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The Paintings by Panaenus on the Throne of the Olympian Zeus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
In the elaborate description which Pausanias gives of the throne of the Olympian Zeus, few parts have given rise to so much discussion and so much difference of opinion as the paintings by Panaenus, the brother of Phidias. It has been disputed both where they were placed, and how they were arranged.
It is the aim of the present paper to propose a new composition for this series of paintings, and, by doing so, to justify an old and recently somewhat discredited view as to the position in which they were placed. The cuts which are added serve to illustrate this new suggestion and to make clearer its advantages over those which have been previously made. The restoration of one side (p. 240), which has been very kindly drawn by a friend, must not, of course, be taken as an attempt to reproduce exactly the designs of Panaenus. But, since the groups or the figures that compose them are derived from fifth century works of Greek art, they may well give us a notion of the conditions, as to space and balance of figures, that determine the whole composition; and these conditions may be applied with some confidence, when we remember how closely even the greatest artists of this period often adhered to the accepted scheme for any group or subject.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1894
References
1 For example, of the two groups, one, that of Theseus and Pirithous, is taken directly from the Polygnotan Argonaut, vase, Mon. d. Inst. xi. 38–9Google Scholar. The other, of Heracles and Atlas, is composed after the lecythus, J.H.S. xiii. Pl. III., with the rôles of the two figures reversed; the Heracles is from Wiener Vorlegeblätter, 1888, viii. 1, and the whole is assimilated to the Olympian metope. The drawing was made to show the composition of all three sides, but it was thought better to publish one side only, so as to illustrate the principle of the composition, without laying claim to a complete restoration.
2 V. xi. 3.
3 See Petersen, , Kunst des Pheidias, p. 352Google Scholar, where this meaning of ἴσοι is established.
4 Gesch. der gr. Künstler, i. p. 171.
5 Kunst des Pheidias, pp. 352, 359, &c.
6 Gesch. der gr. Künst. i. (3rd ed.), p. 260.
7 Histoire de la Sculpture Grecque, i. p. 530.
8 This objection is noticed by Mr.Murray, , Mittheil. d. deutsch. Inst. Athen. 1882, p. 275Google Scholar.
9 Olympia, Text, ii. p. 13.
10 Fourth Edition, p. 360.
11 Dörpfeld, speaking of the architectural evidence, says: ‘Die ehemalige Höhe der Schranken kennt man nicht’ (Ol. ii, p. 13).
12 See Froriep, Anatomie für Künstler, Taf. vii.
13 Olympia, ii. p. 11.
14 In fact it was these words that first suggested the new arrangement to me.
15 Roscher, Mythologie, s.v. ‘Hesperiden.’
16 Cf. VI. xix. 8.