in 1895. Amongst the others may be mentioned those by the brothers Riepenhausen in 1805 and again in 1826, of Mr. W. Watkiss Lloyd in 1851, of Prof. O. Benndorf in 1887, and of Prof. C. Robert in 1892 and 1893, who has accompanied his reconstructions with elaborate commentaries. Of these various restorations the most artistically beautiful are those which were drawn by Mr. Hermann Schenck for Prof. Robert. They are here reproduced (pl. vi. vii.). Some exceptions may be taken to them in detail, but on the whole they probably give a fairly correct idea of the composition and general effect of the pictures. The arrangement of some of the figures above others, for which we have the authority of Pausanias, is probably to be explained, with Lessing (Laokoon, xix.) and Messrs. Weizsäcker and Schreiber, simply by the artist's ignorance of the laws of perspective rather than, with Prof. Robert, by supposing the figures to be placed one above the other on sloping ground. Some have held that the figures were disposed in regular horizontal bands, one above the other, but a better artistic effect is certainly produced by grouping them freely at various levels, as both Prof. Robert and Dr. Weizsäcker have done. This arrangement is supported by the analogy of many ancient vase-paintings, which taken along with Pausanias's description supply the most trustworthy materials for a reconstruction of the paintings in the Lesche. Probably many ancient vase-painters were influenced directly or indirectly by the pictures of Polygnotus, and it is quite possible that in some extant vasepaintings we possess imitations, more or less free, of certain masterpieces of the great painter. We have seen indubitable evidence that a famous work of art like the Chest of Cypselus at Olympia sometimes furnished subjects to the vase-painter (vol. 4. pp. 608 sqq., 613); and if the Chest of Cypselus, why not the still more celebrated works of Polygnotus ? Much difference of opinion has prevailed as to the shape of the Lesche and the disposition of the paintings on its walls. From Pausanias we learn that the pictures fell into two great sets, one representing Troy after its capture, the other Ulysses in hell: the first was on the spectator's right as he entered the building, the second was on his left (Paus. x. 25. 2, x. 28. 1). Hence it may fairly be inferred either that the two sets of pictures were on opposite walls of a quadrangular building, or that they were on the same wall but divided from each other by a doorway. In the former case the paintings probably occupied the two long sides of the building, while the doorway was in one of the two short sides. In the latter case the building was probably in the form of a colonnade with one or three sides open and the doorway in the middle of the back wall. On the whole, archaeologists who have discussed the problem have declared themselves, with some minor differences of opinion as to details, in favour of one or other of these two solutions. The Riepenhausens, Letronne, Otto Jahn, Ch. Lenormant, and Prof. C. Robert decided for the quadrangular building with the pictures on the opposite walls: Ruhl, Schubart, Prof. Michaelis, Mr. P. Girard, Dr. Weizsäcker, and Dr. Th. Schreiber decided for the colonnade with both pictures on the back wall. The recent excavation of the ruined Lesche would seem to show that the latter were right. But pending an exact and authoritative description of the remains that have been found it might still be premature to award judgment in this long debate. We have seen that as late as 1895, after the excavation of the Lesche, Mr. Homolle was inclined to favour the quadrangular building. When we learn the exact shape and dimensions of the Lesche, we shall be able by comparing them with Pausanias's description to estimate approximately the scale of the figures in the paintings and so to decide the question, which has lately been discussed by Prof. Robert and Dr. Schöne, whether they were life-size or not. That they were life-size is denied by Dr. Schöne and affirmed by Prof. Robert (Die Marathonschlacht in der Poikile, p. 82 sqq.), who bases his opinion chiefly on an ambiguous passage of Aelian (Var. hist. iv. 3) which may perhaps be translated thus: "Polygnotus painted large figures and earned his prizes by life-size pictures” (ἔγραφε τὰ μεγάλα καὶ ἐν τοῖς τελείοις εἰργάζετο τὰ a0λa). This translation of the adjective réλetos Prof. Robert defends by comparing the expression εἰκὼν γραπτὴ τελεία which occurs in two inscriptions (C. I. G. Nos. 3068, 3085) and the expression Tívaέ TÉλELOS yeypaμuevos which occurs in the Lives of the Ten Orators (p. 843 e) attributed to Plutarch. However this verbal question may be settled, the scale of the pictures in the Lesche will be determined within certain limits as soon as the measurements of the building are made public. Speaking from impression (I was not allowed to take measurements) I should say that the building is too small to allow us to suppose that the figures were life-size.1 The further question discussed by Prof. Robert and Dr. Schöne whether Polygnotus painted directly on a marble wall or on stucco has been definitely decided in favour of Dr. Schöne and stucco by the remains of blue-painted stucco on the wall of the Lesche. It is due to Prof. Robert to add that in deference to the objections urged by his adversary he afterwards inclined with some hesitation to discard marble for stucco (Die Marathonschlacht in der Poikile, p. 104). With regard to the date of the paintings it has been commonly supposed that they must have been executed before 467 B.C., since the couplet attached to the pictures (Paus. x. 27. 