A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 28

The Parthenon had originally ninety-two metopes, thirty-two of which were on each of the long sides, and fourteen at each end. Many of these are now only preserved in the drawings by Carrey, having been destroyed in the great explosion. Unfortunately, however, Carrey was only able to sketch the metopes of the south side. Forty-one metopes still remain on the temple, but are for the most part so decayed through time and weather that there is great difficulty in making out their subject. The British Museum possesses fifteen original metopes brought from Athens by Lord Elgin. His contemporary, Choiseul-Gouffier, while amba.s.sador at Constantinople, obtained one more (No. 313), which is now in the Louvre. These sixteen metopes are all from the south side of the Parthenon, and their subjects were taken from the contest between the Centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage-feast of Peirithoos. The first metope on the south side of the Parthenon, reckoning from the south-west angle, is still in position on the temple (Michaelis, pl. 3, 1); the second on the temple is the first of the series of fifteen in the Museum.

The sculpture of the metopes is in the highest relief attainable in marble, large portions of some of the figures being carved in the round so as to stand out quite free of the background. There is a remarkable inequality of style in the sculpture. Thus, for example, Nos. 319, 320 show traces of archaic feeling, and while No. 309 appears to be the work of an indifferent artist, Nos. 310, 316, 317 are admirable.

[Sidenote: =305.=]

The Lapith kneels on the back of the Centaur, clasping his head with his left arm, and pressing the fingers of his left hand against his windpipe. The Centaur has been thrown on his right knee; his head is forced back, his mouth wide open as if uttering a cry of agony. His left hand vainly endeavours to dislodge the grasp on his throat, the right hand appears behind the right shoulder of the Lapith. When drawn by Carrey, the head and right foot of the Lapith and the right foreleg of the Centaur still remained. The head of Lapith may be No. 343, _6_.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 1; Baumeister, _Denkmaeler_, p. 1175, fig. 1364; Michaelis, pl. 3, ii.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 80, A.

[Sidenote: =306.=]

The Lapith attacks the Centaur from behind, resting his right knee on his crupper, and extending forward his right arm to seize the neck of his foe. The Centaur, standing to the left, turns his human body half round to meet his adversary. A skin is wound about his left arm by way of s.h.i.+eld. An ample chlamys hangs from the shoulders of the Lapith, and he wears boots. His left arm was drawn back to strike. A hole near the pit between the collar-bones and another on the lowest left rib show where a sword-belt has been attached. Two similar holes are to be seen on the body of the Centaur. These may have served for the attachment of a bronze weapon held in the right hand. The head of the Centaur still existed when Carrey drew this metope, but had disappeared before the time of Stuart.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 2; Michaelis, pl. 3, iii.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 81.

[Sidenote: =307.=]

The Centaur is victorious; with both hands raised above his head, he is about to hurl on his prostrate foe a large hydria. His equine body is rearing against the Lapith, who vainly endeavours to defend himself with his uplifted buckler, while the Centaur strikes at him with his fore feet. The right forearm of the Lapith, now wanting, has rested on the ground. A fragment of his right foot still remaining on the base of the metope below the left hind leg of the Centaur shows that this leg was extended nearly at full length, as it is drawn by Carrey. The heads of both these figures and the right arm of the Centaur are cast from the originals in the museum at Copenhagen, which were sent from Athens in 1688 by a Captain Hartmand, who probably served under Count Konigsmark in Morosini's army. Round the head of the Lapith is a sinking into which a metallic band or wreath has been fitted. On the ground under the body of the Lapith are some folds of his chlamys, a fragment of which may be traced on his left arm. Michaelis adds to the Centaur's left hind-leg a hoof and lower part of leg, the original of which is in the museum at Copenhagen; but he expresses a doubt whether this fragment does not belong to the right hind-leg. When Carrey drew the metope, it was nearly perfect. On the upper margin of the marble still remains the bead and reel moulding which once ornamented all the metopes, but of which there are few traces elsewhere.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 7; _Stereoscopic_, No. 82. For the two heads, see Brondsted, _Voyages et Recherches_, p. 171; _Mus.

Marbles_, VII., pl. 17; Michaelis, pl. 3, iv.

[Sidenote: =308.=]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9.--Metopes 308, 309, from Carrey.]

