Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/146

 I30 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. this Venus Collignon remarks that the drapery slipping from the shoulder recalls that of another one of the Fates, and the lifting of the corner of the mantle resembles the gesture of Hera on the frieze; the head, "calm and dreaming," above all reminds one of the beautiful Laborde head, which is certainly a work of Phidias. The head (Collignon, figs. 57 and 58) is indeed so like the Phidian type that the suggestion may be made that it, too, is taken over from the statue which inspired the gesture. The origin of this movement technically is to be found in constructive necessity. The drapery forms a stay to the otherwise free arm, turning what would be ■< into «a:. Similar drapery was made use of for support frequently in the pediment figures. The sleeve of the reclining Fate falls against the body far enough to give the otherwise free left arm great support.* The flying mantle of the "Iris" sustains the extended arms. In the " Ilissos " of the west pediment the drapery which falls detached from the arm forms really a support- ing slab. The scarf which appears over the left arm of the "Victory," in Carrey's sketch, was attached to the body at the back, and must have passed on to support the other free arm. Other unidentified .fragments in the Museum indicate how large a use was made of these webs of marble, detached for the greater part from the body. Fig. 130 suggests a part completion of one of these.f A small statuette of Aphrodite, at Berlin, which Furtwangler Fig. 129. — E, Pediment : Action of One of the Fates. the mantle, which was held above the left thigh in a bunch. The same action as the Ilissos. t The further arm of this figure might be an arm with drapery over it in the Museum, No. 331.
 * The forearm was evidently extended and the hand caught at the end of