-
ment of timelessness, of eternity, as nowhere ture was the persistence of the note of
else on earth. eternity, of durability, of timelessness. Plato
Although the people of Egypt had not in- recorded that in the land of the Nile it was
vented representative sculpture, they had unlawful to introduce novelty, and as life
made the art their own as had no other went on unchanged, century after century,
nation. Neither Babylonia nor Persia nor the the artist too, perhaps, was forced to hold to
Hippopotamus. Stone. C. 3200 B.C. Ny-Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen

34 EGYPT
an unyielding tradition. Only once, in the placed close by to prolong the pleasures of
immensely fruitful interlude associated with living that were dearest to him. The Egyptian
the mystic and heretic king Akhenaton, did accepted the fact of the afterlife and, sensibly,
the sculptor step out of the role of disciplined he set about to prepare for it as best he could.
servant of a tradition. Far from being a symbol of sorrow, uncer-
So many generations of historians had por- tainty, and gloom, his tomb was looked upon
trayed the valley of the Nile as the cradle of as his happy home for eternity.
civilization that when, in the nineteenth cen- If the sculptures we know best are like-
tur)', explorers on the Tigris proved Sumer to nesses of the tomb-builders (or likenesses of
be the original home of laws, writing, and the gods), this is because the artists put their
culture, the Egyptologists fought tenaciously, profoundest love and exertion into the por-
but in vain, to retain priority for their chosen traits, as being central to a man's happiness.
land. Today, though it is clear that the Meso- There are, innumerable minor
in addition,
potamian cit)^-states became civilized earlier, sculpturesand uncounted relief murals in
Egypt emerges as the nation with the more which have been fixed the familiar life, the
stable institutions, the more distinctive cul- joys and the ceremonies, the human and
ture, and the first great, consistent sculptural animal companions, the musicians, and the
art. dancing girls; but obviously the sculptors did
Perhaps no other national art, excepting the not give their best efforts to these secondary
Chinese, is so outstanding for dignity and themes. The unending rows of little models
grandeur as Egyptian sculpture. It has been of houses and granaries and bakeries, and
called cold and tomblike by critics to whom people and animals, though fascinating as
emotional representation seemed more desir- illustrations of a mode of life in an ancient
able than the contemplative pleasures arising land, hardly warrant being lifted into the
from peace of But the peace and sense
spirit. category of great art.
of eternity of the great statues have endured The simple magnitude and the eternal note
and been admired throughout the centuries. belong, then, to the serious works, the images
The convention of frontality was adopted that had to do with religion, those that were
by the Egyptian sculptors and observed in a designed for survival in an unending after-
large majority of their monumental w'orks. life. But with the formalism appropriate to so
The was made to stare straight

face usually high a purpose, the sculptor was obliged to
forward, and the body was so disposed that develop a degree of realism suitable to por-
a plumbline dropped from the forehead traiture. It would be disastrous if the man
would bisect the bulk of the figure perfectly. or woman portrayed were mistaken, for in
A leg may be advanced or an arm lifted, but the afterlife no correction could be made.
the two halves of the body have the appear- Thus the sculptors took particular pains in
ance of equal weight. Few of the asym- modeling the faces of their subjects and al-
metrical arrangements and angular posturings lowed themselves a mere routine treatment
that enliven late Greek art are to be found. of the bodies; in these we find an unashamed
The Egyptians were obsessed with the funda- repetition of standard poses. A study of the
mental order or system of the human body, heads preserved in the world's museums
while the Greeks played upon its every varia- would seem to prove the Egyptians to be
tion and chance singularity. among the foremost masters of portraiture;
Most Egyptian sculpture was destined for they succeeded in revealing the individual,
tombs. The owner's double was placed in the even to the point of psychological disclosure,
tomb as a housing for the soul— or, it may be, but for the reason just noted the bodies often
to act for the mummified one— and servants seem dull and routine.
and beloved companions and familiars were The land, too, has its influence on the
EGYPT 3 5
sculptural expression. The unchanging sea- tors was not into realism as commonly de-
sonal cycle, the regular habits of the River fined, but into a mode where reality was
Nile and the consequent repetitive agricultu- heightened by spiritual revelation and by the
ral cycle, the deserts and the cliffs: all this no creative manipulation of sculptural materials.
doubt was related to the thinking of the After the heretic's brief reign, art returned
sculptors, and of the priests who determined to the old standards. Idowever, the statues
the sculptors' way of service. Incidentally the copied from ancient models show some of the
architecture— plain, massive, enduring— grew influence of the Amarna sculptors, the
out of the topography, out of flat lands and faces being modeled with more Sympathy and
emergent cliffs;and the sculpture, to fit the regard for character. The most notable later
architecture, was heav)', dignified, squared. change of style came after eight centuries, in
Only once did the Egyptian sculptors de- the Saitic period, with a high polish and crisp
part radically from the norm established by stylization of the sculptural figures. From 600
the artists and priests of the Old Kingdom. B.C. until the Romans lost the country to
Under the encouragement of Akhenaton, the the Moslems in a.d. 640, the Egyptians
pharaoh who introduced a new monotheistic were sometimes in bondage (to Persians,
religion, they made excursions into the realm Greeks, and Romans) and sometimes in a
of psychologic portraiture and stylistic expres- nominal independence; but the arts never
sionism. By the lucky chance of uncovering again touched the high standards set in the
the Thutmose, a sculptor at El
studio of time of Khafre, the Twelfth Dynasty Kings,
Amarna (the capital established by Akhena- Thutmose III, Akhenaton, and the Saitic
ton), modem archaeologists have discovered rulers. Saddest of all was the decline in the
an extraordinary collection of heads in stone Ptolemaic era, when native sculptors tried
and wood, and of plaster casts apparently to marry their art to that of the Greeks. The
made by the sculptor as a record of his im- end came in the time of Cleopatra, an era
portant works. The masks go beyond mere of Egyptian art marked by a weak, softly
naturalism; they are portraits not of facial conventionalized pictorialism. The early
aspects alone, marvelously copied, but revela- masterpieces were then sleeping underground,
tions of nuances of character, of inner illumi- in a peace and security not to be disturbed
nation. until the nineteenth-century archaeologists
The famous bust of Nefertiti, Akhenaton's put their spades to work.
queen, is on the naturalistic side, yet the The chronology of Egyptian civilization
inner being is marvelously suggested; the can be summarized as follows:

control of the physical woman by the spirit Prehistoric Period: from an undetermined
within, the shadowing forth of a soul and a date in the fifth millennium to about 3400
mind in perfect poise, is as complete as in B.C. (Some historians prefer 3200 B.C.)
anything achieved in thirty-three centuries of Protodynastic Period: Dynasties I and II,
sculptural history. c. 3400 B.C. 2780 b.c.

to
Although the portrait heads of the Eight- Old Kingdom: Dynasties III to VI, 2780
eenth Dynasty are commonly reviewed under B.C. to 2280 B.C.
the rubric "realism," it is notable how char- Middle Kingdom: Dynasties VII to XVII,
acter and feeling are brought to the surface. 2280 B.C. to c. 1570 b.c.
Few of the heads are without distortion: the New Kingdom: Dynasties XVIII to XXX,
narrowing of the face and elongation of the c. 1570 B.C. to 332 B.C.
skull led scientists to mark the royal family Ptolemaic Period: 332 B.C. to 30 b.c. Egypt
as sufferers from macrocephaly or as sharing under Greek rule.
in the strange African custom of skull de- Roman Period: 30 B.C. to a.d. 364. Next,
formation. The escape of Akhenaton's sculp- Coptic art; then, in a.d. 640, Islamic.
#^>-
---.^;;-
II
TH E Stone Age flint blades of Egypt

are unsurpassed, but the pottery of pre-
ample,
relic, is
the
a
first
work
datable Egyptian
of extraordinarily fine sensi-
religious
historic and of early historic Egypt is less bility.
remarkable for its forms than for its painted The earliest relief carvings of Egypt show
decorations. There is also little sculptural probable Mesopotamian or Elamite influence
feeling in the polished alabaster and porphyry before 3400 b.c. A fragment of the so-called
vessels of the fourth millennium B.C. and Bull Palette is in a technique not paralleled
only an average sensitivity is displayed in the in known Egyptian art; and the i\'ory knife-
burnt-mud, stone, and ivory figurines of the handle from Gebel-el-Arak illustrated, also
predynastic period. Occasionally the clay predynastic, is alien except for the Nilotic
pieces were modeled with great vividness. subject matter. On one side it vividly shows a
But Egyptian sculpture at the very dawn battle scene, with apparently Asian and
of history shows a mastery of fundamental African fighters; on the other side a god is
volume-relationship and a pleasing technical represented between two lions, with other
finish. The alabaster Baboon of King Narmer animals below.
is one of a few surviving pieces from Dynasty A succession of slate palettes follows the
I that appear to have no sculptural antece- typical Egyptian pattern of low-relief sculp-
dents. The dog-faced baboon was an animal ture with crisp outlines, the figures only
sacred to the God of Wisdom, and this ex- slightly rounded at the edges, and the total
The Sphinx and the Great Pyramids. Dynasty IV. Gizeh. C^''(^hives Roget-Viollet, Paris')
EGYPT 37
area divided into "fields." Most notable is the
Palette of King Nanner, first king of Dynasty
I, with relief compositions on the front and
back. The curious Egyptian compromise of
realism with convention is thus early illus-
trated. The faces have individual character,

and all the documentation is detailed. Dis-
played is the artistic convention of the full-
front figure fitted with head and feet in
profile, and rudimentary hieroglyphs are in-
corporated into the design.

How far the sculptors had then gone to-
ward realism, even naturalism, is illustrated in

many of the miniature statuettes to be seen
in the museums; and particularly in the
ivory figurine of a king at the British Mu-
seum. There is a feeling of monumentality
even in these small pieces where subtleties of Relief on knife handle. Ivory. Pre-Dynastic.
pose and temperament are fixed. In the Gebel-el-Arak. Louvre. QGiraudon photo')
"king" even the pattern of the quilted cloak
is detailed, without loss of massiveness. Yet it
Figure of a man. Stone. C. 3200 B.C.
is less than four inches high. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
There are gaps of centuries in the 3000-
year span of Egyptian art, gaps in achieve-
Baboon of King Narmer. Alabaster.

Before 3200 b.c. Dahlem Museum, Berlin
3b EGYPT
ment rather than in data. Between Narmer
and the Pyramid of King Cheops (Khufu) at
Gizeh httle notable sculpture sundves, and the
stone HijJjJO'potamus, shown on page 33,
alone may serve to illustrate three hundred
years of effort. About 2900 B.C., however, the
story was resumed, and the qualities found in
the sculptures of Narmer's era appear again
on a larger scale and in greater magnificence.
The kings of the Fourth Dynasty were the
builders of the great pyramids, which repre-
sent colossal pieces of abstract sculpture rather
than the designs of an architect. Cheops
and Khafre (probable King of the Sphinx)
and iVIycerinus, who are known to sculptural
history through imposing portraits, were rulers

during the 1 20 years of the dynasty.
Sculpture was already massive and fairly
realistic, as indicated in the limestone portrait
heads discovered in tombs at the extensive
"Cheops Cemetery" at Gizeh beyond the
pyramids. (The portrait head of a princess
shown, unlike most museum heads from
Egypt, was designed without a body.) As for
the Sphinx, the monument, 66 feet high, has Figurine of a king. Ivory.
been mutilated by the ravages of time and Dynasty I, before 3200 B.C.
British Museum
Palette of King Narmer. Stone.
Before 3200 b.c. Hierakonpolis. Cairo Museum head of a princess. Stone.
Portrait
Dynasty IV, c. 2640 b.c. Gizeh.
Museum of Vine Arts, Boston
by misguided restorers, yet it still retains
something of the sculptor's intention. The
monarch, ennobled, looks out over mankind
thoughtfully and benevolently. Not only the
imposing size but a sculptural calm lends
majesty and remoteness to the figure.
There is one perfectly preserved work

which exhibits majesty and remoteness with-
out recourse to oversize dimensions. The
seated King Khafre, in hardest diorite, is a
magnificent portrait statue. Beautifully con-
ceived and sensitively modeled and finished,
this monument is essentially Egyptian in its
solidity and simplification. Originally there

were twenty-three other large statues of King
Mitry and His Wife. Wood. Dynasty V. Khafre in the funerary chamber, cut in vary-
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund ing types of stone, but only nine survive.
King IVIycerinus is often depicted in sculp-
ture with the gods; but never is he shown
Myceriiius and His Queen. Stone.
Dynasty IV, c. 2580 b.c. Gizeh. more appealingly than in the double portrait
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston of Mycerinns and His Queen, an almost life-
size monument. As portrait and as sculpture
the composition is less vital than the seated
Khafre; and indeed the trend of sculpture
was downward after Khafre's reign. But in
comparison with similar double portraits of the
Eighteenth and other late Dynasties, it is
definitely superior.
Usually only the face is lifelike in Egyptian
portraiture, but in the torso of the Woman
at the Worcester Art Museum the loveliness
of the feminine body has been interpreted, not
with the naturalism of the Greeks but with
reticent formalization. The figure is almost
column-like in its slimness, but it loses nothing
of the melodic curves of the model. There
are examples of a more forced and lighter
type of expression in swimming girls that
appear as spoon-handles. The stylization is
deliberate and sophisticated, and the slender
figures are in strong contrast to the heavier
sculpturesmade to appear in or near tombs.
The famous statue known as The Village
Magistrate demonstrates a peak of natural-
istic art reached in the Fourth and Fifth
Dynasties. Egyptian diggers who uncovered
the statue at Sakkara recognized the likeness,
so true to the type of petty functionary known
4 EGYPT
King Khafre, detail. Stone. Dynasty IV, c. 2620 b.c. Gizeh. Cairo Museum
EGYPT 41
The \ illu:4c MwîstrulL. W uod. Womati. Stone. Dynasty IV.

Dynasty IV. Cairo Museum Worcester Art Miisemn
42 EGYPT
in Egypt even today. When the statue was Fifth Dynasties, as in the two Seated Scribes
found, the face still had part of its coating of illustrated, there is notable play and counter-
stucco and color. play without disturbance of the rather heavy
Painting, in a few conventional tints, was main rhythm.
common both in stone sculpture and in wood. The scribes, again tomb figures, are to be
However, stones susceptible to high polish, seen in most of the larger art museums. The
such as diorite or basalt, were left unpainted. example from the Louvre is more than usually
On the other hand, practically every lime- naturalistic, with hardly a trace of the conven-
stone figure had its heightening envelope of tions that so often lead scholars to criticize
color. The Nude Walking Figure, of the Fifth Egyptian sculpture as rigid and unnatural.
Dynasty, often singled out as one of the out- It is exact realistic portraiture, heightened by
standing masterpieces of Egyptian sculpture, insets of quartz, rock cystal, and copper in the
is a conventionalized type in a standard pose eyes.
and as such lacks something of the sheer The nude Ha-Shet-Ef, a young noble,
plastic beauty of the masterpieces produced is exceptionally animated. The sleek styl-
under the Fourth Dynasty. Hundreds of fig- ization does not detract at all from natural-
ures were similarly disposed, with face and ness. The sculptor has not been ham-
eyes straight forward, the two halves of the pered by the conventional runner pose,
body symmetrically balanced except for the used so woodenly in innumerable routine
advanced left leg. This stance was copied by portraits. So much realism and free action
the Greeks eighteen centuries later for their in this type of sculpture were not to be
Apollos or kouroi. achieved again until the seventh and sixth
Another standard type is that of the scribe, centuries in Greece.
seated cross-legged with a papyrus roll spread The mutilated Senedem-ih-Mehy bears such
on his lap. The pose affords opportunity for a likeness in technique that it might be from
the rhythmic massing of volumes, and partic- the same hand. The figure is ascribed to the
ularly in the examples from the Fourth and Sixth Dynasty, a full thousand years after
Seated Scribe. Stone. Dynasty IV. Seated Scribe. Stone, painted. Dynasty V.
Gizeh. Dahlem Museum, Berlin Sakkara. Louvre. (^Giraudon yhoto')
King Narmer; roughly, from the thirty-fifth
to the twenty-fifth century B.C. The period

from Dynasty IDynasty VI was known
to
as the Old Kingdom, ending in 2280 B.C.

The Old Kingdom was a golden age of
relief sculpture. From Dynasty III there exists
on
a series of three portrait reliefs of Hesire,
wooden panels.These were found in his tomb.
The one illustrated, showing the accessories
of his office, includes a scepter and writing
materials. The usual conventions of relief de-
piction are observed, the head, the knees and
the feet occurring in profile, the upper body
full front. There is a liveliness in the figure,
and a special linear grace. The modeling is
exceptionally varied and complete for the
period.
Nude Walking Figure. Stone.

Dynasty V. Sakkara. Cairo Museum
Ha-Shet-Ef. Wood. Dynasty VI.

British Museum
Senedem-ib-Mehy Wood. Dynasty VI.

.
Gizeh. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

44 EGYPT
It was notuntil the Fifth Dynasty that
interior tomb walls were covered, like the
pages of a vast stone picture book, with repre-
sentations of every activity dear to the owner.
Hunting and boating and wrestling, plowing
and harvesting, herding and milking, car-
pentering and accounting, marketing and
cooking, wildcats and birds, pet donkeys and
calves and ducks, musicians and dancing
girls, the offering of gifts and sacrifices to the
gods, the mourners and the priests, the fu-

neral procession and the feast; all this and
whatever else was important to the man
during his lifetime formed the subject-mat-
ter of the low-relief sculpture on the walls of
his tomb.
Today the reliefs afford a valuable record
for the fact-seeker, and there is much in the
display besides to delight the art-lover. The
reliefs on stone were usually painted, and on
the bare spaces between figures or groups of
figures there is often a running commentary
in hieroglyphics.
At the end of the era of the Old Kingdom
therewas a period, roughly from the Sixth to
the Eleventh Dynasty, early in the Middle
Kingdom, when there were no kings of united
Upper and Lower Egypt. This feudal age was
less important for its sculpture. A statuette.
Woman, in wood, now in the University

^3Br^_
Museum at Philadelphia, indicates how few
changes occurred between the Fourth and Hesire, relief. Wood. Dynasty III.
Sakkara. Cairo Museum
Interior wall of tomb, bas-relief.
Stone. Dynasty V. Sakkara.
Twelfth Dynasties. Also introduced here are
examples of minor sculptural arts, a pottery
perfume spoon from the Toledo Museum
and two glazed animals (without regard to
date). The miniature hippopotamuses, often

blue-glazed and traced over with conven-
tionalized drawings, are especially engaging.
During the Twelfth Dynasty a renaissance
occurred and some of the old magnificence of
sculpture was recaptured. Although the artist's
touch is not so sure or so sensitive as it was

during the Old Kingdom period, there are
portrait statues of Amenemhet III that could
hardly survive from any but a great sculptural
era. A solid art of stylization, at once massive
and crisp, returns, too, in the lesser statues.
Perfume spoon. Faience. C. 12th century b.c.

Toledo Museum of Art
Interior wall of tomb, bas-relief. Stone.

Dynasty VI. Sakkara. Cairo Museum
Woman. Wood. Dynasty XII.

^m^^ \ n >''

The stone statuette, Man, from the Louvre
is strikingly simple and alive.
Most notable, however, is the return to
large, essentially stonelike efiFects, especially

in the sphinxes. These may seem a little dull
compared to the king portraits of a millen-
nium earlier, but they are imposing neverthe-
less. There is dispute among the archaeologists
as to the dating of the smaller obsidian head
of a king (now in Lisbon) shown here.
Sometimes it is identified as a portrait of
Amenemhet III, and, though it is certainly
very much in the tradition of the time, a few
authorities would place it in the Saitic period,
more than a thousand years later. This points
up the fact that the changes of style and
method in Egyptian sculpture are slight, even
over periods embracing millennia. The
changelessness is due largely, no doubt, to the
domination of the art by the priesthood. But

whether of Twelfth Dynasty or the
the
Twenty-sixth, the head is a superb piece of
portraiture.
The fine Bellowi7ig Hippopotamus in the

British Museum is a massive clay piece which
once was glazed. It is the sole illustration
from a period of two centuries when the
country was again disunited or held under
foreign domination and when art expression
was largely stifled.

Man. Stone. Dynasty XII. Louvre
Hippopotamus. Faience. C. 2000 b.c.

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. A. Bradley Martin, courtesy Brooklyn Museum
EGYPT 47
About 1580 B.C. the Eighteenth Egyp-
tian Dynasty came into power, and at the
opening of this New Kingdom period, sculp-
ture began one of its The
cychc upswings.
over-life-size statue of Queen Hatshepsut,
who reigned in the early fifteenth century
B.C., exhibits a sleek delicacy new to monu-
mental sculpture. A fresh convention, the
banded eyebrow with parallel extension of
the line of the eyelid, adds to the alert ex-
pression of the face.
A great many statues of the period indicate
that some of the sculptors had developed a
mechanical routine. A smooth mechanical ef-
fectiveness replaced the virility of earlier
work. However, the statue of Thutmose III,
nephew of Queen Hatshepsut and her suc-

cessor on the throne from 1468 B.C., is an ex-
ception. The massive sculptural beauty that
had characterized the best Old Kingdom por-
traits appears here, especially in the head,
without loss of surface sensibility.
The Eighteenth Dynasty covered one of

the great periods of luxurious living at court,
and new lavish standards of sculptural em-
bellishment were established in connection
Head of a King. Stone. Dynasty XII, c. 1820 B.C.
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Bellowing Hippopotamus. Clay, glazed.

Dynasty XVII. British Museum
Monkey. Faience. C. 1400 B.C.

Brooklyn Museum
EGYPT
with the temples. Quahty gave way to quan-
tity as figures, imposing in size, were dupli-
cated along corridors and avenues. But the
stone Lion from Nubia, created in the four-
teenth century— a little before the peak of
ostentatious building— retains its sculptural
vitality.
Equally fine, in a minor way, is the head-

rest simulating a hare. The exaggerated styl-
ization seems quite un-Egyptian. knownIt is
that from the time of Thutmose III— named

Headrest simulating a hare. Wood.
the Egyptian Napoleon for his imperial tri-
C. 1400 B.C. British Museum umphs—to the reign of Amenhotep III, three
generations later, art-objects from Crete and
from Mesopotamia appeared in the markets of
Thebes; but there is no evidence that the
headrest is of other than Egyptian workman-
ship.
By the time of Amenhotep III, that is, in

the first half of the fourteenth century, mural
sculpture had gone through many changes
and had arrived at the rich, almost baroque
decorativeness displayed in the fragment of
a stele illustrated as Amenhotep III in His
Chariot. The double portrait— a left half of
the relief repeats in reverse the right half
shown— is a glorification of the king as a mil-
itary hero. The small figures represent cap-
tives.
That some of the more engaging qualities

of the ancient style persisted at this time is
sufficiently illustrated in the simple statuettes

of two brothers, in silver and wood, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Made as por-
traits when the boys died, and later placed in
their mother's grave, the images are factual

and lifelike. Most statues in ancient times por-
trayed boys as little old men, but here the
characteristics of the childish face and figure
were well observed and executed.
In the whole course of civilization there is
no stranger transformation of a national art

than that which occurred in Egypt in the
reign of Amenhotep IV, or, ashe renamed
Queen Hatshepsut. Stone. Dynasty XVIII.

Over life size. Deir el Bahri.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Two Brothers. Silver; wood. Dynasty XVIII, Thutmose III, detail.
c. 1500 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Stone. Dynasty XVIII.
(^Photo by Charles Sheeler") Cairo Museum
Lion. Stone. Dynasty XVIII.

Soleb, Nubia. British Museum
himself, Akhenaton. I le introduced a reform
religion, Egypt's first monotheistic faith, and,
while suppressing the old gods and the power-

ful priesthood, he undertook vast works of
public building. As part of the new order,
Akhenaton freed artists from traditional re-
strictions and encouraged individual expres-
sion.The Amarna school of sculptors— so

named from the new capital city— aimed at
realistic portraiture, while expressing the in-
ner character of the sitters. The plaster heads

or masks of the fourteenth century B.C. un-
earthed in the studio of Thutmose, such as
those of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, may have
been in the nature of artist's trial pieces, but
there is no mistaking the touch of a master Head of Nefertiti. Plaster. Dynasty XVIII.
El Amarna. Dahlem Museum, Berlin
artist striving toward realism.
Amenhotep III in His Chariot, detail of stele. Stone. Dynasty XVIII. Thebes. Cairo Museum
EGYPT 51
The lovely painted limestone portrait of

Akhenaton's queen, Nefertiti, is the most
celebrated of the finds at El Amarna. A per-
fect example of its kind, this head can fairly
be analyzed as a realistic presentation of both
the and the inner beauty of the
external
model. Nothing so lifelike had been known
up to this time. But the sculptor departed
from nature sufficiently to make the head
more than a surface copy; he emphasized the
clear-cut outlines, exaggerated the slimness
of the neck and shoulders, and underlined the
tilt of the head. The full coloring has sur-
vived, perhaps unfortunately, for while color
was doubtless thought of as a naturalistic in-
novation, the ancients were not masters of
Head of Akhenaton. Stone. Dynasty XVIII. this particular art. Many art-lovers who have
ElAmarna. Dahlem Museum, Berlin enjoyed the bust of Nefertiti in black-and-
white photographic illustration have been dis-
Queen Nefertiti. Stone, painted. appointed to find the original fully and un-
El Amarna. Dahlem Museum, Berlin compromisingly painted in bright colors.
In the brown sandstone and plaster heads

of Nefertiti and of her daughters in the same
collection, there is less of the subtle charm of
the model, but certainly attainment of cre-
ative sculptural form.
The artists at El Amarna did not pursue
their naturalistic course for long. A new sort
of conventionalization soon appeared, marked
especially by an enlargement of the eyes,
nose, and lips, and insistence upon the egg-
shaped form of the head. The elongation of
the skull, which scientists have attributed to
advanced cases of macrocephaly in the royal
family, occurs so frequently that it may be a
compositional convention. In the reliefs of the
period the servants and, one fancies occasion-
ally, even the animals have it. In extreme
cases, as in the royal family heads shown,
there are abstract sculptural values gained in
the arbitrary manipulation of the oval.
With the passing of Akhenaton the reforms
he had introduced and the innovations he had
fostered in the arts disappeared, and the old
gods and the priesthood were reinstated. Only
faint influences from the Amarna school
lingered on in sculpture. Yet here Tutankh-
amen as the Moon God, in the massive old
style, may well be of
suggests that the statue
the time of Tutankhamen but from the hand
of one of the surviving sculptors of Akhena-
ton's group.
It was the Pharaoh Tutankhamen, son-in-

law of Akhenaton, who restored the old gods
and returned art to the traditional path. At
the same time he revived old ideals of lux-
urious living and ostentation which led to a
florid exuberance in the arts and crafts. Most
of the furniture and statuary that was so

widely publicized at the time of the discovery
and stripping Tutankhamen's tomb is
of
decadent in taste and meretricious as art. The
pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty left some
beautiful and craftsmanlike relics, but degen-
eration had set in, and there were to be only
two notable revivals before the coming of the
Greeks: the Ramesseid of the Nineteenth and
Royal family head. Wood. Dynasty XVIII.

El Amarna. Louvre
Royal family head. Stone. Dynasty XVIII.

El Amarna. Dahlem Museum, Berlin
Tutankhamen as the Moon God. Stone. Dynasty

XVIII, c. 1350 B.C. Karnak. Cairo Museum
EGYPT 5 3
Twentieth Dynasties, and the Saitic of the design was attained in exquisitely carved but
Twenty-sixth. generally overcrowded panels. One of the
The Eighteenth Dynasty failed to restore panels illustrated is at Abydos, from the era
the best ideals of relief sculpture, and the immediately following Akhenaton.
wall carvings of the Amarna interlude did In the Ramesseid period, the time of the
not reach the standard of the sculpture in the glories of Karnak, the sculptors recaptured
round. As so often in the tombs, the incised or something of the dignity of monumental
carved murals were endlessly interesting as sculpture. The bodies were mass-produced
reportson contemporary life but in general and, more often than not, lifeless and dull,
were inferior as art expression. During the but the faces were occasionally lit up by the
Nineteenth Dynasty a certain elegance of sculptor's success in capturing the spirit of his
V «w«
Offerings of Gifts, relief, detail. Dynasty XIX,
c. 1315 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art Relief, detail. Temple of Seti I, Abydos.
QSebah photo courtesy Giraudon')
ii^m'~^
Statuette of Talcushet. Bronze with silver
Head of Rameses II. Stone. Dynasty XIX, inlay. Dynasty XXV, c. 700 B.C. Bubastis.
c. 1290 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art National Museum, Athens
Rock-cut Temple of Amon at Abu Simbel. Dynasty XIX, c. 1250 B.C.

EGYPT 5 5
model. The head of Rameses II in the Metro- Five dynasties and as many centuries passed
politan Museum is one of the finest relics of before memorable renaissance oc-
another
the era and reminiscent of the best work done curred. As an empire Egypt crumbled; then
at the time of Thutmose III. toward the end of the dark age, in the so-
What the sculptors of the reigns of called Ethiopian period, there v\as a fresh
Rameses II and Rameses III lost in creative outlook, and new activity in small sculpture.
sensibility they tried to make up for in vol- In the past, Egyptian sculpture, while paying
ume. The temple at Karnak and the rock minimum attention to the human body, pro-
temple at Abu Simbel are embellished by an duced the most beautifully sculptured heads.
almost incredible number of colossal stone Now the feminine body began to be studied
figures. At Karnak these were transported to and its volumes and curves were sympathetic-
the site. At Abu Simbel the figures (seen in ally interpreted, as seen in the statuette of
the illustration) are 80 feet high and carved Takushet. Artists delighted in showing the
in the face of the cliff. Behind them the soft modulations of the flesh under drapery,
temple halls are hewn out of the solid stone as the Greeks were do later.
to learn to
to a depth of 120 feet, with two rows of During the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (in the
similar colossi in the great hall. Some of these seventh and sixth centuries B.C.) Egyptian art
relics have been saved from the flood waters flowered for the last time. Artists of the Saitic
caused by the construction of the high dam period revived the dignity of large portraiture;
across the Nile. Many of the monuments are the integrity of the stone block was again re-
impressive from sheer magnitude and repeti- spected, and craftsmanship again attained a
tion, but subtlety at that time was no longer high level. Typical of this period is the pol-
the companion of monumentality. ished surface of both large and small sculp-
tures. There is something essentially Egyptian
about the portrait of Prince Wa-ab-Ra, a
qualit)' felt in the Bahoon of King Narmer,
created twenty-five centuries earlier, and in
many examples through the centuries. Novir
the block figure is realized with the least pos-
sible interference from detailing of arms and
legs,and the squared mass is burnished.
Although Saitic art is notable for its crafts-
manship and an almost silky stylization,
there is a series of pieces in which heaN'y pat-
terning is added in the arbitrary folds of the
drapery. The stone Woman in the Louvre

shows more than usual vigor in the modeling,
and a nice feeling for the effects that arise
from a slight asymmetry. The innumerable
sleek statuettes of Neit, the warlike sky-god-
dess in the Saitic pantheon, are perhaps more
in character. By this time even the religious
figures had become very human, with care-
fully sculptured bodies.
Prince Wa-ah-Ra. Stone. Dynasty XXVI,

c. 570 B.C. Louvre. QAli7iari photo')
Head of a Man. Stone. Egyptian, ist century a.d.
Loivie Museum of Anthropology, University of
California, Berkeley. (^Photo by Ron Chamberlain,
courtesy University Art Museum^
The Goddess Neit. Bronze. 6th-5th centuries b.c.

Woman. Stone. 7th-6th centuries B.C.

Louvre. QGiraudon photo^
EGYPT 57
The cat, about which a cult centered in late
Egvptian history, was a frequent sculptural

subject from the Twelfth Dynasty on. Among
the thousands of known bronzes, the best are
likely to date from the Twenty-sixth Dynast)',
when the trend toward simplification and for-
malization was still strong. However, the cat-
lover will find many statuettes to please him

from all periods down to the Egypto-Greek
Ptolemaic.
The falcon too was sacred and the subject
of widely varying interpretations. Probably
none is finer than the illustrated black basalt
example in the Louvre, handled with tj'pical
Saitic formalization. Here again the late
Egyptian perfection of craftsmanship is dem-
onstrated.
The Thirtieth is the last truly Egyptian Falcon. Stone. 7th-6th centuries B.C.
Louvre. (Ârchives Photographiques')
dynasty of kings. Of the mid-fourth century
B.C., it preceded the second Persian conquest
of Egypt, a decade before the coming of Alex-
ander the Great. The only illustration from Prince Nechthorheh. Stone.
Dynasty XXX, c. 350 B.C. Louvre
this Sebennytic period, Prince Nechthorheh,
shows, appropriately, an uncompromisingly
stonelike statue with something of the true
Nilotic feeling of the eternal in it. It is digni-
fied, majestic, serene.
Perhaps the finest of the relief sculpture of
the Saitic epoch appeared on the granite and

basalt sarcophagi. The smaller space to be
covered led to a crisp, shorthand t)pe of
stj'lization. A good deal of earlier idiomatic
method, even of rigid conventionalization, re-
mained, coupled with late-period sophistica-

tion. The reliefs shown possess the old granite
feeling with a subtle, new, almost decadent
grace. These reliefs, covering the sarcophagus
of the priest Taho, son of Petemonkh, are
now in the Louvre.
A relief created two centuries
fragment of a
later shows an undulating, ribbon-like com-
position with st^'lized and somewhat distorted
forms. The piece is in the museum at Provi-
dence, Rhode Island.

The Ptolemaic period followed generations
of cultural interchange with Greece, yet the
Egyptians were still able to produce such
typically national monuments as the temple
1 I I I I f¥^^^.i
_
I
EGYPT 59
Facing page: Details from Sarcophagus of Taho. Stone. Dynasty XXVI.

Above: ]ouniey of the Snu through the Undenvorld of Night.
Center: Osiris Enthroned. Louvre. (_Alinari photos')
Above: Relief, detail. Stone. 1st century B.C.

Temple of Horus, Edfou. Ârchives Roget-Viollet)
Foot of facing page: Offering Scene, relief.
Stone. 3rd-lst centuries b.c.
Temple of Horus, Edfou
60 EGYPT
of Isis at Philae and the temple of Horus at complete decadence. Thirty centuries had
Edfou. However, by now portraiture in the now passed since an unknown sculptor
round was measurably inferior and the por- fashioned the Baboon of King Narmer,
trait heads in relief (made specifically for The most interesting late relic is the fine
mummy-cases) were generally dull and portrait head in the Lowie Museum (illus-
negligible as works of art. By comparison the trated on page 56). It shows a new influence,
picturing on temple walls was still character- that of candid Roman portraiture. It is
isticand interesting, but the bulginess of the carved in Egyptian stone, and the way of
bodies and the relaxing of the geometrical statement has the old Egyptian integrity.
idiom made the figures sit less well in their But the curls are in an idiom not to be
architectural settings. found in earlier native sculpture, and there
Mural and relief art on a small scale carry is a freshness of aspect that may be con-
the story of typically Egyptian sculpture into a sidered classic. Clearly the Egyptian and
period when statues in the round reflected the Greco-Roman traditions have met.
King, fragment of relief. Stone.

C. 300 B.C. Museum of Art, Rhode Island
School of Design, Providence
3: The Mesopotamian Pageant:
SumcTj Bahylonia^ Assyria
THE images that Rachel stole from her become an industry, originating possibly in
father were in all likelihood examples of the Susa (the biblical Shushan), in Shinar
clay figurines portraying gods or goddesses (Sumer), or in the Babylonian centers of the
that are known to have existed in abundance north. Mesopotamia, the original Garden of
in ancient Alesopotamia and other Near Eden, was the cradle of commerce; it was
Eastern lands. These figures, originally de- here that systematized manufacturing first de-
signed as fertility fetishes, are found at Stone veloped. The Sumerians even evolved a
Age levels and at succeeding stages in Meso- method of mass-production, using molds for
potamian, Syrian, and Palestinian history. casting the "abominable idols" so often re-
Before the Flood, the making of clay gods had ferred to in Old Testament history.
Bull. Copper over wood. Before 3000 e.g. AlUbaid. University Mtiseutti, Philadelphia
62 THE MESOPOTAMIAN PAGEANT
From beginning to end, the Sumerian- show the development of the national artistic
Babylonian-Assyrian achievement in the fig- talent, from rude expression to a masterly
urative arts must be considered as second-rate. style, through fluctuations of flowering and
But in other directions the Eurasian world decline and reflowering, in the vicissitudes of
owed these peoples an immense debt; theirs Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian domi-
was the first written language, the first stable nance. There is no book on Mesopotamian
state government, and the first practical num- sculpture as a whole that exerts the fascina-
bering system. Decisive strides were also made tion of any one of several books reproducing
in law, astronomy, agriculture, architecture collections of seals.
(including the development of the arch), The examples illustrated are, of course,
mechanics (the first wide use of the wheel), impressions from the seals, not the seals them-
medicine, and literature. Sculptural art, how- selves. For display purposes, museums roll the
ever, is represented by only two noteworthy sculptured or engraved cylinder (a negative)
achievements: one, the art of seal-cutting, over tablets of wax or plaster of Paris to pro-
which reached a proficiency hardly matched duce positive images. Originally the owners
elsewhere at the time; and the other, large of the seals rolled them over clay stoppers or
bas-relief in stone, to which the Assyrians on tablet-markers, to signify ownership. In a
brought an incomparable realistic precision. dozen examples of this most personal of the
sculptural arts, I have tried to present unin-
volved ornamental designs: simple, readable

compositions where the figures are clear and
sharp against an unbroken background, as be-
fits a miniature art. In their seals, the
Sumerians and Babylonians produced a dis-
tinguished, graceful stylization.

By comparison, the monumental sculptures
are usually schematic and stiff; exceptions are
Cylinder seal, stone, and impression.
Sumerian, c. 3000 b.c. Ur. to be found in the marvelous series of reliefs
University Museum, Philadelphia beginning with the ninth-century battle

scenes from the palace of Assurnasirpal and
In the realm of monumental sculpture, the progressing, o\'er two centuries, to the days of
Mesopotamian were greatly inferior to
artists Assurbanipal. During the latter period a series
their Egyptian contemporaries. Their larger of spirited documents was carved in stone.
pieces contain no mystery and little grandeur. As realistic reporting, these have hardly been
The artists were sensitive only to natural rivaled in the entire history of art. The sub-
shadings; they were masters only of realistic jects that the Assyrian bas-relief sculptor
interpretation. This is engagingly demon- excelled at were animals, particularly bulls,

strated in the animals they hammered out of lions, horses, and dogs. These he seemed to
copper (dating as early as the Baboon of King enjoy portraying more that he did the human
Narmer in Egypt), and in their war and figure. In carrying out a royal commission, the
hunting scenes carved in bas-relief on stone artist was probably more self-conscious in the
in the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries wav he depicted his king-master. While
B.C. plunging his royal lance into the throat of a
Herodotus noted that every Babylonian lion, the king appears stiff and wooden, but
carried a seal and a cane. Perhaps the scarcity the movement and the agony of the animal
of stone in the Valley of the Two Rivers are represented realistically and without re-
dictated the small-scale stonecutting practiced straint.
there. In any event the cylinder seals best The sculptured records of life in Mesopo-
THE MESOPOTAMIAN PAGEANT 63
tamia, after the Sumerian decline, tell us that For easy reference, the periods of Mesopo-
the kings were brave, mighty, cruel, and tamian histor)' are listed below:
sadistic. The background, century after cen- Prehistoric or Predynastic Period: From a
tury', suggests a combination of luxurious time well before the Flood (sometimes dated
living, hunting, and a quest for military 4000 B.C., sometimes several millennia earlier)
glor)\ The artists, like their patrons, had to to c. 3100 B.C.
be materialists; the one exception was in the Early Dynastic or Sumerian Period: From
delineations on the seals. c. 3100 B.C. City-states of Kish, Uruk, Ur, etc.
Sargonid Period: From c. 2340 b.c. Sumer

ruled by Semitic invaders led by Sargon of
Akkad. Sometimes known as Period of Sumer-
Akkad.
..im Neo-Sumerian Period: From c. 2125 b.c.

Bahylonian Period: From 2000 B.C. The
Semitic Amorites invaded Sumer, founded
mil Babylon, and, under Hammurabi, sixth king

of the dynasty, formed the country Babylonia
out of Sumer and Akkad.
Period of the Assyrian Em'pire: From c.
Impression from seal. Babylonian. 1270 B.C. From Assur, a city or city-state in
Babylonian Collectioti, Yale University Library
the far North, the Assyrians spread southward
and over several centuries conquered Baby-
Contest of Heroes with Lions and lonia. Under their king, Assurnasirpal (884-
Water Buffalo. Impression from stone seal.
860 subdued Babylon itself and set
B.C.), they
Akkadian, c. 2400 B.C.
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore up the greatest empire so far known in west-
em Asia.
Chaldean or N eo-Babylonian Emfire: From
606 B.C. The resurgent Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar displaced the Assyrians.
Babylon became the world's greatest and
showiest capital, with temples, the palace, the
Hanging Gardens, the king's library, etc. In
539 or 538 Babylon was taken by the
b.c.
Persian Cyrus the Great, and Mesopotamia

became a part of the Persian Empire.
-^ >
^
I 1- '^ -v I
•<
/ f
Runni7ig Animals. Impression from stone seal. Sumerian, before 3UU0 b.c. Lruk.
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
II
TH E
obscure.
origins of Mesopotamian
Some books begin with exam-
art are tions,
and
its
its
fitness of technique to
rhythmic orderliness, retains certain

materials,
ples from Susa, in Elam, over the border of the virtues of primitive art. The subject, a woman
Iranian highland, and the earliest Sumerian with hands upholding her breasts, symboliz-
sculpture may well be related to Elamite or ing the Mother Goddess, or perhaps repre-
Persian art. The ruins of the Sumerian cities senting awoman in the Mother Goddess atti-
of Ur and Lagash and Kish have yielded tude, common to fertility fetishes in Persia,
is
relics older than the Susan statuettes, includ- Mesopotamia, and Syria. The figure possesses
ing fragments dating to 4000 B.C. These a sculptural sensitivity seldom manifest either
pieces are, however, cruder and patently less in the contemporary Sumerian or in the later
likely to have been in the line of a developing Babylonian statuettes of idols and adorers.
regional tradition than a figure such as the Among the Sumerian clay figurines there
Susan stone Curly-Horned Ram illustrated. is, however, one strangely di\'erting group of
It stands as one of the earliest attractive ex- serpent-headed women that is superior to any
pressions in sculpture from western Asia. other sculptures of so early a date. Though
The alabaster Kneeling Woman shown is presumably representing a demon, the fig-
also from Susa, though of later date, and is ure illustrated, in the University Museum,
likewise superior to most of the statuettes Philadelphia, is likely to suggest the deca-
found in Sumer. The piece in its simplifica- dent civilization of today, with its lounge
Stag Hunt, relief. Stone. Hittite, c. 12th century b.c. Malatya. Louvre. (Tel photo')
lizards and its exhibitionist ladies with skin-
tight skirts.
Some animals devised in copper were
found by the excavators at Ur. The appealing
copper Ass, which had served as mascot on
the rein-guide of the chariot of Queen Shub-
ad, was recovered from a royal cemetery of
possibly 3300 B.C. As yet this piece is an iso-
lated find, without known antecedents in its
own territory. The character of the model has

been sympathetically conveyed, with even a
touch of humor in the cocked ear and the
jaunty pose of the head. Thus the naturalism
that was to become the most notable trait of
Kneeling Woman. Alabaster.
late Mesopotamian art is exhibited in one of
C. 3000 B.C. Susa.
Louvre. (Tel photo') the oldest relics of Sumerian civilization.
It is found again in two free-standing bulls,
shaped in sheet copper over wood. These

formed embellishments on a temple facade at
al-Ubaid, of about 3100 b.c. One is shown
on page 61. An almost startling lifelikeness is
achieved here, twenty-five centuries before

Greek realism. More typical of Sumerian
work at this period are the twô skirted
Adorers, in which the exaggeration of features
such as the nose, eyes, and beard almost
reaches the point of caricature. The expres-
sion on the faces of these male figures, one of
intent worshipfulness, was doubtless the
sculptor's main preoccupation.
After the Adorers there were portraits of
king and officials. A keeper of a temple gran-
ary named Kur-lil from al-Ubaid is the sub-
ject of a blocky sculptural portrait of an official,
Curly-Horned Ram. Clay.
C. 3000 B.C. Susa. in which the feeling for the stone is well
Louvre. (Tel photo) preserved, the area of the face alone tending
toward naturalism. This forthright statue
marks one of the peaks of achievement in the
monumental type of art in Sumer. Never-
theless a more conventionalized art, prac-
ticed with full respect for the nature of the
medium, existed side by side with the
realistic main effort; but the surviving relics
are too battered for easy enjoyment.

There was a feeling of confinement in
much of the stone sculpture of the eight cen-
turies between the Sumer of the First Dy-
nastv of Ur and the Neo-Sumer of the Third
Ass. Figure on rein guide. Copper.
C. 3300 B.C. Ur. British Museum
Kur-lil, Keeper of the Temple Granary. Stone.

C. 3000 B.C. Al-Ubaid. British Museum
Adurer. Stone. C. 3000 B.C. Sumer.

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Detnon Woman. Clay. Before 3000 b.c. AlUbaid.

Dynasty. It is illustrated in the typically squat
statue, King Gudea Seated. Despite the
dumpy figure, the portrait is nearer to the
contemporary Egyptian style than is any other
surviving Mcsopotamian statue. King Gudea,
though not one of the great conquerors, is the
best known of the rulers of the Sumerian
cit)'-states, through his patronage of sculpture.
A score of statues of him survive, whole or as
fragments, and usually in a conventional pose
such as the attitude of worship, or as architect.
The stiff bodies with wide shoulders give the
impression of being that way not because the
sculptor willed it, but because he had an in-
complete mastery of his medium. The heads

are more lifelike, at times even catching a
spontaneous expression. The enlarged eyes
and ears, and the feathered eyebrows, were
Adorer. Stone. C. 3000 B.C. Sumer.

King Gudea Seated. Stone.

Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100 b.c.
Bull's head ornament; lion's head seal; duck

weights. Copper; stone. Svunerian; Babylonian.
Metropolitan Museum of Art; Louvre;
local conventions. Almost Egyptian in style is

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin. Stone. Akkadian,
the headless stone statue, Gudea Stmtding, in
c. 2300 B.C. Louvre. QGiraudon photo')
the Louvre. It is smoothly sculptural, in a set
and it marks the point at which

attitude,
Mesopotamian sculpture is most profound.
But the best is now past in the story of
Mesopotamian sculpture in the round. During
the following two thousand years the major
sculptors produced masterpieces only in the
medium of bas-relief, in tiny seals or great
stone murals. The seals and weights had been
exceptionally fine from earliest times, and in-
deed there is no more attractive run of mini-
ature sculptured stones than the one com-
prised in duck and frog weights of
the
Mesopotamia. Examples are shown above,
with a lion-head seal and a bull's head in
copper that once decorated a lyre.
The museums contain innumerable stone

reliefs, memorial tablets, boundary markers,
vase decorations, and the like. Among the
early pieces, the most famous is the Victory
Stele of Naram-Sin of Akkad, of about 2300
B.C. This vividly represents the conqueror-
king trampling cohorts of his victims as he
leads his warriors up a mountain, above
which the favorable sun is shown. The con-
Gudea Standing. Stone. Neo-Sumerian,

c. 2100 B.C. Louvre. QBuUoz photo)
Standard. Bronze. Pre-Hittite, c. 2100 B.C. Metro- Head of a Dragon. Bronze. Possibly Elamite.
politan Museum of Art, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest Louvre. (Tel photo')
ventionalization of the mountain and the sun 3300 B.C. cylinder seals had gained popularity
is simple, and the relief sculpturing has a and relief impressions were appearing on clay
roundness, even a flowing grace, unusual in (The illustrations show
stoppers and markers.
Sumerian art. modern impressions made from originals in
A great quantit)' of sculptured work must the museums. See pages 62-63 and 70.)
have been imported from the north and west. The art of the seal-cutters flowered and de-
Most of the identified relics, however, are in clined many times during the thirty' centuries
bronze and are therefore to be assigned to of Mesopotamian history. The experts stress
later dates. Sometimes a scepter-cap was differences of subject-matter, technique, and
labeled Mesopotamian, though the prove- aesthetic value in such periods as Uruk, Ur I,
nance must have been Iranian; and there are the Sargonid age, Ur and in Babylonian
III,
harness rings and statuettes that are Cappa- and Assyrian examples. There were also in-
docian or Hittite though exhibited beside cursions of style from Susa and influences
Babylonian relics. from the confused complex of cultures that
The Head of a Dragon in the Louvre is an existed in the general direction of the West,
exceptional bronze sculpture, doubtless of a from the Egyptians, the Syrians, and the
late period. It is supposed to be a cap from Hittites. From earliest times the seals took on
a scepter or staff and, if not imported from a clarity and a crispness of technique fitting
the Iranian countries, was made by an artist to their purpose and to the materials and
influenced by the art of Elam or Luristan. A methods of the art. In many periods the sub-
second animal piece, the bronze standard with jects were religious: heroes protecting sacred
two long-horned beasts skillfully entwined, is flocks, scenes of judgment, divinities, priests,
labeled by the archaeologists merely "pre- and demons; and of course the familiar wor-
Hittite (about 2ico b.c.)." Its affinities, sty- shiper, adoring or being introduced to the god
listically, would seem to be northern Persian. or priest, or protecting divine property. Oc-
In Sumerian relief art the best examples casionally there were hunting scenes, heraldic
are the work of the seal-cutters. As early as motives, and geometric or floral patterning.
Impressions from stone seals: hunting scene
and physician's charm. Akkadian.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Louvre
and graceful than similar Babylonian work in
Of the seals illustrated, the earliest ex- the large. (See Stag Hunt, page 64.)
amples (from before 3000 b.c.) are notable The ninth-century stone statue of Assur-
for the freedom of movement and the vitality nasirpal II of Assyria is the first really monu-
of the designs. The artists were already mental work surviving from the sixteen cen-
masters of the sort of decorative design in turies following Gudea's reign. It is solid and
which the Orientals have always excelled. dignified, but the hair and beard are rather
The seal with running deer (the design, as is coarsely conventionalized, as are the fringes of
the case with others, was repeated in the im- the skirt. The amber statuette of Assurnasir-
pression by rolling the spool through two pal in the Boston Museum is more clearly de-
revolutions) is especially successful in fitting fined and more column-like. An ornamented
the heavy animals into the field. A second gold breastplate is set into the amber.
crisply stylized seal including cattle illus- Less subtlety is evident in the sculptured
trates the more conventionalized type and, monsters which guarded the Assyrian palaces.
after five thousand years, it seems engagingly These are not so much reliefs as engaged
"modern." With the compositions of the Sar- figures in the round, viewable from three
gonid era (approximately 2340 b.c.) a strain sides. The sculptors gave each monster five
of realistic detailing entered, but the better legs so that the observer, looking at it directly
seals are still characteristically decorative. from the side, would see a required four legs,
Some authorities believe that the art of and, looking from the front, a required two
seal-cutting preceded bas-relief sculpture in legs. The human-headed winged lions and
the large and that the famous stone murals of bulls are more impressive for their size and
the Assyrian palaces grew out of the smaller
art. But influences also came from abroad, and Lions. Column base. Stone. Hittite, c. 12th
century B.C. Tel Tainat, northern Syria.
particularly from the Hittites, who emigrated QCourtesy Oriental Institute, Chicago')
southeastward from the neighborhood of Ana-
tolia and upper Syria. These people seem to
have been the first to develop bas-relief on a

monumental scale. Extensive ruins exist with
outdoor reliefs cut in rock at Yazilikaya near
the modern village Bogazkoy, and lesser
monuments are to be found elsewhere. The
best-known relics are from the walls of a palace
at Carchemish (or Kargamish), a later capital.

The Hittite style is typified in very flat figures
on almost unbroken flat fields, and by highly
conventionalized objects and patterning with-
in precise outlines. Hittite sculpture, from the
twelfth to the ninth centuries, is more alive
THE MESOPOTAMI AN PAGEANT 71
the sculptors' main interest would seem to
have been in depicting details such as

feathers, fringes, tassels, imposing beards, ele-
gant hairdos, bracelets, and dagger-handles. A

boastful inscription, standard for all the king's
monuments, is written across the face of the
design.
The war and hunting scenes in the palace
murals are less outstanding, but there was
competent practice of a style which was to
reach its culmination two centuries later in
the realistic reliefs at Nineveh. In the Hunt-
ing Scene, a stone relief from the palace of
Assurnasirpal II, although the woodenness
persists (the King's beard is still a character-
less,stereotyped convention), one finds a
growing naturalness in the animals and a
more competent sense of pictorial composition.
After the reign of Assurnasirpal, mural art
declined. The artist conceived each incident
episodically and the panels constituted a series
of illustrations which were neither sculptur-
ally related nor integral to an architectural
scheme. Some banded scenes from the gates
of the palace of Shalmaneser III at Balawat
Assurnasirpal U. Assyrian, 9th century b.c.
are of technical interest because they were
Left: Stone. Height about 43 in. British Museum.
Right: Amber. Height about 10 inches. worked in bronze. They are architecturally
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston controlled and flatly ornamental, but lack
something of the liveliness of the stone reliefs.
massiveness than for any other quahty. Sculp- The illustrated panels, Siege Scenes, from the
turally speaking, the volumes are haphazardly palace of Shalmaneser III, show Assyrian war
related, the rhythmic lines broken, and the chariots and the slaughter of prisoners.
patterning of feathers, hair, and beard too
insistent. Perhaps the best of the massive
monsters is the stone Lion in the British Lion. Stone. Assyrian, 884-859 B.C. Palace
of Assurnasirpal II, Nimrud. British Museum
Museum, from the palace-temple of Assur-
nasirpal II at Nimrud. The largeness and .i?l^:
nobility of the animal have not been de-
stroyed by sculptural niggling or ostentatious
patterning.
The low reliefs on immense slabs of stone
in the palace of Assurnasirpal established a

mode of mural decoration that became more
or less standard throughout the Assyrian
epoch and the succeeding neo-Babylonian
period. A series of stones depicted giant fig-
ures of protecting deities, or showed the king

and his attendants. In these stiff compositions
A centur)' later the trend toward vivid
naturalism returned. From the palace of Tig-
lath-Pileser III at Nimrud stones have been
recovered that represent a transition in style
between theart of Assurnasirpal's palace and
thatfound in the palace of Assurbanipal at

Nineveh. The artists recorded war and hunt-
ing scenes with increasing exactitude. The
two panels shown, Siege Sceties, are interest-
ing historically, for what they tell of the cap-
ture of a city. One illustration depicts As-
syrian scribes listing the spoils taken from the
city's inhabitants. Here the wool of the sheep
is nicely differentiated from the sleek hides
of the oxen. Another illustration shows a
wheeled, fortified tank with a battering ram,
followed by infantry. Bows, arrows, spears,
and shields are shown in detail. The style is
typically Oriental, with no attempt at sci-
entific perspective; but few observers today

would find the design less satisfying or the
record less telling because the figures fail to
diminish in depth.
Since a single Assyrian palace might con-
tain bas-relief murals totaling a mile and a
half in length, it is not surprising to find in
it work of uneven quality. A high mark was
reached, however, in a series of well-composed
and vivid Hiintmg Scenes and Battle Scenes
executed in low-rounded relief, for the palace
of Assurbanipal at Nineveh. This Mesopo-
tamian ruler was the last notable figure of the
Assyrian line— the Sardanapalus of romance
and legend. (See page 74.)
Winged Figure, relief. Stone. Assyrian. Palace of
Assumasirpal II. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
The ultimate point of precise delineation
was attained in depictions of animals such as
horses, camels, dogs, deer, and lions.
asses,
Hunting Scene, relief. Stone. Assyrian. These were cannily observed and superbly
Palace of Assumasirpal II. British Museum
Siege Scenes, relief. Bronze. Assyrian, 9th century B.C.

Palace of Shalmaneser III, Balawat. British Museum
Siege Scenes, reliefs. Stone. Assyrian, 8th century b.c.

Palace of Tielath-Pilescr III, Nimrud. British Museum
2ili'
n
•^giitwi^.
Battle Scenes, relief. Stone. Assyrian, 7th century b.c.
Palace of Assurbanipal, Nineveh. British Museum
Hunting Scene, relief, detail.

Stone. Assyrian. Palace of
Assurbanipal, Nineveh.
British Museum
Wounded Lioness,
detail of Hunting Scene.
Stone. Assyrian.
Palace of Assurbanipal,
Nineveh. British Museum
QHachette photo)
drawn. The typical Hiinting Scene illus- to the Ishtar Gate.Only the colors varied.
trated,showing the hunting of wild horses, is The lionwas sacred to the goddess Ishtar or
one of the finest of the mural slabs. Astarte. Other animals were represented on
A similar panel of deer is so true to observa- the high gateway towers: rows of bulls and
tion that one cannot doubt that the king's long-legoed dragons were created in similar
artists rode beside him on his hunting or war- glazed-brick relief, with a few in flat enamel.
ring expeditions— just as newsmen and pho- When the Persians conquered Babylonia in
tographers have recorded front-line battles in 539 B.C. they brought the story of Mesopo-
our century. Reporting could hardly seem tamian art to an end, but they utilized the
more immediate, more objective than in the glazed-brick technique and created their own
sculptured Wounded Lioness shown, in a de- reliefs with greater finesse.
tail, from a panel at Nineveh. Meanwhile, among the marginal develop-

When the Babylonians regained control of ments of Mesopotamian art was the continua-
Mesopotamia, the new kings, especially tion of seal-cutting, examples of which are
Nebuchadnezzar, set out to surpass the As- illustrated. During the final centuries of As-
syrian achievement in luxury and elegance. syrian and Babylonian rule, in Syria and
However, sculpture suffered a decline except Palestine especially, the cultural lines became
in a type of relief work on bricks. Small very confused and art influences were inter-
sections of animals were molded on bricks mingled. The Hittites sometimes provided
with colored-glaze facing in such a way that models; but as far away as Cyprus unmistak-
the animal forms took shape as the bricks able Assyrian idioms appeared freely in mon-
were fitted together in the building of a wall. umental sculpture. In Cyprus and Phoenicia
The method of modeling, making molds, then and Cappadocia small bronzes might be in-
mass-producing clay figurines and small re- fluenced from any one of several cultures or
liefs, had been practiced by the early Sumer- from two or three at once. The examples
ians, then by the Babylonians. Now, in this shown illustrate a wide variety of methods
larger-scale application of the technique, the and motives. The most Egyptian of the
Neo-Babylonians achieved fuller use of color. pieces is The God Hadad. Probably older is
The exceptionally fine glazed-brick Lion the sinuous Snake Goddess, whose affinities
illustrated appeared sixty or more times on are northern, possibly Cretan or from the
the walls of the Street of Processions leading Anatolian countries.
Lion, relief. Glazed brick. Babylonian, 604-562 b.c. Street of Processions, Babylon.
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
lilia^-
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Impressions of seals. Assyrian and Babylonian. C. 1500-5 50 B.C.

British Museum; Oriental hzstitute, University of Chicago
Cow and Calf, high relief. Ivory. 9th century B.C. North Syria. Louvre. QTel photo^
Left: Snake-Goddess; center: The God Hadad; right: Man Walking. Bronze. Phoenician,
1st millennium B.C. Brooklyn Museum; Louvre QAlinari photo"); Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
m
These figures, and the Man Walking, all enced by the people of the steppe. The one
thought to have originated in what was true contribution of the Mesopotamians to
ancient Phoenicia, or in other parts of Syria world sculpture was an engaging realism,
or Canaan, might as well have been found in whereas Scythian art is highly conventional-
Cappadocia, Cilicia, Malta, Carthage, or even ized and decorative. The contrast is interest-
farther afield. Thousands more or less like ing between the Lion of the Ishtar Gate and
them are known to have been produced by the more virile sculpture of the Scyths, which
the Phoenicians for export. is illustrated in the next chapter.
Only one other marginal development The relief from North Syria, opposite, part
might be suggested: the rather slight but some- of agroup of ivory reliefs from furniture, is
times evident influence of the Scythians, the added here merely to emphasize the mixed
sculptors who developed the superb "animal influences that the Syrians and other Near
art" of the steppes. Their special st)^le seems Eastern craftsmen absorbed. Some details on
reflected, for instance, in the spiritedness and the ivories are unmistakably Egyptian, but the
rhythmic arrangement of the horses in relievo whole set might be Cretan, or possibly
on the Phoenician silver platter illustrated. It Mesopotamian. The plaque shown, with cow
was the Scyths who helped to sack Nineveh, and calf, is perhaps too rhythmic and too
weakened the Assyrians, and opened the way graceful to be either. It was preserved for us
to the final Babylonian hegemony, the last by a king of Assyria, Adad-Nirari III, who
phase of jMesopotamian independence. But stole from King Hazael of Damascus. In
it
for the most part it seems unlikely that Ass)'t- such ways the arts were widely interchanged
ian and Babylonian art was essentially influ- in the centuries of the Babylonian wars.
Platter with reliefs. Silver. Phoenician, 1st millennium B.C. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
4: The Animal Art
of the Eurasian Steppes
ON the maps of the classical world Scythia about them historians have had to rely upon
appears as a variable and unbounded country foreign reporters such as Herodotus. The
to the northand northeast of the Black Sea, Greek writers knew only the borderland
and the nomadic people who roamed it were Scyths, however, and what they have trans-
horsemen of the forests and the pastures. The mitted is a fragmentary, half-mythical account
Scyths seldom built cities, and moved on to of the vast hordes in the real Scythia of the
more favorable lands when climatic condi- steppes.
tions and opportunities to conquer weaker The surviving art, which consists mostly of
peoples prompted a change. small sculpture in gold and bronze, with some
Before the flowering of Greek civilization, antecedent Stone Age bone and horn carv-
the Scyths had helped to destroy the Assyrian ings, also tells something of the Scyths' ways
state, and after the seventh century B.C. they of life and of their culture. Studies of the
were frequently at war with the Greeks them- diffusion of Scythian and related sculpture
selves. leave no doubt that this nomadic people
They had no written language, and to learn roamed a territory larger than all Europe, a
Plaque with fighting animals. Bronze. Scythian. Russia. Art Association of Montreal
THE ANIMAL ART OF THE EURASIAN STEPPES 79
territory extending from the Danube Basin to covery. The Siberian finds are numerous, and
the eastern borders of Mongolia, including Minusinsk, near the border of Mongolia, was
what is the Ukraine in modern Russia, the important as a center. The mid-Siberian phase,
steppes about the Caspian Sea, and most of as we may call it, is distinguishable from the
Siberia. So wide is the range that some his- Ural or East Russian phase and from the
torians refer to the findings as Scytho- Western phase, \\ hich centered in the Dnieper
Siberian art. Others, despairing of ever fixing and Don basins. There is great simplicity,
even vague territorial limits, write merely of almost primitive, in even the smallest ren-
"the animal style," or "the art of the steppe." derings of stags, and other beasts
tigers, elk,
Certainly "the animal style" is perfectly by the Siberian craftsmen. Later a special
descriptive of Scvthian art, for its sculptors way of formalizing wings, manes, and even
seldom chose human beings as subject-matter. tigers' stripes, in flowing linear patterns, en-
The sculptural forms of animals are formal- riched the style; more involved compositions,
ized, vigorous, and decorative, as opposed to usually of savage beasts in conflict, were
the naturalistic work of the IMesopotamians beautifully executed.
and the late Greeks; they are also more virile Generally speaking, these characteristics
than the idealized sculptures of the classic may be said to apply to the Scytho-Siberian
Greeks and are Oriental in feeling. st)'le of art as a whole. The representation,
Ethnically the Scythian peoples, although though stylized, was intensely true to the
doubtless intermixed with Mongolian strains, nature— or better, the spirit— of the animal,
were substantially of the Indo-European stock. but the formalization of certain parts remained
They were Aryan-speaking, and thus closer in rigid, even extreme. Usually the sculptor's
spirit to their Persian neighbors in Iran (an- purpose was to be decorative rather than
other form of "Aryan") than they were to the realistic, and he did not hesitate to distort
Assyrians, Babylonians, or Arabs. It is logical parts of the body, or to terminate a lion's legs,
therefore that Persia, especially, continued the for instance, with approximations of bird's
Scythian way of art, refining it and perpetuat- feet, if the resulting forms fitted more beauti-
ing it not only at home but at the courts of fully within the limits dictated by the in-
Constantinople (Byzantium) and other cities tended use of the sculptured object.
of the Eastern Christian world where Sassan- It was in the South Russian steppe area,
ian culture and products were later welcomed. especially along the lower Dnieper River and
As the designation of a distinctive artistic style, the upper shores of the Black Sea, that the
"Scythian" ser\'es to cover the activities of the Scyths came into trade and cultural relation-
Cimmerians, who were the predecessors of the ship with the Greeks. Eventually they even
Scyths in certain western parts of Scythia,
and of the Sarmatians, who later took over
those lands.
The earliest known gold and bronze sculp
tures left by the Scyths seem not to antedate
1 200 B.C. The golden age dawned in the ninth
century B.C., and some of the most accom-
plished Scythian artists were therefore contem-
porary with the Dorian Greeks, the Assyrians,
and the Persians of the pre-Achaemenid period.
The best way to approach Scythian or
Scytho-Siberian sculpture is to study the three
or four main types of stylization and crafts- Double Animal. Bronze. Scythian. Russia.
manship in relation to a few centers of dis- Museum of Science, Buffalo
80 THE ANIMAL ART OF THE EURASIAN STEPPES
accepted and helped spread classical standards zation. It is here especially that geometrically
toward Altai and eastern Asia. Before that patterned borders were developed. There is
time, the Scythian style had maintained its a special beauty in the bulbous animals within
Oriental characteristics and flourished as an the Caucasian plaques. The spirited stags
independent, highly individualized way of especially achieve a remarkable illusion of
desipn. The chief finds have been in the sculptural roundness, within the relief tech-
Kuban district, almost at the western terminus nique, enriched with insets and borders pat-
of the Caucasian Mountains. The amount of terned with double spirals.
gold discovered there adds evidence to the Despite the confusion regarding their ori-
belief that the artwas that of an originally gins, and the many alien or at times sympa-
Eastern people who pushed westward from thetic influences borne in upon the steppe
the gold-producing Altai and Urals. peoples, the Scythian small sculptures remain
The political organization, about the sixth a distinctive and magnificent contribution to
century B.C., seems to have been a federation the world's art. They are especially significant
of tribes or tribal groups under a number of in the Western art world because the basic
minor kings and princes, each of whom principles are similar to those animating the
established a regal standard of art. Finally, form-seeking or expressionist schools of the
in perhaps the second century B.C., the Sarma- twentieth century.
tians overcame the original Scyths, and it It should be added that the Scytho-Siberian
may have been they who formed a connecting has been called "the world's oldest style of
link between the Scytho-Siberian animal art art." A similarity was noted between the lively
and the medieval art of Europe. animals of the metal-workers of the steppes
Scholars speak of a separate art develop- and the sculptures and drawings of the cave
ment in the Caucasus, a development marked men of Magdalenian times. Through pottery
by all the characteristic vigor of the Scythians, as well as sculpture, the proponents of the
but with its own unmistakable type of styli- theory trace a tenuous line from late Stone
Age effort in Europe to Bronze Age achieve-
ment in Scythia. Both styles are primitive,
vigorous, and affirmative, and both are dedi-
cated to the depiction of animals.
Horse and Wild Goat. Bronze. Scythian, Winged Lion. Bronze. Scythian, 1st millennium
1st millennium B.C. Crimea. Hermitage, Lenin- B.C. Semircchyc, U.S.S.R. Hermitage, Leningrad.
grad. (^Courtesy Iranian Institute, New York') QCourtesy Iranian Institute, Yorfe) New
II
TH E dating of most Scythian art-objects

cannot be other than conjectural, but
goat's horns and the horse's mane (misplaced
below the neck) in the third example. The
historians have drawn up a table of periods for chief traits of Scythian art are reflected in
them, beginning with "archaic Scythian" and these objects, which, despite their small size,
"classic Scythian." The early examples dis- have a feeling of largeness, strength, and
play an extraordinary power and forthright- movement, as well as richness of detail.
ness, two characteristics which persisted even In the golden Crouching Stag, the strength
when ornamentation became
in later periods of the main motive— the body of the design
elaborated,and again toward the end when kept free, clear, uninvolved— is contrasted
the Greeks had taught the Scyths to be more with the decorative treatment of the horns.
realistic. This plaque, from a warrior's shield, must
In the three examples here, the virile curves have been designed with heraldic or talis-
are typical. The spirited swing of the Winged manic intent, and apparently it was made by
Lion is no less compelling than that of the hammering gold over a "pattern" carved in
Feline Animal and the Wild Goat on an wood. The crouching-stag motive is often
elongated horse. All three designs are vigorous found among early from the Russian
relics
in contour, but the sculptors also paid atten- shores of the Black Sea to Minusinsk in far
tion to secondary elements of design such as Siberia.
the recurrence of the undulating curve in Another type of contrast or variation (still
nose, jowl, wing, and rump in the first within the unity of a single main sculptural
example; the arbitrary patterning of the paws movement) is demonstrated in the patterning
in the second; and the ornamentation of the of the band about the Panther by means of
Feline Animal. Bronze. 1st millennium B.C. Manchuria or China.

Formerly Eumorphopoulos Collection. QCourtesy Musee Guimet, Paris~)
Crouching Stag. Gold. Scythian, 1 st millennium Panther. Bronze. Scythian, 7th-6th

B.C. Steppe, Caucasus, U.S.S.R. Hermitage,
Kuban centuries B.C. Crimea. Hermitage, Leningrad.
Leningrad. QCourtesy Iranian Institute, New York) QCourtesy Iranian Institute, New Yorfe)
fences; probably the enclosed spaces once lack the sturdy simplicity of the Siberian ex-
were filled with color pastes. The piece is of amples; but the harness ornament, at left in
an early period, when polychrome effects the illustration below, has its own primitive
were introduced but only briefly employed. largeness and vigor. It is notable that the de-
Again there is the extraordinary sense of signer has turned the head backward to bring
aliveness in the total figure, not at all im- the figure into a more compact decorative
paired by the conventionalization. organism. Even the very heavy stylization has
The profile piece is standard in Scythian not robbed the animal of truthfulness. The
art. When the design is to be seen from the head with enlarged jaws is more exaggerated,
back as well as from the front (as in the case almost a caricature. The third piece, though
of pole-top standards, mirrors, and the handles heavily stylized, has a lighter sort of rhythm.
of knives) the object is flattened and appears The final example shown, a deer, has antlers
as two slightly convex relief pieces placed back made up of repeats of the bird's beak-and-eye
to back in the form of a closed bivalve shell. motive, and the feet end in approximations of
Besides woodcarving there was the older birds' heads. This common and fantastic mo-
Scythian tradition of bone- and horn-carving. tive is also seen in the heads and beaks which
The limitations imposed by the harder mate- terminate the legs of the horse in the third
rials may have established the compactness illustration of this section. Occasionally the
and directness of expression seen in the later bird-head motive appears at the end of an
phases of Scythian art. Wooden figures are animal's tail, as may be seen in the golden
fairly rare among surviving relics, but there plaque at the foot of page 84.
are many objects in bone or horn, all of which There are numerous separate birds' heads
follow the same rigid type of formalization. in museum collections. The motive became so
The Western Scythian bronzes sometimes conventionalized that at last representation
Ornaments. Bronze. Scythian. Caucasus; Siberia

Cernuschi Museum, Paris; University Museum,
Philadelphia; Museum of Science, Buffalo
was abandoned almost entirely in favor of
ornament. Abstract designs resulted also when
compositions were based upon an animal's
hoof or hindquarters.
Occasionally the Siberian sculptors would
restrain their tendency to formalize their
subjects. Decorative but more realistic are
the pole-top figures, Wild Goats. Examples
range from this semi-realism to the near-
abstract approximations of animals that deco-
rate handles on bowl-edges or mirrors, or form
terminal figures on knife-handles.
The horse, like the elk and the goat,
afforded endless opportunity for decorative
interpretation. The lead-bronze horse from
Leningrad (if, indeed, it be a horse) is a
decorative tour de force. Note the bird's-
head feet, and, above, the extra animal heads

Stag. Pole-top standard. Bronze. Scythian, 5th
which add contrapuntal movement. The little
century b.c. Caucasus. Art Association of Montreal bronze running Horse is simpler, but hardly
Wild Goats. Pole-top standards. Bronze. Siberia.

Buckingham Collection, Art Institute of Chicago
THE ANIMAL ART OF THE EURASIAN STEPPES
less appealing in its fluent way. The piece
represents the southeastern extension of the
Scytho-Siberian style, best known under the
name "Ordos bronzes." This type of work
comes from the Ordos Desert in Mongolia,
which adjoins the Chinese provinces of
Shan-si and Shen-si.
Horse. Bronze. Ordos Region, China. Horse. Lead-bronze alloy. Perm District, U.S.S.R.
Museum of Science, Buffalo Hermitage, Leningrad
Animals Fighting. Plaques. Bronze. Ordos Region.

Collection of Dagny Carter; Detroit Institute of Arts
Antlered Bear Fighting a Tiger. Gold. 1st century a.d. Siberia. Hermitage, Leningrad
THE ANIMAL ART OF THE EURASIAN STEPPES
A series of plaques, mostly worked in gold
and each with one end larger than the other,
depicts animals in conflict. This series is so
fine sculpturally that it places the Siberian
ahead of the Western Scyths in the
artists
handling of involved animal forms.

skillful
The Antlered Bear Fighting a Tiger is a richly

rhythmic creation. Sometimes as many as four
fighting beasts (some unidentifiable) appear
in a single design. Rarely is a man's figure
incorporated. The animal-conflict plaques are
almost invariably found in pairs with the
design reversed, and they are supposed to
have served as girdle-clasps or quiver-clasps.
The persistence of the conflict motive would
seem to indicate some religious or totemic sig-
nificance, but archaeologists have been unable
to explain the true meaning.
It is easy to see how the bars along the
lower edges of these plaques, together with
elaboration of the antler motive, might evolve
into an encircling patterned border. It will be
noted on the page opposite that, for the first
time, bordered Scythian designs are shown.

In late examples the purely ornamental
elements were increasingly stressed, but there
is no intricate geometrical fretwork and ara-
besque. Only in the special Caucasian phase
did the artist use border areas with all-over
patterning. (In the other direction both the
vigor and the decorative richness of Scythian
sculpture entered into Chinese art, especially Animals. Bronze. Scythian; Chinese. Russia;
during the Han period.) Siberia; Ordos Region. Cerniischi Museum, Paris;
Collection of Dagny Carter; C. T. Loo Collection
A culture related to that of the Scyths, of the Eurasian animal art led directly into
possibly antecedent to it, is known to scholars the barbarian sculpture of Central and West-
merely by the term "animal art of the Cau- ern Europe.
casus." The most important type of sculpture A complete survey of Scythian art would
was wide ornamental
a square plaque with a end with degenerate examples, illustrating
border, within which appeared an openwork the decline that resulted when Hellenizing
animal design. The figures were especially influences became too strong for the native
spirited, and an idiomatic use of swelling or tradition to withstand. There are many late
bulbous forms in the forequarters and flanks objects Greek workmen living
ascribed to
added weight to the design. The effect of within or upon the borders of Scythia, and
largeness was increased by slenderizing the certainly for centuries there had been a trad-
lesser forms and by curving these into sinuous, ing of influences at the Black Sea settlements.
echoing rhythms. Antlers and tails were often The culture crossed not only with the Greek
made to end in spirals as geometric as those in but also with the Persian, and there is reason
the patterned borders. Some, perhaps early to believe that the Persians, unlike the Greeks,
examples, exhibit single animals in silhouette. derived lasting influences from it. Certainly
Others were rendered more elaborate by the in Persia, even down to Sassanian times, there
addition of decorative areas of engraving on were animal ornaments in the true steppe-art
the main forms and by an increase in the tradition, and in Luristan, within the Persian
number of figures. In the example at the territory (discussed in Chapter 8), a phase
Chicago Art Institute (left, below) the stag is of small sculpture unmistakably related to
accompanied by two dogs and a bird. It is be- the Scythian, equally strong, affirmative, and
lieved that the Caucasian or geometrical phase decorative.
Stag. Gold. Greco-Scythian, c. 500 b.c. Found in Hungary. Museu7n of Fine Arts, Budapest.
(^Courtesy Archiv fiir Kunst iind Geschichte, Berlin^
Plaques with animals. Bronze. 1st millennium B.C. Caucasus.

Left: Art Institute of Chicago; center and right: Metropolitan Museum of Art
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5: The Greeks:
Archaism^ Classicism^ Realism
GREECE was the first civilized European The Parthenon marbles alone afford ma-
state. The beginnings of its arts were epoch- terial for a glorious chapter in the history of
making and the later influence overwhelming world sculpture. But the supremacy of Greek
in European and American culture from the art over all other expressions is not as freely
fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. Greek conceded today as it was forty or four hun-
art avoids mystery and complication and dred years ago. Nevertheless the classic ideal
through most of its course is distinguished for isrespected and recognized as having shaped
its crystal-clear realism and its grace. The European thought and art practice more pro-
Greeks discarded Oriental convêntions; they foundly than any other.
idolized nature, and, from the time of the Sculpture took first place in Greece among
building and decoration of the Parthenon to the figurative arts, and its development is
the end of the decline in Greco-Roman natu- richly documented. An acute factual interest
ralism, lucidity and simple representation pre- is evident in the few "monuments" surviving
vailed in their art. from the pre-Hellenic periods: the athletes
llissos. Stone. Parthenon, Athens. British Museum

THE GREEKS
Statuettes. Bronze. Sardinia. Prehistoric Museum, Rome. (Âlinari photo^
Statuettes. Clay.
Cj^rus. Metropolitan
Museum of Art
THE GREEKS 89
/
Rhyton (the Boxer Vase"). Stone. Cretan, c. 1600
Snake-Priestess. Ivory nith gold band. Minoan, B.C. Hagia Triada. Miiseum of Heraclion, Crete.
c. 1500 B.C. Crete. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Bhoio of replica, Metropolitan Museum of Art')
and snake-goddesses of Crete, the Boxer Vase reposeful. The lovers of Greek art, one might
and the Vaphio Cups with their exact hmn- almost say the worshipers of Greek art, from
ing in gold, to cite a few famous examples. Roman days onward, esteemed the Hellenic
Before the "true Greeks" emerged, there was masters above all others. Perhaps the only
a wide dispersal of the geometric style (in service of the twentieth-century critic in this
miniature expressions), which marks the point regard should be to broaden the term "Classi-
where Greek art came nearest to the formal- cal" to enlarge its meaning to cover not only
ized and unrealistic expressions of Asia. With the Greek achievement of the Periclean dec-
the later phases of the Dorian invasion the ades but also the transitional period from the
consolidation of the Hellenic nation was ac- archaic. There was already the classic de-
complished, and a new freedom and realism votion to the idealized human being, to every-
prevailed in what we now refer to as the thing that was rational, nobly ordered, and
classic art of Greece. both inwardly and outwardly harmonious.
The most t\'pical Greek artistic expression, The grand period in Greece can be placed
the superb achievement, is Classical sculpture. between the perfecting of the stone kouroi
By general acceptance. Classical art is noble, and korai of the late sixth century and the
reasonably like nature, clear, harmonious. completion of the Parthenon.
90 THE GREEKS
The response we feel when viewing the
pre-Classical statuettes, especially the spirited
miniature figures of the geometric age, is
very different from that evoked by the soberer

expressions of the Classical spirit. But our in-
stinctive appreciation of the little bronze

horses or the fiddle-figured Cycladic marbles
should be a tribute to an added phase of
Greek art, to an early and a minor period
when the Greeks were still influenced by the
East. The fragmentary Dionysus, Goddesses,
and Ilissos of the Parthenon pediment are in
a higher category. They display a lithic
grandeur, integrity, and amplitude that mark

the sixth- and fifth-century work as the first
peak of European achievement.
The years following the Periclean Age
were marked by an increased realism in
sculpture which paralleled a decline in the ex-
pression of Classical ideals. During the fourth
century, new interest in the individual and
in depicting the actual world was reflected
in the rise of portraiture and pictorial sculp-
ture, while monumental works suffêred a
loss of vigor from the overemphasis on

naturalistic detail. As Greek culture spread
to territories beyond the Aegean during the
Hellenistic period, after the conquests of

Alexander, its original creative spark became
diffused and finally died out.
It should be added that recently, in the
1960s, the between the pre-Hellenic
ties
civilizations and Greece proper have been

stressed by archaeologists and historians. Ex-
cavations have brought to light the extent of
commerce between the Mycenaean civilization
and the Athenian territory that later became
the nursery of Greek culture. The Mycenaean-
Minoan languages, too, have been more fully
identified as early forms of Greek. Whereas a
separate Aegean culture was given inde-
pendence in earlier histories, the story of
Crete, Mycenae, and Classical Greece is
oftener told in one unfolding history in to-
day's accounts. Despite the sequence of

Above and at left and right on facing page: Figures.
stylistic changes in the sculpture pictured on
Stone. Cycladic, 3rd or 2nd millennium B.C.
the following pages, a rather remarkable over- Metropolitan Museum of Art; British Museum;
all unity will be noted. Museum of Art, Providence
II
TH E end
late in
of the Stone Age occurred
most parts of Europe. Long after
knowledge of the
rope, and of their
"original peoples" of
art, is vague, to say the
Eu-
Egypt and the Near Asian nations had ar- least.
rived at such basic civiUzed attainments as The seaways of Egyptian, Mesopotamian,

systematic agriculture, systematic writing, and and Phoenician traders can be traced in early
and
stabilized law, the lands of Greece, Italy, ages, and the pre-Greek arts of the Mediter-
Iberia were still and untamed, and
primitive ranean basin most often bear the stamp of
northern and central Europe formed little Nilotic or Near Asian cultures. Iberia and
more than an uncharted wilderness. Even after Malta both have notable relics of the Stone
1500 B.C., when islands of culture and com- Age, especially dolmens and menhirs, and
merce had risen along the Mediterranean, many Bronze Age figurines have been found.
from Sidon to Iberia, central and western These are of problematic date, as are the clay
Europe remained subject to waves of wander- figurines of the region, which could be as-
ing peoples for another two thousand years. signed to almost any century from prehistoric
The lines of migration are confused, and times to the eighth century b.c. Shown on
Center: Seated figure. Stone. Cycladic. Melos. Metropolitan Museum of Art

92 THE GREEKS
Figured cups. Gold. C. 1500 b.c. Vaphio.
page 88 are three bronze votive figures from sculpture was not foremost among the arts
Sardinia, where the influences might be those practiced by the Cretans. Indeed the sur-
of Etruria or an earHer culture imported from viving body of sculptural art from the Cretan
the East. In Sardinia the culture is known as city-states and from Mycenae in the Pelopon-
Nuraghian, after a unique type of Stone Age nesus is small, and, though some of the semi-
tower of fortification. primitive statuettes and groups in clay are
Crete and C}'prus were outstanding sites of eflFective as genre pieces, the quality is seldom
pre-Greek artistic development, and the early more than routine.
Cretan achievement is pre-eminent in the The Snake-Priestess (at the Boston Mu-
Aegean area. However, to stress the fact that seum; see page 89) belongs to the highest
there were areas of sculptural activity in period of Cretan accomplishment. In general,
other regions of Europe and in nearby Cyprus Cretan art is light, worldly, even gay, running
at the time, illustrations of Sardinian bronzes, to capricious elaboration and to surprising
Cyprian clay figurines (see page 88), and representations of athletic feats and violent
Cycladic marbles have been placed before body movements.
the Cretan relics. The ivories, especially the group of god-
The Cycladic statuettes, originating in the desses or priestesses, of which the one at
Aegean islands southeastw-ard from Attica, are Boston is the most subtly realistic, are more
considered to be the first stone sculptures appealing than any other local t)'pe of sculp-
produced in Greek territory. They are seldom ture. There are painted faience statuettes of
more finished than the examples shown. the same subject, but these incline to be
These works, like those of Sardinia, constitute elaborate and garish. The priestesses with
a distinctive minor development. Many of the their small waists, bared breasts, and aproned
pieces are intuitively rhythmic and very en- loins, together with the snakes they usually
gaging. Especially prized today are the early hold, figured in Minoan religious rites. The
schematized figures, almost abstract— amulet- Cretan culture was neither overwhelmingly
like bits of marble in the shape of spatulas or centered in religion nor dedicated, as were
fat fiddles. Assyria and Babylonia, to glorification of a
A great commercial civilization prospered king-god. There are no portrait statues; rather
in Crete as early as 1 500 b.c. This is indicated the athlete, the warrior, and the entertainer
by discoveries in the ruined palace of King are commonly depicted.
Minos at Cnossus, where fine vases and color- The Boxer Vase (page 89), with its spirited
ful mural paintings abounded. However, reliefs, is a typical piece. It is carved in steatite
THE GREEKS 93
National Museum, Athens. QGiraudon photos of replicas in Louvre^
and was probably gilded. Crete also produced In the few notable relics of sculpture from
ivory and bronze figurines of athletes and
worshipers, and many gems and seals, inter-
Mycenae, the city-state that succeeded Cnos-
sus as the dominating power of the Aegean
I
esting but not quite so skillfully made as the world about 1400 B.C., we find, as in Crete,
Sumerian and Babylonian examples. There a growing tendency toward naturalism. The
are a few realistic colored faience reliefs, as best-known example is the famous pair of
well as double axes and ceremonial pillars sculptured lions carved in stone over a gate
which might be classed as abstract designs.
Also of Minoan workmanship, though
at Mycenae. There
rather crude low-rehef
are also grave stelae with
work which suggests
I
found at Vaphio in the Peloponnesus, are the a possible Hittite influence.
two Vaphio cups of gold, bearing designs on The other most treasured examples of
the outer shells. The modeling was accom- Mycenaean Golden
sculpture are in metal.
plished by the repousse process, the metal cups recovered from graves at Mycenae, like
being hammered up from the reverse side and the Vaphio cups and perhaps also Minoan, are
the detailing probably finished by surface tool- beautifully designed in abstract shapes; others
ing. The designs, one of bull-hunting and the are boldly figured in relief. Aside from these
other of bulls in a wooded pasture, are vigor- cups, the most interesting relics in metal from
ous and marvelously realistic. As sculptural the Mycenaean civilization are daggers and
goldsmithing they were not surpassed by the swords with inlaid designs upon the blades.
artists of the golden age a millennium later. Many of these show superlative workmanship.
Impressions of seals. Cretan and Mycenaean. National Museum, Athens

Horse and Rider. Clay. Greek, early 1st millennium
B.C. Attica. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In summar)' we can say that the Cretan

had advanced furthest within the
civiHzation
Aegean complex of cultures before 1500 B.C.
Then about 1400 b.c. Mycenae took the
leadership. Mycenaean culture, however, was
soon to be absorbed into that of the Dorians,
the Indo-European invaders from the north, Horse and Rider. Clay. Cyprus. Louvre.
and for centuries thereafter the figurative arts (_Giraudon photo^
were all but obscured. The tenth and ninth

centuries are often referred to as the Greek Head of a Man. Stone. 7th century B.C. Cyprus.
dark ages. Animals in clay are the best sculp- Fuller Collection, Seattle Art Museum
tures surviving from the period before the
eighth century. At that time the islands nearest
Asia were the most progressive, particularly
Cyprus.
The Cypriote clay figurines are especially
noteworthy. Four statuettes of the Mother
Goddess, or of worshipers, favorite subjects in
Cyprus as in Syria and Mesopotamia, are
illustrated at the bottom of page 88.
From the sixteenth century on, Cypriote
sculpture borrowed freely from the Cretans
and Mycenaeans and also from the Egyptians;
and, late in the eighth century, from the
Assyrians when the country became vassal to
Sargon. In many of the remaining works there
is evidence of diverse influences, including
the Egyptian, the Assyrian and the already
mixed Phoenician styles.
Early in the seventh century Cyprus was

already a part of the Hellenic world, and
there is no clear dividing line from then on
betu'een the native style and the sculptural
THE GREEKS 95
developments that took place on the Greek cultures of Europe and its later incorpora-
mainland or in Ionia. The Head of a Man tion into Romanesque sculpture.
(at Seattle) cannot be exactly dated but it Students of Greek vase-painting recognize
would seem to represent Cypriote sculpture similarities in form between the bronze horses
at the moment when artists arrived at a pleas- and the engaging beasts found on Athenian
ing realism. It should be noted that part of pottery of the eighth century. There is the
the Cypriote stylistic idiom was derived from same tendency to elongate the masses and to
the nature of the limestone or soft sandstone model graceful, rhythmic silhouettes. The
in which the sculptors commonly worked, compositions are most often based on tri-
which permitted fluent cutting and the tool- angles. The depth of the figure from front to
ing of sharp edges, characteristics better il- back is narrowed, and ribbon forms are played
lustrated in the head on page 148. against sudden excrescent cur\'es.
Before the artists achieved this fairly real- It would be an oversimplification of history
istic standard, the geometric st}'le (known in to assume that, after the eclipse of the
art histories as one of the most widely diffused iMinoan and Mycenaean cultures, the Hellenes
of European-Asiatic modes of stylization) had from the north brought in the geometric style;
been in vogue in Cyprus as well as in the but the typical combinations of zigzags, me-
neighboring cultures. In the Cycladic Islands anders, and checks, and of virile geometrized
human figures had been produced in the figures, do seem to have spread with the
geometric style, and Greek potter)^ was often Dorian invaders. The geometric style filled
decorated with highly conventionalized hu- the gap between the Cretan-Mycenaean art of
man forms. Popular subjects in the round
were horses with riders, and in the later
phases of the geometric style animals were the

essential subject-matter for bronzes and for
many painted decorations. Some scholars
plausibly infer a connection with the animal
art of the steppe country, and imposing charts
have been compiled showing the diffusion of
the geometric style within the barbarian
Horses. Bronze. 9th— 7th centuries B.C. Greek,

early and late geometric. Art Museum,
Princeton U7iiversity
Deer and Faivn. Bronze. Greek, geometric period,

9th-7th centuries b.c. Mtiseum of Fine Arts, Boston
the Heroic Age and archaic Greek art— that is,
the oldest recognizably Greek development.
The st)'lization of animals deriving from the
northern countries has no connection with the
more naturalistic approach of the Cretans and
Mycenaeans; eventually the Greeks too be-
came obsessed vdth realism.
The earlymonuments of Hellenic art came
largely from Asian provinces, especially from
Ionia. Certain ivory figurines from Ephesus
are t)'pical of Oriental ideals (if not work-
manship), but are unmistakably related to
the first Greek mainland sculpture.Of this

sort is the bronze figure of a man stand-
ing erect and column-like with arms held
Kouros. Bronze. Greek, 7th-6th centuries b.c.