When Carrey saw this metope, the figure of the Lapith, now wanting, was still extant, and we must therefore supply the motive of the group by reference to his drawing (fig. 9). In the original composition, the Centaur, rearing up against his antagonist, grasps the Lapith's right thigh between his forelegs, extending his left arm towards him, probably to seize the hair of his head. The Lapith with extended right arm is trying to keep the Centaur at arm's length, while he struggles to escape; his left arm must have been raised. The right arm of the Centaur must have been drawn back to strike. All that now remains of the Lapith is a portion of the right wrist attached to the Centaur near his throat. A skin, fastened round the Centaur's neck, flies behind his back, falling over his left upper arm.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 5; Michaelis, pl. 3, v.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 83.

[Sidenote: =309.=]

In this metope, as drawn by Carrey (fig. 9), the right arm of the Lapith is raised with the forearm bent; the right hand, which probably held a sword, was already broken off in Carrey's time. His drawing gives the head and part of the right upper arm of the Centaur, and the left leg and half the right leg of the Lapith, but not his head. The Centaur, while pressing his left hand on the left shoulder of the Lapith, draws back a little from the blow with which he is menaced.

The action of both figures is rather tame, and the victory undecided.

An ample chlamys is shown falling at the back of the Lapith. Part of the right hind leg of the Centaur has been added in plaster from the marble fragment now at Athens.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 15; Michaelis, pl. 3, vi.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 84.

[Sidenote: =310.=]

The Lapith presses forward, advancing his left hand to seize the rearing Centaur by the throat, and forcing him on his haunches; the right arm of the Lapith is drawn back, as if about to strike; his right hand, now wanting, probably held a sword: a mantle fastened on the right shoulder falls over the left arm like a s.h.i.+eld, and flies back behind. The Centaur, rearing up against his antagonist, tries in vain to pull away the left hand of the Lapith, which, in Carrey's drawing, he grasps. The head of the Centaur is a cast from the original at Athens. From the shoulders of the Centaur hangs a small chlamys; the folds fly behind, and show the violence and swiftness of the action. The head of the Lapith is a cast from the original, which is now in the Louvre. Carrey's drawing gives the missing parts of the legs of this group. This is, perhaps, the finest of all the metopes in the Museum. The action is most spirited, and the modelling very thorough and masterly.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 3; Michaelis, pl. 3, vii.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 85; Waldstein, in _Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, III., pl. 23, p. 228; _Essays_, pls. 1, 2, p. 97.

[Sidenote: =311.=]

The Lapith is kneeling on his right knee. The Centaur, the human portion of whose body is broken away, presses down his antagonist.

From Carrey's drawing, taken when this metope was nearly complete, we learn what the action was. He represents the Centaur bending over the kneeling Lapith, and raising his right hand to strike a deadly blow at his antagonist, who looks up with his head thrown back, and stretches out his left arm towards the breast of the Centaur. A chlamys hangs down from the left arm of the Lapith. His right arm, which was lost in the time of Carrey, must have been raised. The right hind foot of the Centaur rests on a rock.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 6; Michaelis, pl. 3, viii.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 86.

[Sidenote: =312.=]

The Centaur has again the advantage. The Lapith is thrown down over a large wine vessel, _pithos_; the Centaur has grasped his left leg with his left hand, rolling him back on the jar. The Lapith seizes his antagonist by the beard with his left hand, while his right arm, now broken off, has been vainly extended behind him, seeking some support.

The right thigh of this figure, the head and part of the right arm of the Centaur are casts from three fragments at Athens. Carrey's drawing gives the left arm and side of the Centaur, as well as his head.

The head and right arm and hand of the Lapith are also shown in his drawing, but not the portion of right thigh which has recently been added. The wine vessel in this metope, and the hydria in No. 307, indicate the wedding feast of Peirithoos as the scene of the contest.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 4; Michaelis, pl. 3, ix.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 87.

[Sidenote: =313.=]

This metope is a cast from the one removed by Choiseul-Gouffier when French amba.s.sador at the Porte, about the year 1787, and now in the Louvre. The group represents a Centaur carrying off a Lapith wife or maiden. The Centaur is rearing up; he grasps the woman between his forelegs. His left hand presses against her left side, and it appears from Carrey's drawing of this metope that his right hand grasped her right wrist. With her left hand she is vainly endeavouring to loosen his grasp round her waist, and to readjust her disordered drapery. She wears a chiton with diplodion fastened on the right shoulder with a brooch. In the struggle the chiton has fallen from the left shoulder.

