*

workers of ivory and gold, and even weavers; and some of these men certainly worked for Phidias. In fact, he used the hands of others as much as he could—as any sensible artist would; but a great part of his invention and work was carried on in hard and difficult materials, instead of being perfected in a facile clay, as it would be by a modern sculptor; and this carried with it, of course, a great expense of time and labour.

With these facts in view, and considering the great size and elaboration of the ivory and gold statue of Athena, it is quite evident that the few years which elapsed between the commencement of the Parthenon and its dedication would have been amply occupied by this work alone-and with the other duties incident to his position as superintendent of public works. More than this, we shall find it difficult to fix the time when he made some other of his statues, unless it was during these six years; and it would seem probable that at or about this time he must have been engaged upon the Athena Areia for the Plateans-or at least upon his chryselephantine statue of the celestial Venus for the Eleans.

Before proceeding farther in this argument, it may be as well to give a glance at the artistic career of Phidias, and the various works executed by him, or assigned to him by different writers of an after-age.

A good deal of discussion has arisen as to the age of Phidias at his death. The date of his birth is distinctly given by no one, and is purely a matter of conjecture. Thiersch, among others, supposes

him to have been already an artist of some distinction in the 72-3 Olympiad, or about B.C. 490-the date of the battle of Marathon; and this opinion he founds chiefly on the fact that the Athena Promachos, as well as the group of statues at Delphi and the acrolith of Athena at Platæa made by him, were cast, according to Pausanias, from the tithe of the spoils taken from the Medes who disembarked at Marathon. Other writers suppose him to have been born at about the date of the battle of Marathon, and that the statues executed by him out of the spoils were made some twenty-five years later. Mr Philip Smith, in his Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, taking this view, places his birth in the 73d Olympiad; and Müller is of the same opinion. Dr Brunn, on the contrary, thinks it probable that he was born about the 70th Olympiad, and Welcker and Preller agree substantially with him.

According to the supposition of Thiersch, placing his birth at 67-2 Olympiad, or B.C. 510, he would have been twenty years of age at the battle of Marathon (B.c. 490), seventy-two years of age when he finished the chryselephantine statue of Athena in the Parthenon in 85-1 Olympiad (B.c. 438), and seventyseven years of age when he finished the chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia in 87.3 Olympiad (B.C. 433). This, if we suppose that five years elapsed after the battle of Marathon before the group of statues at Delphi was executed, would make Phidias twenty-five years old when he made them.

Taking the supposition that he

was born in the 72-3 Olympiad, and that the statues at Delphi were modelled twenty-five years after, this would make him also twentyfive years of age when he executed them; and fifty-two years of age, instead of seventy-two, when he finished the Athena of the Parthenon; and fifty-seven, instead of seventy-seven, when he completed the Zeus-shortly previous to his death.

Dr Brunn's supposition that he was born in the 70th Olympiad, which is also held by Welcker and Preller, would make him fifty-six when he made the Athena, and sixty-one when he made the Zeus.

In opposition to these two later suppositions, there is this one undisputed fact, that on the shield of the Athena of the Parthenon he introduced his own likeness as well as that of Pericles, in which he is de scribed as representing himself as a bald old man (geoẞUTOU pahangos) hurling a stone, which he lifts with both hands, while Pericles is portrayed as a vigorous warrior in the full prime of manhood. He must therefore have intended to represent himself as a much older man than Pericles; and Pericles at this time was over fifty-two years of age*which is the age assigned to Phidias himself by some writers. Besides, a man of fifty-two, or even of fiftysix, could scarcely be accurately described as an 66 old man ;" and an artist making a portrait of himself at that age would be inclined to give himself a little more youth than he really possessed. The mere fact that he represents himself as old, shows that he had in all probability arrived at a more advanced period of life, when one accepts old

age as too notorious and well-established a fact to be disguised. The supposition of Thiersch, therefore, would, in view of this fact alone, seem to be the best founded, as this would make him seventy-two years old when the Athena was completed,-an age which might fairly be called old.

Mr Smith seems to think it very improbable that at the age of eightythree Phidias could have undertaken to execute the Zeus; but the fact is, that Thiersch's conjecture would only make him seventy-three when the Zeus was begun, and certainly at this age it is by no means uncommon for sculptors to undertake large works. Tenerani, for instance, in our own time, had passed that age when he executed the monument of Pius VIII., one of his largest works, and consisting of four colossal figures. Besides, it is to be taken into account that the Zeus was the last work of Phidias, and that death overtook him immediately after.

On the whole, it would seem that the probabilities of the period of his birth lie between the middle of the 67th Olympiad (B.c. 510) and the beginning of the 70th Olympiad (B.c. 500).