National Museum, Stockholm
Hera of Samos. Stone. C. 590 b.c. Louvre
.J
THE GREEKS 97
Stiffly to his sides and spread locks widening another century or more and did not become
the neck so that the single-block effect is a common subject until the middle of the
not disturbed. This type of figure was the fourth century.
forerunner of the two commonest kinds of The Hera of Samos, one of the earliest
sculpture practiced in the sixth century: the large monuments of Hellenic sculpture,
kouros or hero-athlete, and the kore or maid- definitely shows Oriental influence. Some
en. The bronze kouros now in Stockholm is scholars attribute the stiff effect to a slavish
one of the finest surviving examples of the copying of prototypes in wood, where the
period. It is noteworthy that while male tree-trunk dictated the mode of carving.
figureswere commonly presented in the nude, However, a change from the former, Oriental
the undraped female figure was not seen for tradition is seen in the arm, which is raised
Kouroi. Stone. 6th century B.C. Tenea; Melos. Glyptothek, Munich; National Museum, Athens.
QAlinari photo')
fl
98 THE GREEKS
to the breast. A further attempt at naturalism
is seen in the treatment of the toes, which are
separately if somewhat awkwardly character-
ized.
By the late seventh century the peoples of
Greece had their own language and literature
and a common but strangely elastic hierarchy
of gods and minor also had
divinities. They
established and athletic festivals
religious
which periodically drew the leaders together.
But the tendency of the Greeks toward the
centralization of their empire was balanced
by a fanatic loyalty to the individual city-
states that collectively formed the Hellenic
nation. Sculpture progressed in much the

same way. While the art followed a common
national ideal, the work of different regions
such as Attica, Ionia, Arcadia, Corinth,
Epirus, and Crete was still recognizable. It
would be wrong, for instance, to overlook the
variations in the kouroi and korai just because
the types had become standardized. Bust of a young man. Stone. Late 6th century
Museum. QAlinari photo}
B.C. Athens. Acropolis
The kouros type of figure, long known
erroneously as the archaic Apollo, had a proto-
Kouros. Stone. Boeotia. Late 6th century b.c.
type in Egyptian sculpture. The body pose, National Museum, Athens. (Âlinari photo}
with hands at sides and left foot slightly ad-
vanced, is so similar to the Egyptian conven-

tion that there can be little doubt that the
Greeks worked from Egyptian models. From
this point on, however, Greek sculpture be-
gan to change quite radically. Despite the set
pose and such schematized details as the treat-
ment and eyes in the two stone

of the hair
figures illustrated, from Tenea and Melos, the
natural rendering of the body definitely shows
new direction.
a step in a
The Greeks began to crystallize a philos-
ophy that made man the measure of all
things. The gods, as revealed in the myths,

were human, and fidelity to the ideal physical
standard soon became the prime test of visual
art. The figures long known as Apollos were

probably hero-statues of youths (generalized
as to features but true to the common athletic
ideal), depicting athletic heroes and probably
used as votive figures.
For some time the anatomy of the
body, though more realistically rendered, re-
THE GREEKS 99
tained a certain schematized symmetrical pat- Probably not since the era of Minos, a thous-
terning. This is seen in the stiffly frontal atti- and years earlier, had a staute on Greek soil
tude and the balancing of such stressed parts as possessed a head that did not face directly
breast muscles, shoulder contours, the outline toward the front.
of the abdomen and kneecaps— all of

of the Few known sculptures of the first half of
which are evident in the example from the sixth century escape the basic rules per-
Tenea. Originally these statues were colored, taining to the kouroi and the korai. The well-
painted or tinted stone sculpture being known seated figures, mostly battered, from
standard throughout Greek history. Branchidae in Greek Asia seem to hold to the
In the latter half of the sixth century, to rigid frontal scheme. But fragments of a
which the latest kouroi are ascribed, a greater Winged Victory from Delos follow this tradi-
understanding of anatomy is evident. Even so, tion only from the waist up; the lower limbs
we still see little deviation from the careful are sculptured in profile to suggest motion.
balancing and stressing of symmetrical parts. The one notable relic that survives in fair
The face too remained a "type," the eyes condition, illustrating a variant type, is the
rather less protruding, perhaps, but the lips
still
less,
fixed in the "archaic" smile.
the third of the illustrated kouroi
Neverthe-
in
Moschofhorus or Calf-Bearer, a votive offer-
ing to Athena. Possibly this was a portrait
of the donor, Rhombos. Stripped to essentials
I
stone,at left, is more natural and believa- and formalized only in certain details— the
ble,more human and active. The statue may man's garment is indicated only by faint
remind us that the Greeks had now estab- lining over the modulations of the body— the
lished the free-standing human figure as whole exhibits an entirely new sculptural
central in the art of sculpture, in accordance mastery.
with their man-centered philosophy, a gain The famous Lions of Delos, which stand
revolutionary and historic, and a gain destined
to be passed on as standard for Rome,
Moschophorus. Stone. Mid-6th century B.C.
Renaissance Italy, and eventually all of Athens. Acropolis Museum. (Âlinari photo')
Europe.
In the battered bust of a young man in the
Acropolis Museum, the stereotype smile per-
sistsbut there is increased freedom in the
modeling of the head. This is slightly turned
—and a very long tradition was thus broken.
100 THE GREEKS
Kore: La Boudeiise. Stone, c. 490 B.C.

Athens. Acropolis Museum.
Kore. Stone. Mid-6th century B.C. Athens. QAlinari photo')
Acropolis Museum. (_Alinari photo')
Sphinx. Stone. Mid-6th century B.C. Athens. Kore. Stone. Mid-6 th century B.C. Athens.
Acropolis Museum. CA^'nari photo) Acropolis Museum
THE GREEKS 101
in a row on a ruined terrace, are somewhat

weathered but remain monumentally impres-
sive nevertheless. These mark a peak of the
archaic style as developed in the Cycladic Isles.
A common tendency among the sixth-cen-

tury sculptors was their failure to differentiate
fully the male from the female figure. The
Calf-Bearer and many of the kouroi have an
almost androgynous air. The waist is nar-
rowed, the hipline rounded. Conversely the
korai, or maidens, often have a masculine
look.
The early korai statues are not as aestheti-
cally satisfying as the kouroi, nor do they
demonstrate so well the transition from rude
convention to realistic statement. Nevertheless
there are finely statuesque figures among the
Athenian "maidens" discovered in the ruins
of the Acropolis. The figure of a maiden in
antique dress is solid and sculptural, except
for the unfortunate way
which the sculptor
in
Head. Stone. Greek. C. 500 b.c.

has broken the figure at the waist. The head
Nelson Gallery—Atkins Museum, Kansas City is particularly accomplished, and the dress
Horse. Stone. C. 500 b.c.

Athens. Acropolis Museutn. QAlincri photo~)
102 THE GREEKS
notably simple for a time when draped folds statues with riders survive, but in the frag-
and painted ornamentation were strongly ex- ment of a Horse shown, from Athens, there is
ploited. a direct statement of the essentials in sculp-

The most majestic of the korai is the ex- tural terms, without undue insistence on ana-
ample known as of the Oriental type. Extreme tomical fidelity. The superb lines of the head,
formalization persists in the treatment of the neck, and back are fixed perfectly, then rein-
hair and drapery, and the rigid pose adds to forced by the simple and effective formaliza-
the air of dignity and reserve. The statue is tion of the mane.
of approximately the date of the preceding In the bronze Charioteer at Delphi, the
piece, but the conventions are less marked, best known of the monumental bronze sculp-
the eyes are inset better, and the full lips tures of the early fifth century, only the main
modify the archaic smile. Another step toward figure survives from a lost group. Some of the
the classic profile is seen in the way in which archaic stiffness is evident here, and the
the slope of the subject's nose follows the rather awkwardly treated drapery nuHifies the
slope of the forehead. character of the body; but the head, set firmly
The pensive maiden, sometimes known as upon the column-like neck, is both simple
La Bondeuse, is shown here (slightly out of and believable.
chronological order) to demonstrate the In this last period before Greece achieved
naturalism for which the Greek sculptors unity after its victories over Persia, the
were striving. The hair and garment are Hellenic settlements were scattered around
hardly less conventionalized than before, but the coasts of the Mediterranean and Aegean
the carving of the face and the ear is closer Seas. At the opening of the fifth century,
to true anatomical form. This is indeed one although Cyprus was already thoroughly
of the great moments in Greek sculpture, Hellenized, the work of her sculptors was so
when stylization still obtains but is controlled distinctive that it could not be mistaken for
by knowledge and the desire to present the that of any other people. Certain archaic con-
natural nobility and dignity of the model. ventions persisted, but the total aspect of the
The same tendencies are illustrated in the sculptured figure or face was becoming more
lovely Head now at Kansas City. lifelike, as in Athens and Olympia. The
The monumental which is so
quality limestone Head of a Priest shown (probably
typical of Egyptian sculpture was never more done a quarter-century before the Charioteer^,
nearly attained in Greek work than in the despite its schematized hair, mustache, and
sixth-century Sphinx shown. It represents a beard, and the unnatural eyes, is graphic and
brief period before the Hellenes became com- factual.
pletely absorbed in their quest for realistic Among the Cypriote pieces there is a type
expression. of head which has achieved fame as represent-
The masterpieces of mid-sixth-century ing the "eternal critic." Readers who know
archaism preceded the Parthenon sculptures the human type can appreciate the skill with
by hardly more than a century. But here is which these sculptors caught in light carica-
a largeness and an animation derived less ture a characteristic mixture of eagerness and
from observed form and movement than from superiority, of and scorn. In the
alertness
a feeling for sculptural masses and the colossal stone Head shown, from the seventh
rhythms of formal creation. century B.C., note how the wide-open mascu-
After Phidias, Greek artists were to prove line brow and beard contrast with the rather
strangely indifferent to animals as subject- precious and feminine mouth.
matter, but in the archaic period they were In Greek relief sculpture the conventions
still proficient in representing the character of the archaic style disappeared sooner than
of the animal model. No complete equestrian thev did in statues that were carved in the
round. One reason was that the rigid rule of
frontality was less logical where figures were
inserted serially on a flat panel. Moreover, re-
lief figureswere particularly suitable for the

depiction of scenes that called for pronounced
action. Almost as early as the action reliefs,
compositions of figures in the round were
placed in the pediments of temples.
There are existing reliefs on pediments that
illustrate every step from the archaic style,
as seen in a famous panel showing Perseus

and the Gorgon (from an early sixth-century
temple at Selinus, a Greek colonial city in
Sicily), to the free action panels showing
Youths at Games on a statue base found at
Athens. Here, despite the archaistic treatment
of the heads, free bodily movement in a wide
variety of poses is achieved, perhaps for the
first time. The athletic ideal which was to
blossom during the next century is already
evident
Head. Stone. 7th century B.C. Colossal. Cyprus.
Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charioteer. Bronze. 470 b.c. Delphi. Head of a Priest. Stone. C. 500 b.c. Cyprus.
Delphi Museum. QAlinari photo} Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Youths at Games, relief. Stone. Attic, c. 510 b.c. National Museum, Athens
(Vhoto by Clarence Kennedy^
Death of Aegisthos, high relief. Stone. Archaic. Argos.

Ny-Carlsherg Glyptothek, Copenhagen
One of the finest of the transitional pieces realism. The relics are part of great decorative
is the panel depicting the Death of Aegisthos, groupings of statues once designed integrally
now at Copenhagen. The relief displays the The figures from the
with the architecture.
major archaic conventions in the treatment of two pediments which formed the gable ends
hair and drapery, but there is a rhythmic, of the temple vary greatly in lifelikeness. In
flowing movement about the whole. This the nineteenth century they were subjected to
work is of the Argive school, which flourished a process of enthusiastic restoration at the
before the one at Athens, where Hagelaidas hands of the neo-classic sculptor Thorwaldsen,
of Argos is reputed to have taught Polyclitus, who added heads, legs, and weapons as he
Phidias,and Myron. thought they would originally have looked.
Another accomplished school was that of The least battered (and least restored) pieces
Aegina, and the sculptures recovered from remain of great interest as examples of
ruins of the temple there are, in fact, the first Greece's progression toward her classic ideal.
to suggest the dawning of the new classic The restorations of the total pediment com-
THE GREEKS 105
positions, though doubtless inaccurate in de-
tails, are instructive as suggestions of the
aspect afforded by monumental temples a
half-century before the building of the
Parthenon.
The Hercules from the Temple of Aegina
and a similar Dying Warrior are important
examples of the new, factual representation.
While hidden restorations have been made,
the sculptors' increased mastery and their
grasp of free action are plainly to be seen.
Many years before, the workers in bronze
had produced the superb Apollo shown at
left. This was excavated as recently as 1959,
at Piraeus, the port of Athens. The figure is
life-size. It is dated by some scholars as early

as 520 B.C. It might fairly be termed the
first monument fully in the Classical Greek
style.
It was about 460 b.c. that architectural

sculpture reached a new height in the decora-
tion of the temple of Zeus at Olympia. The
remains of the pediment groups, which were
destroyed by an earthquake, are unfortunately
Apollo. Bronze. Late 6th century b.c. Attica. more scant than those recovered at Aegina,
National Museutn, Athens but the fragments point toward a culmination
in the pediments and friezes of the Parthenon.
Perhaps the finest of the Olympian figures,
though not the most realistic, is the Apollo.
Hercules. Stone. C. 485 B.C. Temple of Aegina. The strength portrayed here is of more than a
Glyptotheky Munich. QGiraudon photo^ merely physical kind. The head of a river
god, known as Kladeos, is particularly suc-
cessful, and the modeling of the face is even
superior to that in the Apollo.
There were technical advances in relief
sculpture too, particularly in gravestones and

other commemorative stelae. More appealing
than any surviving examples, however, are
the panels of the so-called Liidovisi Throne.
These are obviously of a period when sculp-
tors still found decorative value in the old
conventions, while they strove for more real-

istic means of expression. In the Birth of
Aphrodite the veil-like garments create an

artificial yet most pleasing effect, while the
rounding of the figures produced a feminine
charm not earlier encountered. Three com-
positions, including one not visible in the
106 THE GREEKS
illustration here, were carved on one block Equally accomplished was Myron's Mar-
of marble. syas, which probably formed part of a larger
The athletic ideal came into full flower at composition including the goddess Athena.
about this time, and the Discohohis or Discus- The original work is lost, but if the copy in
Thrower, by the most renowned of early the British Museum is accurate and without
Greek sculptors, Myron, is a pleasing example benefit of later knowledge by the copier,
of the classical figure in action. The original Myron achieved a comprehension of anatomy
Discobolus of Myron, in bronze, does not and an all-around lifelikeness unknown be-
survive, but many Greek and Roman copies fore his time.
exist, all of which are more or less imperfect. The recendy discovered bronze Zeus— or,
The illustration here is the restoration according to some scholars, Poseidon— marks
known as the Castel Porziano copy. The a further gain in exact copying. Interesting
Romans of Nero's time wrote of the Discoho- though the statue is in its own way, the in-
his as a triumph of reproductive art, and this tegrity of the mass has been sacrificed for the
opinion is echoed in schoolbooks to this day. privilege of presenting a detailed imitation of
There are, however, many moderns who agree life and action. The whole conception of the
with Pliny that the artist was overconcerned figure can be considered anatomical rather
with the physical body. than sculptural.
Ludovisi Throne: Birth of Aphrodite. Stone. 5th century B.C.

National Museum, Rome. (Âlinari photo^
\
"^
Apollo, detail. Stone. C. 460 B.C. Temple of Zeus, Olympia. Museum, Olympia. CAlinari photo~)
Kladeos, detail. Stone. Temple of Zeus, Olympia. Museum, Olympia. QAlinari photo')
I
108 THE GREEKS
Zeus. Bronze. C. 460 B.C. National Museum, Athens
Discus-Throiver. Bronze. Copy of original by

Myron. C. 450 B.C. National Museum, Rome. Marsyas. Bronze. Myron.
QAlinari photo^ British Museum
THE GREEKS 109
Gem-cuttino continued to be an outstand- in wax or plaster of Paris, appears as a

ing minor art, as can be seen from these miniature bas-relief sculpture. The examples
typical compositions. During the fifth and illustrated show how the jewel-like imprints
fourth centuries they were often amazingly follow the main lines of Greek sculptural
true to the model. The orioinal was a cutting development, even while possessing the pre-
or engraving on stone, sometimes the stone cision and crispness that are required in a
of a finger-ring. The impression, taken usually miniature.
iJlI^TSU/:
^^^^
Impressions from stone gems. Greek, 8th— 1st centuries b.c.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Metropolitan Museum of Art
1 10 THE GREEKS
Dionysus. Stone. C. 433 b.c. Parthenon, Athens. British Museum
When the free-standing sculptures of Myron desses. These minor divinities are human yet
were being produced, the Parthenon, the godlike, familiar but remote. The triangular
temple Athens dedicated to Athena Par-
at space occupied by Dionysus, and by the Three
thenos, was being adorned with pediment Goddesses as a group, was determined, of
groups and friezes. The completion of this course, by the architectural form of the pedi-
great edifice marked the culmination of heroic ment. The entire composition within the pedi-
architectural sculpture. The subjects, proces- ment was known as The Birth of Athena. Un-
sions and battles long since standardized, fortunately the central standing figures, pre-
varied only in the devotional scenes centering sumably the commanding ones, are lost.
around the lives of the gods. The Athens of The so-called Ilissos, symbolizing a river, is
Pericleshad drawn sculptors from all parts of from a group in the western pediment depict-
Greece. Though Phidias has been named as ing the contest between Athena and Poseidon
the directing genius of the Parthenon, no for the land. It has been possible to recon-
sculpture survives which can be identified for struct the scheme of the western pediment
certain as his. From and a small
descriptions group of figures more plausibly than that of
replica of his colossal statue ofAthena which the ones occupying the eastern pediment, but
stood within the Parthenon, it would seem again the dominating figures have perished.
that it was a pretentious and florid "show- The Ilissos suggests that the genius of the
piece"; in fact, the figure was encrusted with artists was hardly less brilliant in one pedi-
plates of gold and ivory. It was approximately ment than in the other. Certainly the
forty feet in height. Athenian sculptors achieved a richness of
Among the extraordinar)' single figures of design and a show of power in repose un-
the pediments, the Dionysus perhaps repre- equaled in the pediments at Olympia and
sents the highest achievement of Greek genius. Aegina. (The Ilissos is illustrated on page 87.)
There is a similar grandeur in the Three God- One of the few details that have escaped
THE GREEKS 1 1 1
Three Goddesses. Stone. Parthenon, Athens. British Museum
serious damage in the twenty-four centuries the edge of the museum base. It marks per-
since the Parthenon sculptures were Kfted fectly the advance from archaic stylization
into place is the Horse of Selene. At the ex- into the full Classical style. There is a simple
treme right of the eastern pediment, filling grandeur about the piece, which is at once
the angle of the gable, the head rested, with an interpretation and an enlargement of
the muzzle protruding outside and below the nature.
pediment floor much as it now protrudes over The designs in high and low relief are
Horse of Selene. Stone. Parthenon, Athens. British Museum

Metopes. Stone. C. 440 B.C. Parthenon, Athens. British Museum
THE GREEKS 113
only slightly less impressive than the figures artists seeking to comprehend the mystery of
in the round that decorated the pediments. "classical perfection." The low relief mirac-
A series of ninety-two sculptured compositions ulously creates the effect of rounded forms
originally formed the metopes, the panels and of action in space, yet the average depth
between the triglyphs in the Doric frieze. of the figures is only about i Vi inches, and
The surviving examples, carved in very high the highest projection is 2V4 inches.
relief, deal chiefly with contests between the Phidias is the first important name after
Lapiths and the Centaurs. The two panels Myron Greek
in the history of and sculpture,
shown are indicative of the skill of the his figure of Olympia was one of
Zeus at
best sculptors in adapting their designs to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
architectural space. The natural expression It was more than forty feet high, and like
in the faces is greater here than in any earlier his Athena Parthenos it was cased in plates
Greek work. of gold and ivory. In the throne upon which
Originally a frieze 525 feet long decorated the god sat were inlays also of ebony and
the inner porticoes of the Parthenon. As precious stones. Many minor statues were
many as 335 figures are still to be seen, in set into the composition, and there was a
situ or in museums. The subject was the profusion of panels with narrative scenes in
Panathenaic Procession, picturing a group of relief and others with painted scenes. It was
gods and with them the horsemen, marshals, doubtless a wonderful and glittering example
sacrifice-bearers, musicians, maidens, and cit- of bravura sculpture, and to the Greeks it
izens who marched to the temple every fourth was a holy symbol of the Olympian religion.
year during the Panathenaic Festival. The In the nineteenth century classicist scholars,
free action and flowing rhythm of the com- accepting a series of "brilliant conjectures,"
positions reached a new peak, especially in praised Phidias as the greatest of Greek artists
the sculptures of the horsemen. The slab and as creator of the Parthenon marbles.
illustrated has been studied endlessly by They accepted as "in the style of Phidias"
Horsemen. Stone. C. 440 e.g. Frieze of the Parthenon, Athens

the incomparable Dionysus and the Three
Goddesses of the east pediment. In the twenti-
eth century scholars reassessed these judg-
ments, pointing out the fundamental differ-
ences between the monumentally solid

pediment and the two showpieces as
figures
described by ancient writers and as known in
incomplete replicas. It became clear that
Phidias had been a showman and a director
of other artists rather than the foremost genius
of Greek sculpture. He died in disgrace, hav-
ing been accused, according to Plutarch, of in-
serting portraits of himself and Pericles in the
elaborate reliefs on the shield of Athena
Parthenos.
The names of a number of Phidias's con-
temporaries are known, but only two or three
can be connected with surviving works. The
Head of an Athlete (possibly a Roman copy)
is ascribed to Cresilas, who also sculptured
a famous bust of Pericles.The athlete's head
Doryphoros. Stone. Roman copy of original by

Polyclitus. Argive, 450-440 b.c. National
Museum, Naples. QAlinari photo')
Boy Athlete, or Idolino. Bronze.

Roman copy. Argive, c. 440 b.c.
Archaeological Museum, Florence. QAlinari photo')
Head of an Athlete. Stone. Attributed to Cresilas.

440-420 B.C. Metropolitan Museuttt of Art
THE GREEKS 115
illustrates the smooth, harmonious perfection
at which Athenian artists had now arrived.
In it we find the most prized attributes of the
Classical school: idealization, dignity, nobility,
firmness, repose.
Polyclitus reached the athletic ideal in his
Doryphorus, or S-pear-Bearer. The sculptor
wrote a treatise on proportion in art, the
theme being proportion in presenting the
human model rather than in compositional
division or adjustment. Some authorities be-
lieve the Doryphorus to be the statue known
of old as "the Canon," a demonstration piece
by which PolycHtus sought to illustrate the
ideal measurements of head, shoulders, arms,
and legs. Taking the palm of the hand as a
basic measurement, he constructed all his

statues with thighs six palms wide, feet three
palms long, and so on. The head measured
one-seventh of the total height.
The new^ interest in man as a physical
t)'pe is illustrated again in the Boy Athlete,
sometimes known as the Idolino. The face
is handsome, the body slight, rhythmic, and
typical of youth. Pausanias considered that
Polyclitus in his time "had brought the art
of bronze-casting to perfection."
The several figures from a lost pediment
group illustrating the stor)' of Niobe are
Wounded Niobid. Stone. C. 435 B.C.
supposed to have been the work of sculptors
National Museum, Rome. QAnderson photo^
|l
in one of the Asian or Peloponnesian
cities. The Wounded Niohid shows prac-
tically no facial contortion, though she has
an arrow in her back. The dignity of the
figure, its firm modeling, and the rhythm of
Greeks and Amazons Battling. Stone. Arcadian,
the masses, raise it above most of the work c. 420 B.C. Bassae. British Museum
of the period, except for the Parthenon mar-
bles. Especially noticeable is the avoidance
of lineand gesture that would carry the
observer's eye away from the center, a com-
mon fault in the routinely sculptured athletes,
Amazons, and goddesses of the Polyclitan
and later schools.
About this time (after 435 b.c.) there
developed in Arcadia a school largely devoted
to the depiction of violent action. In Greeks
and Amazons Battling on the frieze from a
temple at Bassae near Phigaleia, Arcadia, we
Maiden Untying Her Sandal. Stone. C. 410 b.c. Athens. Acropolis Museum
THE GREEKS 117
see warriors thrown into confusion and horses balustrade of the Temple of Athena Victor
rearing and stumbHng. Even garments are on the Acropolis. The draperies are rhyth-
arranged so that they appear to be blown mically handled, and the way in which the
thisway and that, to increase the impression fabric clings to the curves of the maiden's
of movement. The designing is effective in body brings to mind Aristophanes' famous
the large, and only a lack of subtlety in the lines about the girl who "had had a bath,
actual carving prevents the frieze from taking and wore a transparent little tunic."
its place with the great works. Something of the same lightness, charm,
The Athenian sculptors seldom carved a and liveliness characterizes the Venus Gene-
more graceful and ingratiating figure than the trix, although the work is known to us only
Maiden Untying Her Sandal. This is one through copies. The original statue may have
of the slabs from a frieze that adorned the been the A-phrodite of the Gardens by Al-
camenes. As yet there were few female nudes
in Greek sculpture, but here, certainly, the
underlying graces of the body are more re-
vealed than veiled by the effectively arranged

garments.
As in the Venus Genetrix, so in many of
the reliefs found on gravestones of the period,
the effect the sculptors sought was more
pretty than profound. The example illus-
trated, the gravestone of Hegeso, is perhaps
the best known of its type and a masterpiece
in its particular field.
Venus Genetrix. Stone. Athenian, c. 400 B.C.

National Museum, Rome. (^Brogi photo^
Gravestone of Hegeso. Stone. Athenian,

c. 400 B.C. Keramikos, Athens. QAli7iari photo}
1 1 8 THE GREEKS
According Greek writers, coinage
to the By the early fifth century many cities of
had been invented by the Lydians in the Greece proper and of the Asian, African,
eighth century B.C. Designed and identifiable Sicilian, and Italian colony-states were issuing
disks of electrum, gold, and silver were used coins. Perhaps the most beautiful ancient
for barter instead of cattle, axes, bullion, or Greek designs in the average coin collection
whatever else had previously been used as are the Syracusan examples. Most of these
standard measures of value in different show the head of Arethusa, or Persephone, on
regions. was Croesus of Lydia who
It first the obverse, and on the reverse side the
regularized minting and values. favorite motive of a chariot.
Coins. Silver. Greek, 5th-4th centuries b.c. Bibliothequc Nationale, Paris;

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
THE GREEKS 1 19
It used to be said that the second great dismiss such works as the Hermes with the
period of Greek sculptural art opened with Infant Diot2ys2ts as merely pretty and aflfecting
the appearance of Praxiteles. Generations of would not be fair. The statue of Hermes is
art-lovers who looked for faithful transcrip- typical in its handsome face and substantial
tions of attractive models in graceful poses body. Its soft modulations and pleasing finish
praised the statues of Praxiteles and Lysippus are a great deal more expert than the work
as examples of supreme lithic art. In our own of copiers in later centuries.
time, critics who have reawakened to the The A-phrodite of Cnidos by Praxiteles was
values of primitive art and of expressive one of the outstanding statues of the fourth
rather than representational sculpture have century. The model, reported to have been
to some extent undermined the reputations Phryne, a famousbeauty, was obviously
of the fourth-century Classical masters. But to shapely, and the sculptor has portrayed her
Hermes with Infant Dionysus. Stone. Praxiteles. C. 350 b.c. Museum, Olympia. QAlinari photo')
120 THE GREEKS
prettily and acceptably— although we have be from ancient copies of the Cnidian
only Roman replicas of the statue as evidence. Afhrodite or of other of Praxiteles' female
Ancient writers were eloquent in their praise figures. The Head of a Girl, from a draped
of the original marble composition. Pliny statue, now at Toledo, is typical of the
declared in his Natural History that "the Praxitelean grace, charm, and tenderness; it
finest statue, not only of Praxiteles but of the is characteristic too of the regular-featured
entire world, is the Aphrodite. Many have face with dreamy eyes then fashionable.
traveled to Cnidos just to see it." In the fourth century the sculptor Scopas
Several heads exist which are considered to was among those who opposed the current
Afhrodite of Cnidos. Stone. Attributed to Praxiteles. C. 340 b.c. Louvre

tendency to soften and sentimentalize the
human figure, especially the face. His model-
ing appears to have been vigorous and firm
while that of most of his contemporaries was
weak. Unfortunately the only uncontested
originals of Scopas that survive are fragmen-
tary or in poor condition.
Also of the fourth century was Lysippus,
who has generally been named with Praxiteles
and Scopas as one of the foremost Greek
masters. He tried to perpetuate the natural
idealism of Praxiteles and invented his own
canon of proportion, just as Polyclitus had
done. No surviving works are known to be
from his hand, and the one outstanding
Roman copy, the A-poxyomenos, suffers in
comparison with copies from Praxiteles. The Head of a Girl. Stone. School of Praxiteles.
Late 4th century B.C. Toledo Museum of Art
typically naturalistic figure of Hermes Resting
is commonly attributed to Lysippus, but this
cannot be verified.
Hermes Resting. Bronze. Attributed to Lysippus. 4th century b.c. National Museum, Naples
l|
.
122 THE GREEKS
The relief panels on the so-called sarcoph- been one of the sculptors involved in the
agus of Alexander are characterized by vigor making of these vigorous reliefs, but no
and lively action. Though they may be on specific part of the frieze can be convincingly
the melodramatic side, there is no denying ascribed to him.
that the presentations of Alexander in battle In the fourth century the decline of
against the Persians, and Alexander in a lion monumental sculpture into naturalism was
hunt, are visually exciting. In small repro- matched by the rise of lifelike portraiture.
ductions the composition seems crowded, but The statuette Socrates was not a study from
in reality the figures are well spaced and the life (the philosopher had been put to
rhythmic. death in 399 B.C.) but was a later sculptor's
Among the characteristic reliefs of the version, expressing alertness, inquisitiveness,
mid-fourth century, the most famous was the and kindliness. As sculpture it achieves a
frieze decorating the tomb of Mausolus, ruler sense of controlled organization.
of Caria, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Aristotle had said that the purpose of por-
The panels are superior to the designs on traiture was to represent a man's features,
the Sarcophagus of Alexander (produced "and, without losing the likeness, to render
several decades later) in their simpler com- him handsomer than he is." Alexander the
position and the firmer handling of the in- Great objected to being portrayed realistically
dividual figures. Scopas is believed to have and appointed Lysippus sole imperial por-
Battle Scene. Stone. 4th century b.c. Mausoleum, Halicarnassus. British Museum
So-called sarcophagus of Alexander. Stone. 4th century B.C. Istanbul Miiseuvi
iMptll^piljjiliMîM^y;
W\VîV^nV^)(V<)l^^llV^)IV^)iVîaf)\^îlV*MV^MV?MVtMVti|V'*'IVm'?'IV»'»Vf'lVfMWMWi|V'f'K^'t\f'IVf'n^'l\^'tV^(\?'i\»''\
UtHkUtULULUlULUtUklitULiik
:m;.);.y|y^.Â:;.>>^
. -.^<
THE GREEKS 123
traitist because, according to Plutarch, all
others had "failed to convey his masculine

and leonine look." Lysippus made many busts
of Alexander, picturing him as a heroic con-
queror rather than a plausible individual.
The bust here is probably a copy of one of
them. This sort of heavy idealization ran
parallel with the realistic Hellenistic sculp-
ture. Comparison with the bust of Pericles
by Cresilas may suggest that little progress
had been made in the intervening years.
The fourth century was also notable for
the charming terra-cotta statuetttes generally
known as Tanagra figurines. The name indi-
cates the provenance of the first large finds
in modern times and also one of the impor-
tant sites of manufacture. Less well known
are the Alyrina figurines made by the artisans
Socrates. Stone. Roman copy.

After 350 b.c. British Museum
Alexander. Stone. Lysippus. 4th century B.C.

Capitoline Museum, Rome. QAlinari photo^
Pericles. Stone. Cresilas. 5th century B.C.

British Museum
1 24 THE GREEKS
of Myrina in Asia Minor. In addition, there Woman, are typical of the many hundreds to
were schools of sculptors devoted to the be seen in the world's museums.

miniature clay compositions in Smyrna, in The sculptors of Myrina were more am-
Rhodes, and, in a smaller way, in many bitious, and they often returned to the gods
cities, including Athens and the Greek com- and legends for their subjects. Four excep-
munities in Italy. tional little statuettes from Myrina and other
Terra-cotta statuettes had been common provincial centers are illustrated. The Crouch-
from earliest times, but in the fourth century ing Eros and the Ve^ms Rising from the Sea,
the sculptors abandoned the subjects that had at the Royal Ontario Museum, are examples
been popular earlier— notably the gods— and which combine exquisite sensibility with a
specialized in intimate portraits of women, superior feeling for plastic rhythm. The
girls, and eccentric characters. Women, grace- Horseman, at the Louvre, is another excep-
fully dressed, conversing, walking, reclining, tional piece.
dancing, were the commonest and the most After the conquests of Alexander, when
successfully treated subjects. Many of the vast territories outside Greece were Hellenized
figures are attractive and engaging, and all and leadership slipped from Athens and the
are illuminating as social documents. The original Greek territories, eccentric portraits,
examples shown. Dancing Girl and Standing caricatures, and occasionally pornographic
Dancing Girl; Standing Woman. Clay. Hellenistic. Tanagra.

Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; Louvre. QGiraudon photo^
THE GREEKS 125
genre compositions became a "leading line" tures, and the Comic Actor, a Boeotian piece,
among the statuette-makers. At Smyrna es- is extraordinarily alive and expressive.
also
pecially, the artisans delighted in oddities and The two caricature heads, which might be
exaggeration. Favorite subjects were Eros, tided "Loud-Mouth" and "Thick-Head," are
old people, actors, slaves, and the like; and typical of the combined alert observation,
there was an extraordinary run of miniature satirical intention, and intuitive feeling for
caricature heads. The bent Slave (the bundle the medium that went into the artisans'
now lost from his back) gains sculpturally equipment. They are from a large collection
from the clever exaggeration of natural fea- of caricature heads at the Louvre.
Caricature heads. Clay. Hellenistic.

Smyrna. Louvre. (Tel photo')
Slave. Clay. Hellenistic. Comic Actor. Clay. Hellenistic.
Smyrna. Louvre Boeotia. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Venus Rising from the Sea; Crouching Eros; Horseman; Cupbearer. Clay. Hellenistic. Tanagra; Myrina.
Royal Ontario Museum; Louvre. QAlinari photo^
126 THE GREEKS
Whatever Greek sculpture may have lost least generalized and it is possible to feel
in the later centuries, dignity remained to the that the statue stands for generic woman
very end. One of the grander monuments rather than a naked model. The head is better
after the Hellenistic dispersion is the majestic preserved than most ancient examples and
and spirited Victory of Samothrace or Winged shows the persistence of the ideal classic face.
Victory, in the Louvre, which for many ob- During the latter and more degenerate
servers still ranks among the greatest statues phases of Greek culture, one of the largest
in the world. monuments of architecture and sculpture, the
Almost the only equestrian monument sur- Altar of Pergamon, was erected in Asia Minor.
viving from late Greek times is the imposing This had an enormous frieze on which the
group of horses surmounting the porch of battle between the gods and the giants was
St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Once an pictured in high relief. The work here is too
adornment of a Roman arch in Byzantium, vigorous and melodramatic to be counted
the Horses of St. Mark's were for long con- among the masterpieces of sculpture, but it
sidered to be of Roman origin, but their is important as 'marking the culmination of a

provenance is now generally accepted as tendency to which it gave the name "the
Grecian. Whatever their date, there is a Pergamene style." This style had already
breath of grandeur and monumentality about begun to form in the days of Scopas. Tech-
them. nically it is distinguished by a special boldness
What remained of Greek originality and of handling, with vigorous ridging and under-
freshness in the Hellenistic era went into cutting.
the devoted re-creation of human beauty. No The method is nowhere better illustrated
god was so glorified as Aphrodite, and in the than in the portrait of Homer. The strength
artists' hands she became a very womanly and verve here are tj'pical of the handling of
woman. Some of the most famous life-size a series of t)'peportraits of famous poets,
nude figures are shown on pages 128 and philosophers, and statesmen, which do not
129. One can realize what study and loving pretend to be personal portraits but rather
care went into the conception and carving crystallizations of the popular idea of Homer,
of the Cyrenian Afhrodite and the Syracusan Socrates, or Epicurus. Paradoxically they are
Aphrodite. Insofar as sculpture is a repro- conventionalized in the Pergamene manner
ductive art, and observation of and feeling for yet remain naturalistic in the sculptor's obser-
natural beauty a source, these are examples vation and intention. Even the head of
of high accomplishment. Anytos, an extreme example of the Pergamene
In this realistic sculpture the comeliness type of carving, with turbulent modeling, has
of the model counts for a great deal. Some a lifelike aspect.
observers find the Capitoline Venus (and the The Dying Gladiator, so well known
similar Venus de Medici^ less attractive be- through replicas, is another example of this
cause the clean-cut, athletic ideal seems to style. The head is not especially noteworthy,
have given place to a preference for amplitude but the anatomical truthfulness, together with
and softness. These were among the univer- the sentimental subject-matter, has made the
sally admired statues only a few decades ago. work famous. This was the Dacian "butchered
The A'pollo Belvedere has similarly fallen to make a Roman holiday," whom Byron
in popularity, on account of the fem- wrote about in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
inine head and the almost painfully natural- The Capitoline example is a copy of the
istic treatment of the body. bronze original from the Pergamene Acropolis.
The A'phrodite of Melos, or Venus de Milo, Recent authorities prefer the name Dying
is a refreshing figure after a century or more Gaid and reject the gladiatorial inference.
of facsimile realism. Here womanhood is at Athens was not without sculptors to vie
Victory of Samothrace.
Stone. Rhodian, c. 250 B.C.
Louvre. (^Roget-V toilet photo^
T 'J*
<#
Syracusan Aphrodite. Stone. 3rd century

w
Cyrenian Aphrodite, detail. Stone. 3rd century
B.C. Syracuse Museum. QAlinari photo^ B.C. National Museum, Rome. QAnderson photo^
Horses of St. Mark's. Bronze. 4th century B.C. San Marco Cathedral, Venice. (Âlinari photo")
.__..
THE GREEKS 1 29
Yenus de Medici. Stone. Hellenistic. Aphrodite of Melos, detail. Stone. C. 150 B.C.
Ufjizi Gallery, Florence. QBrogi photo^ Louvre. (Jciorillo photo')
Homer. Stone. Greco-Roman. The Titan Anytos. Stone. 2nd century B.C.
British Miisentn National Museum, Athens
Laocoon. Stone. Rhodian, 1st century b.c. Vatican Museum
The Dying Gladiator. Stone, after bronze original.

Pergamene, 2nd century B.C. Capitoline Musemn, Rome
a
THE GREEKS 131
with those of the Pergamene and Rhodian
Schools. As seen in the work of Glycon, who
carved The Farnese Hercules, the Hellenistic
Athenian style was hardly less forced than
that practiced in the provincial schools.
Although Glycon is credited with the Her-
cules, it is sometimes considered to be
after an model by Lysippus.
earlier
After Greece succumbed politically to the
Roman armies, Greek restraint in matters of
art also came under pressure from the Ro-
mans, and the style that evolved became

known as Greco-Roman. The artists, however,
were still Greeks.
We see the degeneration of vigor into
physical violenceand even sculptural anarchy
in the Laocoon, a group of figures by the
Rhodian sculptors Agesander, Polydorus, and
Athenodorus. The work would hardly be
worth reproducing, had it not precipitated
one of the most protracted debates in the
later histor)' of aesthetics, a debate revolving
around the question of emotion's place in art,
and especially around the humbug of the
pathetic appeal. The Laocoon was extensively
restored after its discover^' in 1506 in Rome,
and a new restoration or "correction" was
initiated in i960.
As often happens at the end of a long
period of decline, the artists of Greece made
a final effort to upgrade their sculpture by
returning to older masters for their inspiration.
They copied the surface virtues of the sculp-
ture of the fourth century and even ventured
into the territory of fifth-century archaism.
Occasionally they managed to achieve the old
grace and naturalness, but the creative fire
had long since burned out.

Five hundred years after the carving of
the archaic korai and kouroi, the story of
Greek sculpture came to an end with graceful
but weak and conventional work. The West-
em world was waiting for a new impetus
in art. There was an air of expectancy, as if
i /.e i.w,.^,^ iLi^.ii^'. .Munc. Glycon. Athenian,
1stcentury B.C. National Museum, Naples. heralding the birth of Christ.
QAnderson photo^
6: Etruscan and Roman Sculpture
I N Augustan Rome there was a vogue for twentieth century did English-speaking peo-
Etruscan literature and for Etruscan bronze ple begin to appreciate Etruscan art, the
sculpture.While the Imperial Romans rev- Victorians having dismissed the Etruscans
erenced Greek art, they recognized that an as "rude sculptors" who attempted unsuccess-
antecedent native art had existed and that fully to imitate the Greek style.
this had served as a foundation for their The range of Etruscan sculpture is re-
own artistic achievement. Especially admired markable. As well as the primitive, simple
were the statues brought to Rome from the work, realistic pieces existed at an early date.
conquered mid-Italian cities. Later, and over The most interesting examples to the twen-
long periods, Etruscan art was forgotten. tieth-century eye are the spirited and frankly
During the eighteenth century the sculpture unnatural statuettes of warriors, maidens,
was rediscovered and Italian and German and votive and the magnificent
figures,
scholars contributed to the literature about it. bronzes of animals which might well have
However, only after the beginning of the been inspired by Scythian art. There are not
She-Wolf or CapitoUne Wolf. Bronze. Etruscan, early 5th century b.c.

Museo dei Conservatori, Rojne. C^îf^^fi photo')
ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN SCULPTURE 133
only stylistic resemblances but exactly re- down into Tuscany from the north. Then
peated idioms. the Etruscans— presumably invading by sea-
At one time Roman art was universally overcame the "native" people, probably in the
considered a reflection of Greek art (accom- tenth or ninth century B.C. The flowering of
plished on Roman soil by imported or captured Etruscan art occurred from the seventh cen-
Greeks), and the outstanding achievements tury to the late fifth century. By the mid-fourth
of Roman sculptural artistry, in portraiture century Greek influence and Roman pressure
and in decorative relief-cutting, were re- modified the native Etruscan style, although
garded as extensions of the Greek or classic superb manufactures in bronze were still pro-
style. duced. There followed the indeterminate
If one can judge by the sculpture exhumed Etrusco-Roman period, and even after the
at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other sites, Romans became masters of a vast empire that
what counted most to the art-loving Roman included all of Etruria, certain typical Etruscan
of the Empire was Greek statuary of the minor arts were fostered by the emperors.
realistic Hellenistic period— especially god- Roman history can be divided roughly as:
desses, nymphs, and legendary heroes— and I. Period of consolidation and expansion,
the late terra-cotta figurines of Tanagra, from the earliest settlement in Latium,
Myrina, and Rhodes. The conquering Roman perhaps as early as looo B.C., through the
armies brought back to their capital city period of the city-states and local kings to
marvels of Greek sculptural achievement. the expulsion of the last Etruscan king of
From Delphi alone Emperor Nero is re-
the Rome in about 509 B.C. 2. Republican period,
ported to have carried away five hundred 509 B.C. to 27 B.C. 3. Imperial period, from
statues. The Etruscan sculptors, who were the Augustan age through the great era of
already proficient at portraiture, possibly were conquest and building to the death of Marcus
then influenced by Hellenistic naturalism. Aurelius in a.d. 180. 4. Degeneration and
What Rome is best known for artistically break-up of the empire, ending with the final
are the immense structures decorated with occupation by the barbarians in a.d. 476. Be-
bas-reliefs, and also, toward the end of its fore that date the Byzantine style had been
great era, the impressive carved tombs— and born in Eastern Christendom, destined to
always the portraits. In portraiture there were sweep all but the last vestiges of the Roman
occasional variations in the form of full- style from large areas of Europe.
length figures and equestrian statues.

A wealth of human interest is to be found
in the faithful imaging of emperors, generals,
senators, actors, courtesans, and wives as they
appeared to the uninhibited portraitists of
the time. In the Augustan era, which was
the age of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Livy,
realism in sculpture reached a peak. The
quantity of sculpture produced by and for
the Romans would seem to have exceeded
that known to any other Western civilization.
A few historical guideposts may help one
to appreciate the work illustrated in this
chapter. First there was a pre-Etruscan period, Kouros. Bronze.
Etruscan, 7th-6th
from which sculptural fragments are rare.
centuries B.C.
These are artifacts of the Villanovans, Bronze Metropolitan
Age Indo-Germanic people who had pushed Museum of Art
II
MANY are in
of the early Etruscan bronzes
an attenuated idiom, as illus-
of the
at the
development of the Greek kouroi, and
main Hellenic centers of the art there
trated here in the bronze Warriors. There are was hardly an example to be compared
figures of priestesses and gods (or athletes) be- artistically with a host of Etruscan "Apollos,"
longing to the same period, similarly stylized, athletes, and female worshipers.
thinned and rhythmic. Some seventh-century Despite the tendency to depart from nature
bronzes, and a few figures in the native huc- and render the total figure rhythmically and
chero or black-clay ware, seem closer to the decoratively, in an Oriental manner, the
Phoenician or the Greek style. If the examples Etruscans soon began a course of individ-
shown in the museums are not misdated by the ualized representation. This was at a time
authorities, sculpture in Etruria was more when Greek sculpture was still concerned
subtle and expressive than that in Greece with type faces and standardized figures.
at the time. This was at the very beginning The clav Woman illustrated, from the British
Portrait figures on a sarcophagus. Clay. Early 6th century B.C.

Cerveteri. Villa Giulia, Rome. QAiidersati photo^
Museum, is patently an individual portrait.

It is one of a series in clay inwhich the
features, the contours, and the expression
vary widely.
The Etruscans could, however, yield to a
vogue and meet foreign rivals on their own
ground. The kouros figure finds treatment
with all its limitations recognizably if liberally
observed, as many bronze and the athletes
so-called A'pollo of Veii in clay witness. Even
the "archaic smile," which conditioned Greek
representation of the human face for a con-
siderable period longer, appeared in the prod-
ucts of Etruscan studios.
The portraits on the lids of sarcophagi
yielded temporarily to the vogue, as in the
double-portrait arrangement on the sarcoph-
agus from Cerveteri. The intent of personal
identification is plain, despite the smile and
a likeness in the two faces arising out of a
Woman. Clay. C. 600 b.c.

Warriors. Bronze. Etruscan. 7th century B.C. British Museum. QFrom Etruscan Sculpture,
University Museum, Philadelphia; courtesy Phaidon Press, London^
MetropoUtaji Museum of Art
136 ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN SCULPTURE
conventional method. The statues on coffin
slabs, in likeness of the man entombed, or
the man and his wife, are among the com-
monest and most distinctive relics from pre-
Roman Italy. The portraits became pro-
gressively more realistic, until that pitch of
exact delineation was attained which led on
to Roman portraiture of the Republican era.
Many of the sarcophagus groups are "light,"
even satiric, in general aspect. Authorities
used to teach that Etruscan art was funereal
and somber, but it is possible that these
people, like the Egyptians, enjoyed planning
and contemplating their charming tombs.
The so-called A-pollo of Veii, in terra cotta,
is related to Greek work of the time, more
obviously than is any other important statue.
The treatment of the hair, the brows, the eyes,

and the smiling lips is clearly Hellenic, and
the treatment of the draperies closely parallels
that seen in the korai of about 500 B.C. But
there is unusual boldness in the thrust and
stride of the figure, and the face is lifelike
and individual.
The Worshiper in bronze, probably of
earlier date, is a marvel of sculptural expres-
sionism, distorted anatomically for both dec- Votive Figure. Bronze. Etruscan, 7th-6th
orative purpose and increase of meaning. A centuries b.c. University Museum, Philadelphia
twentieth-century Lehmbruck could hardly

have slenderized and manipulated a body
with happier sculptural effect. The face is Head of a Warrior. Stone. Etruscan, 6th century
B.C. Archaeological Museum, Florence.
not a variation of a type but is the artist's
QBrogi photo^
interpretation of an individual. Though the
idiom or mannerism of thinning the figure
persisted through four centuries, one of the
surprising- things about Etruscan bronzes is
the wide variation of types and methods.

Vigor and animation distinguished Etrus-
can sculpture, and in the animal pieces these
qualities attained perfection. Some of the
smaller bronze figures, which appear as dec-
orative accessories on vases, carriages, and
furniture, suggest a relationship to the spirited
animal sculpture of the Scyths. The two early
pieces shown here, probably eighth-century,
are somewhat characteristic of the "steppe art."
In the Chimera at Florence the animal's
strength has been expressed in a frankly
Apollo of Veil. Clay. Late 6th century B.C.
Villa Giulia, Rome. QAlinari photo}
Warrior. Bronze. Late 6th century b.c.

Louvre. QGiraudon photo')
Worshiper. Bronze. 6th century B.C.

Villa Giulia,Rome. (Fro?H Etruscan Sculpture,
courtesy Phaidon Press, London')
wj;^:k
Pantheress. Bronze. Etrusco-Roman. Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Washington
Chimera. Bronze. 5th century b.c. Arezzo. Archaeological Museum, Florence. QAlinari photo')
decorative creation. It is the Scythian formula
brought to a new refinement. Other animal
as the head terminating
forms are added, such
the chimera's and the ibex head and
tail,
neck stemming unaccountably from the ani-

mal's back.
The Pantheress, described by some au-
thorities as Etrusco-Roman, exhibits the
typical litheness and verve hardly known
in the later Roman product. Again ornamen-
tation is superimposed, on the throat.
The She-Wolf, sometimes known as the
Cafitoline Wolf and famous as a symbol of
the founding of Rome, is another example of
superb with both decorative and
limning
realistic Nothing could be truer to
intent.
wolfish nature, to strength and alertness. The
ornamental treatment of the fur, in arbitrarily
chosen areas only, indicates that the intention

is non-naturalistic. The presence of Romulus
and Remus in the statue today distracts at-
tention from the animal and destroys sculp-
tural unity. The child figures were added at
the time of the Renaissance. (The illustration
is on page 132.)
The Etruscan workers in bronze sometimes
achieved an equal elegance and suavity in
sculpturing the human figure. The bronze
Hercules body is clean-cut, smoothed, even
satiny, while the characteristic contrast is
Hercules or Warrior. Bronze. Early 5th century gained by ornamental enrichment of the scant
B.C. Nelsoti Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City draperies and texturing of hair and beard.
Bull, aquamanile; wheeled censer. Bronze. 8th— 7th centuries b.c. Tarquinia Museum. (Ânderson photo')
Like the Chinese, the Etruscans frequently to form a handle, or two wrestlers formed a
combined reliefs and free-standing figures to loop; a satyr and a nymph stood with arms
embellish metal vessels. The legs, clasps, and locked, ortwo warriors carried a mate cross-
handles were adapted from objective nature, was used to vary the
wise. Great inventiveness
and pictorial scenes in relief either circled the formula, and the technique of the casting
vessel, as here, or filled four side panels. The and finishing was extraordinarily refined.
elaborate composition on top of the cist is a Such figures are found on incense-burners,
device often encountered. candelabra, mirrors, and other small furniture,
Scores of statuettes in our museums once as well as on vessels.
adorned the lids of urns. The more usual There was a special division of Etruscan
subjects were acrobats, or satyrs and nymphs, sculpture in terra cotta in which naturalism
or warriors: a single acrobat arched his body was pursued for its own sake. Some oversize
Bronze cist with relief of Amazons in battle. Vatican Museum
H^H^^^^/^^^M
^^P^^^^^H
Etruscan Dining. Portrait on sarcophagus cover. 3rd century b.c.
Archaeological Museum, Florence. QBrogi photo')
^80^ ^^H
r- \v^
'
.« . jAfl
tion for the rich pictorial reliefs in which

Roman sculptors were to make their second
most distinctive contribution to sculpture.
After Greek influence had been assimilated

in the Etrurian cities, local sculptors created
panels and even temple friezes in which each
figure was obviously studied from life. They
reached a degree of truthfulness unsurpassed
even by the melodramatic works at Hali-
carnassus and Pergamon. The relief design
in the scene of warriors on a stone sarcopha-
gus at Boston is simple and stylized. The
cutting suffers somewhat from crudeness, but
the sculptural effect carries well to a distance.
This was preparatory to the famous Warriors'
Dance of the Roman collection at the Vatican
Museum.
During the fourth century Etruria began
to lose important cities and territories to the
Romans; but as the art of the vanquished

merged into the art of the victors, Etruscans
became the most accomplished of Roman
Head of a Woman. Clay. 3rd century b.c. artists. There were, too, increasing waves of
Civic Museum, Chiusi. QTrom Etruscan Sculpture, influence from Greece, so that the fine work-
courtesy Phaidoti Press, London')
manship ceased to be identified nationally.
The brilliant Head of a Horse at Florence
warriors, with every detail of dress and ac- would seem to be in direct line from the
couterment meticulously shown, are notable. Chimera and the Pantheress illustrated previ-
But the more engaging examples are the por- ously. Elsewhere the styles are so mixed that
trait slabs adorning sarcophagi and cinerary while one scholar credits the piece to the
urns. The deceased was usually shown reclin- Greeks, another gives it to the Etruscans.
ing, often as if dining in the Roman manner. The Head of an Athlete in the British
The faces were minutely representational and Museum is another masterpiece, dated by
cruelly candid. experts as late as 200 b.c. In its firmness and
The Head of a Woman at Chiusi is a strik- its clean-cut, subtly formalized expression it
ing example of the progress of portraiture. It could hardly be mistaken as Hellenic. The
suggests modeling from life and shows psy- modeling is vigorous but restrained. Every
chological understanding, recalling the Egyp- edge is clearly, even forcefully marked, yet
tian realism of the sculpture at El Amarna in the details comprise a whole that is massive
the time of Akhenaton. and sculpturally compelling.
Even when the portrait on the cover is The life-size bronze portrait of Aule Meteli,
naturalistic, the sarcophagus or urn is likely known as the Orator or the Arringatore, is a
to bear examples of more standard decorative fitting final example of Etruscan invention,
or formalized sculpture in the relief panels on because it leads directly into the following
the sides of the casket. Etruscan portraiture Roman developments. Again the portraiture is
led into the literal and precise sculptural por- exact and uncompromising. Neither decora-
traiture of the Romans, and the relief panels tive nor rhythmic intention is important com-
of the Etruscans partly afforded the inspira- pared with presentation of an image true to
every wrinkle, hair, and mole of the original.
The apotheosis of this naturalistic method ap-
pears in the illustrations on pages 144 and
145. Perhaps the excellent forthright portrait,
The Actor C. Norhamis Sorix, is the best

surviving example of a transitional type, in
which sculptural nobility is discernible, along
with painstaking fidelity.
The t)'pical Roman portrait soon lost the

Etruscan characteristics, except the lifelike-
ness, as in the marble portrait bust at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated,
which would seem to be marvelously exact,

but hard and cruel. Henceforward there is
only a determination to present the individ-
ual as he is, neither improved (in the Greek
manner) nor at any point falsified for fancied
aesthetic requirements.
The Roman gallery is the most telling
men of an
record of the era as they outwardly
looked, stripped of dignity, pride, and inner
light. The aim was to reveal character,
artists'
not in the noble sense, by portraying essential
Head of a Horse. Bronze. Etruscan. humanity or divinity, but by imaging the

Archaeological Museum, Florence. QBrogi photo") individuals with their defenses down. As
Relief on a stone sarcophagus. 3rd century b.c. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Sarcophagus. Stone. Tarquinia Museum. Ânderson photo)

Orator. Bronze. 3rd or 2nd century B.C. Head of an Athlete. Bronze. Etruscan,
Archaeological Museim2, Florence. QBrogi photo') c. 200 B.C. British Museum
The Actor C. Norhanus Sorix.

Bronze. Etrusco-Roman, 1st century Portrait bust. Marble. Roman, 1st
B.C. National Museum, Naples. QAlinari photo) century B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art
n
often as not, evidences of physical degenera-
tion are added to those of decadent character,
as seen in the clay portrait bust in the Boston
Museum,
The rather battered first-century B.C. stone
head in the Metropolitan Museum might be
entitled "The Pugilist," so brutal is the im-
pression. The head in the British Museum is
of a less menacing subject, and the workman-
ship is notable for the subtle, flowing model-
ing, although the material is hardest marble.
The portrait bust of Seneca is of a different
sort. It follows closely the late Greek or
Greco-Roman style known as Pergamene,
with rough exaggeration of the features and a
vigorous, sketchy technique. Lifelikeness,
however, is not sacrificed.
Sometimes historical interest is added in the
bust of a man who was a military genius or
despot. In general the rulers and emperors of
Rome were shown more sympathetically, with
some softening if not idealization. This is true
of the head reputed to be that of Julius
Portrait busts. Stone. 1st century B.C.

Metropolitan Museum of Art; British Museum
.X\
'/
Portrait bust. Clay. Roman.

Seneca. Stone. 1st century a.d. Vffizi Gallery, Florence. QBrogi photo')
Supposed bust of Julius Caesar. Stone. Pompey. Stone. Natiotial Museujii, Naples.
Louvre. QGiraudon photo) (Ânderson photo)
146 ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN SCULPTU
Caesar w hich is illustrated, and of the bust of
Pompey. By the time of Augustus the sculp-

tors, possibly Greek, frankly improved upon
nature.
The famous full-length figure of Augustus
in the Vatican is a showpiece, enriched with
excellent mythological and historical scenes
in relief upon the breastplate, and with a
Cupid riding a dolphin at the emperor's feet.
It is the best full-length figure in the whole
range of Roman effort, appropriately opulent
and imperial, though lacking in sculptural
integrity. The most interesting part of it is
shown in the illustration, from which some
disturbing elements— the outstretched orator-
ical arm, the lance, the wooden, overlabored
draperies, and the Cupid— have been sheared.

Of the studies of children, one of the most
appealing is the portrait A Youthful Roman.
Mastery of child portraiture followed long
after that of reproduction of the adult face
and figure. As we know from ancient and
medieval art, the child was often limned as a
small man. So rare are realistic children in
classical sculpture that many standard books
on the subject yield no more than an occa-
sional Cupid or a bevy of babes used decora-
tively. Here, however, the artist has realized
Augustus, detail. Bronze. C. 20 B.C.
the special anatomical character of the youth- Vatican Museum. QAnderson photo^
ful head.
In the symbolic statue The Nile, the chil- A Youthful Roman. Stone. Barracco
dren (there are sixteen of them, representing Museum, Rome. CAUnari photo')
the cubits of the river's annual rise) are among
the best. There some question as to whether
is
the statue may be Greek rather than Roman.

The Nero on a horse is one of the curi-
osities of Roman sculpture. The masses have
been related with some competence; there is
even a certain nobility in the stance of the

horse. But the whose intention was
sculptor,
some of the requirements of
realistic, failed in
correct reporting. Other equestrian statues,

notably a marble one portraying Lucius Cor-
nelius Balbus and a bronze one of the
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, suffer from the
same fault. The animals are out of drawing.
The compositional relationship of horse and
rider has not been solved.
Nero, equestrian statue. Bronze. 1st century a.d. Pompeii.
National Museum, Naples. C^rogi photo~)
The Nile. Stone. Greco-Roman. Vatican Museum. QAnderson photo')

The tradition of naturalistic delineation naturalism in treatment of eyes, eyebrows,
continues long after the Augustan age. The beard, and draperies has ended in a rather
portrait of L. Caecilius Jucundus, a banker, unnatural fuzzy and plushy effect. This is a
belongs to the reign of Nero, in the second link with a type of over-ornate bust which
half of the first century of the Christian era. later became popular. As contrast, an admi-
It is a prime example of camera exactitude, rable bronze head of an African, provincial

a mercilessly candid image of the man. Roman or possibly provincial Greek, of the
In the portrait of a lady in the Museo third century B.C. is illustrated. It suggests
Chiaramonti, of about the same time, the affinity with the Etruscan style and points to
self-assuredness of the subject has been ad- the truth that plastically the earlier works
mirably caught. Certainly no attempt is made were the best of Roman sculpture.
to hide the signs of advancing age, the pro- The Romans seldom excelled in animal
tuberant eyes and the sagging cheek muscles. The Young Deer found at Hercu-
sculpture.
In the bust of Marcus Aurelius, attempted laneum is a lone piece, hardly approached in
Portrait of a lady. Stone. 1st century a.d. Museo Chiaramonti, J\ome.

QFrom Roman Portraits, courtesy Phaidou Press, London^
L. Caecilius Juciindiis. Bronze. 1st century a.d. National Miiseinn, Naples. QBrogi photo')
Bust of Marcus Aurelius. Bronze. 2nd century a.d. Head of an African. Bronze.
Private Collection. QGiraudon photo) 3rd century B.C. British Museum
attractiveness by any similar statue from feature not previously notable in sculpture.
Roman hands. Experts have surmised that it A reversion to simple, rhythmic composi-
is a copy of a Greek original. It is a fair tion is to be seen in the Warriors' Dance, in
deduction, if the work is of the early fifth the Vatican Museum, where the effect is
centur)' B.C. Otherwise it could be accepted gained by a related series of isolated figures,
as Etrusco-Roman. creating strong shadows, against an unbroken

The Romans achieved mastery of relief background. This panel, however, is ascribed
picturing in stone, which they extended into by some historians to a period two or three
the field of free decorative carving. Their centuries earlier, and may, indeed, be
inheritance from the Greeks,
was double: Etrusco-Roman.
whose grave monuments especially had been The love of the Romans for landscape is
in the bas-relief mode; and from the Etrus- evident again and again in their bas-relief
cans, who had embellished stone sarcophagi sculpture. There is a sentimental note in the
and bronze urns with lively and striking treatment of the Peasant Taking a Cow to
compositions. The panel here, Air, Earth, and Market, and considerable skill in the realistic
Water, an ingratiating if superficial master- shaping of the foreground group. But the
piece, is from the famous Ara Pacis or Altar all-inclusiveness of the picture is disconcert-
of Peace, commemorative monument
a ing. The shrine and statue on the ledge at
erected by Augustus about 13-9 b.c. Inner the top, the circular building at the center,
and outer walls were sheathed with sculp- opened to show a pillar with offerings to
tured slabs. The three admirably placed fe- Diana, the tree growing incongruously
male figures symbolize Air, the fecund through an archway at right, the basket
Earth, and Water. Without calling into play carriedby the peasant, and the rabbit on a
the principles of mechanical perspective, the pole-end— this might not tax a painter's
sculptor achieved a sense of objects receding power of integration, but the burden all but
in space and thus added an illusionary breaks the sculptor's back.
Youtig Deer. Bronze.

1st century a.d. Hcrculancum.
National Museum, Naples.
(Ândersoyi photo^
Air, Earth, and Water. Stone. C. 13-9 B.C. Ara Pacis, Rome. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Warriors' Dance, high relief. Stone. Vatican Museum. C Anderson photo^
Peasant Taking Cow to Market. C. a.d. 50. Glyptothek, Munich

In the wave of building and decoration picturing is said to be in the "continuous"
that increased consistently during the reign style. Trajan himself appears 70 times in the
of Trajan, sculpture became grander and 650 feet of picturing.
more opulent than e\'er before. Typical of The triumphal arch was another type of
the period is Trajan's Column in the Trajan monument frequently erected by the Romans
Forum in Rome, constructed between a.d. io6 to commemorate personages and events. Some
and 113. Around a stone shaft 11 feet in of the structures survive in more or less
diameter, rising 100 feet in the air, sculptors ruined condition, as in Rome, in Benevento,
carved a pictorial record of the emperor's and in Orange in France, and sculptural
military expeditions against the Dacians. The panels from others are preserved in the
armies in preparation, the river crossings, the museums. The sculptors worked in high re-
fortified towns, the victorious battles, the lief and aspired to effects of pictorial depth
pacified were all shown in vivid if

land formerly considered beyond sculptural at-
overcrowded and generally undistinguished attainment. The panels from a destroyed Arch
reliefs, flowing spirally round and round the of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, now in the
column. The monument was copied often in Capitoline Museum, are thoroughly char-
later times but never surpassed. Because each acteristic. The foreground figures appear al-
of the 155 episodes flows into the next, the most in the round, heads on hidden bodies
Preparation for War with the Dacians. Stone. C. a.d. 113.

Base of Trajan's Column, Rome. QAlinari photo")
mwm
suggesting depth, and the background is Museum. The low-relief tracery flows into
made to appear as were at a considerable
if it high relief and into the round sculpture of
distance. the winged animals. In other examples cer-
As well as this rather wooden, if ambitious tain standard motives, including cornucopias
style, graceful designing in very low relief and symbolic females and winged beasts,
continued. It is reflected in the exquisite re- carry the style into a mixture of methods
liefs on Arretine pottery (which was now in and to a distressing decadence.
a decline artistically, after a history dating The most distinctive and masterly work in
back to ICO B.C.). Sculptors attained their late Roman sculpture is the sarcophagus
most unequivocal success in ornamental adorned with pictorial relief panels. Exam-
panels, instituting floral wall decoration and ples survive illustrating the transition from
decoration for furniture, destined to be revived pagan to Christian symbolism and purpose.
with enthusiasm at the time of the Renais- The compositions carry on the st)'listic tra-
sance and even at the beginning of the dition of the high-relief panels of the com-
twentieth century. The transformation of memorative arches (while recalling, of
garlands, and sprays of common
wreaths, course, the Etruscan sarcophagi). It was from
flowers into exquisite all-over patterns was study of these Roman reliefs that the Italian
superbly accomplished. Middle Ages and dawn-

sculptors of the late
The use to which this decorative style is ing Renaissance were to draw inspiration for
put is almost sumptuous in such compositions their pulpit panels, as seen especially in the
as the stone table support in the Metropolitan work of the Pisanos. The two panels first
Reliefs from Arch of Marcus Aurelius. Stone. C. a.d. 130. Capitoline Museum, Rome. C^rogi -photo^
A-
Table support with reliefs. Stone. Metropolitan Museum of Art
shown, in the MetropoHtan Museum of Art, in general low, for their production became
both illustrating the story of Endymion and commercialized. Boxes were put on sale with
Selene, are of the continuous-composition the sculptural decorations completed; only a
type- figure on the top slab, usually a portrait of
The friezelike panels usually appeared on the owner, was left unfinished to the day of
the two sides of the coffin, and smaller, more sale. Nevertheless there were many reliefs
formalized reliefs upon the ends. Often the beautifully designed and competently carved.
edges of the slab forming the coffin lid were The coming of Christianity marked a
adorned with a second frieze, in smaller change from secular and pagan mythological
scale, adding to the sense of rich elaboration. subjects (such as the Circus Races illustrated,
Sometimes curved ends permitted a continu- with Cupids acting as horsemen and as
ous relief around the whole coffin, as seen in charioteers) to Christian themes. At first
the second illustration. Roman mythology was drawn upon for epi-
To intensify sculptural values, the sha- sodes that might suggest the immortality of
dows were deepened. The sarcophagi show- the soul or the resurrection. Then Christian
ing a Bacchanalian scene and the story of motives and scenes from the Gospels were
Orestes illustrate the contrast of low-relief openly introduced. As soon as Christian wor-
and high-relief methods. ship was legalized, depiction of Christ and
Elaboration could hardly go further than the Apostles became common, as well as the
in the panel depicting Romans and Barbar- Judeo-Christian figures of the Old Testa-
ians Battling, on a sarcophagus in the Na- ment. The sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, of
tional Museum, Rome. the niched type, includes scenes such as
There are hundreds of the carved stone Adam and Eve, Daniel in the Lions' Den,
coffins in the museums, and the standard is and Christ hefore Pilate.
Endymion, panel on sarcophagus. Stone. 2nd century a.d.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund
ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN SC ULPTURE 15 5
Sarcophagus with Endyuiion story. Stone. C. a.d. 200. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund
Sarcophagus with Bacchanalian scene. Stone. National Museum, Naples. QBrogi photo")
Sarcophagus with story of Orestes. Stone. Latcran Museum, Rome. QAlinari photo)
Romans and Barbarians Battling. Stone. National Museum, Rome. CBrogi photo)
S^s£^Êfc-r
Circus Races with Cupids. Stone. Vatican Museum. (Ânderson 'photo')
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. Stone, a.d. 359. Vatican Grvttocs, Pio>iie. C Anderson photo)
Feats of Hercules. Stone. Borghese Museum, Rome. (_Anderson photo)

pm
^Kh^
^^^^
Bk>i;^|^^^|
T^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
The
figures,
niched type commonly shows
seven scenes on each side, or
separated by classical columns.
five or
five or
seven
The
^^R^jr^-^ ^ BHfP4^\j^^^^^^^^H many: tree trunks and foliage
variations are
^^ÊH ^wgLî
^^^^^^^^^^^Hll^&u ^
^^^^^^k&iS Fv'^
twfr^ ^ î^^^^^^^^^^^H
o^^^^^^H
for columns and arches; Apostles and saints
where Roman gods or the seasons used to be;
^^^^^^^P^^ vj»"
« austere single figures or detailed group
^^^^^^^^Pîiyn i5E\
^^^^^^^^^^H i\^H|
BJr y \
i^^^^l scenes; and frequent efForts to break up the
KkpX
KLîV too mechanical niche effect
an arm or a drapery-end across a column.
by the thrust of
A
^^^K||l tWcp curious fact is that in a time when Roman
y^ portraiture had degenerated, so that there is
tl 1 T^-^j^^l^^^ hardly a competent bust extant of any of the
IC^ ^/m x^^-^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1

emperors from
Great,
Commodus
the heads and figures in
to Constantine the
the relief
compositions are often natural and believable
^B^-^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
1 Tl as well as sculpturally sound.
^^-
The shepherd cowherd carrying a lamb
or
1 If
or a calf on was not a new
his shoulders
figure in classical art. But when the Chris-
tians were being persecuted by official Rome,
in the days of the catacombs and the casting
of martyrs into the arenas, an old, recog-
Ik^^^^Î^^^^^h nized subject could be repeated with new
significance for the persecuted followers of
m\ I^H Christ. The Good Shepherd became

ard figure in was generally interpreted
art. It
rather woodenly, as in the famous statue-

famous for sentimental reasons— illustrated.
a stand-
h*.^'"
-,, A characteristic setting of the symbolic figure
T/ze Good Shepherd. Stone. 3rd century

_^| a.d.
into a richly sculptured panel
in the sarcophagus Vintage Scene,
ple of third-century Roman
is illustrated
an exam-
decorative work
Lateran Museum, Rome.
almost Oriental in its opulence.
Vintage Scene with the Good Shepherds, panel from sarcophagus. Stone.
Lateran Museum, Rome. (Ânderson photo')
1
The removal of the capital of the Christian tural practice of the Western Christian realm
Roman state to Constantinople in a.d. 330 were a pronounced rounding of all forms
was a turning point and presaged the con- and the return to design with separate fig-
verging of East and West. How much ures against bare backgrounds. One might
longer Roman art remained intrinsically choose contrasted coffin panels that exhibit
Roman is debatable. On stylistic grounds one the difference between the late Roman and
might mark as Roman those last story-telling the dawning Byzantine But the ivory
style.
monuments in which classic naturalism and plaque showing the Ascension and the
extravagant grouping of figures persisted. Women at the Totnh is even more eloquent
When a recognizably Byzantine style of the new ideal. Its serenity of design and
emerged— that is, an Oriental Christian style harmonious grace, and the distinctive Byzan-
—marks that distinguished it from the sculp- tine rounding of the figures, mark it as post-
The Ascension and Women at the Tomb. Ivory. 4th or 5th century a.d.
Bavarian National Museum, Munich. (^Giraudoti photo^
Story of Jonah, panel from sarcophagus. Stone. Latcran Museum, Rome. CAUnari photo}
Roman A new way of art was dis-
in style. lief. Endless ingenuity was exhibited by the
placing the Roman, even before Rome itself Roman cameo-cuttcrs to obtain natural illus-
succumbed to the assaults of Northern Bar- trational effects. The Gemma Angnstae, show-
barians. ing Augustus enthroned with Roma among
Cameo-cutting was a minor sculptural art attendant gods and mortals, over a scene of
that reached its apogee among the Romans. soldiers and is the most famous elab-
captives,
The cameo is a gem cut in agate, sardonyx, orate example. But many art-lovers prefer the
or other layered stone in such a way that a sharper-cut, more decorative designs, such as
composition stands out in one color on a the neat Venus Bathing, in the Bibliotheque
background of another— commonly white on Nationale in Paris, because they escape the
some reddish hue. Unlike the seals of the compositional laxness and the naturalistic ap-
ancient world, which were engraved in in- peal which, here and elsewhere, vitiate so
taglio, the designs on cameos, whether myth- much of the general run of Roman art prod-
ological, genre, or portrait, were cut in re- ucts.
Cameo. Stone. Roman. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, (fiiraudon photo')
Cameo. Stone. Roman. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. QGiraudon photo)

7:The Opulent Sculpture of Persia;
The Legacy to Islam
IF there is such a thing as a characteristic clay, is a product of cultures outside the main
Oriental style in art, ancient Persia was at historical path of Persian civilization. The
the heart of it. The large sculptural monu- peoples or tribes were similarly Aryan but
ments that survive in Iran are not many, nor they were of Outer Iran as distinguished
are they all in the full current of Oriental- from the Inner Iran of the vast Iranian pla-
ism. There is at times obvious borrowing of teau. The peripheral cultures included those
method from the Babylonian, with evidences of Luristan, several in Azerbaijan, one known
of a naturalism that has affinities with the as Caspian (in the present-day territory of
West. It was rather some types of sculp-
in Mazanderan), and an Eastern phase centered
ture in lesser size and marked by Eastern at Asterabad. During the 1960s an Amlash or
formalism and richness that the early artists Marlik Culture was identified, though some
working on Iranian soil achieved supremacy. authorities sought to classify it as part of
Their sculpture, mostly in bronze and the Caspian. Of all the bodies of sculpture
Crouching Panther. Silver. Parthian. 3rd-2nd century B.C.

Museum of Art, Princeton University. (Enlarged)
THE OPULENT SCULPTURE OF PERSIA 161
Horse. Bridle bit. Bronze. Luristan.

Frankliti Mott Giinther Collection, Washington. QFhoto courtesy Iranian Institute, New York^
from the outer states, however, that of Luri- palaces and gateways of honor and sculptured
stan is the largest and most distinctive. murals worthy of conquerors and reminiscent
As yet no calendar of the Luristan achieve- of the glories of Babylon and Nineveh. At
ment has been worked out on archaeological Susa and Persepolis they built palaces to
evidence. No individual piece can be placed, rival those Nebuchadnezzar and Assur-
of
except provisionally, but it may be assumed banipal and called in artists and craftsmen
that the earliest typical works were produced from near and far. Achaemenid sculpture
before looo b.c. and that production con- varied from friezes showing Babylonian in-
tinued down to the fifth century^ B.C. and fluence, to small animals in metal in the
sporadically, no doubt, later. It is remarkable Outer Iran tradition, and fully Orientahzed
that a highland people known to the jewel-like trinkets. (See illustrations on pages
"civilized" Assyrians and Babylonians of the 172-73O
era as rude provincial horse-traders should The empire's process of disintegration con-
have created such sensitive and refined tinued for over two hundred years. Persian
products. art was not much changed by the conquest
was the Achaemenian kings (Cyrus the
It 323-330 B.C., but
of Alexander the Great in
Great, Darius, and Xerxes) who, despite the Greek grace and Greek realism sometimes
barriers to unification of the countrv, brought crossed with Oriental elements to produce
together all the Persian and Median lands hybrid forms, as witnessed in Gandhara (in
into one national entity and expanded the Afghanistan and India) at a later time.
empire to include Mesopotamia and Armenia, After Alexander's death the Seleucids
Asia Minor and Macedonia
parts of Greece, (named after Seleucus, one of the Greek
and Thrace, Eg)'pt and Libya, and a seg- generals) consolidated Persia and its eastern
ment of India. It was the greatest empire territories so that the empire stretched from
known to history in 500 B.C., but it had no the Aegean to the Indus. After a period of
cohesive force and certainly no single style rule by the Parthians, who were eastern
of art. Iranians, in 224 a.d. the Sassanian kings,
The far-traveled emperors commissioned the true Persians, brought back earlier tra-
A
162 THE OPULENT SCULPTURE OF PERSIA
ditions and inspired a new flowering of the Though the last great invasion of Persia,
arts. The peak of Persian sculpture was that of the Mongols in the thirteenth cen-
reached in the four centuries of the Sas- tury, brought in a new art of painting, it
sanian period. Sculptural compositions had little effect upon sculpture. By the end
ranged in size from cliff carvings to coins of the fourteenth century the sculpture of the
and jewelry. Persian influence in the arts Islamic nations began to deteriorate, and
extended to all the civilized countries of from the eighteenth to the twentieth cen-
Asia and Europe. turies its eclipse was complete.
Islamic sculpture was
a development of The following reference list is offered as a
the Persian and extended, with slight vari- fairly accurate guide, although it is sometimes
ation, into India and Egypt, but was re- impossible to determine exactly in what year a
created as purest Persian in Iraq and Arabia king took over the majority of the Persian
and in Spain in the west and Turkistan in states.
the east. The Moslem restriction against the 550-330 B.C. Achaemenid Dynasty
use of figures contributed to hght arabesque- 323-250 B.C. Seleucid Dynasty
and wood, though
like art in metal, stucco, 250 B.c.-A.D. 226 Parthian Rule
animals and flower motives, as well as some 226-641 Sassanian Dynasty
human figures, appeared in the compositions. 641-1037 Early Islamic
Mohammedans introduced the written word, 1037-1194 Seljuk Dynasty
and stucco or stone panels were overlaid with (and successors)
calligraphy. The beautiful Arabic script was 1256-1501 Mongol Dynasties
inset in bands of tile ornament circling 1499-1736 Safavid Djoiasty
rooms, and was interwoven with the relief 1736-1786 Afghan and other rule
ornamentation on bronze ewers, silver plat- 1794-1925 Kajar Dynasty
ters, and wooden sarcophagi. 1925 to date Pahlevi Dynasty
Tribute-Bearers, detail. Stone. Palace of Darius I, Persepolis.

QCourtesy Oriental Institute, Chicago^
<• v; -
^rP '->;,' -,>' "J^v -J >y -^jU "^jj-- -,.> \r,'\ -<iv -oiy "-ij^ '^xP 'h{r '^,if 'J ] tufpC S/ff -t^j.,--
4VI
u.
''ti(kfv"'
II
THE tration
Standing Stag shown in the
is attributed some indeter-
to
illus- in heraldic fashion. The grace,
elegance of the Luristan bronzes were to be
vigor, and
minate date in the second millennium b.c attributes of Persian art through the follow-
and is one of the earliest known bronze pieces ing twelve centuries. The
subjects may have
from Outer Iran. It represents one of the been almost wholly symbolic or religious;
several cultures found in Luristan, Azerbai- each represented an animal related to an
jan, and the area along the south coast of astral deity, whether a lion, a goat, or a
the Caspian Sea. horse. The exclusively talismanic pieces were
In Luristan, later, the most famous of the less common than usable objects such as
outer cultures developed. Animals were the bridle bits and harness rings, axes and
usual subjects, with every line and feature knives, vases and personal ornaments. Ap-
of the beast noted and recorded. Though con- parently a certain reverence attached to
ventionalized, movement was intensified. In everything pertaining to the horse, and axes
many examples a strict symmetry was main- and vases had divine significance. The first
tained, with animals confronting each other four examples are finials.
Center: Standing Stag. Bronze. 2nd millennium B.C. Pusht-I-Kuh Mountains, Persia.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. Khalil Rabenou, 1959
Left and right: Finials. Bronze. 1000-800 B.C. Luristan.
Tyler Collection QGiraudon photo^; City Art Museum, St. Louis
Confronted Animals. Finials. Bronze. 1000-800 B.C. Luristan. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
It is not the symbolic or magic signifi- a flight from fantasy to the best sort of
cance, or the notable functional fitness, how- reahsm. The Lurs might have been surpass-
ever, that attracts the attention of art-lovers ing realists in art (as were the sculptors of
more than twenty-five centuries later, but the Assyrian reliefs in the same era) if their
the inherent beauty of the designs. As if to culture had been a scientific or materialistic
prove that their success proceeded from no one, for there is ample evidence of camera-
trick of elegant attenuation, the Lurs pro- like observation and a sound knowledge of
ceeded from slender conventionalization to anatomy.
sturdy, even heavy effects, as in the bronze The bronze vase with ibexes as handles
Horse illustrated on page i6i. has something of the delicacy and richness
Practically all known Luristan sculpture which were to characterize Persian pottery
has been dug from graves, and plaques for twenty centuries later. The spouted clay
horse bits, in pairs, are among the commonest pitcher is of a culture centered in northern
grave-finds. Horses were buried with human Persia, of about looo b.c. The bronze spouted
beings. Today zoologists are able to identify libation ewer is patently a lineal descendant,
the breeds of horse from the characteristics sculpturally refined. Whether there was in-
conveyed in the plaques. tent to suggest bird form in the pieces is
Yet more remarkable is the range of questionable. A series of such products could
sculptural effects. The stags, lions, and be assembled to prove that the basic elegance,
ibexes were often given wings, but others the feeling for a rich but simple refinement
remained true to outward nature. From the of forms, was a gift of the mountain peoples,
Winged Rams on the bridle bit opposite to and that, when the empire was formed, the
the meticulously documented Rams below is Persian style emerged with characteristics
Winged Rams. Bridle bit. Bronze. C. 1000 b.c. Luristan. Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Vase with ibexes as handles. Bronze. Luristan.

Rams. Bit plaques. Bronze. Luristan, AI. and R. Stora Collection.
University Museiun, Philadelphia ^Courtesy Iranian Institute, New York')
Spouted libation ewer. Bronze. Luristan. Spouted pitcher. Clay. C. 1000 B.C. Sialk, Persia.
^Courtesy Iranian Institute, New York') Museum of Science, Buffalo
BESflMU];U^^^^
nnuiu ^,
{^^
oifiuaa^
Above: Pins; below: pinhead; right: finial.

Bronze. Luristan. Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston; Metropolitan Museum of Art
native to Iran rather than borrowed from the feeling for the abstract values of proportion,
artists of Mesopotamia, as some scholars had silhouette, and balance in the design of axes.
previously believed. Perhaps more ceremonial than utilitarian, the
Animal motives were predominant in per- bronze ax heads have notable rhythmic flow.
sonal ornament, on vases and mirrors, on For pulsing surge of line, they are unsur-
tools and weapons. Necklaces were closed passed; and there is a wealth of counterplay
with animal clasps, bracelets were plain or in edgings and patterned bits and, occasion-
braided bands endino o in matched animal allv, superimposed animal forms.

heads, and pins often had animals as terminal The beauty of the Luristan miniature lion,
ornaments. Note especially how well fitted goat, or unicorn is formal, aesthetically real-
the natural object is to its placing, in relation ized, rather than lifelike. The Camel shown,
to the actual pin, and how completely which looks quite unlike the graceful and
stylized. The awls, too, are examples of the elegant products of the Lurs, is from the ad-
object designed to function, then embellished joining province of Azerbaijan, and is from
by a talismanic decorative animal. There are a different (though still Persian) culture. Its
rare exceptions when human beings (or fixed expression of disdain can be seen on
gods) have been represented, just as an oc- the head of any present-day camel. No less
casional Luristan stone relief or clay figure decorative but even more "distorted," and
has turned up among the ver\' numerous indeed a superb example of expressionistic
metal finds. design, is the Leafing Lion of the Warburg
As among the Scythians— and other primi- Collection.
tive Asian peoples— the Lurs had a special
Ax head with lion. Bronze. Luristan. Pins. Bronze. Luristan.

(^Courtesy Iranian Institute^ University Museum, Philadelphia
Left: Pin. Bronze. Caucasus.
Museum of Science, Buffalo.
Center: Ibex. Harness ring. Bronze.
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Right: Camel. Bronze. Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Rogers Fund
Bull's Head. Bronze.

C. 1200 B.C. Azerbaijan.
Collection Mrs. Otto Kahn.
(^Courtesy Iranian Institute^
Leaping Lion. Bronze. C. 1000 B.C. Luristan.

Collection Mr. and Mrs. E. M. M. Warburg
The Bull's Head from Azerbaijan, of about
1 200 B.C., has the elegant simplification
which later marked the best Persian sculp-
ture. Again animals predominated as subjects,
and there were pieces with close affinity to

the Luristan bronzes. Others have no dis-
coverable prototypes and are labeled by
archaeologists merely "pre-Achaemenid Per-
sian." The Prancing Unicorn is representative
of a heavier decorative type. A second Bull's
Head, in the Cleveland IMuseum, illustrates
interesting variations from the one just
shown. It is a little less refined but still is
marked by bullish character and plastic vigor.
The province of Azerbaijan also yielded
the rare copper head of a bearded man,
which, like the bronze Bidl's Head from the
same area, might be a link in the true
Persian tradition, of the indeterminate pre-
Achaemenid period. It is lifelike but non-
naturalistic, giving us the individual man
within a conventionalized sculptural concep-
tion. A limestone head, probably from the
early Achaemenid period, now at Brussels,
is nearer to the true Persian tj'pe. Orientally
formalized (as in the patterned beard), and
escaping the influence of Chaldea and Baby-
lon, which was to intrude at the very mo-
ment when Persia's political power was at its
greatest.
Head. Copper. Before 1000 B.C. Azerbaijan.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund
On facing page:
Prancing Unicorn. Head. Stone. Achaemenid. Adolphe Stoclet
C. 1000 B.C. Kuh-I-Dasht. Collection, Brussels. QCourtesy Iranian Institute')
Museum of Science, Buffalo
Bull's Head. Bronze. Persian,

pre-Achaemenid, 6th century B.C.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Great parts of the stone mural reliefs of brick, and here Persian rhythmic feeling and
the palace of Darius at Persepolis still sur\dve luxurious Persian ornament prevailed.
and are typically Persian, but the glazed- In the sculptured capitals of the palace of
brick relief figures of the palace at Susa re- Artaxerxes II, at Susa also, the Babylonian
verted to Mesopotamian models. In the latter models were forgotten, and work of essen-
the technique of neo-Babylon was taken over tially Persian beauty was revealed. The main
by the Persian and only a little of
builders, forms, of bull or unicorn, are monumentally
the t)'pical Iranian formalization was added. preserved, the parts are disposed with sculp-
The animals are spirited and decorative, but tural compactness, and the detail enhances
there is a Babylonian shallowness. The the rich effect without appearing obvious.
frieze of the Spearmen at Susa, without sub- They have the special Persian elegance to be
ject-precedent in Babylon, is also in glazed seen in the refined architectural columns.
Tribute-Bearers, relief. Stone. Palace of Darius I, Persepolis. Courtesy Oriental Institute, Chicago
j':sWk/;..»iv
:i 1 k-iî
Capital with bulls. Stone. 521-485 B.C. Palace of Artaxcrxcs, Susa. Louvre. QAlinari photo')
Spearmen. Glazed brick. Achaemenid. Palace of Darius I, Susa. Louvre. (Giraudon photo)
The same slender, rounded elegance is improved the type. But these "set pieces" are
found, without the luxurious note, in the not important artistically in the history of
stone friezes at Persepolis, which are of sculpture, though illustrated widely because
slightly earlier date, about 500 B.C. They of their imposing size. Almost any piece from
show Darius the Great, attended by his son the mural series, such as the Ahiira Mazda
Xerxes, giving audience to a petitioner and in the Fogg Museum, tells more of the sculp-
tribute-bearers. They appear as murals flank- tural competence and reticent taste of the
ing a great stairway of the palace. As sculp- Persian craftsmen. In the murals at Persepolis
ture and as architectural embellishment they the single figures of tribute-bearers, even of
are more dignified and architectonic than the camel or horse or goat, have a character suit-
Mesopotamian murals from which they dis- able to the stone, a sculptural dignity.
tantly derive. (See pages 162 and 170.) The set of golden appliques, supposed to
On the platform above, the Persians set be Scythian in origin, nevertheless seems to
a gateway or doorway of honor, derived from fit perfectly within the characteristic Achae-
the winged-animal or sphinx gateways of the menid art-craftsmanship. They were part of
Assyrians (who had taken the idiom in turn a hoard of two hundred and five gold orna-
from the Hittites); and aside from such ments found together, some figurative and
changes as substituting an Aryan for the some not, all supposed to have decorated a
Semitic head, the Persians formalized and single garment. The stamped animal figures
are less fantastically treated, less distorted
than is usual in the products of the Scyths,
Ahiira Mazda, relief. Stone. Achaemenid.
and may have been designed in Scythian
Persepolis. Fogg Museum of Art
Appliques. Gold. Scytho-Persian, Achaemenid.

Kuban Region, U.S.S.R.
workshops for Persian taste. The golden Impressions of seals. Assyrian Qtop^; Persian,
Achaemenid. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore;
armlet from the Treasure of the Oxus, one
Bibliotheque Natiotiale, Paris; British Museum;
of two sun'iving as a pair, is a rich ornamental Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
entity even without the colored enamels
once embedded upon its surface. It is an
indication that the vigor and originality
of the Indo-European or Iranian line con-

tinued uncurtailed in the Achaemenid
period, with only an added luxurious
refinement.
In so small a craft as seal-making, the
achievement is repeated. The Persian seals
have a wider range of subject, though obvi-
ously deriving in part from the Mesopo-
tamian. The st)'lization is oftener graceful
and fluent, with clear outlines against plain
backgrounds.
In the Seleucid and Parthian periods, fol-
lowing the Achaemenid, there was growing

influence from outside cultures, especially the
Greek, after 330 B.C. Nevertheless examples
of small sculpture exist that continued the
traditional vitalit)', as illustrated in the
Crotiching Panther, enlarged to show its
character, shown at the beginning of this

chapter, on page 160.
Armlet. Gold with depressions for inlays.

Achaemenid. From Treasure of the Oxus.
Victoria and Albert Musentn
The glazed-clay head in the Metropolitan The famous rock-cut tombs of the kings,
Museum of Art was actually a waterspout some celebrating the defeat of Roman em-
or gargoyle. The glaze has all but disap- perors and generals by the Persians, are im-
peared, but the earthenware color beneath is posing and quite ornamental for the narrative
pleasing and the total effect singularly sculp- type of sculpture. Though somewhat deriva-
tural. The creative composition indicates the tive they are not naturalistic, and in the fin-
master)' to which the Persian artists had at- est examples— as at Naksh-I-Rustum and
tained just before the great period known Taq-I-Bustan— the rhythmic repetition of
as Sassanian. forms and enrichment of patterning were
The silver plate with Amazons Hunting t)'pically Oriental. But cliff art was unsuited
Lions, of the Parthian period and probably to the Persian genius and is better seen in
from Asia Minor, is a more

composition India or China.
Greek
decoratively disposed than traditional The small sculptures, especially the surviv-
design would have made it, with a more ing figured silver dishes, were lavishly orna-
rhythmic treatment of the animals than any mental and sensuously full. The method
found among the Greeks. Note the sprit of is not far different from that of the Scythians
the lions and of the horse's head, in relation and the Lurs, and it indicates a direct line
to the Sassanian silver plates immediately of descent through Achaemenid and Parthian
following. But the lightness of touch and a silver. But the Sassanians added a wealth of
breath of naturalism in detail are Hellenic. figures, an abundance of patterning, and a
Throughout the Near East at this time there variation of surface appeal fitting to art at
was a confusion of the elements which even- the world's most sumptuous court. It is
tually formed the Byzantine st)de. aristocratic, regal sculpture at its best. For
some art-lovers it may seem ostentatious, but
there can be no doubt that the Sassanian

Head, downspout. Clay, glazed. Parthian.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, craftsmen here touched a high mark of
gift of Walter Haiiser, 1956 relievo. Comparatively restrained is the
graceful bronze ewer shown, with an ab-
stract all-over design on the vessel itself and
a sinuous, undecorated feline animal at-
tached as handle.
The extraordinarily spirited design of the
silver wine bowl with an eagle at the center
is t)'pically Iranian, but the emphatic narra-

tive treatment and the melodramatic poses
indicate late Greek influence.
Ewer. Bronze.
Sassanian.
6th century a.d.
Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Fletcher Fund
Amazons Hunting Lions. Silver, repousse. Shapur U Hunting Lions. Silver dish.
Parthian. Asia Minor. Sassanian. Hermitage, Leningrad.
Brummer Collection, New York ^Courtesy Iranian Institute, New York')
Shapur II Hunting. Silver dish. Sassanian. Wine bowl. Silver, repousse,

Collection of Mrs. Cora Timken Burnett. partly gilded. Seleucid. Bactria.
^Courtesy Iraniati Institute) Freer Gallery of Art, Washington
Horse. Bronze. Sassanian. Arabia. Dumharton Oaks Collection, Washmgton
The monumental Horse in bronze, char- make small figures of animals, such as the
acteristically Persian but of a less extravagant Lion shown. There are beautiful little
phase, comes from Arabia of the Sassanian sculptural compositions, too, in the coins,
Period, a reminder that Persian art had con- rings, medals, and seals of Sassanian times.
quered great parts of Asia beyond the borders The decorative gold medal in the Freer
of the Iranian plateau. A second example of Collection, Washington, marvelously illus-
Persian-Arabian craftsmanship is the small trates Bahram Gur hunting with a falcon.
bronze Bull, identified by authorities as Sabean A completely contrasting style of posteresque
—from Sabea, the biblical Sheba. (Recently the decoration occurs in the coin showing a lion
Horse has been relabeled "late Roman" by some and a peacock on obverse and reverse. The
scholars, despite its Oriental style marks.) decorative script here adds to the ornamental
Although from the seventh century on- fullness. In the abstract ornament of gold on
ward Persian accomplishment is oftener steel some of the possibilities of nonobjective
known as Islamic art, there are some minor design are realized. The beauty of Persian
manifestations— seals, coins, the crafts neces- calligraphy as seen in later manuscripts is
sary to dress, and miniature metal sculptures proverbial. The lovely writing is embedded,
—that seem to belong to the Persian com- too, in the floriation of engraved bronze
munity rather than to Islam. Technically, ewers and jugs, and even in the elaborate
figurative art was henceforward forbidden in fields of ornament on carved wooden doors
Moslem communities; but many Persians and screens.
took the prohibition lightly and continued to Finally, there was a great deal of stucco
Bull. Bronze. Sabean, 6th century B.C.

