Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/303

 250 Primitive Greece : Mycenian Art. Alatri and Ferentinum, in Italy, is still emblazoned a phallus, the symbol of life and strength. At Thasos we have an abridged human face, a nose and eyes, cut in the stone of the enclosure.^ The latter symbolized the guardians of the site. The simple fresh fancy of mankind in its infancy delighted in exhibitions of this nature. The sculptor of the Mycenae bas-relief did not, then, look beyond the repertory of contemporary art. His merit and individuality consist, perhaps, in having first ventured on pro- portions not far removed from reality. It is now our duty to appraise his handiwork, making due allowance for the mutilated state in which we find it. Painting, inasmuch as it was in the habits and taste of the Mycenian decorator, may have been called in to heighten the effect. The question has been asked whether the brush had not laid tones on the background and the relief alike, and even emphasized certain details of the animals ; ^ but no trace of pigment exists on the stone in support of the above hypothesis. At any rate, the heads, which would have been so helpful in defining the character of the group, have disappeared. The fact that they were in high-relief precludes the notion of their having been carved in the thickness of the block itself, in that it is too thin by half. Moreover, such a line of conduct would have involved removing an enormous quantity of material from the portions of the relief which, like the animals, were in a receding plane, and thereby greatly increased the sum of the labour. The heads, therefore, were carved separately, and secured to the slabs by tenons ; the [holes into which these were inserted are quite distinct on the stone. Were these heads, as has been conjectured, of gilt bronze, or cut in one of those red or green rocks that form so large an item in the decorative scheme of the domed-graves ? These are regarded, by universal consensus, as about contemporary with the Lions Gate, so that the presumption does not sin against probability. Or were they fashioned out of a block of limestone, like the remainder of the sculpture ? Who shall say ? Given the simplicity of the decora- tive system of this gateway, I incline towards the last hypothesis. The group, although shockingly mutilated, has a nobility, I would almost say, an expressive beauty, of its own. The perfect ^ CoNZE, Reise auf den Inseln des Thrakischen Metres. '•^ Abler ; Tsoundas, Mw»/i'ai.