On her right foot is a sandal with a thick sole; her left foot is broken off above the ankle. Carrey's drawing gives this foot resting on a rock, also other parts of the group which are now wanting.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 16; Michaelis, pl. 3, x.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 88.

The next metope in order on the Parthenon is now only preserved in Carrey's drawing, which represents a Lapith armed with a s.h.i.+eld, who seems to be stabbing the Centaur in the belly. The Centaur grasps the edge of the s.h.i.+eld with his left hand. A fragment of this s.h.i.+eld with the left arm of the Lapith inside and the fingers of the Centaur on the rim exists at Athens; cf. No. 343, _1_.

Michaelis, pl. 3, xi.

[Sidenote: =314.=]

This metope is cast from the original in the Acropolis Museum at Athens. It represents a Centaur seizing a Lapith wife or maiden.

Carrey's drawing gives the head, left foreleg from the knee, and left hindleg of the Centaur, and the right arm of the female figure, all which parts are now wanting. The group presents a somewhat involved and complicated composition. The Centaur grasps the female figure's left arm with his left hand; his right arm, not shown, we must suppose to be pa.s.sing round the back of her waist. While the left foreleg of the Centaur is firmly planted on the ground, his right foreleg clasps the left leg of the female figure, pressing at the back of her knee, so as to throw her off her balance. Her dress, a chiton with a diplodion, is disordered in the struggle. The action of her right hand, as drawn by Carrey, indicates that she is attempting to readjust the upper part of her chiton. Her right leg from the knee to the ankle is supplied by a cast from a fragment at Athens; the foot is cast from another fragment, of which the original, No. 342, _1_, exhibited in a Wall Case, probably belonged to the Elgin Collection. The action of this leg is awkward and ungainly.

Michaelis, pl. 3, xii.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 96A.

Next follow in Carrey's drawings thirteen metopes (Michaelis, xiii.-xxv.) of which we have only a few fragments. Of these the first eight (xiii.-xx.) represent subjects of which the import is unknown, and in which draped female figures predominate. Nos. xxii.-xxv.

represent combats between Centaurs and Lapiths or Lapith women. If we suppose that No. xxi., which represents two women standing by an archaic statue as if for sanctuary, belongs to the Centaur series, then twelve metopes at each end of the south side, namely, i.-xii., xxi.-x.x.xiii. are devoted to this subject, while the eight central metopes are an independent series.

Fragments have been recognised as belonging to the thirteen metopes which have been destroyed since the time of Carrey. They are more fully described below.

Metope XIII (?). Breast. See No. 342, _5_.

" XIV. Male torso. See No. 342, _2_.

" XV (?). Arm. See No. 342, _6_.

" XVI. Male head and torso. See No. 342, _3_.

" XVII. Male torso. See No. 343, _2_. Fragment of lyre(?) See No. 343, _3_.

" XIX. Arm and drapery. See No. 342, _7_.

" XX. Hand with roll. See No. 343, _4_. Draped thigh. See No. 342, _4_.

" XXIV. Torso of Lapith. See No. 343, _5_.

[Sidenote: =315.=]

This metope, the 26th in the original series, is from the eastern half of the south side of the temple. It represents a contest between a Centaur and Lapith. The Centaur, rearing, has raised his arms above his head, in order to strike his antagonist with some weapon, perhaps a branch of a tree. His antagonist thrusts the toes of his left foot against the equine chest of the Centaur between his forelegs, and, pressing his left hand against his adversary's right elbow, is trying to force him back on his haunches. His right arm, now wanting, has been drawn back to deal a blow; its position is marked by a projection on the ground of the relief. A chlamys hangs down at his back. From the want of apparent support for the right foot of the Lapith, the action of this figure appears weak and undecided. On the left upper arm are two holes for the attachment of some object, perhaps an end of drapery hanging free in front of the arm. Another hole on the flank of the equine portion of the Centaur, between the ribs and haunch, shows where the end of a skin, hanging down from the back, may have been attached. Parts of the right hind leg appear to have been attached by metal rivets. Carrey's drawing shows that this metope has suffered little since his time.

_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 8; Michaelis, pl. 3, xxvi.; _Stereoscopic_, No. 89.

[Sidenote: =316.=]