There is also another consideration which is entitled to weight in this connection. Suppose Phidias to have commenced his artistic career four years after the battle of Marathon-in B.C. 490 (Olymp. 72.3). From that time to B.C. 444 (Olymp. 83.4), when he began the Athena of the Parthenon, there are forty-five years-and during this time he is supposed to have executed six colossal statues in bronze or acrolith, two of which, the Athena

VOL. CXIV.-NO. DCXCVIII.

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Promachos and the Athena Areia, were from 50 to 60 feet in height and one, the Athena Lemnia, was considered as perhaps his most beautiful work. Besides this, he executed thirteen statues at Delphi, the size of which is not stated. Nineteen statues in fortyfive years give a little over 2 years to each; and if the thirteen statues at Delphi were colossal, this will certainly seem insufficient for their execution, when we keep in mind the facts-1st, That Phidias was a slow and elaborate worker; 2d, That of necessity he must have done a great part of the work in bronze personally; 3d, That he was occupied four years on the Zeus alone; 4th, That two of these statues, at least, were larger than the Athena of the Parthenon, though not in the same material. It is, however, probable, that the thirteen statues at Delphi were not of colossal proportions, but rather of heroic size, and therefore requiring less time in their execution; and this would enable us to assign a longer time to the mighty colossi of Athena.

Certainly, however, if we accept the theory that Phidias commenced working twenty-five years after the battle of Marathon, we are in very great straits as to time, unless the date when these colossal statues were made be incorrect-and unless some of them were made after the Athena of the Parthenon. This, again, we cannot accept; for, from the date of the completion of the Athena of the Parthenon until his death, there are only at most some seven years, four of which were dedicated to the Zeus. We are then forced to believe that these nineteen statues were made in twenty years: and this is certainly very improbable.

In this view other difficulties also appear, which it would seem impossible to overcome, if we accept all the statues attributed to Phidias as

having been executed by him; for in such case, not only must he have made these nineteen statues in twenty years, but some fifteen more at least. Taking, then, the longest supposition as to his age, and giving him forty-five years of labour for some thirty-five statues, the time will altogether be too restricted. It may be as well at this point of the discussion to give a catalogue of the works which he is supposed to have executed, and to examine into the probable authenticity of some of them.

The list is as follows :—

1. The Athena, at Pellene, in Achaia. This was probably his first great work, if we credit Pausanias, who says it was made before the Athena of the Acropolis and the Athena at Platea. "They say," says Pausanias, "that this statue was made by Phidias, and before he made that for the Athenians, which is in their town, or that which is among the Plateans."

2-14. Thirteen statues in bronze, made from the spoils of the Persian war, and dedicated at Delphi as a votive offering by the Athenians, representing Athena, Apollo, Miltiades, Erechtheus, Cecrops, Pandion, Peleus, Antiochus, Egeus, Acamas, Codrus, Theseus, and Phyleus."All these statues," says Pausanias, "were made by Phidias ;" and on his sole authority the statement stands. He does not mention their size.

15. The colossal Athena Promachos in bronze in the Acropolis. -This statue, which was from 50 to 60 feet in height, was made from the spoils of Marathon. It represented the goddess holding up her spear and shield in the attitude of a combatant, and was visible to approaching vessels as far off as Sunium. "On the shield," says Pausanias, "the battle of the Centaurs and Lapitha was carved by Mys; but Parhassius, the son of Evenor, painted this for Mys, and

likewise the other figures that are seen on the shield." Pausanias, however, must be mistaken in this, since Parhassius lived about Olymp. 95 (B.c. 400), or about thirty years after the death of Phidias; and it would scarcely be probable that this shield would have remained uncarved and unpainted for from seventy to eighty years after the

statue was executed.

16. The Athena Areia, at Platæa. -This was an acrolith, also made from the spoils of Marathon.-"This statue," says Pausanias, "is made of wood, and is gilt, except the face and the extremities of the hands and feet, which are of Pentelic marble. Its magnitude is nearly equal to that of the Minerva, which the Athenians dedicated on their tower" (the Promachos). "Phidias too made this statue for the Platæenses."

17. The Athena in bronze, in the Acropolis, called the Lemnia, which, according to Pausanias, "deserves to be seen above all the works of Phidias." Lucian also speaks specially of its beauty.

18. The Athena mentioned by Pliny as having been dedicated at Rome, near the Temple of Fortune, by Paulus Emilius. But whether this originally stood in the Acropolis is unknown. Possibly or probably it was the same statue as that last mentioned.