South Arabia. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Horse; Lion; coins; ornaments. Silver; bronze;

gold; other metals. Private Collection;
Ackerman-Pope Collection; Freer Gallery
of Art. QCoiirtesy Iranian Institute)
Hunting Scene; Boars,

panels in relief.
Stucco. Sassanian.
Philadelphia
Museum of Art
sculpture to embellish houses and palaces,
and profuse stucco decoration spread later
to all Mohammedan lands and can be seen
today in Granada and Cairo, Samarkand and

Agra. The arabesque was considered a dis-
tinctive creation of Arabian-Islamic crafts-
men, although foreshadowed in Sassanian

compositions. Abstract ornamentalism un-
folded in lacelike profusion, in flatly sculp-
tured panels or in tracery over the whole

architectural composition.
When the Moslems revert to figurative art,

it is likely to be reminiscent of Sassanian
craftsmanship. The repetition of motives,
geometrical yet with variation, as seen in the
Hunting Scene and Boars, and the weaving
of main outlines and repeated details into
an all-over effect, were echoed in all Moham-
medan lands from the seventh to the
Sculptured frieze. Stone. 4th-7th centuries.
twelfth century. Thus t)'pical Persian sculp- Omayyad Palace, Mshatta, Syria.
ture continued as Islamic sculpture in Asia, State Museum, Berlin
Africa, and a fringe of Europe.

The peak of Mohammedan building and
sculpture occurred in the thirteenth and
Mihrab of Oljeitu, Friday Mosque, Isfahan.
fourteenth centuries. The mural reliefs of Stucco. 1310. (Photo by Arthur Upham Pope)
that golden age were unrivaled in decorative
opulence and almost incredibly profuse on
the inner walls of mosques and palaces. The
.m
stone or stucco reliefs vibrate with life, as in
the Mihrab wall at Hamadan. Both the love-
liness and the "lightness" of this t)'pe of
sculptural design are here supremely illus-
trated. The absence of figuring is in ac-
cordance with the Mohammedan command-

ments; but if no animals or plant-forms ap-
pear, there ample suggestion of them, es-
is
pecially where the modeling is most vigorous.

Indeed, despite the prohibition, the spirit of
Scythian, Luristan, and Sassanian sculpture

was revived in Persia and in all Moham-
medan lands. One might put side by side
the latest of Sassanian wall plaques and the
earliest of Luristan heraldically balanced
animals to indicate the two prime sources of
Islamic wall decoration, the one typical of
the over-all ornamentalism, the other illus-
trating the virility of the main motive.

In the sculptured frieze at Mshatta the
Detail of the Mihrab, Alaviyan, Hamadan, Persia. Late 12th century.

(_Photo by Arthur Uphatn Pope, Iranian Institute^
familiar animals, still rhythmic and formal- the walls, and the light foliation traced over
surrounded by areas of lacelike orna-
ized, are every structural member, are more trulv Is-
ment. Authorities differ as to the probable lamic. In Spain the style is called Moorish.
date, and some scholars insist on classing the Even when the prohibition of imaging
Omavvad Palace as Byzantine rather than was no longer observed except by the most
Islamic. It was perhaps a product of Christian puritanical followers of the Prophet, the
craftsmen working under Moslem rulers. human was seldom depicted. Animals,
figure
In Moslem-ruled Spain the abstract sculp- as so often in the Near East, were the prime
tural decoration spread over great areas of inspiration. Ewers, jugs, and incense-burners
courtyard wall and inner partition, especially were designed as birds or beasts, free or even
at the Alhambra, built in the thirteenth and fantastic in detail, and pierced, abridged, or
fourteenth centuries. In the Court of Lions hollowed for functional purposes.
here, the fountain's lions (imported from old In Venice, the Treasury of St. Mark's owns
Persia, the scholars say) and their geometrical the Persian silver casket with conventional
disposition are Oriental, as is their unrealistic refoiisse designs in panels on top and sides,
appearance. But the carved screens set into but set on a base showing a continuous com-
Court of the Lions, Alhambra Palace, Granada. 13th-14th centuries. C-'^>'c^^'''-^(^s Roget-VioUet')
position of intertwined animals of a sculp- signed primarily to provide convenient areas

tural excellence not common in Islam at this to be engraved or chased. The Lion incense-
period. The little frieze is directly in line burner from Kariz is shamelessly falsified,
from Scythia and Luristan. It is spirited, from the naturalist's point of view, but pos-
decorative, fanciful, yet virile. sesses unmistakable leonine character. The
The Moslem artists displayed their skill arbitrary simplification of forms allowed the
as carvers also on such craft objects as book- worker in reyousse and engraving to practice
bindings and wooden and ivory chests. Their his art freely. Even today Oriental craftsmen
cutting of relief compositions, whether in fill the bazaars with debased representations
wood or in ivory, was intricate and exqui- of such beasts.
sitely rich. The Moorish chests of Spain bear In the West, clay-molded and glazed sculp-
inlaid panels that are masterpieces in the ture has generally seemed a lesser art: porce-
style, and in India large pierced screens and lain figures and groups are likely to be
small ivor)' inlays are marvels of delicately trivial and frivolous, and the common over-
opulent workmanship. bright coloring is essentially unsculptural.
Animal figures in Islam were often de- But in Persia, where the potter's art was
Casket. Silver. Persian, 12th century.

Treasury of Saint Mark's Cathedral,
Venice. (^Courtesy Iranian Institute^
'4.';: ii'^ t
Lion. Incense-burner. Pierced bronze.

12th century. Hermitage, Leningrad
Lion. Incense-burner.
Pierced bronze. 12th century.
Ewer. Bronze with silver inlay. Mosul period, Aquamanile. Clay, glazed. Persia.
13th centiiry. University Museum, Philadelphi (^Courtesy Iranian Institute^
Lion, detail. Incense-burner. Bronze.

Vase. Clay, glazed. Persian, 13th century. Seljuk period, 1181-82. Kariz, Khurasan, Persia.
Kashan. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund
carried to a glorious achievement surpassed was completely appropriate. The illustrative

nowhere except in China, the sculptor designs were usually kept to proportioned
joined with the potter to produce serious bands within a controlled all-over pattern. The
(and sometimes half-serious) works. There glazed-clay vase at the Freer Gallery, Wash-
are sumptuous designs with animals in the ington, is characteristically graceful in form
round added to vases and jugs already rich and lively in decoration.
with intricate molded and painted patterns. Persian sculpture declined when Europe
The aquamanile shown, very diflFerent in advanced into the period of the Renaissance,
method, as regards both total design and but examples can be found which indicate
surface decoration, seems like a playful work native feeling for the fundamentals of the
in comparison; but it is nonetheless a typical art, particularly for fitness of subject and
example of Islamic craftsmanship, vital as method to material. Islam invaded India,

sculpture and ornamentally alive. It is proba- which possessed a great body of sculpture of
bly late in date. its own. The eighteenth-century pierced-ivory
The Persian vases, plates, and jugs were plaque from Madura, Indian Prince and At-
proportioned as beautifully as the Greek, and tendants, inherits from Indian art and from
when were employed to en-
figurative reliefs the richness of Persian-Islamic artisanship.
rich the surfaces the modeled composition
Indian Prince and Attendants. Pierced-ivory plaque. 18th century. South India.
Victoria and Albert Miiscuiu
8: China:
The World^s Supreme Sculptural Achievement
CHINA is the oldest civilized nation on been colorful and picturesque, from the entry
earth,and the Chinese people have persisted of the Shang emperors in possibly 1523 b.c.
in one recognized national culture longer to the exit of the last Manchu empress
than any other. Incursions from outside in 1908. Court life in the many periods was
amounted at times to conquering invasions, enriched through devotion to the arts, and
but the native populace so far outnumbered there was an upper class (including the
the invaders and was so fixed in its social life scholars, who are especially honored) that
that the conquering newcomers were ab- cherished art works and kept alive the records
sorbed in the typically Chinese way of life of outstanding artists.
and culture. A new method or intention in The magnificence of decor at the courts
art, even a new religion, might be introduced was attested in the writings of Marco Polo,
but did not alter the mainstream of Chinese and the books of China's own historians
tradition. reflect the vigor and opulence of the nation's
The life of the Chinese ruling class has artistic life. The Chinese have seldom de-
Lao-Tse on a Water Buffalo. Bronze. Sung. Worcester Art Museum

CHINA 185
veloped archaeological exploration in any which corresponds to the period of the Ren-
systematic way, and it is likely that a wealth aissance in Europe, vessels very similar to
of sculptural material still lies underground. the Chou ritual masterpieces were produced,
A few Stone Age finds are related easily to but they were copies in the historic style
the more pronounced idioms in a profusion rather than newly imagined works.
of small sculptures and calligraphic scratch- Carving in jade in China has a history
ings found at Anyang, dated between 1900 longer than that of bronze-casting. This is one
and 1200 These display the squared
B.C. of the branches of sculpture in which the
ornamental in relief and serrated
ribbons nation leads the world. The most flourishing
edges which appear on the bronze ritual period of sculpture in jade began (so far as
vessels of the early Dynasties, vessels con- we know) in the era of the Chou emperors.
stituting the first great Chinese sculptural Jade as a material was highly prized and
achievement as now known. possessed a very intimate appeal. A piece
The ritual vessels, dated by most authorities such as the disk on page 194, may even have
to the Shang era (1523-c. 1028 B.C.) and the been venerated. Others served as emblems
Chou era (c. 1028-222 b.c.)— all early dates are and "luck" tokens. The dead were buried with
debatable— give evidence of the existence of symbolic jades placed in or upon the ears,
widespread spirit- worship and ancestor-wor- eyes, and tongue. Various jade animals were
ship.These bronze ceremonial jugs and jars, found in the graves of the Chou Era, espe-
cups and caldrons, beakers and basins, were cially those symbolizing immortality or resur-
generally altar furnishings, used for sacrificial rection, of which the cicada was the most
They were designed over a considerable
rites. favored.
number of centuries. In the Ming Dynasty, Many respected historians claim that every
Left: Wine vessel. Bronze. Shang. Mf^tropolitan Museum of Art
Right: Ritual wine vessel. Bronze. Early Chou. Fogg Museum of Art
Dragons. Jade. Late Chou. freer Gallery of Art; Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum,
Kansas City. (Bottom figure enlarged)
motive found in Chinese art originated in technique of the earliest known Shang
the West or the North. Scholars have un- bronzes suggests that invasions from the
covered protot)'pes of the animals, masks, and bordering steppe countries, where metal-
figures that appeared as subject-matter in the working was carried on, had occurred long
Chinese repertory. Rostovtzeff, in his book before authenticated Chinese history begins.
The Animal Style in South Russia and The Shang Dynasty lasted more than five
China, even questions whether the dragon is hundred years and gave way gradually before
an invention of the Chinese and prefers to invaders who founded the Chou Dynasty in
accept as its ancestor the "wolf -dragon" of the 1028 B.C. Among the disorders of warring
Mesopotamians. feudal states lived the great sages Lao-Tse
It was the Chinese sculptors, however, and Confucius. The philosophy of Lao-Tse,
whether invaders or long-resident natives, called Taoism, had profound effect on the
who gave magnificence to the dragon idea. arts later, after the introduction of Buddhism.
In every particular the sculptural carving on In the second half of the third century the
the ritual vessels of the Shang and Chou eras Ch'in Dynasty conquered and united the
seems to prove a long antecedent period of country and gave the name China to the
practice in this one highly original style. As nation. In the time of Ch'in there were only
to the craft of bronze-casting, the masterly the relics called the Ch'u bronzes, from the
CHINA 187
State of Ch'u, to indicate radical departure animals, and others composed into plaques
from the Shang and Chou style as typified in with repeated animals or with a scene of
the richly adorned ceremonial vessels. Best conflict between a tiger and a horse: all are
known Ch'u or Ch'in works are the
of the patently an extension from the steppe art.
bronze mirrors discovered in the Huai River With the next dynastic change, which
Valley; the backs were worked with an intri- brought in the Han emperors, familiar
cate but subdued all-over patterning, upon Chinese history begins. Sculpture had pro-
which appear low reliefs of fantastic dragons gressed from the magnificent omamentalism
or birds. They are essentially Chinese, even of the earliest ritual vessels to an inspired
while differing markedly from the Shang and simplicity, especially in the animals of Han.
early Chou heavily decorative style. Much of the sculpture of the Han era, as it
Another invasion from the northwest at now appears in the museums, is suggestive
about this time, apparently direct from the of the link with the art of the steppes. The
Scytho-Siberian steppe country, was even sculptors of Han invented a sort of low-
more important. In Suiyuan in Inner Mon- relief picturing on stone unique in the annals
golia and especially in the Ordos Desert- of the art.
along the border of Shensi in China proper They also began manufacture of clay tomb
—thousands of small animal compositions in figures, which led on to the familiar deco-
bronze have been turned up, with the spirited rated ladies, caparisoned horses, dancers and
rhythmic qualities of the "animal style" as lute-players, dogs and camels. These figures
known in Scythia and the steppes of Tur- vary in size from the common six- or eight-
kistan and parts of Siberia. Besides purely inch height to more than twenty-four inches.
ornamental items, there were harness rings, They may be unpainted, painted, or glazed.
buckles, etc. Some were formed of single A great many that are now terra-cotta in color
Bears. Bronze, gilded. Han. City Art Museum, St. Louis; Adolphe Stoclet Collection, Brussels
QCourtesy Madame V eron-Stoclet')
1
1
SB
^^^^
T^^^^p
^
1 CHINA
have traces of brighter pigment in deep cracks posed in low-relief folds, and a treatment of
or folds. In the women's figures the faces the face that is Greco-Indian rather than
were often left unglazed. The golden age of typical Indian. Shortly thereafter the fore-
the tomb figures is sometimes placed in the most sculptural art of China was that of the
T'ano era, which ended about ten centuries native Buddhist monks. And indeed, through
after the probable introduction of the clay the most glorious period of national expan-
figures and objects into the graves of Han. sion, through the Wei Dynasty and the Six
The first clay statuettes are supposed to have Dynasties period, culminating in the T'ang
been introduced as an improvement to replace Dynasty, the images of the Buddha and the
the straw figures used during the era of Bodhisattvas were the inspiration for Chinese
Chou; those in turn had been substituted for sculpture. At last the human figure became
the living retainers who had been entombed central to the art, and the Chinese came to
with the corpse of emperor or noble in earliest use the basic sculptural material, stone. The
times. period of magnificent achievement opened
A new invasion, encouraged by the em- in the fifth century and continued until the
perors and sages, produced a totally different decline of the T'ang Dynasty in the ninth
flow'ering of sculpture in China during the and tenth centuries.
centuries immediately after the Han period. There had been many sects of Buddhism—
Buddhism as a religion was brought from a schism in India had divided the faithful
India, and Buddhist statues and probably into a southern school, strict in its interpre-
Buddhist sculptors were imported. Knowl- tation of the Master's injunctions, and a
edge of Buddhism and devotion to the Buddha more relaxed and tolerant northern school—
had been pushed eastward to the border of and Chinese sculpture mirrored many of the
China before the birth of Christ. The actual variations in belief.
introduction of the faith into the Far East is Ch'an Buddhism came as a cult within
generally dated from a.d. 65, when the Chinese Buddhism, but it was the Taoism of Lao-Tse
Emperor Ming Ti saw the shining figure of a and of his disciple Chuang-Tse, two centuries
and sent a mission to India
savior in a dream, later, that gave new direction to the religion
to investigate the new religion. By the second and in turn influenced sculpture. Chinese art
century had claimed a considerable fol-
it had been magnificent, full, rhythmically ac-
lowing, it was not until the third
though tive. Now it was quietened. The sculptors
centur)^ when the Han Dynasty had come to relied upon simplicity. The statue itself spoke
an end, that Buddhist art began to penetrate of withdrawal, contemplation, and an inward
into China proper. The fifth and sixth cen- peace attained. The unassertive art of Ch'an
turies witnessed a flowering of Buddhist sculp- (later Zen) intimated the peace of Lao-Tze
tural art comparable to the Gupta achieve- as also the Buddha's vision of Nirvana.
ment in India. During the famous Sung Dynasty and the
A great deal of the iconography was taken following Yuan Dynasty sculpture was plenti-
direct from the Indian statues, in such monu- ful but its quality began to deteriorate. Sung
ments as the statue-filled caves at Yun K'ang painting and porcelain were of the finest,
in Shansi province. Doubtless Indian mis- but the sculpture began to be generally over-
sionary-artists (many missionaries are known ornamented, or merely reflective of the
by name), and sculptors from invader groups masterpieces of the great periods from Chou
trained in the animal art of the steppes, at to T'ang.
first gave direction to their Chinese fellow Another type of sculpture was introduced in
artists. Among the distinguishing marks of oversize guardians of tombs or palaces (il-
the Indian sculptural idiom were schematic lustrated on page 204). The colossal fig-
arrangements of the draperies, usually dis- ures of men or animals were set like
Buddha. Stone. 5th century. Yun Kang Caves. Metropolitan Museum of Art
sentries along the avenues leading to the ings the signs of vandalism are often ap-
tomb entrances. Sculpturally the surviving parent. Even so, in amount as in quality,
examples in stone are magnificent, whether the surviving Chinese products constitute
in museums abroad or still at their original the most magnificent body of sculpture in
sites. the world.
The successive Chinese dynasties gave rise
to more than a proportionate share of the A table of the historic periods or dynasties
world's degenerate dictators. A nation that as now usually accepted follows:
could snub and obscure "the perfect sage" Hsia (largely legendary) ending about
Confucius during his lifetime was obviously 1523 B.C.
inhospitable to the arts at certain periods. Shang (sometimes Yin) approximately

Although the legacy of Chinese sculpture is 1523-c. 1028 B.C.
so great that examples can be found in Chou c. 1028-222 B.C.
market places the world round, the loss of Ch'in 221-207 B.C.
monuments was perhaps greater than any flan 206 b.c.-a.d. 220
other Again and again the edict
nation's. Wei & the Six Dynasties 220-618
went out from an incompetent emperor's T'ang 618-907
court than all bronze or copper vessels or The Five Dynasties 907-960
statues in the land must be delivered for Sung 960-1280
melting down. The losses of monuments in Yuan (Mongol) 1280-1368
stone were fewer, but the colossal animal Ming 1368-1644
guardians of the tombs were neglected for Ch'ing (Manchu) 1644-1912
centuries, and in the caves of Buddhist carv- After 1912, the Republic, then Communism
II
have come down grain jar of the Freer Gallery, Washington,
IN the
us from
to
earliest relics that
the Shang period, the evi- especially instructive because each unit of the
is
dences of a formal style are implicit. The relief ornament can be read as an animal
decorative, talismanic jades cannot confidently form imaginatively paraphrased. The vigor
be dated to Shang era, but the
the early and the ornamentalism of these reliefs are
oldest known bronzes seem clearly to be superb.
early Shang, and they present a fully formed In the bronze wine vessel at the Metro-
majestic Chinese style. The apparently ab- politan Museum of Art (page 185), where the
stract ornamentation on tools and weapons incidental encrustations and tracings have
usually proves to be conventionalizations of been lost in the wear and tear of thirty
animal forms, oftenest the tao-tieh, the "dra- centuries, the contours of the vessel still stand
gon" or imaginary monster, or other tradi- out with controlled power and a rhythmic
tional beast. massiveness.
The ritual vessels form a magnificent group The combination of creative sculptural
of sculptures in bronze. The geometrized design with sumptuous elaboration of the
relief figures can be identified as fantastic surface reliefs is better seen in the "horned
dragons and parts of dragons, or less often, monster" vessel. It is a functional libation
and later, as owls, pheasants, and tigers, or vessel, vaguely suggesting a monster, with
beast and bird fragments combined. The panels containing other monsters. Heads,
Ax. Bronze. Shang, 1523-c. 1028 b.c. Whittemore Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art
1
CHINA 1 9
"Horned monster" vessel. Bronze. Early Chou.

Grain jar. Bronze. Early Chou, 11th century B.C.

Freer Gallery of Art, Washington
eyes, or tails cover wide areas to convey the link with the Scythians. It is not clear where
mystery of animal-power, in a technique the tiger-headed beast ends and the birdlike
which is uniquely Chinese. forms begin. Sometimes the outline of a
The libation vessel suggesting two pheas- wing resolves into a coiled dragon; tails or
ants, in the Freer Gallery, is a pleasing feet may terminate in birds' beaks, in the
Symmetric form has been achieved
variation. Scythian fashion. (See page 185.)
by placing the birds back to back or "ad- After the Shang Dynasty gave way to the
dorsed." The pheasants, which have been very Chou, there was a weakening of the art. The
summarily presented, are conventionalized bronze vessels became less imposing in mas-
almost beyond recognition and endowed with siveness of design and wealth of decoration.
rams' horns. The Pheasant in the Dumbarton Oaks collec-
The ritual bronzes were limited to a few tion is shown quite realistically, though
traditionally determined tj'pes. The differ- traced over with patterning and calligraphic
ences are those of use, choice of subject- relief. The owl-shaped jar at Yale returns to
matter,and abundance of detail. Today some a severer style but is equally readable.
of them seem overloaded with ornament, In the early Chou period design was at
though there is a certain magnificence in the times exuberant and even florid. Though the
very opulence of the wine vessel from the maker lost the rectilinear crispness of the
Fogg Museum, which illustrates the inter- style, as well as accustomed reserve and
locking of animal motives and suggests a dignity, the Ele-phant libation jar, for ex-
192 c HINA
Libation vessel. Bronze. Shang. Ritual vessel. Bronze. Chou.

Freer Gallery of Art Victoria and Albert Museum
Pheasant. Libation jar. Bronze. Owl. Jar. Bronze. Yale Uiiiversity Art Gallery,
Shang or Early Chou. Hobart and Edward Small Moore
Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Washington Memorial Collection
CHIN A 193
Elephant. Libation jar. Bronze. Early Chou.

Freer Gallery of Art, Washington
Ritual bell. Bronze. Late Chou,

5th-4th centuries B.C.
Winthrop Collection, Fogg Museum of Art
ample, is a masterpiece of its try'pe. Many ritual bronzes. The subtle aesthetic percep-
bronze gongs and bells have survived from the tion to be inferred in the maker of the
Chou and are among the finest products
era astronomical ring is not easily matched in
of the time. The reliefs on the bodies of the sculptural history elsewhere. But the owners
bells vary widely in elaboration and in aes- of the emblem doubtless regarded it less as
thetic vaHdit)\ A common accessory is a compelling art than as a link with the im-
pierced, flattened composition, with perhaps manent Power. The design is intimately
two dragons face to face, forming a handle or associated with the early Chinese myths of
hook for hanging. The motive is one of the Heaven. It also has been interpreted as
most beautifully handled in the whole range symbolic of the yin principle of the yang-yin
of Chinese conventionalized animals. masculine-feminine dualism recognized as
In both the late Shang and the Chou basic to world order. The plaque with dragons
periods the carvers of jade produced gemlike shown is one of the most elaborate composi-
compositions such as amulets, emblems, and tions in jade surviving from an early period.
ornaments and minor figurative pieces. The Intensity of feeling, even the ferocity, of the
astronomical disk or symbol of Heaven shown monsters in bronze is lacking, on account
is an example of the ritual objects basic to the of the softer quality of the medium. The
religion of the times. animals, however, are still superbly alive. The
It is notable that jade figurative designs formalized little Bird is exceptional in being
were generally kept as simple as the bronze in marble. The Stags are simply set out but
vessels were elaborate. Since the pieces were with each animal's characteristic form and
treasured as amulets or charms, they were as feeling recognized and expressed.
replete with symbolism as the designs of the The figure of a man in the group of small
CHINA 195
Plaque with dragons. Jade. Period of the Warring States, 481-221 B.C.
Nelson Gallery—Atkins Museum, Kansas City
jades is the only human being to appear in survived to delight the lover of near-abstract
the first twenty-two illustrations of early art. This may be seen in the five jewel-like
Chinese sculpture. This is a fair index to examples on page i86.

the rarity of the anthropomorphic image dur- As one turns again to the bronzes, it ap-
ing the Shang and Chou periods. pears that these ancient Chinese statuettes
The Chinese objects form a treasury of also portrayed the tiger and the dragon. The
jade carvings that is unsurpassed. They pieces are rendered ornamental by the all-
range from rare realistic pieces through every over patterning, which is, of course, in itself
type of conventionalization to abstract a language of symbols. How far the artist
compositions. The animals such as dragons, sometimes went in the addition of relievo is
bulls, deer, tigers, pheasants, and cicadas had indicated in the Tigers shown, though the
religious significance. Where jade was the characteristic strength and litheness of the
standard "luck stone," the pieces included beasts seem not to have been impaired.
many poorly designed and executed examples. As against the simplified ornamentalism of
The stone's texture and color appealed rather the tigers, there is the fantastically ornate
than the artistic value. But an extraordinary Head of a Dragon at the Freer Gallery. Each
number of exquisitely carved ornaments have curve was made the excuse for a flourish. But
196 CHINA
Tigers. Bronze. Chou. Shen-si. Freer Gallery of Art
Head of a Dragon. Bronze.

Late Chou. Freer Gallery of Art
Ax head with dragon. Bronze. Chou.

in spite of this redundance the intrinsic its species perfectly. The formalized composi-
dragon seems reahzed and expressed in an tion on the back— technically the lid— seems
unmistakably Chinese work. to be a direct descendant of the heraldically
The two little bronze Winged Dragons of conventionalized animal art of the steppes.
the Pillsbur)' Collection are masterpieces of The group of illustrations dealing with
the late Chou ornate style. This type of Scythian sculpture ended with examples of
sophisticated design came to its perfection Ordos bronzes found in China and upon its
when the Greeks were still developing their border. Again a selection of the Ordos prod-
archaic style and when Europe beyond ucts (or as some insist, truly Chinese counter-
Greece was largely an unknown wasteland. parts) is introduced: a Horse, a Tiger, and a
The ax-head design of a dragon shows how Stag. In the first millennium B.C. China was
far the Chinese artists had progressed from repeatedly overrun by invaders from the
primitive rudeness and mere literalism. West, who in general adopted Chinese cus-
Between naturalism and a frank decorative- toms and the Chinese st)'le of art. But it
ness there are bronzes such as the Water would be foolish to believe that conquerors
Buffalo, where the animal seems to represent from Mongolia and the steppe country
CHINA 197
Winged Dragons. Bronze. Late Chou. Pilhbury Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Water Buffalo. Vessel. Bronze. Chou.

Fogg Museum of Art
Horse; Tiger; Stag. Bronze.
Han
Period. Ordos Region; Siberia.
Hanna Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art;
C. T. Loo Collection; Mrs. Jess Bryan Bennett
Collection QCourtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art)
198 CHINA
Deer. Bronze. Ordos. Adolphe Stoclet Collection, Brussels. (^Courtesy Madame Feron-Stoclet')
Winged Horses, plaques. Bronze. Han. Metropolitan Museum of Art
beyond, owning a distinctive and vital style China, generations later, there was an ad-
of art, contributed nothing to the subsequent mixture of Greek in Indian art. Some
Chinese tradition. As the invaders at one authorities believe that it was the Wei
time revolutionized the military science of the artists who learned directly from Western
Chinese, so they seem to have contributed sculpture. The two winged-horse plaques,
much of their art vitality to the country they ascribed to the Han Dynasty, suggest that a
overran. The influence can hardly be marked Greco-Scythian influence may have arrived
down as of the Ch'in or the Han period, with some earlier nomadic invaders.
though the simplification and directness of Truer indications of influence through the
statement in Han sculptures may owe some concise, rhythmic Ordos style are found in
debt to the steppe art. the two Deer shown. Identified by some
At the time when Buddhism came to scholars as products of the Ordos region, they
CHINA 199
are claimed by others to be strictly Chinese. massive, considering its small size. It is a
Without being unnatural, they escape de- variation of the dragon of earlier plates, but
tailed naturalism. lacks all serpentine character. Above it is a
If some of the pieces are more realistic vigorous Lion, profusely decorated and of
than is usual in early Chinese sculpture, the similar stylistic character.
period, which is not far from the time of The horned, yet partly feline, partly equine
Christ's birth though a thousand years after Fantastic Animal is clean-cut, rhythmic, and
Shang art,
late yields many fantastic designs. powerful. In spite of the stripped style of
The Chimera is surprisingly rugged and this animal and the simplicity and un-
Lion. Bronze. Han.

Collection of Mrs. John F. Lewis, Jr.,Philadelphia. (Photo courtesy University Museum')
Fantastic Animal. Bronze. Han, Chimera. Bronze. Han.

Cleveland Museum o/ Art Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
y\ -zm^
200 CHINA
Head of a Water Buffalo. Bronze with inlay of gold and silver. Chou. British Museum
decorated appearance of the Bears (page 187),

the hking for profusely decorated sculpture
was to continue through many centuries. The
art that began in the legendary Shang times
with display of ornament at last
added
reached this and directness of
simplicity
representation— though what is represented
might still be imaginary or mythical.
Bronzes with inlays of gold and silver were
especially prized in the late Chou and the
Han eras. The inlaid pieces were usually Buckle with antelope. Jade. Han.
Winthrop Collection, Fogg Museum of Art
vases, fibulae, and mirror-backs; but the Head
of a Water Buffalo shown is sculpture in the

round, made to serve as an axle cap and
presumably one item in an array of orna- Ceremonial ax head. Jade. Han.
mental chariot hardware. From such relics
British Museum
in our museums it has been possible to gain
added insight into the sumptuous and bril-
liant life at the Han courts.

The Han jades continued the double tradi-
tion of abstract or near-abstract emblems and
highly formalized figurative carvings. A
stylization that reverted to the animal art of
the steppes marks the ceremonial ax head

surmounted by a dragon. The reversed head
is a familiar Scythian motif and the addition
of a second animal, the hare in this instance,

is also characteristic.
Hill jar. Clay, glazed. Han. City Art Museum, St. Louis
The jades offer occasional realism, for The first conspicuous output of the famous
example the engaging little antelope, tomb statuettes occurred at this time. Human
clean-cut and sheer, on the buckle, which is beings were portrayed, often in groups.
richly patterned for contrast. The repeated Especially ingratiating are some perky figures
cun'es and the svelte elongations of the of dogs, and the many horses are impressive.
animal are far removed from the fantastic Already sculptors were producing models of
treatment of the beaked, winged Dragon in houses, court)'ards, garden pavilions, and
the group on page 202, or the lush orna- household paraphernalia, which are valuable
mentalism of countless dragon charms and as clues to the life of the Chinese people
buckles in the museums. rather than as sculpture. Despite such
Seemingly there was nothing the sculptors masterly Han pieces as the Head of a Horse,
of Han would not attempt. Portrayal of the high periods of production were to occur
landscape would seem to be the province of in the Wei and the T'ang Dynasties.
painters and poets, but one of the most dis- The Chinese had been masters of bas-
tinctive products of the time is the hill jar. relief and the very shallow relief-
carving,
The is round with a bas-relief
vessel itself cutting illustrated by the Scenes of Chinese
panel circling But the lid is a composition
it. Life from the tomb of one Wu
Liang Tzu,
in which the mountains rise up out of a who died a.d. 147, is a typically Chinese
perianth of waves. The subject-matter is development. Here the design has been
drawn from the Taoist legend of the Blessed reduced in effect almost to the status of
Isles. The elements of mountainous island black-and-white drawings; but it is stone-
and surrounding waves are manipulated for cutting and therefore technically sculpture,
rhythmic sculptural beauty, and the effect as although the figures are only slightly raised
abstract composition is definite and compel- from their background. As practiced, the art
ling. The bas-reliefs molded on the pottery has unrivaled and contrast. The
vivacity
vessels demonstrate the liveliness and strength voluminous horses and men and the accented
so usual in Chinese relievo. contours mark the artists as sculptors at heart,
202 CHINA
Head of a Horse. Clay. Han.

Royal Ontario Museum
' ^^
Dog. Clay. Han.
Royal Ontario Museum
CHINA 203
Scenes of Chinese Life, reliefs. Stone. Han. Shantung.

C. T. Loo Collection: Musee Guimet, Paris. QLowcr photo, Giraudon')
rather than mere draftsmen. The illustrations is extraordinary and there is a mood of im-
usually seen (including one of those here) pending drama. From this kind of shallowly
are from ruhbings or "squeezes" brought out incised design, depending so largely upon
of China by archaeologists. Throughout the linear exactitude, one can go on to the study
stones, which depict military and other of normal bas-relief, and high relief, and so
earthly scenes and life in fantastic realms of back to cutting in full volume.
air, wind, and water, the sense of movement There is a series of colossal stone animals.
Lion. Stone. Han.
Chimera. Stone. C. a.d. 518. Near Nanking.

(Fhoto by Osvald Siren^
Animal. Stone. C. a.d. 1400. Near Nanking. (Vhoto
by Claude Arthaud and Frangois Hebert-Stevetis^
CHINA 20 5
incorporating the fullest resources of sculp

tural art, which date from the Han into the
Wei period. The oversize beasts seem to
breathe forth power and magnificence.
Whether it is the Lion shown, fragmentary
but no less lion-like, or an overwhelming
sixth-centur)' Chimera, the sense of a fero-
cious guardian animal is as fully conveyed as

is and gran-
the impact of sculptural energy
deur. The statues have magnitude and nobil-
ity and may mark one of the zeniths of art
in stone.
In the third example. Animal, a series of
bold and masterly decorative additions, t)'pi-
cally Chinese, modify a little the appearance

of overwhelming grandeur. Such figures pro-
tected the "spirit paths" leading to the tombs
of great men. Approaches to palaces also
might be lined with the animals or with
colossal stone soldier-guardians.
One thousand years after the coming of
China's two supreme sages, Lao-Tse and
Confucius, the influence of a third sage, the
Buddha Gautama, whose religion already
had inspired great works of art in India,
brought about a revolution among Chinese
artists. Sculpture became essentially the
medium of this religion, and the human
figure, long neglected as subject-matter, be-
came central, owing to Buddhist concentration
Bodhisattva. Stone. North Wei.
upon the human mind and its development
toward enlightenment.
There can be no doubt that Hindu models more restraint, hollowed out shrines quite as
had effect upon the Chinese sculptors; and amazing and exuberantly decorated. Perhaps
through the t\'pe of Hindu figure that had the most satisfying examples date from the
inherited from the Greeks, via Gandhara, late fifth and sixth centuries. In general,
some slight influence from Greece lingered the photographs of the caves in their present
on. There is an unmistakable aura of classic condition fail to do justice to the individual
grace. A figure such as the Bodhisattva from statues, though one of the Lung Men Caves
the Boston Museum exhibits idioms easily in Honan indicates something
cs
of the ma-
identified as taken from Indian masters, and jestic effect of the major figures.
the mixture of Greek and Eastern feeling is One rather angular and slenderized style
faintly evident in the face. stands out distinctively and unmistakably in
The Buddhists of India had fashioned ex- semidetached figures from, and in, the Lung
traordinary' cave-temples, and these were Men Caves. The seated Bodhisattva of the
filled with rock-cut representations of the Loo collection is a beautiful example and has
Buddha and his attendants, and of incidents been referred to as Gothic on account of the
in his life. The Chinese, with only a little tendency to play with the flowing contours.
Buddha and Attendant. Lung Men Caves, Honan, China.
QPhoto by Claude Arthaud and Francois Hebert-Stevens^
and the abstract, almost geometrical design. fine ornamental panels carved upon the face
Another stylistic development, characteristic of the monument, and usually there is a
of the earlier painted sculpture of the Yun deep-cut niche (sometimes more than one)
Kang Caves in Shansi, resulted in rounder in which full-rounded or engaged figures are
more in harmony with the serenity of
figures placed. The Buddhist votive stelae shown
Buddhism. Many of the cave Buddhas in situ illustrate two types of decorative flattened
demonstrate the quiet nobility of the style, relief-carving much practiced in China
and the example
from the Metropolitan through several centuries.
Museum of Art makes clear the sculptural The small sculptural arts as well as the
idioms by which the workers at Yun Kang monumental blossomed in the Wei Dynasty.
achieved their effects. (See page 189.) Sculpture in bronze developed in two direc-
In the early sixth century shrines were tions. One was the utter simplicity of such
built in incredible numbers in China. During concise expressions as the Buddhist Monk.
only two reigns the emperors erected thirteen Though small in size, the figure affords an
thousand Buddhist temples. The shrines, impression of solidity, power, even magnitude.
except the caves, have disappeared but con- Every unnecessary feature, every complicating
siderable numbers of stelae and independent detail has been sheared away. The Buddha
statues have survived. A common kind of at the University Museum, Philadelphia,
stele is a stone slab carved in combined low from an altar group, though simple, has been
and high relief. There are wonderfully decoratively enriched. Some pieces were al-
graphic pictorial scenes and exceptionally most baroque.

CHINA
Seated Maitreya. Stone, a.d. 512. Lung Men

Caves. University Museutn, Philadelphia
Top left: Buddhist Monk. Bronze. Wei.

Center: Buddha. Bronze. Sui.

Left:
Seated Bodhisattva. Stone. Early 6th century.
Lung Men Caves. C. T. Loo Collection
Buddhist votive stelae. Stone. North Wei. 6th century.
Muscinn of Fine Arts, Boston; Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
CHINA 209
The bronzes were mostly devotional figures
or groups of figures. Unmistakable influence
from India is evident in the Buddhist altar,
though the animal figures at the base seem to

have come down direct in the Chinese line,
and the lean, angular sculpturing is sug-

gestive of the Lung Men stone figures.
The leaf-form nimbus filled with flames
was characteristic of the earliest dated
Chinese Buddhist sculptures, bronzes of 437
and 444. The exquisite little gilded bronze
Buddha at the University Museum shows a
nimbus. This was adapted in later sculptures
to appear as a decorative canopy, along a line

of development that is more often encoun-
tered in Japan.
The wide diversity of techniques can be
noted also in the surviving monuments of
carved sculpture. The Bodhisattva of the
Freer Gallery, essentially Chinese, is at the
farthest remove from the austere treatment

of the Monk shown previously, though it
too is unmistakably a product of Chinese
Buddhist art.
The "feel of the stone" is inherent in the

Buddhist altar. Bronze, gilded.
A.D. 518. Musee Guimet Head of a Buddha at Minneapolis, which is
typical of many detached heads taken from
China into the museums of the Western
world. The colossal Head of a Bodhisattva
at the University Museum, though decora-
tive, has impressive and silent grandeur.
As if to prove their independence of any
stylistic limitations, cave artists, at about the
same time, produced mural reliefs with the
light, almost frivolous touch evident in the
Apsara in the Fogg Museum. Seldom has
linear grace been woven more charmingly
into stone patterns than in the series of cave
decorations at T'ien Lung Shan from which
this fragment was taken. The differences of
style in the statues and reliefs of a single
cave shrine are attributable to the fact that
sculptors came to a few working centers from
many distant points, even from India. There
Buddha. Bronze, gilded. Wei. a.d. 536.

Head of a Bodhisattva.
Stone, colossal. 6th century.
Bodhisattva. Stone. Head of a Buddha. Stone.

Period of the Six Dynasties. Northern Ch'i. Honan.
Freer Gallery of Art Minneapolis Institute of Arts
CHINA 211
are diflFerences, too, between the art of the
Eastern Wei regime and the Western.
was during the Wei Dynasty that the
It
art making pottery figurines came to a

of
chmax. In accordance with men's behef that
it was good to be surrounded in the tomb
with what had been interesting and agree-

able in hfe, the statuettes represented court
ladies, dancing girls, pet dogs, pigs, horses,
and so on— though anything and everything
both actual and legendary seems to have
been depicted sooner or later.
Among the most intriguing objects are the

more or less imaginary beasts, such as the
catlike Tiger (or dog) from the Loo collec-
tion. The most spirited of the figures were
often the dragons or chimeras, as the Dragon
at Providence. The ancestors of this beast can
be found, of course, in the bronzes and jades
of the Chou era of a thousand years
earlier.
Most of the terra-cotta or earthenware

statuettes were at one time painted, and those
Apsara. Stone. Northern Ch'i. that have survived bear traces or patches of
T'ien Lung Shan Caves.
Fogg Museum of Art
coloring, often white, and only very rarely a
full coating of pigment. Already glazed or
partly glazed figures appeared among the
earthenware pieces.
Dragon. Clay. Wei. Museum of Art,

Rhode hland School of Design, Providence.
Tiger. Clay. Wei. C. T. Loo Collection

212 CHINA
Fragmentar)' horses' heads in clay, and
horses with heavy trappings and unusual

ornamental additions remain as perfect
examples of the Wei and T'ang mastery. The
pieces illustrated, at Cleveland and Oxford,
are at once massive, beautifully rhythmic,
and reposeful. The essential sculptural large-
ness suffers no diminution from the profuse
adornments. The Wei Period and the follow-
ing T'ang give to the world its largest trea-
sure of sculpture in clay.
The human figure in the time of Wei was
treated, in the statuettes, with something less
than the finesse shown in the T'ang Era.

But the kimonoed ladies, generally modeled
solidly into pillar-like compositions, with
skirts flaring at the feet, are engaging and
sculpturally correct. The faces of the exam-
ples at the Royal Ontario Museum are typi-
cal and full of character.
The Bodhisattva in stone shown is attri-
buted to the Ch'i (which displaced Eastern

Wei in 550). The figure, holding a lotus
bud, is car\'ed with a remarkable simplicity.
A dignified material solidity and a sense of
Women. Clay. Wei.
remoteness from the world have been Royal Ontario Museum
Horse. Clay. Wei. Charles W. Harkncss Horse. Clay. T'ang.

Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
CHINA 213
achieved. Captured in stone is the stillness,
the awareness of an interior hfe, which is at
the heart of Buddhist devotion.

The following Sui Dynasty, in power from
581 to 618, brought in no stylistic innova-
tions but fostered the arts as known under
the Six Dynasties emperors. A high point
of elaboration was reached in the portion of
a shrine now at the Nelson Gallery, which
epitomizes the colorful and vigorous Oriental
mode. It commands attention for the skill in
marshaling mass and movement, and in
stressing a main line of direction through a
writhing pattern of virile bodies and thrust-
ing ornament. It marks a peak in the sculp-
tural design that parallels to some extent the
unrivaled Chinese silk embroideries.
Elaboration is more restrained and grace-
ful in the limestone Kiian-Yin at Boston.
From this time forward the god of mercy,
known as Kuan-Yin, and later as a goddess,
the Merciful Mother, was a favorite figure

in the enlarged pantheon of Buddhist and
'>«t Taoist divinities.
The suavely decorative Kuan-Yin at the
Metropolitan Museum is a counterpart in
Bodhisattva. Stone. Northern Ch'i.
Portion of Shrine. Stone. Sui.

Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, Kansas City
2 1 4 CHINA
bronze. At this time the repeated forms in monumentalism of the pieces are undis-
the elaborate draperies of the Buddhist turbed by the counterpoint of line and minor
bronzes began to be more fluent: a step to- mass and surface variation. These Buddhas
ward the tMpe characteristic of the T'ang and Bodhisattvas are subtlv expressi\e even
era. Especially notable here are the ribbon- while retaining the quality of rocklike
like accessoriesand edgings. solidity.
The seated Kuan-Yin of the Freer Gal- The Bodhisattva from a private collection
lery was produced at a time when many of in New York is one of the sublime expres-
the bronze figures were being dressed up in sions of aesthetic and religious feeling in a
elaborate garments and garlands. This one great era and is more lyric and more graceful
achieved sculptural solidity and even re- than most of the stone sculpture of the time.
markable plastic integrity. The same combination of graceful and mas-
The T'ang by reputation the most mag-
is sive qualities is to be seen in a Bodhisattva
nificent, the most gorgeous period of Chinese of the Tien Lung Shan caves. The large
histor)'. The lesser techniques of sculpture, mass of the statue is not unusual for that
in clay and bronze and wood, were practiced time, but the subtle shaping of the body and
with surpassing mastery, but above all it was the delicacy of feeling in the treatment of
the stone statue that was carried to new the draperies suggest an exceptional refine-
heights of achievement. The dignit)' and ment of the art.
Ktian-Yiu. Bronze. Sui. Kuatj-Yii:. Stone. Sui,

Metropolitan Museum of Art 6th— 7th centuries. Mitêuvi of ¥inc Arts, Boston
Kiiati-Yiii. Bronze. T an;^. Fill '
-f Art
Bodhisattva. Stone, with gilt and color. T'ang,

I
8th-9th centuries. Freer Gallery of Art
Bodhisattva. Stone. T'ang. 8th-9th centuries.

Private Collection, Neiv York
^ .^M^
216 CHINA
The Bodhisattva of the MetropoHtan Mu- politan Museum, with facial features and
seum on the title page of this volume is in drapery edges cleanly accented, is typical.
dried lacquer. The quiet expressiveness, The Kneeling Bodhisattva in stone is verv
which is a central aim of Buddhist art, is su- much smaller in size but hardly less power-
premely felt. The sculptural character is in- ful than the life-size and colossal figures. It
creased by surface harmonies, particularly in is worth noting how simply and harmoni-
the treatment of draperies. ously the garment is suggested. Again the
The technique of dried lacquer results in treatment is a reminder of the debt of
different effects from those of stone carving Chinese sculptors to the Buddhist sculptors
and clay modeling. Over an armature of of India.
wood or a removable clay core the figure is The technical expedient of sharply
roughly modeled with cloths soaked in lac- marked edges is not, of course, unknown
quer. Successive layers of lacquer-wet cloth in carved stone statues. The device might
or of lacquer paste are added until the sur- have been noted in some of the earliest heads
face has been built out to its final shape, of the Buddha carved in China, and it per-
when a coating of lacquer paint is applied. sisted through the following centuries, as in
Smooth surfaces, banded draperies, and the Head of Buddha in the Victoria and
sharpened area-edges are natural to the Albert Museum.
method. The Bodhisattva of the Metro- That the medium of wood also could be
Bodhisattva. Stone. T'ang. T'ien Lung Shan Kneeling Bodhisattva. Stone. T'ang.
Caves, Shansi. ^Courtesy Osvald Siren^ Fogg Museum of Art
Tiiii
used for the noblest purposes, with amplitude
and impersonal grandeur, is sufficiently
proved in the life-size Kuan-Yin shown, from
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The soft-
ness of the wood is properly revealed in the

deeper cutting and the freer play of ribboned
forms.
When they worked with wood, Chinese
sculptors sometimes copied nature exactly,
as they did also in later lacquer figures. The
lacquer Head at Chicago is obviously imita-
tive of a model and marks the farthest point
attained by the Chinese in their excursion
into naturalism— at a far distance from their

normal Oriental formalism.
All the collections of Oriental art include
Head. Dried lacquer. T'ang. figures of tomb or temple guardians in stone
Art Institute of Chicago
Kuan-Yin. Wood. T'ang or Sung. Head of Buddha. Stone. T'ang.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Victoria and Albert Museum
218 CHINA
and wood. The bulky bodies and brutal faces ism and simplicity give way a little to a more
considered appropriate to the purpose lent realistic mastery and to elaboration, but
themselves well to heavy sculptural effects. there is direct expression too, as in the
The example in the Hoyt Collection is un- Camel shown.
usual, being of dried lacquer. Somewhat less The Horse in Comhat of the Eumorfo-
horrendous than some, it has an unusual poulos Collection at the British Museum
subtlety of expression. The amount of minor indicates that the spiritedness common to the
modeling is extraordinary, considering the treatment of animals in the Chou, Han, and
effect of solidity, not to say concentrated Wei eras has been maintained. An endless
power, conveyed by the figure. A related study could be made of the caparisoned ani-
example is the Head of a Lion, exceptionally mals and the ways in which their trappings
in cast iron. are represented. The saddle robe here, in its
In small clay sculpture the T'ang era is form and the direction of its edges, provides
fully as rich as the Wei. Primitive expression- an instructive example of creative composing.
Camel. Clay. T'ang. Fuller Collection, Seattle Art Mtisentn
Horse in Combat. Clay. T'ang. British Museum

CHINA 219
The unusual rounding of the forms and and fluent design, hardly rivaled in its par-
the smoothing of the surfaces of the Polo ticular field outside the body of Chinese
Player at Stockholm make a more ingratiat- work.
ing appeal, though perhaps a less profound The tomb statuettes of the T'ang era can
one ascompared with the Camel or the be masterpieces of realistic reporting. The
Horse. It is an extraordinarily accomplished Equestrienne Dismounting, and the group of
posed Ladies are typical treatments of themes
from everyday life. They illustrate the appli-
cation of solid sculptural artisanship to the

slightest subjects.
Tetnple Guardian. Dried lacquer. T'ang. Head of a Lion. Cast iron. T'ang.
Collection of Charles B. Hoyt. Detroit Institute of Arts
(^Courtesy Fogg Museum of Art')
Equestrienne Dismounting. Clay. T'ang.

Detroit Institute of Arts
Polo Player. Clay. T'ang.
Museum of Far Easterî Antiquities, Stockholm
220 CHINA
Both the Wei and the T'ang statuettes on The most distinctivecontribution was
these pages are executed in clay and they made 1 painted wooden statues. They
vary from plain terra-cotta to examples were generally large and captured the com
painted in white or varied colors, and glazed bination of magnificence and quiet feeling
examples. In general the sculptural values which had characterized T'ang religious
seem not to have been harmed by the loss of sculpture. The Kiian-Yin at Boston is both
color. massive and rich in detail. It is utterly re-
One and sophisticated

especially attractive poseful yet sculpturally alive, a masterpiece
t}'pe is the Lady with festooned sleeves and of the style.
flaring shoulder patches. Her headdress and

skirts are fitted with flaring ruffles to match,
but the pointed effect is relieved by the collar
that repeats the oval of the face, and by a

rounding of the statuette at the base.
After the T'ang Dynasty came to an end
A.D. 907, five minor dynasties rose and fell
before the powerful Sung Dynasty came into

being a.d. 960. This was a turning point in
Chinese historj'; but the more than three
hundred years of Sung yielded little super-
lative sculpture.
Fhtte-Player; Lute-Player; Lady. Clay. T'ang. Victoria and

Albert Museum; British Museum; Royall Tyler Collection
Bodhisattva. Wood. Sung, 12th-13th centuries.
Vase. Clay, glazed. Sung. Collection of Charles B. Hoyt.
Freer Gallery of Art QCourtesy Fogg Museum of Art^
The Bodhisattva of the Hoyt Collection It is generally believed that at no other

retains more dignity and reserve than most time or place did the art of the potter reach
of the wooden figures of the period. The the heights achieved in China in the Sung
technique of cutting, too, is crisper, and the era. The and dishes were un-
vases, bowls,
graceful draperies resemble the T'ang. This surpassed for form, glaze, and texture, and
piece is exceptional for the expression of both at its best the ceramic vessel had abstract
spiritual discernment and sculptural sensi- sculptural beauty. The architecture of the
bihty. bowl is properly adjusted, with feeling for
The bronze statuette of Lao-Tse on a ordered mass and svelte contour. The vase
Water Buffalo is exact and subtly expressive, shown, from the Freer Gallery, abstractly
yet it avoids the over-detailing of a too ob- designed, is hardly less sculptural than the
servant realism. The sage of non-resistant infrequent ones with representational touches
action, who put his trust in mystic under- in high relief.
standing and a serene power derived from A set of six Lohans, or disciples of Buddha
nature, is shown at ease upon one of the (of an original probable eighteen), forms
most refractory of beasts. But one need not one of the curiosities of the late period of
know the significance of this Taoist theme Chinese sculpture. These life-size figures are
to recognize the superlative values of the of clay, glazed and fired in the manner of
treatment. (See page 184.) the potter)' that we call chinaware. Because
CHINA 223
Lohan. Clay, glazed. Sung or Ming. Kuan-Yin. Wood. Yuan.

University Museum, Philadelphia Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
of the size, each piece constitutes a man'el of the earlier achievements. The heavily
of ceramic achievement. The one at the Uni- decorated Kuan-Yin of the Nelson Gallery,
versity Museum is particularly interesting for which is ascribed to the Yuan Era, is, how-
the fine head and expressive face. The vir- ever, a welcome exception.
tues of the series, however, are comparative. The Yuan Dynasty, of the Mongols, suc-
It is obvious, from the laxness of sculptural ceeded the Sung and in 1368 gave way to
expression in the figure, that the standards the Ming, which lastedto 1644. Century
of the art had already seriously deteriorated. after century passed, and no fresh inspiration
The colors, unfortunately, are overbright and came into the art. The ivory carvings are
inharmonious. among the best works from the Ming period.
In the Orient a replica of a masterpiece Objects in ivory had been treasured im-
was valued as highly as the original, if it memorially but had been overshadowed by
was as fine, and copying the great works of the popular and exquisite carvings in jade.
the past now became a recognized industry. Most distinctive of the Chinese ivories in
Works dated to the Sung and Yuan and Western museums are figures, often of old
Ming Dynasties but "in the style of Han" men, shaped to preserve substantially the out-
or "Chou" or "Wei" are numerous. Yet only line of the tusk; that is, with the indentations
rarely does a Kuan-Yin or a tomb guardian but slightly cut. The effectiveness of the
or a Lohan substantially reflect the glories pieces arises from the resulting slender styli-
Seated Kiian-Yi7i. Porcelain. Early Ch'ing.
Buckingham Collection,
Art Institute of Chicago
Kuan-Yin. Porcelain. Late iMing

Seattle Art Museum
Old Men. Ivory. Ming. Metropolitan

Museum of Art; Royal Ontario Museum
CHINA 225
zation and fluent channeling. The standard- and intricate ivory carvings in relief— mar-
ized old man of these pieces, representing the velously cut fans and screens and box panels
dignity and serenity of the aged, is some- —arouse our wonder more for their workman-
times called the god of longevity. ship than for artistic originality. Woodcarv-
Porcelain figures became a standard prod- ing, too, was carried on, both in the round
uct, and the hundreds of known examples and and the spread and the ornate-
in relief,
are pleasing and distinctive. The \drtues here ness of the fretwork screens and panels, the
are grace and the fitness of the creamy white hiah-relief carvings on beam and balustrade,
ware to its sentimental-symbolic subject mat- and the melodramatic figures in the temples,
ter. The figure is most often the Kuan- Yin, pagodas, and palaces of Peking are known
now become a feminine deit)% and as com- throughout the world.
monly idolized in the Far East as the Ma- The account may best end with the truth
donna is in the West. The examples at that artisans were still occasionally, in objects
Chicago and Seattle are typical. such as stone seal-handles and jade figures,
The objects shown in the facing illustra- capturing a little of the magic of early Chi-
and have sentimental appeal
tions are prett)' nese animal sculpture. A composition such as
but cannot compare with the profound works the appealing Horse in white jade affords us
produced in the twenty-five centuries between something of the old delight in rhythmic
Shang and Ming. Some of the most ingenious massing and exquisite finish.
Horse. Jade. Ch'ing. Kang Hsi period, 1662—1722.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902
9: Korea and Japan:
The Spread of Buddhist Sculpture
KOREA'S location on a peninsula point- actual models of Buddhist sculpture into

ing southward from the Manchurian main- Japan, and from this beginning the whole
land toward the westernmost islands of Japan monumental art of the Japanese was to flower.
was a factor in the spread of sculptural art in Racially the Koreans were Siberians who
the Far East. In the period of the Han had settled in the peninsula as refugees from
Dynasty the Chinese Empire had expanded the war-torn states of upper China. They per-
to embrace both lower Manchuria and Korea. sisted physically as a distinctive people, differ-
Korean art was destined, in the centuries iming both from the Chinese and from the
mediately following, to be a brilliant reflection Japanese. Their social and cultural customs
of Chinese art. Korean artists in turn took and institutions were those of China (includ-
Wine vessel, tomb figure. Clay. Possibly 4th century a.d.

Kyungju, South Korea. National Museum, Seoul
KOREA AND JAPAN 227
ing ancestor-worship and spirit-worship, edu- currents of commerce. Between periods of
cational system, cash money, etc.)- In the withdrawal, however, there were times when
fifth and were full in the
sixth centuries they interchange with the nearby continental na-
tide of Buddhist ardor that was then sweeping tions introduced new philosophies, religions,
the Chinese Empire. The Korean statues of and arts. The real story of the art of Japan
the Buddha and Bodhisattvas made at that begins with the introduction of Buddhism
time and in the T'ang era are hardly distin- from Korea in a.d. 552, and the cultural ideals
guishable from the mainland figures. The derived through Korea from the Buddhist
Koreans were harried by the nearby Japanese, sculptors of China determined Japanese
were sometimes conquered and had their land practice for centuries.
annexed. But in the sixth century, in one of Although the tide of Buddhism swept over
the quieter periods, they passed on to the Japan from outside, transforming worship and
island kingdom both the knowledge of Bud- art, it is clear that the Japanese had previously
dhism and the tradition of Buddhist sculpture. trained artisans who were able to work with
Korean art is competent, craftsmanlike, and and understand the immigrant Korean sculp-
pleasing, but most of it is derivative. While tors, and in time to make the traditional Bud-
sculpture is noticeable among their arts, pot- dhist sculpture their own in a personal and
tery is the field in which the Koreans more national way. There is a primitive Japanese
particularly please discriminating collectors. sculpture which goes back to the later Neo-
The porcelains were developed with original- lithic era. In a period known as Jomon a
it)' and rivaled the Chinese products. special sort of pottery and anthropomorphic
There were three phases in Korean sculp- figures in potter's techniques were made in
tural art. The first, a local type of mortuary considerable numbers. Later, in the fourth
sculpture, is illustrated in a terra-cotta piece and fifth centuries, the Japanese had devel-
from a tomb, and indicates an inventive oped a form of sculpture in clay, known as
imagination. The second phase, as instanced Haniwa. It is in appearance a primitive or

in a Bodhisattva in bronze, illustrates the folk art, and it has been widely celebrated
dependence upon China for both subject and recently for its sirtiple virtues and a naive
method. In this there still persist vaguely individuality.
some traits inherited from the Greeks through The Haniwa compositions were generally
the Romans, developed idiomatically by the tomb figures; again China is paralleled,
sculptors of Gandhara, absorbed into the main though there is no stylistic connection with
body of Indian Buddhist art, carried to the the Chinese. The Haniwa figures, seldom
Chinese, and handed on by them to the more than three feet high, were set outside
Koreans. The third phase is illustrated in the the burial mounds, usually on cylinders built
relief panels from the Temple of Sok-kul-am as reinforcement of the mounds, whereas the
in South Korea, where the Korean sculptors Chinese clay ladies, dancers, and musicians
departed somewhat from the models as known were interred inside with their owner. The
in the Lung Men Caves and other Chinese originmay have been the same: to relieve the
shrines and endowed their work with a loneliness of the afterlife by providing loved
serenity and lifelikeness not encountered be- or amusing companions at the tomb, merci-
fore. fully manufactured in clay so that the origi-
nals might stay alive— though once ser\'ants,
entertainers, and horses had been buried with
Owing to their geographic position, the their masters.
island people of Japan sometimes withdrew The new Buddhist religion was not im-
from contacts with the main-
for long periods mediately established; political factions fought
land and from contamination bv the world for and against it until Prince Shotoku Taishi
^^/,?^-^-^,^-^
Triad \vith Buddha. By Tori. a.d. 613. Horiuji Temple, Nara
became Regent to the Empress Suiko and and taught with special emphasis that a spirit
gave official encouragement to the building of inhabited every person, phenomenon, or ob-
monasteries and temples. However uncertain ject. While not a particularly exacting re-
and delayed official acceptance may have ligion, Shinto had its ritual and reached into
been, the Buddhist art style was established every home, since every piece of furniture
by the importation of Korean images and by and cooking or washing utensil was endowed
the arrival in Japan of sculptor-monks. The with a spirit.
period was known as Suiko from the name of There also developed an unquestioning
the Empress (reigning from 593 to 628), or patriotism and obedience to an emperor whose
Asuka, from the name of the district in which spirit was the sun-goddess. A caste system,
the culture formed, in Yamato. dating from feudal times, led to dominance
Shinto had been the distinctive religion of by the samurai or military class. Shinto nur-
the Japanese. It was a mosaic of beliefs which tured onlv a few of the arts, most notably the
included nature-worship and ancestor-worship formalized no drama and the minor sculp-
KOREA AND JAPAN 229
tural art that provided masks for the no actors. Langdon Warner, a pioneer scholar-writer
Shinto remained the ofBcial rehgion of who did much to increase appreciation of
Japan until 1945, even though the showier Japanese sculpture in America and England,
rehgious monuments of the country had been wrote in The Enduring Art of Jafan that
for more than thirteen centuries the Buddhist "possession of the mysteries of a craft means
monasteries, and the Buddhist priests the nothing less than a power over nature gods
most active workers in sculpture. Buddhism and creates a priest out of the man who con-
opened new vistas of universal spirituality, trols it." Japan's sculpture is evidence of an
self-giving, and compassion. But the individ- extraordinary power to understand nature
ual was still surrounded by those thousands and to transmit the spirit of inner man along
of minor spirits, and he had no reason to give with an image sufficiently true to nature. It
up the main beliefs and observances of is priest's business. Throughout the Buddhist
Shinto. world the priest-sculptor is found, and Bud-
The art horizon was widened as was re- dhist sculpture attains spiritual quietude and
ligious perception, and the Japanese went repose more fully than any other.
on to creation of the Biiddhas and Bodhisatt- One of the waves of influence from China,
vas in wood or bronze to celebrate the Bud- in the period of the T'ang emperors (a.d.
dha Sakyamuni. They learned to provide the 618-907), brought a modification of the im-
vehicle by which the devotee might be stim- personality or aloofness which is implicit in
ulated to spiritual contemplation or be led early Japanese monumental sculpture. Ch'an
into the mood of quiet peace, the token on Buddhism had turned the Chinese product
earth of nirvana. toward humanism and simplification, and
Because the islands lacked workable stone, temporarily at least toward realism. Ch'an or
the sculptors turned to wood, of which there Zen Buddhism in Japan brought in a gradual
was a plentiful supply, and they learned to drift toward lifelikeness in portraiture, and
work bronze. In Japan too, as in China, (from the Taoist element especially) an ease
statues of life size or over were built up in in both pose of subjectand methods of cut-
lacquer. The lacquer or lac tree, a species of ting or modeling. In later centuries, as sculp-
sumac, was native to both countries. But the ture entered fields other than the religious,
Japanese genius found noblest expression in some of the stiffer poses came back into
the medium of wood. fashion.At the same time the craftsmanship
For thirteen centuries the Japanese have began a centuries-long decline, ending in a
treasured and protected the early wooden rather slick sort of stylization.
masterpieces and the wooden temples and The earliest two historic periods, the Suiko
monasteries in which many of them are and the Nara, were comprised in slightly
housed. While a few centuries of wars or a less than two hundred and fifty years and
few decades of religious intolerance have ob- produced the best of which Japanese artists
literated most of the images in wood in the were capable. The Suiko period ended within
rest of the civilized world, the Japanese have a century, in a.d. 646. In the late seventh
succeeded in preserving a major heritage. century art flowered anew, in what is known
Their wooden figures form the world's most as the Nara period, which was to last to 794.
successful achievement of sculpture in the The following period is known as the Heian,
medium. The African body of sculptures in from a word meaning "Capital of Peace,"
wood, which is equally craftsmanlike and referring to the new capital, Kyoto. Despite
aesthetically as appealing, is also a ritual successful repetitions of traditional types, the
form of creation, but the Japanese figures time is somehow an unexciting one. New
rose to a monumcntality seldom attained by circumstances should have given rise to
Africans. fresh modes of expression. Buddhism ex-
230 KOREA AND JAPAN
panded with the rise of mystical sects, and Tokyo. Government-approved publications
the court and nobles strove to lift the arts to compile the list and dates of the historical
new creative levels. But the golden age was periods thus:
past. Sculpture lost its simplicity and some- Asuka period (or Suiko) 552-646
thing of its dignity, although it acquired a Nara period 646-794
liveliness and outward decorative grace. Fleian period I 794-897
The latter Heian period (or
part of the Heian period II
Heian II, as it is sometimes referred to) was (sometimes Fujiwara) 897-1186
also called the Fujiwara period. The Kama- Kamakura period 1186-1392
kura period (from 1186 to 1392) brought Muromachi period 1392-1568
about a return to older standards. Curiously Momoyama period 1568-1615
enough, the destruction of some of the great Yedo period 1615-1867
Buddhist temples at Nara occasioned the Modern period 1867-to date
renaissance. Leading sculptors were brought
together and were set the task of producing
images "as fine as the ones destroyed." It
turned out that they did not possess the ge-

nius necessar)' to the conception and execu-
tion of statues as magnificent as the Biiddhas
and Bodhisattvas of the eighth century, but
they did develop a school of woodcarving
that excelled in realistic portraiture.
After the Kamakura period came the
Muromachi, from 1392 to 1568, then the
Momoyama to 161 5, and the Yedo to 1867.
But by any profound standard the history of

Japanese sculpture had all but ended in the
thirteenth or at latest the fourteenth century.
The late Kamakura portraits are interesting
and sometimes illustrate an extraordinary
combination of realism and schematization.
Zen Buddhism retained none of the early
tendency to suppress personality, and en-
couraged the production of images of saints
and priests. From portraying religious char-
acters the sculptors began to commemorate
noblemen and warriors.
From the seventeenth to the early twen-
tieth century monumental sculpture is
scarcely mentioned in serious books about

the art, and Japanese sculpture is known to
most Western collectors and students in such
small objects as masks, netsuke, and sword
guards, and in tiny ivory carvings. The
larger masterpieces, with rare exceptions,
are to be seen only in the Buddhist monas-
teries, or occasionally at one of the three Bodhisattva. Bronze. 7th century.
national museums at Nara, Kyoto, or Sankoku, Korea. Fogg Museum of Art
n
TH E Korea of the sixth centur)^ was
successful in art in all the fields culti-
abstract sculpture.
curred also in the
A native development oc-
memorial lanterns and
vated by the Chinese of the era of the Six tombstones, which take simple form, then
Dynasties. There are some clay pieces from blossom in incidental ornament as distinctive
the fourth or fifth century, of which the found on the Celtic crosses of Ireland.
as that
wine vessel in the form of a warrior on Most worthy of attention, however, is a
horseback, at the head of this chapter, is an series of large figures cut on stone slabs for
amusing example. But the commoner type wall coverings. Those at the Temple of Sok-
of early Korean sculpture is so similar to the kul-am, near Kyungju in South Korea,
Chinese, as in the case of the bronze Bo- which is part cave-shrine and part architec-
dhisattva opposite, that only specialists are tural structure, form one of the noblest of the
able to name the origin immediately. many Buddhist art meccas in the Far East.
All the types of statue common to the Like the Chinese models (and similarly in-
Buddhist centers of China under the Wei fluenced by Greco-Indian sculpture), these
emperors are duplicated in the products of half-round figures, ascribed to a.d. 752, have
the Korean states. The Buddha and his dis- dignity, amplitude, and serenity. They have
ciples are found in everv size and form, also a special rounded grace which is in-
from colossal stone figures to diminutive nately Korean.

bronzes. The tomb guardians, both human Of the Neolithic Jomon culture in Japan,
and animal, abound, and relief sculpture is the figure at the Musee Guimet, Paris,
varied and spirited. shown between primitively decorated jars, is
The design of pagodas in Korea was ori- simpler than most and is one of the more
ginal and might be considered as a sort of pleasing pre-Buddhist Jomon products.
Teapot; figure; vase. Clay. Japanese, Jomon culture. Musee Guimet. QPhoto Giraudon^
232 KOREA AND JAPAN
Buddhist figures. Stone, a.d. 752. Temple of Sok-kul-am, South Korea.

(_Photos courtesy National Museum, Seoul')
KOREA AND JAPAN 233
/ i
>
\t' «t>
;' <
s
ik^
V i
Temple of Sok-kul-am.
BocUiisattvas. Stone.
QPhotos courtesy National Museum, Seoul~)
234 KOREA AND JAPAN
The Horse of the Haniwa primitive or
folk shows surprising intuitional graces
art
and an amusing mixture of formal short-cut-

ting and realistic detailing.
The bronze Buddha from Seoul, a Korean

image, is in an idiom reminiscent of the Wei
carvings of the Lung Men Caves of the sixth
century and of the Chinese bronze statuettes
of the sixth and seventh centuries. But with
the wooden Buddha of the early seventh
century from the Chuguji Temple there is
a suggestion of a native Japanese modifica-

tion of the imported style. Simplification and
clarity were to characterize Japanese work for
several centuries following. And, indeed, the
native sculptors were already setting out
upon a course that would lead them to a
distinctive and magnificent national achieve-
ment. The very fine Buddha in wood, shown
Buddha. Bronze, gilded. Korean,

Period of the Three Kingdoms, 7th century.
National Museum, Seoul
Buddha, detail. Wood. 7th century.

Chuguji Temple, Nara
KOREA AND JAPAN 235
here only in detail, is said to have been

can'ed in Japan by Korean sculptors. It was
one of the images produced under the pat-
ronage of Prince Shotoku, in whose private
chapel it stood. The Buddha in bronze, be-
low, indicates the direct descent of methods
(most notably the scalloped draperies)
which are to be seen, less regularized, in the
Chinese Biiddhas of the Northern Wei pe-
riod. It is also associated with the memory of
Prince Shotoku. It bears a date, 625, and is
the work of the priest-sculptor Tori, a native

artist in the second generation from an immi-
grant Korean carver.
As early as the first half of the seventh
centur)' a national genius different from the
Chinese was indicated especially in sculpture
in wood. The Japanese craftsmen valued the
grain of wood and the marks of
the the
knife. The Buddha at Kyoto is cut with the
directness and smoothness of stylization proper
to the native cypress used. Not only the tech-

nique of the carving but the facial type and a Horse. Clay. Japanese, Hanivva style, 6th century.
way of slenderizing the figure, fashionable QCourtesy Society for International

Cultural Relations, Tokyo^
Buddha. Bronze. Japanese, early 7th century.

Horiuji Temple, Nara
Buddha, detail.Wood. 7th century.

Koryuji Temple, Kyoto
236 KOREA AND JAPAN
for a considerable period after, proclaim that
the statue belongs to a national expression
different from any other.
The Kwannon from the Horiuji Temple
(corresponding to the Chinese Kuan-Yin) is
a more extreme example of the slenderized

style. Except for the nimbus, there is ad-
herence to the reticent carving and exquisite
formalization that best represent the Japanese
achievement. The flattened detail and the
repeated curvilinear rhythms are beautifully
manipulated, without detracting from the
sculptural "set" of the piece.
There are also seventh-century master-
pieces in bronze which range in size from
statuettes to the colossal. The Buddhist
statuettes are comparable with the Korean
and Chinese bronzes of the same period; but
in oversize metal figures the Japanese
achieved a distinctive variation. The detail
shown, of Yakushi, the god of healing (or

the healing Buddha), central figure of a
bronze triad about twice life-size, is modeled
with perfect mastery of the bronze medium.
God of Healing, detail. Bronze, colossal.

Early Nara period. Yakushiji Temple, Nara
Kwannon. Wood. 7th century.

Horiuji Temple, Nara
KOREA AND JAPAN 237
Amida Triad. Buddhist shrine. Bronze. Late 7th century. Horiuji Temple, Nara
(The mastery is so evident that some au- After the late seventh century China was
thorities assert that the craftsmen involved under the influence of the T'ang emperors,
must have come from China or Korea, and again there was interchange of ideas
countries owning a longer tradition of metal between China and Japan. The God Pro-
casting.) The massing, the smoothness of tector in unbaked clay (page 238) may con-
surface, the avoidance of undercutting, all ceivably indicate renewed discipleship to the
indicate comprehension of the special possi- Chinese masters. As written language, edu-
bilities of bronze-casting as a sculptural cation,manners, and dress were changed, so
method. It is a work of the late seventh the Chinese style in sculpture was re-em-
century. braced.
By comparison a miniature work, the head The clay medium has seldom been em-
of the central figure in the Amida Triad ployed so skillfully in large images as in the
next shown is equally a masterwork of sim- case of this over-life-size figure. The crisp
plicity and subtlety. The whole piece, treatment of the draperies is especially
whether the trinity of free-standing figures notable. The body is built up on a frame-
or the exquisitely graceful complex of reliefs work of wood, and there is an admixture
on the shield at the back, is a miracle of of very small amounts of other substances:
metalwork and a prime example of Oriental straw fiber, paper fiber, and mica, with the
mastery of abundant design. clay.
238 KOREA AND JAPAN
God Protector. Clay. 8th century. Todaiji Temple, Nara
Guardian King, detail. Clay. 8th century. Guardian, detail. Clay. 8th century.
Todaiji Temple, Nara Shinya-Kushiji Temple, Nara
The seated clay Bodhisattva (at the right)
is even more obviously a reflective work, in-
spired by the Chinese artists of T'ang. Yet

the Japanese at this time, after three or four
generations of practice, had as patently de-
veloped their own methods. Nowhere is
modeling in clay in and over-

near-life-size
life-size, and in dignified mien, more beauti-
fully exemplified than in this and the illustra-

tion facing it. Originally the second statue
was finished in porcelain clay and painted,
but the colors have worn off in the more than
a thousand years since its creation.
The Japanese originality of statement is
seen too in the many series of guardians set

up in temples. The Japanese guardian, unlike
the common tomb guardian of the Chinese, is
usually an image of one of the Protectors of

Bodhisattva. Clay. Early 8th century.
the Buddhist Faith or Kings of Heaven. The Horiuji Temple, Nara
same frightening aspect is characteristic of
both groups. The Japanese were perhaps the
greater masters in this ogreish mode. Seldom
has the human visage been sculptured into
so many fearsome but engaging variations.
There is a breath of realism here, too, that
is seldom felt in the Biiddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Naturalism is also seen in the delineations
of the legendary disciples, as in the eighth-
century lacquer Disci-pie of Buddha shown.
Disciple of Buddha. Lacquer. Late Nara period,

8th century. Kofukitji Temple, Nara
^
1
Left: The Priest Ganjin, detail. Lacquer.
period, 8th century. Toshodaiji
Nara
Temple, Nara
240 KOREA AND JAPAN
There are many of these disciples, the face of the statue can nevertheless rank with the
each so individuahzed that they would appear masterpieces of T'ang. It is known, on ac-
to be portraits from life. And indeed portrait count of the headdress, as the Eleven-headed
statues of the greatest Japanese teachers of the Kivannon. (A miniature head at the very top
Buddhist faith survive, from and from this is cut off in the photograph shown, without
later periods (though sometimes they were loss to the composition as a whole.)
carved a century or two after the subject Although the golden age of Japanese sculp-
had died). ture may be said to have ended by the
But it is the dignity, the solemnity, the opening of the ninth centur)', there were
quiet power— and some unexplainable sculp enough repetitions of the masterpieces of the
tural revelation of inner majesty and other- seventh and eighth centuries to leaven the
worldliness— that lifts the statues of the divini- mass of reflective and "light" works.The
ties above all other categories. Something of lacquer Buddha at the Metropolitan Museum,
the majesty and remoteness can be seen in New York, is one of the exceptional monu-
the lacquer Kwannon from the Shorinji ments—majestic, remote, serene.
Temple at Nara. Perhaps a little more artifi-
cial, in the repeated circlings of the draperies,
than the comparable works of the Chinese, Buddha. Lacquer.

Kwann07i. Lacquer, over life size

8th century.
Shorinji Temple, Nara
KOREA AND JAPAN 241
A truer expression of the taste of the time art of the Heian period has, in fact, an aspect
is in a famous scries of apsaras or heavenly reminiscent of baroque. The Heavenly Mu-
maidens and flying angels; in the decorative sician illustrated is instead a relief, from a
reliefs adorning architecture; and in elabora- panel in a famous octagonal bronze lantern
tion of headdress or aureoles; not to speak of that still stands before the Great Buddha
the semi-sculptural picturing on lacquer boxes Hall at Todaiji. The detail shows one of
and the engraving on mirrors. In the Byodo-in the six heavenly musicians as they are
Temple at Uji in Kyoto there are fifty of the wrought on pierced bronze insets.
apsaras and angels, figures with flowing The sculptors Unkei and Kaikei are es-
draperies, clouds, etc., apparently floating be- pecially known for portraiture. The portraits
fore the walls, enclosing a colossal gilded Bud- illustrated demonstrate the naturalness of
dha or entwined in the decorative aureole. aspect that was an ideal in the Kamakura
They are, in a small way, charming and agree- period, which opened in the late twelfth
able, but far from profound. A good deal of the century. The study of An Old Ascetic is an
exceptional character piece, painstakingly
realistic and full of the feeling of old age
and asceticism. It may be as late as mid-
centur)' and it is ascribed to a follower of
Unkei, possibly Tankei. Unkei himself.
An Old Ascetic. Wood. Early 1 3th century.

Sanjusangendo Temple, Kyoto
Heavenly Musician, detail of lantern panel.

Bronze. 8th century. Todaiji Temple, Nara.
QPhoto Asuka-en, Nara')
The Great Buddha. Bronze. 13th century. Kamakura
Shigefusa. Wood. 14th century Guardian with Lantern. Wood. By Koben. a.d. 1215.
Meigetsuin Temple, Kamakura Kofukuji Temple, Nara
KOREA AND JAPAN 243
whom the Japanese revere almost as
Michelangelo, car\'ed the portrait statue of
the Buddhist disciple shown at right, the
great Indian Asanga, whose writings did much
to spread the gospel of Buddha in Japan. Exact
portraiture was then an aim, and Unkei
achieved a li\'ing, believable figure despite the
lapse of centuries since Asanga's time.
It was a son of Unkei, named Kobcn, who
carved two Guardians with Lanterns for the
temple in which the statue of Asanga
stands. The one shown is t)îcal of religious
figuring of the time: more human, more
natural and understandable than the older
images had been— even where the subject was
mvthical. There is great vigor here, and com-
plete knowledge of human anatomy and
posture. Whether such a natural demon
equals the more restrained and majestic ones
of the eighth centur)' is open to question.
The Great Buddha of Kamakura was

erected in the thirteenth centur\'. The colos-
sal figure, almost fifty feet in height, has
long since been deprived by the elements of
its protecting temple; it stands silent and ma-
jestic, a lasting reminder of the solemnity,
peace, and illumination of the Buddhist Asanga. Wood. By Unkei. a.d. 1208.
Kofukuji Temple, Nara
faith. Conceived as a monument honoring
the Buddha but same time to the
at the Amida Buddha. Bronze. 15th century.
glory of the communit)^ of Kamakura, The Detroit Institute of Arts
Great Buddha recaptures the largeness and

the spiritual remoteness of sculpture of an
earlier time.
The portrait of Shigefusa, a feudal lord

I
who lived in the thirteenth centur)', was
carved after his death. Sculpturally the repre-
sentation of the stiff brocaded robes is awk-
ward—this was the carver's counterpart of
the ceremonial portrait-painting of the time
—but the face is a marvel of character dis-
closure. The sheer cutting of the upper body

makes an excellent foil to the subtle facial
play; but this sort of simplification was to
lead to a rather slick schematization, as illus-
trated in many later portraits.

The Amida Buddha from the fifteenth
century is inserted as evidence that religious
sculpture was continuously produced, and
244 KOREA AND JAPAN
that occasionally the old ideals of an imper- netsuke, little carved images in wood or ivory
sonal, formalized, and spiritually compelling that terminated the cords closing bags or
art persisted. Nevertheless Japanese sculpture pouches, cleverly reproducing animals, flowers,
had retrogressed— as did the Chinese and human beings, and other objects in daily life
Hindu from the fifteenth to the nineteenth or legend.
century— so that shallowly appealing works, In ivory the adroit Japanese craftsmen
such as cleverly streamlined portraits, are the made innumerable miniature statues and re-
outstanding exhibits from five hundred years liefs, often exquisitely carved but almost
of production. never important ohjets d'art. A great deal
For the rest, the story is chiefly of small of their best sculptural effort, in recent cen-
objects: the masks made for use in the turies, has gone into decorative wood carving
no dramas, often characterful and carved in connection with architecture. But nothing
with charming fluency and finish; the sword has served to revive the creative spirit that
guards bearing decorative patterns or anec- flourished in the Suiko, Nara, and Kamakura
dotal bits of relief, even landscapes; and the eras.
Masks; sword guards; ornaments. Wood; metal; metal with inlays.

16th- 18th centuries; recent. Victoria and Albert Museum
Ast0- ^-^y^
lo: India:
The Maturing of the Opulent Oriental Style
I
SCULPTURE in India is one of the Technicallv the stor)' begins nearly two
media for story-telling, and its theme is over- thousand years earlier, for excavations at
whelmingly religious. The densely popu- AIohenjo-Daxo and Chanhu-Daro in the
lated land teems with temples and shrines, Sind Indus and at
district of the valley of the
and the buildings are encrusted with sculp Harappa in thePunjab have uncovered clay
tural works, which form a vast picturebook figurines and seals which are important in
of popular religious tales. The Hindus were that thev indicate an advanced independent
old in spiritual wisdom when the Buddha culture of the Indus Valley by the year 2500
Gautama came in the sixth centurv B.C., but B.C. Because of the profusion of seals, it
it was the Buddhist was destined

faith that would seem possible that the Sumerians who
to inspire mankind's noblest achievement in pushed into Mesopotamia possessed a com-
the realm of devotional art in stone. mon anccstr)' with the people of the Indus.
Miracle of the Drunken Elephant. Medallion. Stone. 2nd century a.d. Amaravati.
Government Museum, Madras
246 INDIA
India includes minorities of half a dozen great number of stone columns upon which
ethnic strains, from Negroid and Mongoloid his edicts were inscribed. These are the first
to Dravidian and Aryan types, but the cen- monuments that can be dated. The crowning
tral ruling element is commonly accepted sculpture would appear to have had the sim-
as Ar)'0-Dravidian. The Dravidians were plicity and elegance of Persian work, al-
dominant when the Indo-European Aryans, though the pillars had native modifications.
and Greeks, poured down
related to Persians During the first half of the second century
through the northwestern passes and B.C., however, the indigenous idioms began to
pressed the Dravidians into the south. The reappear, and from then on a truly Indian
Aryans established themselves as the govern- art flourished. An exuberant type of art
ing power, shaped the common religion, and developed within the Hindu religion. One
made their Brahmins the only priests; they of the noblest faiths, it encourages asceticism
developed a basically Aryan language— in its and mystic contemplation and promises re-
literary form, Sanskrit— as first among the wards of harmony and peace to those wise
tongues of India. To protect their superiority, ones who progress beyond the dance of the
as they saw it, the invaders established senses, and at the same time it recognizes the
the caste system that persisted down to the naturalness of indulgence in the sensual
twentieth centur)'. Neither upheavals caused world. Much of the sculpture on the walls of
by the Hun invasions of the fifth and sixth the Temple of the Sun atKonarak in the
centuries and the Moslem invasions that district of Orissa is erotic and would not be
lasted over many centuries, especially the tolerated by religious or civic authorities in
eleventh and twelfth, nor again the con- the West, and such scenes are occasionally
quests by the Moguls in the fifteenth and encountered elsewhere in India on religious
sixteenth centuries, were able to destroy the shrines and temples. This decorative style is
caste system. In a countr)'^ with a loose con- thought to have a Dravidian source. The
federation of principalities— a mosaic of near- supposition is that these early inhabitants
independent states— invasions and conquests had developed a "people's art" and that when
before the British administration seldom in- Aryan officials of a master caste initiated
volved more than a segment of the land and large sculptural projects as at Barhut and
a fraction of the people. Sanchi, they had no choice but to call in
Aside from the Indus Valley culture, the people's sculptors. Thus a lush and tropical
earliest history of sculpture in India tells of element came to be incorporated in the first
outside influences. When Alexander invaded stupas or architectural mounds enshrining

he left part of his
in the fourth century B.C. relics of the Buddha.
army as settlers and administrators in the The gateways at Sanchi especially seem to
Ghandaran section of the country. Three be in the style of an art for the masses.
or four centuries later a development of Thenceforward the innumerable temples
classic sculpture occurred where Buddhism were embellished with figures, panel groups,
met surviving Greek influence or, as is now and festoons of foliation. A particular art
believed, encountered new influences from form in ancient India was cliffy sculpture, a
Rome. Reflections of Greek realism and rocky outcrop carved into a thousand figures,
clean Greek cutting are notable, especially or the rock-cut temple, with rooms and pas-
in the free-standing figures of the Buddha, sages carved out and architectural pillars and
already known in several parts of India and vv'alls shaped from the monolithic mass.
in Ceylon by a.d. 200. When the stupa at Barhut and the great
In the third century B.C. Asoka proclaimed stupa at Sanchi were built and decorated,
Buddhism as the state religion of India and though the illustrated stories were Buddhist,
commemorated the occasion by erecting a no image of the Buddha appeared. A sym-
IN DiA 247
Sculptured gateway. Stone. C. 150 b.c. Sanchi.
QPhoto Goloubev, courtesy Musee Guimet')
248 INDIA
bol sufficed: the tree appeared, instead of The following is therefore a shortened and
the Master, in the episode of the enhghten- not quite complete table of periods of Indian
ment; the wheel in the account of the first history.
sermon; or a lotus blossom; or footprints; or Prehistoric period: Down to c. 3000 B.C.
a stupa. But gradually the Buddha's injunc- Pre-Dravidian and Dravidian peoples.
tion against the worship of images was for- Indus Valley Cidture: Possibly as early as
ootten, and his own likeness became the Sumerian and Egyptian beginnings, but
central motive. Whether the image was intro- more conservatively dated 2500-1500 B.C.
duced first by the artists of Mathura or Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, and
Sarnath, or of some other center but faintly recently at Kalibangan.
touched by Hellenism, or by the sculptors Aryans entered India, probably between
of Gandhara, seems still undetermined, 2000 and 1500 B.C., to become the dominat-
though the date probably was the first cen- ing element of the population.
tury of the Christian era. Pre-Maurya period: 642-322 B.C. Most
Elie Faure eloquently described the Indian notable date 327-323
is B.C., when Alexander
temples and the sculptural style that derived Macedonian and Greek
the Great settled his
from the tropical South in his book Histoire countrymen in Gandhara (which is mostly
de I'Art: "Everything may serve to carry a in Afghanistan) and the northwest area of
statue, everything may swell into a figure— India.
the capitals, the pediments, the columns, the Maurya period: 320-185 B.C.
upper stages of the pyramids, the steps, the Andhra and Indo-Parthian period: Ap-
balustrades, the banisters of stairways. proximately 185 B.C. to A.D. 320.
Formidable groups rise and fall— rearing Gupta period: a.d. 320—600.
horses, warriors, human beings in clusters Medieval period and Decline: a.d. 600 to
like grapes, eruptions of bodies piled one the seventeenth century.

over the other, trunks and branches that are
alive,crowds sculptured by a single move-
."
ment as if spouting from one matrix. . .
Thus the perceptive French historian sum-

marized "the orgy of ornament" that is one
part of the Indian heritage in sculpture. He
knew but did not so tellingly dwell upon the
soberer part, which drew some of its clarity
and simplicity from the sculptors of the Gan-
dharan school.
Because of sectional differences, and fre-

quent dynastic changes, a complete chronol-
ogy would be more confusing than helpful.
Flying Figures. Stone.

6th century. Aihole
.rjl
II
INDIAN sculpture is nowhere surpassed covered. It is distinguished by great sculp

in sensuous charm and opulence. There tural vigor, along with subtle feeling for
are diverse major styles, but the oldest relics mass and contour. Drilled holes are believed
are of a civilization scantily represented by to be sockets for affixing of the now missing
works of art. The Indus Valley culture head and limbs.
yields hardly more than a store of well-de- The first datable monuments are the
signed seals, a very few battered statuettes in Buddhist commemorative pillars of the third
stone, and the usual commonplace figurines century B.C., bearing the edicts of the Em-
in clay. The seals, of which hundreds have peror Asoka. The beautifully formalized ani-
been found, are carved in ivory or stone, or mals, clear and bold, are perfectly fitted to
(more rarely) modeled in terra-cotta. The their decorative purpose. The six surviving
examples illustrated, from the excavations Asokan columns are monoliths, forty to fifty
at Mohenjo-Daro, are in steatite, a soft stone. feet in height, each with a decorated capital
The commonest type of design shows an and abacus surmounted by a single animal
animal on a more or less squared field, with figure, or, as in the first of the illustrations,
a line of hieroglyphs above. In general the a "multiple animal." The multiple lion is
seals indicate an admirable sense of style from the pillar at Sarnath, where the Buddha
and a competent craftsmanship. first preached. The bull is from a pillar orig-
It is likely that many significant relics of inally at Rampurva in Bihar.
the time— late in the third millennium before The details of relief medallions illustrated,
Christ— still lie buried in the Indus Valley from the Buddhist stupa or shrine at Barhut,
cities. The torso of a Dancing God is the best show the voluminous figures, the abundant
known of the few stone statuettes so far dis- detail, and the crowded composition which.
Seals. Stone. Indus Valley culture, 2500-1500 b.c. Mohenjo-Daro.

National Museum, New Delhi
250 INDIA
Relief medallions. Stone. C. 150 b.c. Stupa, Barhut. Indian Museum, Calcutta.
QPhoto Goloubev, courtesy Musee Guimet')
Dancing God, statuette. Stone. 2400-2000 b.c. Harappa, Punjab. National Museum, New Delhi
for centuries, were to characterize Indian
relief sculpture.Other decorated structures
indicate that the opulent mode had then been
established over a wide area. The next out-
standing exhibit, the gates and pillars at
Sanchi, generally credited to the first cen-
tury B.C., show the style matured and ex-
uberantly manifested.
The vigor, the richness, the ver)' volume
of this outpouring of sculpture usually ap-
pears overpowering to Westerners. Almost
any chosen panel illustrates a remarkable
mastery of plastic design and extraordinary
craftsmanship in cutting. This ornamental
sculpture more important than the struc-
is
ture it adorns. Supremely showy, at times

extravagant and gaudy, it nevertheless main-
tains a standard of splendor and opulence
Asokan column and capital figures. Stone. 3rd

century B.C. Sarnath (afcove); Rampurva (fceZoiv,
right^; Lauriya Nandangarh. Sarnath Museum;
National Museum, New Delhi; in situ. {Photos
by Archaeological Survey of India^
'A-' -.-it
km l^^'v^-^
25 2 INDIA
ll
Facing page:
Panels from gateway. Stone.
1st century b.c. Sanchi
Detail of gateway. Stone.

