Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/404

 3 88 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. to be understood. The idea it awoke was that of a victory obtained by a powerful and beneficent being over the powers of evil. To have the notion grasped, it sufficed to posture the figures exactly as the public was accustomed to see them, without changing an iota as to aspect and position. The presence of this traditional element serves to explain the inequalities observable here and there in the workmanship. Could aught, for instance, be conceived more rigid in treatment than the group of the lion and FIG. 280. Tomb, Xanthus. British Museum. Small side. Length, I m. 20 c. ; height, 93 c. Drawn by St, Elme Gautier. his victor ? A bolder handling is already perceptible in the figures carved on the other long side ; the horseman stands well. But a greater step in advance was made in the pair of lions at either extremity. If there is still a certain degree of clumsiness in some of the details, if the cub and the head of the lifeless bull are not exempt from awkwardness, we nevertheless feel that we have here a really superb work, and that the attitude of the lion lying on his victim is felicitous and expressive, notably when seen sideways, as in Fig. 280. It conveys to the utmost the idea of force when at rest; the manipulation is broad, rich, subtle, and pre-eminently characteristic. We guess at the powerful muscles beneath the skin ; but they do not detach themselves and project