Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/117

 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. lOI Fig. 90. — W. Metope, 2 : from Ebersole. from the others. The features and forms are destroyed, not by decay, not by sudden violence, but by long-continued petty injury. When Pars drew it in 1765 it was already in the state that it is in at present. It follows that the terra-cottas, good as they are, have no record value. A study of the jointing suggests some ideas as to the procedure in the production of the frieze. While it seems plain that the subject must have been generally settled before the slabs were cut, yet the detailed design certainly follows the slabs, and I cannot doubt that it was drawn on them in place. In regard to the first point, the slabs of the east front are longer than the rest, the central stone being over 14 feet in length. Although the composition of this front is regular, the slabs them- selves are irregular in size. At the ends, and also at the ends of the west frieze, there are narrow panels, and three of them take only single figures, for which we may suppose they were intended. Each slab on the west front con- tains a separate group, and the size suits them so perfectly that we must think that the subjects were settled before the stones were cut. That there was revision of design to suit the jointing is, however, even more certain, and several of the horses' heads and legs were clearly spaced so as to avoid the joints, as, indeed, every part which they passed through has been specially con- sidered. (Fig. 82.) In two or three cases the divisions cut through a man's head, or a horse's hoof, but exactly in the middle, and with evident adjustment. Along the south side there are generally two and three horses' heads and necks to each slab until the chariots are reached, and then nine or ten successive slabs are occupied by as many chariots. mrscnramncm vntBKiKwt w uu a.u«i, Fig. 91. — W. Metope, 3 ; from Pars.