1st century B.C., Sanchi
INDIA 253
which is most characteristic of the Indian

and Indonesian contribution to sculpture. In
the nineteenth century Ruskin and, indeed,
most authorities considered it so barbaric and
so physical that it was relegated to the ethno-
ogical rather than the fine-arts museums. Now,
when tastes are less rigidly Hellenic, the
sensuous Oriental st^'le is recognized as one
of the major achievements within the history
of creative sculpture. innumerable There are
on pillars, that
figures in the panel groups, or
show how the female body became standard-
ized in early Indian art, small of waist, gen-
erously full in breast and thigh. The fine
torso at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,
though somewhat battered, may illustrate the
point better than the more commonly repro-
duced pillar n)Tnphs from Mathura.
The Indian stj'le may have been fully
formed in the Maurya period but the flood
of typical productscame only in the Andhra
period, to which belong the masterpieces of
Sanchi and the relief from Amaravati shown
at the beginning of this chapter (though the
sculpture of the Barhut stupa and some

parts at Sanchi are of earlier date).
The Wead. from Mathura, with its formal-
ized curls and heavy features, is of the late
Andhra or the succeeding Gupta period. It
is in line with the voluminous composition

and heavy richness of earlier native monu-
ments. The chapter-opening illustration, a
medallion from the stupa at Amaravati, illu-
strates the legend of the drunken elephant

and is a relief that could not be mistaken as
other than Indian. The railing of the stupa,
and its gates, supported nearly 17,000 square
feet of reliefs.
The stone figure of the Buddha now at
Kansas City obviously departs from the style
illustrated in the four preceding illustra-
tions. It signals arrival at India's "second

style," a style nobly serene and almost
austere. It is Indian, with a suggestion of
Western classicism in the handling of the
draperies,and there is a general air of classic
purity and restraint.
Similarly, the fourth-century Head of
Buddha (at right) is different from anything
so far illustrated from Middle Indian art.
For three hundred years nothing had been

produced in Europe as solidly sculptural and
as subtly beautiful as this. But in the Bud-
dhist East, whether in India or in Afghanistan,
the Greek manner had been preserved, and
continued from the time of Christ's birth to
the tenth century. The serenity and calm,
though classic, appear to be a Buddhist in-
fluence rather than Greek.

The two heads next shown are of types
commonly found in the Gandharan country.
They are so numerous in smaller size that
it is inferred that molds were sometimes used
for duplication. Sculptor-monks believed that
merit was earned when images of the Buddha
were multiplied. The great number of de-
tached heads in the museums is partly ex-
Buddha. Stone. Gupta, 5th century.

Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Torso of a Yaksi. Stone. 100-50 B.C. Sanchi

Head. Stone. 2nd-5th centuries. Mathura

Victoria and Albert Museum
INDIA 25 5
Head of Buddha. Stucco. Gandharan, 4th century. City Art Museum, St. Louis
Head of Buddha. Clay with gesso. 7th-10th Head of Buddha. Stucco. 5th century. Hadda.
centuries. Gandharan. Metropolitan Museum of Art Victoria and Albert Museum
25 6 INDIA
Buddha. Stone. Gupta, 5th century.

Mathura Museiim. QCoiirtesy Musee Guimet)
Cv plained by the fact that bodies often were

hastily modeled in impermanent materials
and collapsed during the following centuries.
(But some heads were obviously made for
mounting on walls.)
There is a range of Gandharan heads that
may be described as the Apollo type spiritual-
ized and endowed with the serenity of the
Buddha. Occasional pieces, such as the smil-
ing Head of a Devata, indicate less serious
intention.
The full-length Buddha in stone (at left)
is unmistakably Indian, a representative work
of the fifth centur)^ in the Gupta period.
The Western influence has been absorbed. A
type of Buddha figure has been established,
with incidental Hellenic features, which in
its Cambodian, Javanese, Chinese, and
Japanese interpretations provides the largest
treasury of exalted statues devoted to a single
subject. In India, at many centers, the paral-
lel art of luxuriously abundant sculpture, of
swelling forms and sinuous line, was being
practiced; but the emergence of the solemn,
awe-compelling Buddha was the main feature
of the period. The figure, as it was absorbed
into Indian iconography in the fifth century,
has little left of the naturalistic Greek
Apollo, though some of the minor sculptural
idioms are marked by experts as Greco-
Roman.
The early sculpture from India is almost
entirely in stone, with the Gandharan ex-
hibits exceptionally (but rarely) in stucco.
But from the fifth century there were master-
pieces in metal. The Buddha at Birmingham
shows the simplification and calm dignity of
the stone Buddhas of Sarnath translated into
metal. This over-life-size figure is of copper,
not bronze, and it is cast in two layers over
a core of clay, sand, cinders, etc. Bronze
figures in smaller size became more common.
Head of a Devata. Stucco. 4th century. Tash

Kurgan, Turkestan. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
INDIA 25 7
Buddha Delivering His First Sermon. Stone.

5th century. Sarnath. Sarnath Museum
Asoka had established Buddhism as the

and sent missions
national religion in India
to introduce the cult in neighboring and
allied countries. His son visited Ceylon, and

the island adopted Buddhism and has con-
tinued, unlike India, to be overwhelmingly
Buddhist. The remains of the ancient capital,
Anuradhapura, include many remarkable

specimens of the several diverse styles of
Indian sculpture. Among them a Sinhalese
version of the austere Buddha type is most
notable. The dignity and clarity of the stand-
Buddha. Copper. 5th century. Bengal. ing figures are qualities transmitted in course
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England of time to Cambodia and Java also.
Buddha. Stone, colossal.
3rd or 4th century. Anuradhapura
The colossal seated Buddha of Anura- Ceylon also developed the ample, deco-
dhapura is one of the most impressive monu- rated style, as is seen in such a fragment as
ments in the East. The simplicity, the bulk, the voluptuous Coit-ple on a guardstone end-
and the plastic rhythms reinforce the human ing a balustrade at Anuradhapura. On page
serenity and the cosmic stillness which the 248 is a relief of Flying Figures from a
statue is designed to evoke in the worshiper. temple at Aihole in southern India, where
There are companion figures less well pre- similar figures illustrate the mature Gupta
served at Anuradhapura; and many of the style. The sensuous note was dominant for
treasures of that ancient city have counter- many centuries in temple sculpture, whether
parts at the later capital, Polonnaruva. Buddhist, Jainist, or Hindu.
Buddhist Figures. Stone, over life size. C. 200. Anuradhapura, Ceylon.

(_Photo courtesy Musee Guimet')
m^^X
INDIA 259
At Ellora in the Deccan the outstanding At the edge of a lake near Anuradhapura
temple, the Kailasa, was hewn complete from the sculptors of Ceylon transformed a huge
a rock mass. The Hindu sculptures were mass of rock into a devotional sculptured
carved in a mixed fashion, with dominating composition. But the most amazing example
figures in the round, and some engaged fig- of such car\'ing is on a cliff, or rather an
ures and areas in low relief. The scene illu- upthrust rock wall, in the complex of mono-
strated, Siva and Parvati on the Motintain, lithic temples and cave shrines at Mamal-
with Havana the Earth-Shaker Below, is lapuram in eastern South India. The rock
t)'picalof the intensely vigorous and prodi- mass, some thirty feet high and one hundred
gally abundant compositions. There are both feet long, was car\'ed with hundreds of fig-
Buddhist and Jainist rock-cut shrines at ures of gods, men, nymphs, and animals, to
Ellora, profusely sculptured, and at Badami illustrate the Hindu legend of the Descent
there are cave temples with similarly sumptu- of the Ganges. (See following page.)
ous rupestrian art. The life-size elephants afford some focus
The Siva Temple at Elephanta is a cave in the confusion of figures, but the effect is
shrine famous for its splendid reliefs and disordered. However, many of the separate
for the Three-Headed Mahadeva. The cave groups in relief, and certain processions of
temple as an entity can be studied as early figures, are effective and even masterly. The
as the third centur)' B.C., but in the earliest animals are especially charming, more na-
examples the display of sculpture is com- turalistic than is usual in India, but sheerly
paratively meager. carved, with perfect understanding of the
Couple. Stone. 5th-8th centuries. Siva and Parvati on the Mountain, with Ravana
Anuradhapura. the Earth-Shaker. Mid-eighth century.
QPhoto Goloiibev, courtesy Musee Guimet') Rock-cut Kailasa Temple, Ellora
Detail of cli£E sculpture. Early 7th century. Mamallapuram
The Descent of the Ganges, detail, cliff sculpture.

Early 7th century. Mamallapuram. QCourtesy Musee Guimet")
-Tit- *i
'tX:
'^ F
:^V
If^
."•^ 1
^1<
WS^
%:
¥^^ '^
< »— HkZ^7
'f>^:i^!î
INDIA 261
lithic medium— as may be seen in the detail Three-Headed Mahadeva. 8th century.
of the two deer and the tortoise. Rock-cut temple at Elephanta.
CCourtesy Musee Guimet')
The detailed of the Kandarya
picture
Mahadeva Temple Khajuraho serves to
at
illustrate how the unruly elements in the

sculpture could be brought into subjection to
architecture. Building logic had almost dis-
appeared, but the inset traceried panels and

the half-contained figures are unusually inter-
esting. (See following page.)
Back in the fifth century, the beautifully
simplified, rather severe style of Buddha
image had become fairly common among
bronze statuettes. The example at Boston
(page 263, lower illustration) is typical.
The larger Buddha beside it was found

in Indo-China but is identified by scholars
as a fifth- or sixth-century product of Indian
Detail of cliff sculpture.

Mamallapuram
262 INDIA
Kandarya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho. C. 1000

m
Bodhisattva, Bronze. 8th century. Ceylon.

'9m.
^^Ss*-*..-
Buddha. Bronze. Gupta, 5th-6th

centuries. Found in Annam.
(Courtesy Musee Guitnet^
Buddha. Bronze. Gupta, 5th-6th centuries.

264 INDIA
craftsmen, and is thus an example of Gupta There are great numbers of the bronze
workmanship. (or copper) figures in the museums, with a
The tradition was continued in medieval certain purity of feeling from the early
The fluidity of pose of the
times. little eighth- medieval style. Much of the sculpture at the
centurv Sinhalese Bodhisattva is indicative of famous Rajrani Temple at Orissa is in volup-
the way in which the sculptors of Ceylon tuous style, as the stone figures of nymphs
matched or foreshadowed the develop- from the British Museum and the Metropoli-
ments of mainland art. It is in line with the tan Museum clearly demonstrate.
early medieval style known as Pallava. The Despite the spirituality and austere ideal-
Parvati shows traces of the classic treatment ism of true Hinduism, the popular deities
of drapery, but the general aspect is of a late are dualistic, and occasionally they express an
medieval piece, foreshadowing the coming understandable wantonness. In popular
decadence. (Below, at right.) imagery they become less and less remote,
Panel figures. Stone. Parvati. Bronze. C. 900. South India.

llth-12th centuries. Orissa. Cora Timken Burnett Collection,
British Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art
INDIA 265
less and less s\Tnbolic. In the end they appear a little more obviously decorative. The pre-
superbly virile and sculptural, as in the Rama cision of pose in the bronze here, as in the
with a Bow illustrated.But they are a great preceding piece, is notable.
distance from any divinity that could be The later Hindu sculptors were more in-
imagined by a Christian or a Moslem or a terested in precise adjustment of attitude and

Buddhist of the strict sect. in symbolic appurtenances than in a massive
By this time Buddhism in India had been sculptural entity. In the late Medieval
in a centuries-long decline. It is largely the period and in the decadent period to follow,
Hindu deities that illustrate the rest of the the lithic element virtually disappeared; and
story of Indian sculpture. Ceylon continued in the bronzes that represent the best in
to reflect mainland tendencies in sculpture, Indian achievement after the twelfth cen-
and the Yoiithfid Saint shown is reminiscent tury, refinements assume importance rather
of South Indian or Dravidian expression, if than largeness and dignity. Even so satisfying
Rama with a Bow. Copper. Youthful Saint. Bronze.

12th century. South India. Ceylon. 12th-l 3th centuries.
Victoria and Albert Museum Colombo Museum
a statuette as the seated Uma, which reverts
a little toward classic repose, gains part of its
effectiveness from the piling up of decorative

accessories, and lacks the quiet dignity of the
bronzes of the golden age.
In the North, especially in Bihar and
Bengal, a different kind of omateness was
cultivated at this time, demonstrated in a
long series of high-relief plaques or stelae
dedicated to the sun-god Surya, or occasion-
ally to Siva. The plastic unity often suffered,
as in the Siva-Sakti and Siirya shown. They
are typically crowded, perhaps typically over-
loaded. The st)'le of cutting is hardened, as if
the cancers of stone had attempted to approxi-

mate the properties of sculpture in metal.
Often the crowded-in masks, flowers, scrolls,
and minor figures are marvelous, both com-
positionally and as skillful carving. The Siva-
Sakti is, of course, profoundly symbolic, each
detail contributing to the meaning.
The sculptors of Nepal, the country to
the northwest of Bihar and Bengal, with a Uma. Copper. 12th-14th

centuries. South India.
Left: Siva-Sakti. Stone. 10th century. Bengal. British Museum

Right: Surya, the Sun-God. Stone. 12th century. Bengal. Victoria and Albert Museum
INDIA 267
history and a people inextricably bound up Tara, a goddess in both the Hindu and the
with those of India, but generally indepen- Buddhist pantheons— in the latter as mother
dent, developed an attractive variation of the of mystic wisdom and therefore, bv associ-
Hindu or Buddhist-Hindu art. The statuettes ation, Mother of Buddha. Statuettes of simi-
of bronze and copper often combined sheer, lar nature, but generally less accomplished,
prettily modeled masses and elaborated dec- have been brought from Tibet, where sculp-
orative accessories. The decorators' instinct ture was strongly influenced by the Nepalese,
sometimes led to the insetting of jewels in if not produced by immigrant craftsmen and
the bronze floriation. The copper Lokesvara their descendants. Nepalese art, in turn, was
illustrated is t\'pical. Traces remain of a gold influenced by contact with both Tibet and
co\ering. The six-armed figure is a manifes- China.
tation of the beneficent Dhyani Bodhisattva The deities Parvati, Uma, and Kali (all
worshiped in Nepal. manifestations of the Spouse of Siva) reflect

A second copper figure, very similar in the three responsibilities of the Hindu di-
idiom though later in date, is the image of vine triad: creation, preservation, and de-
Lokesrara. Copper, gilded. C. 12th century. Avalokita. Cast copper, gilded, inset with jewels.
Nepal. Whittemore Collection, C. 16th century. Tibet or Nepal.
Cleveland Museum of Art Victoria and Albert Museum
268 INDIA
Tara. Copper, gilded, inset with jewels.

Nepalese-Tibetan, probably 16th century. Victoria and Albert Museum
INDIA 269
struction. Kali is the goddess-manifestation

of evil, destruction, and bloody horrors. The
example here. Kali -nHth Cymbals, despite
the scarecrow face and the haglike skinniness
of limb, achieves a truly rhythmic sculptural
movement.
A favorite subject among late South Indian
bronzes is Siva represented as Nataraja or
Lord of the Dance, one of the thousand
manifestations of the supreme Hindu deity.
Usually the dancing figure is four-armed,
surrounded by a circle of fire, and standing
on a dwarf. Often the halo of flame, attached
to two of the hands, to the hair, and to the
headdress, is missing from surviving exam-

ples; however, the precise movement and
balance of the figures are remarkable.
Kali with Cymbals.

Bronze. 14th century.
Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum,
Kansas City
Siva as Lord of the Dance. Bronze

16th- 17th centuries. South India.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
*--^^^--^^'
270 INDIA
The second example illustrated of Siva as and spaces in a composition full of equili-
Lord of the Dance is a richer decorative unity, brated movement. The significance of the
and it illustrates almost scientifically a fre- figure is that this is Siva dancing joyously, to
quently forgotten truth about sculptural com- set in motion the pulse of life in everything
position—that although basically an art of spiritual and physical.
related masses, sculpture implies space carvêd Great numbers of bronze statuettes were
out, and an ordered relationship of solids and produced after 1600, but the best were copies
surrounding space. Here the artist has out- of earlier styles; the mass comprised crude
lined a circular space, and implied a spherical trade pieces. The museum pieces of later date,
space, and he has brought alive both solids such as the Lakshmi illustrated, are notable
Siva as Lord of the Dance. Bronze. South India. Royal Ontario Museum
as reflecting merits more enjoyably conveyed
five hundred or a thousand years earher.
In the Western world, appreciation of
Indian sculpture has been delayed almost as
if it were as strange as the arts of the South
Seas. The classically trained European, hold-

ing to Greek standards of a simple, clear,
idealistic art, and puritanically reticent where
the human figure was concerned, simply
closed his eyes to the gorgeous if sometimes
sensual display existent in the lithic and metal
arts of India. Fortunately, in the mid-twenti-
eth century appreciation has widened as the
Greek influencehas weakened. Even in
architecture.Western ideals of logic and disci-
pline have been relaxed and the temples and
shrines have been widely enjoyed. The build-
ings, of which the frames often seem to be
obscured under cascades and torrents of

sculpture, are seen to be consistent and in
the spirit of the national culture. The final
illustration is of two gopurams, the temple
Lakshmi. Bronze. 16th-17th centimes.
South India. Musee Guimet. QGiraudon photo')
Aiyanar. Bronze. Victoria and Albert Museum

272 INDIA
gateways that are characteristic features oF sense, they are signs and expressions of a
so many of the sacred cities of South India. national ethos, of a distinctive religious ful-
Hardly buildings or shelters in the orthodox fillment.
Gopurams at Meenakshi Temple, Madura. (Government of India official photo')

ii:The Flowering in Southeast Asia:
Cambodia y Siam^ Java
I
THE history of art in Southeast Asia goes Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Laos, Champa,
back to the fifth century a.d., but it was Sumatra, and Java, and which was pre-
art
rather in the seventh and eighth centuries, dominantly religious and Buddhist was prac-
the time of the achievements at Mamalla- ticed widely. The Hindu culture also sent out
puram, and Elephanta, that the Indian
Ellora, its missionaries and flourished for a time in
style of art was fully embraced. When the Cambodia and especially in western and
Emperor Asoka had consolidated his empire middle Java before the eighth centurv. The
he grew tired of war and turned to religion. artists were evangelists and created figures
He was personally converted to Buddhism to glorify gods and saints.
and sent missionaries abroad. Eventually The Khmers, people of Cambodia, who
Buddhism became the dominant religion in then ruled also in Siam (Thailand), created a
The Buddha Receives the Rohe of the Monks, relief. Stone.

Buddhist, 8th-9th centuries. Borobudur Temple, Java. {Musee Guimet photo^
274 THE FLOWERING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
distinctive style of East Asian art as early as suffused with the spirit of Hinduism, and
the seventh century, a style that culminated the craftsmanship of the Indo-Chinese peo-
in a classic period lasting from a.d. 900 to ple is an extension of Indian skills.
1200. They developed both a Buddhist and a After Cambodia, the Siamese went on to
Hindu art. The superbly sculptured heads conquer Champa, along the coast of present-
brought to distant art museums have become day Vietnam. The Champans had developed
identified especially as examples of the Khmer a style in the Indian tradition, but it was
stA'le. They afford a revelation of a basic modified by contacts with the Chinese and
Buddhist principle concerning peace of mind the Polynesians. It is more primitive, with a
on earth and eventual rest in the bliss of heavy stonelike quality. It is of special in-
Nirvana. As the classic period came to its end terest for archaeologists because many pieces
there were, of course, variations and in- suggest a link between further Indian art and
fluences owing to dynastic changes and pres- the art of the Mayans in Central America.
sure of successful invaders. The Hindu culture of western and central
Siamese art began as early as the Cam- Java before the eighth century, allied espe-
bodian and the development was at first cially with the Pallava culture of South India,
identical. The Thais had affinities with is represented by few surviving monuments.
Chinese art, but, in the period of assimilation The greatest existing Javânese monument is
and Thai subservience, the Indian and Cam- the temple-complex of Borobudur, which is
bodian influence prevailed. It is not easy to Buddhist. It consists of terraces, stupas, bal-
identify early Siamese works. What may be ustrades, and niches with statues.
called the Mon style, after the peoplewho The two religions imported from India are
settled in part of Burma and, by infiltration often strangely mixed in Southeast Asia. In
southeast, in Siam, prevailed until the tenth many cases the two faiths persisted at the
century. same court. The ruling classes in the several
After their invasions of the eleventh and kingdoms were often Hindu. But the
twelfth centuries, the Thais, Mongolians Hindus, even in India, incorporated the
from the north who became the true Siamese, Buddha and the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
made their concerted stand in the thirteenth into their pantheon.
century against the Khmers who ruled over Late in the ninth century the Javanese
southern Siam. In the fourteenth and fif- wrested central Java from the Sailendra
teenth centuries the Thais conquered Cam- rulers who had come from Bud- Sumatra.
bodia and destroyed the Khmer civilization. dhism then gave way to Hinduism and the
The city of Angkor Thom, built about the next group of temples celebrated Siva, Vishnu,
end of the ninth century, and the temple of and Brahma. The center of cultural activity
Angkor Vat became lost in the jungle and the passed to east 1000, and
Java before a.d.
ruins were discovered only in the late nine- Chandi Kidal, Chandi Djago near Malang,
teenth century. The mature Siamese style is and the mausoleum temple of King Erlanga
especially the product of the thirteenth to at Belahan were built. In the fifteenth
fifteenth centuries, though many appealing century Java was taken over by the Moslems,
works were to be produced also in the six- and figurative sculpture has never been im-
teenth and seventeenth centuries. Siamese, portantly revived, only woodcarving as a
Cambodian, and Javanese art products are folk art surviving.
II
TH E recognizable Cambodian
peared in the sixth or seventh century
style ap- century
in their
Khmer craftsmen had become masters
own right. There is a liveliness here,
A.D. The relics from those centuries include an aesthetic vitality, that brings the figures
such proficient sculpture as the pre-Khmer into line with the simple, timeless art of
Head of Buddha and the two standing figures, Old Kingdom Egypt and of China in the
Harihara and Female Figure. The stone head Wei Period. It is worth noting how deli-
is reminiscent of Hindu types but it is also cately yet fully each garment and hair ar-
sculpturally akin to the earliest Buddhist rangement is indicated, without detracting

statues of China. (See page 277.) from the massiveness and unity of the figure:
The full-length figures are similarly remi- how minor enrichment is added without
niscent of Indian sculpture, but by the seventh sacrificing the integrity of the block.
Head of Buddha. Clay. Mon type, 6th-7th centuries. Prapatom. National Museum, Bangkok
The Buddha now at Seattle indicates the The Khmers, like the Indians, developed
progress made in the seventh and eighth both a Hindu and a Buddhist art, but it
centuries toward a national, classic type. No was to the Hindu gods that the greatest
less simple than the preceding figures, it bears, monuments were erected, not without con-
especially in the head, the marks of certain cessions to Buddhist iconography. The mag-
crystallizing idioms. The line of the eye- Angkor Thorn and Angkor
nificent ruins of
brows approaches the horizontal and the Vat (meaning "capital city" and "capital
lips are wide and full. Above all, it possesses temple") comprise one of the most impressive
a serenity of spirit. landmarks in the advance of Eastern sculp-
In the fragmentary Head of Buddha from ture. They are rivaled in opulence and the
the Sachs Collection, which dates from the prevalence of masterpieces only among the
height of the classic period, there is a wonder- Javan, Sinhalese, and Indian temple areas.
ful expression of peace of soul. Here again At Angkor there is a complex of gateways,
is a fixing of the spirit of Buddhism, a state- bridges, palaces, temples, and terraces, and
ment in terms of art, of the felicity of in- there are miles of walls ornamented with
undation in Nirvana. figures or carved in abstract or floral themes.
Female Figure. Stone. 7th century. Cambodia. Harihara. Stone. Early 7th century. Phnoyn Penh
Musee Guimet. QGiraiidon photo') Museum. (Photo Musee Guimet, courtesy Tel)
Head of Buddha. Stone. Pre-Khmer,
6th century. Phnom Penh Museum
Buddha. Stone. Mon-Cambodian type, 6th-7th

centiuries. Fuller Collection, Seattle Art Museum
Head of Buddha. Stone. Khmer. 9th century.

Cambodia. Fogg Museum of Art,
Meta and Paul J. Sachs Collection
c3
:^<5^î
0-;
-^^ £
.^
a --
Procession of Troops before the King, mural relief. Stone. Angkor Vat.
QGiraudon photo from replica")
Frieze of Dancing Apsaras. Stone. 12th century. Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom.
From Replica in Musee Guimet
THE FLOWERING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 279
While the profounder relics of Indo-Khmer frozen into superb rhythmic friezes. There
culture show affinity with the austere type of is every degree of low relief and high relief
Indian image, ample evidence at
there
is among the murals, and every variation from
Angkor Vat that the Khmers had also fallen a single, half-emergent, dominating figure to
heir to the mastery of the abundant decorative vast battle scenes— which are, indeed, among
mode. The impression is less turbulent, the most animated in the history of plastic
and the piled-up fecund and
figures are less art.
illogical, than and Elephanta; but

at Ellora The superbly sculptured heads, from
at Angkor there are relief scenes and sur- statues at the original temple sites, have been
rounding ornamentation which occupy acres. brought to distant art museums, and they
Some appear in the details illustrated. The have become identified especially as examples
entire display is at an extraordinarily high of the Khmer style. The calm, the serenity,
level of narrative representation and decora- the sweetness are to be found in a multitude
tive embellishment. of examples. The lithic quality is consistently
The subject-matter is nominally religious, maintained, and the fineness of the cutting
but the sculptors devote considerable atten- is remarkable. It is true that these heads
tion to the apsaras or dancing nymphs, who comprise a type, with standardized char-
combine ample physical loveliness with their acteristics, but each one has come alive in
saintly function. As they appear at both the sculptor's hands. Each is a sculptural
Angkor Vat and Angkor Thom, they are entity and reflects the Buddhist ideal of peace
captivating creatures, and sometimes they are of mind on earth and rest in the bliss of
Decorative mural panel with Apsara. Stone. Khmer, 1 1 th century. Angkor Thom, Musee Guintet
Head of Buddha. Stone. Khmer. Lopburi, Siam. Collection of Reginald Le May, Tunhridge Wells
Head of Buddha. Stone. 12th century.

Head of Buddha. Stone. Khmer, 12th century. Prah-Khan Temple, East Cambodia.
Collection of C. T. Loo Musee Guimet. QGiraudon photo")
Nirvana. The example in the Le May col- parently little affected by Khmer or Mon
lection, shown opposite, is a masterpiece in influence, there is the unusual statue of
every sense. Buddha Expounding the Law now at the
The Head of a Bodhisattva from the Musee Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is in bronze.
Guimet, below, marks a return to a primi- The Buddha Seated on a Serpent of the
tive simplicity. The Head of Biiddlia beside adjoining illustration, a figure timelessly still,
it is of a later type, interesting for its fluent epitomizes the ideal of serenity characteristic
cutting and for a new mannerism of sharp of so much Buddhist sculpture.
ridging. The Head of Buddha at the Fogg At Lopburi in south Siam, particularly,
Museum (page 282) is exceptional among the Mon workers, mixing with the Khmer,
Khmer relics, being in wood. It is one of produced art that was little more than a
the most beautiful surviving pieces. variation of the contemporary Cambodian.
The Mon-Gupta stone head from Lopburi Heads of Buddha ascribed to the eleventh
has Indian attributes, is in direct descent and twelfth centuries are barely distinguish-
from Gupta art, and is an example of the able from the examples uncovered at Angkor
Mon st)'le of Siamese art. The Mask of Vat. The two are different only in that one
Buddha in stucco and Head of Buddha in seems like pure Khmer, while the other is
clay (page 275) are rare early examples of substantially Khmer, with some racial modifi-
the Mon style, one characterized by excep- cation: the eyebrows definitely meet, the
tional subtlety, the other a work in which mouth is less wide, the cheeks are often
Khmer influence has been slight. puffed to give the face a more oval outline.
As an example of the Pala style from Again the Buddhist sweetness and peace are
northern India, counted Siamese but ap- apparent.
Head of a Bodhisattva. Stone. Khmer, Head of Buddha. Stone. Khmer,

12th-13th centuries. Musee Guimet 12th-13th centuries. Musee Guimet
Head of Buddha.
Wood with traces of gilt.
12th- 13th centuries.
Fogg Museum of Art
Head of Buddha. Stone.

Mon-Gupta type. Lopburi, Siam.
Collection of Reginald Le May
Mask of Buddha. Stucco. Mon,

6th-7th centuries. Prapatom.
Buddha Expounding the Law. Bronze.

Mon-Gupta, 9th-10th centuries. Devaravati.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund
Upper left:
Buddha Seated on a Serpent. Stone.
Khmer style.
Head of Buddha. Stone.

Mon. Siam. British Museum
1
It is sometimes claimed that the name

Siam should not be applied before the in-
vasion from the north, which gathered force
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and
reached its peak in the thirteenth. Only late
in this period was a thoroughly typical
Siamese st)'le first marked. It then presents
from the
a facial type considerably different
Khmer. For example, in the bronze Head of
Buddha (below, right) the nose has become
long and thin, the eyebrows are arched, the
mouth is more delicate and the head ovoid.
The squared face, leveled brows, and full
lips of the Cambodian heads are gone.
The bronzes, in particular, now attain a

refinement seldom equaled in the history of
sculpture, an elegance sustained with great
subtlety. The small figures are graceful,
with very careful attention to attitude. It is
not unusual to find a detached hand dis-

played in a museum as a masterpiece of Buddha. Bronze. Sukotai Period, 13th-14th
sculptural expressiveness. centuries. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Head of Buddha. Bronze, gilded. Ayrudhya type,

Head of Buddha. Stone. 14th century. Lopburi. 15th-16th centuries. Collection of Reginald
Detroit Institute of Arts Le May
»*^,
»-
A characteristic Siamese type of head in
stone has protruding eyes, long turned-down
nose, and Hps noticeably upturned at the
corners. The monumental lithic element is *f
.-'
beautifully displayed in the example at the 't *- 1. ' -^
Detroit Institute of Arts (on facing page), j-^

hR^^ Yaai.», «.<i fc « 4 r .-»
^^ j» J
which one of many sur\'iving heads in
is
museums and private collections. Other vari-

ations are illustrated in a series of three
heads, two in the Le May collection, one at
Montreal. The two in bronze display again
the refinement and elegance: one super-
latively, in a smooth, suave stylization; the
other in a decorative composition. The flame-
top idiom goes back to the Khmer period and
to India. The stone head at Montreal is
monumental and commanding and is a late

variation of the Buddha type. Here again the
artist seems to draw upon spiritual philoso-
phy for aid in his craftsmanship.
Below and upper right:

Heads of Buddha. Bronze. Thai.
1 Head of Buddha. Stone. Thai-Lopburi type,

14th century. Art Association of Montreal
A'.'>.
The final illustrations from Siam are of evidence indicates direct importation of the
statuettes. The one in the Hanoi Museum sculptural art with settlers from India. As
is dated by authorities as late as the seven- the Hindus amalgamated with other peoples,
teenth or possibly the eighteenth century. with substantial Mongolian elements from
Though unmistakably Thai, it reverts in the north but with a possible admixture of
feeling to the art of India of the classic or Polynesians, the Indian religions, Hinduism
Gupta period. and Buddhism, along with Indian religious
The Siva Seated is from Champa and is art, were unreservedly adopted.
t)îcal of the heavy conventionalization and Almost the oldest— and certainly the great-
of the characteristic device of playing minor est—Javanese monument is the temple-com-
areas of rich ornament against simplified and plex of Borobudur, which is Buddhist, where
bold masses. earlier relics had been Sivaist. The dynasty
One other flowering of the Indian style of under which Borobudur was erected had
sculpture occurred during the medieval pushed in from Sumatra, and some authorities
centuries. In the island of Java the simplified, count the true Javanese art a later type,
austere image of the Buddha lived again, and softer, more sensuous, and therefore more
the narrative relief art arrived at an un- Indonesian and akin to the Polynesian. But
precedented lavishness of display. The lines Borobudur is so overwhelming in its extent
of early development are vague, but the and its wealth of sculpture that later develop-
Buddha, statuettes. Bronze.

Siva Seated. Stone. 9th century. 14th— 15th centuries. Victoria and Albert
Left:
Champa. Collection of Baron Museum. Right: 17th century. Hanoi Museum.
Eduard von der Heydt, Switzerland CMusee Guimet photo")
Head of Buddha. Stone. 8th century. Borobudur.
Museum of Asiatic Art, Amsterdam, Van der Mandele Gift
ments in the island, even though more truly least three miles devoted to panels crammed
native, sink into comparative insignificance. with narrative sculpture.
The temple at Borobudur is not strictly a The large seated Biiddhas, of which de-
building, but a coating of terraced pavements tached heads are frequently displayed in
and walls over an artificially shaped hill, with Western museums (often as the only ex-
an almost unbelievable number of turreted amples of Javanese sculpture), probably
shrines disposed geometrically around a numbered 505. The generally high standard
crowning stupa. There are gateways, plat- attained in cutting the statues is attested in
forms, niches, and mural carving, with at the examples shown. The stone figures are
Seated Buddha. Stone. 9th century. Head of Buddha. Stone. 8th or 9th century.
Borobudur, Central Java Borobudur. British Museum
i:
Borobudur Temple. Total height 100 feet. 8th-9th centuries.
COfficial photo, Republic of Indonesia')
at this time less subtly modeled, and the equally well composed, with its central female
Buddha face generally lacks the reflection of figure, flanking figures, and trees, elephant,
inner bliss so superbly displayed in the Cam- and horses. In both cases the balanced
bodian examples; but they are impressive secondary figures are notable. For a freer
models of religious iconography. All the treatment, more graphic and detailed and a
figures are in the traditional attitudes of the little less sculptural, the next panels are
Buddha, such as in meditation or preaching. outstanding. The ship is in itself a tour-de-
The marvel of marv'els at Borobudur is the force in rock-carved illustration. (Page 290.)
superb series of mural illustrations of stories The first two illustrations are more
from the Buddhist classics. Nowhere else has typical of the st)'le. The human figures have
a narrative been displayed with quite so an almost voluptuous grace, and the flora of
much ambition and mastery. The Eg)^tian Java, as well as the customs and costumes of
tomb walls are pale and unsculptural in the people are represented in conventionalized
comparison; the Indian temple murals and detail.
sculptured cliffs are perhaps as extensive and The Java of Borobudur (and of one earlier
as elaborate, Borobudur there is
but at unique important temple, Candi Mendut) was a part
sculptural discipline and unity of impression. of a Sumatran-Javanese empire, that of the
The panels appear on the walls flanking the Sailendra kings. The Buddha in bronze (at
terraces, and if laid out in sequence would Worcester) is a single example to represent
form a storybook several miles in length, with the sculpture of Sumatra, and may ser\'e to
nearly two thousand "leaves." remind us of the widespread heritage of

The shown are representative and
episodes sculptural art embraced in the relices from
illustrate some of the happy groupings of Indochina and Indonesia and the several
protagonists and minor characters. The first other lands which were influenced by Hindu
shows the Buddha in meditation under the culture. The lingering beauty of Gupta art
tree, like a rock amid the allurements of the is recaptured in this statuette, but in a
temptresses of Mara. The second is a panel manifestation shaped by a local culture.

^gintir rii^L -
''
' ""=«î./;
Stories of the Buddha, relief panels, iitone. Borobudur. QCoiirtesy Musee Guimet)
Buddhist Story, relief panel. Stone. Borobudur. QPhoto Victoria and Albert Museum')
N 'Ili fii^M MiW 'iiti^'-'l^ji^^

i i
wi<J<rL'«j.JuXi -'J> i ii^' I 'liWi wi \
1%'
,«i;tf*%
^^•^^^k-?
?*;*
IN'"
The first reproduction from the temple of
Siva at Prambanan in Java shows the inci-
dent of Rama drawing the bow of Djanaka

to gain the hand of Sita, and it would be
difficult to conceive of a happier illustration
of this story from the Ramayana. The second,
with a battered central stone showing Vishnu
on the serpent, is notable for the compositions
on the side stones: Garuda, the sun-bird,
and a cluster of attending gods. Next is an
incident of the monkeys and the sea
creatures, to illustrate a somewhat amusing
relief method, in an exceptional sculptor-
draftsman's technique. The final scene,
though and dynamic, tending toward
vital
sculpture in the round, marks a step toward

the melodramatic action and the crowded
mise- en- scene that were to characterize Java-
nese sculpture in the period of decadence. It
was this excessively vigorous and crowded style
that prevailed from the tenth century onward.

Gradually the reliefs take on the flat
and angular ornamentalism of the Wayang

Buddha. Bronze. Sumatran, 9th century.
Negapatam. Worcester Art Museum
Stories of the Buddha, relief panels. Stone. Borobudur. (Ôfficial photo. Republic of Indonesia')
Panels from the Siva Temple, Prambanan. Stone. CCourtesy Musee Guimet^.
Top: Story of Rama and Sita, detail. Center: Story from "Ramayana," detail.
Bottom: Scene froju the "Ramayana," detail
ÎH
v^^l
>
^|
^^r
1
I-
1ll
^flH^
1
^^1
1
l-i
c
^d^S
Fountain or downspout. Majapahit Period,

fk
E /
'
*^ "*•-: |_
i2
^
Avalokitesvara. Bronze. C. 14th century.

w
1
'
14th century. East Java. Golden Monastery, Patan, Nepal.

Majakerta Museum CCourtesy Musee Guimet) CCourtesy Asia House, New York')
Scenes from the "Ramayana," detail. Stone. Siva temple, Pramhanan. QCourtesy Musee Guimet')
puppets, but without the rich expressixeness Buddhist Monk, a typical work of the East
of those uniquely spirited actors. Occasion- Javanese school. The two exhibits, in con-
ally there is an example of figure-modeling frontation, emphasize two underlying facts:
in which the garlands and traceries enhance first, that the sculpture of Central and South-
the sculptural effect, as in the fountain piece eastern Asia is fundamentally alike, so that
or gargoyle illustrated. examples from India and Nepal, or from the
Even at that late date, however, there Golden Lands, whether Burma, Cambodia,
were sculptors in Further India who were or Java, cannot be mistaken as creations from
masters of the art (as the illustrations from any other part of the world; and second,
Siam show). A graphic lesson can be read that within this unity the differences are so
in the reproductions here of a subtly beautiful marked, the originality is so inherent, that
Avalokitesvara, a product of Nepal of the this Head of a Monk, for instance, could not
fourteenth century, and, the Head of a be guessed as other than Javanese.
Head of a Buddhist Moitk. Stone. Candi Scvvu. ^Courtesy Mtisee Guiinet')

12: Early Christian Sculpture:
Coptic J Byzantine
THE beginnings of Christian art developed and the gospel stories of Christ and the saints,
within the tottering framework of the Roman became standard, whether the tombs were de-
Empire, but in sculpture there is nothing as signed in Rome, Gaul, or centers in the East.
early as the frescoes and scratchings in the Two distinctive developments in early
catacombs of Rome, which were hidden from Christian art were the Coptic style in Egypt
official eyes. On the later Roman sarcophagi, and the Byzantine style, which became
however, the Christian initiate could read a focused under the emperor's influence at
religious significance, such as the parable of Constantinople. Egypt, as represented by its
the strayed sheep in the figure of a shepherd cultural center, Alexandria, had been fully
carrying a sheep on his shoulders. It was not fiellenized, but it was Oriental mysticism
until the Emperor Constantine legalized the rather than Greek logic that afforded early
Christian religion in a.d. 313, after three Christianity its essential character and de-
centuries of persecution, that the Bible termined aesthetic expression. The pro\incial
stories could be safely incorporated into the Coptic style developed in Egypt, close to the
sarcophagus compositions. Then the favorite spiritual sources of Christian monasticism,

incidents, such as Daniel in the lions' den, but elements similar to the Coptic were to
the stories of Jonah, of David and Goliath, appear later in Byzantine works.
Peacocks Drinking, building stone. Byzantine, 7th century. Venice.

State Museum, Berlin QGiraudon photo')
EARLY CHRISTIAN SCULPTURE 295
The Miracle at Cana. Ivory. Coptic, 6th century. Victoria and Albert Museum
The Byzantine st)'le was brought into Christian empire, sculpture deteriorated to
being through the fusion of its Roman, Near a secondary and hardly more than auxiliary
Eastern, and Hellenic elements. The re- art. Apart from a few exceptional works,
flowering, in Oriental terms, of the Greek monumental expression was lacking from
spirit was allied to the burgeoning aesthetic the second to the ninth centuries. The
life of the Christian religious communities in surviving relics consist of ivory plaques or
Egypt, and Syria, and in Con-
Palestine, marble coffins in the Roman and then the
stantinople when
became the capital of the
it Near Eastern There were reliefs
tradition.
Christian world. A minor influence was the in metals, such as plaques for book covers,
art of the northern or barbarian people, or ritual platters, and a multitude of architec-
which was be more fully integrated much
to tural details such as decorated capitals. Slabs
later, in theRomanesque style. of various types were carved in low relief
Sculpture was not a foremost art in early in ivor)% wood, or stone, and were common
Christian times. Indeed, nothing in the en- in Greece and Constantinople. But the
tire range of Coptic or Byzantine art in stone church or palace of monumental proportions
matched the glories of Byzantine architec- was sheathed with colorful mosaics or
ture, and frescoes. As the ancient
mosaics, frescoes, and sculpture enriched the buildings
Roman Empire became a slackly organized at only a few points. The influence of Persia
296 EARLY CHRISTIAN SCULPTURE
and Mesopotamia, where building art leaned barbarian and Roman elements for many
but lightly upon sculpture for embellishment, years. Theodoric the Goth became ruler of
is seen in the architecture of Santa Sophia Rome in 493, but barbarians as well as
church in Constantinople, constructed in a.d. Romans had been Christianized long since.
532-537- Egyptian Christian monasticism was intro-
There were one or two major monuments, duced into by
Benedict (480-544)
Italy St.
such as the fourteen-foot bronze figure of at Subiaco and Monte Cassino, and a net-
Valentinian I, now at Barletta in southern work of Benedictine monasteries began to
Italy, which illustrates the survival of Roman spread over Europe under a rule encouraging
portraiture into the latter half of the fourth the arts.
century. It is, however, nondescript and The early Byzantine style prevailed from
sculpturally clumsy. The arms and legs were the third to the fifth centuries. The sixth
once melted for use in bells and were century is the period of the great master-
awkwardly replaced in the Renaissance pieces and the climax, as seen in the church
period. There is also a group of four figures of Santa Sophia in Constantinople and the
in stone, set into a corner of the Treasury of group of buildings at Ravenna. In sculpture
St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. It is of great the famous throne of Maximian at Ravenna,
interest to historians of art because it is sheathed with ivory plaques, belongs to this
ascribed to the end of the third century and period. After three centuries of lesser activity,
yet already exhibits the essential character- during which the iconoclast wars stopped
istics of the Byzantine style: a total lack of production for a time, there was a renaissance
Greek (or Roman) naturalness, an attempt at in the mid-ninth century. Many of the finest
rhythmic composition, and addition of rich ivories were carved during this period of
patterning in every available area. Portrait wealth and prosperity. There was a further
busts in the Roman tradition soon sink to an renaissance in the twelfth century.
almost unbelievable ineptness. A very few When the period of decadence came in the
heads, showing signs of a more truly Eastern Near East, many of the characteristics of
approach, such as the one at Dumbarton Eastern art, as seen in the Byzantine master-
Oaks (page 303), are attractive and vivid. pieces, fused with the Romanesque art of the
The only consistent triumph of portraiture West. Many Byzantine objects such as
in these times is on the coins, and occasionally plaques, book covers, and the circular box
on the ivory plaques, either in idealized heads or pyx, were portable and were circulated in
and faces or in the historical portraits of the countries from the eastern Mediterranean to
late compositions. the British Isles, and in turn they affected
By the time Rome fell to barbarian in- Western Christian art. The Byzantine Em-
vaders in 410, a vast part of the empire had pire lasted technically until Constantinople
been ruled (or wasted in wars) under mixed fell to the Turks in 1453.
II
TH E ivory with Scenes from the

Testament is an Early Christian piece,
New ing and the over-all design
opulent. The
is
two parts of the plaque

rhythmic and
with Roman affinities. While the story-telling (matched here from two museums) show also
compositions suggest a legacy from the the typical fullness and roundness of each
classic narrative panels, there are a new figure, against generally uncluttered back-
vividness and vigor that can be counted only grounds.
as Eastern. As in so many ivories of the early The two plaques Miracles of Christ and
period, there are touches of Oriental pattern- The Story of Joseph, also labeled Early
Scenes from the New Testament. Ivory. Italian, 5th century.

State Museum, Berlin; Louvre. (^Giraudon photo^
Christian or Latin, show even more Eastern Miracles of Christ. Ivory. C. 5th century.
influence. The first places the rounded fig-
ures against backgrounds entirely traced over

with patterning. In the other, although the
workmanship is somewhat clumsy, there is
again exceptional feeling for surface en-

richment. The animals and the foliation,
deeplv pierced to produce sparkling light-
and-shade, are Oriental in feeling. Here the

classic West and the plastically inventive
East have met in a new fusion, in the style
called Byzantine.
As Byzantine architecture developed, the
columns in the Christian churches were
often capped with sculptured compositions.
The Story of Joseph. Ivory. C. 5th century.

Treasury of Sens Cathedral. QGiraudon photo')
ra^. 'VlisÂ.«Wi,'^''
These range from the abstract (very hke and second centuries. But in the third and
Islamic designs, in the later periods) through fourth centuries the progression was com-
semi-abstract compositions based on flori- pleted from purely Roman motives to Chris-
ation, and on to fully figurative types with tian icon and Christian genre piece. In one
knotted animals or conventionalized biblical of the panels (page 301) it is possible to find
figures. Illustrated are a near-abstract capital, both Jonah and the Good Shepherd. By the
now in the museum at Ravenna, and, in fifth century Oriental decoration and Oriental
contrast, a capital with animals, still in place rhythmic composition had all but over-
in theChurch of San Michele in Pavia, whelmed classic realism of statement.
Italy. There is in the latter composition more The little pyx at Florence reveals the
than a hint of the Romanesque style that transition in a slightly different way. It is
was to succeed the Byzantine in Italy and wholly Eastern in its exuberance and its
France. wealth of detail. If it lacks logical order it
Late classic mastery in sculpture had been nevertheless is wonderfully alive and vibrant.
best expressed in the sarcophagi of the first There are ivories that juxtapose a story-
Pyx. Ivory. 5th century.

National Museum, Florence. QGiraudon photo^
Capitals. Stone. Byzantine. 6th-7th centuries.

Above: Museum, Ravenna. (Ânderson photo").
Belo^v. Church of S. Michele, Pavia. (Alinari photo)
telling composition and a decorative panel,
and the two traditions can be detected, still
not quite fused. The didactic figures in the

ivory at Liverpool have been composed into
a rhythmic group. In the figures of the top
panel, and also the animals of the scene
below, there is the special rounding of forms
which was to persist as a hallmark of the
Byzantine style.
One of the most instructive examples is the

famous bishop's throne of Maximian at
Ravenna, sheathed with representational
panels and running borders of ornament.
Though the figure panels have didactic
Roman traits, all else has the new freedom
and the aesthetic sensibility of the East. Like
most of the accomplished ivory of so early a
time (the sixth century), it was until re-
cently credited to the studios of Alexandria.

Later attributions are to other centers. The
Byzantine style was in full tide over a vast
by the mid-sixth century. A new

territory
way had evolved, and centers of
of design
manufacture existed on three continents.
The Coptic composition in the Louvre
showing a god, a horse, and a crocodile, has
hardly more than a heavy manner, a lithic
beauty, and direct statement to link it with
earlier Egyptian work. It is transformed, by
workmen imbued with Eastern feeling, into
a decorative entity. No Greek in the classic
tradition, and certainly no Roman, could
have rendered the two animals at once so
Throne of Maximian. Ivory over vi'ood.
unreal and so alive, or the whole composition
6th century. Archepiscopal Palace, Ravenna.
QAnderson photo') so compact and so decorative.
Early Christian sarcophagus. Stone. 3rd-4th centuries. Vatican Museum, Rome. QBrogi photo")
—
.^^^^^^^w-^^^^ V.---; w^t.-j^''?: ^

J^^ century. Liverpool Museum. QGiraudon photo')
A God oil a Horse. Stone. Coptic. Egypt.

Louvre. QGiraudon photo)
Early Christian sarcophagus. Stone. 3rd-4th centuries.

Church of S. Maria Antiqiia, Rome. QBrogi photo)
It is the frank decorativeness of Coptic art In the ivory panel illustrating the Miracle
that sets it off from earher developments on at Cana (page 295) there are the full and
Egyptian soil; and indeed the majority of the fluent figures of the Byzantine style. The
Coptic sculptures in the museums are ab- drapery ends are composed into ornamental
stractly decorative and not figurative at all. counterpoint, and the hair is frankly orna-
They comprise floriated capitals, rich friezes, mentalized— not in the late Roman manner,
and all-over-patterned panels. But the Copts but in patterning that heightens by contrast
could treat figure compositions without losing the smooth modeling of face and figure.
the play of light and shadow upon patterned Even the wine jars are disposed for rhythmic
areas, producing luxuriant designs. The counterplay. Yet the Christian story-theme is
stone relief from Greece, with animals and served.

birds, shows how this ornamentalism ex- The silver plate, a part of the Treasure
pressed itself somewhat later in the course of of Cyprus, is a further reminder of the
Byzantine art. It represents the florid aspect mixed nature of the sculptural art during
of the Byzantine style. the formative centuries of the Byzantine
style. The David and Goliath is told
story of
Relief. Stone. Byzantine. 9th or 10th century. explicitly in three scenes, in the manner of
Greece. Louvre. QGiraudon photo') Hellenistic Rome rather than in the sump-
tuous Persian manner. But there is enough
ornamentalism in the treatment of the
draperies, and especially in the patterning
on the shields, echoed in the stippling of the
towers, to indicate the meeting of the two
traditions.
The Story of David and Goliath. Silver.

6th century. From the Treasure of Cyprus.
Portrait head. Stone. Portrait head. Stone. Coptic,

Dumbarton Oaks Collection 6th-7th centuries. Louvre
The art of portraiture in stone never fully Byzantine artists were working in Rome. In
developed at Byzantium. Roman portraiture Ravenna, Byzantine art had predominated
had so degenerated that there could be no for three centuries, as witnessed especially by
strong influence from that direction, and by the architectural monuments and mosaics.
the eighth century the iconoclast movement There was no notable sculpture other than
within the Eastern Church had put a serious the beautifully carved capitals with inter-
check upon all figurative art. The few por- laced ornament, comparable to those of
trait heads that survive are marked by in- Coptic Egypt and of Byzantium itself. Just
complete understanding of anatomy— not after a.d. 800 there occurred a minor renais-
necessarily a grave fault, but a fault for sance, associated with the religious and
which one seldom finds compensation in su- cultural advance in Europe under Charle-
perior plastic sensibility or striking sculptural magne's patronage, and there are groups of
aliveness. illuminations and ivories of the period,
The head in the Dumbarton Oaks Col- catalogued by scholars as "Ada" (from the
lection is something of an exception; the name of Charlemagne's sister), "School of
striated treatment of beard and hair is novel, Reims," and so on. In the early tenth and
though the contrast of unbroken surfaces the eleventh centuries, at a time when a
with beard and hair so heavily ridged is typi- new wave of Orientalism had swept over
cally Eastern. The head in the Louvre is of the Eastern studios, there was a more de-
indeterminate date, is thought to be from termining renaissance in the West known as
Phoenicia, and has some affinity with the Ottonian (or Orthonian), which led on
Roman art. to Romanesque and is considered by some to
By the end of the eighth century Greco- belong to that style.
In both periods of revival the general ex- exquisiteworkmanship and it affords an in-
pression is Byzantine or Byzantesque. (Ire- stance of the way in which artists full of
land alone then clung to Celtic and was ac- enthusiasm for their medium, with superb
complishing the chief flowering of the Bar- technical mastery, often misunderstood the
barian style in sculpture.) Theodoric and written texts and the painted miniatures
Justinian imported architects and artisans which were their chief sources of inspiration.
from the East to design and build churches In one panel Europa and the Bull usurp the
and palaces at Ravenna in the sixth century, place of Achan amid the Israelites hurling
and Charlemagne's architects sent to Ravenna stones.
for models and materials for the new capital As the Church had been the only force to
at Aachen in the eighth and ninth centuries, shape any sort of unity from the confused
while the Ottonian kings simply revivified national and racial elements, so art became
the st)'le closest at hand. The early Ottonian now an appanage of the ecclesiastic ruling
ivories are especially spirited and dramatic. power. The thematic materials were taken
Objects in ivory in a wide range of design from the life of Jesus or of Mary, or from
and subject are shown on this and the fol- Old Testament stories. The Crucifixion,
lowing pages. They are probably of the tenth with Christ in majesty and other scenes,
and eleventh centuries, except those marked in the Cluny Museum, is a particularly
Carolingian, and the panel of the Veroli beautiful example of the story-telling type.
Casket, which, on its several faces, shows It is of Charlemagne's time.
lively treatment of Christian and pagan The central leaf of a triptych illustrating
themes, strangely mixed together. It is of Christ crowning the Emperor Romanus IV
Panel with fantastic subjects. Ivory. Byzantine, 9th-10th centuries.

Formerly Collection de Vasselot, Paris. QGiraudon photo")
Veroli Casket. Ivory over wood. Byzantine, 9th century. Victoria and Albert Museum
and Empress Eudocia is of special interest
in indicating the union of Church and state.
It is equally an index to the artistic methods
of the Byzantine craftsmen. The Madonna

and Child ivith Samts in the Dumbarton
Oaks Collection is a work in the mature
Byzantine manner, showing slenderized fig-
ures though without losing the idiomatic
rounding of forms.
The Christ in Majesty is a distinctive Ger-
man variation. That the Orient was again
asserting itself in the Western studios is
attested by the spirited symbolic animals at

the base of the design, these being the sym-
bols of Mark and Luke. The Crucifixion at
the British Museum, which borders on ex-
Madonna and Child with Saints, Ivory.

Dumbarton Oaks Collection
Christ Crowning Romanus IV and Eudocia.

Crucifixion from book cover. Ivory. French,
Ivory. Byzantine, llth century.
Carolingian. Cluny Museum. QGiraudon photo")
Bihliotheque Nationale, Paris. QGiraudon photo')
pressionistic distortion, nevertheless exhibits
an expert sense of space design and a pleasing
counterpoint. It illustrates the Ottonian
vigor in process of transformation into
Romanesque dynamism.
The freedom and variety of treatment in
Byzantine ivories can be explained by the
great territor)-^ over which the style had
spread, from Africa and Asia to northern
France and western Germany, so lately bar-
barian. The Crucifixion with other scenes,
under a t)'pically ornate dome or canopy
supported by pierced columns, is so frankly
Oriental in its general richness of effect that
it is surprising to find each figure, in what
might easily be a cluttered and confused
composition, set out with decision and
clarity.
In contrast, there are reliefs that pile scene
Christ in Majesty. Ivory. Ottonian.

Crucifixion. Ivory. British Museum
Crucifixion. Ivory. lOth-llth centuries.

upon scene, employing, at times, scores of
supernumeraries, depending not upon a fig-
ure or two to dominate the design, but

rather upon a tapestry-hke distribution of ele-
ments, with a flowing rhythm which unob-
trusively holds the composition together. The
panel from a bookbinding at Munich is a
pleasing if unconventional example. The
panel illustrating Psalm XXVII, now at the
National Museum in Zurich, is at once ex-
plicit and fluid, and indeed a masterpiece.
The ivory leaf at Zurich showing the Cru-
cifixion and Deposition is a more sober and
conventional work. The upper panel illu-
strates beautifully the art of space-filling, in
Illustration for Psalm XXVII. Ivory. French,

Carolingian, 9th century. National Museum, Zurich
Crucifixion and Related Scenes, panel from a

bookbinding. Ivor)'. lOth-llth centuries.
State Library, Munich. QCourtesy Archiv
fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin)
Crucifixion and Deposition. Ivory. 10th century.

National Museum, Zurich. (_Giraiidon -photo')
which the Byzantine carvers incomparably Byzantine or Germano-Byzantine examples
surpassed the Classical Greeks. The relative were more often plates adorning bookbind-
sizes of the figures are interesting, as is the ings. While Barbarian and Irish influences
function served by the two little inward- played their part in forming the impulse
turned, winged half-figures. that led to the metal-casting at Hildesheim,
It is hardly necessary to stress the devo- there were potent currents from Italy too.
tion and the religious emotion expressed in There the Lombards had already developed
the Carolingian and Ottonian ivory panels. a variation which pointed toward the
They were produced during one of the su- Romanesque style.
preme periods of Christian mysticism and A panel treating the old theme of animal-
worship, and something of the divine aware- combat, below, is typically Byzantine. The
ness and the reverence of the spiritual Adoration of the Kings, an English piece,
pilgrim breathes from these miniature devo- demonstrates how fully the Oriental manner
tional works. They were often made as por- had penetrated even westward of the Euro-
table altars or as insets for the bindings of pean continent. Coptic and Byzantine art had
Bibles or psalters, or for adorning reli- developed within the Church. There was a
quaries. third source of medieval Christian sculpture,
Notable religious works were made in seemingly alien: the barbarian works of the
metal too. The relief of Christ Enthroned is itinerant peoples. At the beginning of a new
from southern Italy and is one leaf of a chapter we turn to the art of the successive
portable diptych. The important Frankish- waves of Wanderers.
Adoration of the Kings. Ivory. English,

Gladiators and Lions. Ivory. Byzantine.
II th century. Victoria and Albert Museum
Hermitage, Leningrad. (Giraudon Photo")
Christ Enthroned, with Symbols of the Evangelists, leaf of diptych. Metal.

Treasure of Cathedral of Lucera, Apulia, Italy. (Âlinari photo")
H
^.
-V '
"^v'
h
_gMs
1
3: European Christian Sculpture:

BarhariaUj Romanesque^ Gothic
MIGRATORY had no cities and

tribes manship, but they produced objects that are
built no churches or and so the Bar-
palaces, marvels of spirited design.
barian sculpture of the North achieved even Through more than a millennium the bar-
less monumental expression than did Byzan- barians opposed their Indo-Germanic way of
tine sculpture. The t)'pical invention was in art to the flourishing, then the waning,
jewelry, weapons, and horse trappings; es- Greco-Roman tradition. In the end they were
pecially in metalwork studded with enamels overcome, just as, after sacking Rome again
or traced over with enriching graved de- and again, they were absorbed into a new
signs. Like the Scyths, the Celts and the empire which was Christian and most de-
Gauls, the Franks and the Goths and the pendent upon Byzantium for its culture.
Lombards concentrated on miniature crafts- From the centuries of opposition there re-
Gargoyles. Stone. 12th century. Notre Dame de Paris. (ND photo")

EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN SCULPTURE 311
main rich remnants of Barbarian art; and in cessive barbarian invasions modified Roman
the end it was the spirited free design and art almost beyond recognition.
ornamental richness in the Northern style Christianity was the great catalyst in the
that transformed Roman and Byzantine arts Dark Ages and Middle Ages. The barbarians
into the glorious expression of Romanesque. who arrived in Central and Western Europe
The Romans had pushed their way north- were anti-Christian as well as anti-Roman.
ward, spreading Roman civilization through- But as minority groups, with shrewd and
out Western Europe. Paris of the third cen- opportunistic leaders, they sometimes drifted
tury was Gallic-Roman, but the coming of into acceptance of, and sometimes fervently
the Franks in the fourth and fifth centuries espoused, the new religion. It marked a
added to the Germanic element. The suc- turning-point in history when Clovis, King
Fibulae and ornaments. Bronze. Art of the wandering peoples.

Albania, Austria, Switzerland, etc. St. Germain Museum; Cernuschi Museum; National Museum, Zurich
312 EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN SCULPTURE
of the Franks, the first truly French king, The stor\' of the building of the cathedrals
who had been converted to Christianity, is well known, and especially the emergence
bowed his head in the Church of St. Etienne of artisan guilds that worked to produce the
in Paris. immensely complex fabric of the cathedrals.
By the late ele\'enth century, Celtic, The extraordinary production of sculpture,
Gallic, and Prankish had been absorbed
art a more personal art, is more difficult to ac-
into the expressionistic Romanesque st)'le. It count for. With few exceptions, even the
a
was in the Romanesque centuries and the names of the sculptors are unrecorded. Most
early decades of Gothic that the Christian notably Gislebertus signed his name at
spirit most richlv and most truly inspired Autun and has been credited with much of
art. The story of Christian architecture is at the work there between 1125 and 1135.
no other time so glorious. The cathedrals of Three centuries later Nicolas Gerhaert of
Chartres, Amiens, Reims, and Paris are Leyden was chiseling sculptures for Stras-
among the most inspired buildings erected by bourg Cathedral and left a unique signature
men; the English cathedrals are hardly less in a stone self-portrait. But the artists who
noble. In spite of seven or eight centuries created the St. Peter at Moissac, the St.
of wars and vandalism, the sculpture in the James at Compostela, and the Old Testament
cathedrals and churches of the Middle Ages figures of the Royal Portal at Chartres, who
remains the one supreme exhibit in the West covered with statues the portal recesses and
to compare with the art that flourished in facades of practically all the great cathedrals,
Persia, India, and China. and often their choirs and other areas within
The Royal Portal, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres. lMid-12th century. (ND photo')
The Last Judgment, detail. Stone. 12th century.
Tympanum of Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun. QGiraudon photo')
as well, at Paris and Reims, Strasbourg and storybook of religious legend and instruction.
Salisbury, Burgos and Leon, to name but a Whether one today reads Christian history
few— these are anonjonous. as the unfolding of man's understanding of
Barbarian art is known through the minor the revelations of Christ, or takes account of
sculpture the migrants brought with them, the sources upon which the early Christian
such as safet)' pins for their clothing, and Fathers drew, such as the myster)'-religions of
harness ornaments and sword-guards. Their Greece, of Asia, of Eg)'pt, the old Palestinian
style of curling, twisting shapes was pre- learning, Platonism, and Mithraism, the
served in its pure form in the Irish and the trend was from classic intellectualism and
Scandinavian national expressions. materialism toward the spiritual life.
But in France thewas absorbed into

st}'le Spiritual art discounts the body. The
the Romanesque. Thousands of capitals on spiritual artist turns away from nature ex-
columns in the Romanesque churches of cept as a means of communication, to an
Europe exhibit in their sculpture the spirit image formed as a result of spiritual and
of the Indo-Germanic invaders— especially in aesthetic contemplation. Nature is discounted
the portrayal of animals. The expressionistic as far as exact measurements and lines and
or distorting element in the larger sculptural masses are Romanesque marks
concerned.
investiture at Vezelay, Moissac, or the early the supreme instance in the West of emo-
doorways at Chartres has a similar origin. tional or spiritual attainment in sculpture.
When the Romanesque style became fully Classically trained historians in the nine-
developed, the prodigious feats of medieval teenth century found no excuse for the de-
architecture and sculpture were accom- formations of surface realism, and especially
plished. The churchmen, architects, and the unnaturalness of human and animal fig-
artists, whether working in stained glass or ures, inRomanesque works at such centers
stone, had a single vision of the unified as Moissac, Vezelay, and Autun. They glori-
cathedral, awe-inspiringly simple in its en- fied the Gothic as the supreme art of the
gineering, amazingly adorned on its surfaces. medieval centuries. In twentieth-century
All worked for their God to provide a vast opinion, however, the art of the eleventh
and twelfth centuries is considered more cre- cept that of Paris, were in process of build-
ative. ing. At Amiens, Chartres, Reims, Sens, they
It remains only to add dates for the e\ents had been started in the Romanesque style
was being car-
of this period. Barbarian art but became Gothic in the course of construc-
ried into Western Europe over a period of tion. Notre Dame de Paris was a little later,
1300 years. The Gauls had spread over begun in 11 60, a date sometimes given for
France in the fourth and third centuries the emergence of the Gothic style.
B.C. Although Gallic France was put under This was the time of the decay of feudal-
Roman rule by Julius Caesar in 58-51 B.C., ism and the rise of town communes and the
the barbarian incursions continued for cen- powerful state; of the beginnings of capital-
turies afterand culminated in the Frankish ism and the first emergence of a bourgeoisie.
invasion of the third and fourth centuries. The Church, without seeming to relax con-
Celtic culture had pushed as far as Ireland trol over men's minds, was admitting into
in 400 B.C. The old Celtic art lived on for everyday life new disruptive and divisive
another twelve hundred years, in its purest forces, was permitting changes in civil or-
form, in the Irish goldwork, stone sculptured ganization, education, and even ecclesiastical
crosses,and manuscripts (as in the famous philosophy that were to lead to separation of
Book of Kells, of the eighth centur)0. Church and state, and to post-medieval
Romanesque architecture developed over intellectualism and materialism. The univer-
an indeterminate period. Romanesque sculp- sities became centers of learning in a new
ture, however, matured only in the early sense. The transformation of Romanesque art
eleventh century and was dominant for the into Gothic has its perfect parallel within the
following two hundred years. It was trans- Church polity and the Church teaching, in
formed into Gothic about the year 1200. the triumph of the Scholastics over the pro-
The architectural metamorphosis can be ponents of early Christian mysticism and
ascribed to approximately the mid-twelfth faith. The logic and clarity of St. Thomas
centur)', for the earliest combination of Aquinas and the science of Roger Bacon
Romanesque vaulting with the pointed arch were replacing the mystic self-giving and the
is commemorated in accounts of the building revelatory outpouring of St. Bernard. Emo-
of the Cathedral of St. Denis. Eleanor of tional and spiritual expression retreated be-
Aquitaine, then Queen of France, was fore a new confidence in reality, a new de-
shown the "new" style in the cathedral choir votion to the non-abstract.
by Suger in 1144. The great cathedrals, ex- But the sculptors remained Romanesque-
minded until well into the thirteenth cen-
tury. As Gothic realism and Gothic grace
took over in sculpture, the old expressionism
died in France. It survived fitfully in Spain
and the Spanish colonies until some cen-
turies later. Broadly speaking, the years be-
tween about 1200 and 1500 in European
sculptural history were substantially Gothic.
II
BARBARIAN art, which takes its Macedonia and Ireland, the Baltic Sea and
name from its rivalry with Greco-Roman Iberia. Here is visual evidence of lines of
classic art ("barbarian" meaning "foreign"), descent, among people known as Celts,
flourished before the centuries of the organi- Franks, Goths, and Anglo-Saxons, from re-
zation of the Christian Church. It precedes mote ancestors in the steppe country', where
and parallels the Early Christian art of the the animal art had developed a thousand or
foregoing chapter. Its spirit and drive mark more years before Christ.
it as the chief creative forerunner of the The st)'le or expression is limited, as is the
monuments of Romanesque art. Except for means: laboriously worked metal, quite com-
the monumental Celtic crosses and some of monly inset with enamel or colored stone,
the Viking figureheads, its works are small: and embossed or engraved. Geometric or
usable jewelry such as fibulae, and harness vaguely zoomorphic ornament is standard
accessories, sword guards, and coins. over the entire territory. The total design, in
The illustrations showing fibulae, orna- outline and mass, suggests a Scythian con-
ments, and animals indicate both the wide nection or perhaps connection with a late
diffusion of the Barbarian style and the na- development of Scythian such as Sarmatian.
ture of Iron Age art as a continuation of an The fish and the birds and the ornamental
The animals, and the fibulae
Asian tradition. fibula of the first group of illustrations, with
and ornaments that suggest animals without depressions once filled with enamels (page
recognizably depicting the head, body, or 311), and formalized animals, mostly from
legs, are from districts as far separated as Central Europe, above and opposite, are
Animals and Animal Abstraction. Bronze; gold. Celtic, Avaric, 9th century B.c.-6th century a.d.
Switzerland; England; France; Albania. Metropolitan Museum of Art Caboie, left and center'); British
Museum (_above, top right); Art Museum, Princeton University (_abore, lower right, and facing
page, left); National Museum, Zurich (^facing page, right)
reminiscent indeed of the old steppe- work of the first century a.d., at the time
country art. (The bird with wings spread when the Emperor Claudius was initiating
is from Asia.) The bordered griflfin in gold is the first successful invasion of the islands;
a perfect example. In the European fibulae and the sparse ornamental ridgings along the
and brooches the animal form is implied back and the concave ears are idioms in many
rather than stated. The spirit of the beast ornaments of the time. The brooch or safety
survives in decorative rather than figurative pin of bronze wire is an Irish variation of the
compositions. pin type, but the general form of it can be
The Boar (page 315, top right) is a British traced back through the La Tene Periods
Brooches and fibulae. Bronze; silvered bronze. Celtic, various dates.

Tessin, Switzerland; Ireland; England; France.
National Museum, Zurich; British Museum; Louvre; Victoria and Albert Museum
and through Ilallstatt to the Bronze Age sculpture comprises a style brilliant and \ital.
civilizations of Eastern Europe and north- It leads on to the phase of Prankish art
western Asia. The brooch (in silvered known as Merovingian, from the legendar)'
bronze), with animal heads all but lost in the figure of Merovech, king of the Salian
geometric pattern, is typical Celtic, of the Franks and grandfather of King Clovis, a
penannular t)'pe best known in Irish art, type of Barbarian art best known in panels
but closely related to British and Scandi- of Oriental-looking interlaced ornament set
navian design. (At bottom of facing page.) into architecture.
The animals on a pair of beak-flagons in The most important phase of Christian art
the British Museum, so directly suggesting in a purely Barbarian style produced the
their steppe-art ancestry, illustrate a rarer towering Celtic stone crosses of Ireland and
phase of Celtic and are said to be of the the borderland of Scotland and Northumber-
fourth centur)'. The beak-flagon form itself land. Elsewhere the barbarian rulers, when
can be traced back over the territory and the converted to Christianity, had called in late
centuries of the wandering peoples, to the Roman and especially Byzantine craftsmen
racial reservoir in upper Eurasia and back to adorn their persons, their palaces, and
to Altai-Iran. (An early example will be their churches, as Theodoric had done at
found among the illustrations of Luristan Ravenna, and as Charlemagne was doing at
bronzes.) The Celtic animals, when they are about the time when the Irish monastic art
free of ornament, are uncommonly graceful was at its peak.
and even elegant. During the darkest period of the struggles
Indeed, despite miles of exhibits uncouth of barbarians and Romans, the Irish had be-
and fumbling as works of art, in natural-
history museums, the best of Gallic-Celtic
Beak-flagon, with detail. Bronze.

Celtic, 4th century. British Museum
Burial crosses. Stone. Celtic, c. 10th century. Ireland
come the foremost conservators of Christian times of St. Patrick. The ornamental panels
learning and of the arts of the scriptoria. portray the beasts of the earlier Celtic tra-
They founded famous monasteries as far dition and represent them in one of the bold-
away as Fulda in Germany and St. Gall in est approximations of the Scythian style; or
Switzerland, and were known at St. Denis else they luxuriate in the fascinating pat-
in France, and, of course, in Scotland and terns of abstract ornament built on endless
England. They jealously guarded their tra- spirals and interlacings, as better known in
ditional stvle and they emerged with this the Irish illuminated manuscripts.
distinctive sculptural expression. The Norsemen were also from the great
The crosses, surviving still in numberless Eastern reservoir to which the creators of
cemeteries, are generally in the form of a Celtic art can be traced. The Vikings had
Celtic cross, with a ring encircling the inter- become unfavorably known as marauders and
section of arms and shaft. Each face of the conquerors down the coasts of the British
monument is divided into panels and orna- Isles and along the rivers of France, and
mented with figure groups or other com- through the European-Mediterranean water-
positions. The figures are those of the Old way as far as Sicily. To the Irish they were
Testament or Christian tradition and some- sometimes neighbors, but as pirates and in-
vaders they carried away great quantities of adorned with figureheads, though these were
booty, including many examples oF Irish art. mostly patterned over until the vital play of
How far the imported pieces affected native light and shade became more important than
Scandinavian industry can only be guessed. the beasts portrayed. The near-geometric pat-
In any emerged in Scandinavia a
case, there terns yield upon study the interlacings, the
type of sculpture, dated from the seventh to endless spirals, and the abstract leaf motives
the eleventh centuries, that is patently a of Irish Celtic decoration. The wood carving
sister art to the geometric and zoomorphic on the door of a church at Urnes in Norway,
sculpture of Eire and Saxon England. mixing vaguely animalcsque motives with
The prows of the Viking ships were abstraction, one of the few surviving mas-
is
terpieces in the style. It is beautiful and
Stern-post of a Viking ship. Wood. C. 800. vital, and, though recut in modem times, it
The Oseberg Find. Historical Museum, Oslo apparently has lost none of the original elan.
The artist-craftsmen of Iceland contributed
handsomely to the Northern style. The illus-
trated bronze clasp below is typical.
The legions of Rome brought civil organi-

zation and Roman luxuries and arts to the
new territories of Gaul and Britain. Such
architectural masterpieces as the Pont du
Gard and the temple known as the Maison
Carree at Nimes were produced, but, on the
whole, provincial Roman art in Western
Europe was mediocre. As Roman power col-
lapsed, the Roman style somewhat influenced
the barbarians of France in a variation known
as Gallo-Roman. Rare examples of architec-
tural sculpture uncovered on walls of early
churches in southwest France represent the
best of the style, which is heavy and more
Clasp. Bronze. Icelandic, lOth-llth centuries.

National Museum, Reykjavik
Norse woodcarving. Possibly 10th century. Doorway of church at Urnes, Norway,

transferred from earlier building
massive than Byzantine or the Romanesque of Byzantium. They were inherited through
that was to follow later. The figure panel another line by the Celts, the Gauls, and the
shown is thought to have been transferred Vikings, and had gone through tortuous and
to a niche on a church at St. Astier, in the confusing permutations. These are animals
Dordogne, from an earlier building. Scholars transmitted, by one road or another, from
believe it illustrates a local transformation of Altai-Iran, without loss of spiritedness or
insensitive Roman imaging into a distinctive, significant change of emphasis. In the West
frankly decorative native mode. Perhaps ten they are encountered oftenest in the churches
centuries later, Breton folk art embodied a of Provence and of Southwest and Central
style which looks like a late but direct sur- France.
vival of the Gallo-Roman, unlike the late Those who named the Romanesque style
Gothic expression of its own time, about the thought of it as a reflowering, in the Ro-
seventeenth century. (Facing page, above.) mance countries, of qualities inherent in
Some authorities would mark certain capi- Roman and classic culture. But now there
tals and other details in the early French seems to be more reason to identify the char-
churches as purest Barbarian, possible only acter of it as rising from barbarian and Bvzan-
to descendants of the creators of the Asian tine sources. The mysticism of it is Eastern
animal style. The beasts are at once dynamic and Northern, and the outward expression-
and decorative, originally Scythian or Indo- ism, with frequent reliance upon exaggera-
Iranian, known alike to the Lurs and to the tion and distortion, is totally foreign to
Sassanian Persians and to the mature artists Roman ideals.
Yet classical ornaments are embedded in
the decorative complexes at St. Gilles in
Gard and upon St. Trophime in Aries, and
essentially Roman arches are superimposed
on the facades at Poitiers and at Angouleme.
The figures on these churches, nevertheless,
could not by any stretch of imagination be
linked with the classic, and the added pat-
terning is richest Oriental. The truth may
be that the architectural mode of Roman-
esque design grew logically out of experi-
ment with Roman forms , but that the
builders sought their sculptural adornment
from other sources.
Whatever the roots, the flowering of
Romanesque sculpture is one of the most
magnificent in the records of the art. The
crossing of currents from Rome and from

the East is vividly illustrated in the tapestry-
like fagade of Notre Dame la Grande at
Poitiers. The complex figures and opulent
foliage in the capital from Angouleme Cathe-
dral sufficiently emphasize the non-classical
Head of Christ, detail of Calvaire. 16th-17th cen-

turies. Pleyben, Brittany. QPhoto by Jean Roubier")
Figure panel. Stone. Gallo-Roman.

Church of St. Astier, Dordogne
Capital with animals. Stone.

Romanesque. France. QBuIloz photo')
nature of certain of the sculptural detail set
into the architectural fabric of early Roman-
esque design.
The appearance of the Romanesque style
marks the great revival of the building arts
in France, which had known little of monu-

mental expression since the Romans com-
pleted the last provincial temples, theaters,
and arenas. As was to be expected, some of
the influence up from Italy, where
crept
Roman had been followed by
architecture
early Christian basilicas and by such monu-
ments as the Byzantine churches at Ravenna
and some related monuments in Sicily. In
northern Italy, too, the Lombards, by the
eleventh century, had created a first tentative
version of Romanesque.
If there is not the magnificent show of
Romanesque Lom-
sculpture in the cities of
bardy and Tuscany (despite fascinating
works at Pistoia and Parma and elsewhere),
Capital. Stone. Romanesque, llth-12th century.

Cathedral of Angouleme. Ârchives Roget-V 101161")
Fagade of Church of Notre Dame la Grande, Poi-
tiers. 11th- 12th century. Ârchives Roget-Viollet')
!';>
the Italian Germans are yet to be credited
with one of the earliest contributions to the
new style. The stone reliefs on cathedrals

at Modena, Verona, and Ferrara, and the
relief panels on the bronze doors (of later
date) of Pisa Cathedral and Benevento
Cathedral, present sometimes competent and
often crisp relief scenes, more
beautifully
sculptural and nearer the full round than
similar Byzantine reliefs had been. (Bene-
vento, in southern Italy, had been a Lom-
bard duchy from the sixth to the eleventh
centuries.)
The Prankish Germans at the same time,
as mentioned in an earlier chapter, had
created or fostered fresh idioms as the Ot-
tonian School matured, especially at Hildes-
heim, where the style of the cathedral doors
is reminiscent of the Byzantine-Romanesque
found in Italy. In the ivory reliefs the late
Ottonian sculptural changes, the slenderer
figures, the asymmetrical compositions, the
more dramatic presentation of the story ele-
ment, and a certain twisting, even tortured
Detail of door of Pisa Cathedral. Bronze.

Bonanno Pisano. 12th century. (_Alinari photo')
Detail of door of Benevento Cathedral. Bronze. 12th century. CAlinari photo')
'M:
Z^.
^^
G) Ck\\CA\^C^\\CA\
quality entering into the drawing, mark the
transition from Byzantine into amore aspir-
ing and vital language of art. There is a new
relish for drama, for exaggerated action.
The carvers of portable ivories carried on
their trade throughout the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, the approximate period of
Romanesque ascendancy. The leaf of a
Spanish diptych, showing Bihlical Scenes, at
the Metropolitan Museum

combines Byzan-
tine rhythmic and ornamentalism
design
with the new dramatic statement by means
of exaggerated gesture, forced action, and a
degree of distortion not to recur in Europe
before twentieth-century expressionism.
The workers in metal also reflected the
transition, especially the enamelers. In the
little Crucifixion on a bookbinding at the
Metropolitan Museum, the Byzantine round-
ing of forms survives but is modified by exag-
gerations that give alertness and fuller plastic Bihlical Scene, leaf of a diptych, detail. Ivory.
life to the figures. The eleventh-century Romanesque, llth-12th centuries. Spain.
medallion (which is still attached to a bat-
tered reliquary at Conques) likewise illu-
strates the artist's training in Byzantine dis- Crucifixion, on a boolc cover. Ivory, metals,
and jewels. Romanesque, 11th century. Spain.
ciplined and his attempt to
craftsmanship,
find a more emotional and dynamic mode of
expression.
Medallion on Reliquary of Begon. 11th century.

Treasure of Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques,
France. QGiraudon photo")
St. James, relief. Stone. Romanesque, llth-12th centuries. Spain.
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
Christ in a Mandorla. Stone. Byzantine-

Romanesque. Choir of Church of St. Sernin,
But to return to the mainstream, the
Toulouse. QPhoto by Noel le Boyer")
Christian reUgion enjoyed one of its most
glorious revivals in the eleventh century.
There occurred then an unparalleled out-
pouring of works of aesthetic creation, that
left its record on innumerable portals and in
the tympanums of Vezelay, Moissac, and
Chartres, and on the facades and naves of so
many lesser cathedrals and churches of
France.
The figure of Christ in the ambulatory of
St. Sernin at Toulouse, at right, too solidly
monumental and too roundly chiseled to be
called Romanesque, is yet a focal point in a
church architecturally in the later style. The
aspect of the figure is Oriental and Byzantine.
In Spain the Oriental tradition was even
stronger, reinforced by the contribution of
the Moors. The Church of St. James at
Compostela disputes with St. Sernin the

honor of being the earliest outstanding monu-
ment of Romanesque building, and it is
adorned with a greater wealth of transitional

sculpture. The relief of St. James at the
moment of the Transfiguration, above, is in-
deed more magnificent than any contempo- terned areas and borders of enchanting
rary French piece. This early Romanesque medallions and beast-and-flower capitals, but
masterpiece is of the final decade of the these are incidental to an exhibit of figure
eleventh century or the early twelfth. sculpture of sheerest creativeness, consistent
There are innumerable capitals in the stylization, and extraordinary plastic sensi-
Spanish churches that show inspired sculp- bility.
tural invention, and at Compostela many This is the morning of European Christian
figures in high relief are worthy companion art, the time of vision and aspiration and in-
pieces to the St. James. But it was in France spired craftsmanship. Sustained by the Chris-
that the new style swept over the land and tian philosophy, by an inspiring mysticism,
found expression in an amazing number of and by a wholehearted dedication to work in
cathedrals and churches; that the dynamic the service of God, the sculptors produced
expressionist mode of design crystallized as masterpieces of devotional art.As growth of
an unmistakable style. In the Church of St. the spirit of Christianity marked a revolt
Madeleine at Vezelay it is clear that Byzan- against the violence and materialism into
tium has made its contribution but its inwhich the Roman world had sunk, so Chris-
fluence has largely passed. There are pat- tian art might be read as a reaction from the
Central portal of Church of S. Madeleine, Vezelay. llth-12th centuries. (ND photo")

naturalism and materialism of late Greek and in the First Empire, was known as the richest
Roman art. monument Romanesque design in France.
of
At Vezelay, Autun, and Moissac the "un- In its tympanum, its porches with story
natural" phase of Christian sculptural art is scenes, its isolated relief figures, and its
supremely illustrated. Despite the compli- cloister capitals, the Church of St. Peter at
cated arrangement of the tympanum, the Moissac affords as near a complete range of
composition at Vezelay holds together per- Romanesque sculpture as can be found (see
fectly, constituting, as may be seen from the below). The French Revolution and the Puri-
illustration, a fitting portal to the impressive tan movement in England let loose icono-
nave. clasts who did a stupendous job of smashing
The detailed scene from the Last Judg- "idols" and
denuding churches of their
ment on the tympanum at Autun (page 313) sculpturaland painted wealth. Moissac is far
is an example of the most exaggerated styliza- to the southwest, but on the Burgundian
tion. It indicates both likenesses to and vari- "pilgrim road" to Spanish shrines. Here the
ations in the style in neighboring communi- extreme stylization is evident, but the exag-
ties, both near Cluny. At Cluny itself the gerations, even the deformities, are less strik-
abbey church, which was largely destroyed
Biblical Scenes, detail. Porch of Church of St. Peter, Moissac. QPhoto hy Jean Roubier')
TrTT%cm> /e^yy^^TiTf^ni fT»^%^>^ynri r^ i
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c^ CS; -^ -^ ^^ I
One of the characteristics which separate rich but restricted patterning), with special
Romanesque from Gothic sculpture is the intentness displayed in the face, above hands
respect shown by the earHer artists for the no less expressive. Even the key is decorative.
whole architectonic composition. They sel- Mention has been made of the eccentric-
dom obscured a structural line or impaired ities, not to say the wild distortions, at
a boundary. They could however, introduce Autun. These ran not only to stylistic deforma-
a relief figure on a pillar or a jamb with tions but to the depiction of abnormal crea-
extraordinary effectiveness. At Moissac the tures such as human-headed monsters and
jamb figures are among the most notable iso- monster-headed humans, or two beasts with
lated reliefs known to Romanesque sculpture. one head. To create horror was one of the
The St. Peter illustrated is in the main chan- purposes of the sculptors of the time;
nel of the style— elongated and forced into Gislebertus added to his signature on the
an extreme gesturing pose, carved in the Last Judgment at Autun the admonition,
purest manner (with lightly repeated folds "Let these terrors frighten those who live
accentuating the long lines, and relieved by their lives on earth in sin." St. Bernard of
St. Peter. Stone. Church of St. Peter, Moissac. Angel. Stone. 12th century. Within a porch at
QGirandon photo') St. Gilles du Gard. QPhoto by Noel le Boyer')
Clairvaux, the greatest churchman of the and even subject-matter standard along the
age, whose one purpose was to bring men pilgrim road. In Provence the style became
into consciousness of God's presence, abhorred more exuberant, and this may be attributed
the sculptured horrors and protested against to the continual traffic and influence along
them as pagan and alien disturbances of the littoral from Italy and by sea from the
Christian calm. (See page 313.) Orient through Marseilles.
To the north the church-builders borrowed At Aries and in St. Gilles-du-Gard the
the unnatural animals but portrayed them architects and sculptors composed scenes in
without so much distortion. At Aulnay, where which the Apostles and Church Fathers, with
the north portal of the transept is a model of traces of Roman, Byzantesque, and Roman-
restrained but rich Romanesque design, the esque ways of imaging, consort with unreal
arch over the outermost columns bears thirtv- Oriental beasts, Lombard variety, amid panels
four of the monstrous car\'ings, which seem of patterning that strangely oscillate between
here to have little more than a decorative the Byzantine and Roman styles. Corinthian
purpose. Each capital and each semicircular capitalsand acanthus borders, the lions of the
panel is vital, as is the horizontal frieze of Lombard porches, friezes crowded with figures
the doorway. In the central part of France, in the southwest Romanesque style— all were
Auvergne and westward, such adaptations of incorporated into a rich, if not very well-
the Romanesque style developed. integrated, local language of sculpture. Some
The school of the south, sometimes called of the single figures at St. Gilles, moreover,
the School of Languedoc, with the Cluniac like some of the capitals in the cloisters at
or Burgundian School, had provided the Aries, indicate a mature sense of the monu-
truer pattern Romanesque sculpture
of mental along with feeling for decorative
(though not so fully ofRomanesque archi- effect. The Angel at left, not to be identified
tecture); while Auvergne and the central-west stylistically, is arrestingly handsome.
countr\' and Provence drew upon methods Bv the mid-twelfth century the Roman-
Doorway of Church of St. Peter, Aulnay. (_Photo Roget-VioUet')
V
esque style had spread over a great deal of turbing architectural lines, is especially well
France and notable monuments were being by the Christ on the trumeau at
illustrated
Normandy (where the

erected in Brittany, in the church of St. Loup de Naud. Here the
builders had been among the inventors of Romanesque heritage from Byzantium is still
Romanesque rib vaulting), and in the He de evident in the patches of rich ornamentation,
France. The more eccentric and angular of soon to be suppressed by sculptors devoted to
the peculiarities evident at Moissac and naturalism, and the gesture and the alert
Vezelay were modified in the north, so that pose are typical.

at Chartres there is little to distress the eye of The cathedral at Chartres most nobly il-
the realist; though the t)'pical Romanesque lustrates the whole transition from Roman-
vigor and dynamism survive, together with esque to Gothic (with some unfortunate post-
enough of the st)'lization, as seen in the Gothic "improvements"). The sculpture of
slenderized figures and the schematic treat- the west fagade must be dated close to 1 1 50,
ment of draperies and hair, to mark parts of while other parts of the church and decora-
the decoration as pre-Gothic. tions belong to the late twelfth century and
The way in which the late Romanesque the thirteenth. The typical Romanesque
sculptors utilized the slender figures to respect for the architectural line is observed
decorate columns or pilasters, without dis- in the west or Royal Portal, as seen in the
Detail of the main portal of the Church of St. Trophime, Aries.

Southern Romanesque. QGiraiidon photo')
Christ,on trumeau. Church of St. Loup de Naud. photograph on page 312. (It is necessary
QPhoto by Jean Rouhier')
only to look at page 340 in order to realize
how the later sculptors spilled their figures
beyond the implied architectonic limits, mak-
ing a statue a display in itself rather than a
motive in a preconceived and controlled
fabric.) The figures flanking the Royal
Portal, each carved on a pillar-stone, are
among the most impressive in the late
Romanesque restrained style. The utterly
stylized figures seen in close-up (in the photo-
graph on the following page), with folded
draperies in the old Burgundian tradition,
mark a high point in sculpture serving and
intensifying architectural appeal.
At the time of the Norman invasion the
Romanesque builders carried their art to Eng-
land. The new rulers were inspired to erect
churches as large and majestic as those of
France. They took with them religious lead-
ers, engineers, and masons; and thus Roman-
esque became the standard style for such
monuments as the cathedrals at Canterbury,
Durham, and Ely. The Romanesque name
has generally been discarded in England in
favor of "Norman."
Architecturally, there was little change at
first from the style as known in France. At
Durham the structure has generally heavy
columns round arches, and— first
in the nave,
step toward the Gothic— rib vaulting over the
nave and aisles. Ely Cathedral outwardly re-
tains more of the Romanesque appearance.
At many of the cathedrals— Salisbury, York,
Canterbury, Lincoln, Worcester, Wells— the
outward aspect is Gothic, owing to change
to the pointed style during construction, or
to later additions.
In the English cathedrals the art of sculp-

ture was less well served than at Aries or
Moissac or Chartres. Romanesque carving as
known in France is surprisingly scarce and
incidental in the magnificent cathedrals and
abbey churches. English Norman sculpture,
nevertheless, is and appealing by
interesting
reason of elements surviving from an ante-
cedent native style.
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The Celtic crosses, best known in Ireland,
arefound occasionally in the counties of the
West and North of England. After the Celts
there had been the Saxons, brinoing an art
closely related to that of earlier Wandering

Peoples. (The next invasion, that of the
Danes, had little effect upon Anglo-Saxon
art.)
In a church at Kilpeck in Herefordshire

there are figures and panels of ornament that
seem to be descended directly from the old
Celtic and Anglo-Saxon art, and other figures
that recall the Romanesque expressionist tra-
dition of the French pilgrimage churches.
The detail illustrated, a section of a double
column or shaft flanking the church doorway,
suggests an origin in the interlacing oma-
Facing page:
Detail of Royal Portal, Chartres.
(ND photo')
Decorative panel.
Stone. 8th century.
Eashy Abbey, Yorkshire.
Warrior, detail from door shaft. Stone.

12th century. Church of St. Mary ami St. David,
Kilpeck, Herefordshire.
(Photo by Jean Roubier)
ment and the attenuated figuring familiar in
Irish and Scandinavian sculpture of the pre-
ceding centuries. Dated c. 1160, it is an excep-
tional example of English Norman sculpture
enlivened by lingering Iro-Celtic spirit. A de-
tailed illustration from Easby Abbey in York-
shire shows a fragment of a decorative panel
of earlier date than the imported Norman,
but with the vigorous carving, rich pattern-
ing, and carelessness of nature that charac-
terize the Romanesque style. It is a sort of
sculpture rooted in the Celtic style but modi-
fied in the following Germanic or Anglo-
Saxon centuries, and perfectly fitted for fusion
with twelfth-century Norman.

In the Norman cathedrals of England a
number of monumental sculptural designs are
known. At Chichester in the choir aisle are
two large panels of patched-together stones
bearing scenes picturing Christ meeting with
Mary and Martha and the Raising of Lazarus.
These ambitious and rather crowded reliefs
Head of Christ, detail of a Crucifixion. Bronze.