4 note) is ascribed to Simonides, who died in that year. This argument would have to be abandoned if with Prof. Robert and Prof. Hauvette (De l'authenticité des épigrammes de Simonide (Paris, 1896), p. 138) we believed the verses not to be by Simonides. But the reasons for this scepticism seem wholly insufficient to counterweigh the express testimony not only of Pausanias but of the compiler of the Palatine Anthology (ix. 700) as to the authorship of the epigram. It seems safer therefore to acquiesce in that testimony and to believe accordingly that one or both the pictures in the Lesche were painted in the lifetime of Simonides. Prof. Robert believes that a surer clue to the date of the paintings is 1 Since writing as above I have obtained, through Mr. Homolle's courtesy, a copy of part of the Bulletin de Corresp. hellénique for 1896 in which (pp. 633-639) the remains of the Lesche are described and discussed. The description reached me too late to allow me to modify the text in accordance with it, the volume having been already set up in pages. But see below, p. 635 sq. furnished by observing that of the four Theban ladies whom, according to Homer (Od. xi. 260-280), Ulysses saw in hell, only one was depicted in the lower world by Polygnotus (x. 29. 7). The omission of the other three was intended, Prof. Robert thinks, as a deliberate slight to the Thebans, and the picture must accordingly have been painted between 458 and 447 B.C., when the Phocians, the bitter enemies of Thebes, were in possession of Delphi. Without going so far as to reverse the argument and affirm that the omission of the ladies from the picture of hell may have been meant as a delicate compliment to Thebes, I find Prof. Robert's reasoning in the highest degree improbable. If three of the four women were left out for the reason supposed, why was the fourth inserted? If the painter put her in before the Phocians had time to stop him, surely it would have been easy for them to take her out again with the help of a brush and a little paint or whitewash. But to discuss such possibilities is futile. See F. S. C. Koenig, De Pausaniae fide et auctoritate (Berlin, 1832), p. 46 sqq.; K. O. Müller, Kleine deutsche Schriften, 2. pp. 398-404; Otto Jahn, 'Die Gemälde des Polygnotus in der Lesche zu Delphi, Kieler philologische Studien (Kiel, 1841), pp. 81-154; F. G. Welcker, 'Die Composition der polygnotischen Gemälde in der Lesche zu Delphi,' Philolog. und histor. Abhandlungen d. kön. Akad. d. Wissen. zu Berlin, 1847, pp. 81-151; J. Overbeck, Antepicritische Betrachtungen über die polygnotischen Gemälde in der Lesche zu Delphi,' Rheinisches Museum, N. F. 7 (1850), pp. 419-454; W. Watkiss Lloyd, 'On the paintings by Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi,' The Museum of Classical Antiquities, 1 (1851), pp. 44-77, 103-130; ib. On the plan and disposition of the Greek Lesche,' by the Editor, pp. 78-86; L. Ruhl und J. H. C. Schubart, Glossen zur Beschreibung des Polygnotischen Gemäldes in der Lesche zu Delphi bei Pausanias,' Zeitschrift für die Alterthumswissenschaft, 13 (1855), Nos. 49-52; ib. 14 (1856), Nos. 38-42; C. Bursian, in Fleckeisen's Jahrbücher, 2 (1856), p. 517 sqq.; Ch. Lenormant, Mémoire sur les peintures que Polygnote avait executées dans la Lesche de Delphes (Bruxelles, 1864); H. Blümner, Die Polygnotischen Gemälde in der Lesche zu Delphi,' Rheinisches Museum, N.F. 26 (1871), pp. 354-369 ; J. H. C. Schubart, in Fleckeisen's Jahrbücher, 18 (1872), pp. 173-178; W. Gebhardt, 'Die polygnotischen Leschebilder,' Fleckeisen's Jahrbücher, 19 (1873), pp. 815-820; Miss J. E. Harrison, Myths of the Odyssey, PP. 118-134; Wiener Vorlegeblätter für Kunstübungen, 1888 (Wien, 1889), Tafeln x., xi., xii. ; A. S. Murray, Handbook of Greek Archaeology, p. 361 sqq.; P. Girard, La peinture antique, pp. 157-165; C. Robert, Die Nekyia des Polygnot, Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm (Halle a/S, 1892); id., Die Iliupersis des Polygnot, Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm (Halle a/S, 1893); id., Die Marathonschlacht in der Poikile und Weiteres über Polygnot, Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm (Halle a/S, 1895); R. Schöne, Zu Polygnots delphischen Bildern,' Jahrbuch d. arch. Inst. 8 (1893), pp. 187-217; Th. Schreiber, Die Nekyia des Polygnot in Delphi,' Festschrift für J. Overbeck (Leipzig, 1893), pp. 184-206; id., 'Die Wandbilder des Polygnot in der Halle der Knidier zu Delphi,' Abhandlungen der philolog. histor. Classe der könig. sächs. Gesell. der Wissenschaften, 17 (1897), No. 6, pp. 1-178; P. Weizsäcker, Polygnot's Gemälde in der Lesche der Knidier in Delphi (Stuttgart, 1895). The restorations of the pictures by the Comte de Caylus, W. K. F. Siebelis, the Riepenhausens, F. G. Welcker, W. Watkiss Lloyd, and W. Gebhardt are republished in a convenient form in the Wiener Vorlegeblätter für Kunstübungen, 1888 (cited above), which also contains a reconstruction drawn by L. Michalek for Prof. O. Benndorf. 25. 1. the passage where Melantho rails at Ulysses. See Homer, Od. xviii. 329 sq. |