Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/118

 102 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. The marble was finished to a polished surface. This is best seen on the slab at the Louvre, which is perfectly lighted. The details are wonderfully true and minute. The hands all seem separately observed ; the veins, creases, and nails are indicated. (Fig. 83.) The sticks on which the magistrates lean are knotted. (Fig. 84.) By comparing two or three slabs, the forms of the chariots, lyres (Fig. 85), vessels (Fig. 86), and incense burners (Fig. 87) can be made out. How one of the latter was carried appears better in Stuart than on the slab at present. It has been remarked that the compositions of the pediments have centres of action of which the re- moter figures are unconscious, and that between them is a growing movement of interest. In the frieze we find much the same principle. First, there are standing figures, then rapid movement towards the centres of the long fronts. At the east end the waiting figures are partly uncon- scious of the procession, and be- tween them and it is a waking of interest. In the group of gods, again, we have the interest of some engaged, while the inner ones are as yet unconcerned. In the frieze there are nearly 200 horses in all varieties of action, which are ob- served with the keenness of sight of a Japanese, and set down without " the smallest symptom of constraint ; for no less attention has been paid to the beautiful realities of life than to ideal beauty." * None but " the horse-loving Greeks " could Figs. 92 and 93. — W. Metopes, 4 and 8 : from Pars. through such a work. have carried The mere following and keeping account of the number and directions of the men's and horses' legs is
 * Dodwell.