Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/234

 204 Gkeek Sculpture. Athens, Pergamus, and other cities, many of which have been preserved. The most famous is that called the Dying Gladiator (Fig. 85), in the Capitol at Rome, which is evi- dently an original work by an artist of Pergamus. It represents a Gaul at the point of death ; his head sinks forward, his eye is dim with pain, his lips are half parted by a sigh, and the shadow of death clouds his brow. In this period the art of sculpture is still pursuing a downward course ; difficulties are courted for the sake of showing with what ease they can be overcome, and un- rivalled technical skill is the highest and most self-evident merit, in place of being one of the last qualities to force itself on our attention. Many of the works of this age, like the Dirce already quoted, manifestly overstep the proper bounds of the art of sculpture, and represent scenes of a complexity and extent which can only be properly rendered by the art of the painter. OUARTLE* Fig. 85. — The Dying Gladiator. Tit the Capitol, at Rome.