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The Atalanta of Tegea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Ernest Gardner
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Extract

The scanty remains of the pediments of the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea were for many years the basis of all constructive criticism of the style of Scopas; their attribution to him has met with such universal acceptance that I need not here discuss it; in view especially of their extraordinary vigour arid originality it seems to me indisputable. The news that the excavation on the site of the temple was to be continued by M. Mendel, of the French School at Athens, was therefore received with the greatest interest, and his publication of his results fully justifies these anticipations. I wish to acknowledge the courtesy with which M. Holleaux, the Director of the French School at Athens, has allowed me to reproduce the illustrations from the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique; for the use I have made of them in the case of the Atalanta I must accept the responsibility. It is not, however, possible, from the publication alone, to appreciate all the evidence that has to be taken into account. I had an opportunity, in April 1904, of studying carefully the statues in the local museum at Tegea, in company with Mr. D. L. Richmond, of King's College, Cambridge.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 26 , November 1906 , pp. 169 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1906

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References

1 In the recent edition of my Handbook of Greek Sculpture, Fig. 140, I have joined the head and body together to scale, using the photographic plates in the Bulletin de Corr. Hell, xxv, iv and vi. But the original photograph was evidently taken with the torso sloping backward, and so the lower parts of the figure appear too large in proportion to the upper parts. I have tried to remedy this defect in the accompanying illustration, prepared for me by Mr. Anderson, by sloping the lower part of the photograph reproduced away from the lens at a similar angle.

2 I state this opinion after a careful study of the originals in the Museum at Tegea. The fractures do not exactly fit; but the line of a cut—apparently a blow from some sharp instrument—appears on the lower surface and is continued on the upper. The head, when placed in its proper position on the torso, has a most harmonious effect; scale and material alone suffice to make the connexion probable.

3 E.g. The Apollo from the Mausoleum, Brit. Mus. Catalogue, vol. 2, PI. XX. 2. J.H.S. xxiii, p. 122. We may also see it in the Demeter of Cnidus.

4 E.g. The Head of Pericles in the British Museum, and the Nelson Athlete, J.H.S. xviii. Pl. XI.

5 Some support may be gained for this suggestion by quoting Pausanias' similar mistake at Olympia, when he took Apollo for Pirithous.

6 E. A. Gardner, Handbook of Sculpture, Fig. 101.

7 Fig. V. pp. 317 sqq.