may be seen by reference to the account he has published in the former Section, and especially in the Eighth Chapter of the Sixth Volume, to which an engraving was annexed, representing the principal terra-cottas there described': yet few persons have been more zealous in their researches after such antiquities than he was; because he had for many years looked forward to the contribution they might make to the taste and the literature of his country. Since his departure from Athens, some excavations, undertaken by the two rival artists, Lusieri and Fauvel, whose merits he has before noticed, began to realize the prospect so long and so generally formed. Their discoveries were followed by a still more extensive examination of the soil near Athens, conducted under the patronage of several persons from this country; but by none more successfully than by Mr. Dodwell, by Mr. Graham, and by Mr. Burgon. The representation of a fine vase belonging to Mr. Dodwell has been already published'; but the more important discoveries of Mr. Graham, and of Mr. Burgon of Smyrna, as connected with the arts and the literature of Greece, and with a subject so often alluded to in these Travels, demand all the (1) See the Plate facing p. 458 of the former Volume. attention which it is now in the author's power: to bestow upon a topic he has already discussed. Mr. Graham, being at Athens, caused an ex-: cavation to be made near the supposed site of the Academy, on the left-hand side of the antient paved-way, leading from Athens to Thebes. Such was his success, that he discovered and brought to this country nearly a thousand vases, of a nature and quality so extraordinary, that in some instances, as will presently appear, nothing like them had ever been seen before. Their discovery amounts to nothing less than the development of a series of original pictures, painted upon the most durable of all materials, representing the arts, the mythology, the religious ceremonies, and the habits of the ATHENIANS, in the earliest periods of their history. Upon some of these vessels, the colours, the gilding, and the lettering, remain as fresh as when they were deposited in the tombs of Attica, more than two thousands years ago. Upon one Athenian tripod chalice is pictured the altercation between Minerva and Neptune for ATTICA; at which all the superior Gods of Greece presided: consequently, this chalice has been made to exhibit a complete PANTHEON, by a series of designs, equal in the style of their execution to any of the Grecian paintings preserved upon the terra-cottas of Nola in the South of Italy; and, to add to the value of this curious mythological document, the Greek names of all the assembled Deities are inscribed above their heads, in very legible characters. The style of painting upon those vases varies so considerably, that almost every branch of the art known to the Greeks may be observed! upon them; from the most antient specimens of the style called monochromatic by PLINY', where the figures were delineated only as shadows, by a black colour traced upon a red ground; down to the period in which more elaborate designs, in the monochromatic style, were represented by an outline of the liveliest vermilion upon a surface which is perfectly white. This last style of painting differs from every other, in one lamentable character; that, instead of sustaining (1) "Secundam singulis coloribus, et monochromaton dictam," &c. (Plinio, lib. xxxv. Hist. Nat. tom. III. p. 417. L. Bat. 1635.) "Autoritatem colori fuisse non miror: jam enim Trojanis temporibus rubrica in honore erat, Homero teste, qui naveis ea commendat, alias circa picturas pigmentaque rarus (sic). Milton vocant Græci minium, quidam cinnabari: Neque alius est color, qui in picturis proprie sanguinem reddat: Cinnabari veteres, quæ etiam nunc vocant monchromata pin gebant." Ibid. lib. xxxiii. p. 357. (2) Murice tincta; the pain of the Greeks. In more than one instance, regal robes are represented, upon the Athenian terra-cottas, of a vermilion colour. the action of acids, which are commonly used in cleansing these vases', they will not even bear the application of water; and being found covered with dirt, it is very difficult to develop the vermilion painting uninjured. Fortunately, one of the finest pictures in this style has escaped; and the whole of the design has been rendered visible, by carefully scraping the surface with very sharp knives; changing them often, so as to preserve an edge as keen as possible. The subject represented' appears to relate to the popular and affecting story of the visit paid by Electra to the tomb of her father Agamemnon, when she discovers the votive offerings already left there by her brother Orestes, previous to their interview; a story related differently by EURIPIDES and SOPHOCLES, and of course, like any other popular tale, liable to (1) The generality of the Grecian vases will sustain the highest temperature of a porcelain furnace, without any alteration in the colours upon their surfaces. (2) The whole success of this experiment is due to the patience and skill of ONE to whom the author has been before indebted for the embellishment of his Travels, and to whose taste and talents he owes the design whence the Frontispiece to this Volume has been engraved. First, by tracing the outline upon the vase itself, to ensure the utmost fidelity; and afterwards, by imitating the hue and disposition of the vermilion colour with all possible exactness; a faithful copy has been delineated of an Athenian monochromatic picture. (3) See the Frontispiece. and many varieties of relation and of representation. The journey of Orestes is denoted by the symbol of the staff which he bears in his left hand the curious circumstance of the chaplet, as connected with sepulchral vows, will not be viewed without interest', by persons who have noticed the frequent examples of resemblance between antient and modern customs; as it clearly proves, that the chaplets suspended in the hands of angels upon the old monuments of our churches had their origin, like many other of our religious customs, in Heathen superstitions and ceremonies'. Another circumstance discovered by the paintings upon those vases is too important to be omitted in a work which professes to treat of the antiquities of Greece. The origin not only of the Ionic volute in architecture, but of the symbol denoting water, as it has been figured by Grecian sculptors in their marble friezes and (4) See the Frontispiece. (5) Such as the ornamenting of our churches with ivy and holly at Christmas, &c. &c. Vide Gregor. Nazianz. Orat. de Vitâ Greg. Thaumaturg. tom. III. p. 574. |