Six Greek sculptors . copy of a work of Myron^slater years. It has the same closely curling hair as theDiscobolus, the same marked eyelids, the same ratherfull lips, and a similar shape of face. There is, how-ever, far more attempt at expression, though it is notin this respect as advanced as the Diomed. Even if wedo not follow Furtwangler in the problematic series ofidentifications which he adds, we may admit the truthof his inference that the Riccardi head should make usmodify the opinion, recorded by ancient writers, thatMyron, though excellent in rendering physical life, wasdeficient in th
Six Greek sculptors . copy of a work of Myron^slater years. It has the same closely curling hair as theDiscobolus, the same marked eyelids, the same ratherfull lips, and a similar shape of face. There is, how-ever, far more attempt at expression, though it is notin this respect as advanced as the Diomed. Even if wedo not follow Furtwangler in the problematic series ofidentifications which he adds, we may admit the truthof his inference that the Riccardi head should make usmodify the opinion, recorded by ancient writers, thatMyron, though excellent in rendering physical life, wasdeficient in the expression of mental or emotional quali-ties. Doubtless it was for the first that he was mostfamous among the later Greeks; but we should belimiting, unduly the scope of his originality if wealtogether denied him the other. i This head has long been recognised as Myronic. See Friedrichs-Wolters, Bausteine, No. 458. A similar, but narrower, head is inthe Ince-Blundell collection ; another at Ny Karlsberg. Plate XVIII. RICCAKDI HEAD; STYLE OF MYRON To face p. 78 CHAPTER IV PHIDIAS The estimate which sets Phidias in the foremost placeamong Greek sculptors is probably a just one ; but it hasnot always met with acceptance. For example, thecanon of sculpture from which Pliny borrows much ofhis criticism, and which was probably derived from awriter of the Sicyonian School, regards Phidias ratheras a forerunner of Polyclitus, as a pioneer in the artwhich Polyclitus brought to the highest perfection. Thecauses that have led in modern times to a generalacknowledgment of the supremacy of Phidias are two-fold. In the first place, the description of his colossalstatues of the gods, and the enthusiastic appreciationof them, especially by later rhetorical writers, hasimpressed the imagination of modern students; and,in the second place, the extraordinary excellence ofthe Elgin marbles has met with so universal recogni-tion among artists and critics as to place the sculptorto whose influence
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