German, 11th century. Abbey Church, Werden an Head of Christ, detail of Crucifix at top of facing
derRuhr. {Archiv fur Kunst and Geschichte, Berlin) page. National Museum, Nuremberg.
CArchiv fUr Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin')
The Lion of Brunswick. Bronze. 1166.

Burgplatz, Brunswick, Germany.
(_Archiv fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin)
Crucifix.Wood. German, 11th century.
National Museum, Nuremberg
suffer, however, from a certain clumsiness in

the carving. Salisbury Cathedral and Wells
Cathedral are but two of several having
western fagades richly embellished with
sculptured figures— 350 at Wells; but the ar-
rangement is generally unimaginative, in

mechanically repeated niches, and the qual-
ity of the individual car\'ings is not at the
top Romanesque (or Gothic) level. Occa-
sional Norman doorways survive, such as the
handsome Prior's Portal at Ely, with a tym-
panum seemingly in direct line from the
early Romanesque of Southern France. But
it is true that the Norman builders, whether
in pre-Conquest Normandy or in England,
put less stress on sculptural adornment and
more on purely architectural invention. And
in England the Reformation iconoclasts de-
stroyed or defaced most of the "idols" they
could reach. What is left is hardly more than
the few monuments and portals mentioned.
The real treasures, Romanesque or Gothic,
consist of fonts, tomb figures, capitals, and
what would be beam-ends if we were talking
of wooden buildings. The capital illustrated
from Canterbury Cathedral, with its spirited
Capital. Stone. Early 12th century. composition of a griffin and a serpent, is char-
Cantcrhiir} Cathedral. (Photo by ]can Roiibicr)
acteristic.
There are prime monuments in Germany,

especially of early Romanesque architecture;
and crucifixes in wood and a multitude of
metal works have survived that are fully
in the pre-Gothic expressionist vein. One of
the most distinctive works of the eleventh

century, marking the early morning of post-
Bvzantine sculptural art, is the bronze Cruci-

fixion in the abbey church at Werden an der
Ruhr. (The head is illustrated on page 334.)
This striking and, to some eyes, distressingly
stylized interpretation of Christ on the Tree

is a product of the Saxon School, which was although the body is hardly less summary
responsible some of the finest bronze-
for and symbolic than the extreme German ex-
casting of the Middle Ages. The Lion of amples of a century earlier, the face is livingly
Brunsioick is another example from this ac- (The head is on this page, far left.)
dramatic.
complished school. Hardly since Etruscan art The Romanesque style lived on in Spain long
faded into Roman had such a spirited beast after the transition to Gothic in France, and
been cast in Europe; it is the only free-stand- Spanish colonial
in Mexico and in
art
ing Romanesque survival in monumental size. South America yields examples to the nine-
Among the Romanesque relics in wood, teenth century. The Prophet shown is a
the German crucifixes are particularly fine, Spanish work of the fifteenth century, and
and marked with an expressiveness
thev are the treatment of the eyes and brows, and the
wholly different from the Byzantine on one general heavy ridging for dramatic light-and-
hand and the Gothic on the other. The shade are Romanesque mannerisms.
Crucifix at Nuremberg is especially notable. The bronze work of the transitional period
The body is characteristic of a school of was even more varied, and even after 1200
woodcutters of upper Germany. The statue is the candlesticks, and especially the aqua-
perhaps the outstanding masterpiece of the manili, were apt to exhibit all the vigor, the
German expressionist school of the late frank distortion, and the fancifulness belong-
eleventh and the early twelfth centuries. ing to Romanesque invention, with some
The head, shown separately, marks a trend Byzantine ornamentalism. This development
of the Romanesque woodcarvers of Germany occurred first in Germany, and later in
toward lifelike statement. The face is sur- Northern Italy, France, England, and
prisingly natural, with just the change from Flanders.
formalization and generalization that spells The illustration of the horseman and two
the transition from Romanesque to Gothic candleholders shows three examples in the
sculpture. Louvre and exhibits strikingly different modes
A painted wooden crucifix at the Metro- of formalization. The style was still distorted,
politan Museum illustrates a common Spanish and it is clear from each example that the
t)'pe. Again it is a late example of the style: artist's intention was not to represent nature
Head of Christ. Wood, painted. Spanish, Prophet, detail. Wood. Spanish, 15th century.
12th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art Ridgexvay Collection, Paris. QGiraudon photo")
A Horseman and two candleholders. Bronze.
Flemish; Italian; German. llth-12th centuries
Louvre. QGiraiidon photo')
but to create self-sufficient artistic entities. right might be of a time when Byzantine art
The statuette of a knight on horseback is was first giving way before the more dramatic
oldestand is supposedly Italian. The rather Romanesque, but it has also been accorded a
lumpy primitivism of the sculptural method considerably later date.
is extraordinarily effective. The candleholder The aquamanile in polished bronze, be-
on the left is a commoner type, probably low, a fauceted vessel representing a Horse,
Flemish. The frank conventionalization, as now at the Cluny Museum, suggests a
seen especially in the horse's haunches and connection with the style of the Celtic
tail and in the virile, curving lines, survived beak-flagons; and from the Scythians survives
in the metalworkers' studios as late as the the art of imposing one animal, in the handle,
fifteenth century. The candleholder on the upon another of a totally different kind.
Horse. Aquamanile. Bronze. Flemish, 15th century. Cluny Museum, Paris. (Âlinari photo')
Naturalism began to take over Christian of the column statues to the column width
art, and for a time the new reahsm was no longer holds, as in the beautifully stylized
conditioned by imagination and by a hnger- figures of the west portal, and there is a
ing ideahsm. But late Gothic sculpture was tendency to various excrescences that dull
to illustrate a melancholy descent from fitting the edges of the structural courses. But at this
architectural carving, from architectonic in- stage these may be taken as merely signs of
tegrity and disciplined group expression, to a the exuberance of artists intoxicated with a
parade of occasional pieces, each effectively newly gained freedom and ease. The tendency
"real" or sentimentally engaging or clever, to realism, too, is in keeping and laudable
but without framework. when it gives us the sensitive faces and the
With the first outpouring of the new dignified figures seen in the illustrations of
spirit, Gothic sculpture bounds forward on a Chartres. (Facing and page 341.)
grand and disciplined scale, lit up with a In the best of these figures there is still
new and perceptive interest in the phenom- the boldness and telling dramatic posing of
enal world. The logic that renders the Romanesque design, but the expressionistic
cathedrals of Paris, Amiens, and Reims three deformations are gone. The treatment of hair
of the most superbly knit buildings of the and beards, halfway between the old heavy
ages transforms Romanesque carving without and formalized ridging and the careful four-
destroying the emotional richness and the teenth-century curls, is a typical transitional
sense of architectural fitness. At Chartres the method (though naturalism in representing
north and the south porches are glorious the hair, as understood by the Florentine
and
displays of the blending of architectural sculptors of the mid-Renaissance, never did
sculptural fabrication. The strict limitation interest the Gothic carvers). Naturalism as
Figures in North Portal, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres. 12th century. C^D photo")
a pen'ading interest in the surrounding world
as it looks claims the artist increasingly, so
that the flora and fauna of France begin to
be documented in stone, and litde human-
interest touches, and even anecdotal or bio-
graphical trivia, are introduced among the
impressive representations of God, Christ, the
prophets, and the angels.
Chief of the technical changes was the
lifting of the figure from the background.
While relief-carving did not disappear, figures
were oftener worked in the round, whether
left slightly engaged or set out in total in-
dependence of column or wall. At first the

Thomist passion for order and clarit}% still
operative at the level of architect and master-
builder, restrained the sculptor who wished
to make a showpiece of his statue. Indeed,
the group and specifically the guild
spirit,
spirit, operated to harmonize the sculptures

and stained glass with the cathedral's archi-
tecture.
Each of the rigidly upright, attenuated
figures on the pillars of the Royal Portal at
Chartres (page 332) bespeaks care for the
member. In the
integrity of the architectural
illustration one may see how at Sens
Cathedral the statue of St. Stephen on the
St. John the Baptist. Stone.

12th century. North Portal, Chartres.
QHouvet photo')
Isaiah and Jeremiah. Stone.

North Portal, Chartres.
QPhoto hy Jean Rouhier')
trumeau of the central doorway accords with figure, and the free disposal of draperies,
the architect's intention but indulges in a wings, and other accessories without regard
little more spread than was permitted at to a cramping framework. Others feel certain
Chartres. The Madonna on the portal of the that the loss to the magnificent cathedral
north transept of Notre Dame in Paris has structure is greater than the gain: that the
become a work of art in her own right: the architectonic fabric is rent. After a.d. 1200
pillar lines are obscured, and the structural the single face or figure held the interest.
integrity is no longer served. Notre Dame in Paris was built early enough
Some observers consider this the point at (i 160-1225) so that its west fagade remains
which medieval sculpture came of age, and classically simple, and the portal sculpture
they praise the increased freedom of group- (comparatively dull as restored in the nine-
ing, the greater naturalness of the individual teenth century) is laid into the fabric per-
St. Stephen, trumeau figure. Stone. 12th century.

Madonna, trumeau figure. Late 13th century. Central portal of Cathedral of Sens.
North Portal, Notre Dame de Paris (Photo by Jean Rouhier')
Apostles. Stone. South Portal; Chartre

QGiraudon photo
fectly. The gargoyles are an added feature, sense of profuse life and a rich play of light
and are the best of the sculptural exhibit, and shadow to the facade. Second, the in-
vigorous, fanciful, and essentially lithic. dividual statues and certain groups present
(Shown on page 310.) Exceptional too is the Christian lessons. The sculpture on each
some of the later story-telling sculpture, in cathedral is still, of course, a picturebook of
realistic vein but cut with notable feeling for religious story and instruction, in a systematic
stonelike effect and sensitive modeling. It has, pageant ordained by the theologians. Oc-
however, little Gothic character. (See below, casionally the artist's mastery lifts a face or
left.) figure or a group above the inevitable routine
But at Amiens it is the Gilded Madonna average of design and cutting; so that within
(page 347) or the Beau Dieu, and at Reims a porch at Reims one comes upon such a row
the Smiling Angel or the Virgin of the Visi- of masterpieces of the new realism as the
tation which attract the eye. At Reims the four figures of the Purification. Each superb
sculpture serves two main purposes. It adds a statue is set out to be studied and enjoyed for
Adam and an Angel. Stone. Notre Dame de Paris. Smiling Angel. Stone. 13th century.
QGiraudon photo, Archives Roget-Viollet') Portal of Cathedral of Reims
its patent virtues. What was begun at architect'sdream of a building grandly com-
Chartres, in the period between the adorn- posed, simple, and richly adorned. These great
ment of the west portal and the adornment monuments of the West might conceivably
of the north portal (or perhaps earlier at be placed beside the lushest Indian temples
St. Denis, in compositions destroyed during or the ruins of Angkor Vat and Borobudur
the Revolution), ended in these high Gothic and not seem sculpturally meager.
masterpieces. (Page 344.) The evolution of medieval architecture,
The profusion of sculpture at Reims is Byzantine and Lombard into Romanesque,
almost equaled in the porches at Chartres; and Romanesque into Gothic, was primarily
but Reims and Amiens illustrate the Gothic dependent on the development of methods
Small portal, detail. 13th century. Cathedral of Reims. QISID photo')

of arching, vaulting, and buttressing. The Beneath, the structure remained as logical,
pointed arch, the ribbed vault, the flying as rightly adjusted, as ever. But the decora-
buttress are basic to the Gothic style. There tive elements, even the decorative sheathing,
is further evolution, without basic structural took on increased importance— as can be seen
change, after the high Gothic of Amiens and in the illustration of the fagade at Strasbourg.
Reims, say, after the year 1300. The daring What interests us here is the use of inset
u'hich had raised the organism to unprece- sculpture to enrich and accent the pointed
dented heights and to a marvelous structural arches, pinnacles, and traceries. At Stras-
perfection gave way to pretty inventions in bourg and Rouen there is hardly as much
the nature of lacelike screens and walls lost figurative sculpture as at Amiens and Reims,
in forests of beautiful tracery. but the impression is sculpturally richer,
The Purification. Portal of Cathedral of Reims

because the statues are bedded in a delicate ample evidence at Strasbourg that very great
fabric of shaped architectural elements, which sculptors were employed during the cathedral
themselves constitute a species of abstract building, as the vigorous and forthright heads
art in stone. Beyond the middle portal in the of St. Philip and St. Stephen witness. These
west fagade of Strasbourg Cathedral, figura- should be labeled perhaps as German or
tive sculpture and architectural detail are Alsatian Gothic works rather than French.
barely distinguishable from each other. There are signs of decadence in certain
This is, of course, a lighter form of Gothic of the pretentious story scenes at Bourges
art, yet only an extreme purist would be likelv Cathedral, where a tympanum contains rows
to call it decadent or overstrained. There is of lively, even boisterous figures. In activeness
Facade of Cathedral of Strasbourg, detail. C. 1300. (ND photo, Archives Roget-V toilet')
St. Philip. Stone.
Cathedral of Strasbourg.
CPhoto by Jean Roubier')
Lower left:
Virtue. Stone.
13th-14th centuries.
Musee de I'Oeuvre, Notre Dame,
Strasbourg. (Tel photo")
St. Stephen. Stone.

(Photo by Jean Roubier')
and eccentricity they are reminiscent of
Vezelay and Autun, but they lack the dis-
ciplined grouping and the engaging stylization

of the Romanesque masters.
A contrasting phase of Gothic which is
more vigorous, a trifle heavy, perhaps, and

earlier in feeling if not in date, is to be seen
at the Church of Notre Dame in Semur.
Semur is in Burgundy, and the style of the
Burgundian school differs from that of the
school of the He de France; here it has en-
tered a flamboyant phase.
Both Strasbourg and Rouen are sometimes
classed as monuments of flamboyant Gothic,
but the incidental sculpture hardly deserves
the description. The smiling angels that
became so popular were copied from cathedral
to cathedral, even during the thirteenth
century, but generally they lack dignity and
restraint. Though they have an irresistible
surface charm, as works of art they are

inferior to the Romanesque angels. The
Rouen fagade is not as solemn and impressive
as Notre Dame or Chartres, but it is a tour-
The Gilded Madonna. Mid-1 3th century. de-force of graceful architectural draping.
South Portal, Cathedral of Amiens. The course of the Gothic style in general
(Archives Photographiques)
was marked by growing realism, but from
Detail of tympanum. 14th century. Church of Notre Dame, Semur. (ND photo')
Cathedral of Rouefu CPhoto hy Jean RonhieO
Detail of fagade. Flamboyant Gothic, 14th century.
the mid-thirteenth century there followed maintained between design of the illustrative
some four hundred years of French sculpture scene for its own sake and composition in
that is hardly more than transiently appealing. which figures and their setting are arranged
Basically the trouble was that devotion to to produce a flat, tapestry-like effêct.
naturalism destroyed the feeling for the The two leaves of a diptych at Providence
sculptural block. The new individualism tend to sacrifice flatness, and compartmentali-
superseded the old guild spirit and the zation, for the sake of presenting the story
opportunities for disciplined cooperative more fully in a larger space. There is a sug-
expression. gestion of perspective. (Page 350.)
The lacelike facades of Strasbourg and Single leaves could still be designed in a
Rouen are reflected on the late Gothic ivory firm, clear, and architectural style, as is evi-
plaques; and indeed the whole histor)^ of the dent in the little Crucifixion of the Cluny
change from Romanesque to early vigorous Museum. Though the accessories mark it as
Gothic, to a more lifelike middle phase, and Gothic, the vigor of it, and a certain frank
on to the glittering flamboyant, can be traced distortion, suggest the Romanesque style.
in the marvelously carved French ivory panels Vividly contrasting is a set of eight panels of
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. the Life of Christ now in the Victoria and
The leaf of an ivory dipt}'ch at the Cluny Albert Museum. The lacy ornamentalism is
Museum is representative of the way in which obtained by the use of architectural tracery
religious stories were presented. A balance is and by the sharpening of the figures so that
Biblical Scenes, leaf of diptych. Scenes from the Life of Christ, leaf of diptych.
Ivory. Gothic, French, 14th century. Ivory. Italian, Milanese School, 15th century.
Cluny Museum, Paris. (_Giraudon photo') National Gallery of Art, Washington
LI
\\ :r>^ '/ jV'ÎOVTtv "III
m mm
Crucifixion. Ivory.
French, 14th-15th centuries.
Cluny Museum. CGiraudon photo')
they fill each panel without permitting the

eye to escape to the background. The minia-
ture craftsmanship here is marvelous, display-
ing the heights to which Gothic artistry
attained in the fifteenth century, in the

flamboyant (Page 351.)
style.
Two further phases can be seen a group of :
ivories containing some graceful but not very

important plaques devoted to pagan or lay
themes, especially love-making, jousting, and
hunting, and examples of religious picturing
even more attenuated and filmy than the
panels just shown. The Scenes from the
Life of Christ on a leaf of a diptych at the
National Gallery, Washington, are character-
istically lacy and ornate, and, like the pre-
ceding example, are in a pierced technique
which lends peculiar prominence to the
figures. This is an Italian work of the Milanese
School of the fifteenth century. (Page 349.)
After this technical virtuosity, a simple.
Biblical Scenes, diptych. Ivory. Gothic, French, 13th-14th centuries.

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
vigorous, and utterly genuine development
of sculpture occurred on French soil, in Brit-
tany, in the same century. A folk art arose,
important especially for its religious monu-
ments or "Calvaires" in stone. The two details
shown, and one illustrated earlier with an
example ofGallo-Roman art, suggest an
affinity of method and perhaps a direct line
of descent, and show the strength and sculp-
tural soundness of this Breton art. The figures
are parts of groups which unfortunately are
more masterly in detail than as integrated
compositions; but seldom are reverent atten-
tion and utter piety so perfectly expressed.
Christ of the Resurrection, detail of Calvaire.

Stone. Breton, 16th-17th centuries.
Pleyben, Brittany. QPhoto by Jean Roubier')
Life of Christ. Ivory.

French, 14th-15th centuries.
EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN SCULPTURE
Passion, the life of the Virgin, such incidents
as the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, and so
on. reliefs were much
Since the alabaster
prized by devout Christians throughout the
breadth of Europe, a great many were trans-
ported from England, and enough have sur-
vived to prove the quality and the originality
of the products of the Nottingham school.
Although alabaster, like jade, is prized
partly for its texture and the translucent char-
acter of the stone, the English panels were
freely gilded and painted. Time, perhaps fortu-
nately, has worn off most of the color. The
reliefs are sculpturally notable for a sound
sense of space-composition, for dramatic dis-
position of the figures, and for a cutting
method especially suited to the softish stone.
Two examples, a beautifully realized Christ
on the Cross and the surprisingly stylized
St. Jiide, indicate a real mastery in the
medium.
The heads at Strasbourg have already been
noted as German, and there are equally
impressive statues at Bamberg, Naumberg,
and elsewhere. More of Romanesque expres-
sionism survives in German carving than in
French, and the Gothic style is more rugged
and often touched with distortion. The Head

of King Stephen at Bamberg (part of an
Apostles, detail of Calvaire. Stone. Breton, equestrian figure) is one of the most expressive
16th-17th centuries. Guimiliau, Brittany. carvings of the fourteenth century, and a
(Photo by Jean Roubier)
prime example of German workmanship.
Other heads at Bamberg, such as the Head
of Elizabeth, are remarkable for their extra-
In England, where the cathedrals are ordinary^ portrayal of Teutonic types that have
second only to those of France in architectural persisted recognizably into a period six cen-
splendor, the iconoclasts destroyed almost the turies later, but the vigorous designing and
whole body of important religious sculpture. the fluent cutting are perhaps the more signif-
Fragmentary evidence indicates an original icant achievement.
rich investiture of stonecarving in many It has been said that German sculpture of
Gothic buildings or parts of buildings. But this period is more emotional than the French.
today the great English cathedrals stand This is perhaps true in the sense that more
almost denuded of their sculptural treasures. feeling appears in the faces, as in the Prophet
During the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- Joel in St. Peter's Church at Hamburg
turies there arose a school of carvers in (page 354), but the word "emotion" demands
Nottingham which specialized in producing some delimiting: German emotion is more
portable panels and portable altars in ala- homely and more poignant— and often more
baster, dealing with the usual subjects of the exaggerated. In France, too, the tone of
Head of King Stephen, detail of an equestrian Head of Elizabeth. Stone. German, 13th century.
statue. Stone.German, 14th century. Bamberg Bamberg Cathedral, Bavaria.
Cathedral, Bavaria. (Archiv fiir Kunst QArchiv fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin')
und Geschichte, Berlin)
St. Jude. Alabaster. English, Christ on the Cross. Alabaster. English,

Nottingham School, 14th-15th centuries. Nottingham School, 14th-15th centuries.
Victoria and Albert Museum Victoria and Albert Museum.
Head of the Prophet Joel. Master Bertram. German, 1379.

Altar, Church of St. Peter,Hamburg. QArchiv fiir Kutist und Geschichte, Berlin')
Christian iconography had changed in the leading religious sculptors in late Gothic
early Gothic centuries. Dignity and awe had times. Then naivete blossomed again. Gothic
given place to sentimental interest and per- sophistication fades, though there is no other
sonal identification with the Virgin or the style to which the woodcarving of the Rhine
sufiFering Christ. Where Christ in Majesty valley, Bavaria, and the Tirol can be linked.
might have been the central motive of a The statuettes of Christ and John in which
tympanum or a diptych panel before, the the sleeping John rests his head on the
tragedy and the pathos of the Crucifixion Savior's shoulder, his hand in Christ's hand,
were later dwelt upon. form a beautiful image even if sentimental.
The Germans succeeded the French as the The German folk artists had, in general, an
innate talent for carving in wood. They
remembered the block and indulged a passion
for rhythmic massing before tr)'ing to imitate
natural effects. There are examples of folk

sculpture that are a lasting delight, for their
near-primitive directness of statement, their
naively emotional approach, and their sound
sculptural composition.They were produced
from the sixteenth century on, until, by the
end of the eighteenth century, a tide of
realism had swept through and left a plethora
of weak naturalistic groups and figures, from
such centers as Nuremberg, Oberammergau,
and the Tirolean towns. But the detail from
a Madonna and the Mary Kneeling (two
centuries later in date) are typical of a style
of sculpture too often overlooked in the his-
tories because it is a people's art and a
people's expression.
The German folk feeling entered into
much of the church sculpture too, so that
naive story-scenes and quaint decorative fig-
ures may be encountered in the churches,

Bishop Friedrich von Hohenlohe. Stone. German, especially the creches at Christmastime. The
Wurzburger school, c. 1352. Bamberg Cathedral,
Christ Riding the
illustrated figure of
Bavaria. (Archiv fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin)
Madonna, detail. Wood. German-Swiss, Mary Kneeling. Wood. German-Swiss,

Rhineland school. Historical Museum, Basel Rhineland school. Historical Museum, Basel
The Peasant Saint Nicholas von Flue, detail.
Wood. Swiss, 15th century. Stans Museum.
(Photo by Franz Schneider, Lucerne)
Christ Riding the Palmesel. Wood.

Bavarian school, 15th century.
Historical Museum, Basel
Pahnesel (the ceremonial ass of the Palm group of German sculptors who inherited
Sunday ritual) is a Bavarian piece. from the Gothic but were well aware of new
Switzerland also has a long folk-art history. ideals and fresh impulses from the south. To
The portrait of Nicholas von Fliie, who died a large extent their work is outside the com-
in 1487, is an extraordinary example of monly named styles, and there is confusion
homely, truthful carving by an anonjTnous over it because it comes closer to an incipient
from the Swiss Unterwal-
sculptor, apparently baroque style than to Gothic.
den or the neighboring canton of Lucerne. In Flanders the power of Burgundy was
The subject, known also as Brother Claus, for a time supreme, and the Gothic develop-
was born a peasant, became an inarticulate ment followed closely that in France. Many
mystic and ascetic, and a hermit. But such Flemish sculptors worked at the French cen-
was his innate honesty and his clear seeing ters of art. Most of the monuments of late
that he gave counsel to his fellow peasants Gothic sculpture in the Low Countries reflect
and later to the canton officials, high church- French grace and realism. There are, how-
men, and foreign noblemen who sought out ever, some vigorous and strikinglv stylized
his hut and chapel in an Alpine gorge. figures in wood. The illustrated Flemish
Monumental, official German art had, of image of St. James is an upstanding, elon-
course, felt the influence of the Italian gated type, quite diff'erent from French
Renaissance. Veit Stoss was but one of a
St. Paul. Wood. French, 15th century.
Toulouse Museum, QGiraudon photo^
St.James. Wood. Flemish. 16th century. Formerly
Collection of Peers de Nieuberg, Briissels
35S EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN SCULPTURE
Presumed by Nicolas Gerhaert of Leyden. Stone. 1467.

self-portrait
Miisee de VOeuvre, Notre Dame, Strasbourg
models. Some likeness of method may be The mural-like art of sculptured altar
seen in the St. Paul at Toulouse. screens and choir screens is the most distinc-
Nicholas Gerhaert of Leyden was a Low tive of the Hispanic developments in the
Country sculptor who had gained experience style. The altar backing at Neustra Senora de
in the Burgundian school and went as a mas- Pilar at Saragossa, with Gothic tracery and
ter to Strasbourg. The unique self-portrait Gothic niche figures, produces a dazzling ef-
shown was recovered from the rubble left by fect. The better-known reredos of the Cathe-
the iconoclast mobs when they desecrated the dral of Seville is inferior (as a whole) because
cathedral during the French Revolution. the figure groups are less well submerged in
Spain, where Byzantine, Moorish, and the decorative screen. Flemish sculptors also
French Romanesque currents had crossed, specialized in devising intricately carved altar
was influenced also by Gothic art. The French screens in wood, and they developed a tradi-
churchmen who went into Spain as the Sara- tion in carving tiny scenes of the Passion or
cens withdrew included architects and sculp- the life of the Virgin, cut in wooden shells
tors. While there is no outstanding monu- hardly larger than walnuts.

ment of Gothic design— as there is of the The Italians started their adventure in
Romanesque in St. James Compostela—

of Renaissance classicism long before the north-
the cathedrals at Burgos and Leon are in- ern Gothic style had run its course.There are
teresting examples of the style, with some many statues of Gothic aspect on the deco-
modifications in the features such as tym- rated facades of Milan Cathedral, but the
panums and the flanking figures of the effort to cover the cathedrals with pictorial
portals. storybooks of Christianity extended only to a
The Last Judgment, detail. Stone. Taqade of Cathedral of Orvieto, Italy

Altar area and reredos. Wood. Damian Forment. Early
16th century.
Church of Nuestra Senora de Pilar, Saragassa, Spain.
(Photo courtesy Department of Photographs, Princeton University^
St. Torttniata. Stone. French, 15th century.
Church of St. Fortunade, Correze.
(Giraudon photo)
few Italian cities. The illustration from Italy

showing a part of the front of the cathedral
at Orvieto exhibits many of the character-
istics of late Gothic art in France: a relish for
naturalism in the accessories, shown here in
the vine that grows from the base, branching
to divide the figure groups; and the sense of
loosened composition in the grouping of the
figures. The classicists, however, condemn
the treatment of the Last Judgment here as
ugly and northern; in Italy the theme had
generally been treated with restrained emo-
tion if not sunny confidence. It is known that
a Sienese architect-sculptor, Lorenzo Maitani,
was called to Orv'ieto in 1310 to supervise the
planning of the cathedral, and then to work
for ten years on the sculptural adornments.
But innumerable other sculptors came and
went in the first half of the century.
In Touraine the chapel fagade at the
Chateau of Amboise where the Italian Leo-
nardo da Vinci died in 1519, has the fragile
grace of late flamboyant Gothic, and the
sculpture is charming though a trifle playful.
The separation of sculpture from architecture,
as seen here, marks the end of the period of
great mural sculpture in central and northern
Europe. Leonardo's unmarked tomb is
thought to be in this Chapel of St. Hubert,

now restored. The story of Hubert's miracu-
lous conversion is told graphicallv in the
sculptured panel o\'er the doors.
Claus Sluter of the school of Burgundy is
considered a leader in the reforms that briefly

stemmed the currents of mannerism and so-
phistication. The
Burgundian school was
late
known for vigorous facial expression and

heavily folded and deeply undercut draperies.
The finest of the surviving monuments is the
Fountain of the Prophets at the Carthusian
Monastery at Champmol near Dijon. Though
it fails to integrate the sculpture with the
architecture, it is notable for the massive and
expressive figures of the six prophets. The
Moses is most effective and is generally con-
Moses, detail of Fountain of the Prophets.

Claus Sluter. Burgundian School, 15th century.
Champmol Monastery, near Dijon. (^Giraudon
photo^
Portal of the chapel, Chateau of Amboise, Touraine, France. Late Gothic, 16th century. (ND photo}
sidered the peak figure in the Burgundian cover picturesque gargoyles which retain the
style,which after this date— about 1405— robust realism of the early examples of the
was more successfully followed in Flanders style. Here, as a final illustration from pre-
and Holland than in France. Renaissance France, is another Burgundian
The charming fifteenth-century head of St. work, a winged Ox of St. Luke. Decorative
Fortunata was at one time counted as Gothic. and solidly sculptural, it is somewhat in the
It surmounts a reliquary in the Church of St. spirit of Glaus Sluter, and although it escapes
Fortunade in the town of that name in the the unnaturalness of Romanesque expression-
Rhone Valley. The sweetness of the face is ism and the distortion of the Celtic or Bar-
no less remarkable than the sensitive and barian animals of early medieval European
fluent cutting. It is an isolated work, though sculpture, it recaptures something of the
it might have been produced at one of the strength, ruggedness, and spiritedness of the
ateliers of the French sculptors of the detente traditional animal art of northern peoples.
or relaxed school. Gothic was a northern art. The next flower-
The Gothic spirit persisted more definitely ing of sculpture had already begun in Italy.
in connection with animal sculpture and with And France and England showed almost the
grotesques. Upon late churches or chateaux, same lack of interest in the Renaissance spirit,
even when the rest of the sculpture is routine in the formative years, as Italy had shown in
and dull and often ill-placed, one may dis- the Gothic.
Ox of St. Luke. Stone. French, Burgundian school, 1 5th century. Louvre. QGiraudon photo")
14: The Renaissance:
From the Pisanos to Michelangelo
I N each visual art there is a difference, it' not style, to the Florentines of the generation of
opposition, between two kinds of communica- Masaccio, Brunelleschi, and Donatello, prac-
tion, one embodying expression of the inner ticing hardly more than one hundred years
spirit, the other the visible appearances of the later, there is a full turn of the circle, from
world. Never was the transformation of the expression of inner, mystical meaning to a
arts, from the spiritually true to the physically reasoned and "natural" depiction of the
true, more completely accomplished than dur- world.
ing the Italian Renaissance. From the formal- In the earlier phases of the Renaissance,
ized Italo-Byzantine and Romanesque styles, however, the two styles existed side bv side.
and from the Sienese painters who

especially Nicola Pisano revitalized the Italian medieval
so beautifully adapted the "unreal" medieval st)'le with Roman idioms and Roman natural-
The Expulsion; Adam and Eve at Work. Stone. Jacopo dclla Qucrcia. 15th century.
Church of San Pctronio, Bologna. (Ânderson -photos')
THE RENAISSANCE 365
ism in his pulpit bas-reliefs; while his son the Lombard cities, and as far south as the
Giovanni Pisano looked northward to intro- Apulian and Calabrian towns. Truly Gothic
duce Gothic sensitivity and Gothic second expression is rarer, and it breathes uneasily
meaning, and was abetted by Amolfo Cam- di from the Italian churches; though Milan Ca-
bio and echoed by Orcagna and Nanni di thedral is an exception, its innumerable stat-
Banco. Even after Brunelleschi and Donatello ues including many by sculptors from France
had directed the course of art back to the clas- and Germany and by local masters converted
sical—by a stroke epochal and heroic, as it late to the northern st)'le. But, exceptions
seemed— an inspired Sienese, Jacopo della aside, the transformation to reasonable, clear,
Quercia, continued to produce works of such graceful sculpture in the classic tradition is
grandeur and such plastic sensibilitv that they the great historic fact of early Renaissance
attach perfectly to the northern and anti-classic times.
tradition. But in such works as the baptistry The change might in some minds imply a
doors of Ghiberti, and in the neo-Grecian transfer from religious imaging to portrayal
figures of Donatello, Roman pictorialism and of secular scene and figure. It is true that por-
classic lifelikeness prevailed, and Europe was traiture of lay men and women became fash-
committed to a revival of art conforming to ionable during the mid-period of the Renais-
the appearances of the actual world. sance. But sculpture remained primarily re-
Italy had never given in fully to the Gothic ligious in subject and intent. Donatello, a key
st)4e. Romanesque relics, hardly to be dis- figure, is known almost entirelv for his re-
tinguished from Byzantine at times, are to be ligious monuments. (The famed bust of Ni-
found at Parma, Florence, and Pistoia, in all cola da Uzzano in the Roman manner is al-
Pulpit. Stone. Nicola Pisano. 1266-68. Cathedral of Siena. Ânderson photo")

Dawti. Stone. Michelangelo. 1520—34.
Medici Chapel, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence. (Âlinari photo')
most the sole exception. The appeahng futti ture. It is that Michelangelo appeared not as
are scarcely to be distinguished from angels a crowning figure in the progression toward
and cherubs.) Even the fabulously popular "truth" in the art, but as a creator rising above
works of the della Robbias are religious in all had been exalted by the outstanding
that
subject-matter. When there comes, in the sculptors from Nicola Pisano, Ghiberti, and
closing years of the Renaissance, the one Donatello to the later della Robbias. Sculp-
transcending genius of the era, Michelangelo, ture had become veracious, illustrational, and
he is first of all a worker in churches and graceful. Against these outward virtues,
chapels. From the lovely Pieta of his youthful Michelangelo pitted a passionate devotion to
years to the stark Deposition of his old age, the inner central elements that constitute
in which he depicted himself as a stricken sculptural art, devotion to the integrity of the
mourner over the crucified Christ, Michelan- stone block, to the living qualities of massive-
gelo is religious and Christian. The Renais- ness and majesty and power. He wrote— he
sance freed men's minds and opened the way was the greatest of the writing sculptors— that
to new forms of intellectual enlightenment, a work of true sculpture, that is, one cut, not
but religion still was the crucial motivating modeled, should retain so much of the form
force in artistic creation. of the stone block, should so avoid projections
There is a third fundamental fact about and separation of parts, that it would roll
the Renaissance in relation to the art of sculp- downhill of its own weight. There one hears
THE RENAISSANCE 367
the voice of the lover of the quarried block, many the extension of the Italian spirit was
the giant cutter of stone, who felt that in no marked, especially in woodcarving, and in
other way could the artist endow his work Spain the classic movement modified the in-
with the grandeur and the hint of eternity tense religious realism surviving from late
that are its most precious assets. Michelangelo Gothic times.
is a sculptor apart, mystical, contemplative, in In Italy the end of the Renaissance period
love with the stone. Through his feeling for saw the perfecting of the virtues of the gold-
the basic, profound sculptural process, he is smith Cellini, in numbers of
unparalleled
one with the archaic Greeks and the Indian, pretty mantelpiece bronzes. It was also a time
Chinese, and Mayan masters. when the Michelangelesque virtues were
The Renaissance in the sense of the rebirth transformed into the rather empty dramatics
of Latin literature and the revival of the clas- of the mannerists, and the accomplishments
sical style in art was essentially Italian in of a few scholar-sculptors who carried on the
spirit. It developed out of the special nature tradition initiated by Donatello or hopelessly
and the rivalries of the Italian city-states, and tried to imitate Michelangelo. Sansovino, who
out of dominance by a ruling class which died in 1570, was the most successful, retain-
enormously expanded economic power and ing a sense of the monumental while avoid-
commerce— and patronized the arts. Neverthe- ing the bizarre effects of the mannerists. Of
less in the northern countries the Renaissance those who gained from the freedoms intro-
spirit changed the course of sculpture, if duced by mannerism, Giambologna, who sur-
tardily. In France the vitality of the Gothic vived into the early years of the seventeenth
style did not fade until the end of the fif- century, was most notable. His was, indeed,
teenth century, and there was no great the last world-famous name in the era be-
French sculptor in the time of Donatello, tween Michelangelo and the initiator of the
Luca della Robbia, and Michelangelo. In Ger- Baroque style, Bernini.
Death of the Virgin. Stone. Tilman Riemenschneider. German, 16th century.

Cathedral of Wiirzburg. QArchiv fUr Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin}
II
the Renaissance style in sculpture is re- where he must have examined hand
at first
IF alistic, clear, and harmonious, there are the exhumed classical relics. He
was the first
nevertheless forerunners who speak with an to introduce Roman naturalism into what had
inherited Gothic or Romanesque accent. been till then Italian medieval art; the paint-
Three illustrations show stages of the trans- ers were still Italo-Byzantine, or Sienese
formation from Lombard Romanesque, as "Primitives."
seen in the bronze door at Pisa, through the Between 1266 and 1268 Nicola Pisano and
Gothic on the cathedral facade at Or-
reliefs his pupils produced another famous pulpit,
vieto, and on to that landmark of sculptural for the Cathedral of Siena. Romanesque lions
progress, the pulpit designed by Nicola Pi- were used as supports, but again the relief
sano for the baptistry at Pisa. Three of its panels showed the sculptors' masterly abilitv
columns rise from the backs of lions in the in adapting Roman idioms to decorative and
Lombard Romanesque manner, and the pictorial uses. (Illustrated on page 365.)
arches retain suggestions of the northern Giovanni Pisano, son of Nicola, tempered
pointed style; but the major panels are filled the over-literal Roman expression with a pic-
with picture compositions resembling the bas- turesqueness and a sensitivity learned from
reliefs of ancient Roman sarcophagi. His- contemporary Gothic practice. His panels on
torically this is an epochal revival of classic the pulpit at Pistoia are lively and dramatic
realism and pictorialism. Nicola, though and naturallv composed. Single figures of his
known as Pisano, had come from Apulia, are among the finest sculptures of the time.
Detail of door. Cathedral of Pisa. Bronze. Romanesque, 12th century. (Alinari photo). (See also page 323)
THE RENAISSANCE 369
Creation of Man and other scenes. Stone. Italian Gothic, 14th century.
Cathedral of Orvieto. (Ânderson photo")
Pulpit. Stone. Nicola Pisano. Italian, 1260. Baptistry, Cathedral of Pisa. (Ânderson photo")
370 THE RENAISSANCE
Adoration of the Magi, relief panel. Stone. Nicola Pisano. Cathedral of Siena. QAnderson photo')
Birth of Christ, relief panel. Stone. Giovanni Pisano. Church of San Andrea, Pistoia.
QAlinari photo)
Extreme Unction; Baptism.
Stone. Andrea Pisano. 13th-14th centuries. Campanile, Cathedral of Florence. (Âlinari photos')
Giovanni's pupil, Andrea Pisano, with Ar- excelled in both arts, retained Andrea Pisano's
nolfo di Cambio and Andrea Orcagna, stayed Gothicism in the main features of the famous
for a while the tide toward classicism. Andrea tabernacle within the Church of Or San
Pisano's little diamond-shaped panels set Michele, Florence. The architectural forms of
into the cathedral campanile (Giotto's Tower) the tabernacle are Italianate Gothic, in the
at Florence have more the feeling of vigorous lightand lacy manner of Milan Cathedral,
Romanesque expression; but a larger set after and the sculptural picturing is what an artist
Giotto's designs, from Andrea Pisano's studio, who knew the northern style but looked for-
borrowed from Gothic realistic composition. ward to the triumph of neo-classicism might
Arnolfo di Cambio is known for his
better be expected to produce.
architecture, but Andrea Orcagna, who also Nanni di Banco was a sculptor who re-
Creation of Woman; Horse and Rider. Stone. Andrea Pisano and Giotto.
13th— 14th centuries. Campanile, Cathedral of Florence. QAlinari photos')
372 THE RENAISSANCE
verted even more fully to late Gothic manner- transmitted to us in a series of reliefs on the
isms in the prettily designed marble relief portal of the Church of San Petronio in
over the Porta della Mandorla of the Floren- Bologna. These are compositions so powerful,
tine cathedral. The lightness of touch, the vi- so beautifully ordered within three-dimen-
vacit)', the sinuous grace of limbs and drap sional space, so plastically alive, that the
eries are attributes of sculpture during the youthful Michelangelo is reported to have
late medieval period rather than during the been inspired by them. (Pages 364 and 373.)
full Renaissance. (Facing page.) Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, born in 1377
The Sienese sculptor Jacopo della Quercia and 1378, assiduously studied the remains of
rose above all schools and all influences. He ancient architecture and believed that they
was the very antithesis of a neo-Roman. were reviving the spirit of the golden age of
Through his emotional force, his dramatic Greece, though instead they adapted the more
composing, and his sense of rhythmical plas- pedestrian style of Rome. They were followed
ticorder he came closer to the anonymous in their researches by Donatello, who some-
Romanesque masters. His versions of the Ma- times copied Roman forms and mannerisms
donna and Child suggest an influence from but possessed sufficient imagination and na-
Byzantine hieratic formalism. Except for the tive plastic sense to triumph brilliantly with a
products of the overwhelming genius of Mi- clearly seen and humanly felt sculpture that
chelangelo, the works from della Quercia are was his personal interpretation of the Hel-
almost the last ones with lithic grandeur pro- lenic ideal.
duced in Renaissance Europe. By the first decade of the quattrocento
The genius of Jacopo della Quercia is best Florence had taken the lead, artistically, po-
Madonna and Child. Stone. Jacopo della Quercia. Sienese school, 14th-15th centuries.
Louvre; Church of San Petronio, Bologna. QGiraudon, Alinari photos^
litically,and financially, among Italian city-
states. There were great projects for the
glorification of the city, and none created
more stir than a competition for the design
of new bronze doors for the cathedral bap
tistry. In a trial piece each of sev'en sculptors
showed how he would fill one of the twenty-
eight panels of the doors. Today Brunel-
leschi's design, preserved still at the Bargello,
may be considered superior to that of Ghi-
berti; the sacrifice of Isaac is pictured realis-
tically, readably, and with shrewd regard to
the filling of architectural space. Ghiberti, on

the other hand, produced a somewhat con-
fused and lumpy, but episodically dramatic
and sentimental panel and won the commis-
sion to design the portals. There is no further
record of sculpture by Brunelleschi, who be-
Madonna in a Mandorla, relief. Stone.

Creation of Man. Stone. Jacopo della Quercia.
Nanni di Banco. Over Porta della Mandorla,
1 5th century. Church of San Petronio, Bologna.
Cathedral of Florence. QAlinari photo}
QAnderson photo}
374 THE RENAISSANCE
Doors of the baptistry, Cathedral of Florence. Bronze. Lorenzo Ghibcrti.

15th century, CAlinari photo')
THE RENAISSANCE 375
came the first leader in the transformation of panels have delighted millions of casual
Itahan architecture from a hngering and observers.
mixed medievahsm to a clear and harmonious The truth is that these pictorial composi-
neo-classic style. tions, designed in a technique learned from
The first was set in
pair of baptistn,' doors the painters of the era, with landscape vistas,
place in 1424,and the second, known as the perspective effects, foreshortening, and other
Gates of Paradise, was completed in 1452. attributes of the new realism, are essentially
Lorenzo Ghiberti outgrew some of the de- unsculptural. Each design is a masterpiece of
ficiencies revealed in the sketch-panel of relief sculpture masquerading as painting.
Abraham and Isaac, and certain of the According to modern opinion, in the ten pic-
twent\'-eight compositions are clear and har- tures on the "Gates of Paradise" Ghiberti
moniously composed, within the limits of il- proved himself a painter in bronze, without
But the "Paradise" se-
lustrational bas-relief. elementary feeling for plastic relationships or
ries is more mature and more interesting the effects appropriate to his material.
because it marks the highest point reached in Up 1400 the Pisans, the Sienese, and
to
the West in the effort to make sculpture do others had served the Florentines and had
the work of painting, legibly and engagingly. taught them, but then Florence became a cen-
Ghiberti gave up the idea of dividing the ter for locally born sculptors, many of whom
door surface into many small panels, a device became world-famous. Donatello (1386— 1466)
that had imparted to the first doors (and an was the first of the very great Florentine
earlier pair by Andrea Pisano) an effect of sculptors, rising above his contemporaries and
all-over ornamentalism. He limited himself to every later Italian sculptor except Michelan-
ten major panels and set out to make each a gelo. He developed a clearly stated, idealized,
masterpiece of miniature sculptural picturing. and gracious figuring, and left a dozen statues
He greatly pleased his patrons, and his bronze that sweetly embody his vision— as well as
The Story of Abraham Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheha
Panels on the baptistry doors. Cathedral of Florence. (_Anderson, Alinari photos')

masterpiece of natural movement, of camera-
eye observation and casual depiction.
Some of the early works of Donatello are
among his best. The series of statues in the
round, including a St. John in the Florence
Cathedral and a St. Mark and a St. George
executed for Or San Michele, retain a massive
simplicity later lost. The St. George, of 141 6,
IS one of the most appealing works of the
quattrocento, a perfect revelation of the sculp-
tor's vision of youthful determination and
chivalry. The Zuccone, or "Pumpkin-head," in
a niche on Giotto's Tower, is an equally strik-
ing creation, expressing a rugged realism at
a moment when the art was in danger of de-
scending to a pretty surface naturalism.
The masterly modeling and clean chiseling

that characterize Donatello's early works can
be seen also in the Youthful St. John, a study
Nicola da Uzzano. Clay, painted. Donatello.

1428—30. National Museum, Bargello, Florence
such experiments as the bust of Nicola da

Uzzano, which is interesting as a perfect
re-creation of Roman naturahstic, cruelly
candid portraiture; and the great equestrian
Gattamelata Monument at Padua, on which
the noblv conceived and finely modeled head
of the rider is one of the notable features.
He produced many reliefs in the exces-

sively painterly technique of the followers of
Ghiberti; those representing scenes from the
Passion on the pulpits of San Lorenzo, begun
in his old age and completed by his assistants,
Bertoldo di Giovanni and Bartolommeo Bel-
lano, are typically graphic, delicate, crowded,
and washy, hie played with oversweet Ma-
donnas and cherubs and •putti in the manner
that led to the sentimental art of the della
Robbias and the superficially graceful reliefs
of Desiderioand of Agostino di Duccio. In

panels such as the famous Annunciation at
Santa Croce and the equally beloved frieze
of the Cantoria in the Museum of the Flor-
entine cathedral, he related the figures with-
Gattamelata Monument, detail. Bronze.
out adequate sense of plastic order. The Donatello. 1444-50. Before Church of
frieze, with its jolly babes, is nevertheless a Sant' Antonio, Padua. (_Anderson photo')
THE RENAISSANCE 377
'
-^r
Details from frieze of the Cantoria. Stone. Donatello, 1433-38.

Museum of the Cathedral of Florence. QBrogi photo')
Ziiccone (A Prophet). Stone. Donatello.

1435-36. Campanile, Florence. (_Alinari photo)
St. George. Stone. Donatello. 1416. National

Museum, Bargello, Florence. QAnderson photo)
378 THE RENAISSANCE
realistic in every detail but so clearly the em-
bodiment of a personal and noble conception
that it transcends nature.
Though sculptural grandeur and the basic
"feeling for the stone" were going out of the
art during the fifteenth century, Donatello
and his followers still carved direcdy in the
marble and maintained the autographic vir-
tues that were lost when "sculptors" began

to be content with making clay models for
by masons with pointing
transfer to the stone
machines. For works in bronze the artist
necessarily modeled in clay (or wax).
Some authorities prefer Donatello's David
to all his other works. Despite the beautiful
modeling and the perfectly caught pose, it is
too prett\' a work to stand comparison with

the St. George or the Youthful St. John. Ver-
rochio's David, matched with Donatello's
here, suffers from some of the same faults,
though it escapes the over-prettification of the

boy.
Andrea del Verrocchio produced few mas-
terpieces, but in the final seven years of his
life, 1481-1488, he designed the monument
to Bartolommeo Colleoni in Venice, which
surpassed his rival's equestrian work. Verroc-
chio's statue is and im-
consistent, well set,
bued with the on
feeling of the condottiere
parade. It breathes strength, power, and
human mastery. The excessive amount of de-
tail—goldsmith's work, for most of these Flor-
entine sculptors were trained to goldsmithing
as well as architecture, painting, stone-carv-
ing, modeling, and casting— fails to detract
from the effect of vigor and largeness.
Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino, Desiderio
da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole, Francesco
Laurana, the della Robbias, and other lesser
imitators of Donatello's pretty works formed
within the Florentine school a group con-
cerned with the smaller sculptural virtues.
The statues of the late quattrocento, and of
the 1 500s, cannot be judged by the standards
applied to della Ouercia or Michelangelo; any
test shows up most of them as rather
Youthful St. John. Stone. Donatello. 1434^0.
sweet and sentimental. No body of works has National Museum, Bargello, Florence,
been more extravagantly praised. CBrogi photo')
David. Bronze. Donatello. National Museum,
Bargello, Florence. QAlinari photo")
Bartolommeo CoUeoni. Bronze.

Verrocchio. 1481-88.
Piazza SS. Giovanni e Paoli, Venice.
CAnderson photo)
David. Bronze. Verrocchio. National

Museum, Bargello, Florence. C^rogi photo)
Desiderio da Settignano is perhaps the
best of this school of deUneators of the sweet
and the charming. He speciahzed in cherubs,
young mothers, and pretty boys. But much
can be forgiven him— even the frozen smiles
of the children— when one sees the grace and
the delicate restraint of the Bust of a Young
Woman at the Bargello. Here sculptural
suavity has done everything possible to rep-
resent to the observer the natural charm of
an aristocratic girl. Desiderio's fault of a too
scrupulous detailing is here curbed. Inner

character is revealed, and a sensitive feeling
for flowing contour, even for proportion and
mass.
The Bust of a Little Boy in the National
Gallery in Washington is a chubby, perky,
irresistible child immortalized. But when

Desiderio decorated tombs he was likely to
destroy the architecture by the unrelated col-
lection of reliefs and figures in the round.
Indeed at this time the feeling for the
statue as other than a display piece had
passed. Agostino di Duccio learned to keep
his graceful relief figures flat to the wall, and Bust of a Young Woman. Stone. Desiderio
da Settignano. Mid- 15 th century. National
sometimes, as at Perugia, he disciplined his
Museum, Bargello, Florence. QAlinari photo')
sinuous angels trailing fluttering draperies
into pleasing mural decorations.
Saint Bernardino in Glory, detail. Stone.
Bust of a Little Boy. Stone. Agostino di Duccio. C. 1460.
Desiderio da Settignano. Mellon Collection, Fagade of Church of S, y-
National Gallery of Art, Washington Bernardino, Perugia.
^.S^'^'^
(Ânderson photo)
'''^^^f'***^^
^ "^
THE RENAISSANCE 381
Francesco Laurana, born in Dalmatia, was
a roving sculptor who almost equaled Desi-
derio in suave portraiture, as may be seen in
the appealing A Princess of the House of
Aragon at Washington. Another exquisite
portrait, Bust of a Woman, is ascribed to the
Neapolitan school, with which Laurana's
name has been associated. Benedetto da Mai-
ano, sculptor of a famous pulpit at the Santa
Croce Church, Florence, is held by some
critics to be superior to Laurana, Desiderio,
and others of the Florentine school by reason
of his portraiture and his reliefs in the pic-
torial style of Ghiberti.
Antonio Pollaiuolo introduced melodra-

matic action into painting, to doand tried
the same for sculpture. In general he de-

stroyed whatever traces of massiveness and
quietude were left in the art. The once-
famed statuettes of Bertoldo di Giovanni
today seem overactive and rather insensitive.
He had been a student of Donatello's and
was an early teacher of Michelangelo. II
Vecchietta— Lorenzo di Pietro of Siena— more
successfully added a sort of nervous energy
to his modeling and preserved a total unity Bust of a Woman. Stone. Neapolitan school,
15th century. Louvre. (Âlinari photo')
while enlivening the surface appeal.
The Risen Christ. Bronze. Lorenzo Vecchietta.

15th century. Church of Santa Maria delta Scala,
Siena. QAlinari photo')
A "Princess of the House of Aragon. Stone.
Francesco Laurana. Venetian school, 15th
century. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of
Art, Washington
382 THE RENAISSANCE
Since Luca della Robbia founded a family The Virgin in Adoration, now at Philadel-
business for producing brighdy colored glazed phia, is a perfect example, in its sentiment,
terra-cotta plaques, so many of these have naturalism, and beautiful surface composi-
appeared in and on the buildings of Florence tion. The details of flying angels from the
that they have constituted a kind of folk art. predella of the Altar of the Holy Cross in the
In the time of Donatello's triumphs, Luca Church of the Madonna dell' Impruneta
began to experiment in clay modeling in high near Florence are among the best-known
relief. The were painted white against
figures works of Luca della Robbia. There are also
a background painted blue, and the whole a few independent glazed figures and free-
was glazed and fired. Shortly after, the com- standing groups from his hand.
mon polychromed garlands of flowers and Andrea, Luca's nephew, was brought into
fruits appeared as borders, and there were partnership at the age of twenty-five, suc-
experiments in less simple color schemes in ceeded as head of the studio at forty-seven,
the medallions, lunettes, tabernacle panels, and lived to be ninety. He thus was able to
and free-standing busts that streamed from turn out countless "della Robbias"— to the
his studios. Luca, the first della Robbia, was confusion of historians trying to separate
a true sculptor of his time, versatile and Luca's designs from later and generally less
His marble panels of singing cherubs

skilled. competent works. Andrea too pleased an im-
made for the cantoria of the cathedral have mense public, but in general his composi-
been hardly less praised than Donatello's tions were a little more crowded and elab-
more riotous, though less distressingly cute, orate.
singing children. The altarpiece with the Coronation of
Luca had a sensitive feeling for surface the Virgin at Siena is one of the most suc-
composition, and he designed panels filled cessful of his designs. The predella panels are
with the most popular devotional subjects, characteristic of the best period of full pic-
the Virgin in Adoration, the Annunciation, torialism, achieved with a shrewd sense of
the Resurrection, Angels, Cheruhs, and Bam- composition and a graceful naturalism. The
hini, in a pretty, rounded, and highly colored other members of the della Robbia family
style which is purely pictorial. continued with the manufacture of colored
Virgin in Adoration. Faience. Luca della Robbia. Florentine, 15th century.

Philadelphia MuseuTn of Art. QGiraudon photo')
Angels, detail. Faience. Luca della Robbia. Chapel of the Holy Cross,
Church of the Madonna dell' Impruneta, near Florence. (Âlinari photo")
Coronation of the Virgin. Faience. Andrea della Robbia.

Church of the Convento dell' Osservanza, Siena. C^rogi photo)
384 THE RENAISSANCE
ware through many decades, but the plaques of the Renaissance should have appeared at
made after Luca and Andrea died were in- the time when Florentine sculpture itself was
ferior. weakest. Michelangelo was born nine years
Instead of the score of world-famous and after Donatello died. His work matured long
important sculptors produced by Italy, and after Verrocchio, Desiderio, Agostino di Duc-
especially Florence, during the quattrocento, cio, Laurana, and the other secondary mas-
the cinquecento produced but one. Not only tershad disappeared from the scene. Luca
is Michelangelo the outstanding sculptural della Robbia had gone, and his nephew An-
creator of Italy's High Renaissance, but he drea was filling orders for "della Robbias"
also transcends any other figure in the his- with diminishing invention and taste. Mi-
tory of the art in post-medieval times.was He chelangelo was engaged as an apprentice
a stormy individual, and his sculpture and sculptor for four years to the great Medicean
painting are elemental, overpowering, and patron of the arts, Lorenzo the Magnificent.
sometimes turbulent. But in all that is basic Then he spent a season in Bologna, where
and profound in the art, in lithic grandeur, he had leisure to study the sculptures of
in stonelike quietude, in the implication of Jacopo della Quercia, the only Italian (except
spiritual meaning and four-dimensional order, for the anonymous Romanesque masters)
he is supreme. fitted to influence profoundly so gifted a
It is difficult to understand why the giant sculptor.
Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, high relief panel. Stone. Michelangelo. 1490-92.
Casa Buonarroti, Florence. QBrogi photo^
THE RENAISSANCE 385
Certain of the very early works of Mi- early single figures, a Bacchus chiseled when
chelangelo exhibit those attributes of power- he was no more than and the David
a youth,
ful contained movement and monumental at San Miniato, the profounder feeling for
impressiveness so patent in the late figures. plastic rhythms and monumental order is
Even a trial piece, the relief of the Battle of tempered by an apparent desire to conform
the Lapiths and the Centaurs, carved when to the tradition of Florentine neo-classic nat-
he was eighteen years old, is imbued with uralism. The early David is shown here be-
elemental movement and plastic order. In two side the unfinished (and much later) David
David. Stone. Michelangelo. 1504. David. Stone. Michelangelo. 1529. National

Academy, Florence. QAlinari photo^ Gallery, Bargello, Florence. QBrogi photo')
386 THE RENAISSANCE
Pietd. Stone. Michelangelo. 1499-1500. St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. QAlinari photo^
of the Bargello. The Pieta at St. Peter's in and containing contour, that one's eye reads
Rome was carved before the artist was the composition easily and agreeably, in a
twenty-five years old, and is one of the great melodious language perfectly suited to the
rehgious monuments Western world.
of the spiritual and tragic message of the monu-
Its realism is so far transcended by the sculp- ment.
tural ordering of masses and the symphonic The special dignity with which the sculp-
interplay of line, of thrust and counterthrust tor endowed even the smallest piece of mar-
THE RENAISSANCE 387
Moses. Stone. Michelangelo. 1515. Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome
ble is inherent in the Moses, the central of the Louvre, where they seem to dwarf
feature of the tombPope Juhus II in the
of other Renaissance sculpture. The Moses is
Church of San Pietro in VincoH, Rome. The an individualistic conception of the Lawgiver,
whole monument was to have been from the rocklike yet vibrating with movement, spe-
hand of the master, but after heartbreaking cific in detail yet held within a unity. The
delays, during which he was forced to paint man is sternly the instrument of God, majesti-
the incomparable frescoes of the Sistine cally portrayed.
Chapel, which he regretted as an interrup- From 1520 to 1534 Michelangelo labored
tion of his more beloved labors in sculpture, intermittently to put into effect the elaborate
Michelangelo gave over the scheme to lesser architectural and sculptural scheme of the
artists. Two Slaves which he originally cut Medici Chapel in the Church of San
for the tomb of Julius II are in the galleries Lorenzo in Florence. The one part nearest
THE RENAISSANCE
Night. Stone. Michelangelo. Medici Chapel, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence. QBrogi photo')
completion, the tomb of Lorenzo de' Aledici, period of the Renaissance. These, like
shows the figure of Lorenzo, known as The Jacopo della Quercia's works, are of a certain
Thinker, over two figures symbohzing twi- magnitude. They have a sheer physical
hght and dawn. The three statues Hnk well largeness and an appearance of contained,
together, and the unfortunate location of the concentrated power that make a comparison
group in an overbare room fails to dim the with the marbles of the Athenian Parthenon
sense of spiritual power and elemental inevitable.
grandeur flowing from these essentially liv- The figure of Night has been counted by
ing figures. The Daivn is illustrated on page many authorities the incomparably great
366 (and the T\inlight in the Introduction). statue of the series. But the Day appears no
On the tomb of Giuliano de' Medici, the less magnificent, in spite of being unfinished.
matching figures are of Night and Day (the It conveys a sense of grandeur hardly sur-
latter with the head not fully chiseled out of passed in the history of art. Dawn might be
the marble block). The four symbolic figures compared with the Goddesses, the llissos, and
are generally considered the most masterly the other elemental figures of the Parthenon
sculptures inherited by mankind from the pediment.
THE RENAISSANCE 389
Day. Stone. Michelangelo. Medici Chapel, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence. QBrogi photo')
(See illustrations on pages 5 and 366)
In the chapel there is a statue of the or died. The group of the four Prisoners at
Madonna and Child, endowed with the Florence was hardly more than half worked
human tenderness and the tragic pity so from the block and was intended for the
beautifully carved into the Pieta. Apart from tomb of Julius II. Just as the immediate suc-
these great works, there are a fragmentary cessors of Michelangelo, the Florentine man-
Fiume, and a final work, a Deposition, in the nerists, were to imitate certain surface char-
Cathedral at Florence, in which Michelan- acteristics of his art— his large masses and
gelo, nearing ninety years of age, surv'ivor of emphatic movement— without his sense of
one on the stormiest lives in the annals of symphonic order, so, nearly four hundred
art, portrayed himself as a mourner helping years later, a great individualist, Rodin, was
to release Christ from the Cross, thus affirm- to see theenormous creative possibilities in a
ing his final mystical and passionate devotion partiallyworked marble block, though he
to the Christ. never quite achieved the magnificent power
From various periods in his career there of the Prisoners.
are statues left half finishedwhen, for exam- Raphael was stirred by the ambition to
ple, unstable patrons changed their minds. equal the one rival whose stature had over-
Prisoner. Stone. Michelangelo.
National Museum, Bargello, Florence.
QMannelli photo^
THE RENAISSANCE 391
shadowed his own, and he set out in sculp these da Vinci models. A very similar horse
ture, as in painting, to create Michelange- (without a rider) is at the Metropolitan Mu-
lesque masterpieces. He could not carve in seum in New York.
stone, but he made sketches or models for One other name should be included in the
heroic figures of the prophets, which Loren- list of sculptors influenced by Michelangelo:
zetto executed for the Chigi Chapel of Jacopo Sansovino, who had been a pupil of
Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. At first
glance the Jonah and the Elias seem like
works of the master, being massive and super-
ficially rhythmic. But the synthetic nature
of the pieces soon becomes clear in the sof-

tening of the forms and a violation of feeling
for the block.
Other imitators fared less well, as the huge
malformations, not to say monstrosities, in the
Piazza della Signoria in Florence especially
testify.Baccio Bandinelli— more successful in
lesserworks— erected the huge, tasteless Her-
cules and Cacus there and proved how easily
sculptural largeness and power could be
turned to uses of sensationalism and melo-
drama; while Bartolommeo Ammanati, with
collaborators who included the very talented
Giambologna, contributed a distressing Foun-
tain ofNeptune that stands nearby.
Andrea del Verrocchio had been Leonardo
da Vinci's master, and the equestrian monu-
ment to Francesco Sforza over which Leo-
nardo labored so many years, only to see the
final model destroyed before it could be cast
in bronze, was an attempt to rival Verroc-
chio's Colleoni Monument. The colossal
mock-up constructed by Leonardo and his

assistants at the Sforza castello in Milan was
extravagantly praised. There are several spir-
ited small bronzes approximating to the surviv-
ing sketches made by Leonardo for the Sforza

statue and for a planned monument to Tri-
vulzio; and each is claimed to be, in minia-
ture, the Horse of Leonardo. One of these
may well be cast from a sketch model, and

others may be free copies, for several are
outstandingly strong and rhythmic in com-
parison with the hundreds of weakly realistic
statuettes of the period 1 450-1 600. The
Madonna and Child. Stone. Michelangelo.
bronze at Budapest, with a tiny rider mounted Medici Chapel, Church of San Lorenzo,
on a spirited stallion, is perhaps the finest of Florence. (.Brogi photo}
1 Horse and Rider. Bronze.
After Leonardo da Vinci.
Early 16th century.
Museum of Fine Arts,
Budapest
Apollo. Stone. Jacopo Sansovino. C. 1540.

Logetta at the Base of the Campanile,
Piazza San Marco, Venice. QAlinari photo^
Andrea Sansovino and took his surname.

A good Sansovino may be an echo of the
largeness and vigor of Michelangelo or a
nearly successful attempt to revive a har-
monious neo-classicism, as in the pleasing
figures of the loggetta of the campanile of San
Marco, Venice.
Baccio de Montelupo was older than
Michelangelo but had been his student, as had
Alessandro Vittoria, both of whom are men-
tioned in the histories and are creditably repre-
sented in the churches. Baccio de Montelupo's
St. Damian, beside Michelangelo's Madonna
and Child in the Medici Chapel, does not too

badly suffer in such stupendous company,
though there might have been collaborative
help from the teacher.
The specialists in small bronzes were to the
forefront in sculptural history during the fol-
lowing half-century. It was Benvenuto
Cellini's ambition to equal the greatest, but
his talents remained only those of the skillful
goldsmith. There is too much detail, and too

THE RENAISSANCE 393
Perseus. Bronze. Benvenuto Cellini. C. 1550.

Loggia dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria,
Perseus. Wax. Benvenuto Cellini. C. 1550. Florence. QAlinari photo)
Bargello, Florence. C^rogi photo')
much ornament, in almost ever)' one of his sands of statuettes were turned out, as original
The work generally accepted
statues. as his pieces, very realistic and softened and trivial,
masterpiece, the bronze Perseus in the Loggia in general; as imitations of the antique (for
dei Lanzi, Florence, shows this overelabora- devotion to Greece and Rome had not in the
tion, but Cellini left a sketch-model in wax, least diminished); and as echoes of the recent
and this early version has the grace and vitality Florentine masters, from the powerful Michel-
of the larger figure without the distracting ac- angelo to the graceful Donatello and the
cessories, as can be seen when the two versions pretty della Robbia pictorialists.
are pictured together. Giambologna, or John of Boulogne, who
The schools of bronze-workers were many: was born in 1524, when Michelangelo was at
Florentine, Paduan, Venetian. Untold thou- the height of his powers, and lived into the
394 THE RENAISSANCE
seventeenth century, is the best-known of the
producers of bronze mantelpiece art. He was
a prolific sculptor in the large, too, but his
heroic-sized statues in emulation of Michelan-
gelo and Ammannati are less successful. There
are untold thousands of miniature replicas of
his Flying Mercury. It is smooth in technique
and naturalistic down to the last detail. The
Bather is perhaps a better work of art, and
certainly it is superior to hundreds of the genre
pieces surrounding it at the Bargello.
The small bronze was, of course, the natural
medium of Benvenuto Cellini. II Riccio
(Andrea Briosco), of the Paduan School; Pier
Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, who is better known
as I'Antico; Francesco da Sant'Agata; and
Pietro Francavilla, who, like Giambologna,
was an Italian only by adoption, were other
successful producers.
Some of the finest bronzes of the Renais-
sance period are medals. Restricted to a small
space within a geometrical outline, certain
sculptors disciplined their talents and created
appropriate formal designs. The ablest and
most original medalists date back to the gen-
eration of Donatello and Ghiberti. The medal-

lion-bust of Ninfa is proof enough that
Donatello (if the attribution is correct) could
manage a graceful and pleasing bas-relief por-
trait within a constricted outline. It was his
contemporary, II Pisanello, or Vittore (also
known as Antonio) Pisano, of Verona, who
became the greatest of the medalists. Better
known as one of the most original painters of
the time, Pisanello specialized, as a sideline, in
the commemorative medals. He is superior to
many who followed in his steps because he
kept his designs simple, formalized, and bold,
within the small space at his disposal. The
examples shown (page 396), made for the
Estes and for Nicolo Picininno, are typical.

Matteo de' Pasti of Verona and, later,
Benvenuto Cellini were outstanding in the
field.
Flying Mercury. Bronze.

Giambologna. 16th century.
Bargello, Florence. (Âlinari photo')
Medallion with bust of Ninfa. Stone. Attributed to Bather. Bronze. Giambologna. 16th century.
Donatello. Archaeological Museiim, Milan. Bargello, Florence. CBrogi photo)
QBrogi photo')
''''>..
Medals. Bronze. Benvenuto Cellini (left); Matteo de' Pasti (center and right). 15th-16th centuries.
Bargello, Florence; Brera Gallery, Milan; Bihliotheque Nationale, Paris. (Âlinari photos)
396 THE RENAISSANCE
Medals. Bronze. Pisanello. 1 5th century. British Museum
The most original and accomplished Ger- alism and sentimentalism typical in Italian
man sculptor of the period was Tilman neo-classic sculpture after 1450, many his-
Riemenschneider. The group scenes, such as torians consider him a pre-Renaissance figure
the Death of the Virgin at Wiirzburg Cathe- who ended the Gothic line rather than initi-
dral (page 367), and notably the altar panels, ated the new. A transitional figure, he is per-
are well composed, and do not strain after the haps the greatest North European sculptor of
perspective vistas and other graphic effects in the period.
the Italian manner. Single figures are carved Certain works, not very important intrin-
(in wood) with an instinct for the ordering sically, become interesting as turning-points in
of masses and the rhythmic play of contours. art. Eve by Peter Vischer the Younger is a sign
Some of the heads taken alone, out of the of the triumph of Italian ideals north of the
context of the surrounding figures, are among Alps in the early 1 500s. The nude subject and
the most pleasing sculptural works of the the realistic representation show that the full
time— about the end of the fifteenth century. current of Renaissance neo-classicism had
Because Riemenschneider avoided the liter- flowed over parts of Germany. Peter Vischer
the Younger here proved himself the equal
of his Italian contemporaries in the art of the
small bronze. The plastic integrity of the fig-
ure, and the avoidance of self-conscious senti-
mentalism, make it preferable to thousands of
statuettes of the kind. In perhaps the best-
known Vischer work, King Arthur at Inns-
the
bruck—a collaboration between father and son
— overdetailing was allowed to destroy the
unitv of the statue. But Peter Vischer the
vounger remains a key figure in the transfor-
mation of German art in the short time be-
tween medieval practice and the entry of the
baroque style. The bronze foundry of the
Vischers at Nuremberg remained perhaps the
most notable in Europe for twenty years after
the deaths of the two Peters in 1528 and 1529.
From the end of the fifteenth century the
French kings and their courtiersdreamed of
transforming their castles and lodges into
Italian Renaissance palaces, at first in the
chateau country' of Touraine, then at Fontaine- Eve. Bronze. Peter Vischer the Younger.
bleau, and finally at Versailles and Paris. German, c. 1500. Museum of Art,
Rhode Island School of Design
St.Bernard of Wiirzburg. Wood. Riemenschneider. St. John, detail. Wood. Riemenschneider.

16th century. Kress Collection, Early 1 6th century. Church of St. Nicolas, Kalkar.
National Gallery of Art, Washington (_Archives Roget-Viollet')
/^^
^;
Crucifix. Iron, silvered. French, 17th century.
Curtis Collection. QGiraudon photo")
Eve. Wood.
Attributed to Riemenschneider.
16th century. Louvre.
(^Giraudon photo")
Tombfigure of Rene de Birague. Bronze.

Germain Pilon. French, 16th century.
Church of St. Catherine, Paris.
Louvre. CAlinari photo)
THE RENAISSANCE 399
They imported leading Italian artists, includ- practice, retaining Gothic tenderness and
ing Francesco Laurana, Leonardo da Vinci, even touches of Romanesque expressionism.
and Benvenuto Cellini; and a host of minor Their treatment is more affecting, both ideo-
artists in painting, sculpture, music, and the logically and aesthetically, than the Italian
arts of the theater. realism seen in Donatello's famous Christ
Among the French, Michel Colombe, who upon the Cross at Padua.
died about 151 5, left no works comparable to The fact that French Renaissance sculpture
those of the secondary Italian masters. It was was not superlative did not prevent influence
rather Jean Goujon who, by midcentury, es- from Fontainebleau and Versailles reaching
tablished the native Renaissance style as the most of the courts of Europe. From the late
typical court art of France. His one famous seventeenth century every country north of
work consists of the relief panels of the Foun- the Alps emulated French styles and manner-
tain of the Innocents, Paris. Each panel repre- isms. Spain fortunately had both Italian and
sents symbolically, in pretty Italianate manner, French tutors in the earlier period, and the
one of the rivers of France. greatest of the Spanish transitional sculptors,
A more original and forceful sculptor was Alonso Berruguete, had received his training
Germain Pilon, whose career fell within the in Italy. His tomb of Cardinal Tavera at
latter half of the sixteenth century. The eflfigy Toledo, even though too decorative, possesses
of the Chancellor Rene de Birague, in bronze, a hint of power reminiscent of Michelangelo.
now in the Louvre, has both originality and a Spanish Renaissance sculpture developed
certain massive integrity. into a forced style congruous with the overen-
Innumerable sensitive and beautiful cruci- crusted architecture known as Churriguer-
fixes would suggest that even in the seven- esque, which inspired much of the Colonial
teenth century the Gothic style remained pre- Spanish architecture of Mexico and South
dominant in French, German, and Flemish America. Some sculpture, however, became
Tomb of Cardinal Tavera.

Stone. Alonso Berruguete. Spanish, 16th century. Hospital de Afuera, Toledo
400 THE RENAISSANCE
intensely realistic, like that of Pedro de Mena
in the middle of the seventeenth century. The
painted wooden statues of the Spanish carvers
of this time gained unity through the swathing
of head and figure in cowl and cassock, and
touched a high point in sensitive naturalistic
representation. Intense spiritual feeling is re-
vealed in the faces. The smallness of the head

as well as the idealized, almost Christlike
features in the figure of St. Francis in the
Toledo Cathedral suggests unworldliness,
even asceticism. The extreme delicacy of de-
lineation is notable also in the Madonna of
Sorrows in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
by Juan Martinez Montanes.
In the new world ofAmerican
Spain's
colonies this art of tender feeling and devo-
tional dedication crossed with native Amerin-
dian and Mayan strains and produced some of
the most original and attractive of the known
types of folk sculpture, as well as a great deal
of disagreeably realistic treatment of the
tragic aspects of the Christ story. Gruesome
sculpture was common in Spain, too, in the
Counter-Reformation period.
But the serious and appealing San Bruno
may remind us that extraordinarily fine de-
tails may be found in the altar screens, deco-
rated portals and incidental adornments of

churches and monasteries. This masterly head
is at the Carthusian convent of Miraflores
near Burgos.
St. Trancis. Wood. Pedro de Mena. Spanish,

17th century. Cathedral of Toledo. (L. L. photo')
Madonna of Sorroivs. Wood, painted. Juan Martinez Montanes. Spanish, 17th century.
San Bruno, detail. Wood, painted. Manuel Pereira. Spanish, 17th century.
Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos
'SR-]
15: The South Seas and Negro Africa:

^ÊxotK^ Sculpture
THE carvings of the primitive peoples of the ness to enjoyable manifestations of basic
South Sea Islands and of Negro Africa have sculptural emotion.
revealed profound sculptural values and In the Pacific Ocean there are a thousand
unique decorative They were
stylization. dis- islands that appear as no more than pinpoints
covered by the ethnographic museums in the on our maps. Some that are north of the equa-
nineteenth century, were hailed as consum- tor and not geographically in the South Seas
mate art by the French and German artist- have jdelded objects commonly included with
revolutionaries of the early twentieth century, South Seas art, most notably the Hawaiian
and are now included in histories of sculpture. South from the equator are dotted the
Islands.
Open-minded observers, trained to respond to great number of inhabited islands, including
the values of form-organization and abstract such fabled places as the Marquesas, Fiji,
creation, have penetrated beyond the strange- Tahiti, Samoa, and Easter Island. There are
Heads. Stone. Polynesian. Easter Island. (Fhoto courtesy American Museum of Natural History')
THE SOUTH SEAS AND NEGRO AFRICA 403
also the great island masses of New Guinea, masks represent spirits and are ceremonial and
north of Australia, of which the eastern and ritual properties used in religious dances, pu-
northeastern coasts are in Melanesia, and the berty rites, etc., by such tribal organizations as
New Zealand islands southeast of Australia, the men's secret societies.
which The Maori art of New
are in Polynesia. The sculpture from the South Sea Islands
Zealand known, since the native style
is well and from tribal Africa is technically called
has been encouraged by the white settlers primitive, for there was no written culture.
after earlier suppression. The art of Easter Is- The show an intuitive grasp of sculp
carvings
land, an eastern outpost of Polynesia, has also tural fundamentals and are innocent of pur-
been celebrated by writers and widely dis- suit of natural imitationon its own account, as
played in museums. can be seen in the following illustrations.
The territory of the Pacific tribes or nations,
called Oceania, comprises three main areas-
Micronesia, and Melanesia— al-
Polynesia,
though Australia and Tasmania are also in this
geographical region. The Micronesian area
lies northward of the hypothetical Oceanic
Center, up toward Japan; Melanesia is south-
westward, stretching from New Guinea to
Fiji; and Polynesia occupies the rest of the
islanded space, being a vast territory reaching

eastward to Easter Island off the South
American coast and northward to include the
Hawaiian Islands. The western boundary of
Polynesia is roughly on a line drawn from the
Hawaiian Islands through the Fiji Islands to
New Zealand.
In Africa there are many Negro tribal cul-
tures which have produced strikingly st)'lized

and appealingly human carvings. The vast
area of the differing cultures yields no norm
by which objects can be readily classified, but
native African statuettes, masks, or utensils
can be distinguished immediately from the
products of American Indians or South Sea
Islanders. The impulse to beautify everyday
utensils by means of carving is notable in many
districts in Africa. Spoons, cups, bobbins,
weapons, and weights are but a few of the
objects commonly enriched with figurative
sculpture.
Within the African style are outstanding
tribal expressions of imaginative skill, such as
the Baluba, the Ashanti, and the Benin. Two
divisions of Negro non-utilitarian art are the
ancestral, or devotional, and the ceremonial.
African sculptured figures are not idols, in the
Secret-society mask. Ivory. Warcga. Congo.
sense of gods to be worshiped. Many of the Museum of Primitive Art
II
ALTHOUGH it may be said that basic sculpture than are those of the Melane-
sculptures from the South Seas are sians. Whether the small stone tiki of the
"Hght," often being made from pith or bark Marquesans or the five-ton images carved by
or the hghter woods, or from grasses, cloth, the Easter Islanders, the Polynesian statues
feathers, basketry, hair, and shells, the funda- are characterized by an intuitive feeling for
mental basis of the art is in stone and the masses in formal relationship and for simple
denser woods. Amid the intricately carved and melodic rhythms. The two large-eyed, squat-
beautifully decorative things there are impor- figured images shown above are variations of a
tant examples of instinctively lithic rock type recognizable as Marquesan. They indi-
sculpture. cate survival of primitive feeling— direct,

There is nothing light or fantastic in the vigorous statement and instinctive squaring of
primitively simple stone figures on page 402. forms, relieved by only the barest detailing and
The idols of the Polynesians are in general ornamentation.
monumental. They are heavier and closer to In the colossal stone idol from Easter Is-
Statuette. Stone. Polynesian. Marquesas Islands. Mtisec de I'Homme, Paris

Statuette. Stone. Polynesian. Marquesas Islands. University Musciiniy Philadelphia
land— where surviving statues range up to ten almost barren fragment of the earth, but they
times human size and to a weight of thirty developed a surprising range of sculptural ex-
tons— the main masses are hardly less compact, pression. Besides the elemental and rather
though the edges are cut more sharply and the crude colossi in stone, there are many beauti-
rhythms are linear in effect. One of the won- fully polished stylized images, fashioned in
ders of Polynesian art is that stonecutting was wood with an almost sophisticated regard for
accomplished with stone instead of metal melodic line and flowing contour. A distinc-
tools. (In smaller work, tools of shell, or tools tive type is illustrated in the ancestral figure
incorporating a boar's tusk or a shark's tooth, with its masklike head, excrescent ribs, and
were sometimes used.)
or even a rat's tooth, elliptical limbs (below).
The Easter Islanders occupy a remote and Within Polynesia, excepting New Zealand,
the art of sculpture is best represented thus
by three-dimensional statues and statuettes.
Many relief carvings in wood from the Cook
Islands and Samoa are interesting for their
Idol. Stone, colossal. Polynesian. Ancestral figure. Wood. Easter Island.

Easter Island. British Museum University Museum, Philadelphia
rich patterning, and there are hair ornaments
canned in bone from the Marquesas Islands.
But the art of rehef-cutting, and of decorative
elaboration in the combined media of bas-re-
lief and painting, will best be illustrated by
work of the natives of Nevi^ Guinea and of
the Maoris.
Idols, ancestral images, and fetishistic fig-
ures found in the smaller Polynesian islands

indicate a common racial ancestry, with char-
acteristic idioms that spell local tradition.
The illustrated larger-than-life wooden figure
with a frightening mask is Hawaiian and re-
presents a war-god. The peaceful little
Woman is Fijian, from an island on the fringe Oracle figure. Wood. New Guinea.
of the Melanesian culture. The oracle figure University Museum, Philadelphia
is New Guinea in Mela-
from the island of
nesia. Here the characterful face and the Woman. Wood. Fiji Islands.
sheerly carved body contrast effectively with National Museum, Washington.

CCotirtesy Museum of Modern Art, New York')
the ornamental screen. (The piece is twelve
inches high.)
War-God. Wood. Hawaii. V^ >J'"C^«'», "V*
Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

The sculptors among the Maoris of New
Zealand had a distinctive native style and
seldom concerned themselves with free-stand-
ing figures. The best of their art consisted of
richly carved relief patterns with incidental
human forms, embellishing the prows and
stem-boards of canoes, and the pillars, beams,
lintels,and window-frames of the great assem-
bly-houses. These communal buildings func-
tioned as combined men's clubhouses and
holy arcana. The decorated weapons also are
very fine, and minor objects in jade, especially
the Hei-tiki, are exquisitely cut and polished,
often with bold yet sensitive sculptural feeling.
The distinctive curvilinear style of design is
illustrated in the two house lintels and the

canoe prows. The art of the Maoris indicates
a strong feeling for the contrast of main motive Hei-Tikis. Whale ivory; jade. Maori. University
Museum, Philadelphia; Brooklyn Museum
and richly embellished but subdued relief,
Lintel. Wood. Maori. New Zealand. Peabody Museum, Salem.

^Courtesy Museum of Modern Art, New Yorfe)
Canoe prow. Wood. Maori. New Zealand. American Museum of Natural History
408 THE SOUTH SEAS AND NEGRO AFRICA
Lintel. Wood. Maori. New Zealand.

British Museum
Hei-Tikis. Greenstone. Maori.

University Museum, Philadelphia; British Museum
Canoe prow. Wood. Maori. New Zealand.

American Museum of Natural History
whereas, in general, South Sea decorative max of socio-religious ceremonies, and it
carving was rich in aimless patterning. The doubtless had spiritual and totemic meanings.
figures that stand out are, of course, stricdy For elaboration and ultimate fantasy the
conventionalized, if not geometrized, in har- South Sea Islanders are rivaled in the rest of
mony with the mathematically conceived all- the world only among the distantly related
over design. Malayan peoples, or those of Borneo, Bali, and
A Maori flute or paddle, or food bowl or Java.
toilet box, lovingly carved with traditionally The Melanesian style has affinity with ele-
significant and patently attractive designs, is ments in Indian and Sinhalese art, which
the fruit of an instinctive urge to create and lends credence to the theory that the Pacific
to be surrounded with beautiful objects. tribes made their way as immigrants from the
The best of the arts of Melanesia are to be Indo-Chinese and Malayan peninsulas. Their
found on the immense island of New Guinea ethnic background of Indo-European, Dravid-
and the nearby archipelagoes known as the ian, and Mongolian strains was further modi-
Admiralty Islands, New Ireland and New fied with a Negroid element.
Britain, the Solomon Islands, the New The less elaborate masks of the Melanesians
Hebrides, and New Caledonia. The gaudily include types nearer to basic sculpture and
exotic and colorfully fanciful, even grotesque extraordinarily interesting and imaginative
nature of the designs, often in combined sculp- approximations of the human visage. They
ture and painting, is matched occasionally by are sometimes near-abstract. The sculptor
pieces that are simple, sober, and dignified. began with the elements of the face but al-
The departure from natural forms, the expres- lowed his aesthetic fancy to lead him off into
sionistic distortion, does not preclude the carv- visionary design and decorative improvisation.
ing of heads and masks as nearly realistic as That his sometimes produced
imagination
the wooden one from New Britain. (Page 410.) masks which are incomprehensible to us need
Among masks the bark-cloth one below is gor- not blind us to his amazing virtuosity in cre-
geously decorative and inhumanly grotesque, ating such effective analogues (at once sug-
and is more typical example. It is a
the gesting and denying the human visage) as
property used by dramatic dancers at the cli- the elongated one on the following page.
Mask. Bark cloth. Melanesian. New Britain. American Museum of Natural History
A conventionalization which featured a proboscis very exaggerated and prominent, is
long hook nose curved in to meet the chin or shown. The fourth illustration here is an ut-
the breast is considered bv some ethnolopists terly different kind of carving, on a fan
as representing a bird beak. To others it is a handle, similar to the squat, large-eyed Poly-
survival of an elephant's trunk, in direct line nesian idols. The totem-pole form of this
from the well-known elephant-faced idols of minor carving suggests a racial link to a
the Hindus and the Indonesians. In the illu- different continent: to the "native" races of
stration a highly stylized figure, with the North America.
Ancestor mask. Wood, clay, shell, and seeds,

painted. latmul, recent. Sepik River area. New
Guinea. Lowie Museum of Anthropology,
University of California, Berkeley
m. ^^^"^^
isri
^^^<^1
Mask. Wood. Melanesian. New Britain.

Chicago Museum of Natural History
Totemic carving, ivory fan handle.

Polynesian. Marquesas Islands.
Figure with a proboscis or trunk. Wood.

Melanesian. New Guinea. University Museum,
Philadelphia
Decorative compositions such as the dance tive master of fundamental sculptural design,
shield and the prow ornament from the creating plastic works of an amazingly direct
Trobriand Islands illustrate a particularly expressiveness. He seldom succumbed to the
beautiful type of low-relief carving, with easy lure of naturalistic appeal. The virtues
perforations and painting. The bird motive, of his art are the basic ones of formal signifi-
especially the beak, is conventionalized al- cance and lyric invention.
most beyond recognition. African sculpture is essentially an art of

It is necessary to understand something of massive and three-dimensional solids. In
the religious impulses, the social objectives primitive examples the stone is implicit in the
and taboos, and the emotions and the sexual effect. When wood became the medium, the
codes of the dark-skinned races in order to sense of the trunk as cylinder pervaded the
enjoy many of the sculptured figures and design.
much of the carved ornamentation. How- Only a small number of major stone relics
ever, after some exposure to the strange and from ancient times or ancient cultures re-
sometimes repellent effigies, masks, and mains, and the primitively heavy things re-
utensils, even Western-trained perceptions semble those found at comparable levels in
respond to aesthetic values of a remarkable Sumer or Egypt, or the Amerindian lands. Of

purity and a compelling intensity. The the two figurines shown from French Guinea,
Negro, especially, reveals himself as instinc- only the second exhibits mannerisms, or ac-
complishments, uniquely belonging to the
Negro (Page 412, center and right.)
artist.
Canoe prow ornament. Wood. Trobriand Islands,
New Guinea. Chicago Museum of Natural History
Woodcarvings, on the other hand, display
a full mastery of plastic expressiveness. The
Ceremonial dance shield. Melanesian. Trobriand

Islands. Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Ritual Figure, with arms raised in supplica- 414) shows conspicuous mastery of human
tion, is a supremely simple work in which anatomy, with a marvelous study of facial ex-
the meaning is conveyed directly and instan- pression. The headdress of wood with a hide
taneously. Sculptural form is manipulated to covering returns us to the simplest primitive
enforce one impression. Sculptors of older, expression, superbly direct and packed with
intellectually knowing civilizations were often feeling. The expressionist means are not ob-
unable to express emotion thus directly. trusive. In spite of the unrealistic features,
Here body measurements have little rela- the whole visage is understandable and
tionship to human anatomy, but the one soundly sculptural.
gesture, the essential meaning, is profoundly A familiar subject in African sculpture is
intensified. The Standing Woman, also on the woman holding a bowl. In this group
the facing page, a Bambara piece, is no less one commonly finds the primitive directness
summary and expressive. It and the Figure and solidity, the carelessness of nature, the
Holding a Bag (below, left), from the Ba- intensification of a single idea or emotion,
huana, show a considerable advance as and the intuitive playing up of the material,
transcriptions of human dimensions and sin- wood, for its fullest sculptural appeal. The
gularities; and the Rhythm Pounder (page example in the British Museum is twenty
inches high and representative of all these
Figure Holding a Bag. Wood. Bahuana. Gabon. Figurines. Stone. African, Kissi.
Matisse Gallery, New York
"Pierre French Guinea. Musee de I'Homnte, Paris
Ritual Figure. Wood. Warega. Congo.
Collection of John P. Anderson,
Red Wing, Minnesota
Standing Woman. Wood. Bambara. French Sudan

Brooklyn Museum
Man QRhythm Pounder^. Wood.
Senufo. Ivory Coast. Museum of Primitive Art
Headdress for dance. Wood, with hide.

Ibibio. Nigeria. Museum of Primitive Art
qualities. The relatively long arms, the torso From the Baluba tribe in the Congo there
reduced to the same thickness as the neck, aremany carved stools, following a few gen-
and the skimped and arbitrarily curved-in eralized patterns, in which the seat is held
legs are details in a process of shaping the up by a single figure or grouped figures. The
figure to a vigorous and weighty rhvthmic same loving care is given to the cutting and
scheme. To be noted also is the one touch of polishing of the figures in these utilitarian
ornamentation, scar patterns on the trunk. pieces as is evident in the religious or semi-
Some authorities believe that the many com- religious masks and ancestral figures. A like-
positions in which a woman holds a bowl ness in the faces of large numbers of the
constitute no more than a sort of genre art; stool-figures suggests continuing repetition of
but others regard them as offering figures, a standard face. Yet, as may be seen from
designed to be placed before the dwellings the singlefigure composition and the double-
of women unable to work and dependent figure stool illustrated, there is a wealth of
upon charity. interest in each separate object.
Woman with a Bowl. Wood. Baluba. Congo. Woman Supporting Seat. Wood. Baluba. Congo.
British Museum Collection of Congregation des Orphelins d'Auteuil,
Paris. (^Courtesy Musee de I'Homme')
The predominant quality in the figures, and are said to have been carried in memory
as in the three heads here, is the feeling for of important ancestors. An amazing amount
the medium; the anonjTnous artists have of character has been infused into many of
known intuitively the susceptibility of wood the fetishes, as may be seen from the illus-
to fluent cutting and high polish, appealing trations. If some of the depictions seem to
to the touch. non-native eyes to border on caricature, the

A variation from the standard figure in purely sculptural virtues are nevertheless
wood found in the ivory fetishes of the
is serious and expert.
Baluba and Bapende tribes in the Congo. Through the wide range of masks the ex-
Miniature masks as well as miniature figures pression is conventional and impersonal. The
were carved as little pocket-pieces or pendants types and the materials are as varied as
Figures Supporting Seat. Wood. Warua. Congo. Museum fiir Volkerkiinde, Berlin
-ah*î55«r>-z>*i
Head. Congo. Heads and figures: fetishes. Ivory. Baluba and
University Museum, Philadelphia Bapende. Congo. Museum of Science, Buffalo;
Museum of Primitive Art
African Venus. Wood. Collection

of Louis Carre, Paris. (^Courtesy
Museum of Modern Art, New York')
Head. Wood ^vith metal. Fang.

Gabon. Museum of Primitive Art
among the American Indians, and in general
there is an "abstraction" of the face, which
approaches the nonobjective. Deity is imper-
sonal and cannot be thought of naturalisti-
cally. But a mask symbol of divinity, to
endow the wearer with deity during a dra-
matic dance or ceremony, recalls the only
real countenance known to the audience,
the human.
There is no show element in the masks.
In the carving, the creator follows a tradition
or custom and endeavors to please the gods
or spirits. Yet the aesthetic values are real
and pure. The grasp of the basic elements of
design, the relieving of symmetry by a slight
asymmetry, the knowing use of geometrical
equivalents for the individualized human
and
features, the effective reversal of positive
negative, or protuberance and hollow; above
all, the rhythmic organization of the sculp
tural masses— these are matters for wonder

and delight. (See also page 403.)
Antelope mask. Wood, painted. Guro.