19. The Cliduchus (Key-Bearer), also mentioned by Pliny, or may have been an Athena ; but more probably it represented a priestess holding the keys, symbolic of initiation into the mysteries.

20. The Athena of the Parthenon, -in ivory and gold.

21. The Zeus at Olympia,-in ivory and gold.

22. The Aphrodite Urania, in ivory and gold, at Elis.-This statue, attributed by Pausanias to Phidias, "stands with one of its feet on a tortoise."

25. A statue of the Mother of the Gods, sitting on a throne, supported by lions, in the Metroum near the Ceramicus.-This is attributed by Pausanias and Arrian to Phidias. Pliny, on the contrary, says it is by Agoracritus.

26. The Golden Throne, so called, and supposed generally to be that of the Athena.-What this was is very dubious. It could not be the throne of the Athena, for she had no throne, and probably was another name for the Athena herself. Plutarch calls it "THS DEOŨ TO XOUGOUV dos,"-and Isocrates, "rò rõs’Älnvàs dos."

27. Statue of Athena, at Elis, in ivory and gold.-Pausanias says it is attributed to Phidias," pasiv φασιν Dedov,-they say it is by Phidias." Pliny, however, says it was executed by Kolotes.

28. Statue of Esculapius, at Epidaurus.-This is attributed to Phidias by Athenagoras (Legat. pro Arist.); but by Pausanias to Thrasymedes of Paros.

29. At the entrance of the Ismenion, near Thebes, are two mar ble statues called Pronaoi — one of Athena, ascribed by Pausanias to Scopas and one of Hermes, ascribed by Pausanias to Phidias.

30. A Zeus, at the Olympeium at Megara. The head of this statue was made of gold and ivory, the rest of clay and gypsum. "This work is said (λeyovci) to have been made by Theocosmos, a citizen of Megara, with the assist

ance of Phidias," says Pausanias, and interrupted by the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. Probably it was executed solely by Theocosmos.

31. The statue of Nemesis, at Rhamnus, in marble-attributed to Phidias by Pausanias; but there can be little question that it was made by Agoracritos.

32. The Amazon.-This statue, which is highly praised by Lucian, was, according to Pliny, made by Phidias in competition with Polycleitus, Ctesilaus, Cydon, and Phradmon; the first prize being given to Polycleitus, the second to Phidias, the third to Ctesilaus, and the fourth to Cydon.

33, 34, 35. Three bronze statues mentioned by Pliny, the subjects not stated, and placed by Catulus in the Temple of Fortune.

36. The marble Venus in the portico of Octavia, which Pliny says "is said to be by Phidias."

37. The Horse-Tamer, in marble, now existing, and standing before the Quirinal in Rome.

There are some other statues attributed to Phidias by various writers, which may be at once rejected. Among them were the statues of Zeus and Apollo at Patara, in Lycia, which were supposed by Clemens Alexandrinus to have been by Phidias, but which are clearly settled to have been by Bryaxis. So also the Kairos, or Opportunity, by Lysippus, was attributed to Phidias by Ausonius; and the famous Venus of the Gardens (iv xnos), by Alcamenes, was said have received its finishing touches from him.

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It will, I think, be clear that many of the statues in the foregoing list must also be rejected. In the last ten years of his life he only executed two statues, each colossal -the Athena of the Parthenon, and the Zeus at Olympia. Taking the

earliest date of his artistic career at five years before the battle of Marathon, according to the theory of Thiersch, he would, as we have seen, have had forty-five years only in which to execute these thirty-four other statues, besides all the other and minute work upon which, as we shall see, he gave his genius. Several, at least, of these statues are colossal, several elaborately wrought in ivory and gold; and it is in the highest degree improbable that they could have been executed in this period of time.

On examination of the list, three at least will be seen to rest purely on tradition: the Apollo Parnopius, and the Athena at Elis, are mentioned by Pausanias as being "said to be" by Phidias. The Venus of the portico of Octavia "is said to be by Phidias," says Pliny. Little weight can be given to current and common opinion in respect to the authorship of works of art executed many centuries before, about which there is no written documentary proof. In our own time it is always exceedingly difficult, and often impossible, to decide upon the authorship of pictures and statues of one hundred years ago. Double that period, and the difficulty would of course be enormously increased. Now Pausanias wrote some six hundred years after the death of Phidias, and yet we are ready to accept as authoritative his passing statement that a certain statue "is said "to be by Phidias. How many statues at the present day are said to be by Michael Angelo, which he never saw! How many spurious Raffaelles and Titians adorn our galleries! Do we not know that every traveller in Italy sees statues "said to be" by Michael Angelo in such numbers, that ten Michael Angelos could not have made them all? There is scarcely a church that does not boast of something from his