Ivory Coast. Lowie Museum of Anthropology,
University of California, Berkeley
Mask. Wood. Guro. Ivory Coast. Mask. Wood. Baule. Ivory Coast.
University Museum, Philadelphia University Museum, Philadelphia
The objects next illustrated are for prac- plorers and traders brought back reports of
tical use, bobbins originating among the the remarkable civilization of Benin, the
Ivory Coast tribes. The rhythmic contours kingdom of the Bini people, in what is now
and, in the woman's head, the counterplay Nigeria. The Bini were sufficiently advanced
of ornamental ridgings are admirable. The to have a capital with broad avenues and
gazelle and the antelope head are examples sumptuously decorated public buildings. The
of fanciful design, not uncommon in the remains of their art, including innumerable
French Sudan. Streamlining, as in the bronze heads, figures, and reliefs produced
Tjiwara head, is a fully mastered manner- by the difficult cire-ferdue process, are
ism noticeable in much primitive art. mostly scattered in European and American
In the fifteenth century Portuguese ex- museums and private collections.
Bobbins: animal; human. Baule. Ivory Coast. Tjiwara, bobbin. Wood. Bambara. French Sudan.
Musee de I'Homme
Collection Louis Carre, Paris; Museum, Philadelphia
University
I • •
The two bronze heads illustrated are of
common types. The Head of a Bini Girl indi-
cates a departure of the Bini artists from the
extreme expressionism that is standard over
most of Negro Africa; though, aside from the
face, reahsm gives way before a strictly con-
ventionalized stylization. The second Head,
in the Museum fiir Volkerkunde in Berlin,
is typical of an archaic period of Benin art.
It may date back to the fifteenth century. The

so-called classical period that followed seems
to have been terminated late in :he seven-
teenth century during terrible civil wars.
During the centuries of the greatest pros-
perity of Benin there was a school of ivory-
carvers that turned out some of the most
intricate and elaborate pieces known to the
art, and many other crafts were practiced
efficiently. The Leopard shown is an ivory
piece studded with copper. The Lion, a work

of the Dahomans, who lived to the west of
the Bini in what is now a state in its own
right, has achieved a considerable fame. It
was fabricated in territory where metal cast-

ing was hardly known, and has the appear-
ance of a solid or hollow silver piece, whereas
actually it is shaped in wood with patches of
silver sheathing nailed on with silver nails.
It is one of the rare African sculptures sug-

gesting Oriental influences, possibly from the
Chad the northeast, where the
district to
population was mixed Negro and Arab. In
Head of a Bini Girl. Bronze. Benin. Nigeria.

Lion. Silver over vpood. Dahomey. Formerly
British Museum
Ratton Collection. (^Courtesy Musee de I'Homme^
Head. Bronze. Nigeria.
Museum fiirVolkerhunde, Berlin.
QCourtcsy Musee de IHomme')
Leopard. Ivory and copper. Benin. Nigeria.

British Museum
l?ak
Ethiopia and through a considerable area of Europe. Their lifelikeness reveals inner
southward, true Arabs, from Saudi Arabia, character as well as outer appearance. Some
had infihrated and intermarried with of the heads belong to the psychological
Negroes. The Arabs who had infihrated the portrait type, as known many centuries before
Chad district were rather the product of at El Amarna in Egypt. How a similar mas-
centuries-old blending of several races, in tery passed to or was developed by the sub-
Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and other regions. tribe Ife is a mystery.
Between Dahomey and Benin lies the Formerly it was suggested that the Benin
territory of Yoruba, and it is there that the bronzes had been made possible because a
most recent and some of the most renowned European explorer had taught the Negroes
finds of African sculptural treasures have the cire-'perdue or lost-wax process of casting.
been made. Extraordinarily accomplished Now it seems more likely that centuries ago
heads in terra cotta were unearthed at Ife, the Bini inherited the process from an older
and a collection of related heads in bronze culture in Ife. The bronzes from Benin and
has been found. the bronzes and terra-cottas from Ife add
The examples shown, of both terra-cottas greatly to the sculptural prestige of the Negro
and bronzes, indicate how near these Ifan race.
works are to the standard realistic portraiture After the razing of Benin City by the
Heads. Clay. Ife. Nigeria.

QPhotos courtesy Musee de I'Homme')
whites in 1897, research revealed much about ures and animals and a notable series of re-
the history of the sculptural art of the Bini. liefswhich sumptuously decorated the palace
There is a local legend that a king of Benin walls of baked mud.
begged a metal-caster from the nearby Ife In some tribal areas the sculpture of the
tribe and set up a guild of metalworkers. The people, mostly in woodcar\'ing, remained crea-
Bini artists quickly excelled in the art, which tive up to the nineteenth or even the twen-
flowered about 1500, the period of the bronze tieth century. Now, in spite of continuous
heads. In bronze also there were human fig- crumbling of tribal traditions and extraor-
dinary political changes, African sculptors are
continuing to send out trade pieces of good
quality, higher in aesthetic value than most
folk exports.
Heads. Bronze. Benin; Ife. Nigeria.

British Museum; Museum fiir Volkerkuude, Berlin. QCouHesy Miisee de VHomme')
i6: Amerindian Sculpture
and the Mexican-Mayan Masters
SINCE the Amerindians who occupied area; the monumental totem poles are evi-
North America before the white man arrived dence of and the ceremonial masks were
this,
never rose out of a near-primitive status, there generally elaborate and often over life size,
is an appearance of Stone Age monumental- whether cut by the Tlingit of Alaska, the
ity, of primitive heaviness, about the earHer Kwakiutl of British Columbia, or the Iroquois
sculpture found throughout the territory. This of the East Coast woodlands.
particular attribute of basic sculptural expres- On the whole, the relics from Canada and
siveness survived in a few cultures, particu- the United States are mostly minor or minia-
larly those on the northwest coast, even down ture manifestations, or are restricted to a nar-
to the time when white men invaded the row kind of stvlization. The aboriginal North
Killer Whale. Shaman's charm. Whalebone. Tlingit. Sitka, Alaska.

Portland Art Museum, Vortlatui, Oregon
AMERINDIAN SCULPTURE 425
American continent has yielded such diverse Another complex of tribes, those of the
rehcs as the carved tobacco pipes of the Southwest, including the Pueblos, the Zuni
Mound Builders of the Middle West and (originally a Pueblocommunity), the Hopi,
South, the bird stones and banner stones of and the Navajos, were, and still are, very
the East, the Eskimo bone and ivory carvings, accomplished in the arts, but sculpture was
and the groups of miniature effigies of ani- one of the least practiced forms.
mals, such as the whales of the Channel The advanced civilization of the Mayas in
Islands of California, the sheep of the Zuiiis, Mexico and Central America is traced back to
and the turtles of the Lenni Lenape on the Mongolian or Mongoloid racial stock repre-
East Coast. sented by the Amerindians north of the Rio
The most productive tribes were situated Grande. There is litde information as to what
along the northwest coast from the Colum- happened to these southern cousins of the
bia River Valley north to Alaska, where the Eskimos from the time when the parent tribes
cultures of the Kwakiutl, Haida, and Tlingit migrated from Asia, by way of the Aleutian
flourished. The range here, from heavy stone bridge, to the time well before the life of
figure and elaborate totem to expressive mask Christ, when the founders of the Mayan
and opulently decorated chest and domestic empire emerged with a culture of a level
utensil, is not surpassed in any part of the higher than any other on the continent. Their
United States or Canada. amazingly proficient sculpture in stone was
Next in importance was the Mound Builder accomplished with tools of hard stone— ob-
culture of the Midwestern states, especially sidian and flint. The cities of the Mayan
Ohio, and the middle Southern states, where Classic began to be deserted in the seventh
the small stone sculptures are best known and century. The people migrated north into
the larger pieces rare. There are some indica- what is now Yucatan, and there a new Mayan
clay vessels with figures,
tions, especially in empire prospered from about looo onward,
of contact withand influence from Mexican though in sculpture its achievements were
cultures. The Mound Builders were Stone less notable than those of the old or Classic
Age men, and their mounds were tumuli and empire.
enclosures in var\'ing shapes. The effigy The beginnings of Middle American art
mounds, in the shapes of animals and birds, are hidden, but there were two main areas of
approached sculpture in conception. Statu-
ettes in stone and clay are fairly common, but
the carved pipes comprise the most remark-
able realistic figurative sculpture in the Amer-
indian collections.
The prehistoric arts among the Eskimos of
the Arctic preceded the coming of the white
man and possibly date back one thousand
years or more. The Arctic Eskimos are now
believed to be a part of the largely Mongolian
people who once ringed the vast polar sea. In
Greenland and on the north Canadian shores
and in Alaska the Eskimos developed their
separate culture, quite diff'erent from that of
the Eurasian shore-lands which formed a half-
from the present Bering Strait
circle opposite,
Hawk. Platform pipe. Stone. Hopewell Culture.
through the frozen northern areas of Siberia Tremper Mound, Ohio. Ohio State Museum.
and Russia to Lapland. (Photo courtesy Museum of Modern Art, Neiv York)
426 AMERINDIAN SCULPTURE
development, one in the Valley of Mexico American primitive work, to exquisite jade
(the present Mexico City district), the other carvings and little clay figures fantastically
comprising southern Yucatan and parts of elaborated.
Honduras and Guatemala. Apart from the The Totonacs were also long established
central cultures there were less civilized but on the Gulf coast, to the north of the Olmecs.
artistically productive peoples such as the The culture is famous for its vast buildings,
Olmecs (predating the Mayas) and the a full range of clay sculpture, and some spe-
Zapotecs. cial types of stonecarving, such as yoke-
Relics from the Valley of Mexico civiliza- shaped stones, richly carved with decorative
tion can be roughly grouped as archaic, Tol- and symbolic designs.
tec, and Aztec, in chronological order. The Yet another culture, of the Mezcalas in
architectural ruins of Teotihuacan, which ex- Guerrero, a generally mountainous state south
tend over six square miles not far from the and west of the Valley of Mexico, produced
present Mexico City, are witness to the native works of heavy stone, a near-primitive Stone
originality and artistic genius of the ancient Age art. The region has not yet been sys-
valley people. Their large sculpture was, in tematically explored for archaeological re-
general, barbaricand frightening. The Tol- mains.

tecs were an invading tribe with no known The dating of pre-Columbian art has been
background, who ruled from the tenth cen- a great puzzle to American archaeologists.
tury until in the fourteenth century their The first firm structure of dates was devised
power was weakened by other invading peo- in connection with the Pueblo civilization of
ples. Toltec sculpture, based on that of the the Southwest. By an ingenious method of
Teotihuacan culture, was interesting and counting tree-rings in wood found in old
varied, especially in the stone masks and in pueblos, the foundation date of any pueblo
products in jade and in clay. The Toltecs gave could be ascertained. New carbon-dating and
way before the next empire-building tribe, the argon-dating systems are now widely used. It
Aztecs. They established Tenochtitlan or is known that man has inhabited the conti-
Mexico City in 1325 and eventually subju- era, and migration
nent since the Pleistocene
gated not only the Toltecs but the other sur- into America may have begun as early as
rounding nations so that when the Spaniards forty thousand years ago, as unearthed
arrived they ruled most of Mexico. weapons indicate. It is believed that from
The Olmecs lived east of the Valley of about the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic
Mexico, near the city of Veracruz. The range period wave after wave of migrants entered
of their sculpture is remarkable, from colossal North America by a route across the Bering
stone heads, apparendy related to Central Strait.
Whale. Stone. Chumash. Catalina Island, California. Museum of the American Indian
II
TH E animal figures pictured here are

physically small but illustrate a com-
the "triangular stone," illustrated on page 428.
Seldom nearer to naturalism than the exam-
mon aspect of massiveness. There are some ple shown, the pointed or "mountain" stones
up to one-half life size and over,
stone figures exhibit an intuitive feeling for near-abstract
and the totem poles of the Northwest are sculptural massing. Sculpturally stonelike,
monumental in a restricted, conventionalized too, with a tendency toward abstract altera-
mode. There are, too, the masks, face-size and tion of the human features, is the Caribbean
over, from tribes east and west; the one on mask at the Museum of Primitive Art, New
page 428 is a superb example. Nevertheless York. (Illustrated on page 429.)
Indian sculpture in the United States and The stylization may appear in more refined
Canada is oftenest in miniature form, though forms, as in the thousands of banner stones
primitively heavy. and bird stones of the Northeastern and Cen-
The Mountain Sheep from Arizona, really tral Indians, or the woodcarvings of the
a mortar (illustrated on page 428), indicates Northwest Indians. The bird stones and the
studied observation. Simple, st)'lized objects, banner stones reveal a difference between two
however, are at the heart of the Amerindian kinds of abstract art: the bird stones are semi-
achievement. They may be roughly formal- abstract compositions, each stone taking char-
ized, even crude images, such as appear in acter from the subject. The banner stones, on
both useful and fetishistic objects from the the other hand, are fully nonobjective.
Antilles. The virtues of the pestles carved As miniature sculpture of symmetrical de-
with human heads, as shown at page 28 of sign, the banner stones (probably used as
the "Primitive Sculpture" chapter, are simple added weights on spear-throwers) are out-
and close to the native rock, as are those of standing. There are variations known as cres-
Seal. Charm. Stone. Tlingit. Alaska. Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Sheep. Stone. Zuni. New Mexico. University Museum, Philadelphia

Mask. Stone, painted. Tsimshian. British Columbia. National Museum of Canada, Ottawa.
^Courtesy Loivie Museum, University of California, Berkeley')
Mountain stone. Arawak culture.

Dominican Republic. Musee de I'Homme
Mountain Sheep. Mortar. Stone. 700-900 a.d.

Arizona. Museum of the American Indian
I "\""flpTOllfft ^B
I i.:'*^-^^^^H3|^B
^R '''\j^
1 Bird stones. Georgia; Michigan; Illinois.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arensherg Collection;
Collection of A. Bradley Martin,
courtesy Brooklyn Museum;
Museum of the American Indian
Banner stone. Mound Builders Culture. Possibly a.d. SOO.Ohio.

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York
cent stones, lunar stones, spade stones, etc.,
and these are thought to have been ceremonial

objects or amulets, or mere ornaments.
The abstract or semi-abstract "stones" are
found overa considerable part of the United
States,from the central Mississippi Valley
eastward and in nearby parts of Canada.
Many of the fine specimens have been col-
lected from the country of the Iroquois and
the Algonquins.
Stone tobacco pipes were chiefly the prod-
uct of the Mound Builders, who flourished
probably for some centuries before a.d. i 500.
The culture had disappeared when the white
men pushed into the territory west of the
Appalachians. There are undecorated pipes
and non-figurative designs, but the pipe with
a carved animal is standard. Sometimes an
otter crouches in the angle between bowl and
stem, or a squirrel decorates the front of the
bowl. Oftener the bowl rises up from the back
of a crow or a dog, or is hollowed in it. Fairly
soft stones were used. The two platform
Mask. Stone. Arawak. Puerto Rico. Double Goose. Pipe. Stone. Hopewell Mound.
Museum of Primitive Art, New York Ohio State Museum
Hawk; Otter with Fish. Pipes. Stone. Mound
Builders Culture. Tennessee; Ohio. Museum of the
American Indian; Ohio State Museum. QPhotos
courtesy Museum of Modern Art, New York')
pipes, one with a hawk (page 425) and the
other showing an otter with a fish, are exam-
ples of observant reaKsm and have notable

sculptural quality. The pipe in the form of a
standing human figure, from the Adena
Mound in Ohio, is unusual. This type of
formalization is rare among the Indians of the
Eastern and Central States. There is unmis-
takable stylistic evidence of a connection with
the art of Mexico and Central America.
The totem poles, usually great trees carved
with the heraldic insignia of family or clan,
are a most spectacular exhibit, but they should
be seen in their native setting. A miniature
example, in stone, illustrates the curiously ef-
fective method of squaring the main forms,

then carving as if deep in-
in relief, without Human effigy pipes. Stone. Mound Builders
cisionsand with fluent rounding of the minor Culture. Tennessee; Ohio. University of
forms. The totemic motives and significance

Tennessee; Ohio State Museum
are present also in carved wooden masks,
charms and rattles, wooden boxes with panels
in relief, and even in such minor objects as
sucking tubes, spoons, and dishes. The carv-

ing is of a distinctive style, vigorous yet in-
tricate and subtle, as indicated in the ivory
shaman's charm and the composition of bird
and frog.
The commoner types of ceremonial masks

are fanciful or grotesque, or constitute geo-
metric abstractions of the human counte-
nance. The Kwakiutl mask (page 432) is a
direct expression in the heavy, highly decora-
tive style of carving to be seen in the totem
poles. The Cowichan mask, while sculpture
in the truest sense, illustrates the way in
which the Indians of the Northwest utilized
paints and stains to enrich their carvings. The
1*
Shaman's charm. Ivory. Haida. Queen Charlotte

Island. Chicago Natural History Museum
Totemic composition of bird and frog. Wood.

Volkerkundemuseum, Munich.
QArchiv fUr Kunst und Geschichte^
Totem pole. Stone. Vancouver.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
Rattle. Wood, leather, etc. Tlingit.

masks are ritualistic objects, and in general
they represent famed ancestors or spirits, or
the animal that is the totemic ancestor or pro-
tector of family or clan.
The Kwakiutl mask an articulated
at right,
dance mask, two compositions, a
consists of
bird's head and the man-mask. It is enriched
with a great deal of painting and with patches
of cedar bark. The lower jaw of the bird, like
that of the man, is movable by strings, and
the painted flaps can be drawn in over the
carved face. The whole is an impressive and
original expression of Indian religious custom
and native skills.
In contrast a pair of carvings in the simple

sculptural tradition is shown. The ancestral
mask is a traditional one and depicts the soul
of a dead man. The eagle head is a superb
carving from the Haida tribe, whose territory
was in southern Alaska and the Queen
Charlotte Islands off British Columbia. The
Tlingits wêre essentially an Alaskan tribe.
Dead Man. Mask. Wood. Tlingit.

Spirit of
Wrangell, Alaska. Portland Art Museum
Mask. Wood, painted. Cowichan.
Denver Art Museum
Mask. Wood, painted. Kwakiutl.

Articulated dance mask. Wood, bark, paint. Probably Kwakiutl. Portland Art Museum
Head of Eagle. Mask. Wood. Haida. Prince of Head. Mortar. Stone. Columbia River culture.
Wales Island. Portland Art Museum Sauvies Island. Portland Art Museum
^^^^^^^^^
Mask. Wood. Eskimo. Southwest Alaska. Lowie Museum, University of California, Berkeley.
CPhoto courtesy Museum of Modern Art, New York')
There was interchange of style between an extension of the culture or style north-
these tribes and the southern Eskimos, espe- ward to Puget Sound and the Eraser River.
cially in masks. The Eskimo ceremonial masks In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
were on the whole less ostentatious. The Eskimo sculpture has tended toward the real-
strange mask-with-appurtenances from south- istic and the graphic, and nowhere is it monu-
west Alaska is an Eskimo product, probably mental. Some centuries earlier, however,
of the nineteenth century, and is prophetic of there had been an Eskimo culture, centered
the twentieth century experiments in con- in the Bering Sea area, which produced de-
structivism in Europe. The southern Eskimos signs richer in decorative values, and sculp-
are generally included in the culture known ture in the round with more serious implica-
as Northwest Indian. tions. The Seal is one of the rare pieces
Most of the Northwest art is primitive ex- surviving from the Old Bering Sea civiliza-
pression of a comparatively recent time. But tion. It is remarkably vital both as representa-
at the lowest border of the territory, in the tion and as sculptural creation. Its markings
Columbia River Valley, relics of a prehistoric are patently like the linear tracings on the
culture have been found. The Head (page near-abstract winged object shown with it. In
433) is a mortar from Sauvies Island on the their style marks the old Eskimo artifacts are
Columbia River, where many of the some- not too unlike those of the Gilyaks of Eastern
times utilitarian, sometimes free pieces have Siberia, a Neolithic people supposed to have
been found. It suggests how close the devel- an unbroken history of thirty thousand years
opment is to Stone Age cultures in other parts from a cave-man beginning. (The cave men
of the world. It is a typically primitive piece, of Europe lived at the edges of icefields, as do
vital, direct in expression, unadorned, and in- the Eskimos, and were similarly hunters of
tuitively sculptural. There are evidences of the reindeer.)
Man with Wings, back. Ivory. Old Bering Sea culture, Northwest Alaska.
Seal. Ivory. Old Bering Sea culture. Northwest

Alaska. American Museum of Natural History
There are many clay vessels from the

Lower Mississippi Valley and from the south
Appalachian area which were modeled as
both pot and statue. The motives and meth-
ods suggest a link with the ancient Mexican
cultures, but no evidence of direct contact
has been established. The tendency of this
phase of Amerindian art toward realism sug-

gests the existence, several centuries ago, of
an art culture far advanced in the skills of
F.ffigy jar. Clay. Arkansas. Museum of the
American Indian representation, extending across the southern
states from Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana
to Georgia and Florida, with a northern ex-
tension in Ohio.
The pipes of the Mound Builders, adorned
with near-realistic animals, and such frankly
realistic clav jars as the one illustrated here,
as well as the wooden masks dredged at Key

Marco, imply a viadespread talent for sensi-
tively representational carving. The Deer's

Head is one of the most lifelike things to be
discovered in the range of Amerindian art,
which, like the Asian art from which it re-
motely descended, is usually unreal, formal,

and decorative.
Deer's Head. Mask. Wood. Key Marco, Florida. University Museum, Philadelphia.
QPhoto courtesy Museum of Modern Art, ISIeiv York")
The first of the Middle American speci- parts of architectural relief sculptures, beauti-
mens of sculpture illustrated is tj^pically heavy fully expressive of the Mayan purpose of im-
and massive. This man seated on a bench (a personal and hieratic representation. They are
difficult subject to compose in stone, in any both sensitive and soundly lithic.
style) is shaped into a near-geometrical ap- The grotesque head, facing at top right,
proximation, except for the lifelike, if sum- is of a frightening subject common to Middle
mar)', treatment of the face. American art. Human sacrifice and terrifying,
The body of known Mayan work
greater implacable deities were often depicted on the
is broken away
in relief, or exists in fragments stone temples; but the range of pre-Colum-
from combinations of low and high relief, bian sculpture includes prett)' and even frivo-
like the two heads from the ruins of the city lous ornaments in gold, and representations of
of Copan in Honduras. They were attached animals, common folk, and smiling girls.
EflBgy jars. Clay. Mound Builders Culture. Arkansas. Museum of the American Indian;
Peahody Museum, Harvard University
Seated Figure. Stone. Mayan. Guatemala.

Head of Maize God. Stone. Mayan. Copan,

Honduras. American Museum of Natural History Above and helow.
Heads. Stone. Mayan. Copan.
Seated Human Figure. Jade. Olmec, a.d. 100-400. Cleveland Museum of Art
The miniature jade Seated Human Figure pie walls are difficult to read, for both subject-
above is directly in line with Mayan monu- matter and aesthetic impression, but one can
mental art of the early Classic period. This hardly escape the decorative impact and the
and related pieces are among the finest jades sheer design value in such a minor relief as
of the realistically figurative type known to the marker for a ball court at Copan. It is
any civilization. There are in jade also the from a stone ball court of 600 and
about a.d.
more usual relief plaques and masks. probably depicts a ceremonial meeting of
The Mayan pottery of early times was priests and player. The ornament in shell is
varied and expert. It reached a climax of an extraordinary piece of sophisticated minia-
opulence in cylindrical jars brightly painted ture carving. A few Mayan heads or masks
with and hieroglyphic scenes paral-
pictorial rank among the supreme examples of "psycho-
leling the reliefs on stelae and walls. Mayan logical realism," with the Amarna masks.
monumental sculpture was freely painted, but The very fine stucco mask (facing) has the
all trace of the color has long since been appearance of exact portraiture, with the aim
washed away. The stelae and the panels and of revealing the inner character, as against
agglomerations on early Classic Mayan tem- the usual Mayan style of conventionalization.
Mayan. C. a.d. 600,

Ball-court marker. Stone. Bird and God's Head. Ornament. Shell. Mayan.
Copan. Copan Museum. QVhoto hy E. Z. Kelemen') Chiapas, Mexico. Museum of Primitive Art
-i>^ ^-jr
mm.
Certain cultures apparently once allied to
the old empire still exist among Mayan rem-
nant tribes inGuatemalan and Hon-
the
duran highlands. The many relics from the
Central American region are difficult to date,
and primitive idioms may have persisted
through a dozen centuries. Many stone figures
are found in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The
strangely geometrized effigy from the Ameri-
can Museum of Natural History is the fa-
miliar prehistoric "idol" as uncovered in mid-
Asia, the South Seas, or North America; it is
crude but formalized in an angular, rhythmic

way that renders the piece appealing. The
figure on the ceremonial slab represents facile,
less expressionistic sculptural expression.
The variation by means of areas of pattern

playing against sheer surfaces is characteristic
of one phase of Central American design. It
is at its best, perhaps, in the manv vietates, or

tables for grinding corn, from the coastal re-
gion between Guatemala and Panama. These
Mask. Stucco. Mayan. Palenque.

may be simple and utilitarian, or elaborate
National Museum, Mexico City and therefore probably ceremonial. The orna-
Ceremonial stele, detail. Stone. Costa Rica. Figure. Stone. Nicaragua.

America?: Mtiseum of Natural History American Museum of Natural History
Ceremonial corn grinders. Stone. Guatemala; Panama.

University Museum, Philadelphia; American Museum of Natural History
mentation of edges, and sometimes of legs, older cultures of Mexico and is best known
lends a richness, even an elegance, to the through the excavations at Monte Alban and
composition. Those shown here are of an ex- Mitla. The Zapotecs, near neighbors of the
ceptional reticence of design except in the Mayans to the westward, had their monu-
contrasting heads, which are formalized and mental palaces and temples, but they are
imaginative. Such idiomatic expression sug- famous rather for clay wares, especially some
gests a link between the Central American elaborated incense-burners, of which the one
cultures and the Classic Mayans. shown is typical. (Facing page, lower left.)
A group of Mayan carved marble vessels Mayans and Zapotecs and, in general, the
was found exclusively in the valley of the Mexicans of the successive Amerindian cul-
Ulua River in Honduras. The beauty of these tures worked with an especial sense of the fit-
is due partly to the milky texture of the stone. ness of the stone or clay or gold for effects
In the largest example shown, the low-relief, of mass and texture and surface interest. The
mask-and-spiral design contrasts with the Middle American sculpture in clay surpasses
round handles, each formed as an animal that of any other culture except the Chinese.
holding a smaller animal upside down. These The stony heaviness of the ancient Olmec
Mayan were fashioned with stone
vessels Mexican mask is instrumental in evoking a
tools and are unsurpassed even by the ala- sculptural emotion. The effect of the handling
baster vases of Europe and Asia. of the clay and the suitability of terra cotta
The Zapotec was one of the greatest of the for modeling surface variations are expertly
Sculptured cups. Stone. Mayan. Honduras. University Museum, Philadelphia

brought out in the contrasting piece, a Tohec
head.
The extensive ruins of the cit)' of Teoti-
huacan illustrate the early culture of the
Valley of Mexico, which paralleled the
Mayan civilization of the south, though the
best-known sculpture from Teotihuacan is a
profusion of stone masks. When the warlike
Toltecs overran the valley, they modified the
earlier culture. The culture spread not only
to a new capital city at Tula but to many
distant centers, including Chichen-Itza in
Yucatan, a creation of the Mayans of the
Late Classic period. The pictured buildings
are of the time when Mayan architecture and
sculpture had been altered under Toltec
pressure.
The coming of the Aztecs from the north
soon overshadowed all else. They seem to
have had only a tenuous hold upon the arts,
and took over the methods and the style of

the country they invaded, but their sculpture
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
achieved a solid realism. It lacked, however,
the grandeur of the Mayan and its controlled Mask. Stone. Olmec. Mexico.
British Museum
barbaric exuberance. The five Aztec stone
Xipe. Incense-burner. Clay. Zapotec. Head. Clay. Toltec. Mexico.
Monte Alban, Oaxaca. National Museum, Musee de I'Homme
Mexico City. QVhoto courtesy
Museum of Modern Art, New Yorfe")
'
-^
canings illustrated are witness to the exist-
ence of great and subtle sculptors. The
two statues of a man standing and a man sit-
ting are typical pieces. In one a certain blunt
conventionalization persists, with considerable
squaring of forms for massive effect. The
other more
is aliveand the rhythms are freer.
The mask of Xipe, the god of the flayed
skin, is a reminder of the sacrifice of human
beings in the name of religion. At this period
the suffering face was common in masks, and
monumental sculpture was overpowering and
awe-inspiring. The mask here, an example on
the moderate side, is beautifully carved with
reliefs at the back.
Animal sculpture seems to have been a spe-

cialty of the Aztecs. Subjects ranged from al-
ligators and snakes to turkeys, frogs, and

grasshoppers. Though the treatment may ap-
proach the realistic, as in the Dog, a heavy
formalization was more usual. The massive-
Remains of sculptured pillars.

Temple of the Warriors, Chichen-Itza, Yucatan
^J?*?1?" "-^TtsiT' ^-^'"^T
»C--|
s»^.
..'?f:
>.:^'^v I,
^
'^'m '•^w.^^^'
Man. Stone. Aztec.

Musee de I'Homme, Paris
Young God. Stone. Aztec.

National Museum, Mexico City. QPhoto
courtesy Museum of Modern Art, Neiv York')
Xipe. Mask.
Stone. Aztec.
British Museum
ness and density of the stone are expressed, the range of lithic art. The age of the Olmec
as well as animal character. masks cannot be estimated. The civilization
The coiled snake provoked the artist's imag- probably goes back to a time before the
ination, and many versions of the rattlesnake Mayan beginnings. The distinctive decorated
are superb sculptural compositions: com- mask from Oaxaca (facing page) is typical.
pact, massive, symphonic. The serpent head, Its facial elements are schematized and fitted
carried to the most unrealistic point of con- into a preconceived plastic pattern. The linear
ventionalization, was one of the commonest tracings add to the non-realistic effect. It is a
motives in decoration of Mexican temples. variation of the tiger-mouth deity, a young
The Olmecs, to the east of the valley of god with partially jaguar features.
Mexico, did not lack realism but their genius The fine Head in black stone in the
was especially suited to expressionistic or American Museum of Natural History has a
exaggerated effects. facial cast similar to that of the tiger-face
There are strikingly simple unadorned mask, and the upper lip is pushed forward
masks to be seen in abundance in the mu- like an animal's muzzle. The creative hand-
seums of Paris, New York, and Mexico City. ling of the masses, and the essential form-
Collectively the stone masks and heads of organization, are at a high level.
ancient Mexico constitute one of the most
conspicuously mature achievements within
Dog. Stone. Aztec. Pueblo Museum.
QVhoto by E. Z. Kelemen')
Head. Stone. Probably from Vera Cruz.

The Totonacs, to the north of the Olmecs,
were carvers of yoke stones and other distinc-
tive types of sculpture. In Hne with their
ceremonial use, many of the yokes were as in-

tricately cut and as highly polished as the
jewel-like jade carvings of the Olmecs.
One of the most extraordinary in a series of
heads sculptured to approximate to the shape
of a ceremonial ax is the example at Prov-
idence. (Following page.) Despite its bug eyes,
bulging cheeks, and flattened nose, it some-
how has the aspect of a portrait— as do many
of the specimens in the group of flattened
heads. The piece shown with it finely pre-
serves the feel of the stone and is a good illus-
tration of consistent heavy formalization. It
is noticeably ax-head shaped. The nonobjec-
tive ax from Tajin illustrates beautifully the
type form to which the heads were approxi-

mated. The Totonac heads were supposedly
Rattlesnake. Stone. Aztec.
Museum of Primitive Art, New York
Hacha. Stone. Tajin. Vera Cruz.
Museum of Primitive Art
Mask. Stone. Olmec. Oaxaca.

Peabody Museum, Hanard University
worn as body gear in the ball games forming modeling of individual pieces by hand, but at
part of human-sacrifice rituals. The Totonac times great numbers of figurines were made
-pahnas had a related ritual purpose. The pal- in molds. The Tarascans were not especially
mate stones are like stelae with flattish relief known for monumental or other sculpture in
designs on back and front, and flaring, rounded stone, though they created some of the most
tops, usually with concave bases. They are fascinating genre types in clay. There are
generally fashioned from volcanic stone and well-known warriors with clubs, very like
are left with a rough grain surface. Those modem baseball players. The seated Woman
carved with near-abstract designs are among illustrated is more subtle and rhythmic. Be-
the most pleasing, though the transition from side this is a small Totonac or Tarascan head,
the low-relief, nonobjective mode to figurative which is very lifelike, despite a general sim-
elements almost in the full round is grace- plification. How far the Tarascans went in
fully accomplished, as in the second exam- exact delineation is illustrated on page 30 of
ple here. the "Primitive Art" chapter, where a child
Throughout Middle America minor sculp- and a dog, actually jars, are realistically
The usual method was

tures in clay abound. rendered.
Heads. Stone. Totonac. Museum of Art,

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence;
Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Dumbarton Oaks,
courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Palmas. Stone. Totonac. American Museum of Natural History; Museum of Primitive Art
Woman. Clay. Tarascan. Head. Clay. Totonac. Central Vera Cruz.

Brooklyn Museum. American Museum of Natural History
way down through Central Amer-
All the
ica and in the Andean country of South
America small clay sculptures are found in
great quantities in a bewildering range of
st)'les. The pre-Incan painted vases of Peru
are famous, but there were amazingly beauti-
ful wares also from Cocle in Panama; and the
pottery of Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia is
unusually varied.
The famed Nazca wares and those of
Tiahuanaco, representing two of the pre-Incan
cultures, aremost beautiful and colorful, but
depend upon painting rather than modeling
for their appeal. But the early Chimu or
Mochica effigy jars are among the world's most
diverting minor clay sculptures. The Mochi-
can potters were especially concerned with
human and animal figurative designs, natural-
istically depicted. Outstanding examples of the
so-called portrait vessels are illustrated here.
The stone sculpture of South America is rare
and in most categories is inferior to Mayan and
Mexican examples. Some stone bowls in animal
form are, however, outstanding. The Puma,
thought to be of the Chavin culture of the high
Andean country, indicates a stylistic bond with Chimu. Peru.
Portrait jars. Clay.
the Olmec. A more typically Peruvian expres- Linden Museum, Stuttgart. QArchiv
fiir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin^
sion is instanced in a series of miniature llamas,
almost jewel-like in workmanship and endowed
with a pleasing sculptural simplicityand
rhythm.
Llama. Lamp. Stone. Inca. Peru.

Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Arensherg Collection
There are fabulous stories of the treasure in
sculptured gold taken from Panama, Costa
Rica, and Peru by the Spanish and British
fortune-hunters, to be melted down. The
museums have saved enough from later finds

to prove that the artisans of Central and South
America surpassed all others in the ability to
fashion living little statues and strikingly
beautiful ornaments in precious metals. The
gold and silver animals include crocodile,
alligator, llama, bird, shark, and monkey, and
occasionally a man or woman is depicted.
Examples illustrate the vitality and the aspect
of believable reality attained when the sculp-
tors curbed their decorative aims.
The conventionalized or decorative mode Puma. Stone. Chavin culture. Peru or Bolivia.
was, however, more common. An animal or a University ^liiseum, Philadelphia
Llamas. Stone. Inca. Peru. University Museum, Philadelphia
Llamas. Silver. Inca. Peru. Art Association of Montreal; American Museum of Natural History
serpent's head or ahuman figure was taken
as a starting point. The object as cast or ham-
mered out became an approximation of the
subject, but often only an archaeologist can
ascertain what inspired the composition. It
is easy to identify the bird in gold on a bronze

knife; but it will be seen that the human and
animal motives have strangely changed in the
group of pendants following. In the literally
thousands of examples in public and private

collections the wonder of the composition is its
bold ornamentalism and the consistency with

which the sculptor carried through his decora-
tive conception.
Alpaca. Silver. Inca. Peru.

Man. Hollow silver.

Knife. Bronze and gold. Inca. Peru. Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Courtesy
University Museum, Philadelphia National Gallery of Art, Washington
Pendants, ornaments, bell. Gold. Quimbaya, Chibcha, and other cultures.

Museum of Primitive Art; Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Dumbarton Oaks,
courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington; American Museum of Natural
History; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arensberg Collection
PANAMANIAN
The chapter is best concluded with a return toward abstraction. The Standing Man in
to primitive or near-primitive Stone Age art. In black stone, with typical high polish and an
Guerrero, a generally mountainous state south aspect of monumentality, is only five and a half
and west of the Plain of Mexico, there was the inches high. The superb stone mask shows that
Mezcala culture, of which the chief known influences from the better-known cultures,
relics areworks of heavy stone. The most no- Mayan, Olmec, and Teotihuacan, had seeped
table finds have been comparatively recent. into Guerrero State and into the Mezcala Val-
There may have been thirty centuries of pro- ley at one time or another. Mezcala adds one
duction of stone sculptures in the area, and more vivid chapter to the history of Amerindian
they show a lingering Neolithic tendency sculpture in Middle America.
Mask. Stone. Mezcala Culture. Guerrero.

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York.
QPhoto hy Lee Bolting
Standing Man. Stone. Mezcala Culture. Guerrero.

Andre Emmerich Gallery, Neiv York.
CPhoto hy Lee Boltin')
17 ^Western Sculpture
From the Baroque to Rodin
BY the year 1620, in Italy and France, the art was in the hands of dilettanti and pedants.
two great art-producing countries of Europe, Italy, however, produced one last sculptor
the output of sculpture had become routine genius, Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. He had
and trivial. The smaller pieces were natural- originalityand vision and created a style,
istic fragments or sentimental and fanciful. the baroque, which swept over Europe and
Monumental sculpture, approached more se- dominated Italian, German, Austrian, and
from a pictorial
riously, nevertheless suffered Spanish design through the period of the
obsession, and compositionally it was dis- Counter-Reformation. To many historians
unified and mannered. The best of the post- baroque marks a prolongation of Italian
Alichelangelesque producers of mantelpiece art Renaissance realism and pictorialism, though
and of busts— most notably Giambologna and classic calm and purity are not evident in
Alessandro Vittoria— were long since dead. The Bernini's major works.
Model for a monument to Louis XIV. Bemini. Galleria Borghese. CAnderson photo")
454 FROM THE BAROQUE TO RODIN
From about 1620 to 1920 styles shifted fit- A simple listing of styles, leaders, and dates,
fully from baroque to neo-classic, to photo- 1 620-1 9 1 7, follows:
graphically realistic, to impressionistic; and The baroque style, brought to focus by
then, by a revolutionary leap, to an expression- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, who lived from
ism unknown since the Romanesque masters. 1598 to 1680, is generally dated from the first
Baroque and its French variation, rococo, lived half of the seventeenth century to the late
on especially in Spain, Portugal, and the Span- eighteenth century. It is the style of the Coun-
ish American colonial cities long after the ter-Reformation and flourished especially in
sculptors of Italy and Germany had been won the Catholic countries, Italy, Austria, Ger-
over to neo-classicism. In France the Renais- many, and parts of Switzerland, and for a
sance had never quite faded, and in
spirit longer period in Spain and the Spanish Ameri-
French sculpture baroque and neo-classic were can colonies.
hardly more than minor interruptions in the Pierre Puget (i 622-1 694), a disciple of
flow from late Renaissance realism to the native Bernini in Italy, took the baroque style to
graceful realism of Clodion and Houdon. France, but France was slow to accept the
Realism continued to be pre-eminent during theatricality and extravagance of it.
the nineteenth century. From the full-blooded Rococo, a refined version of baroque, was
form practiced by Rude, tinged with roman- developed in France under Louis XV in the
ticism or melodrama, through Carpeaux's still eighteenth century.
and on to the unashamed
slightly poetic style, Houdon ( 1
741-1828), the greatest French
naturalism of Barye, it all seemed to be leading sculptor of the six centuries between the
up to Rodin. In his works all aspects of realism fourteenth century and Rodin, resisted the
were expressed. His early naturalistic figures baroque influence and favored classicism or
surpassed those of Barye; his portraits were a slightly idealized realism.
more substantial and more lifelike than Neo-classicism as a school was founded by
Houdon's; the modeled pieces that gained from Antonio Canova (i 727-1 822) in Italy; he
impressionistic attributes had a new exactitude was followed by a Dane, Bertel Thorvaldsen
but at the same time a luminous gloss beyond ( 1
770-1 844). The school's vogue lasted from
any known to the figures by Falconet and 1790 to about 1840 and was international.
Clodion. At the end, before the break into Romanticism returned European sculpture
formalism and expressionism, there was a from the classic path about 1830; but this art
period of honest reappraisal, typified in the never knew revolutionaries of the stature of
work of Maillol, whose return to direct cutting such painters as Delacroix and Gericault.
in stone and to a general weightiness marked a The French sculptor Francois Rude (1784-
reversal historic and beneficial. 1855) is pre-eminent.
There will always be confusion at this point Realism became the ideal of the sculptors
in history because the last renowned realists- of Europe and America in the 1850s especially,
Rodin, Maillol, Bourdelle, Despiau, Kolbe— though the move toward verisimilitude had
practiced at a time when expressionism was been going on for a long time. The final degra-
being widely introduced. Rodin, anticipating dation of realism, its most superficial product,
post-impressionist modernism, produced at naturalism, occurred later in the century.
least one major monument, the Balzac, and The impressionist school flourished from the
some minor modeled pieces Ciîs, etc.) By the mid- 1 870s on.
time of his death in 191 7 the leaders of the Rodin C1870-1917) was a master of natural-
expressionist school were active in Germany ism, became the greatest of modem realists, and
and England as well as in France. later turned to expressionism.
II
early work, an Afollo and Daphne

INof an623-1
1 624, Bernini had developed attri-
chapter) is a perfect example of
harmonizing movement and accessories within
his genius in
butes of baroque. Swiftly he capitalized upon a sound sculptural unity.

his innovations— flutter)^ mov'ement, emphatic Classicists view all baroque as an appeal to
gesture,and naturalistic depiction. His father the sensual side of man. Bernini's most famous
had been a sculptor, and the son possessed ex- statue, St. Theresa in Ecstasy with its marble
ceptionalknowledge of the technique of the figures in marble clouds and a background of
art and an aptitude for striking composition. gilded rays, has been mercilessly criticized for
The model for the monument to Louis XIV of realistic and melodramatic treatment of a sub-
France (illustrated at the beginning of this ject which should be pictured only reticently
Saint Theresa in Ecstasy. Stone. Bernini. 1644. Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. (Ânderson photo)
Fountain of Trevi. Design attributed to Bernini,

Innocent X. Stone. Bernini. executed by others. Mid-1 8th century. Rome.
Palazzo Doria, Rome. (Ânderson 'photo') QAnderson photo')
and purely. The apologists for Counter-Refor- rival, Alessandro Algardi, who was only
mation art, on the other hand, have found the slightly inferior in both monumental work and
statue reverent, emotionally true, and moving. portraiture. He tried to moderate the intensity
Certainly Bernini ran to excess at times. of feeling and the reliance upon swirl implied
Purists feel that the baldaquin sheltering in Bernini's approach, but he never succeeded
the high altar in St. Peter's in Rome is a in endowing his pieces with the unity and the
sculptural aberration and an affront to both surface appeal of Bernini's soberer works.
eye and spirit. And there are other failures Algardi had studied under the three Carracci
and trumpery half-victories. At the far extreme in Bologna and was well fitted to practice in a
from these are the comparatively restrained school glorifying violent action. But perhaps
portrait busts, as illustrated in the Innocent X the Carracci tendency to rhetoric and loose
at the Doria Palace. composition spelled the measure of his failure
The photograph of the Trevi Fountain in rivalry with the creative Bernini. There was
illustrates a work projected by Bernini but a host of local imitators, but no other Italians
executed by others long after his death. It is appear in the list of sculptors of world-wide
superior to two similar fountain complexes importance until a century after Bernini's
which the artist designed and executed. Beyond death in 1680.
its patent attractiveness, it is important as a At the time when baroque
art was flourishing
model for innumerable works in the category were marching back and forth
in Italy, armies
of "exposition sculpture." It had its imitators through the German principalities, and the
in the grounds of every ostentatious palace in Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) almost put
Europe. an end to art practice. Nevertheless, in Bavaria
Bernini had a host of imitators but only one and in the Rhine cities, and in the Austrian and
.
FROM THE BAROQUE TO RODIN 457
Right: Equestrian statue of the Great Elector, with added figures.

Left: Detail. Bronze. Andreas Schliiter. 1701.
Court of Charlottenhurg Castle, Berlin. QArchiv fiir Kunst und Geschichte")
Swiss lands closely tied to German culture, architects, and painters worked together to
the baroque style spread in its pure form as create a dazzling baroque effect. (Page 458.)
nowhere else outside Italy. A late practitioner, Pierre Puget had been among the numerous
Andreas Schliiter, designed the monument of assistants of Bernini in Rome, and he took the
the Great Elector in Berlin, which is considered new st)'le back to France. He was considered
the finest of baroque equestrian statues, though the most truly baroque of the Frenchmen, who
the figures and panels of the base are inferior. were then becoming leaders in the European
While in northern Germany the impetus art world; but his most enjoyable works are,
was partly from an earlier native tendency to for most people, not the overactive, even tor-
activate and elaborate sculpture, baroque was tured reliefs and groups, but his portrait busts.
accepted as a valid expression of the Counter- (See page 459.) France held stubbornly to the
Reformation, as it was in Austria. In Munich, classical tradition, which had been watered
Salzburg, and Vienna, and in many a village down to a prettified realism, and the violence
church or isolated mountain monastery in the of Italian baroque was never to be fully
German, Austrian, or Swiss Alps, the altars accepted. Rather, the late Renaissance manner,
are decorated with swirling groups of figures as exemplified especially in the two Italicized
and opulent canopies of carved wood or stone. northern artists Giovanni da Bologna and
The theatrical but not unpleasing group in and was gradually given
Francavilla, persisted
the church at Rohr in Lower Bavaria is typical. some impetus by the impact of Puget and
Hardly less restrained is the sculpture in the other baroque enthusiasts.
monastic church at Stams in the Austrian Whatever elements of the new Italian style
Tirol. The photograph indicates how sculptors. were adapted soon took on grace and feminin-
The Assumption of Mary. Stucco.
1717—19. Cosmas and Egid Asam.
High Altar of the Pfarrkirche,
Rohr, Lower Bavaria
ity. But certainly the productions of Antoine
Coysevox, Guillaume Coustou the Elder, and
Francois Girardon for the brilliant French
court of Louis XIV lack the spontaneity of
Italian baroque, as well as classic reposeful
beauty. Girardon, who made a famous eques-
trian statue of the king, typically half natural,
half artificial, also contributed a work which
was utterly symbolic of the court spirit, and

a landmark in the French drift toward graceful
pictorialism and sensitive naturalism, in the
lead reliefs of Bathing Nymfhs decorating a
pool in the Versailles gardens. Of its kind,
nothing could be more graceful but at the
same time more trivial from the point of view
of the lover of profound sculptural art.
Robert Le Lorrain, who was a pupil of

Girardon's, went a step further in feminizing
sculpture and rendering it painty when he
cut the Horses of the Sun on the wall of the
Hotel de Rohan, now the Imprimerie Narion-
ale, in Paris. Here every implication of basic
sculpture, of the method itself, is negated.

The composition represents a pretty and
graphic wash-drawing transferred to the stone
Louis XIV. Stone.
and, like the baptistry doors at Florence, marks
Pierre Puget. Musee, Aix.
a high point in diverting but unsculptural (^Giraudon photo')
sculpture.
Horses of the Sun. Stone. Robert Le Lorrain. Hotel de Rohan, Paris, (_Giraudon photo")
The sculptors of the late eighteenth century,
Lemoyne, Bouchardon, Pigalle, Pajou, were
still appreciated in the Victorian era, but their
works now seem lifeless and cold. One type
of statue did maintain its popularity and seems
to justify the once transcending reputation of
two other late-eighteenth-century practitioners,
Etienne-Maurice Falconet and Clodion. This
is the immemorially popular bathroom nude.
The charming creatures, represented in the
prettiest poses, register the farthest point
reached by realism in re-creating physically
the miracle of feminine loveliness. As seen
here. Falconet's Bathing Girl escapes the cold-
ness of the goddesses and nymphs about to be
introduced by the neo-classicists; and certainly
it is superior as a work of art to the wholly
unidealized naked women of Carpeaux in the
following period of avowed realism.
Clodion (Claude Michel) sometimes dis-
guised his bathers as ancient goddesses and

n)Tnphs and agreeably fulfilled the frankly
sensual aims of the courtly sculptors. He was
baroque in his devotion to movement and
momentary gesture but in accessories he
sometimes lapsed into the excesses of rococo.
Spanish sculpture tends more than any other
to be over-ornate. In Spain and in the Spanish
colonies the style thatwas considered peculiarly
the expression of the Catholic reaction became
standard. However, no Spaniards could com-
pare with Bernini, and if there are master-
pieces at all, they are on the sensational side.
The Catholic churches of Middle America
and South America are filled with generally
debased examples of the baroque style.
Sooner or later in art, excess of violence, of
ornament, and of the playful virtues brings

reaction toward soberer methods. The reaction
against the tidal wave of baroque came not in
France but in Rome, with its revived
Italy.
interest in the exhumed monuments of Greek

and Roman art, became an international cen-
ter of study— the story of American sculpture,
for example, may be said to have begun there.

It was painters, led by Mengs and
Winckelmann, who expressed the principles
of neo-classicism and began a retreat toward
classical purity, repose, and coldness. Sculp-
tors reproduced figures of the Greek gods
and the heroes and heroines of the Greek
myths. Often the versions were scarcely
more than paraphrases of the Aphrodites,
Afollos, and Marble Fauns of Greco-Roman
times. Even contemporary portrait pieces were
accoutered in togas or peplums, or bordered on
nudity. Unfortunately Greek idealization was
interpreted as a smoothing-down process
which largely removed character from the
face and beaut)' of modulation from the body.
In 1 787, at the age of thirty, Antonio Canova
was the leader of the neo-classicists. He was
a Venetian in early training, but resident in
Rome from his twenty-third year. The coldly
graceful statue of the Princess Pauline
Borghese, Napoleon Bonaparte, as
sister of
Venus reposing, is and
typically half natural
half Greek, pleasing in its lines but really more
notable as a sculptural curiosity. It has a
woodenness, a lack of sensitivity, that charac-
terizes practically all sculpture intentionally Satyr and Nymph. Stone. Clodion.
smoothed down to approximate Greek effects. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Reposing. Stone. Antonio Canova.

Villa Borghese, Rome. CAlinari photo")
r
Self-Vortr ait. Johann von Danneker. Stone.

Landesmuseum, Stuttgart.
CArchiv fur Kunst und Geschichte")
The sculptors of the modern neo-classic

school, which can be dated 1 790-1 840, were
still thinking of Praxiteles and Lysippus and
later artists as the Greek masters. The

Parthenon marbles and the earlier schools
then seemed less pure. Canova was born with
Diana. Bronze. Jean Antoine Houdon.
a sense of rhythm, and his statues escape the Louvre. (BmZIoz photo")
stiffness which most of his fellows considered
part of the classic endowment. His inheritors became the emotionless and
Compositionally his Cwpid and Psyche, his correct academic sculptors during the latter
Venus, and his Hehe are pleasing, and there is half of the nineteenth century. In England
a seductive prettiness that is generally not John Flaxman and John Gibson made local
achieved by his rivals. The pleasing composi- reputations, though some of Flaxman's designs
tion is a surface one, for all neo-classic sculptors in Wedgwood pottery achieved a wider
seem to have lost the basic feeling for the block, acclaim.
the architectonic, sculptural integrity of Among the Germans, Johann von Dan-
Michelangelo or della Quercia. neker's best-known work was an Ariadne, of
Bertel Thorvaldsen, the Danish expatriate which there were innumerable replicas. He
to Rome, was so popular that at Canova's death tempered classicism with a sturdy naturalism,
he succeeded to leadership of the classic school. as illustrated here by the bust, a self-portrait,
In Copenhagen there is a Thorvaldsen Mu- draped in the antique fashion. His contem-
seum where some hundreds of his works are porar)% Johann Gottfried Schadow, was even
on permanent exhibition, but his reputation less bound by Thorvaldsen's strict rules, though
has diminished. It is seen that his devotion to he profited by study of classic grace.
classicism bound him to a sunless formula. Of Americans in Rome, several became

routine sculptors in the neo-classic manner.
Hiram Powers achieved wide popularity. Best
known were two simple nude figures of The
Greek Slave and California.
In France baroque had never quite won
over either the sculptors or the court patrons
of art. A fairly straight line can be traced from
the realism and pictorialism of Ghiberti and
Donatello to Falconet and Clodion, with only
occasional bending to baroque pressure. By
the time of Jean Antoine Houdon, born in
1 741 and a worker for ten years in Rome, there
was a marked current toward simplification
and toward a revival of classic conventions.
Houdon was the most original and the most
talented French sculptor between the late
Gothic masters and Rodin, and he helped to
hasten the establishment of naturalism as the

standard sculptural st)'le of the early nine-
teenth century, in advanced circles where neo-
classicism was already challenged as lifeless
and as the echo of the echo of an art. Hou- Le Bailli de Suffren. Houdon.
don's Voltaire at the Comedie Frangaise, and Musee, Aix. QGiraudon photo')
many other portraits, including the charming
bust of Louise Brogniard shown on the title picturer but without the instinct for sculp-
page, despite an occasional diadem or toga, tural integrity, and Jean Baptiste Carpeaux
mark steps toward the realism of Carpeaux, combined the new realism with some of the
Rodin, and Despiau. Houdon said once to lingering spirit of rococo. Barye's Lion (page
his pupils, "Copy, keep on copying, and 465) is patently naturalism for its own
above all, copy exactly." sake, without deviation toward the sculp-
In the history of sculpture the nineteenth tural inventiveness which renders the ani-
centur)' is one of the weakest, and the artists mals of the Chou and Han sculptors superbly
who were only recently considered masters alive aesthetically, although "unreal."
are now generally seen to be second-rate. In Verisimilitude is expressed somewhat dif-
France, which produced more sculptors than ferently in Carpeaux's opulent art. His mas-
any other country at the time, the forceful terpiece is the rhythmic group entitled The
but melodramatic Frangois Rude, who de- Dance on a wall of the Paris Opera House.
signed the Marseillaise group on the Arc de It has a certain swollen grace, but the subject,
Triomphe in Paris, is sometimes considered as interpreted by the artist, is more suited to
the sculptural representative of the romantic painting than to sculpture. As to its realism,
school. This challenged neo-classicism in the one may note that the dancing figures are
third decade of the century. perfectly transcribed naked women. Even the
The reaction in which Courbet and Manet coldly idealized nymphs of the neo-classicists
led revolutionar)' painters, in the movement seem superior to the realistic nudes from in-
known as "realism," produced Antoine-Louis numerable sculptors' studios after 1850.
Barye, a sincere nature-lover who had a cam- Paris had displaced Rome as the world cen-
era eye and a talent for forceful modeling. ter for art study. And although some of the
Another sculptor, Jules Dalou, was a vivid finest realism of the period was produced by
The Dance. Stone.
Jean Baptiste Carpeaux. 1869.
Exterior of Paris Opera House
On facing page:
The Marseillaise. Stone.
Franfois Rude.
1837. Arch of Triumph, Paris.
QGiraudon photo')
Lion. Stone. Antoine-Louis Barye.

Ministry of the Colonies, Paris.
QRoget-Viollet photo")
Russians, Germans, and Americans, they ing clay sketches of dancing figures modeled
were mostly pupils of the French school. The by the painter Degas, and Renoir's occasional
half-Russian, half-American Paul Troubetz- genre pieces. The spontaneity and earthiness
koi received training in Italy and France. He of the original clay compositions often seem
specialized, along with other Parisian sculp- to give way to an air of agitation and confusion
tors of the late nineteenth century, in a after the transformation into metal.
sketchy realism bordering on impressionism. In the nineteenth century practically none
The attractive spontaneity and healthy free- of the great monumental sculptors was trained
dom of a small bronze such as the Tolstoi on to cut stone. The artistmade a clay model,
a Horse are hardly to be denied. and expert stone carvers made the final
The transfer of thumb-marked clay effects product mechanically, reproducing the model
into bronze is faintly disturbing, since a part by means of a pointing machine. This ex-
of the task of the sculptor is to express the plains the lack of basic feeling for the stone.
values inherent in his materials. Later mod- The softer virtues of the talented clay-mod-
ems, especially Brancusi and Archipenko, eler became standard, whether expressive of
were to search for direct expressiveness in academic classicism or of realism.
bronze and copper. Troubetzkoi, however, was Augustus St. Gaudens, an American born
but one of hundreds of fin-de-siecle sculptors in Irelandand schooled in Paris, escaped to
who believed that the dash and sparkle of a
sketchy impressionism would enliven plastic
art. Their statuettes remain, often, appealing
and persuasive products, although one may
rate higher the bronze replicas of the divert-
Dancer. Bronze, with hair ribbon, vest, and

tulle skirt.Edgar Degas. Metropolitan Museum
of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection
Tolstoi on a Horse. Bronze. Paul Troubetzkoi.

Formerly Luxembourg Palace, Paris.
(Giraudon -photo")
v._
some extent from the soft and glittering style realism to sentimental and idealistic ends.
encouraged by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Medardo Rosso, who was ten years younger
that time, and he inestimably raised the stand- than St. Gaudens, escaped the limitations of
ard of sculptural achievement in the United a too-binding realism. The most daring Italian
States. A realist and, in certain elaborate innovator of his time, a rebel against all types
monuments, a pictorialist, he succeeded in en of classicism and academism, he shared with
dowing public statuary with dignity and a Rodin the credit for bringing the free model-
rather sincere sentiment, though he lacked ing and the luminous surfaces of impression-
the sense of sculpture as a massive art, as ism to sculpture. He did not possess the pro-
proceeding from the block by direct cutting. found vision and the grand schemes of his
His Abraham Lincoln in Chicago, impres- French contemporary, but his insight into
sively simple (considering the extravagant human nature made his "soft-focus" works ap-
tendencies of the era), lifelike, and embody- pealing and revelatory. His understanding of
ing a popular conception of the humane Lin- children is beautifully externalized in the sev-
coln, marks a high point touched by the cen- eral versions of Ecce Pner. Perhaps the most
tury-end sculptors who adapted camera-eye beautiful is the one illustrated here.
Ecce Puer. Wax over plaster. Medardo Rosso. 1906.

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston, Birmingham, Michigan
1
468 FROM THE BAROQUE RODIN
The Story of nineteenth-century sculpture
culminated in the work of one towering fig-
ure,Auguste Rodin, who practiced every type

of "natural" sculpture, beginning with the
camera exactitude of The Age of Bronze and
St. John the Baptist, moved on to smoothed-
down, summary, and impressionistic varia-

and finally created the extraordinarily
tions,
real but distorted Balzac, a post-impressionist

triumph.
Rodin fortunately escaped the standard
Beaux-Arts training in art. His schooling
came largely from elsewhere: an early course
under Barye; later a visit to Italy, where he
admired Donatello and studied Michelan-
gelo's masterpieces; experience under the
mediocre sculptors to whom he was assistant,
before becoming an independent artist in

Paris in his mid-thirties.
The first of many skirmishes with the au-
thorities occurred when The Age of Bronze
was submitted Salon in 1877. So
to the
transcendingly was the piece that
natural
Rodin was accused of making direct plaster
casts from a human body. He eventually dis-
proved the charge by taking casts from his
model and showing that these differed in
some details from the statue.
To carry the naturalness to an even higher
degree, Rodin gave up the universal custom
of posing the models on a throne in precon-
ceived attitudes; instead they could wander
freely about his studio. He thus ruled out the
artificially set and awkward posing that ren-
dered so much Salon statuary static and un-

natural. The St. John the Ba-ptist, a work of
the years 876-1 878, stands beside the Age of
1
Bronze as a masterpiece of Rodin's studiedly St. John the Baptist. Bronze. Auguste Rodin.
spontaneous naturalism. 1876-78. Rodin Museum, Paris
The transcribing of the caught attitude, many related works, and the sensuous minor
suggesting the possibiHty of movement, is but play of surface contours and textures are re-
one side of Rodin's devotion to impressionism. markable.
From the concept of the single, fleeting aspect Rodin and his praticiens and finishers
—the impression— the impressionist painters achieved a tactile quality in sculpture as had
had gone on to achieve a sparkHng surface no one before them. The statues in marble
HveHness. They made their canvases brilhant are luminous, ingratiatingly soft, even silky.
by means of broken color or controlled light- Some of the portraits are, indeed, oversweet
vibration. Rodin saw the opportunity to ren- and over-facile. Basic sculpture was lost
der sculpture more "colorful" than ever be- under the atmospheric finish. Nevertheless,
fore by modeling his statue's surfaces with such beloved groups as The Kiss (see illustra-
minutest variations of boss and hollow. He tion in Introduction), The Eternal Idol, and
gave a new meaning to an old saying that the Pygmalion and Galatea constitute the most
trick in sculpture is to create interesting ar- original and, many would say, the most beau-
rangements of mass and shadow. The larger tiful body of stone sculpture achieved in Eu-
play of light and shade in The Thinker, and rope after Michelangelo.
The Thinker. Bronze. Rodin. 1880.

Rodin Museum, Meudon. (Bulloz photo')
^
A Rodin excelled also
great individualist, The Adam and the Eve (studies for the
in vigorous that by contrast
composition Gates of Hell composition), the controversial
showed up the weakness and impotence of Old Courtesan, and numerous fragmentary
routine contemporary sculpture. The Thinker, torsos, hands, even portrait heads, of which
originally conceived as a Dante surveying the the bronze portrait of Hanako the Japanese
tides of human misery, in the sculptor's un- dancer is typical, possess a vigor which Rodin
finished Gates of Hell— hut widely interpreted alone seemed able to impart. Among the
as symbolizing primitive man brought to bronze and marble heads and the plaster and
pause by thought— is almost brutally vigorous. wax masks there is every intermediate type of
The pugilist's body and the small head, the realistic portrayal between the rugged like-
huge fist pushed against the jaw, and, above nesses and the silkily finished, prettified
all, the savagely forceful modeling, endow the things.
figure with a feeling of bursting physical This very great master of modeling sel-
power. There had been no such innately pow- dom touched stone or metal. He made small
erful figure since Michelangelo, though clay originals, or a full-size clay or plaster
Rodin generally failed to achieve expression in model. From these his assistants made replicas
that fourth dimension which was Michelan- or casts, generally in mechanically enlarged
gelo's element. The Frenchman is here the size. There is no doubt that Rodin was the
great, the incomparable realist; the Italian is
the creator of vast melodies from some other

world.
Head of Hanako. Bronze. Rodin.

California Palace of the Legion of Honor,
San Francisco, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels Gift
mm?-::. ,; "'»::,',.. -
Head of Mahler. Bronze. Rodin. Rodin Mmeum,\

Philadelphia. QPhoto by A. J. Wyatt)
r
HvHP^spHHv^^^^^Si 'iyT--'-
y , ,
'
\
Head of Sorrow. Bronze. Rodin. 1882. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Mrs. Patrick Dinehart
genius; his works are too genuinely touched of Paris, the leading nineteenth-century
with his individuahstic magic to admit dis- school, admitted no allegiance to the stone.
trust of his vision or his abihty. But the It was against unsculptural sculpture and
one criticism that can be leveled at his work against naturalism that the revolutionaries of
as a whole is that he had no instinctive feel- 1905-1930 dissented most strongly. In his
ing for the virtues of stone. He is at the monument to Balzac, Rodin did transcend
opposite pole from the primitive sculptors, naturalism and grasped the key resource of
who were so close to the materials, moved the expressionists— distortion in the service of
by a passion for expression in those materials, emotional and formal intensification. Though
instinctively capitalizing upon the virtues of the material was clay or plaster, the artist at
stone or wood. last reached an ultimate secret of his art and
The exhibits in museums are in many rendered the Balzac figure into a menhir-like
cases replicas. This need not diminish ap- column. There are both grandeur and depth
preciation of Des-pair or The Thinker or The of emotion in the piece. Official Paris rejected
Kiss, but the lack of basic sculptural emotion it. The incomparable realist-impressionist,
prevents Rodin's works from ranking with nevertheless, had proven his position as fore-
those of Michelangelo or the Chinese or runner of the twentieth-centurv insurgents,
Egyptian masters. The fact is that the School with a vision beyond realism. His path can
Despair. Stone. Rodin. City Art Museum, St. Louis

Balzac. Plaster. Rodin. 1897. Rodin Museum, Mcudon. (^Giraudon photo^
be charted from the point where reaHsm is the younger sculptors. His sweetly modulated
an exact repHca of nature to reaHsm that is an new study of the nuances of
surfaces inspired
intensified expression of a momentary impres- modeling and challenged the dicta of the
sion, and later, to a single monumental exam- still-lingering neo-classicists and the mere
ple of the art that goes beyond impressionism. naturalists. Most potent, however, was the
Many smaller pieces are expressionistic in example of his vigorous figures such as The
method, with free use of nature-distortion— Thinker. He had, of course, countless
summary, untidy, and sometimes savagely imitators.
slashed. These emotionally powerful works The eminent men among his contempo-
were dismissed by critics and public in the rarieshad sufficient individuality to rise above
artist's lifetime as studies and "unfinished schools and above imitation. Aristide Maillol
work," though now they are prized posses- was a great transitional and independent
sions of museums and private collectors, and whose role was to restore the ancient
sculptor,
are valued as products of an extreme sensi- and massiveness of the art before
simplicity'
tivity and creative vision. the twentieth-century moderns could begin
Rodin was the most subtle and successful their explorations in cubism, expressionism,
modeler in Western histor\% and his method constructivism, and the various modes of ab-
proved to be an overwhelming influence upon straction.
Seated Nude. Stone. Aristide Maillol. 1931. Collection of Pierre Matisse, New York
Maillol beautifully demonstrated sculptural tion and wooden conven-
flourish, neo-classic
simplification and devotion to the block. He tionalism, and overdetailed, camera-eye natu-
was not truly post-impressionist, but branched ralism. He was a realist returning to the basic
oflF before impressionism became a creed and expressive means of the art, and he rose above
a method. He simply felt sculpture as a vo- the ruck of realists by his instinctive composi-
luminous and he returned to the problem
art, tional sense and genius for capturing the
of endowing simple, and generally heavy, character of the model in the life and charac-
works with rhvthmic plastic life. He achieved ter of the sculptural piece.
largeness and repose. He was the negation of A less substantial forerunner of the mod-
all that had happened in the art since Mi- erns, but certainly the second great creative
chelangelo, having rejected baroque ostenta- figure of the period in France, was Antoine
Bourdelle (1861-1929). He was one of
Rodin's pupils who added a personal note,
even a personal force, in application of the
master's precepts. His sculpture is impres-

sionistic and suffêrs from being patently the
But it has a certain largeness
art of a modeler.
and breadth. In many portraits the sculptor's

marvelous naturalism veered slightly toward
post-impressionist distortion. Hercules the
Archer is typical of Bourdelle's vigorous and
graphic figure compositions. It is the best of
its sort, though a modeler's piece, and some-
what removed from the substantiality and the
repose that characterize the greatest sculpture.
Next to Rodin, the most popular sculptor
of the century-end was Constantin Meunier,
a Belgian, an honest and talented artist who
chose his subjects from the ranks of manual
laborers. The vogue for his bronzes has later
been recognized as being due to the novelty
in his choice of themes, and perhaps to senti-
mentalism, rather than to his sculptural

treatment.
In the main, portraiture continued to be
naturalistic after Rodin and Bourdelle. Won-
derfully exact likenesses from clay modelings
were produced in all the Western countries.
The amazingly factual heads by two Ameri-
can sculptors, Jo Davidson and Charles
Grafly, failed in revealing inner character in
the way of Benno Elkan of Germany, a mas-
ter of sensitive realism. He was surpassed only
by the Parisian Charles Despiau. Discerning
portraiture, with regard to both the outward
look of the sitter and the animating personal

Head of Mme. Dcrain. Plaster. Charles Despiau. character, could hardly go further than in
1922. The Phillips Collection, Washington Despiau's works.
Georg Kolbe, a German, was one of the
most sensitive of the early-century reahsts,
partly by reason of a group of revealing por-
trait heads, but more especially for a long
series of tenderly realized figure pieces. These
are so exact in pose and so sensitively mod-
eled—and so personal in presentation— that
Kolbe enjoys a place in history as distinctive
as that of Despiau, or that of the Italian
Medardo Rosso. In the Dancer, illustrated,
the outstretched arms violate some funda-
mental tenets of the moderns, being danger-
ously "away from the block"; but the melodic
modeling of the piece and the associative
rhythmic emotion are appealing.
Jan Stursa of Czechoslovakia followed
closely in the Rodin tradition and perhaps
came closest to him as a sensitive impres-
sionist.
Hercules the Archer. Bronze, gilded.

Antoine Bourdelle. 1909.
Anatole France. Bronze. Bourdelle. QBulloz photo')

During the Victorian era Alfred Stevens Alaillol. After a period of working in the
had been the most original and interesting most sober kinds of realism, Dobson accepted
British sculptor. The influence of Rodin was the formalism and expressionism that were to
less pronounced in England than on the animate an extraordinary group of creative
Continent. The first modern to emerge was English sculptors working from 1925 to the
Frank Dobson, who was indebted rather to present.
Dancer. Bronze. Georg Kolbe. 1912. Formerly Natioiial Gallery, Berlin

% ^
i8: Modern Sculpture:

Formalism^ Expressionism^ Abstraction
A modern sculptor, Etienne Hajdu, has told sance Italy influenced him. He learned from
how he went to Paris from his native Ru- Rodin, and finally came to understand the
mania 1927, when cubism was twenty
in foremost rebels of his own time, Brancusi,
and surrealism was the current fad.
years old Arp, Giacometti, and Moore. His work began
He met a great number of students and be- with simple forms, "as the first signs of a fu-
came acquainted with leaders of the avant- ture language," and ended in a distinctive
garde. He relates that he arrived at "a state of style, rocklike, abstract, suave, and appealing.
the most absolute confusion" and abandoned In the 1960s he has been recognized as a mas-
sculpture for two years, returning to practice ter original and in the truest sense modern.
only after a period of reading and subjecting The story of Etienne Hajdu points up sev-
himself to influences: the primitives, the eral truths about modern sculptors. They did
Egyptians, the Cycladics, and many another. indeed flock to Paris from all the countries of
The sculpture of pre-Columbian America, of the world. But they did not go on to great
Africa, of Romanesque France, and of Renais- achievement because they learned the ele-
Red G, mobile. Metal. Alexander Calder. 1963. ?erh Galleries, New York
478 MODERN SCULPTURE
ments of cubism or surrealism, or because The School of Paris remained supreme, as
they were influenced by Picasso, who "cubed" a study center, until the beginning of the
a portrait head in 1909, or because the ad- next war; but after Despiau there were no
vanced painters of the faiives school discov- Frenchmen among the foremost creators. The
ered the effectiveness of African tribal masks. leaders, as opinion in the mid-1960s might
A hundred influences came to bear upon the rank them, were Brancusi (Rumanian),
students in Paris rather than one dominating Lehmbruck (German), Gonzalez (Spanish),
idea. Rodin had opened the way for the post- Archipenko, Gabo, and Lipchitz (Russian),
realistic style decade before Braque
a full and Giacometti (Swiss); all these had close
and Picasso developed cubism. Even earlier ties to Paris. Without Parisian training, and
the German moderns had turned to for- perhaps the greatest sculptor of the mid-cen-
malism as a revolt against Rodin's dominating tur)', was the Englishman Henr)' Moore.
realistic st\'le. The had followed
expressionists Many historians would include Jacob Epstein,
with nonrealistic works from 1906 on, and originally American, French-trained, but a
arrived at theoretical abstraction by 1910. giant figure in Englishmodern art from 1905.
They, like the fanves in Paris, were drawn to These sculptors, and a host of car\'ers in
sculptures from the primitive cultures, Afri- the second rank, had been freed from the
can, Oceanic, Amerindian. realist's obsession with copying natural ap-
A few youthful sculptors went to Paris al- pearances. From the time of Lehmbruck and
ready equipped for original achievement: Brancusi on, distortion, in one sense or an-
Gonzalez with knowledge of metal forging,
a other, Nvas at the heart of modern practice.
which led him pioneer work in welded
to Whether and
the purified art of Brancusi
metals; Calder with a knack for invention Arp, monumental approximations by
the
with wire which culminated in creation of a Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, or the
new world and animated
of mobiles, stabiles, roughly modeled portraits by Epstein and
sculptures. Nevertheless, "modern
the total Giacometti, modem
all sculpture entailed a
movement" gained impetus from the hundred rejection of man as he is superficially seen
sources. Even the greatest creators acknowl- in a mirror or photographic lens. Sculptors
edge debts to rediscovered historic cultures: were now preoccupied with interpretation, es-
Henry Moore equating a miner's love of the sences, and inner vision.
stone with a deep study of ancient Mexican "Expressionism" is the term most often
images; Brancusi simplifying forms until they used today in writing about the international
comport perfectly with Cycladic idols, but art that is patently post-realistic. Expression-
with an immediacy of material and method ism was at first a name applied by the Ger-
learned from modern architecture and mod- mans to describe the work of their radicals.
ern industrial design. Therefore in Paris the term was opposed as
Up to about 1 91 5 post-impressionist art was alien, and it was widely thought that "post-
shaped mostly by painters. The revolutionar)' impressionism" or perhaps just "modernism"
schools, from neo-impressionism to cubism would serve. But historians early found anal-
and surrealism, were painter-inspired. The ogies in the expressionistic art of primitive
sculptor members followed, absorbing into peoples, in a great deal of Chinese sculpture,
their techniques the neo-impressionist surface in the "distorted" figures of French Ro-
lighting, a "fauvish" carelessness toward na- manesque religious art. As a rule artists and
ture, a squaring of forms and an inclination historians speak of French and all other mod-
toward a study of planes from the cubists. ern sculpture since about 1910 as a part of
But after the war years of 1914 to 191 8 the expressionism.
sculptors took over leadership and provided Some of the most recent and unorthodox
most of the world-famous artist figures. innovations— constructions and assemblages—
MODERN SCULPTURE 479
are probably best considered as experiment. over to include creative sculpture as well.
But the most widespread current work, that Ciihisvi. A development in painting by two
of the sculptor-welders, seems to mark the be- fauvists, Braque and Pablo Picasso, in 1907
ginning of an activity that extends the bound- and 1908. The cubists squared forms and
aries of the sculptor's art. they disassembled and reassembled planes,
A listing of schools or styles, with the and these activities attracted, generally after
names of leaders and dates, follows. 1909, a number of sculptors, among whom
Forvialism. Not movement;
a well-defined the most creative were Jacques Lipchitz,
preceded the more spectacular French schools Henri Laurens, and Raymond Duchamp-
and provided a first challenge to the realists. Villon.
Beginning in Germany in the earliest years Futurism. Originally the invention of a
of the century, it was known through the group of Italian painters who talked much of
theorist Adolph Hildebrand (1847-1 921) dynamism, futurism created a minor sensa-
and in the works of Franz Metzner (1870- tion in Paris in 1909. But it was soon recog-
1919), leading on to the more radical insur- nized as advocating a return to illustrational
gency of Wilhelm Lehmbruck (i 881-19 19) art. Umberto Boccioni, one of the founders,
and Ernst Barlach (i 870-1 938). In France was sculptor as well as painter, but his futur-
the movement was not unrelated to the art istic innovations proved not to be along the
of the symbolists; Joseph Bernard (1866- main way of progress in plastic art.
1931) was the most notable French practi- Vorticism. This was an English movement
tioner.From Paris the influence spread to inspired directly by the futurist rebels. Un-
George Minne of Belgium and to Carl Milles important except that the young French
of Sweden. Paul Manship was a leader in a sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska enlisted in its
large group of formalist sculptors in the ranks and produced exceptionally fine com-
United States. positions in stone, marked by a high degree
Fmivisni. The Fauves, or "wild men," were of distortion. His oeuvre was recognized later
a group of painters who came to notice in as expressionist.
Paris in 1905, bringing into focus the ideas Constructivism. At first a school formed in
of the individual revolutionaries of post-im- Russia in 191 7 by a varied and loosely or-
pressionism, most notably Cezanne, Van ganized group of "constructors" that included
Gogh, and Gauguin. The Fauvist leaders Vladimir Tatlin, Antoine Pevsner, and Naum
were Matisse, Rouault, and Derain. In 1907 Gabo. Its was international, and
impetus
Braque joined the group, which was the first an important kind of modern sculpture, anti-
to bear the name "School of Paris." The imitational and concerned with machine
Fauves practically revolutionized the art of imagery, was widely developed. In Paris con-
painting. But no leader among sculptors was structivism was accepted as a further terri-
involved. torf, just beyond cubism, in which a typical
Ex-pressionism. The first school of expres- machine-age plastic art could be invented. A
sionistswas organized in 1905 in Dresden, second group of artists, Dutch in origin, who
under the name Die Briicke. More central to called themselves neo-plasticists (though more
German expressionism was the Blaiie Reiter generally known as the De Stijl group, from
group, which set up a secessionist exhibition the name of a magazine they published),
in Munich in 191 1. Its leaders were the Ger- merged easily with the constructivists; both
man painter Franz Marc and the Russian groups tended to geometrical designing and
painter Vasily Kandinsky. Both groups were to an ideal of abstraction. The Belgian
devoted primarily to painting, but as the word Georges Vantongerloo from the Dutch group
"expressionism" took on meaning as a label and the Russian Gabo were outstanding
for all Western anti-realism in art, it spread pioneer sculptors. Much of contemporary
welded sculpture is in a direct line from over subject-art. But the principles were more
Russian constructivism. easily realized in painting than in sculpture.
Purism. In painting this minor school was Arp and Giacometti were claimed as mem-
descended from flat-plane cubism and was bers of the school, but outgrew its limitations,
created by Amedee Ozenfant and the archi- the one as a leading abstractionist, the other
tect Le Corbusier in 1920. But the word because he turned to a very personal type of
"purist" is often used in describing the near- expressionism.
abstract sculpture of Brancusi and the fully Ahstractionism. Not a school or a move-
abstract work of Jean Arp. ment, abstractionism has been a worldwide
Surrealism. The founders of this school in development in the arts since about 1900.
1924 tried to throw a veil of "dream reality" The main aim has been to achieve, even to
isolate, the formal element in art, the form
structure. After the late Cubist work, in
about 1909 and 1910, and the paintings and
pronouncements of the Blaiie Reiter group
in 1 910 and 191 1, abstraction in sculpture
was achieved by Brancusi, by Arp, by Hajdu
and Viani, and after 1930, by the forgers and
welders of metals in a dozen countries. Where
absolute abstraction has not prevailed, em-
phasis has been thrown on the essential form
values, with subject values secondary. Treated
in many histories as abstract expressionism,
it includes nonobjective pieces— as seen in
certain sculptures of Arp, Gabo and Hajdu

—and the slightly objective compositions by
the foremost sculptors of the mid-nineteen-
sixties, such as Henry Moore and Jacques
Lipchitz, or those less well-known
of the
Fritz Wotruba Kenneth Armitage
of Austria,
of England, and David Smith of America.
Abstraction, too, fathered the invention of
Alexander Calder's mobiles and stabiles.
Tate Gallery, London.

Stele. Stone. Eric Gill.
(Photo hy Roland Federn)
II
TH E first widespread reaction from

ism occurred even while Rodin was. at
real- Amazon. smoothed
It is typical in its prettily
surfaces, linear rhythms, and the frankly de-

the height of his power and influence. In the corative conventionalization of the helmet
beginning it took shape not as a wildly revolu- and the horse's mane.
tionary and expressionist movement, but as a The formalized treatment lends itself to
trend toward formalized sculpture. Natural pretty rather than profound effects. As seen
aspect became less important than a con- in certain figures by the Frenchman Joseph
sistent and pleasing stylistic artistry. The Bernard, it became a pleasing simplification,
movement was toward the formal and decora- whereas in the hands of certain talented man-
tive ideals of the Orient. It was most marked nerists it became a borrowed artistry, con-
in Germany, where Franz Metzner stylized sciously manipulated to create charming and
his figures with a smooth decorativeness and fanciful decorative effects, without deep sense
a heavy "bluntness" found in his work and of plastic rhythm or plastic order. Paul Man-
that of Hugo Lederer. A German artist who ship, an American, was a leader in the for-
was not primarily a sculptor, Franz von malist group. Another sculptor, with a lighter
Stuck, achieved a minor masterpiece in the touch, was the Dane Kay Nielsen.
Reclining Figure, three-piece ("Bridge Prop")- Bronze. Henry Moore. 1963.

City Art Gallery and Museum, Leeds
Girl Carrying Water. Stone. Joseph Bernard

QAnnory Show official photo, 1 91 3)
Amazon. Bronze. Franz von Stuck. Art Institute

i
of Chicago, Fritz von Fratitzius Collection
The formalizing trend has continued

through more than a half-century, along with
the more turbulent movement initiated by the
avowed expressionists. Both movements op
posed realism, and especially naturalism. Carl
Milles, a Swedish sculptor who lived in the
United States after 1929, began as a for-
malizer and became a leading sculptor be-
cause he combined a feeling for essential
sculptural traits with his flair for charming
decorative effects. His monumental work has
largeness and dignity and considerable feeling
for the special massiveness which is, the mod-
erns of the thirties believed, the basic test of
the art. The solidity of his designs and a char-
acteristic preciseness in fixing gesture or pose
are illustrated in the Folkunga Fountain at
Linkoping, Sweden. The illustration here is a

version in bronze of the dominating figure.
Ivan Mestrovic developed from a moderate
formalization to a heavier expression without
hesitating to distort nature when aesthetic
aims could be served. An elemental note aj>-
peared in all his work, as was natural, per-

marked the first emergence of sculpture to-
tally unaffected by the Italian Renaissance

and the post-Renaissance schools of realism.
If there are influences in Mestrovic's work,
they are archaic and Byzantine.
He was a fervent Christian and mystic, and
one of the very few modern artists capable of
creating religious sculpture. The era of real-
ism had been an era of growing paganism
and devotion to profane beauty. Mestrovic
restored the impersonal grandeur and the
reverent sentiment that are inseparable from
spiritual expression in sculpture.
Eric Gill was a less profound sculptor, but
his prettily formalized reliefs and his half-
round and round figures for church walls are
very attractive. His earliest training had been
as cutter of stone lettering, and he preferred
to be called a workman rather than an artist.
He disapproved of artists who owed their

reputations to anonymous workers' replicas,
and deplored the machine's inroads upon
hand craftsmanship. A helpful patron man-
aged to persuade him to go to Paris for train-
ing, but one day in the great art metropolis
sufficed,and he decided upon an immediate

return to England. The example illustrated is
typical of his clean-cut, sensitively felt, but
sturdy art. (Page 485.)
The sculpture of the impressionists and of
the devotees of the utterly natural had been
most often showpieces, expressive in their
own right. It was no longer produced as an
integral part of a building. Its virtues had be-
come photographic, impressionistic, declama-
tory, so that it could not easily be held within
Figure from Folkunga Fountain. Bronze. a frame. The modern movement, post-impres-
Carl Milles. City Art Museum, St. Louis sionism, restored architecturally conceived
sculpture. Often the compositions of Mestro-
haps, since he began his career by carving di- vicand Gill were destined for specific places
rectly in wood and stone when he was a on buildings. Their works fitted perfectly
shepherd boy in the mountains of Serbia. By with simple walls and doors and windows.
1912 Mestrovic was an internationally known One product of modernism is an architec-
artist, the first giant modern sculptor who turally conceived monument, a structure built
gained such renown independent of Paris. to afford fullest validity to the sculpture,
His powerful, often heroic statues, touched while the figures fit into the architectural
with the somber and sometimes pathetic ap- scheme as a focal point. The Reformation
peal natural to themes from Serbian history. monument at Geneva, while hardly more
than good sculpture in the formahst vein if he considered the finished work a stone imita-
the figures are examined separately, becomes tion of a clay model.
majestic as an architectural whole. Expressionism as a name for the main rev-
Brancusi, Gill, and Gaudier were the olutionary movement in twentieth-century
modern sculptors who most effectively and post-realistic art is justified by the transfer of
most passionately emphasized that stone is the emphasis from representation to expression.
key material of the art. Feeling for the stone Intensification of the expressiveness is both
was basic to their creations. Each one of them emotional and formal. The subject or content
visualized the complete figure in the uncut value is intensified by dwelling upon the es-
block. Eric Gill condemned the French and sential or inner attributes of the subject, often
French-trained sculptors who modeled in clay; to the extent of noticeable distortion of out-
Head of St. Christopher. Plaster.

Ivan Mestrovic. 1947. Collection
of Mrs. Olga Mestrovic,
South Bend, Indiana
Tobias and Sara. Stone. Eric Gill. 1926
QFrom Eric Gill by Joseph Thorp,
courtesy Jonathan Cape
and Harrison Smithy
Monument of the Reformation. Stone. Henri Bouchard and Paul Maximilian Landowsky. Geneva
ward aspects, and by communication of the
artist's passion over the subject. Inseparable
from that expressiveness is intensification of
the character of the materials, of the feeling
for the stone, as so beautifully demonstrated
by Gill, Brancusi, and Gaudier.
Henri Gaudier, later Gaudier-Brzeska, was
a French sculptor who spent his few creative
years in England but was killed in the First
World War at the age of twenty-three. He
was author of almost the first consistent series
of sculptures which could be called expres-
sionist. Naturally there survives a certain
amount of his experimental and student work;
but the few statues, such as the Seated Fig-
ure, indicate how far he had gone in
achieving simplification, a primitive massive-
ness, a rhythmic formalization, and concen-
trated feeling. Gaudier's definition is often
quoted to explain modern sculpture: "Sculp-
tural energy is the mountain. Sculptural feel-
ing is the appreciation of masses in relation. Seated Figure. Stone. Gaudier-Brzeska.
the defining of these Vormerly John Quinn Collection
Sculptural ability is
masses and planes."

After the prolonged epoch of clay modelers
Old Woman Cane. Ernst Barlach.
ivith a there came, among other influences, a study
CPhoto courtesy Paul Cassirer, Berlin^ of primitive and exotic sculpture exhibited in
natural-history museums. There the lesson of
adapting design to the material, of formal
beauty arising in part from the shapes, tex-
ture, and hardness of stone or wood, was re-
learned. Just as certain of the revolutionaries

were inspired by the emotion of the stone
were inspired to cut directly
block, so others
in wood; and they found special pleasure in
Negro sculpture, with its exquisite craftsman-
ship and loving care for the beauty of the
wood manifested in each ancestral figure or
mask or instrument.
A few of the pioneers of expressionism exe-
cuted pieces in imitation of the Negro figures.
But the real rebirth of wood sculpture came

when other artists went back far enough to
regain by experience the values special to cut-
ting in wood. Ernst Barlach of Germany gave
the modern Western world almost its first
demonstration of a considerable oenvre cut di-
rectly in wood. He preserved the forms natu-

ral to the wood block as opposed to the stone
block, rendered the masses fluently, with easy unlike the then standard bronze busts made
undercutting, and gained surface values, of as transfers from clay models.) A torso be-
variation and texture, out of the marks of the came a frank geometrization, hardly more
cutting tool. than a cylinder of brass. A bird became a
With Constantin Brancusi, a Rumanian tapered shaft, so mounted that its movement
artist who spent the greater part of his life in and balance afford vaguely (or perhaps quin-
Paris, it was the direct expression of the tessentially) the feeling of a bird, whether
values in metals or polished marble that be- perched or in flight.
came an obsession. Hewas one of the most Brancusi's, among all the near-abstract
radical of the expressionists and veered to- moderns, was the most independent and the
ward abstraction. He simplified natural forms
Bird in Space. Polished bronze. Brancusi.
almost beyond recognition to convey his own
1925. Philadelphia Museum of Art
inner emotion regarding the subject. A por-
trait head appeared as hardly more than a
highly polished egg-shaped mass of bronze or
brass or stone, with only the barest indication
of facial features. (Nothing could be more
Mile. Pogany. Stone. Constantin Brancusi. 1913.

Philadelphia Museum of Art.
(Photo hy A. J. Wyatt^
most subtle achievement of intrinsic sculp- sian-born artist who was prominent in the art
tural values. His handling of the polished life of Central Europe before the First World
metals gave new meaning to the idea of en- War, and 1923 resided in the United
after
hancing aesthetic effect through creative use States. He
was the most extreme of the pio-
of materials. His works, whether symbols, ab- neer workers in near-abstraction and through
stractions, or formal creations only faintly re- his experiments in nonobjective, geometri-
lated to life and the phenomenal world, con- cally simplified,and "reversed" forms— where,
vey the spirit rather than the natural shape. for instance, hollows suggest projections— he
He served as an example to all contemporary exerted tremendous influence upon interna-
sculptors, in his return to elementary relating tional practice. The two statuettes illustrated
of masses and to a meticulous care for sen- are indicative of the harmonies he sought,
suous surface appeal. the one an early simplified Torso, the other a
The second great adventurer in the field of late "modeling of space," as the artist termed
abstraction was Alexander Archipenko, a Rus- it.
Flat Torso. Bronze. Alexander Archipenko.

1914. Perls Galleries, New York Empire. Bronze. Archipenko. 1956.
Sculptors made less progress than painters sculptural form that lies at the heart of the
in rendering abstraction acceptable and pleas- art, become mere illustra-
sculpture tends to
ing. Nevertheless the overemphasis during the tion. Today content remains, but the giants
nineteenth century upon literary content, or of modern art in stone are those who endow
upon mere naturalness, led to a determined each statue with a sculptural life of its own,
search for the values of abstract formal order, over and above representational or associative
or absolute sculptural beauty. Purely nonob- value.
jective compositions and partial abstractions Arp, like Brancusi, sought to penetrate to
became common in the avant-garde galleries. the heart of sculptural emotion and to escape
But in modern sculpture there was no artist from the tyranny of worldly appearances. His
to match the achievement of Kandinsky in compositions such as Growth (page 12) sug-
abstract painting. gest rather than define aspects of the phe-
What was gained, through Archipenko and nomenal world. His is near-abstract sculpture
Brancusi and such lesser pioneers as Jean with a sure surface appeal. Two sculptors who
(originally Hans) Arp, was a general convic- in individual creative ways have produced not
tion that without the abstract values and the very dissimilar abstractions are Etienne Hajdu
creative formal rhythm or the expressive and the Italian Alberto Viani.
Fern. Bronze. Etienne Hajdu. 1959-60. M. Knoedlcr & Co., Neit; York
More profound and more disturbing is the mations that achieve melodic and often pro-
sculpture of the Englishman Henry Moore. found sculptural order.
His work ranges from composition of mere Moore gets back to a primitive solidity.
forms, seldom nonobjective in the total sense His work is elemental in the sense of creative
but certainly extreme, to presentation of the power. He is close to the beginnings of things,
human figure in altered and oblique approxi- with unfailing expression of those forms
Glenkiln Cross. Bronze. Henry Moore. 1955-56. CCourtesy M. Knoedler & Co., New York)
Reclining Figure. Wood. Henry Moore. 1959-64. QCourtesy of the artist^
which man subconsciously relates to earth tably suggesting Calvary. The near-abstract
and creation. He has repeated some of his Glenkiln Cross is one of the most impressive
simple figures in various sizes from a few of the sculptor's uprights, and it may bear for
inches in length or height to over life size; some obseners vague connotations of some of
but the sense of weight, of mass, is never lost. the profoundest truths of existence.
The Reclining Figure illustrated in the In- IVIoore went on to two- and three-piece
troduction is only six inches in length. At the compositions, as variations on the Reclining
Tate Gallery in London there is a version in Figure theme (page 481); or sometimes two
stone that and a half feet long.
is four upright figures related to a wall. But the most
Through the vears from the mid-twenties to imposing multiple works are those in great
the sixties this was Moore's most frequent size, immense, boulder-like masses, still bear-
subject, in \ariations from merely moderate ing distant likeness to human forms, arranged
expressionistic caning to near-abstraction. But in craglike conjunction. They are perhaps the
in the 1950s the artist began to create in a most stately— most mysterious— works in twen-
very different vein, and he was as successful tieth-century sculpture up to this time.
in his "upright motives" as in the horizontal England, though long hostile to modernism
series, and as fundamentally sculptural. The in art, became in the 1930s one of the world's
motives were nearly architectural abstractions foremost centers for experimental effort in
at times, and became sugoestive of human sculpture. Frank Dobson is a less radical artist
figures, and then unmistakably were figures; than Moore and a follower in Maillol's path,
and at one point he sculptured a cross inevi- but honestlv expressive in any chosen ma-
terial. Barbara Hepworth is a pioneer in di- turned to modeling, and the most numerous
rect carving and in devotion to abstraction. and characteristic of his later works were
She has been second only to Henry Moore in bronze casts after clay originals.
achieving monumental effects. The Figure for No contemporary artist surpassed him in
Landsca-pe illustrated is impressively massive. portraiture. Despiau was not more sensitive to
Richard Bedford is knovi'n for his engaging nuances of outward expression, and to
rhythmic compositions from flower and ani- Despiau's subtlety and precision Epstein
mal forms. But until Moore's triumphs, Jacob added some slight distortion in the expression-
Epstein, an American expatriate, was the most istmanner. His was a supreme psychological
famous modern sculptor in England. portraiture,with the outward aspect deformed
In his early years Epstein experimented in and re-formed for intensification of character.
all the varieties of expressionism, and he was But even the most devoted admirer of his
an advocate of direct carving and full capi- amazingly revelatory and always interesting
talization of the values inherent in the chosen portraits must note uneasily the lumpy sur-
material. His most impressive monuments, in- face and the general looseness and muddiness
cluding the heavy Night and Day on the St. evident in the bronze replicas. Unfailingly
James's Building of the London Under- the work has the air of authenticity, of a
ground, were cut in stone. But Epstein re- unique mastery of the clay medium; but some
Figure for Landscape. Barbara Hepworth. 1960. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York
of this is lost in the transfer to bronze. This
one inconsistency removes Epstein's work
from the company of the world's great master-
pieces of the art.
German artists were at the forefront of

modern experimentation in sculpture until
the Nazi dictatorship's suppression of libert)'
in the arts. Lederer and Metzner had been
background rebels; Adolph Hildebrand, not
himself one of the greatest sculptors of his
time, was the formulator of a theory of form-
organization; Ernst Barlach was the pioneer
carver in wood; Hermann Hahn went far to-
ward realizing Hildebrand's aims of simpli-
fication and rendering the sculptured figure
a living entity in its own right. Others were
Ernesto de Fiori (of Latin origin), Gerhard
Marcks, and Georg Kolbe.
But Wilhelm Lehmbruck was the greatest
of theGermans, and perhaps the most gifted Visitation, detail. Bronze. Jacob Epstein.
of modern sculptors up to mid-century. He 1926. Tate Gallery, London
Senegalese Girl.
Bronze. Epstein. 1921.
Weintraiib Gallery,
New York
Bathing Woman.
Cast stone. Lehmbruck.
Private Collection
Kneeling Woman. Cast stone.

Wilhelm Lehmbruck. 1911.
Museum of Modern Art, New York
died by his own hand at the age of thirty- Lehmbruck's sculpture has been termed
eight. Lehmbruck rose above the hmitations romantic on account of its affinity with medi-
of the routine sculptor's training in natural- eval sculpture, but nothing could be further
ism. He
worked in Germany and in Paris but from the French or German romanticism of
found no instructor capable of lastingly influ- 1830. He was a pioneer who returned to pure
encing him. By 1908 he was experimenting and essential expression. His work had move-
with subtle distortions for greater rhythmic ment within a contained structure, vitality
effect. A period of heavy simplification and with utter stillness, elegance and monumen-
formalization,which might be noted as not tality. Many of his smaller works are in terra
greatly unlike Maillol's on one hand and cotta. Most of the larger statues were cast in
Metzner's on the other, was followed by that artificial stone and then worked over by the
period of utterly original stylization, with dis- artist. The carefully controlled compositions
tortedly slender forms, which culminated in of elongated forms and the sensitive surface
the famous Kneeling Woman, the Dying Sol- expressiveness are well served in this new
dier, and other characteristic masterpieces. medium.
Between 1910 and 1940 Paris was still the fore he developed an individual, rather heavy
center of study, but native sculptors were and vigorous style of his own. Forced out of
overshadowed (except for Despiau) by Bran- France by the German occupation, he went
cusi, Arp, Lehmbruck, Zadkine, and Lipchitz. to New York in 1941 and since then has been
There were also the painters of the fauvist a modeler of elemental form-organizations
and cubist schools, most notably Pablo Pi- and one of the most powerful of modern
casso, who made brief excursions into the sculptors.
field Between 1926 and 1940

of sculpture. Other French sculptors came to the fore-
Picasso's fellow countryman Julio Gonzalez front at this time, including Henri Laurens,
did revolutionary groundwork in forged, ham- who made cubist and expressionist works.
mered, and welded metals in Paris and in- Germaine Richier insisted upon using strange
spired the international school of welders. new and broken forms in metal and enjoyed
The Russian Ossip Zadkine, hke Brancusi a vogue when ultra-modern collectors began
and Gonzalez, remained in Paris and was a to value especially the imaging of degraded,
chief experimentalist among the post-cubist dehumanized, and twisted man. At the far ex-
expressionists. He produced a wide range of treme, Francois Pompon delighted the public
original pieces, nonobjective as well as figura- with statues, especially of animals, smoothed
tive, the latter with marked distortion of na- down to the point of slickness. The marble
ture. Jacques Lipchitz, bom in Lithuania in White Bear at the Musee d'Art Moderne in
189 1, went to Paris to study in 1909. He Paris has solid sculptural virtues and a touch
adopted a series of styles and techniques be- of true modem short-cutting.
Prometheus Strangling the Vulture. Plaster. Jacques Lipchitz. 1944. Owned by the artist.
(^Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art^
In this second group of School of Paris of womanliness; but his finely lithic portrait
sculptors, the Russian Ghana Orloff, the heads are held in greater esteem.
Spanish Pablo Gargallo, and the Rumanian- In the years between the death of Lachaise,
born Etienne Hajdu, adopted members of the in 1935, and 1950 the American studios
Paris school, were among the more creative seethed with sculptural experimentation, but
artists. By 1926 the now internationally no native sculptor grew to the stature of a
famous Swiss Alberto Giacometti had become Maillol or a Lehmbruck. Fortunate in attract-
a provocative experimental figure in Paris. ing artists already successful in Europe— Lip-
Gaston Lachaise emigrated to America in chitzand Mestrovic, Archipenko and Milles—
1906 at the age of twenty-three and became Americans had yet to see any of their own
the acknowledged leader of the modern sculp- sculptors rise to a position of world celebritv.
tors in the United States. Lachaise cut di- All the following would certainly have been
rectly in stone. The sculptural head illustrated named in any list of the dozen most original
here is tjîcally neo-primitive and quite un- and creative sculptors in what may be termed
like other American or French portraits of its loosely the New York school: Alfeo Faggi,
time. He also created a series of statues and Polygnotos Vagis, Jose de Greeft (who was
statuettes of the female figure in which he by exception a well-known artist when he ar-
showed an obsession with the idea of fecun- rived in America), Heinz Warneke, Oron-
dity. Using distortion of nature freely, he zio Maldarelli, Ahron Ben Schmuel, Ghaim
achieved his purpose, a statue at once mas- Gross, Isamu Noguchi, Goncetta Scaravagli-
sively sculptural and emotionally expressive one, and Robert Laurent. The national ori-
Head. Stone. Gaston Lachaise. Roland P. Murdoch Art Collection, Wichita Art Museum
gins of this rather remarkable group, ItaHan, stone and wood. His work and that of Mal-
Greek, Spanish, German, Austrian, Japanese, darelli and de Creeft stayed generally within
and French, were hardly more varied than the movement that might be termed the first
the t)'pes of experiment or style they prac- phase of twentieth-century modernism: the
ticed. The primitive integrity and soliditv of movement that brought about restoration of a
Vagis, the sensitive Ivricism, with a spiritual stonelike massiveness as the basis of the art,
overtone, of Faggi. the essential stone feeling and a need to work directly in the final ma-
of Warneke's figures, and the overwhelming terial, a reaction to the almost universal nine-
power of Ben Schmuel's compositions are all teenth-century lapse into modeling.
traits within the modern movement, though Jose de Creeft was, in the oeuvre he cre-
none perhaps could be identified as typifying ated between 1930 and i960, the surest in
America. Rather there is evidence of a new his creative touch. The two illustrations are
internationalism here. representative of two phases of a widely varied

Traditionalists in the group found in Wil- output. The piece entitled Cloud is eloquent
liam Zorach (born in Lithuania) a leader of all that has been said about return to the
who created a considerable body of advanced stone: a primitively compact and sculpturally
work and went on to aid his fellow artists bv alive creation. More on the sensitive side, but
promoting government encouragement of the still notably blocklike, is the head in beaten
visual arts, writing, and lecturing to urge the lead over plaster, called Himalaya. Its expres-
vounger men to practice direct carving in sionistic distortions are evident but not dis-
tracting.
St. Francis. Bronze. The two men who carried the love of stone
Alfeo Faggi for its own sake to the ultimate conclusion
were Polygnotos Vagis and John B. Flan-
nagan. Both affirmed that the block of stone
itself dictated the subject and the form of
the sculptured piece. There is a boulder-like
Cloud. Stone. Jose de Creeft. 1939.

Whitney Museum of American Art, Neiv York
aspect in many of Vagis's later compositions,
though he patently draws upon a respect for
for the dignityand worth of the human being
—or animal. The two illustrations indicate
two quite different ways in which the feel of
stone is used: one almost a natural boulder,
only slightly shaped; the other a completed
composition but still rocklike and elemental.
The work of Flannagan, who was, like
Lehmbruck, a suicide in a world often not
kind to sculptors, has generally the imme-
morial lithic look, out of "the eternal nature
of the stone itself," as he phrased it. His Goat
is illustrated in the Introduction.
In the early 1960s the American sculptors
were typical of the new internationalism,
with the artists sharply divided into two
groups: one within the historical tradition, the
other branching out into fields hitherto un-
known, such as the aerial sculpture invented
by Alexander Calder; the forged or welded
linear sculpture of a hundred "far-out"
shapers of metal; compositions in strange ma-
terials, derivative from the Russian school of
constructivists; the found-object or "junk"

school; and so on into avenues of confusion
Himalaya. Beaten lead. De Creeft. 1942. so far distant from basic bulk-in-space art that
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York the word "sculpture" hardly applies.
Revelation. Stone. Polygnotos Vagis. 1951.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Bear and Cub. Stone. Vagis.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil QCourtesy of the artist')
An American within the historical tradi-
tion, one who came to the fore only in the
was Leonard Baskin. Obsessed
early sixties,
by the negative and shameful aspects of
man's progress through the ages, with an eye
to death and the corruptions of the flesh, he
at first alienated observers; but as his mastery

of his materials and the sincerity and depth
of his feeling became recognized he was ac-
cepted by a growing audience. There is, for
instance, a figure entitled The Great Dead-
Man, which invites long and thoughtful
scrutiny for its rigid, deathlike stillness and
for a certain dignity and suggested repose of
the spirit expressed in the face. In many
other figures the bloated flesh is strangely at
variance with the intellectual or aspiring look
of the heads. The first illustration is a satirical
interpretation of this theme, because we are
apt to think that a poet should not be grossly
fat. The large statue of Thomas Aquinas is
outside the satirical group and can be read as

a humanized portrait of a saint. It is at the
same time a very fine sculptural composition.
Baskin spoke for a considerable group of
Head. Stone. John B. Flannagan. Poet Laureate. Bronze. Leonard Baskin. 1956.
Weyhe Gallery, New York Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger,
(Courtesy Grace R. Borgenicht Gallery, New York)
modern artists. "Our human frame, our Putted man, his tensions, frustrations, and sexual cor-
mansion, our enveloping sack of beef and ash Reg
ruptions included. Foremost perhaps was
is yet a glory." And: "Man . . . has charted Butler, followed closely by Lynn Chadwick
the earth and befouled the heavens more wan- and (in a somewhat soberer vein) Kenneth
tonly than ever before. He has made of Arden Armitage. All are welders or forgers, and But-
a landscape of death. In this garden I dwell, ler and Chadwick first became known for
and ... I hold the cracked mirror up to man. metal figures on the abstract and somewhat
All previous art makes this course inevitable." spidery side, but progressed to greater bulk
Baskin's course was not particularly Ameri- and solidity. In 1953 Butler won the historic
can. Germaine Richier in France had worked international competition in which 2500
in this pessimistic vein; and in England no sculptors submitted models for a monument
phenomenon was more talked about than the to the Unknown Political Prisoner. Super-
"kitchen sink school" of painting and the ficially his model might be described as three
Angry Young Men of the theater. England's incidental figures, a cagelike structure in the
young and revolutionary sculptors joined the new metal technique, and a nonexistent
effort to create a new and fuller image of prisoner.
St. Thomas Aquinas. Wood. Baskin. Maquette for The Unknown Political Prisoner.
St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Mhinesota. Bronze, wire, stone base. Reg Butler. 1952.
QPhoto by Walter Rosenhlum') ^Courtesy of the artist")
Horse and Rider. Bronze.
Marino Marini. 1947-^8.
Museum of Modern Art,
New York,
Lillie P. Bliss Bequest
The most pleasing artist, revolutionary like the constructivists. In the 1940s he developed
these others, but holding to the historical tra- a sheerly original stj^le of expressionistic
dition in the matter of sculptural volume- image-making and produced ever more atten-
even with a touch of archaism— is Italy's fore- uated figures, remote from reality. His
most modem, Marino Marini. He is best method approaches caricature, but the sensi-
known by some
a series of statues of horses, tivity of his touch ensures a spiritual com-
with grew while the artist
riders, a series that pleteness for each image; for Giacometti first
observed the bewildered animals and men of all reveals imaginative aspects of life in
under attack by bombers in wartime. Al- sculptural terms. The Large Head illustrated
though not afraid of expressionistic distor- is at a modem expressionistic
peak of model-
tion, he held to the general form of the beast ing. The Man Pointing is t\'pical of the
and man. Without comment, without anger, many utterly slenderized pieces which have
the artist has made each piece in the series done most to win the artist international
a reminder of mankind's as yet ineradicable recognition.
penchant for war. Marini is known, too, as a The School of Paris, the world's most influ-
portraitist, in which field he is hardly sur- ential producer of revolutionary painting, had
passed. few French members among internationally
Late in the 1950s Alberto Giacometti known sculptors after Bourdelle, Maillol, and
emerged as the most popular sculptor of the Despiau. Raymond DuchampVillon created a
School of Paris. He had been bom a Swiss few monuments within the idiom of cubism,
and had received his early training in Switzer- but he died at the early age of forty-two dur-
land. In 1922 he went to Paris to study, and ing World War I. Some of the painters of the
survived association with the surrealists, then School of Paris also left notable sculptural
Head. Stone. Amcdco Modigliani.
Victoria and Albert Museum works. Matisse produced some small figures
obviously influenced by Rodin; later he re-
verted to modeling, but his sculpture does not

compare with his magnificent decorative
paintings. Modigliani also practiced sculpture
for a time but was forced to give up the art
because of the effect of stone dust upon his
lungs. His sculptural works, cut directly in
stone, are solidly blocklike, with an individ-
ual, expressionistic deformation of nature.
But again there is very little to compare with
the artist's strangely appealing paintings. The
little bronze figures from Renoir's clay studies
are intriguing, but possibly the artist only in-
dicated their form and substance, since a co-
operating professional modeler put them into
final shape. Gauguin carved in wood a very
few compositions, but his mastery of the me-
dium was evident and the several pieces are
very appealing.
Pablo Picasso took over the leadership of
the School of Paris when the fauvist Matisse
did not embrace cubism, and there were crit-
ics who in the early 1960s termed him the

greatest living sculptor. But his oeuvre is so
scattered— clay, wax, plaster, wood, tin, iron;
old-fashioned modeling, cubism, construc-

tions, pottery— that he can hardly be said to
have found a style or to have affected the
world current of sculpture. In most pieces
there is a formal aliveness, and occasionally
there is a creative and satisfying attainment,
but there are also willful per\'ersities and
lapses of taste. Beside Moore, Picasso seems
hardly more than a dabbler in sculpture; be-
side Lehmbruck he seems insensitive. Yet his
diverse sculptures are part of a stupendous
personal achievement in the arts, and of an
unprecedented triumph.
Practically all the artists whose work has
been described so far in this brief outline
of twentieth-century modernism remained

within the tradition of massive sculpture.
That tradition has lasted for at least 30,000
years, and its essential appeal and its varia-
tions form substantially the history of the art.
In the present era there are many kinds of
so-called sculpture that negate massiveness.
On facing page:
Left:Large Head. Bronze. Alberto Giacometti.
1960. The Phillips Collection, Washington
Right: Man Pointing. Bronze. Giacometti. 1947.
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Gift of Ahhy Aldrich Rockefeller
that began as offshoots of the tree of sculp- Nature's laws permit. ... I embody this as-
tural creation but pushed so far into new ex- pect of Nature in freely composed 'kinetic'
pression and new appeal that they are still sculptures. The designs behave like machines
experimental. The labels given them, "mo- but echo and suggest living forms. The forces
biles," "constructions," "found objects," indi- which come to bear and the shapes and move-
cate the directions of experiment and a cer- ments they engender do not imitate Nature.
tain withdrawal from tradition. But their performance is analogous to organic
The most noted innovator was Alexander life and may appear to be associated with it."
Calder, an American. Born in 1898, son of a Another nontraditional activity was carried
respected traditional sculptor, he was edu- on by the constructivists from about 191 7.
cated in engineering, then painting. Before They looked forward to an art purified of
1930 he was known in America and in natural appearances and material representa-
France for his wire compositions. The virtues tion, an art of new or overlooked materials
of these pieces were novelty, humor, and not such as glass, celluloid, the plastics, and the
a little sound sculptural artistry. From near- new had
metals. Their constructions generally
abstract works in wire— a famous one, dated a light and Although they pursued
airy look.
1 93 1, was entitled Kiki's Nose—he went on to a kinetic or dynamic ideal, they early dropped
his most characteristic and inventive construc- the element of movement from their con-
tions, the mobiles. They are hanging contri- trivances. They spoke against sculpture's ob-
vances of heavy wire rods supporting com- session with volume; but their leaders, most
plexes of metal stems terminating in sheet- notably Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo,
metal leaves, the whole adjusted and fell back at times into creation of substantial
weighted so that the slightest movement of if not bulky compositions, even to Arp-like
air keeps the several parts in gentle motion. concretions or figures futuristically assembled.
There is a fascination in the drift and flow of These two artists, both Russian, through their
the terminal elements, a pattern of motion airy improvised abstractions have exercised a
foreseen by the artist which clearly brings the wide influence in many lands. (See page 506.)
invention into the realm of art. (See page 477.) An individual vision and a strict adherence
It is, of course, the element of movement to a single constructivist principle were
that marks this as a new departure. Repose, characteristic of an American, Richard Lip-
stillness, has been a basic quality of historic pold. His hanging constructions, complex and
sculpture. Calder's mobiles have inspired dependent upon precise mathematical cal-
many kinds of moving constructions, some culation, are of wires or rods in pleasing
with clockwork some powered with
agitators, formation and gleaming with light.
electric motors; and soon, no doubt there will One path of modern experiment led to
be contrivances kept in motion by atomic what is called "assemblages," or sometimes
energy. "found objects." Artists discovered in some
Calder has had international influence. picked-up object a quality or attribute which
The United States, England, France, and could be used to form part of a sculpture,
Japan are but four countries where younger such as a rusted pitchfork or a bent auto-
artists have become his disciples, and where mobile fender, a detached mannequin's leg
mobiles are constructed and give pleasure. or a seashell. The inventive artist could build
George Rickey was born in America but edu- on this beginning a structure or medley of
cated in Scotland and England in his forma- harmonious objects. Most exhibitions of
tive years, and he most successfully widened assemblages show the bizarre, the quaint, and
the scope of mobile or kinetic composition. the amazing aspects of creation. Certainly no
He explained the basis of the new art in these great sculptor became known primarily
words in 1961: "I study the motions which through association with the movement. But
Variation within a Sphere, No. 10: The Sun. ]J

Gold-filled wire. Richard Lippold. 1953-56.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund
ta^ _*
the activity was connected with that of the
constructivists and with that of the new Ancestor. Nickel-silver on monel metal.
school of metal welders. Seymour Lipton. 1958. Height: 87 inches.
It is the welders, among modern groups, The Phillips Collection, Washington
who bring us back to true sculpture, to an
attenuated but creative metal composition.
The tools are new— especially the acetvlene
torch— but the aims are those of plastic artists
dou n the ages. A retreat from stone and wood
was inevitable with the coming of the Space
Age. Metals, in the form of machines,
surround the human being in everj'day life.
Metals, no less, condition the consciousness

(or the subconscious) of man. To the con-
temporary artists the accessibility of metals has
been a challenge.
It is remarkable how much of the achieve-
ment of the modern school of direct workers
in metal was foreshadowed in the oeiivre of
Julio Gonzalez, the Spanish Parisian who
died in 1942. His exceptionally voluminous
Montserrat is illustrated in the Introduction.
It is a work in sheet iron, composed as a
monument to human dignity and defiance in
face of the atrocities of the Spanish Civil
War. But he was as skilled as any of the later
welders or forgers in the more linear and

tenuous stvle that is most practiced today.
The Danish artist Robert Jacobsen has
become internationally known for his origi-
nality, as shown in works which combine
sturdiness with grace. The English prac-

titioners, especially Reg
Eduardo
Butler,
Paolozzi, and Lynn Chadwick, have added
individualistic contributions within the style.
The Americans have shown striking imagina-
tion: David Smith with his signlike and
totem-like standards raised against the sky;
David Hare; Mary Gallery with her dis-
tinctive, rhythmic, continuous figures; Her-

bert Ferber; Ibram Lassaw, who was pre-
eminent in elaboration of the metal structure
and in Theodore Roszak, inventor of
color;
strange flowers and stranger

metal-inspired
birds; Seymour Lipton, somewhat simpler in
\ision and more a purist— all these are in the
full tide of a sculptural art unlike any other
in histor)' since the Renaissance.
Column. Glass, plastic, metal,

and wood. Naum Gabo. 1923.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
Neii7 York
It may be that modem sculpture, like but uncreative naturalism, a new start,
modern architecture, is as yet in its primitive embodying a return to the primitive virtues,
stage. After the pale sweetness of the neo- was necessary. So far the world has seen,
classic age, and the ensuing degeneration of in post-impressionism or expressionism— which
routine sculpture into a marvelously true is the main movement of the twentieth
Insect. Burnished steel. David Smith. 1948. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. i?hoto by O. E. Nelson')
^
Menand VII. Painted steel. David bimith. 1963. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery
Sitting Figure VI. Bronze. L)Tin Chadwack. 1962. Marlhorough-Gerson Gallery. (Pfcofo by O. E. Nelson')
century— chiefly the impulsive, powerful be- page 508 is an Insect by David Smith, also
ginnings. Only a rare artist such as Lehm- leaning to the abstract, but also reminiscent
bruck or Moore has been able to add sen- of a "real" subject. A different sort of achieve-
sitivity to basic sculptural grandeur, an effec- ment is seen in Lynn Chadwick's Sitting
tive personal emotion to architectonic form- Figure.
organization. But Gonzalez and his followers If today there are more creative sculptors
have afforded glimpses into new and exciting at work in the world than ever before— the
areas of invention. idea is defensible— it is partly because a multi-
The workers in metal have been leaders in tude of only partially recognized experiment-
the twentieth-century march toward abstrac- ers, not yet ready for history, exists in the
tion. Many had their early training under background. The object-makers, the stringers
the realistic modelers of 1900- 1930. Fritz of wires, the constructors of monumental box
Wotruba, an Austrian artist, bom in 1907, forms, the builders of shaped walls, the ad-
began with fully figurative modeled sculpture, venturers in moving sculpture: these all
then made an international reputation with contribute to an atmosphere of unbounded

heavy stonecut pieces. His style was born of invention and creation. Among the obscure
vigor and consciousness of the block. But in workers are doubdess geniuses who will be
mid-career, without ever quite forgetting the part of tomorrow's history. At the moment it
human form, he declared for an image nearer seems to end with the creations of
fairer
the abstract and, as he thought, nearer the Lipton and Gabo, Smith, Chadwick, and
essence of sculpture. One of his late pieces, Wotruba. Explorers and adventurers in their
in metal, is, perhaps appropriately, placed on day, they now seem to be safely within
this final page of a history of the art. On history.
Reclining Figure. Bronze. Fritz Wotruba. 1960. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. (Vhoto by O. E. Nelson')
For Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Indiex
PHOTOGRAPHS FOLLOWING THE TEXT
For Furtlier Reading heading:
Dynasty VI. Sakkara. Cairo
Interior wall of tomb, bas-relief, detail. Stone. Museum
Acknowledgments heading:
r>ionysits, Pan, and a Bacchante. Relief, stone. Greco-Roman. National Museum,
Na-ples. (Alinari photo)
Index heading:
Ceremonial corn grinder, Panama. American Museum of Natural History.
detail. Stone.
Text reference on pages 439—40
J M Ml., t/^l »Jiri1iiul
nJi^ >f •tillMii'liiiilfM îlli
\î A'* \ V^.. I: -', . \ I . V
7or Further Reading
Beyond the usual bare listing of title, author, The Dawn of Civilization: Human Cultures in
place of publication,and date, I have added brief Early Times, edited by Stuart Piggott, with
notes of three kinds: i) indicating the number essays by thirteen authorities. (Covers prehis-
of illustrations, because pictures add so greatly toric arts and earliest cultures in Asia, Europe,
to enjoyment in this field; 2) indicating which Eg\^t, the Americas; de luxe format; 940 illus-
books are paperbacks and therefore less expensive; trations.) London, New York, and Toronto,
3) inserting occasionally the name of publisher 1961.
or series —as "Phaidon monograph" or "Pelican Egyptian Art, by Werner and Bedrich Forman
History of Art" —as indication of excellence. In- and Milada Vilimkova. (118 large plates.)
frequently a title fails to identify the civilizations London, 1962-
under discussion; I have then added a few words The Art of Ancient Egypt. (A Phaidon mono-
indicating coverage. Only books in English are graph; brief text, 341 illustrations.) Vienna,
listed. London, and New York, 1936; London and
Toronto, 1937.
Eternal Egypt, by Pierre Montet, translated by
PERIODS, PEOPLES, STYLES
Doreen Weightman. (no photographic illus-
Prehistoric and Primitive Man, by Andreas Lom- trations, textcuts, maps.) London, 1964; New
mel. (Landmarks of the World's Art series; York, 1965.
210 illustrations.) London, New York, and The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, by
Toronto, 1966. W. Stevenson Smith. (Pelican History of Art;
Prehistoric Art, by T. G. E. Powell. (263 illus- 308 photographic illustrations, textcuts.) Har-
trations; paperback.) London and New York, mondsworth and Baltimore, 1958.
1966. The Ancient World, by Giovanni Garbini. (Land-
Prehistoric Art: Paleolithic Painting and Sculf- marks of the World's Art series; 227 illustra-
by P. M. Grand. (Pallas Library of Art
ture, tions; covers Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and
series; 115 illustrations; de luxe format.) early Persian civilizations.) New York and
Greenwich, Connecticut, 1967. Toronto, 1966.
The Art of the Cave Dweller: A Study of the The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient,
Earliest Artistic Activities of Man, by G. Bald- by Henri Frankfort. (Pelican History of Art;
win Brown. (166 illustrations.) London, 1928. covers Mesopotamian, Hittite, and early Per-
In the Beginnings: Early Man and His Gods, by sian sculpture; 192 photographic plates, 117
H. R. Hays. (Worldwide coverage; 116 illus- textcuts.) Harmondsworth and Baltimore,
trations, maps.) New York and Toronto, 1963. 1954-55-
514 FOR FURTHER READING
Meso-potatnia and the Middle East, by Leonard The Heritage of Persia, by Flichard N. Frye.
Woolley. (60 photographic illustrations, 73 (126 illustrations, maps.) London, Cleveland,
text figures.) London, 1961. and New York, 1963.
Cylinder Seals of Western Asia, by D. J. Wise- The World of Islam, by Ernest J. Grube. (Land-
man, with photographs by W. and B. Forman. marks of the World's Art series; 2 1 1 illustra-
(118 plates showing each seal in actual size tions.) London, New York, and Toronto, 1966.
and greatly enlarged; covers British Museum Art of China, Korea, and Japan, by Peter C.
collection only.) London, n.d., recent. Swann. (261 illustrations.) London and New
Scythian Art, by Gregory Borovka. (74 plates.) York, 1963.
London and New York, 1928. A History of Ear Eastern Art, by Sherman E. Lee.
Scythians and Greeks, by Ellis H. Minns. (9 (Covers India and Southeast Asia, China,
plates, 351 textcuts.) Cambridge, England, Japan; de luxe format; 716 illustrations.) New
1913- York, 1964.
Art of the Ste'p'pes, by Karl Jettmar. (Art of the Chinese Monumental Art, by Peter C. Swann,
World series; 195 illustrations.) New York, with photographs by Claude Arthaud and
1967. Frangois Hebert-Stevens. (157 plates, maps;
Four Thousand Years Ago: A World Panorama of de luxe format.) London and New York, 1963.
Life in the Second Millennium B.C., by Geof- Pageant of Japanese Art: Sculpture, edited by
frey Bibby. (38 photographic illustrations, text- staff members of the Tokyo National Museum.
cuts, maps.) London and New York, 1962. (Popular edition; boards, 119 illustrations.)
The Classical World, by Donald E. Strong. Tokyo and Rutland, Vermont, 1958. (There is
(Landmarks of the World's Art series; 220 a de luxe edition, Tokyo, 1954.)
illustrations.) London, New York, and To- The Enduring Art of Japan, by Langdon Warner,
ronto, 1965. (92 illustrations;paperback.) New York and
Greek Art, by John Boardman. (251 illustra- Toronto, 1952.
tions.) London and New York, 1964. Sculpture of Japan, from the Fifth to the Fif-
The Civilization of Greece, by Frangois Chamoux. teenth Century, by William Watson. (129
(229 illustrations, maps.) London and New illustrations.) London and New York, 1929.
York, 1965. The Craft of the Japanese Sctdptor, by Langdon
The Art of Classical Greece, by Karl Schefold. Warner. (89 illustrations.) New York, 1936.
(120 photographic illustrations, 77 textcuts.) Handbook of Japanese Art, by Noritake Tsuda.
London and New York, 1967. (355 illustrations.) Tokyo, New York, and
Etruscan Sculpture, by Ludwig Goldscheider. Toronto, 1936.
(Phaidon monograph; brief text, 169 illustra- The Art of India: Traditions of Indian Sculpture,
tions.) London and New York, 1941. Painting and Architecture, by Stella Kramrisch.
Etruscan Art, A Study, by Raymond Bloch. ( i o i (196 illustrations.) London, 1955.
illustrations; de luxe format.) London, 1959. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist,
The Etruscans, by M. Pallottino, translated from Hindu, Jain, by Benjamin Rowland. (Pelican
the Italian byJ. Cremona. (51 History of Art; 289 photographic illustrations,
illustrations;
paperback.) Harmondsworth and Baltimore, textcuts.) Harmondsworth and Baltimore,

1955- 1953-
The Art of the Romans, by J. M. C. Toynbee. Indian Sculpture: Masterpieces of Indian, Khmer
(Ancient Peoples and Places series; 90 illustra- and Cham Art, photographs by W. and B.
tions.) London and New York, 1965. Forman, text by M. M. Deneck. (Almost
Roman (Phaidon monograph; brief text,
Portraits. exclusively a picture book, 264 illustrations.)
135 illustrations.) London and New York, London, 1962.

n.d. The Art of Nepal, by Stella Kramrisch. (Cata-
Ancient Iran: The Art of Pre-lslamic Times, by logue of an exhibition at Asia House, New
Edith Perada. (60 photographic plates, 125 York; 127 illustrations.) New York, 1964.
textcuts.) London, 1963. The Ctdture of Soiith-East Asia: The Heritage of
Masterpieces of Persian Art, by Arthur Upham India,by Reginald Le May. (215 illustrations,
Pope. (206 illustrations.) New York, 1945. maps.) London, 1954.
A Concise History of Buddhist Art in Siam, by trations.) London and New York, 1967.
Reginald Le May. (206 illustrations, maps.) Scidpture in England in the Middle Ages, by
Cambridge, England, and New York, 1938. Lawrence Stone. (Pelican History of Art; 305
The Art of Thailartd: A Handbook of the Archi- photographic illustrations.) Harmondsworth
tecture, Scidfture and Painting of Thailand and Baltimore, 1955.
(^Siam^, and a Catalogue of the Exhibition in English Scidpture of the Twelfth Century, by F.
the U7tited States in 1960—61—62. Includes Saxl. (100 plates, 50 textcuts.) London, 1954.
"The Art and Sculpture of Siam," by A. B. Gothic Art from the nth to the i$th Centuries,
Griswold. C163 illustrations; paperback.) by Andrew Martindale. (207 illustrations.)
Published by 9 American Museums under London and New York, 1967.
direction of Indiana Universit\' Art Museum, Gothic Scidpture, by Hans Weigert, edited by
Bloomington, i960. Harald Busch and Bernd Lohse. (201 plates,
Byzantine Art, by D. Talbot Rice. (Revised edi- minimum text.) London and New York, 1963.
tion, paperback; 80 photographic illustrations, Gothic Sculpture: The Intimate Carvings, by
textcuts, maps.) London, Melbourne, and Max H. von Freeden. (35 large plates.) Lon-
Baltimore, 1954. don, 1962; New York, 1963.
Byzantine Aesthetics, by Gervase Mathew. (25 Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France
illustrations.) London and New York, 1963- and Spain, 1400 to 1500, by Theodor Miiller.
1964. (Pelican History of Art; 192 illustrations.)
Arts of the Migration Period in the Walters Art Harmondsworth and Baltimore, 1966.
Gallery: Hunnish, Gothic, Ostrogothic, Prank- Renaissance Scidpture, by Hans Weigert, edited
ish, Burgundian, Langohard, Visigothic, Avaric, by Harald Busch and Bemd Lohse. (225 il-
Irish and Viking, by Marvin Chauncey Ross. lustrations, minimum text.) London and New
(61 illustrations.) Baltimore, 1961. York, 1964.
Early German Art and Its Origins, from the Be- Larousse Encyclopedia of Renaissance and Ba-
ginnings to about 1050, by Harold Picton. roque Art, edited by Rene Huyghe. (Arts and
(Covers Germanic "barbarian" sculpture in Mankind series; 121 1 illustrations.) New
and out of Germany; loi plates bearing 434 York, 1964.
illustrations.) London, 1939. Man and the Renaissance, by Andrew Martin-
Pattern and Purpose: A Survey of Early Celtic dale. (Landmarks of the World's Art series;
Art in Britain, by Sir Cyril Fox. (81 plates, .204 illustrations.) London, New York, and
textcuts.) Cardiff, 1958. Toronto, 1966.
Irish Art in the Early Christian Period to 800 Primitive Art: Its Traditions and Styles, by Paul
by Frangoise Henry. (160 illustrations.)
A.D., S. Wingert. (Covers Oceanic, African tribal,
London, 1963; Ithaca, New York, 1965. and Amerindian sculpture; 126 illustrations.)
Viking Art, by David M. Wilson and Ole Klindt- London and New York, 1 962.
Jensen. (80 plates, 69 textcuts.) London, 1963; Polynesian Art, by Edward Dodd. (341 illustra-
Ithaca, New York, 1966. tions.) New York, 1967.
Romanesque Sculpture, by Hans Weigert, edited Oceanic Sculpture: Sculpture of Melanesia, by
by Harald Busch and Bemd Lohse. (181 Carl A. Schmitz, photographed by F. L. Kenett.
plates.) London, 1962. (35 large plates; de luxe format.) Greenwich,
French Scidfture of the Romanesque Period: Connecticut, 1962.
Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, by Paul Tribes and Forms in African Art, by William
Deschamps. (96 plates.) Florence and New Fagg. (122 large plates.) London and New
York, 1930. York, 1965.
European Sculpture from Rom.anesque to Neo- African Sculpture: An Anthology, by William
classic, by H. D. Molesworth and P. Cannon Fagg and ^largaret Plass. (176 illustrations.)
Brookes. (276 illustrations; paperback.) Lon- London and New York, 1964.
don and New York, 1965. The Sculpture of Africa, by Eliot Elisofon, with
Architecture and Sculpture in Early Britain: Cel- by William Fagg. (405 exceptional photo-
text
tic, Saxon, Norman, by Robert Stoll, with graphs.)London and New York, 1958.
photographs by Jean Roubier. (254 illus- Indian Art in America, by Frederick J. Dock-
516 FOR FURTHER READING
stader. (250 illustrations.) London, New York, monographs: individual artists
and Toronto, 1961.
Donatello. (Phaidon monograph; 319 illustra-
Tôrth American Indian Art, by Ema Siebert and
tions.) London and New York, 1941.
Werner Forman. (Covers Northwest Coast The Sctdptures of Michelangelo. (Phaidon mono-
sculpture only, in two little-known collections
graph; 200 illustrations.) London and New
in Leningrad and Moscow; 107 extraordinarily
York, 1940.
fine plates in color, 35 black-and-white illustra-
The Art and Thought of Michelangelo, by
tions.) London, 1967. Charles de Tolnay. (48 plates.) New York
North American Indian Mythology, by Cottie and Toronto, 1964.
Burland. (176 illustrations.) London, 1965. Rodin, by Albert E. Elsen. (Museum of Modem
Art before Columhus: The Art of Ancient Mex- Art monograph; 161 illustrations.) New York,
ico —from the Archaic Villages of the Second
1963.
Millennium B.C. to the S'plendor of the Aztecs, Auguste Rodin, by Robert Deschames and Jean-
by Andre Emmerich, with photographs by Lee Prangois Chabrun. (388 illustrations; de luxe
Boltin. (172 illustrations, maps.) New York,
format.) London, New York, and Toronto,
1963. 1967.
Mediaeval American Art: A Survey, by Pal
Maillol,by John Rewald. (H)êrion Press mono-
Kelemen. (2 volumes, 306 plates, bearing 980 graph; 165 illustrations.) London, Paris, and
illustrations.) New York, 1946. (Popular re-
New York, 1939.
print, I volume. New York, 1956.) Constantin Brancusi, by Carola Giedion-Welcker.
The Ancient Maya, by Sylvanus Griswold Mor- illustrations.) New York and London,
(157
ley, revised by George W. Brainerd. (226
1959.
photographic illustrations, textcuts, maps.)
Alexander Calder, by James Johnson Sweeney.
Stanford, California, 1963.
(Museum of Modern Art monograph; 56 il-
Ancient Arts of the Andes, by Wendell C. Ben- lustrations; paperback.) New York, 1943.
nett. (Museum of Modem Art monograph; by Richard Buckle. (667
]acoh Epstein, Sculptor,
209 illustrations, maps.) New York, 1954.
illustrations.) London, 1963.
Baroque Scxilpture, by Werner Hager and Eva- The Art of Henry Moore, by Will Grohmann.
Maria Wagner, edited by Harald Busch and (239 illustrations.) London, i960.
Bemd Lohse. (216 illustrations, minimum Henry Moore: A Study of His Life and Work,
text.) New York, 1965. by Herbert Read. (245 illustrations; paper-
Larousse Encyclopedia of Modern Art, from, 1800 back.) London, 1965; New York, 1966.
to the Present Day, edited by Rene Huyghe. Gonzalez, by Leon Degand. (Universe Sculpture
(Covers from i8th century neo-classicism Series; paperback; 32 illustrations.) London,
through romanticism and realism to 20th cen- New York, and Toronto, 1959-
tury experimental modernism; 1228 illustra- The Scidpture of Picasso, by Roland Penrose.
tions.) London and New York, 1965. (Sumptuous paperback; Museum of Modern
A Concise History of Modern Scidfture, by Her- Art monograph; 284 illustrations.) New York,
bert Read. (339 illustrations; paperback.) Lon- 1967.
don, New York, and Toronto, 1964. Ivan Me^strovic: Scidptor and Patriot, by Laurence
The Sculpture of this Century, by Michel Schmeckebier. (201 illustrations.) Syracuse,
Seuphor. (414 illustrations.) Neuchatel, Switz- New York, 1959.
erland, 1959; London and New York, i960. Arp, edited by James Thrall Soby. (Museum of
Modern Scul-pture: Origins and Evolution, by Modern Art monograph; 117 illustrations.)
Jean Selz. (233 illustrations.) London and New York and Toronto, 1958.
New York, 1963. The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz, by Henry R.
Eorm and Space: Sculpture of the Twentieth Hope. (Museum of Modem Art monograph;
Century, by Eduard Trier. (213 illustrations.) 102 illustrations; boards.) New York and To-
London and New York, 1961—62. ronto, 1954.
Modern English Sculpture, by A. M. Ham- Alberto Giacometti, with an introduction by
macher. (128 illustrations; de luxe format.) Peter Selz. (Museum of Modem Art mono-
London, 1967. graph; 112 illustrations.) New York, 1965.
GENERAL The Metamorphosis of the Gods, by Andre Mal-
raux. (184 illustrations.) London, New York,
About these books of theory, historical back-
ground, and reference, am adding
and Toronto, i960. A trip through history
I a few words
with the sculptured gods. Perceptive, stim-
of evaluation, for guidance of the reader who
ulating.
may be unfamiliar with the literature of the
The Concise Encyclopedia of Archaeology, edited
subject.
by Leonard Cottrell. (Text by 48 eminent
The Art of Sculpture, hy Herbert Read. (225
scholars; 166 illustrations, maps.) London,
New York, 2nd edition, 1961.
illustrations.)
New York, and Toronto, i960. A very useful,
This is the number-one book on the theory of
though incomplete, one-volume reference
sculpture. Well chosen illustrations from many
work.
cultures, primitive and Oriental as well as
on Art, from the XIV to the XX Century,
Artists
European. Comprehensive, sound, modem.
compiled and edited by Robert Goldwater and
The Ohserver's Book of Sculpture, by William Marco Treves. (100 illustrations.) New York,
Gaunt. (Boards; 64 illustrations.) London and 1945; London, 1947. An anthology devoted
New York, 1966. Of the histories of sculpture mainly to painters, but including statements
in English, this ver)' small volume — 128 pages about their art by many sculptors. Convenient
of text, in miniature pocket size — isoutstand- collection of first-hand theories.
ing. The illustrations, so far as they go, are well Dictionary of Modern Sculpture, edited by Robert
chosen, though the Far East is poorly repre- Maillard. (453 illustrations.) New York, 1962.
sented; there are no illustrations from China Remarkable coverage of 412 sculptors, alpha-
and Japan. Readable, modem. betically from Achiam to Zwobada, in time
Henry Moore on Sculpture: A Collection of the from Rodin and Hildebrand to the latest ex-
Sculptor's Writings and Spoken Words, edited perimenters in metal contrivances.
by Philip James. (128 illustrations.) London Encyclopedia of World Art, 1 5 volumes. New
and New York, 1967. The best book by a York, 1 959-1 968. Generally excellent cover-
sculptor about sculpture. The illustrations in- age of all art topics, with thousands of illustra-
clude, beside Moore's own works, outstanding tions. The standard reference work; but
examples from many periods. A revealing hu- awkward to use because plates are banked at
man story, combined with more wisdom about the end of each volume, away from the text
the art than can be found in any other volume. entries. Authoritative, modem, comprehensive.
Acknowledgments
In this book the names of museums and of tion, for the many photographs made from the
photographers are included in the captions with museum's negatives. Similar gratitude must go
the pictures. Therefore the usually appended lists to the American scholars Arthur Upham Pope
of owners and of photograph-sources are omitted. and Phyllis Ackerman. When they mounted in
Instead I have set down notes about individuals 1940 the extraordinary Exhibition of Persian
who have helped me in my search for illustra- New York, I was
Art for the Iranian Institute in
tions,and about certain museums that have re- able to obtain from their negatives many photo-
sponded with exceptional generosity'. Added are graphs of important Persian sculptures which un-
acknowledgments to international institutions til then had been litde known. In addition to the
and to archives, in cases where names could not, illustrations of objects in museums and private
for reasons of space, appear in the captions. collections, it will be noted that there are two
Over a period of twenty years I received Islamic subjects from photographs taken by Dr.
friendly help from a number of internationally Pope in Persia.
known and anthropologists. The
archaeologists At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
first was the late Dr. George C. Vaillant, Director York I enjoyed the friendship and aid of the late
of the University Museum in Philadelphia and Francis Henry Taylor, then director. My grati-
an honorary Curator at the American Museum tude also goes to Alan Priest, Curator of the De-
of Natural History in New York. He had written partment of Far Eastern Art. Richard E. Fuller,
a pioneer book, Indian Arts in North America. Director of the Seattle Museum of Art, noted
Interested because I was planning to afford primi- collector of Far Eastern sculpture, has been par-
tive sculpture full coverage in a world history of ticularly helpful. At the Philadelphia Museum
the art, he contrived that I should have free of Art, Stella Kramrisch, Curator of Indian Art
access to the photographs from which volumehis and author of the Phaidon monograph The Art
had been illustrated. At the Musee Guimet in of India through the Ages, has answered my
Paris I had the good fortune to obtain the co- queries patiently and graciously. To these indi-
operation of Jeannine Auboyer, Curator of the vidual specialists I record my thanks. I hasten to
National Museums and a distinguished scholar add that not one of them is responsible for any
in the field of Asian arts. To her and to the staff opinion expressed in my text.
at the Musee Guimet I owe a debt bevond estima- My debt to one other scholar is unique. Dr.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 5 19
Reginald Le May
Tunbridge Wells has per-
of and London New
York and San Francisco. For
to
mitted me to my book photographs
reproduce in book I am
aid in gathering the pictures for this
of Siamese and Cambodian works in his unri- especially indebted to Andre Emmerich, a noted
valed collection of Southeast Asian sculpture. writer as well as dealer. Photographs of objects
From and from the books he
his friendly letters seen first at his gallery in New York will be found
—
has written see my list "For Further Reading" especially in the Primitive and Amerindian
— I gained in knowledge and enjojTnent of the chapters. An equal debt is owing to Pierre
arts of "Further India." Thanks are due to sev- Matisse, who has traced down a number of photo-
eral other collectors: to Baron Eduard von der graphs in the modem field as well as a wanted
Heydt of Ascona, Switzerland, for information African figure. Thanks are due also to M. Knoed-
about his collection and for photographs; to ler and Company, to Bertha Schaefer, and to
Dagny Carter, who provided photographs of out- Klaus Perls, all proprietors of galleries in New
standing pieces in her collection of Ordos bronzes; York. By a coincidence four of the final five illus-
to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston for the from photographs from the files of the
trations are
photograph of Rosso's Ecce Puer; to Mr. and Mrs. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in New York or
Edward M. M. Warburg for the photograph of their London affiliate, Marlborough Fine Art,
their spirited Luristan Lea'ping Lion; and to John Ltd. Thanks are owing also to the Grace Borge-
P. Anderson for the photograph of the Warega nicht Gallery in New York for illustrations; to
ritual figure in his collection. A long, long time Spink and Son in London; and to Louis Carre
ago I was permitted by Adolph Stoclet to see the in Paris. That prince of dealers, C. T. Loo, from
extraordinary collection of Chinese sculpture in his treasure-house galleries in Paris and New
his home at Brussels. Recently his daughter, York, was consistently friendly and helpful.
Mme. L. Feron-Stoclet, has provaded two photo- In a few cases the photographs have come
graphs of objects in the collection for reproduc- directly from the artists. Among American sculp-
tion in this book. Asia House in New York, under tors, Gaston Lachaise and Polygnotos Vagis espe-
the enlightened direction of Gordon B. Wash- cially were friends and helped with prints. I
bum, has let me have certain photographs other- have had friendly response from artists abroad
wise unavailable. when vrating to request photographs. Particularly
Because I started my search for illustrations in gracious were two English sculptors, Henry
the troubled days following World War II, spe- Moore and Reg Butler. Mrs. Olga Mestrovic
cial problems arose in connection with the photo- kindly provided the photograph of the Head of
graphs needed for the chapter on Japanese and St. Christofher by Ivan Mestrovic.
Korean sculpture. In Japan the Kokusai Bunka Although the names of photographers (in gen-
Shinkokai or Society for International Cultural eral) appear in the captions, it would be less than
Relations cooperated by having twenty-one sub- courteous to omit acknowledgment of indebted-

jects specially photographed. More than one-half ness to certain ones here. Perhaps the best-known
of the chapter's illustrations are from that group, "artist-photographer" in the field of sculpture is
and I am grateful to the society and to its Man- Jean Roubier of Paris. He gave me freely of his
aging Director, Kikuji Yonezawa, for this friendly specialized knowledge when I was in Europe
ser\'ice. I must record my thanks also to Chewon gathering illustrations some years ago. In this
Kim, Director of the National Museum of Korea countr\' the extraordinarily fine photographs of
at Seoul, for forwarding photographs and answer- Lee Boltin have put us all in his debt. It is likely
ing questions at a difficult time. that his contribution to this book is greater than
More than a score of photographs of sculpture the captions indicate, since he has photographed
at various sites in Germany, or in lesser-known extensively for the American Museum of Natural
museums there, were provided by the Archiv fiir Histor)% which issues its prints without photogra-
Kunst und Geschichte in Berlin. I am grateful pher-identification. Elisabeth Z. Kelemen was
to the Director, Dr. Wilfried Gopel, and to Miss good enough to send me two prints of Mayan
Marie L. Gericke of the German Information and Aztec subjects from negatives made for her
Office in New York, who acted as intermediary. husband's book. Mediaeval American Art. Claude
Over the years
have enjoyed a friendly rela-
I Arthaud and Francois Hebert-Stevens kindly
tionship with many gallery owners, from Paris provided prints of two subjects photographed for
—
520 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
their sumptuous volume Chinese Momimental Uniformly, from the museum's director. Sir Frank
Art (with text by Peter C. Swann). The thanks Francis, to the workers in the museum's Photo-
here should go also to the original publisher, B. graphic Service, I found sympathetic interest in
Arthaud of Paris, and to Thames and Hudson my problems and immediate cooperation. There
of London, first publishers of the translation into are forty illustrations from subjects in the Victoria
English. In a few cases the names of noted pho- and Albert Museum, where I was especially aided
tographers have not been placed in the captions by Mr. Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith. In the
because the material supplied by the museums case of the Louvre in Paris, my photographs,
omitted them. Occasionally space limitations about fift)' in all, were obtained from commercial
especially in cases of group illustrations: of seals, photographic firms or agencies: in largest number
medals, coins, etc. —determined that photographic from Giraudon, but from Alinari, the Tel
also
credits should be withheld. A special word of agency, and Bulloz. Thanks
are due to Archives
thanks should go to Soichi Sunami, who has pho- Photographiques, a department of the National
tographed so many sculptural exhibits at the Museums of France, but for photographs of his-
Museum of Modem Art in New York. I am toric sculpture still in situ rather than from mu-
grateful also to George W. Bailey of New Hope, seum exhibits. At the Hermitage
in Leningrad
who has done skilled work in rephotographing I was accorded the rare privilege of examining
borrowed prints, printing from old negatives, and piece by piece many masterpieces in the mu-
so forth, besides contributing one original photo- seum's unrivaled collection of Scythian and re-
graph owe an inestimable debt
to the book. I to lated bronzes; though I had to look elsewhere
the Department of Photography and Slides at for photographs of them, particularly to the
Princeton University, which provided a score of Iranian Institute in New York.
illustrations.
A very few illustrations are taken from books.

For material in the
collections of the American
field of primitive art, the
Museum of Natural
I
The Phaidon Press in London, through its di- Histor\' have yielded many outstanding illustra-
rector, Dr. B. Horowitz, has permitted reproduc- These include not only a score of objects
tions.
tion of three plates from Etruscan Scnd'ptiire by owned by the museum but photographs of sculp-
Ludwig Goldscheider, and one from Roman ture in out-of-the-way places such as Easter
Portraits. These were cases in which Phaidon's Island. My thanks go to many staff members, and
own photographer, L Schneider-Lengyel, had especially to those in the Division of Photogra-
made prints patently superior to any others avail- phy. In this field I am deeply indebted also to
able. Thanks are due also to Ernst Benn, Ltd., the Museum of Primitive Art in New York. The
London, from their pub-
for three reproductions Musee de I'Homme in Paris has provided photo-
lication Scythian Art by Gregory Borovka. One graphs from objects in its own collections and a
illustration is from La Sculpture Irlandaise by number of wanted prints from other sources.
Frangoise Henry. Two illustrations are, by the Finally, among the anthropological museums, I
author's courteous permission, from Osvald am indebted to the Museum of the American
Siren's A History of Early Chinese Art. Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, and espe-
Finally must make some accounting to the
I cially to its director, Dr. Frederick J. Dockstader;
great museums. Mv gratitude to the Metropolitan to thePeabody Museum at Har\'ard University',
Museum of Art is well nigh overwhelming. There the Lowie Museum of Anthropology at the Uni-
are in this book photographs of more than sixty versity of California, Berkeley, the Museum of
objects owned by the institution; in addition the Science, Buffalo, and the Chicago Natural His-
directors have permitted reproduction of a num- tory' Museum.
ber of photographs taken by their members
staff The Museum of Modern Art in New York has
in the phenomenally rich Cairo Museum. All the courteously supplied illustrations in the modem
illustrations have come from the Metropolitan's field, but even more notably many photographs
own photographic department, where the staff from exhibits in its Amerindian, South Seas, and
has been patient and helpful to me over a period other primitive exhibitions. I have many friends
of twenty years. found the same sort of aid at
I there but can name, gratefully, only two who
the British Museum in London, which is repre- have cooperated in this connection: Alfred H.
sented by sixty-two illustrations in these pages. Barr, Jr., director of the collections at the
—
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 521
museum, and Pearl L. Moeller, supen'isor of trations from objects in the collections at Chicago
photographic reproductions. The Philadelphia but for "field" photographs taken during the in-
Museum of Art has been generous in answering stitute's expeditions in the Orient. In England I
my requests for photographs inmany fields, from owe gratitude to the staff of the Ashmolean
the primitive to such modems as Rodin and Museum at Oxford University for courteous aid.
Brancusi. Hardly less varied, and as valued, are To the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Ore-
the illustrations from the Boston Museum of gon, I am deeply indebted for unique exhibits in
Fine Arts, which number thirty-five. The Cleve- the field of Amerindian sculpture. To the Wor-
land Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chi- cester Art Museum and to its successive directors,
cago, the Cit^' Museum at St. Louis, and the Francis Henry Taylor and Daniel Catton Rich,
Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum at Kansas Citv I must record special thanks. The National Gal-
are represented by large groups of illustrations. lery of Art,Washington, through its director,
The Art Association of Montreal kindly provided John Walker, and Charles C. Stotler of the
five photographs of Scythian and Middle Ameri- library staff, has been cooperative and helpful.
can works. The Walters Gallery at Baltimore has The debt is for outstanding exhibits
from the
cooperated with me generously, as has the Mu- gallery's collection and also for photographs of
seum of Art of the Rhode Island School of many objects in the Robert Woods Bliss collec-
Design at Providence. The chapter on Chinese tion ofpre-Columbian American art, now perma-
sculpture was enriched especially with photo- nently housed at Dumbarton Oaks. The National
graphs from the Freer Gallery of Art in Wash- Museum of India at New Delhi has been gen-
ington, a part of the Smithsonian Institution, as erous. In addition to photographs I have had
was the Persian chapter. Another large group of important information from the director. Dr.
illustrations for the Oriental section of the book Grace Morley. Of the larger national museums,
came from the Royal Ontario Museum in Tor- that at Athens cooperated generously, as did that
onto, with also a number of primitive illustra- at Mexico City. I dealt less with the phenome-
tions. For smaller groups of illustrations I am nally rich museums in Italy than with commercial
grateful to the Toledo Museum of Art, the Min- photographers. In pursuit of certain prints we
neapolis Institute of Arts, the Detroit Institute have gone further afield: to the National Mu-
of Arts, and the California Palace of the Legion seum at Reykjavik, where the director, Kristjan
of Honorin San Francisco. Eldjarn, provided a wanted Icelandic photograph;
For years I have found especially helpful the and to the National Museum at Phnom Penh,
museums at universities. The Fogg Art Museum where the conservatrice, Madeleine Giteau, made
at Harvard University has permitted illustration arrangements for us to receive photographs of
of many objects in its rich collections, and mem- certain of the museum's treasures.
bers of the staff have helped me to obtain photo- But it is impossible to set down the full list of
graphs from other sources. The Dumbarton Oaks those who have contributed to the book in one
Collection in Washington is a specialized branch way or another; in the case of those museum
of the Fogg Museum, and there I have found officials, and photographers who are
collectors,
additional exhibits for mv illustrations set. The represented by only one or two illustrations, I
University Museum at Philadelphia— more fully can only ask that they be content with the in-
the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania scribing of their names in the captions under the
has aided with many photographs not otherwise pictures —though I add a general and sincere
available, especially for the primitive, Mesopo- "thank you" here.
tamian, and Oriental chapters, to the extent of A number of museums especially photographed
more than thirty pieces. The staff at the Yale exhibits for this book. Among them were the
University Art Gallery has been generously help- American Museum of Natural History; the
ful. I owe thanks also to the Yale University Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Walters Art
Library for impressions of Babylonian seals. The Gallery at Baltimore; the Royal Ontario Museum
Art Museum of Princeton University is repre- at Toronto; the University Museum, Philadel-
sented in the Greek and Persian chapters. My phia; the Ohio State Museum; and the Oriental
debt to the Oriental Institute of the University Institute of the University of Chicago. My grati-
of Chicago is especially heavy, not only for illus- tude goes in special measure to these museums.
522 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Not given credit in the captions are the gov- dred or so prints I needed. Mv debt to him is
ernment agencies and the tourist bureaus in New great, as the captions will show. The Alinari
York which suppHed photographs from their files prints were more easily obtained, a few here, a
or (in some cases) obtained prints from their dozen there, before I arrived at Florence and the
governments abroad. In this categors' I had valued main offices of Fratelli Alinari. The salesroom
aid from the French Information Center, the staff was uniformly courteous and helpful, as
Greek Press and Information Service, the Gov- the firm's sixty-two photographs in these pages
ernment of India Tourist Office, the Swiss Na- will indicate. A second fruitful source in Paris
tional Tourist Office, the Indonesian Informa- was the "photographic document center" admin-
tion Office, The Italian Tourist Information istered by H. Roger-Viollet. My debt there is
Office, the Spanish Tourist Office, the Austrian twofold: in addition to a number of photographs
State Tourist Department, the United Arab Re- by Roger-Viollet, I found fugitive prints, even
public Information Office, and the Mexican Gov- from other countries, for reproduction in chapters
ernment Tourism Department. To these should beyond the French. In Italy the gallery bearing
be added the Irish Tourist Association in Dublin. the name Francesco Pineider provided the many
I have already noted my debt to the German Anderson photographs of classical subjects that
Information Center, which made arrangements I have used; Mr. Giuseppe Kaiser of the staff was
for my alliance with the ver\' helpful Archiv fiir particularly helpful. Giacomo Brogi of Florence
Kunst und Geschichte in Berlin; for the other ma- provided twenty-seven photographs of historic
jor contribution from a foreign institution, that of sculptures.
the Society for International Cultural Relations in If certain minor inconsistencies appear in these
Tokvo, I have tothank both the Japanese Con- acknowledgments, and possibly in the wording
sulate in New York and the Japan Society of of the captions, these are the reasons: Attribu-
America. tion of certainworks to the Persian Institute in
Finally acknowledge aid from friends who
I New York indicates only that the photographs
helped in tvvo directions: the first group by go- came into my hands before the institution
ing out of their way to make fugitive prints changed its name to Iranian Institute. (The
available; and second, the commercial photogra- words "Persia" and "Iran" are used as synonyms
phers who sold me photographs by the dozen or throughout the book.) Certain museums have
score, or even by the hundred. Of the personal changed their names during the period of the
friends I may cite Miss Elisabeth Lawrie, who book's production. Occasionally photographs
took down from her living-room wall a rare were obtained while a sculpture was in earlier
photograph and lent it long enough for rephoto- ownership; an example is a group of photographs
graphing; and Miss Elisabeth Naramore, who from the Joseph Brummer collection, from which
long ago sought out certain photographs which objects were sold to the Metropolitan Museum
I had been told were unavailable. Of the com- of Art and other institutions, some of them not
mercial photographers, I remember best, with easily traceable. I am grateful to Mr. Brummer,
friendly regard, A. Giraudon. After one of the and I am any museum or collector finds,
sorry if
wars I spent several days in his unheated office for these reasons, that some piece of sculpture in
in Paris while he combed his files for the hun- his collection is not properly attributed.
7
Aachen, Charlemagne's capital huild- Alabaster reliefs, Nottingham School, Animals: Aztec, 442, 444; Dog, ill,
ings at, 304, 317 352; ill, 353 44S; Islamic, 178, 180-81, 183;
AhToham Lincoln, Augustus St. Alcamenes (c. 400 B.C.), 117 Persian, 163; Romanesque, 320;
Gaudens, 467 Alexander, Lysippus, 122-23; *''•> Scythian, ill, 8s; from Ur, 65
Abstract ornaments. Islamic, 176, 123 Animals Fighting, Ordos Region, 85;
178; ill., 177 Algardi, Alessandro, 456 ill, 84
Abstract sculpture, 4, 23-26, 27, 92, Alhambra Palace, Granada, ill, 180 Antelope, French Sudan, ill, 41 g
193. 195, 222, 427-29, 445, 479, Alpaca, Inca, ill, 450 Antelope mask, Guro, Ivory Coast,
480, 487-89, 492, 504, 507-510; Altar of Pergamon, 126 in., 418
Amerindian shaped stones, 25-26, Al-Ubaid: Bidl, 65; ill, 61 Antlered Bear Fighting a Tiger,
427-29; Chinese jades, 193, 195; Amaravati: Miracle of the Drunken Siberia, 85; ill, 84
Chinese pottery, 222; Cycladic Elephant, 253; ill, 245 Anuradhapura, Ceylon, 257-58, 259;
marbles, 23; modern development, Amarna. See El Amarna Buddha, ill, 258; Biiddhist Fig-
480, 487-89, 504, 507—510; prim- Amazon, Franz von Stuck, 481; ill, ures, ill, 258; Couple, 258; ill,
itive weapons and 23—24. tools, 482 259
See also Constructivism; Mobiles Amazons Hunting Lions, Parthian, Aphrodite. See Venus de Medici;
Abu Simbel, temple of Amon at, 55; 174; ill, 175 Venus Genetrix; Venus Rising
ill, 54 Amenemhet III, head of, 46; ill, 47 from the Sea
Achaemenid sculpture, 161, 169-73 Amenhotep III in His Chariot, Aphrodite of the Gardens, Alca-
Acropolis. See Greek sculpture. Clas- Egypt, 48; ill, 50 menes, 1 1
sical period Amenhotep IV. See Akhenaton Aphrodite of Melos (Venus de Milo),
Actor C. Norhanus Sorix, The, Amerindian sciilpture, 424—52; areas detail, Greek, 126; ill, 129
Etrusco-Roman, 142; ill., 143 and tribes, 425-26; chief art-pro- Apollo, Attica, ill, 105
Ada, School of, 303 ducing cultures, 424—26, 429—35, Apollo, Jacopo Sansovino, ill, 392
Adam and an Angel, Notre Dame de 436-52; dating of, 426; early Apollo, detail, Olympia, 105; ill, 107
Paris, ill., 342 products, 424, 425, 452; primitive Apollo Belvedere, Greek, 3, 126
Adam and Eve Work, Jacopo della
at or near-primitive works, 424, 427, Apollo of Veii, Etruscan, 135, 136;
Quercia, 372; ill., ^64 429, 434, 452. See also Middle ill; 137
Adena Mound, Ohio: pipe in form American sciilpture Apostles, Brittany, 351; ill, 352
of standing human being, ill., 430 Amida Biuidha, Japan, 243—44; ill, Apostles, Chartres, 338; ill, 341
Adoration of the Kings, English, ill., 243 Apoxyomenos, Lysippus, 121
308 Amida Triad, Japan, ill, 237 Appliques: Scytho-Persian, Achae-
Adoration of the Magi, Nicola Amlash culture, Persia, 31, 160; ill, menid, Kuban Region, ill, 172
Pisano, 364-65, 368; ill., 370 31. 163 Apsaras: China, 209; ill, 211;
Adorers, Sumerian, 65; ill., 66, 67 Ammanati, Bartolommeo, 391, 394 Angkor Thom, 279; ill, 278, 279
Adze head, Luristan, 25; ill., 26 Ancestor, SevTnoirr Lipton, ill, 507 AquamanOe, Persia, 183; ill, 182
Aegina, temple of: figures from pedi- Ancestor mask, latmul. New Guinea, Ara Pacis: Air, Earth, and Water,
ments, 104; ill., 105 409; ill, 410 150; ill, 151
African tribail sculpture. See Negro Ancestral figure, Easter Island, ill, Arabesques, Arabian-Islamic,
178;
African sculpture 405 ill, 178, i7g
African Venus, 416; ill., 417 Angel, St. Gilles du Gard, France, Arawak culture, Dominican Repub-
Agostino di Duccio, 380; Saint 329; ill,328 lic, Puerto Rico; mask, ill, 429;
Bernardino in Glory, detail, ill., Angels, Luca della Robbia, 382; ill, mountain stone, ill, 428
380 383 Arcadian School, 115; Gods and
Ahura Mazda, Achaemenid, ill., 172 Angkor Thom, Cambodia, 276 Amazons Battling, Bassae, ill,
Air, Earth, and Water, Roman, 1 50; Angkor Vat, Cambodia, 274, 276-79 "5
ill, 151 Angouleme Cathedral, 321; ill, 322 Arch of Marcus Aurelius, Rome,
Aiyanar, India, zji ill, Animal, China, 205; ill, 204 152-53; in., 153
Akhenaton, 35, 48-51; head of, ill, Animal art of the Eurasian steppes, Archaism, Greek. See Greek sculp-
51 78—86, gs. See also Caucasus; ture, Archaic period
Akkadian (Sargonid) period, Meso- Chinese sculpture; Ordos bronzes; Archipenko, Alexander, 10, 12, 466,
potamia, 63, 68: seals of, ill, 70; Scythian sculpture 478, 488, 496; Empire, ill, 488;
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, 68- Animal forms: barbarian, 314-20; Flat Torso, ill, 488
69, ill, 68 Gallo-Celtic, ill, 314-15 Argive school, Greece, 104
524 INDEX
Aristophanes, 117 dise"), Ghiberti, 2, 7, 365, 372, Birth of Aphrodite, Ludovisi Throne,
Aristotle, 122 373,. 375-76; ill, 374, 375 Greek, 105; ill, 106
Aries, France, 329; St. Trophime in, Barbarian sculpture, Europe, 310-13, Birth of Athena, Parthenon, no
321, 329; 330in., 315-19; Asian tradition in, 315; Birth of Christ, Giovanni Pisano,
Armitage, Kenneth, 12, 480, 500 Celtic, 315, 316—18; diffusion of, 368; in., 370
Armlet, Achaemenid, ill., 173 315; Irish, 316-18; Norse, 318- Bishop Friedrich von Hohenlohe,
Arnaldi, Alberto, 371 19 Wurzburger School, ill, 355
Arp, Jean (Hans), 4, 10, 477, 478, Barlach, Ernst, 479, 486, 493; Man Bison, Magdalenian, Dordogne, 21;
480, 489, 495, 504; Growth, ill., Drawing a Sword, ill, 10; Old ill, 20
12 Woman with a Cane, ill, 486 Boar, British, 316; ill, 315
Arretine pottery, Roman, 153 Baroque sculpture, 453—60, 463; Boat ax, Swedish, ill, 24
Articulated dance mask, Kwakiutl, Italian, 456; French, 463; in Ger- Bobbins: Baule, Ivory Coast, ill, 419;
Amerindian, 432; ill., 433 manic countries, 457; rococo Bambara, French Sudan, ill,
Asam, Cosmos and Egid, Assumption st>'le, 454, 460; in Spain and 419
of Mary, ill, 458 Spanish colonial countries, 454, Boccioni, Umberto, 479
Asanga, Unkei, ill., 243 460 Bodhisattva: Ceylon, 264; ill, 263;
Ascension, The, Byzantine, ill., 158 Bar>'e,Antoine-Louis, 3, 454, 463; China, 209, 212-13, 214, 216; ill,
Asoka, 257, 273 Lion, ill, 465 page, 205, 210, 213, 215, 216,
title
Asokan columns, India, 246, 249; Baskin, Leonard, 499, 500; Poet 222; Japan, ill, 239; Korea, 227,
ill., 251 Laureate, ill, 499; St. Thomas 231; ill, 230, 233
Ass, Ur, 65; ill, 66 Aquinas, ill, 500 Book of Kells, 314
Assemblages, 2, 478, 504 Bather, Giambologna, 394; ill, 395 Borobudur, Java, 273-74, 287-88;
Assumption of Mary, Asam, 457; ill, Bathing Girl, Falconet, ill, 460 ill, 273, 287, 288, 289, 290
458 Bathing Woman, Lehmbruck, ill, Bouchard, Henri, 483-84; ill, 485
Assurbanipal, 72, 75 494 Bourdelle, Antoine, 454, 474; Ana-
Assumasirpal II, 70-71; figures of, Baton, Aurignacian, 20; ill, 15 tole France, ill, 475; Hercules,
ill, 71 Lapiths and the the Archer,
Battle of the ill, 475
Assyrian sculpture, 62, 63, 70-75, Centatirs, Michelangelo, 385; ill, Bourges Cathedral, 345
77; bas-relief murals, 62, 71—75; 384 Boxer Vase, Cretan, 92; ill, 89
portrait statues, 70; seals, 62, 68- Battle Scene, Mausoleum, Halicar- Boy Athlete Cldolino^, Greek, 115;
70; ill, 76. See also Mesopotamian nassus, ill, 122 ill, 114
sculpture Battle with Stags in an Arena, 300; Branchidae, seated figures from, 99
Athena Parthenos, throne of, 113 ill, 301 Brancusi, Constantin, 12, 466, 477,
Augustus, Roman, ill, 146 Beak-flagon, Celtic, ill, 317 478, 480, 484, 486, 487-88, 489;
Avalokita, Tibet or Nepal, ill, 267 Bear and Cub, Vagis, ill, 498 Bird in Space, ill, 487; Mile.
Avalokitesvara, Nepal, 293; ill, 292 Bears, Han, China, 200; ill, 187 Pogany, ill, 487; Yellow Bird, ill,
Ax, China, ill, 190 Bedford, Richard, 492 title page
Ax head with dragon, China, ill, 196 Bell, Clive, 4 Bridle bits, Luristan, 164; ill, 161,
Ax head with lion, Luristan, 167; Bellowing Hippopotamus, Egypt, ill, 165
ill, 166 Brooches, Celtic, 316-17; ill, 316
47
Azerbaijan, Outer Iran: early bronze Bells and gongs, Chou, China, ill, Brunelleschi, 364, 372, 373
figures of animals from, 160, 167, 193 Bucchero, 134
169; ill, 168, 169 Benevento Cathedral, detail of door, Buckle with antelope, Han, China,
Aztec sculpture, 441; Dog, ill, 444; ill, 323 201; ill, 200
Man, ill, 443; Rattlesnake, ill, Benin sculpture, 403, 419—20, 422- Buddha, Anuradhapura, Ceylon, ill,
445; Young God, ill, 443; Xipe, 423; Head, ill, 423; Head of a
ill, 44S Bini Girl, ill, 420; ivory carvings, Buddha, Bengal, 256; ill, 257
420; Leopard, ill, 421; metalwork Buddha, Borobudur, Java, ill, 287
Baboon of King Narmer, Egypt, 36, in, 422—23 Buddha, Gupta, India, 253, 261-64;
60, 62; ill, 37 Bernard, Joseph, 479, 481; Girl Car- ill, 254, 256, 263
Babylonian sculpture, 61-63, 69, rying Water, ill, 482 Buddha, Japan, ill, 240
75—77; seals and weights, 62, 68— Bernard of Clair\'aux, St., 314, 347 Buddha, detail, Japan, Chuguji
70, 75; ill, 63, 76. See also Meso- Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo, 453, Temple, ill, 234
potamian sculpture 455-56; Fountain of Trevi, ill, Buddha, Japan, Kor>'uji Temple,
Bacchus, Michelangelo, 385 456; Innocent X, ill, 456; Monu- Kyoto, ill, 235
Bahram Gur hunting with a falcon, ment to Louis XIV, ill, 453; St. Buddha, Khmer style, 276; ill, 277
Sassanian, 176; ill, 177. Theresa in Ecstasy, ill, 455 Buddha, Korea, ill, 234
Bailli de Suffren, he, Houdon, ill, Berruguete, Alfonso, 399; Tomb of Buddha, statuettes, Siam, ill, 286
463 Cardinal Tavera, ill, 399 Btiddha, Sui period, China, 206;
Ball-court marker, Mayan, Copan, Biblical Scene, Romanesque, Spain, ill,207
ill, 438 ill, 324 Buddha, Sukotai period, Siam, ill,
Baluba tribe, Africa, 403, 415-16; Biblical Scenes, detail. Church of St. 284
ill, 415, 417 Peter, Moissac, ill, 327 Buddha, Sumatra, 288; ill, 290
Balzac, Rodin, 7, 454, 468, 471; ill, Biblical Scenes, Gothic, French, ill, Buddha, Tori, Japan, 235; ill, 235
472 349, 350 Buddha, Wei, China, ill, 209
^
Banco, Nanni di. Madonna in a Bird, Mound Builders culture, Amer- Buddha, Yun Kang caves, China,
Mandorla, 371-72; ill, 373 indian, 26; ill, 28 ill, 189
Bandinelli, Baccio, 391 Bird and God's Head, Mayan, Chia- Buddha and Attendant, Lung Men
Banner stones, Amerindian, 25, 427, pas, ill, 438 caves, China, 205; ill, 206
429; ill, 9, 429 Bird in Space, Constantin Brancusi, Buddha Delivering His First Sermort,
Baptism, Andrea Pisano, Florence, ill, 487 Sarnath, India, 256; ill, 257
ill; 371 Bird stones, Amerindian, 26, 427, Buddha Expounding the Law, Pala
Baptistry doors ("Gates of Para- 429; ill, 27, 428 style, 281; in., 283
INDEX 52 5
Buddha Receives the Rohe of the Gallery, Mary, 507 Central and South America, gold and
Monks, Borobudur, Ja%'a, ill., 273 Calligraphy in Persian and Islamic silver figures and ornaments from,
Buddha Seated on a Serpent, Khmer sculpture, 162; 176; ill, 177, 178, 449-50; Alpaca, Inca, Peru, ill,
style, 281; ill., 283 179 450; Knife, Inca, Peru, ill, 450;
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Japan, Calvaires, Brittany, 320, 350-51; ill, Llama, Inca, Peru, ill, 449; Man,
229 321, 351, 352 ill, 4SO
Buddhist ahar, Wei, China, ill., log Cambio, Arnolfo di, 364, 368 Ceremonial ax, Australia, New Stone
Buddhist figures, Anuradhapura, Cambodian dancing figures, reliefs, Age, ill, 24
Ceylon, ill., 258 279; ill, 278-79 Ceremonial ax head, Han, China,
Buddhist figures, Borobudur, Java, Cambodian sculpture, 2, 273-74, ill, 200
ill., 287 275-81, 284; development of and Ceremonial ax head with lion, Luri-
Buddhist figures. Temple of Sok-kul- classic period, 274, 275-81; stan, 163; ill, 167
am, Korea, 227, 231; dl., 232 Khmer style, 273—74, 275-79; Ceremonial baton, Amerindian, ill,
Buddhist heads, Khmer style, 279; Siamese phase, 274, 281. See 23
ill., 280 also Angkor Vat; Siamese sculp- Ceremonial corn grinders, Guatema-
Buddhist Monk, Wei dynasty, ture la, Panama, 439-40; ill, 440, 523
China, 206; ill., 207 Camel, Azerbaijan, Persia, 167; ill, Ceremonial dance shield, Melane-
Buddhist sculpture: in Ceylon, 257, 168 sian, Trobriand Islands, ill, 411
259; in China, 188-89, 198, 205- Camel, T'ang, China, ill, 218 Ceremonial mask, Eskimo, South-
206, 209, 212-17, 222-25; in Cameos, Roman, ill, 159 west Alaska, ill, 434
India, 245—67; in Japan, 226, Candleholders, Flemish, German, Ceremonial mask, Kwakiutl, 430;
227, 228, 229—44; in Korea, 352; ill, 353 ill, 432
226-28, 231—34; in Nepal, 266— Canoe prow ornament, Trobriand Ceremonial mask. North West
267; in Southeast Asia, 273-93. Islands, ill, 411 Indian, Cowichan, 430; ill, 432
See also Cambodian sculpture; Canoe prows, Maori, New Zealand, Ceremonial stele, detail, Costa Rica,
Siamese sculpture; Javanese 407; ill, 407, 408 ill, 439
sculpture Canon of Polyclitus, 115, 121 Ceylon. See Sinhalese sculpture
Buddhist stelae. North Wei, China, Canova, Antonio, 461—62; Pauline Chadwick, Lynn, 507, 510; ill, 509
206; ill., 208 Bonaparte as Venus Reposing, ill, Chapel of St. Hubert, Amboise, 361;
Buddhist stupa, relief medallions 461 ill, 362
from, Barhut, India, 249; ill., 250 Canterbury Cathedral, England, Charioteer, Delphi, Greece, 102; ill,
Bidl, aquamanile, Etruscan, 136; ill., 331; capital with composition of a 103
139 griffin and a serpent, ill, 335 Chartres. See Notre Dame Cathe-
Bidl, Mesopotamian, Al Ubaid, 65; Capital with animals, Romanesque, dral, Chartres
ill, 61 France, ill, 321 Chateau of Amboise, Touraine,
Bidl, Rampurva, Bihar, India, 249; Capital with bulls, Susa, 170; ill, chapel portal, 361; 362 ill,
ill.,251 171 Cheops (Khufu), 36, 38
Btdl, Sabean, South Arabia, 176; ill., Capitals, Byzantine, Pavia, Ravenna, "Cheops cemetery," Gizeh, 38; por-
177 298—99; ill, 299 trait head of a princess from, ill,
Bull palette, Egypt, 36 Capitals, Romanesque, France, 320;
Bull's Head, Azerbaijan, Persia, 169; ill, 321, 322 Chichen-Itza, 441; ill, 442
ill, 168 Capitoline Venus, Greek, 126; ill, Chimera, Etruscan, 136, 139; ill,
Bidl's Head, Persian, pre-Achae- 129 138
menid, ill, i6g Capitoline Wolf CShe-Wolf^), Etrus- Chimera, guardian tomb figure, near
Bull's-head ornament, Sumerian, ill, can, ill, 132 Nanking, China, 205; ill, 204
68 Caricature heads, Hellenistic, Smyr- Chimera, Han, China, ill, 199
Burgundian School: Moses, Champ- na, ill, 125 Chimu effigy jars, Pre-Incan; ill,
mol monastery, near Dijon, ill, Carolingian and Ottonian carvings, 448
361 304, 307, 308 Chinese sculpture, 2, 184-225, 478;
Bust of Alexander, Lysippus, 122, Carpeaux, Jean Baptiste, 3, 454, 463; animals as subject matter in, 186—
123; ill, 123 The Dance, 465
ill, 1 87;bronze ritual vessels, 185, 190—
Bust of a Little Boy, Desiderio da Carved marble vessels, Mayan, Hon- 193; Buddhist tomb and cave carv-
Settignano, ill, ^80 duras, 439—40; ill, 440 ings, 188, 205-206; clay figures,
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, Roman, Carved relief panel, Maori, ill, 201, 212, 218—20; debt to Greco-
148; ill, 149 407 Scythian art, 198; debt to Indian
Bust of Nicola da Uzzano, Donatello, Carved stools, Baluba, Congo, 415; art, 188; dynasties, 189; influence
375-76; ill, 376 ill, 415, 416 on Korean and Japanese sculpture,
Bust of Pericles, Cresilas, ill, 123 Casket, Persian, Treasury of St. 226-27, 229, 231, 237; jade carv-
Bust of a Woman, Neapolitan school, Mark's, Venice, 180-81; ill, 181 ings, 185, 193—95, 200-202; por-
ill, 381 Caspian culture, Persia, 31, 160 celain statuettes, 222, 225
Bust of a Young Man, Greek, 99; Cats, Egyptian cult figures of, 57 Christ, St. Loup de Naud, France,
ill, 98 Caucasus, animal art of, 80, 86; ill, 330; ill, 331
Bust of a Young Woman, Desiderio 86 Christ Crowning Romanus IV and
da Settignano, ill, 380 Cave figures, Yun K'ang, China, Eudocia, Byzantine, 304-305; ill,
Butler, Reg, 500, 507; model for 188, 206; ill, 189, 206 305
The Unknown Political Prisoner, Cellini, Benvenuto, 392-93, 394; Christ Enthroned, with Symhols of
ill,500 medals, ill, 395; Perseus, ill, 393 the Evangelists, Apulia, 308; ill,
Byron, George Gordon Lord, 126 Celtic art, 310-12, 314, 315-21 309
Byzantine sculpture, 158—59, 294- Celtic burial crosses, 314, 315, 317- Christ in Majesty, Ottonian, 305;
308 318, 333; ill, 318 in., 306
Central America, patterned design Christ in a Mandorla, Byzantine-
Calder, Alexander, 478, 480,
13, from, 439—40; corn-grinding ta- Romanesque, St. Sernin, Tou-
498, 504; Red G, mobile, ill, 477 bles; ill, 440, 523 louse, ill, 325
8 1
526 INDEX
Christ Meeting Mary and Martha, Creation of Man and other scenes, Dalou, Jules, 463
and The Raising of Lazarus, Italian Gothic, Cathedral of Orvi- Dance, The, Paris Opera House,
Chichester Cathedral, England, eto, 368; ill, ^6g Carpeaux, 463; ill, 465
334-35 Creation of Woman, Andrea Pisano Dancer, Edgar Degas, ill, 466
Christ of the Resurrection, detail of a and Giotto, Giotto's tower, Flor- Dancer, Georg Kolbe, 475; ill, 476
Calvaire, Breton, ill., 351 ence Cathedral, ill, 371 Dancing Apsaras, Angkor Thom,
Christ on the Cross, French Roman- Creeft, Jose de, 496, 497; Cloud, ill, 279; ill, 278
esque, ill, 335 497; Himalaya, ill, 498 Dancing Girl, Hunan, China, ill,
Christ on the Cross, Nottingham Crescent stone, Amerindian, Ohio; 32
School, England, 352; ill., 353 ill, 24 Dancing Girl, Tanagra, ill, 124
Christ Riding the Pahnesel, Swiss Cresilas: Pericles, ill, 123; Head of Daticing God, Harappa, Punjab,
folk art, ill., 356
355; an Athlete, ascribed to, ill, 114 249; ill, 250
Church ofNotre Dame, Semur, de- Cretan sculpture- Boxer Vase, 89, Daniel in the Lion's Den, sarcopha-
tail of tympanum, 395—96; ill., 395 92; bronze figurines, 93; clay stat- gus relief, Roman, 157
Church San Michele, Pavia, capi-
of uettes, primitive, 92; impressions Danneker, Johann von, 462; Self-
299
tal, ill., of seals, ill, 93; Pre-Hellenic, 89, Portrait, ill, 462
Cimmerians, 79 90, 92—93; Snake-Priestess, ill, Dante, 2
Circus Races with Cupids, relief on 88 Darius the Great, Attended hy
a sarcophagus, Roman, 154; ill., Croesus of Lydia, 1 1 Xerxes, Persian, 172; ill, 162,
156 Cro-Magnon culture, 18, 20—22, 24; 170
Cist, Etruscan, ill., 140 Venuses, ill, 22, 23 Daind, Donatello, 378; ill, S79
Clasp, Barbarian, Iceland, ill., 319 Cromlechs, Stone Age, 18 David, Michelangelo (1504), ill,
Classical sculpture, Greek, 87, 89, Crouching Eros, Myrina, Hellenistic, 385
90, 105—20. See also Greek sculp- 124; ill, 125 David, Michelangelo (1529), ill,
ture, Classical period Crouching Panther, Parthian period,
Clay figurines, Cyprus: Mother God- Persia, 173; ill, 160 David, Verrochio, 378; ill, 379
desses, statuettes, ill., 88 Crouching Stag, Scvthian, Caucasus, Davidson, Jo, 474
Clay jars, Mound Builders culture, 81; ill, 82 Dawn, Alichelangelo, 388; 366 ill,
435; 435, 436

in., Crucifix, Abbey Church at
detail, Day, Michelangelo, 388; ill, 389
Clay vessels, southern United States, Werden an der Ruhr, Germany, De Stijl group, 479
435; ill., 435, 436 335; ill; 334 Death of Aegisthos, Greek, ill, 104
Cliff sculpture, India, 246, 259, 260; Crucifix, Cluny museum, 349; ill, Death of the Virgin, Tilman Rie-
Mamallapuram, Descent of the 350 menschneider, 396; ill, ^67
Ganges, details, ill., 260, 261 Crucifix, French, 399; ill, 398 Decorative objects, Trobriand Is-
Clodion (Claude Michel), 454, 460; Crucifixes: Romanesque woodcarv- lands, ill, 41
Satyr and Nymph, ill., 461 ings, 336; Crucifix at Nuremberg, Decorative panel, Easby Abbey,
Cloud, Jose de Creeft, ill., 497 336; ill, 335; detail QHead of Yorkshire, England, 334; ill, 333
Club, Maori, New Stone Age, 25; Christ'), ill, 334 Deer, Ordos, China, ill, 198
ill, 26 Crucifixion, Byzantine, ill, 306 Deer and Fawn, Greek, ill, 95
Cluny, 327 Crucifixion, Carolingian, 304; ill., Deer's Head, mask, Amerindian,
Coin with lion and peacock, Islamic, 305 435; in., 436
176; ill, 177 Crucifixion, French, 349; ill, 350 Degas, Edgar, 12, 466; Dancer, til,
Coins, Greek, 5th-4th centuries b.c, Crucifixion, Ottonian, 305-306; ill, 466
ill, 118 306 Demon Woman, Sumerian, Al-
Colleoni, Bartolommeo : monument Crucifixion, Romanesque, Spain, ill, Ubaid, 64; ill, 66
to, by Verrochio, 378; ill, 379 324 Descent of the Ganges, details,
Colombe, Michel, 399 Crucifixion and Deposition, Byzan- Mamallapuram, India, 259; ill,
Column, Naum Gabo, ill, 506 tine, ill, 307
307-308; 260, 261
Comic Actor, Boeotia, ill, 125 Crucifixion and Related Scenes, Desiderio da Settignano, 380; Bust
Confronting Animals, Luristan, 163, panel from a bookbinding, Byzan- of a Little Boy, ill, 380; Bust of
167; ill, 163, 164 tine, 306; ill, 307 a Young Woinan, ill, 380
Confucius, 186, 189 Cubism, 477, 478, 479> 495, 5°! Despair, Rodin, ill, 471
Congolese mask from Warega, 418; Cupbearer, Hellenistic, Myrina, 1 24; Despiau, Charles, 454, 463. 474,
ill, 403 ill, 125 478, 492, 495, 501; Head of
Constructivism, 2, 479-80; 504; Cups, sculptured, Mayan, Honduras; Madame Derain, ill, 474
Column, Naum Gabo, ill, 506 ill, 440 Detail from frieze of the Cantoria,
Curly-Horned Ram, Susa, 64; ill, Florence Cathedral, Donatello,
Contest of Heroes with Lions and
Water Buffalo, Akkadian, ill, 63 65 376; ill, 377
Coptic sculpture, 295, 300-303, 308 Cycladic figures, 22-23, 90, 92, 95; Detail from a Madonna, German,
Coronation of the Virgin, altarpiece, ill, I, 23, 90, 91 ill-,355
Andrea della Robbia, 382; ill, 383 Cycladic idol, 22-23; ill, 23 Detail from a Maori assembly house,
Couple, Anuradhapura, Ceylon, 258; Cylinder seal, stone and impression, 407; ill, 408
ill, 259 Sumerian, Ur, ill, 62 Diana, Houdon, ill, 462
Court of the Lions, Alhambra Palace, Cy'priot sculpture, 92, 94, 95, 102; Dionysus, Parthenon, Athens, 90,
Granada, Spain, ill, 180 clay figurines of Mother Goddess, no; ill., no
88; early Dionysus, Pan, and a Bacchante,
Coustou, Guillaume, the elder, 459 prehistoric, 94; ill,
Cow and Calf, North Syria, 77; ill, Eurasian stjdes in, 94-95; geo- Greco-Roman, ill, 518
metric stv'le in, 95; ill, 103; head Disciple of Btiddha, Nara, Japan,
76
Cowichan mask, Amerindian, 431- of a man, ill, 94 ill, 239
Cyrenian Aphrodite, Greek, 126; ill, Discoholus, or DiscMS Thrower, My-
432; ill, 432
128 ron, 106; ill, 108
Coysevox, Antoine, 459
Creation of Man, Jacopo della Quer- Disk or astronomical ring, Chou,
Dahomey, 420, 422; Lion, ill, 420 China, 193; ill, 194
cia, 372; ill, 373
INDEX 527
Dobson, Frank, 476, 491 Elkan, Benno, 474 Feline animal, Manchuria or China,
Dog, Aztec, 442; ill., 444 Ellora, Temple of Kailasa, ill, 259 ill, 81
Dog, Han, China, 201; ill., 202 Ely Cathedral, English Norman, Feline Animal, Solutrian, Dordogne,
Dolmens, Stone Age, 18. See also 331, 335 ill, 19
Stonehenge Empire, Alexander Archipenko, ill, Female Figure, pre-Khmer, 275; ill,
Donatello (i 386-1466), 3, 7, 364, 488 276
365, 366, 372, 375-78, 394, 399, Endymion, panel on a sarcophagus, Ferber, Herbert, 507
468; Dax'id, ill., 379; Frieze of the Roman, 2nd centur\'; ill, 154; sar- Fern, Etienne Hajdu, ill, 489
Cantoria, Florence Cathedral, ill., cophagus with Endymion stor\', c. Ferrara Cathedral, Romanesque,
377; Gattemelata monument, de- 200 A.D., ill, 155 stone reliefs on, 323
tail, ill., 376; Medallion with bust English architecture. See Norman Fertility fetishes, Mesopotamian, 61
of Ninfa, 395; Nicola da
ill., sculpture Fibulae and ornaments: Barbarian,
Uzzano, ill., sy6; St. George, ill., Epstein, Jacob, 12, 478, 492, 493; Albania, Austria, Switzerland,
3,77; Yonthfid St. John, ill., 378; Night and Day, 492; Senegalese etc., 315; ill, 311; Celtic, 316-17;
Zuccone, ill., 377 Girl, ill, 493; Visitation, detail, ill, 316
Doorway, Church of St. Peter, Aul- ill, 493 Fiesole, Mino da, 380
nay, France, ill., 329 Equestrian statue, the Great Elector, Figure, Nicaragua, ill., 439
DorypJioros, copy of original by Andreas Schliiter, ill, 457 Figure from. Folkunga Fotmtain,
Polyclitus, Argive, 115; ill., 114 Equestrienne Dismounting, T'ang, Cari Milles, 482; ill, 483
Douhle Animal, Scythian, Russia; China, ill, 219 Figure Holding a Bag, Bahuana,
ill, 79 Eskimo sculpture, 425, 434; Man Gabon, ill, 412
Double Goose, pipe, Hopewell with Wings, ill, 435; mask, ill, Figure for Landscape, Barbara Hep-
Mound, Ohio; ill., 429 434; Seal, ill, 435 worth, ill, 492
Double portrait, Etruscan, 135; ill., Etruscan Dining, portrait on sarco- Figure panel, Gallo-Roman, 320;
13,4 phagus cover, ill, 140 ill, 321
Dragon Chinese sculpture, 186,
in Etruscan sculpture, 2, 132— 141; Figure of Buddha, Gupta, India,
190, 195-96, 201, 211; ill., 186, early figures and portraits in 253; ill, 254
19$, 196, 197, 202, 211 bronze, 132, 134; in clay, 136, Figure of Christ, St. Sernin, Tou-
Dragons, jade, Han, China, 201; ill., 141; Greek influences on, 132, louse, ill, 325
202 141-42; historical periods of, 133; Figure of a Man, Eg>'ptian, ill, 37
Duchamp-Villon, Raymond, 479, late naturalism, 142; relation to Figure with a Proboscis, Melanesian,
501 Scythian st>'le, 132, 136; portraits, New Guinea, ill, 410
Durham Cathedral, England, 331 135, 141—42; portraits on sarco- Figured cups, c. 1500 B.C., Vaphio,
Dying Gladiator, Pergamene school, phagi and funerary urns, 135, 136, 93; in., 92, 93
3, 126; ill., 130 141. See also Roman sculpture Figures, Cycladic, 92; ill, 90, 91
European Christian sculpture. See Figures in North Portal, Cathedral
Early Christian art, Byzantine and Barbarian sculpture; Romanesque of Notre Dame, Chartres, 12th
Coptic, 294-308 sculpture; Gothic sculpture century, 338; ill, 338, 339
Early Christian sarcophagus, Rome, Eve, attributed to Riemenschneider; Figures supporting a seat, Warua,
299; ill., 301 ill, 398 Congo, 415; ill, 416
Easter Island, 403; ancestral figure, Eve, Peter Vischer the Younger, 396; Figures with talismanic animals,
ill., 40^; Heads, ill., 402; idols, ill; 397 163-64; in., 164
404—405; ill., 405 Ewer, Persia, 181; ill, 182 Figurine of a king, Egypt, Dynasty
Ecce Puer, Medardo Rosso, ill., 467 Ewer, Sassanian, Persia, ill, 174 I, 37; ill; 38
Eckhart, Meister, quoted, 8 "Exotic" sculpture. See South Sea Figurines, African, Kissi, French
Effig>', Nicaragua, ill., 439 Island sculpture; Negro African Guinea, 411; ill, 412
Effigy jars, Amerindian, 27, 29; ill., sculpture Fiji islands, 402, 403, 406; Fijian
29,30,31 Expressionism, modern, 478, 479, woman, ill, 406
Effigy jars, Arkansas, Mound Build- 480, 482, 484-86, 487-510 Finials, Luristan, 163, 167; ill, 163,
ers culture, 435; ill., 435, 436 Expulsion, The, Jacopo della Quer- 164, 166
Effigy jars, Tarascan, Alexico, 29, cia, 372; ill, 364 Fiori,Ernesto de, 493
446; 30, 447
ill, Extreme Unction, Andrea Pisano, Fishhook, Amerindian, Channel Is-
Effig\' of the Chancellor Rene de ill, 371 lands, California, 26; ill, 27
Birague, Germain Pilon, 399; ill, Flamboyant Gothic, 347-50; Cha-
398 teau of Amboise, 361; ill, 362;
Effigy pipes, Amerindian, Mound Facade, Church of Notre Dame la Church of Notre Dame, Semur,
Builders culture, 26, 425, 429—30; Grande, Poitiers, 321; ill, 322 ill; 347
bird, 429; ill, 425, 430; bird, man, Facade, Rouen Cathedral, 347; de- Flannagan, John B., 8, 497, 498;
ill, 28; double head effigy pipe, tail, ill, 348 Goat, ill, 8; Head, ill, 499
ill, 429 Faggi, Alfeo, 496, 497; St. Francis, Flat Torso, Alexander Archipenko,
Egyptian sculpture, 33—60; charac- ill, 488
ill, 497
teristics of, 33-35; chronology', 35; Falcon, Saitic, Eg>'pt, ill, 57 Flemish image of St. James, ill, 357
conventions of figure carving, 34; Falconet, Etienne, 7; Bathing Girl, Flute Player, T'ang, China; ill, 220
earliest carvings, 36-37; foreign ill, 460 Flying figures, Aihole, India, 258;
influences, 48; great ages of, 36— Fantastic Animal, Han, China, ill, ill; 259 , , .„
42; 50, 51, 55; portraiture, 34, 37— 199 Flying Mercury, Giambologna, ill,
42, 46, 47, 50—52; Sphinx and Fantastic beaked dragon, Han, 394
pyramids, 38, 39; temples and China, 201; ill, 202 Folk art, late Gothic period, 35o-5i>
tombs, figures in, 34, 38, 39, 55, Farnese Hercules, Glycon, ill, 131 354-57; Breton Calvaires, 350-
60; tomb reliefs, 44, 48 Faure, Elie, Histoire de I'Art, 248 351; ill, 321, 351, 352; German
El Amarna, 35, 50-51 Fauvism, 478, 479, 495 wood car\'ings, 354, 355; ill, 35 5,
Elephant, libation jar, Chou, China, Feats of Hercules, Roman sarco- 356; Swiss wood carvings, 357,
191; ill, 193 phagus relief, ill, 156 ill; 356
528 INDEX
Folkiinga Fountain, Carl Milles, 496, 501; Large Head, ill, 502; Greek sculpture, 87-131; Archaic
482; ill., 483 Man Pointing, ill, 502 period, 89, 96—102; characteristics
Formalism, modern, 479, 481, 482, Giambologna (John of Boulogne), of, 87, 89, 98, 115; Classical
483 367, 391. 393-94, 453; Bather, period, 87, 89, 90, 105—120; coins,
. „ ,
Found-object or "junk" sculpture, 2, ill, 395; Flying Mercury, ill, 394 1 18; Cycladic marbles, 22—23, 9°,
498, 504 Gilded Madonna, Cathedral of 92, 95; geometric style, 90, 95-
Fountain of Trevi, Bernini and fol- Amiens, 342; ill, 347 96; gems and gem cutting, 109;
lowers, ill., 456 Gill, Eric, 8, 483, 484, 485; Stele, Hellenistic period, 90, 121—26;
Fountain or downspout, Majapahit ill, 480; Tobias and Sara, ill, 485 kouroi or Apollos and korai or
period, Java, 293; ill., 292 Gilyaks, Eastern Siberia, 434 maidens, 89, 97, 98—102; natural-
France, Anatole, portrait bust by Giotto, 371; relief panels by Andrea ism and realism in, 87, 90, 95, 98,
Bourdelle, ill., 475 Pisano and Giotto, campanile, 105—106, 115, 121, 122—23, 126;
Frankish-Byzantine or Germano- Florence, ill, 371 pre-Hellenic period, Crete, Cy-
Byzantine religious works, 308 Giovanni, Bertoldo di, 381 prus, Mycenae, 89, 90, 91—95,
Frieze, Omayad Palace, Mshatta, Girardon, Frangois, 459 102; reliefs, historical review,
Syria, ill., 178 Girl Carrying Water, Joseph Ber- 102—104; reliefs of the Ludovisi
Frieze of the Cantoria in the Cathe- nard, 481; ill, 482 throne, 105; reliefs of the Parthe-
dral museum, Florence, Donatello, Gislebertus, sculptor of The Last non, 111-113; terra-cotta statu-
376; ill, 377 Judgment, Autun, France, 312, ettes of Tanagra, Myrina, and
Frieze of dancing apsaras, Angkor 328-29 Sm}T:na, 23-25
Thom, 279; ill., 278 Gizeh, Egypt, Cheops cemetery at, Greek Slave, Hiram Powers, 463
Friezes, Persepolis, 172; ill., 170- Greehs and Amazons Battling, Ar-
172 Gladiatorsand Lions, Byzantine, cadian, 115, 117; ill, 115
Frontality: in Eg>'ptian sculpture, ill,308 Gross, Chaim, 496
34; in Greek sculpture, 98, 99, Glazed brick technique in relief Growth, Jean Arp, 489; ill, 12
103 sculpture: Neo-Babylonian, ill, Guardian, detail, Shinya-Kushiji
Futurism, 479 75; Persian, 170; ill, 170, 171 Temple, Nara, Japan, 239; ill,
Glenkiln Cross, Henry Moore, 491; 238
Gabo, Naum, 478, 479, 480, 504; ill, 4go Guardian King, Todaiji Temple,
Column, ill., $06 Glycon, 131; ill, 131 Nara, Japan, 239; ill, 238
Gallic-Celtic sculpture, 317 Goat, John B. Flannagan, 498; ill, 8 Guardian with Lantern, Koben,
Gallo-Roman sculpture, 319—20; ill., God Hadad, The, Phoenician, ill, Kofukuji Temple, Nara, Japan,
321 243; ill, 242
Gandharan sculpture, 205, 246, God of Healing, Yakushiji Temple, Guardians. See Tomb and temple
248, 254-56 Nara, Japan, 236; ill, 237 guardians
Gargallo, Pablo, 496 God Protector, Todaiji Temple, Gudea, Sumerian king, 67, 68; por-
Gargoyles, Cathedral of Notre Dame Nara, Japan, 237; ill, 238 traits of, ill, 67, 68
de Paris, 342; ill., 310 God with a horse, and crocodile,
Gates of Hell, studies for, Rodin, Coptic, 300; ill, 301
472 Goddess Neit, The, Egyptian, 55; Hacha, Tajin, Vera Cruz, ill, 445
"Gates of Paradise," Ghiberti, 2, 7, ill, 56 Hagelaidas of Argos, 104
365, 372, 373, 375-76; ill., 3,74, Gold cups from Mycenae and Va- Hahn, Hermann, 493
375 phio, ill, 89 Haida culture, 425, 432; Head of
Gateway figures, Assyrian, 70-71; Gonzalez, Julio, 12, 478, 495, 507, eagle, 432; ill,433
ill.,71; Persian, 172 510; Montserrat, ill, 13 Hajdu, Etienne, 477-78, 480, 489,
Gateway or doorway of honor, pal- Good Shepherd, The, Roman, ill, 496; Fern, ill, 489
ace of Darius I, Persepolis, 1 72 157 Haller, Herman, 10
Gattamelata monument at Padua, Gopurams, Meenakshi Temple, Ma- Hallstatt culture, 19
detail, Donatello, ill., 376 dura, India, 271; ill, 272 Haniwa sculpture, Japan, 227, 234;
Gaudier, Henri, later Gaudier- Gothic sculpture, 312, 313, 314, ill, 235
Brzeska, 8, 479, 486; Seated 328, 338-63, 365, 367, 368-72; Hare, David, 507
Figure, ill., 486 anonymity of sculptors in, 312; Harihara, Khmer, 275; ill, 276
Gauguin, Paul, 503 change in style of figure carving, Ha-Shet-Ef, Egypt, 42; ill, 43
Gem cutting, Greece, 109; ill.,109 338; in French cathedrals, 312; Hatshepsut, Queen, portrait of,
Gemma Augustae, Roman cameo, growing realism in, 338, 339, Egypt, 47; ill, 48
ill, 159 347—48; ivory carving, 349—50; Hawaiian Islands, 402, 403; War
Geometric or zoomorphic ornament, masterpieces of, Amiens and God, ill, 406
barbarian, 313, 315—16 Reims, 343; spread through West- Hawk, pipe. Mound Builders Cul-
Geometric style, pre-Hellenic, 90, ern world, 352-53, 357-59; Stras- Ohio, ill, 430
ture,
95-96; ill, 95 bourg and Rouen, flamboyant Hawk, platform pipe, Tremper
Gerhaert, Nicolas, of Leyden, 312, phase of, 347. See also Folk art, Mound, Ohio, 429-30; 425
ill,
359; self-portrait on Strasburg late Gothic period Head, Achaemenid, Persia, ill, 169
Cathedral, ill, 358 Goujon, Jean, 399 Head, Byzantine, 296; ill, 303
German Gothic sculpture, 352-53; Grafly, Charles, 474 Head, Columbia River culture, Sau-
and folk arts of late period, 354— Grain jar, early Chou, China, 190; vies Island, 434; ill, 433
355; monumental official style in, ill, 191 Head, Congo, 416; ///., 417
357 Gravestone of Hegeso, Athenian, Head, Cyprus, 102; ill, 103
Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 2, 5, 6, 7, 365, ill, 117 Head (downspout or gargoyle), Par-
372, 373. 375-76; and Brunel- Great Buddha, Kamakura, Japan, thian, ill, 174
leschi, 372; Baptistry doors, Flor- 243; in., 242 Head, Fang, Gabon, 416; ill, 417
ence Cathedral, "Gates of Para- Great Elector, portrait bust, Andreas Head, Flannagan, ill, 499
dise," 375; ill, 374, 375 Schluter, ill, 4S7 Head, Greek, 102; ill, 101
Giacometti, Alberto, 477, 478, 480, Greco-Roman st>'le, 131 Head, Lachaise, ill, 496
INDEX 529
Head, Mathura, India, 253; ill., 254 Head of a Devata, Turkestan, ill, Hepworth, Barbara, 478, 492; Figure
Head, Modigliani, ill., 50^ 256 for Landscape, ill, 492
Head, Nigeria, 420; ill., 421 Head of a Dragon, late Chou, China, Hera of Samos, 97; ill, g6
Head, shaped like ceremonial ax, 195; in., 196 Hercules, temple of Aegina, Greece,
Totonac, 445; ill., 446 Head of a Dragon, possibly Elamite, ill, 105
Head, shaped like ceremonial ax, ill, 69 Hercules or Warrior, Etruscan, ill,
Vera Cruz, 445; ill., 446 Head of eagle, mask, Haida, 432;
Head, Strasburg, 344-45; ill., 346 ill; 433 Hercides the Archer, Bourdelle, 474;
Head, T'ang, China, ill., 217 Head of Elizabeth, Bamberg Cathe- ill, 47S
Head, Tarascan or Totonac, 446; dral, 352; ill, 353 Hermes Resting, attributed to Praxi-
ill, 447 Head of a Girl, School of Praxiteles, teles, 120; ill, 121
Head, Toltec, Mexico, 440; ill., 441 120; ill, 121 Hermes with the Infant Dionysus,
Head, Vera Cruz, ill., 444 Head of Hanako, Rodin, ill, 470 Praxiteles, ill, iig
Head of an African, Roman, 148; Head of a Horse, Etruscan, 141; ill, Herodotus, 33, 62, 78
ill., 149 142 Hesire, tomb portrait reliefs of,
Head of an Athlete, Cresilas, Head of a Horse, Han, China, 201; Egypt, 43; ill, 44
Athenian, ill., 114 ill, 202 Hildebrand, Adolf, Problem of Form
Head of an Athlete, Etruscan, 141; Head of a King, Egyptian, 46; ill, 47 in Painting and Sctdpture, 4, 479,
ill, 143 Head of King Stephen, Bamberg, 493
Head of a Bearded Man, pre-Achae- Germany, 352; ill, 353 Hildesheim, metal-casting at, 308
menid, Azerbaijan, i6g
ill, Head of a Lion, T'ang, China, 218; Hildesheim Cathedral doors, Ot-
Head of a Bini Girl, Benin, Nigeria, ill, 219 tonian school. Prankish German,
ill, 420 Head of Mme. Detain, Despiau, ill, 323
Head of a Bodhisattva, China, 209; 474 Hill jar, Han, Chica, ill, 201
ill, 210 Head of Mahler, Rodin, ill, 470 Himalaya, Jose de Creeft, 497; ill,
Head of a Bodhisattva, Khmer, ill, Head of Maize God, Mayan, Copan, 498
281 436; ill, 4S7 Hindu sculpture, 245-72, 274, 276,
Head Buddha, Aytudhya style,
of Head of a Man, Cyprus, 95; ill, 94 290; antecedent to Buddhism, 245;
Siam, ill, 284 Head of a Man, Egyptian, 60; ill, ^6 Aryan and Dravidian dominance,
Head of Buddha, Borobudur, Java, Head of a Priest, Cyprus, 102; ill, 246; characteristics 246, 248,
of,
ill, 287 251-53, 265-66; Indus
Valley
Head of Buddha, fragment, T'ang, Head of the Prophet Joel, Master culture, 245, 249; influence in
China, 216; ill, 217 Bertram, Church of St. Peter, Ceylon, 258; influence in South-
Head of Buddha, Gandhara, 254; Hamburg, 352; ill, 354 east Asia, 274, 276, 290; lush st>'le
ill, 255 Head of Rameses II, Egypt, 55; ill, in South India, 258—61; medieval
Head of Buddha, Khmer, 12th cen- 54 and late periods, 264—66; variant
tury, 281, ill, 280 Head of St. Christopher, Ivan Me§- types in Bihar and Bengal, 266;
Head of Buddha, Khmer, 12th- 13th trovicf, ill, 484 in Nepal, 266-67
centuries, ill, 281 Head of St. Fortunata, 363; ill, 361 Hippopotamus, Egypt, c. 2000 B.C.,
Head Buddha, Khmer, Lopburi,
of Head of Sorrow, Rodin, ill, 471 45, ill, 46
Siam, 279, 281; ill, 280 Head of a Warrior, Etruscan, ill, Hippopotamus, Egypt, 3200 B.C., 38;
Head of Buddha, Khmer-Siamese, 136 ill; 33
281; in., 282 Head of a Water Buffalo, late Chou, Hittite sculpture, 69, 70; ill, 64, 70
Head of Buddah, Mon style, Siam, China, ill, 200 Homer, portrait of, 126; ill, 129
281; ill, 27s Head of a Woman, Etruscan, ill. Hopi, Amerindian tribe of the
Head of Buddha, Mon stvle, Siam, Southwest, 425
28i;iZZ., 282 Head-dress for dance, Ibibio, Ni- Horned Monster, libation jar, early
Head of Buddha, Mon style, Siam, geria, 412; ill, 414 Chou, China, 190, 191; ill, 191
284; ill, 283 Headrest simulating a hare, Egypt, Horse, aquamanile, Romanesque,
Head of Buddha, Mon-Gupta style, ill, 48 Flemish, ill, 337
281; ill, 282 Heads, Benin, Ife, Nigeria, ill, 423 Horse, Athens, 102; ill, loi
Head of a Buddha, Northern Ch'i, Heads, Ife, Nigeria, ill, 422 Horse, Ch'ing, Kang Hsi period,
Honan, China, 209; ill, 210 Heads, Mayan, Copan, 436; ill, 437 China, ill, 225
Head of Buddha, Prah-Khan Tem- Heads, Polynesian, Easter Island, Horse, Han
period, Ordos region,
ple, East Cambodia, ill, 280 404; ill, 402 Chinese border, 196; ill, 197
Head of Buddha, pre-Khmer, 275; Heads and figures, fetishes, Baluba Horse, Haniwa, Japan, 234; ill, 235
ill, 277 and Bapende, Congo, 416; ill, Horse, Luristan, 164; ill, 161
Head of Buddha, T'ang, China, 216; 417 Horse, Ordos region, China, 83; ill.
ill, 217 Heads of Buddha, Gandhara, 5th
Head of Buddha, Thai-Lopburi style, centur>', 7th-ioth centuries, 254; Horse, Ordos region, China, 196;
Siam, 285; ill, 284 ill, 255 ill; 197
Head of Buddha, Thai-Lopburi type, Heads of Buddha, Thai, 284-85; Horse, Perm district, U.S.S.R., 85;
Siam, ill, 285 ill, 285 ill, 84
Head of a Buddhist monk, Java, ill, Heads of St. Philip and St. Stephen, Horse, Persia, ill, 177
293 Alsatian Gothic style, 345; ill, Horse, Sassanian, Arabia, ill, 176
Head of Christ, detail of Calvaire, 346 Horse, Scvtho-Siberian st\'le, 84;
Brittany, 320; ill, 321 Heavenly Musician, Todaiji Tem- ill, 85^
Head of Christ, detail of Crucifix, ple, Nara, Japan, ill, 241 Horse, T'ang, China, ill, 212
Nuremberg, 336; ill, 334 Hegeso, gravestone of, Greece, ill, Horse, from a sketch model by Leo-
Head of Christ, detail of a Cruci- 117 nardo da Vinci, 391; ill, 392
fixion, Abbey Church, Werden an Hei-tikis, Maori, 407; ill, 407, 408 Horse, Wei, China, ill, 212
der Ruhr, Germany, 335; ill, 334 Hellenistic sculpture. See Greek Horse, Woldenberg, Germanv, 32;
Head of Christ, Spanish, ill, 336 sculpture, Hellenistic period ill, 16
9
530 INDEX
Horse and Rider, Attica, ill., 94 Impression from seal, Uruk, Sumer- 305, 306, 308; periods of renais-
Horse and Rider, Cyprus, 92; ill., 94 ian, ill, 63 sance, Carolingian and Ottonian,
Horse and Rider, IVIarino Marini, Impressionism in modern sculpture, 303-304, 308; portraiture on, 296;
500; ill., 501 454, 466, 467, 469, 473, 474, 483 in China, 224—25; ill, 224;
Horse and Rider, Andrea Pisano and Impressions from gems, Greece, ill, Gothic, 349-50; Romanesque, ill,
Giotto, Florence Cathedral, ill., log 324
371 Impressions from seals: Akkadian, Ivory fetishes of Baluba and Bapende
Horse and Rider, after Leonardo da 69, 70; ill, 70; Assyrian and Baby- tribes, ill, 417
Vinci model, 391; ill.,392 lonian, 75; ill, 76; Assyrian, Per- Ivory figurines, Ephesus, 96
Horse and Wild Goat, Scythian, sian, Achaemenid period, ill, 173; Ivory knife handle, pre-dynastic,
Crimea, 81; ill., 80 Cretan and Mycenaean, ill, 93; Egypt, 36; ill, 37
Horse in Combat, T'ang, China, ill., Mesopotamian, 62, 68—70, 75.
218 See also Seals and seal cutting Jacobsen, Robert, 12, 507
Horse of Selene, Parthenon, Athens, Incas of Peru: culture of, 448-49; Jade carvings, China, 185, 193-95,
ill, III Alpaca, ill, 450; jars and portrait 200—201; ill, 186, 194, 195, 200,
Horseman, Hellenistic, Myrina, 124; vessels, ill, 448; knife, ill, 449; 202
in., 125 Llamas, ill, 448, 449; Puma, ill, Jaguar, Neolithic, Panama, ill, 32
Horseman, probably Italian, 352; ill., 449 Japanese sculpture, 226-44; bronzes,
353 Incense burners, Mexico, Zapotec, from 7th century, 236; character-
Horseman and two candleholders, 440; ill, 441 istics of, 234, 235, 236; folk art
Romanesque, Flemish, German, Indian Prince and Attendants, South (Haniwa), 227—34; historic per-
Italian, 336-37; ill, 337 India, ill, 183 iods of, 230; important periods of
Horsemen, Parthenon, Athens, ill, Indian sculpture, 188, 205, 245-72, Buddhist sculpture, Suiko to
113 273-76, 281, 286; Buddhist- Kamakura, 235—40; guardian fig-
Horses, geometric style, Greek, ill, Hindu styles, 246, 248, 267; cave ures, 231, 239; primitive art
95 shrines, 248, 259; earliest datable (Jomon), 227, 231; wood-carved
Horses of St. Mark's, Greek, 126; sculpture, 249; earliest figures ex- statues, 229, 235. See also Korean
ill, 128 cavated, Indus Valley, 245, 249; sculpture; Chinese sculpture
Horses of the Sun, Robert le Lorrain, ethnic cultures and history, 246- Jar with effigy added, Peru, ill, 27
ill,
4S9 248; female body in early art, 253; Javanese sculpture, 274, 286—93;
Houdon, Jean Antoine, 3, 6, 454, Greek influence, 253-56; Hindu Borobudur, 286—88; Sumatran-
463; Diana, ill, 462; Le Bailli de deities, 264-69; twelfth -century Javanese empire, 288; Temple of
Siiffren, ill, 46^; Louise Brog- decadence, 265 Siva at Prambanan, 290
niard, ill, title page Indus Valley culture, 245, 249; fig- Javelin throwers, Magdalenian, Dor-
Human-effigy jar, Chihuahua, Mex- ures and seals of, 245; ill, 249, dogne, 21; ill, 20
ico, 29; ill, 31 Joman culture. Neolithic, Japan,
Human-effigy pipe, Adena mound, Innocent X, Bernini, ill, 456 227, 231; ill, 231
Ohio, ill, 430 Insect, David Smith, 510; ill, 508 Journey of the Stin through the Un-
Human-effigy pipe, Amerindian, Interior, monastic church at Stams, derworld, Saitic, Eg^'pt, ill., 58
Tennessee, ill, 430 Austrian Tyrol, 457; ill, 458 Julius Caesar, reputed portrait bust
Hunting boars, Sassanian, 178; ill, Interior tomb wall reliefs, Sakkara, of, 144—46; ill, 145
177 Egypt, 44; ill, 44, 45.513
Hunting Scene, palace of Assurna- Iranian sculpture. See Persian sculp- Kaikei (Japanese sculptor), 241
sirpal II, Assyrian, ill, 72 ture Kailasa Temple, Ellora, India, ill,
Hunting Scene, impression from Irish people, 317-18 259
seal, Akkadian, 69; ill, 70 Iron Age art, 315; ill, 315-17; sculp- Kali with Cymbals, Nepal, ill, 269
Hunting Scenes, palace of Assur- ture of Hallstatt and Le Tene cul- Kandarya Mahadeva, Temple, Kha-
banipal, Nineveh, Assyrian, 72; tures, 1 juraho, India, detail, 261; ill, 262
ill, 74 Iron in modern sculpture. See Gon- Kandinsky, Vasily, 479, 489
zalez Khafre, king of Egypt, 38, 39; ill, 40
Iroquois, 424, 425 Khmers, 273-81. See also Cambo-
Iberia and Malta; relics of stone and Isaiah and Jeremiah, North Portal, dian sculpture; Siamese sculpture
bronze ages, 91—92 Cathedral of Notre Dame, Char- Killer Whale, shaman's charm, Tlin-
Ibex, Luristan, ill, 168 tres, ill, S39 git, Alaska, ill, 424
Idol, Cycladic, 22-23; ^'^v 23 Ishtar Gate (Gate of Processions), Kinetic sculpture, 504. See also
Idol, Easter Island, 404, 405; ill, Babylon, ill, 74 Mobiles
405 Islamic sculpture, 176-83; abstract King, dynasty I, Eg\'pt, 37; ill, 38
Idolino, or Boy Athlete, Greek, 115; decorative character of, 178—80, King, fragment of relief, Eg\'pt, ill,
ill, 1 14 183; lacelike ornamentation on 60
Idols: South Sea Islands, 404—405; buildings, 180; pottery, 182-83; Kiss, The, Rodin, 469, 471; ill, 7
hei-tikis, 404; ill, 407, 408; sta- prohibition of image-making lifted, Kladeos, detail. Temple of Zeus,
tues, Easter Island, 405; ill, 402, 178, 180; in Spain, 180; use of Olympia, 105; ill, 107
405 stucco in, 178. See also Persian Kneeling Woman, Wilhelm Lehm-
lie, Yoruba, recent discoveries in, sculpture bruck, ill, 494
422; ill, 422, 423 Ivories and ivory carvings: Byzan- Kneeling Woman, Susa, 64; ill, 65
lllissos, Parthenon, Athens, 90, no; tine, 295, 296, 297-98, 299-300, Knife, Inca, Peru, ill, 450
ill, 87 302, 303, 304-308; ill, 295, 297, Knife handle, pre-dynastic, Egypt,
Illustration for Psalm XXVII, Caro- 298, 299, 300, 301, 304, 305, 306, ill; 37
lingian, ill, ^07 307, 308, 309; Coptic-Byzantine, Koben, Japanese sculptor, 243; ill,
Impression from seal, Akkadian, ill. 302; early carvings, 3rd— 5th cen- 242
turies, 297, 298; formative period, Kolbe, Georg, 454, 476, 493; The
Impression from seal, Babylonian, 302; fully developed style, 302; Dancer, ill, 476
ill, 63 Oriental influences on, 297, 298, Kore, Athens, 10 1; ill, 100
INDEX 531
Kore, La Boudeuse, Athens, 102; Laurent, Robert, 496 Ludovisi Throne, Greek, 105; ill,
ill., 100 Leaping Lion, Luristan, 167; ill., 106
Kore, Oriental t>'pe, Athens, 102; ill., 168 Lung Men caves, Honan, China,
100 Le Corbusier, 480 205; ill, 206, 207
Korean sculpture, 226-27, 321, 234, Lederer, Hugo, 481, 493 Luristan, Outer Iran, 2, 161, 163—
235; Buddhist influence on Japan- Legend of the Drunken Elephant, 167. See also Persian sculpture
ese sculpture, 226—27; dependence Amaravati, India, 253; ill., 245 Lute Player, T'ang, China, ill, 220
on Chinese culture, 226-27, 231; Lehmbruck, Wilhelm, 10, 12, 478, Lysippus, 121, 122-23, 131; i^l->
pottery and porcelains, 227; temple 479, 493-94, 503, 510; Bathing 121, 123
shrines, 227, 231; three phases of; Woman, ill., 494; Kneeling Wo-
227 man, ill., 494
Kmiroi, Tenea, Melos, 97-98; ill., 97 Le Lorrain, Robert, ill., 459 Mile. Pogany, Constantin Brancusi,
Koxiros, Boeotian, 99; ill., 98 Lenni Lenape, Amerindian tribe, in., 487
Kouros, Etruscan, 135; ill., 133 425 Madonna, Notre Dame de Paris,
Kouros, Greek, 97; ill., 96 Leon, Cathedral, Spain, 359 340; in., 341
Kouros, 97, 98-99, 10 1 ill., 96, 97,
; Leopard, Benin, Nigeria, 420; ill., Madonna, detail, German Swiss,
g8. See also Apollo of Veii 421 354; dl, 355
Kuan Yin, late Ming, China, 225; Libation vessel, Shang, China, 191; Madonna and Child, Michelangelo,
224
ill., ill., 192 389; in., 391
Kuan-Yin, Sui, China, 213; ill., 214 Life of Christ, ivor>', French, 349; Madonna and Child, Jacopo della
Kuan Yin, Sui, China, 213-14; ill., ill; 35^ Quercia, ill, 372
214 Lintels, Maori, 407; ill., 407—408 Madonna and Child with Saints,
Kuan Yin, Sung, China, 220; ill., Lion, Antoine Louis Barye, 463; ill., ivory, Byzantine, ill,305
221 465 Madonna in a Mandorla, Nanni di
Kuan Yin, T'ang, China, 214; ill., Lion, Dahomey, ill., 420 Banco, 372; ill, 373
215 Lion, Egypt, 48; ill., 49 Madonna of Sorrows, Juan Martinez
Kuan Yin, T'ang or Sung, China, Lion, Han, China, bronze, ill., 199 Montanes, 400; ill, 401
ill., 217 Lion, Han, China, stone, 205; ill., Maiano, Benedetto da, 381
Kuan Yin, Yuan, China, ill., 223 204 Maiden Untying Her Sandal, Athe-
Kur-lil,Keeper of the Temple Gran- Lion, Islamic, ill., 181 nian, 1 17; in., 116
ary, Al-Ubaid, Sumer, 65; ill., 66 Lion, detail, Khurasan, Persia, 181; Maillol, Aristide, 7, 454, 473, 476;
Kwakiutl culture, British Columbia, in., 182 Seated Nude, ill., 473
424, 425, 430, 432; ceremonial Lion, palace of Assurnasirpal II, Maitani, Lorenzo, 361; Cathedral at
masks, ill, 432, 433 Nimrud, Ass\Tian, ill., 71 Orvieto, detail, ill, 359
Kwannon, Horiuji Temple, Nara, Lion, Persia, 176; iH., 177 Maldarelli, Oronzio, 496, 497
Japan, ill., 236 Lion, Street of Processions, Babylon, Mamallapuram, India, cliff sculpture
Kwannon ("Eleven-headed"), Sho- iW; 75 of, 259; ill, 260, 261
rinji Temple, Nara, Japan, ill., Lion of Brunswick, Brunswick, Ger- Man, Aztec, 442; ill, 443
240 many, 336; ill., 334 Man, effigy pipe, Amerindian,
Lions, Achaemenid, Susa, ill., 170 Mound Builders culture, ill, 28
L. Caecilius Jucundus, Roman, 148; Lions, Hittite, Syria, ill., 70 Man, Eg\-pt, ill, 46
ill., 149 Lion's Head, Babylonian, ill., 68 Man, Inca, Peru, 449; ill, 450
Lachaise, Gaston, 496; Woman's Lions of Delos, Cycladic Isles, 10 1; Man, Shang or Chou period, China,
Head, ill., 496 ill, 99 193-95; »''•, 195
Lacquer, 216, 229, 241 Lipchitz, Jacques, 478, 479, 480, Man Drawing a Sword, Ernst Bar-
Ladies, T'ang, China, 220; ill., 221 495, 496; Prometheus Strangling lach, ill, 10
Lady, T'ang, China, ill., 220 the Vidture, ill., 495 Man Pointing, Alberto Giacometti,
Lakshmi, South India, ill., 171 Lippold, Richard, 504; Variations 501; ill, 502
Landowsky, Paul Maximilian, 483— within a Sphere, Numher 10, ill., Man (Rhythm Pounder^, Senufo,
484; Monument of the Reforma- 505 Ivory Coast, 412; ill,414
tion, with Henri Bouchard, ill., Lipton, Seymovu, 507, 510; Ances- Man, stags, hird, Chou, Shang,
485 tor, ill., 507 china, 193; ill, 194
Laocoon, group by Rhodian sculp- Llama, Inca, Peru, ill., 448 Man Walking, Phoenician, 77; ill,
tors, Agesander, Polydorus, and Llamas, Inca, Peru, 448; ill., 449 76
Athenodorus, Greco-Roman, ill., Lohan, Sung or Ming, China, 222— Man with Wings, Eskimo, 434; ill,
223; ill., 223 435
Lao-Tse, 186, 188, 201; Lao-Tse on Lokesvara, Nepal, ill., 267 Mannerists, Florentine, 389, 391
a Water Buffalo, 222; ill., 184 Lombards, development of Byzan- Manship, Paul, 479
Lao-Tse on a Water Buffalo, Sung, tine art and Romanesque style by, Maori sculpture. New Zealand, 403,
China, 222; ill., 184 308 407-409; canoe prows, ill, 407;
Lapiths and Centaurs, Parthenon, "Long stone art," pre-Celtic, 18; hei-tikis, ill, 407-408; lintels, ill.,
Athens, ill., 113 Stonehenge, England, ill., 25 407—408

Large Head, Alberto Giacometti, Lopburi, Siam, Buddhist heads and Marcks, Gerhard, 493
501; ill., 502 masks from, 281 Marco Polo, 184
Lassavv, Ibram, 507 Lorenzo Maitani, 361 Marcus Aurelius, Roman, 148; ill,
Last ]udgment, detail. Cathedral of Louis XIV, Pierre Puget, 457; ill., 149
Or\'ieto, 361; ill., 359 459 Marini, Marino, 500; Horse and
Last Judgment, detail. Cathedral of Louis XIV, monument to, Bemmi, Rider, ill, 501
St. Lazare, Autun, 327; ill., 313 455; ill, 453 Marlik culture, Persia, 160
La Tene culture. Iron Age, 19 Louise Brogniard, Houdon, 463; ill, Marquesas 402, 404, 406;
Islands,
Laurana, Francesco, 381; Vrincess A title page statuettes, ill, 404;mask, ill, 410;
of the House of Aragon, ill., 381 Lower Mississippi Valley culture, totemic carving, ill, 410. See also
Laurens, Henri, 479, 495 435 Polynesian sculpture
532 INDEX
Frangois Rude, 463;
Marseillaise, 71, 72, 74-75; seals and seal carv- Indus Valley, figures and seals
464
ill., ing, 62, 69, 70, 75; Stone Age from, 245, 249; ill, 249
Marsyas, Myron, Greek, 106; ill., fertility idols. 61 Moissac, jamb figure of St. Peter,
108 MeStrovic, Ivan, 482-83; Head of ill, 328
Mary Kneeling, German-Swiss, ill., St. Christopher, ill, 484 Mon style in early Siamese sculp-
355 Metal sculpture, modern (forged, ture, 274, 281; ill, 275, 280, 282,
Mask, Amerindian, Tsimshian, 427; hammered, welded), 495, 498, 283
in., 428 500, 504, 507-10 Mon-Gupta stone head, Lopburi,
Mask, Arawak, Puerto Rico, 427; Aletopes, Parthenon, Athens, 113; 281; ill, 282
ill., 429 ill, 112 Monkey, Egypt, 45; ill, 47
Mask, Baule, Ivory Coast, ill., 418 Metzner, Franz, 479, 481, 493, 494 Monster guardians of Assyrian pal-
Mask, Cowichan, Vancouver Island, Meunier, Constantin, 474 aces, 70-71; Lion, Nimrud, ill, 71
430-32; in., 432 Mezcala culture, Guerrero, Mexico, Montaiies, Juan Martinez: Madonna
Mask, Guro, Ivory Coast, ill., 418 mask, ill, 452; Standing Man, ill, of Sorrows, 400; ill, 401
Alask, Kwakiutl, Vancouver Island, 452 Montelupo, Baccio de, 392
430; ill, 432 Michelangelo, 2, 5, 6, 7, 13, 366, Montserrat, Julio Gonzalez, 507;
Mask, Mayan, Palenque, 438; ill., 367, 372, 378, 384-92; Battle of ill, 13
439 the Lapiths and the Centaurs, ill, Monument of the Reformation,
Mask, Mezcala culture, Guerrero, 384; David, ill, 385; Dawn, ill, Geneva, Henri Bouchard and
Panama, ill., 452 3,66; Day, ill, 389; Madonna and Paul Maximilian Landowsky,
Mask, Olmec, Mexico, 440; ill., 441 Child, ill, 7,gi; Moses, ill, 387; 483-84; in., 485
Mask, Olmec, Oaxaca, Mexico, 444; Night, ill, 388; Pieta, ill, 386; Monumental horse, Sassanian,
ill, 44S Prisoners, ill, 390; Twilight, ill, Arabia, ill, 176
Mask, Warega, Congo, 418; ill, 40^ 5 Monumental sculpture, Mesopota-
Mask, Zapotec, Vera Cruz, 444; ill, Micronesia, 403 mian, 62
445 Middle American sculpture, 425-26, Moore, Henry, 4, 10, 13, 477, 478,
Mask of Buddha, Mon style, 281; 430, 436—52; beginnings of, 425; 480, 490—91, 503, 510; Glenkiln
ill, 282 main areas of, 425-26; gold sculp- Cross, ill, 490; Reclining Figure,
Mask of Xipe, Aztec, 442; ill, 44s ture in, 449-50; styles, 448 ill, 4, 481, 491
Mask with appurtenances, Eskimo, Mihrab, Alaviyan, Hamadan, Per- Moorish sculpture. See Islamic
Southwest âska, ill, 4^4 sia, 178; ill, 179 sculpture
Masks, Melanesian, New Britain, Mihrab of Oljeitu, Friday Mosque, Moschophorus QCalf Bearer'), Ath-
409; ill, 4og, 410 Ispahan, ill, 178 ens, ill, 99
Masks, Negro African, 403, 416-18; Milan Cathedral, 365 Moses, Michelangelo, ill, 387
ill, 40^, 418 Milles, Carl, 479, 482, 496; Figure Moses, Claus Sluter, 361-63; ill.
Masks, sword guards, ornaments, from Folkunga Fountain, ill, 483
Japan, ill, 244 Miniature totem pole figure, ill, Mother Goddess, Bronze Age, Per-
Matisse, Henri, 479, 503 431 sia, in., 31
Mausoleum, Halicarnassus, 122; Minne, George, 479 Mother Goddess, Cretan, 91; ill, 89
Battle Scene, ill, 122 Minoan sculpture. See Cretan sculp- Mother Goddess, Mesopotamia, 61,
Maximian's throne, Byzantine, Ra- ture 64
venna, ill, 300 Minor clay sculptures. Middle Amer- Mound Builders culture, Amerin-
Mayan sculpture, 2, 425-26, 436- ica, 446; portrait jars, Peru, ill, dian, 26, 425, 429-30, 435; effigy
440. See also Amerindian sculp- 30; Tarascan Woman, ill, 447 pipes, ill, 28, 425, 429, 430; jars
ture Minor objects, Persian-Arabian art with animals, ill, 436; mask, ill,
Medal, Islamic, 176; ill, 177 (seals, coins, ornaments, minia- 436
Medallion on a reliquary, Byzantine, ture metal sculptiures), 176; ill. Mountain Sheep, Amerindian, Ari-
Conques, ill, 324 zona, 427; ill, 428
Medallion with bust of Ninfa, at- Miracle at Cana, Coptic, 302; ill, Mountain stone, Arawak, 427; ill,
tributed to Donatello, 394; ill, 295 428
395 Miracle of the Drunken Elephant, Mural panel with apsaras, Khmer,
Medals, Pisanello, ill, 396 India, Amaravati, 253; ill, 245 ill, 279
Medals, Renaissance, 394; by Cel- Miracles of Christ, early Christian, Mural reliefs, palace of Darius, Susa,
lini,Matteo de' Pasti, Pisanello, Byzantine, 297; ill, 298 172; ill, 170, 171
ill; 395, 396 Mitry and His Wife, Egypt, ill, 39 Mycenaean sculpture, 90, 92, 93,
Medieval architecture, 343—45 Mobiles, 2, 13, 478, 480, 498, 504. 94. 95, 96
Megalithic art. Stone Age, 18; ill, See also Calder, Alexander Mycerinus and His Queen, Gizeh,
25 Model for a monument to Louis Eg>'pt, ill, 39
Melanesian sculpture, 403, 404, 406 XIV, Bernini, 455; ill, 453 Myrina, Asia Minor, Hellenistic
409, 410, 411; ceremonial dance Modena Cathedral, 323 statuettes from, 123, 124; ill, 125
shield, ill, 411; masks, ill, 4og, Modern sculpture, 477-510; chief Myron, 104, 106; ill, 108
410; prow ornament, ill, 411 innovations of, 504—10; main
Mena, Pedro de, 400; St. Francis, movements in, 478-80; modern Nadleman, Elie, 4
ill, 400 tradition of massive
sculpture, Naram-Sin, stele of, Akkadian, 68-
Menand Vll, David Smith, ill, 509 503—504; new internationalism of 69; ill, 68
Merovingian sculpture, 317 the 1960s, 498; schools or styles, Nataraja (Siva), South India, 269;
Mesopotamian sculpture (Sumeria, with leaders and dates, 479-80. ill, 269, 270
Babylonia, Assyria), 61-77; char- See also Abstract sculpture; Con- Neanderthal Woma^j, ill, 21
acteristics foreign
of, 62; in- structivism; Expressionism; For- Near-abstract object, Eskimo, 432;
fluences on, 69—70; history of re- malism; Welded sculpture ill, 433
lief carving, 69—70; "Hittite Modigliani, Amadeo, 12, 503; ill, Nebuchadnezzar, 75
style," 69; monumental figures, 503 Nefertiti, 35, 50, 51; portrait heads
70; hunting and war scenes, 70, Mohenjo-Daro and Chanhu-Daro, of, ill, 50, 51
INDEX 5 3 3
Negro African sculpture,

3, 402, Oceania. See South Sea Island sculp- Panels, Andrea Pisano after Giotto's
403, 411—23; ancient works, 411; ture designs, Giotto's Tower, Florence,
carvings of ever>'day objects, 403; Offering of Gifts, Eg>'pt, ill, 53 ill; 371
characteristics of, 403, 411; civili- Offering Scene, Temple of Horus, Panels: in Roman decoration, friezes,
zation of the Bini, 419, 420-23; Edfou, Eg>'pt, 60; ill, 59 and low-relief traceries, 153; in
Oriental influences in, 422; tribal Old Ascetic, ascribed to a follower high relief,153, 154; on coffin
expressions in, 403; wood as a of Unkei, Kyoto, Japan, ill, 241 slabs and sarcophagi, 153-57
medium in, 411— 16 Old Men, Ming, China, 223; ill, Panathenaic Procession, Parthenon,
Neoclassicism, European ( 1 790- 224 Athens, ill, 113
1840), 454, 460-63 Old Stone Age (Paleolithic), 15-18; Panther, Scythian, Crimea, 81; ill,
Nepal, variation of Buddhist-Hindu seven periods of, 17-18 Cchart, 82
art in, 266—67; Avalokitesvara, 17). See also Cro-Magnon culture Pantheress, Etrusco-Roman, 1 39;
293; ill., 292; bronze or copper Old Stone Age implements: spear ill, 138
statuettes, ill., 267, 268 point, boat ax, from Ohio, Aus- Paolozzi, Eduardo, 507
Nero, equestrian statue, Roman, 146; tralia; ill, 2.4 Parthenon Athens, 1 10-14; free-
ill, 147 Old Woman with a Cane, Ernst standing figures in pediments,
Netsuke, Japan, ill., 244 Barlach, 486-87; ill, 486 1 10, 114; ill. 87, I JO, III; friezes,
New Guinea, 403, 409; bas-reliefs, Olmec sculpture, Mexico, 426, 440, high and low reliefs, 111-113;
406; oracle figure, ill., 406; Sepik 444; ancient mask, ill, 441; mask, ill, 112, 113
river mask, ill., 410 ill, 44S Parthian period, Persia, 161, 173-74,
New Stone Age (neolithic), 18, 29, Olympia, Temple of Zeus at, 105; 226; ill, 160, 174, 175
32; figures from, 22—25; human in., 107; figure of Zeus by Phid- Parvati, India, ill, 264
figures from the Aegean isles, 23; ias, 113, 114 Pasti, Alatteo de', 394; medals by,
potter>', 18; weapons and tools, Omayvad Palace, Mshatta, Syria, ill; 395
24. See also Stonehenge 180; ill, 178 Paidine Bonaparte as Venus Repos-
New York school of modern sculp- Oracle figure with ornamental ing, Antonio Canova, ill, 461
ture, 496-97, 498 screen, New
Guinea, ill, 406 Pausanius, 115
Nicholas von Fliie, 357; ill., 356 Orator, Etruscan, 141; ill, 143 Peacocks Drinking, Byzantine, Ven-
Nicola da Uzzano, Donatello, 365, Orcagna, Andrea, 368 ice, ill, 294
376; ill, 376 Ordos bronzes, China and Inner Peasant Taking a Cow to Market,
Nielsen, Kay, 481 Mongolia, 84, 186, 187, 196; ill, Roman, 151
150; ill,
Night, Michelangelo, ill, 388 84, 8s, 197, 198. See also Animal Pendants, ornaments, bell, Colom-
Nile, The, Roman, 146; ill, 147 art of the Eurasian steppes; Chi- bia and Panama, 450; ill, 451
Nimbus, in Buddhist sculpture, ill, nese sculpture Pereira, Manuel, 400; Bust of San
209 Orissa, India: panel figures, ill, 264 Bruno, detail, ill, 401
No drama masks, Japan, ill, 2.44 Orloff, Ghana, 496 Perfume spoon, Egyptian, ill, 45
Noguchi, Isamu, 496 Ornament, Islamic, 176; ill, 177 Pergamene style, 126, 131; altar of
Nonobjective art. See Abstract sculp- Ornaments, Scythian, Caucusus, Pergamon, 126; Dying Gladiator,
ture Siberia, ill, 82 3, 126; ill, 130; Homer, 126; ill,
Norman sculpture, 331, 334-35; Orvieto Gothic reliefs,
Cathedral: 129; Titan Anytos, ill, 129
capital, Canterbury Cathedral, ill, 368; 369
'dl, Periclean period in Athens, 89, 1 10-
335 Osiris Enthroned, Eg\'pt, ill, 58 114
Norse woodcarving, doorway of Otter with Fish, platform pipe, PericJes, Cresilas, Greek, 114, 123;
church, Urnes, Norway, 319; ill, Amerindian, 429—30; ill, 430 ill, 123
320 Ottonian school: doors at Hildes- Persepolis, stone murals at, 170-72.
Norsemen in Southern Europe, 318— heim Cathedral, 323; innovations See also Persian sculpture
319 in ivory carving, 303, 304, 323 Persian sculpture, 86, 160-83; ani-
North and south porches. Cathedral Owl, jar, Shang or early Chou, 191; mal designs in, 160-63, 164—69,
of Notre Dame, Chartres, 338, in., 192 176, 181; arabesques, 178;
339; ^11-, 341 Ox of St. Luke, French, Burgundian bronzes, 161-68; calligraphy, ill,
Notre Dame Cathedral, Chartres, school, ill, 363 178; early cultures: Outer Iran,
312, 313, 314, 325, 33o-3i> 338- Ozenfant, Amedee, 480 Luristan, 160-69; importance of
340, 343, 347; ill, 312, 332, 338, stucco in Islamic design, 178; Is-
339, 341 Painted wooden crucifix, Spanish, lamic style from 7th centur>', 1 76-
Notre Dame Cathedral, Semur, ill, 336 178; palace and temple friezes of
Burgundy: detail of tympanum, Palace of King Minos, Cnossus, Achaemenian rulers, Persepolis
ill, i47 vases from, 92. See also Cretan and Susa, 170-72; reference list
Notre Dame de Paris, 340, 341; ill, sculpture of dynasties, 162; rock-cut tombs,
310, 341, 342 Palaces of the Achaemenid kings, 174; seals, 173. See also Islamic
Notre Dame la Grande, Poitiers, Persepolis and Susa, sculptures of, sculpture; Luristan sculpture; Sas-
321; ill, 322 161, 170-72; ill, 162, 170, 171, sanian sculpture
Nottingham School, England, 352; 172 Perseus, early wax model, Cellini,
ill; 353 Paleolithic sculpture. See Old Stone ill; 393 ,
„
Nude figure (Eve), Peter Vischer Age Perseus, Cellini, 392; ill, 393
the Younger, 396; ill, 397 Palette of King Narmer, Egypt, 37; Persian silver casket. Treasury of St.
Nude Walking Figure, Sakkara, ill, 38 Mark's, Venice, 183; ill, 181
Eg>'pt, 42; ill,43 Palmas, or palmate stones, Totonac, Pestle, Amerindian, Antilles, 26; ill.,
Nuestra Seiiora de Pilar, Saragossa: 446; ill, 447 28
altar backing at, 359; ill, 360 Panel figures, Orissa, India, ill, 264 Pestle, Polynesian, Marquesas Is-
Nuraghian culture, Sardinia, 92; Panel of Hesire, Eg\'ptian, 43; ill, lands, 26; ill, 28
ill, 88 44 Pevsner, Antoine, 479, 504
Panel with fantastic subjects, Byzan- Pheasant, libation jar, Shang or early
Oar, Easter Island, 25; ill, title page tine, ill, 304 Chou, China, 191; ill, 19Z
534 INDEX
Phidias, 104, iio, 113— 14 Portrait figures on sarcophagus, Cer- Puget, Pierre, 454, 457; Louis XIV,
Phoenician figures: God Hadad, veteri, 135; in., 134 ill; 459
Man Walking, Snake Goddess, Portraithead of a princess, Gizeh, Pugilist, Roman, ill, 144
75-77; in., 76 Egypt, ill; 38 Pulpit, Pisa Cathedral, Nicola Pi-
Phoenician silver platter, ill., 77 Portrait heads, Byzantine, in., 303 sano, 364, 368; ill, 369
Physician's charm, impression from Portrait heads, royal family, Egypt, Pulpit, Siena Cathedral, Nicola Pi-
a seal, Akkadian, ill., 70 dynasty XVIII, 5 1 head of Queen
; sano, 364, 368; ill, 365
Picasso, Pablo, 478, 479, 495, 503 Nefertiti, ill. 50, 51; heads of Puma, Chavin culture, high Andes,
Pictorial relief panels, late Roman, royal children, ill., 52 448; ill, 44g
153 Portrait of Homer, Greco-Roman, Purification, The, Cathedral of
Pieta, Michelangelo, 2, 386; ill., 126; ill., 129 Reims, 342; ill, 344
Portrait jars, Chimu or Mochica, Purism in modern sculpture, 480
Pietro, Lorenzo di, of Siena (II Peru, 448
ill., Pyramids, Egypt, 38; Sphinx and
Vecchietta), ill., 381 Portrait of King Khafre, Egypt, 39; Great Pyramid, Gizeh, ill, 36
Pilon, Germain: effigy of Chancel- ill., 40 Pyx, ivor>', 5th centur^', ill, 299
lor Rene de Birague, 399; ill., 398 Portraitof Kur-lil, keeper of the
Pin with animal head, Caucasus, temple granary, Al-Ubaid, Sumer,
Quattrocento, Florence, 372-82
167; in., 168 65; ill, 66
Quercia, Jacopo della, 6, 365, 372;
Pins and pinhead, Luristan, 167; Portrait of a lady, Roman, ill,
in., 166 148
Adam and Eve at Work, ill, 364;
Creation of Man, ill, 373; Expul-
Pipes, Amerindian. See Effigy pii>es Portrait of Nicholas von Fliie, 355;
Pisa Cathedral detail of bronze door,
sion, ill, 364; Madonna and
: ill; 356 Child, ill, 372
Bonanno Pisano, 323, 368; ill., Pottery: Arretine, Roman, 153; Per-
323, 368 sian, 183; ill, 182; primitive, 26-
Pisanello, il (Vittore Antonio or 31; sculptural development in, Rama with a Bow, India, 264-65;
Pisano): commemorative medals 25—26; ill, 28, 29, 30; Sung pe- ill, 265
by, 394; ill; 396 riod, China, ill, 222 Rama and Sita, detail, panel of Siva
Pisano, Andrea, 368, 371; ill., 371; Powers, Hiram, 463 Temple, Java, 290; ill, 291
Creation of Woman (with Gi- Prancing Unicorn, Kuh-I-Dasht, Rameses U, Karnak, Egypt, ill, S4
otto), ill., 371; Extreme Unction, Persia, 169; ill, 168 Rameses II and III, 55; rock-cut
ill, 371 Praxiteles, 119-20; Aphrodite, ill, Temple of Amon, Abu Simbel,
Pisano, Bonanno: details of bronze 120; Head a Girl, ill, 121;
of ill, 54
door, Pisa Cathedral, ill., 323, 368 Hermes Resting, 120; ill, 119; Rams, Luristan, 164; ill, 165
Pisano, Giovanni, 365, 368; panel, Hermes with the Infant Dionysus, Raphael, 390—91
pulpit, Church of S. Andrea, Pi- ill, iig Rattle, Tlingit, Amerindian, ill, 431
stoia, 368; ill., 370 Pre-Colombian art, dating of, 426 Rattlesnake, Aztec, 444; ill, 445
Pisano, Nicola, 364, 365, 366, 368; Pre-Greek arts of the Mediterranean Ravenna, Byzantine architecture at,
Adoration of the Magi, ill., 370; basin, 91—92 303, 304
pulpit, Pisa Cathedral, ill., 369; Prehistoric sculpture, 16-17, 3 2; Realism and naturalism: theories of,
pulpit, Cathedral of Siena, ill., periods and types of, chart, 17. 3, 5-7; Western, 1 8th- 19th cen-
365 See also Primitive sculpture turies, 454, 459-60, 463-68, 470-
Plaque with Dragons, period of the Pre-Hittite standard, ill, 6g 475
Warring States, China, 193; ill.. Preparation for War against the Reclining Figure, Henry Moore,
Dacians, Trajan's column, Roman, 491; ill, 4
^^
Plaque with Fighting Animals, ill, 152 Reclining Figure ("Bridge Prop"),
Scythian, Russia, ill., 78 Priest Ganjin, The, detail, Nara Henry Moore, 491; ill, 481
Plaques with Animals, Caucasus, 85; period, Japan, 240; ill, 239 Reclining Figure, wood, Henry
in., 86 Primitive sculpture, 1 5-32; charac- Moore, ill, 491
Plato, 33 teristics of, 15; dates and periods Recliriing Fritz Wotruba,
Figure,
Platter with reliefs, Phoenician, ill., of, 16—19 C^hart, 17); earliest ill, 510
77 examples of, 20; evolution of, 17— Red G, mobile, Alexander Calder,
Pliny, 106, 120 19, 23-25; importance of pottery ill; 477
Plutarch, 123 in, 26—31; Japanese (Jomon cul- Reims Cathedral, 338, 342-44; Puri-
Poet Laureate, Leonard Baskin, ill., ture), 227; ill, 231. See also fication, ill, 344; Small portal,
499 Amerindian sculpture; Negro Afri- ill, 343; Smiling Angel, ill, 342
Pollaiuolo, Antonio, 381 can sculpture; New
Stone Age; Reindeer, Magdalenian, Dordogne,
Polo Player, T'ang, China, ill., 219 Old Stone Age; South Sea Island 21; ill, 20
Polyclitus, 104, 115; Doryphorus, sculpture Relief, stone, Byzantine, Greece,
ill.,114 Prince Nechthorheh, Egypt, ill, $7 ill, 302
Polynesian sculpture, 403, 404, 405— Prince Wa-ah-Ra, Eg>'pt, ill, 55 Relief, Temple of Seti I, Abydos,
409. See also Easter Island; Maori Princess of the House of Aragon, A, Egypt, ill, 53
sculpture; South Sea Island sculp- Francesco Laurana, ill, 381 Relief carving, Maori canoe, 407;
ture Prisoners,Michelangelo, 389; ill, ill, 408
Pompey, Roman, 143-44; ill., 145 390 Relief figures on cathedral, Verona,
Pompon, Frangois, 495 Procession of Troops, Angkor Vat, 322
Portal, detail. Cathedral of Reims, 279; ill, 278 Relief medallions, Stupa, Barhut,
ill; 343 Prometheus Strangling the Vulture, India, 246, 250-51, 253; ill, 250
Portion of shrine, Sui, China, ill., Jacques Lipchitz, ill, 495 Relief on knife handle, Eg>'ptian,
2I3_ Prophet, detail, Spanish, ill, 336 36; ill, 37
Portrait of Asanga, Unkei, ill., 243 Protectors of "spirit paths," Chinese, Relief panel. Birth of Christ, Gio-
Portrait busts, Roman, ill., 143-46 205; ill, 204 vanni Pisano, Church of S. An-
Portrait of an Etruscan dining, sar- Ptolemaic era, 60 drea, Pistoia, ill, 36S
cophagus lid, ill., 140 Pueblos, Amerindian tribe, 425 Relief panels, bronze doors of cathe-
INDEX 535
drals at Pisa and Benevento, ill., 313. 320, 321, 328-29;
devo- St. John the Baptist, north portal,
tional character of,
312, 326; Chartres Cathedral, ill, 339
Relief panels, so-called sarcophagus error in naming, 320; expression- St. John the Baptist, Rodin, ill, 468
of Alexander, ill., 121 ist elements in, 313, 314, 320, St. Jude, Nottingham School, Eng-
Relief patterns, Maori carvings, ill., 328, 333-37; flowering of the land, 352; ill, 353
407—408 style in 12th century, 312, 321, St. Madeleine Church, Vezelay,
Relief sculpture: Assyrian, 62, 70- 325, 326, 330; formative influ- France, 313, 325-27; ill, 326
75, 164; Babylonian, 75—77 ences on, 322; Indo-Germanic St. Mark, Donatello, 376
Relief on stone sarcophagus, Etrus- source, 313; in France, 330; St. Paul, French, 358; ill, 357
can, 141; ill., 142 ivories, 323-24; portrayal of ani- Sf. Peter, Church of St. Peter, Mois-
Reliefs, Altar of Pergamon, Asia mals in,
313, 320, 329; realism sac, France, ill, 328
Minor, 126 and naturalism in, 336, 338; St. Peter's, Rome: baldaquin over
Reliefs from Arch of Marcus Aure- spread of the style to England, the high altar, Bernini, 456
lius, Roman, 152—53; ill., 153 331-35; to Germany, 335-36; to St. Peter's Church, Moissac,
Remains of pillars, Mayan, Chichen- Italy, 323; to Spain, 324, 325, France, 325, 327-28; St. Peter,
Itza, Yucatan, 441; ill., 442 336; to Spanish colonies, 336; ill, 328
Renaissance sculpture, 364—401; transformation, Romanesque to St. Philip, Cathedral of Strasbourg,
characteristics of, 364, 365, 367, Gothic, 314, 330; works in metal, ill; 346
372, 376; Florentine school, 372— 324, 336-37 St. Stephen, Cathedral of Sens, 339-
394; Gothic spirit in, 365, 367, Roman sculpture, 132, 133, 142—59; 340; ill, 340
368-72; in France, 367, 398—99; Etruscan-Roman st>'les, 142, 150; St. Stephen, Cathedral of Stras-
in Germany, 396-97; in Spain, figures of rulers, 146, 148; funer- bourg, ill, 346
367, 399-401; medals and small ary arts, coffin slabs, sarcophagi, St. Theresa in Ecstasy, Bernini, ill,
bronzes, 394; religious character 141, 153-58; Greek influence on, 455
in, 365—66; Roman naturalism in, 132-33, 141, 150; minor arts, St. Thomas Aquinas, Leonard Ras-
364- 365 carvings and decorative panels, kin, 499; ill, 500
Renoir, Pierre Auguste, 12 153. 159; Oriental Christian style, St. Trophime, Aries, France, 321,
Revelation, Polygnotos Vagis, 497- 158; portraiture, 133, 144-48; 329; detail of main portal, ill,
498; ill., 4g8 reliefs, importance of, 150, 153— 330
Rhodian sculpture, 124, 131; ill., 159; on columns and arches, 152 Salisbury' Cathedral, England, 335
126, 131 Romans and Barbarians Battling, re- San Bruno, detail, Spanish, 400;
Rhyton, Cretan. See Boxer Vase on sarcophagus, Roman, 154;
lief ill, 401
Richier, Germaine, 495, 500 155
ill; Sanchi, India, stupa at, 246, 251-
Rickey, George, 504 Romanticism, European, 454, 463, 253; ill, 247, 252, 253, 254
Riemenschneider, Tilman, 396; 494 Sancta Sophia, Constantinople, 295
Death of the Virgin, 396; ill., Rosselino, Antonio and Bernardo, Sansovino, Jacopo, 391—92; Apollo,
^gy; Eve, attributed to, ill., 398; 380 ill, 392
St. Bernard of WUrzhurg, ill., 397 Rosso, Medardo, 467; Ecce Puer, Sarcophagi, early Christian, 299;
Risen Christ, Lorenzo di Pietro (II ill., 467 ill, 300, 301
Vecchietta), ill., 381 Rostovtzseff, M., 186 Sarcophagi, Etruscan, 136, 141;
Ritual bell, Chou, China, ill., 193 Roszak, Theodore, 507 double tomb portrait from Cerve-
Ritual Figure, Warega, Congo, 412; Royal family portrait heads (Akhen- teri, in., 137
ill; 413 aton's daughters), Egypt, 51; ill., Sarcophagi, Roman, 153—54, 299;
Ritual vessels, Shang and early 52 ill, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158,
Chou, China, 185, 190, 191; ill., Royal Portal, Cathedral of Notre 300, 301
185, 190; relief figures on, 190, Dame, Chartres, 330; ill., 312; Sarcophagus, early Christian, Ra-
191, 193; ill, 185, 191, 192, 193 figures on pillar stones, 331, 339; venna, ill, 300
Robbia, Andrea della, 382; Corona- ill, 332 Sarcophagus, Etruscan, ill, 142
tion of the Virgin, ill., 383 Rude, Frangois, 463; Marseillaise, Sarcophagus of Alexander (so-
Robbia, Luca della, 382; Angels Arc de Triomphe, Paris, ill, 464 called), Greek, 122; relief of Alex-
(detail), ill., 383; Virgin in Running Animals, impression of ander in battle, ill, 122
Adoration, ill., 382 Uruk, Sumer,
seal, ill, 63 Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, Ro-
Rock-cut shrines, India, 259; at Ele- Ruskin, John, 2, 253 man, 154; ill, 156
phanta, ill., 261; at Ellora, ill., Sarcophagus of Taho, Egypt, 57;
259; at Mamallapuram, ill., 260, Sacrifice of Isaac, Brunelleschi, 373 ill, 58
261 St. Bernard of Wiirzhiirg, Riemen- Sarcophagus with Bacchanalian
Rock-cut Temple of Amon at Abu schneider, 396; ill, ^97 scene, Roman, 154; ill, 155
Simbel, Eg\'pt, 55; ill., 54 St. Bernardino in Glory, Agostino Sarcophagus with Orestes story,
Rock-cut tombs, Persian, 174 di Duccio, ill, 380 Roman, 154; ill, 155
Rococo, 454, 460 St. Denis, Paris, 314 Sardinia, votive figures from, 91-
Rodin, Auguste, 6, 7, 12, 389, 454, St. Fortunata, Church of St. For- 92; ill, 88
468-73, 477; Balzac, ill., 472; tunade, France, 363; ill, 361 Sarmatians, 79, 80
Despair, ill., 471; Head of Ha- St. Francis, Alfeo Faggi, ill, 497 Sassanian period, Persian sculpture,
nako, ill., 470; Head of Mahler, St. Francis, Pedro de Mena, ill, 400 161, 174—76; bronze figures, 176;
ill., 470; Head of Sorrow, ill., St. Gaudens, Augustus, 466—67 ill, 177; small metal sculptures,
471; John the Baptist, ill., 468; St. George, Donatello, 376; ill, ^77 ill, 176. See also Islamic sculp-
The Kiss, ill., 7; The Thinker, St. Gilles, Card, France, 321, 329 ture; Persian sculpture
ill., 469 St. James, Cathedral of Santiago de Satyr and Nymph, Clodion, 460;
Romanesque rib vaulting: in Nor- Compostela, Spain, 325—26; ill, ill, 461
mandy, 330; in Durham Cathe- 325 Saxon School, Germany, 336; Cru-
dral, England, 331 St. James, Flemish, ill, 357 cifixion at Werden an der Ruhr,
Romanesque sculpture, 312, 313, St. John, detail, Riemenschneider, 335-36; ill, 334; Lion of Bruns-
314, 320-40; characteristics of, 396; ill, 397 wick, 336; ill, 334
^
5 36 INDEX
Scandinavian sculpture, yth-iith Secret society mask, Warega, Congo, Sok-kul-am Temple, Korea, 227, 231;
centuries, 318—19. See also Norse ill, 403 ill, 232, 233
woodcarving; Viking ship prows Section of cathedral front, Orvieto, Solomon Receiving the Queen of
and stern-pieces i''-, 359 Sheha, Ghiberti, ill, 375
Scaravaglione, Concetta, 496 Seleucid dynasty, Persia, 161, 173 South portal, Cathedral of Notre
Scenes from the Life of Christ, leaf Self-portrait, Johann von Danneker, Dame, Chartres, 338, 340
of a diptych, 350; ill., ^49 ill, 462 South Sea Island sculpture, 402,
Scenes from the New Testament, Seneca, Roman, 144; ill, 14$ 403, 404-11; characteristics of,
Italian, Byzantine, ill., 297 Senedem-ih-Mehy, Gizeh, Egypt, 42; 404; tribes and tribal cultures,
Scenes from the Ramavana, Siva ill; 43 402, 403, 405-11. See also
Temple, Prambanan, Java, 290; Senegalese Girl, Epstein, ill, 493 Alelanesian sculpture; Polynesian
ill., 291, 292 Shaman's Charm, Haida, Queen sculpture
Scenes of Chinese life, Han, Shan- Charlotte Island, 430; ill, 431 Southeast Asia, sculpture of: Cam-
tung, 201; in., 203 Shapur II Hunting, Sassanian, Per- bodia, Siam, Java, 273-93; Cam-
Schadow, Johann Gottfried, 462 sia, ill, 175 bodian, 273—74, 275—81; Java-
Schliiter, Andreas, ill., 457 Shapur U Hunting Lions, Sassanian, nese, 273—74, 286—93; Khmer
Schmuel, Ahron Ben, 496, 497 174; in., 175 style, 273-74, 275-81; Mon
School of Burgundy, 361-62; ill., Sheep, Zuni, New
Mexico, ill, 427 style, 274, 281; periods of, 274.
361, 363 She-Wolf Wolf, Etrus-
or Capitoline See also Angkor Vat; Borobudur
School of Languedoc, 329 can, 139; ill, 132 Spanish Renaissance sculpture, 399-
School of Paris, 477-78, 479, 495, Shigefusa, Meigetsuin Temple, Ka- 400
496, 501-503 makura, Japan, 243; ill, 242 Spear point, Amerindian, in., 24
Scopas, 120—21, 122 Shinto, 228—29; masks of no drama, Spearmen, frieze from palace of
Scribes, Egyptian, ill., 42 in., 244 Darius I, Susa, 170; ill, 171
Scythian ornaments, Caucasus, Si- Shrine, detail, Sui dynasty, China, Sphinx, Athens, Greece, 102; ill,
beria, ill., 82 ill, 213 100
Scythian sculpture: animal art of Siamese sculpture, 274, 281-86; Sphinx, Gizeh, Egypt, 38, 39; ill,
the steppes, 78-86; characteristics characteristic st\'le of, 284-86; in- 36
of, 78-79; conjectural periods of, fluences on, 273; sculptured heads Spirit of Dead Man, mask, Tlingit,
81; gold and bronze figures, 78- of Khmer-Siamese t>'pe, 281-85; Alaska, ill, 432
79; Hellenizing influences on, 86; Thai element in, 274, 284 Spouted libation ewer, Luristan, 164;
main t>'pes, 79-85; link with Siege Scenes, palace of Shalmaneser ill, 166
medieval Europe, 86; the Ordos III, Assyrian, 71; ill, 73 Spouted pitcher, Persia, 164; ill,
region, 84; related art of the Siege Scenes, palace of Tiglath-Pile- 166
Caucasus, 84. See also Chinese ser III, Nimrud, Assyria, ill, 73 Stag, Greco-Scythian, ill, 86
art;Persian art Siena Cathedral: pulpit, Nicola Stag, Ordos, China or Siberia, 196;
Scytho-Siberian sculpture. See Scy- Pisano, ill, 368; relief panel, ill, ill, 197
thian sculpture 370 Stag, Scythian, Caucasus, 82; ill, 83
, „
Scyths, 78—80. See also Scythian Sienese painters, early Renaissance, Stag Hunt, Hittite, ill, 64
sculpture; Ordos bronzes 364 Standard, pre-Hittite, ill, 69
Seal, Eskimo, 434; ill., 435 Silver dishes, Sassanian period, Per- Sta}iding Man, Mezcala culture,
Seal, Tlingit, Alaska, ill., 427 sia, 174; ill, 17s Guerrero, in., 452
Seal-handles, stone, Chinese, 225 Sinhalese sculpture, 246, 257-58, Standing Stag, Outer Iran, ill, 163
Seals: Indus Valley culture, Mohen- 259, 264, 265; Buddhist figures, Standing Woman, Bambara, French
jo-Daro; 245, 249; ill., 249; Meso- Anuradhapura, 257-58; parallels Sudan, 412; in., 413
potamian, 62, 68-70, 75; ill., 62, to late mainland sculpture, 264; Standing Woman, Tanagra, ill, 124
63, 68, 70, 76. See also Impres- rock-cut carvings, 259 Statuettes, Cyprus, pre-Hellenic, 89;
sions of seals Sitting Figure VI, Lynn Chadwick, ill, 88
Seated Bodhisattva, Lung Men 510; in., s°9 Statuettes, Polynesian, Marquesas
Caves, Honan, China, 205; ill., Siva as Lord of the Dance, South Islands, ill, 404
207 India, ill, 269, 270 Statuettes, Sardinia, 92; ill, 88
Seated Bodhisattva, Horiuji Temple, Siva and Parvati on the Mountain, Statuettes, Siamese, ill, 286
Nara, Japan, ill., 239 with Havana, the Earth-Shaker, Statuettes, Wei and T'ang, China,
Seated Biiddha, Anuradhapura, Kailasa Temple, India, ill, 259 ill, 219
Ceylon, ill, 258 Siva-Sakti, Bengal, India, ill, 266 Statuettes on portrait-slabs and fu-
Seated Buddha, Borobudur, Java, Siva Seated, Champa, Siam, ill, 286 nerary urns, Etruscan, 141
287; ill, 286 Siva Temple, Prambanan, Java, 290; Stele, Eric Gill, ill, 4S0
Seated figure, Cycladic, Melos, 92; ill, 291, 292 Stern-post of a Viking ship, ill, 319
ill, 91 Skull crusher, Australia, ill, 24 Stone Age carvings: Scythian, 78;
Seated Figure, Gaudier-Brzeska, 484; Slave, Hellenistic, Smyrna, ill, 125 Scytho-Siberian, 80
ill, 486 Sluter, Claus, 361-63; ill, 361 Stone Age fetishes, Mesopotamia, 61
Seated figure, Mayan, Guatemala, Small portal. Cathedral of Reims, Stone Age implements, 23, 24; ill,
436; ill, 437 ill, 343 title page, 24

Seated human figure, Olmec, ill, Smiling Angel, Cathedral of Reims, Stone Age sculptures, Anyang,
438 ill, 342 China, 185
Seated Kuan-Yin, early Ch'ing, Smith, David, 12, 507, 510; Insect, Stone bowls in animal form: Chavin
China, 225; ill, 224 ill, 508; Menand VU, ill, 509 culture, South America, 448;
Seated Kuan-Yin, T'ang, China, Smyrna, Hellenistic statuettes from, Puma, Peru or Bolivia, ill, 449
214; ill, 215 125; ill, 125 Stonehenge, 18; ill, 25
Seated Maitreya, Lung Men caves, Snake-Priestess, Minoan, 92; ill, 88 Stories of Buddha, Borobudur, Java,
China, 205; ill, 207 Snake-Priestess, Phoenician, 75; ill, 288: ill, 289, 290
Seated Nude, Maillol, ill, 473 Story from Ramayana, Siva Temple,
Seated scribes, Eg>'pt, ill, 42 Socrates, Roman copy, 122; ill, 123 Prambanan, Java, 290; ill, 291
INDEX 537
Story of Ahraham, Ghiberti, ill., 375 Terra-cotta figurines, Hellenistic, Trajan's Column, Rome, ill, 152
Story of David and Goliath, 6th 123-25; Boeotia, ill, 125; My- Treasury of St. Mark's Cathedral,
century, ill., 302 rina, Asia Minor, 123-24; ill, Venice, 296
Story of Jonah, Roman, ill., 158 125; Sm>Tna, ill, 124, 125; Trevi fountain, Rome, projected by
Story of Joseph, early Christian, Tanagra, 123; ill, 124, 125 Bernini,453
297—98; ill., 298 Terra-cotta tomb figure, Korea, 227; Triad withBuddha, Tori, Nara,
Story of Rama and Siva Tem-
Sita, ill, 226 Japan, 237; ill, 228
ple, Prambanan, Java, 290; ill., Thailand. See Siamese sculpture Tribute Bearers, palace of Darius I,
291 Thinker, The, Michelangelo, 388 Persepolis, 172; ill, 162, 170
Stor>'telIing monuments, late Ro- Thinker, The, Rodin, 470, 471, 47a; Triumphal arches, 152—53; panels
man, ill., 158 ill, 469 from destroyed Arch of Marcus
Strasbourg Cathedral, France, 344— Thorvaldsen, Bertel, 104, 454, 462 Aurelius, ill, 153
345, 347, 349; detail of facade, Three Goddesses, Parthenon, Ath- Troubetzkoi, Paul, 466; Tolstoi on a
ill; 345 ens, 90, no, 114; ill. III Horse, ill, 466
Stucco sculpture, Sassanian, Persian, Three-headed Mahadeva, Elephanta, Tutankhamen as the Moon God,
and Mohammedan, 178 India, 259; ill, 261 Egypt, ill, 52
Stuck, Franz von, 481; Amazon, ill., Throne of IVIaximian, Ravenna, ill, Twuight, Michelangelo, 388; ill, 5
482 300 Two Brothers, Eg>'pt, 48; ill, 49
Stursa, Jan, 475 Thutmose, studio of. El Amama, 35,
Sumatran sculpture, 288; ill., 290 50 Uma, South India, ill, 266
Sumerian sculpture, 64—68; clay Thutmose III, Egypt, 47, 48; ill, 49 Unkei, 241; Asanga, ill, 243
figurines, 64; copper figures, 62, Tibetan sculpture, 267 Unknown Political Prisoner, ma-
65; seals, 62, 68, 69-70; statues, Tiger, Han period, Chinese border, quette, Reg Butler, ill, 500
65, 67, 68 196; ill, 197 Urnes, Norway, woodcar\'ing on
Surrealism, 478, 480 Tiger, Wei, China, ill, 211 door of church at, 319; ill, 320
Surya, the Sun God, Bengal, India, Tigers, Chou, China, 195; ill, 196
ill, 266 Tiki, Marquesan, ill, 404 Vagis, Polygnotos, 8, 496, 497-98;
Susa, 61, 170-72; ill., 64 Titan Anytos, The, Greek, Perga- Bear and Cub, ill, 498; Revela-
Switzerland, folk art in, 355 mon, 126; ill, 129 tion, ill, 498
Sword guards, Japan, ill., 244 Tjiwara, bobbin, Bambara, French Valentinian I, fourteen-foot bronze
Syractisan Aphrodite, Greek, 126; Sudan, ill, 419 portrait of, Byzantine, 296
ill, 128 Tlingit culture, Alaska, 424, 425, Valley of Mexico, chronological
Syracuse, coins of, ill, 118 432; ratde, ill, 431; Spirit of Dead order of civilizations and arts in,
Man, mask, ill, 432; Seal, ill, 426
Table support with reliefs, Roman, 427; Whale, ill, 424 Vantongerloo, Georges, 479
153; ill, 154 Tobias and Sara, Eric Gill, ill, 48s Vaphio cups, 89, 93; ill, 92, 93
Taho, tomb of, Saitic, Egypt, 57; Toft, Albert, 6 Variations within a Sphere, Num-
ill, 59 Tolstoi on a Horse, Paul Troubetz- ber 10, Richard Lippold, ill, 505
Tajin sculpture, 4, 445 koi, ill, 466 Vase, Persian, 183; ill, 182
Takushet, Bubastis, Eg>'pt, 55; ill, Toltec culture, Valley of Mexico, Vase, Sung, China, ill, 222
54 426, 441; ill, 441, 442 Vase with ibexes, Luristan, 164; ill,
Tanagra figurines, Hellenistic, 123- Tomb and palace guardians, Han- 165
124; ill, 124, 125 Wei periods, China, 188-89, 203- Vecchietta II, (Lorenzo di Pietro);
Tankei, 241 205; ill, 204, 219 The Risen Christ, ill, 381
Tara, Nepalese-Tibetan, 267; ill, Tomb and temple guardians, Japan, Venus Bathing, cameo, Roman, ill,
268 239; ill, 238, 272 159
Tarascan sculpture, Middle Amer- Tomb figure of Chancellor Rene de Venus de Medici, Greek, Hellenistic,
ica, 29, 446; effigy jars, ill, 30; Birague, Germain Pilon, 399; ill, 126; ill, 129
]A/oman, ill, 44J 39S Venus de Milo. See Aphrodite of
Tatlin, Vladimir, 479 Tomb figures, Han and T'ang eras, Melos
Tauler, Johannes, 8 China, 187, 201, 211-12, 218- Venus Genetrix, Athenian, ill, 117
Teapot, figure, vase, Jomon culture, 220; ill, 202, 211, 212, 218, Venus of Lespugue, Magdalenian,
Japanese, ill, 231 219, 220, 221 ill, 22
Temple Guardian, T'ang, China, Tomb of Cardinal Tavera, Toledo, Venus of Wildenmannlisloch, Ne-
217; ill, 219 Alonso Berruguete, ill, 399 anderthal, ill, 21
Temple of Amon, Abu Simbel, Tomb of Mausolus, Halicamassus, Venus of Willendorf, Aurignacian,
Eg>'pt, 55; J^2-> 54 ill, 122 22; ill, 23
Temple of Athena, the Virgin, Ath- Tomb or temple guardian, T'ang, Venus Rising from the Sea, Tanagra,
ens. See Parthenon China, 218; ill, 219 124; ill, 125
Temple of Horus, Edfou, Egypt, 60; Tori, in., 235 Veroli casket, Byzantine, ill, 304
ill, S9 Torso of a Yaksi, Sanchi, India, 253; Verrochio, Andrea del, 378; monu-
Temple of Isis, Philae, Egypt, 60 ill, 254 ment to Bartolommeo Colleoni,
Temple of Seti I, Abydos, Egypt, Totem pole,Amerindian, 430; mini- 378; ill, 379; David, 380; ill, 381
j^'v 53 ature example, Vancouver, ill, Vessels, bronze, China, 185, 190,
Temple of Sok-kul-am, Korea, 227, 43,1 191, 192; ill, 190, 191, 192
231; ill, 232-33 Totemic carving, ivory fan handle, Vessels, clay, prehistoric, 27-31; ill,
Temple of the Sun, Konarak, Orissa, Polynesian, Marquesas Islands, 29, 31, 32. See also Effigy jars
India, 246 ill, 410 Viani, Alberto, 480, 489
Temple of Zeus, Olympia, 105; Totemic composition of bird and Victory of Samothrace QWinged
figures from, ill, 105, loy frog, 430; ill, 431 Victory^, Hellenistic, 126; ill,
Teotihuacan culture, Valley of Mex- Totonac sculpture. Gulf coast, Mex- 127
ico, 426; stone masks, ill, 441, ico, 426, 445-46; ill, 445, 446, Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, Akkad,
446 447 68-69; ill; 68
5 3 8 INDEX
Viking ship prows and stern-pieces, Wells Cathedral, England, 335 Woman Supporting a Seat, Baluba,
315, 318-19; ill, 319 Whale, Amerindian, Chumash, 26; Congo, ill, 415
Village Magistrate, Egypt, 39; ill., ill, 27 Women, Wei, China, ill, 212
41 Whale, Amerindian, Chumash, Cat- Wood sculpture, Japan, 229, 235
Villanovan sculpture, 133 alina Island, California, 425; ill, Woodcarving: Chinese, 217, 220,
Vinci, Leonardo da, 361, 391; ill., 426 225; ill, 217, 221, 223; French,
392 wheeled censer, Etruscan, 136; ill, 334; ill; 335; German, 334; ill,
Vintage Scene, panel from sarcoph- 139 335; Romanesque, 333, 334,
agus, Roman, ill., 157 White Bear, Frangois Pompon, 495 Spanish, 335; ill, 336
Virgin in Adoration, Luca della Rob- Wild Goats, Scythian, Siberia, ill, Worshiper, Etruscan, 136; ill, 137
bia, ill., 382 83 Wotruba, Fritz, 480, 510; Reclining
Virgin of the Visitation, Reims, 342 Wine bowl with eagle, Seleucid, Figure, ill, 510
Virtue, Cathedral of Strasbourg, Bactria, 174; ill, 175 Wounded Lioness, detail of hunting
344; in., 345 Wine vessel, Shang, China, 190; scene. Palace of Assurbanipal,
Vischer, Peter, the Elder, 397 ill, 185 Nineveh, 75; ill, 74
Vischer, Peter, the Younger, 396- Wine vessel, tomb figure, 4th cen- Wounded Niobid, Greek, ill, 115
397; Eve, ill, 397 tury, Korea, 227, 231; ill, 226
Visitation, detail, Jacob Epstein, ill, Winged Dragons, late Chou, China, Xipe, incense burner, Zapotec, 440;
493 196; ill, 197 ill, 441
Vittoria, Alessandro, 393, 453 Winged Figure, palace of Assur- Xipe, mask, Aztec, 442; ill, 443
Vorticism, 479 nasirpal, Assyria, ill, 72
Votive figure, Etruscan, ill, 136 Winged Horses, plaques, Han dy- Yakushi, Nara, Japan, 236-37; ill,
Votive stelae. North Wei, China, nasty, China, ill, 198 236
ill, 208 Winged Lion, Scythian, 81; ill, Yazilikaya, Hittite, reliefs near, 70
80 Yellow Bird, Constantin Brancusi,
War-God, Polynesian, Hawaii, ill, Winged Rams, Luristan, 164; ill, ill, title page
406 165 Yoke stones, Totonac, 445
Warneke, Heinz, 496, 497 Winged Victory, fragment, Delos, Young Deer, Roman, 149-50; ill,
Warner, Langdon, The Enduring 99 ISO
Art of Japan, 229 Woman, Amlash culture. North Young God, Aztec, 442; ill, 443
Warrior, Church of St. Mary and Persia, ill, 31 Youthful Roman, ill, 148
St. David, Herefordshire, Eng- Woman, Cycladic, ill, i Youthful Saint, Ceylon, ill, 265
land, 333-34; ill, 333 Woman, dynasty IV, Egypt, 39; ill, Youthful St. John, Donatello, 376,
Warrior, Etruscan, ill, 137 41 378; ill; 378
Warrior with Cluh, Tarascan, Mid- Woman, dynasty XII, Egypt, 44; Youths at Games, Athens, 103; ill,
dle America, 446; ill, 447 ill, 45 104
Warriors, Etruscan, 134; ill, 135 Woman, 7th-6th centuries B.C., Yun Kang caves, Shansi, China,
Warriors' Dance, Roman, 150; ill. Egypt, 55; ill; 56 206; ill, i8g
Woman, Etruscan, 134-35; ill, 135
Water Buffalo, Chou, China, 196; Woman, Neanderthal, Mousterian Zadkine, Ossip, 495
ill, 197 period, ill, 21 Zapotec culture, Amerindian, 440;
Weapons and tools. Stone Age, 15, Woman, Polynesian, Fiji Islands, incense burner, ill, 441
18, 23-25; ill, 2.4 ill, 406 Zeus, Phidias, 1 13
Wei dynasty, China, small sculp- Woman, Tanagra, ill, 124 Zeus, or Poseidon, Athens, 106; ill,
tural arts of, 206; ill, 207 Woman, Tarascan, 446; ill, 447 108
Weights, Mesopotamian, ill, 68 Woman, Wei, China; ill, 212 Zorach, William, 497
Welded sculpture, 12, 479, 480, 495, Woman Holding a Bowl, Baluba, Zuccone, Donatello, 376; ill, 377
498, 507. 510 Congo, 412-15; ill, 415 Zuiiis, Amerindian, 425
AZERBAUAN
Tehran r^^-p^
"^ \
• SamarkaiicL
^PUNJAB
BeniHas^xi ^,
ElAmariLa
IvlamallapurajxL ^
Annratj kaptxra • \
Abu Simbel. ^XUBJATsT

CEYLOJ
An ART MAP of ASIA with \.

an INSERT MAP of EGYPT
In addition to old cities, sites, and areas important to the histor\ of sculp-
ture, some modern capital cities arc included to show relative locations.
(Continued
.WA ,'•',•), {ront flap)
hut brings otw }.he »istheti(* considerations

also.Each of .'îvv *>>v'*^»een sections i- intro-
duced hy a gentM > viirai survey, f^l^•v^»•<^
Mi^ hy the chronicle ^ 'nes, dates, types, and

representative works. The writing reflects
^ GO LI A the knowledgeable views, not always ortho-

dox, of an art-lover who has been a devotee
of sculpture through a long and productive
life.
^^STBll
SHELDON CHENEY was born in Berkeley,

California, and educated at the University of
California. In addition to his two standard
art histories. A Pseiv World History of Art
and The Story of Modern Art, he has written
such shorter books as Expressionism in Art
and A Primer of Modern Art. He is also the
author of the monumental The Theatre and
of a work on mysticism. Men IF/io Have
W alked with God. He has been a writer,
critic, and lecturer since his student days
hut has never had formal academic connec-

tions. He and his w ife live and work in New
Hope. Pennsylvania.
.LopBuri I '^
Bangkok .An^r
Cover: Michelangelo's Prisoner (Manelli photo I
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nPRIN COUNTY FREE LIBRARY

Si . LPT IE Uh^ iiiiim

WORLD Ui%y^^^ Berlin.

It has long seemed an impossible dream to

produce an adequate one-volume history of

caveman to today, including the Oriental, •Paris -^^ , •^'i^^ %*^^^^

World History of Art, first published thirty

^^^^,^.J^^^' Cl^ l\s^don

730.9 Cheney, Sheldon; I886-

1 Sculpture— History i TGi«fc Centsr Adm!nlitr3t»o« BuMng 730.9

'^"'^ '^ '"•• -^'^

ALSO BY SHELDON CHENEY;

A Nf If World History of Art

and other books

NEW YORK: THE VIKING PRESS

Note on Illustrations heading:

Copyright © 1968 by Sheldon Cheney. All rights reserved.

Acknowledgments for Text Quotations

thousand and I resisted all sug-

comprehended in terms of mass, three-dimen- ternationally, as the sculptor Alexander

where others speak of Ramses; and Akhena- is commonplace— seems to me at variance

which is technically correct. Having escaped indebted to as many collectors, directors of

Polycleitus,and Polyclitus; the last is the at the end of the book.

pictures. since the experience of contemplating that

Introduction: The Art of Sculpture 1

2 : Eg)'pt: The Eternal in Scul-pture 33

3 : The Mesopotamian Pageant: Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria 61

4 : The Animal Art of the Eurasian Steppes 78

5 : The Greeks Archaism,

6 : Etruscan and Roman Sculpture 13 2

7 : The Opulent Sculpture of Persia; The Legacy to Islam 16

8 : China: The World's Supreme Scidptural Achievement 18 4

9 : Korea and Japan : The Spread of Buddhist Sculpture 22 6

lo : India: The Maturing of the Opident Oriental Style 24 5

I I : The Flowering in Southeast Asia: Camhodia, Siam, ]ava 27 3

I 2 : Early Christian Sculpture : Coptic, Byzantine 294

I 3 : European Christian Sculpture: Barbarian, Romanesque, Gothic 310

14 : The Renaissance: From the Pisanos to Michelangelo 3 64

15 : The South Seas and Negro Africa: "Exotic" Sculpture 402

1 : Amerindian Sculpture and the Mexican-Mayan Masters 424

1 : Western Sculpture from the Baroque to Rodin 4 5 3

18: Modern Sculpture: Formalism, Expressionism, Abstraction 477

FOR FURTHER READING 513

the list of illustrations sometimes placed at this point is omitted.

The Art of Sculpture

and rub make a commentary on life. The dramatic

Sculpture in bronze may be considered a and unsculptural. From the

Twilight. Stone. Michelangelo. 1520-34.

scale toward facsimile realism, the works on into the statue.

for the earlymoderns a massive strength— and These two qual-

At the beginning of the twentieth century

If addiction to naturalism was cause

ment about the between true sculp-

<iJr.i-^l*^^^:^^^ ]^'- ^'•'

Goat. Stone. John B. Flannagan. 1930-31. Baltimore Museum of Art

is here hidden away!" ficult sculptural work was scarcely attempted;

in more durable form has led to castina in

Worse still, one of the greatest of the

express himself in a fairly smooth, stonelike

regard, upon subconscious perception of ele-

universal shapes to which everybody is sub-

Subject-values are, of course, inseparable

ognition is an intuitive response to elemental