The following exceedingly interesting account of the removal of the
sculptures from the Parthenon, is extracted from Hamilton's "Memorandum
on the Subject of the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece."
"In the year 1799, when Lord Elgin was appointed his majesty's
ambassador extraordinary to the Ottoman Porte, he was in habits of
frequent intercourse with Mr. Harrison, an architect of great eminence
in the west of England, whom his lordship consulted on the benefits that
might possibly be derived to the arts in this country, in case an
opportunity could be found for studying minutely the architecture and
sculpture of ancient Greece; whose opinion was, that although we might
possess exact admeasurements of the public buildings in Athens, yet a
young artist could never form to himself an adequate conception of their
minute details, combinations, and general effects, without having before
him some such sensible representation of them as might be conveyed by
casts."
On this suggestion Lord Elgin proposed to his majesty's government, that
they should send out English artists of known eminence, capable of
collecting this information in the most perfect manner; but the prospect
appeared of too doubtful an issue for ministers to engage in the expense
attending it. Lord Elgin then endeavored to engage some of these artists
at his own charge; but the value of their time was far beyond his means.
When, however, he reached Sicily, on the recommendation of Sir William
Hamilton, he was so fortunate as to prevail on Don Tita Lusieri, one of
the best general painters in Europe, of great knowledge in the arts,
and of infinite taste, to undertake the execution of this plan; and Mr.
Hamilton, who was then accompanying Lord Elgin to Constantinople,
immediately went with Signor Lusieri to Rome, where, in consequence of
the disturbed state of Italy, they were enabled to engage two of the
most eminent _formatori_ or moulders, to make the _madreformi_ for the
casts; Signor Balestra, a distinguished architect there, along with
Ittar, a young man of promising talents, to undertake the architectural
part of the plan; and one Theodore, a Calmouk, who during several years
at Rome, had shown himself equal to the first masters in the design of
the human figure.
After much difficulty, Lord Elgin obtained permission from the Turkish
government to establish these six artists at Athens, where they
systematically prosecuted the business of their several departments
during three years, under the general superintendence of Lusieri.
Accordingly every monument, of which there are any remains in Athens,
has been thus most carefully and minutely measured, and from the rough
draughts of the architects (all of which are preserved), finished
drawings have been made by them of the plans, elevations, and details of
the most remarkable objects; in which the Calmouk has restored and
inserted all the sculpture with exquisite taste and ability. He has
besides made accurate drawings of all the bas-reliefs on the several
temples, in the precise state of decay and mutilation in which they at
present exist.
Most of the bassi rilievi, and nearly all the characteristic features of
architecture in the various monuments at Athens, have been moulded, and
the moulds of them brought to London.
Besides the architecture and sculpture at Athens, all similar remains
which could be traced through several parts of Greece have been measured
and delineated with the most scrupulous exactness, by the second
architect Ittar.
In the prosecution of this undertaking, the artists had the
mortification of witnessing the very _willful devastation to which all
the sculpture, and even the architecture, were daily exposed on the part
of the Turks and travelers_: the former equally influenced by mischief
and by avarice, the latter from an anxiety to become possessed, each
according to his means, of some relic, however small, of buildings or
statues which had formed the pride of Greece. The Ionic temple on the
Ilyssus which, in Stuart's time, about the year 1759, was in tolerable
preservation, had so entirely disappeared, that its foundation was no
longer to be ascertained. Another temple near Olympia had shared a
similar fate within the recollection of many. The temple of Minerva had
been converted into a powder magazine, and was in great part shattered
from a shell falling upon it during the bombardment of Athens by the
Venetians, towards the end of the seventeenth century; and even this
accident has not deterred the Turks from applying the beautiful temple
of Neptune and Erectheus to the same use, whereby it is still constantly
exposed to a similar fate. Many of the statues over the entrance of the
temple of Minerva, which had been thrown down by the explosion, had been
powdered to mortar, because they offered the whitest marble within
reach; and parts of the modern fortification, and the miserable houses
where this mortar had been so applied, are easily traced. In addition to
these causes of degradation, the Turks will frequently climb up the
ruined walls and amuse themselves in defacing any sculpture they can
reach; or in breaking columns, statues, or other remains of antiquity,
in the fond expectation of finding within them some hidden treasures.
Under these circumstances, Lord Elgin felt himself irresistibly impelled
to endeavor to preserve, by removal from Athens, any specimens of
sculpture he could, without injury, rescue from such impending ruin. He
had, besides, another inducement, and an example before him, in the
conduct of the last French embassy sent to Turkey before the Revolution.
French artists did then attempt to remove several of the sculptured
ornaments from several edifices in the Acropolis, and particularly from
the Parthenon. In lowering one of the Metopes the tackle failed, and it
was dashed to pieces; one other object was conveyed to France, where it
is held in the highest estimation, and where it occupies a conspicuous
place in the gallery of the Louvre, and constituted national property
during the French Revolution. The same agents were remaining at Athens
during Lord Elgin's embassy, waiting only the return of French influence
at the Porte to renew their operations. Actuated by these inducements,
Lord Elgin made every exertion; and the sacrifices he has made have been
attended with such entire success, that he has brought to England from
the ruined temples at Athens, from the modern walls and fortifications,
in which many fragments had been used as blocks for building, and from
excavations from amongst the ruins, made on purpose, such a mass of
Athenian sculpture, in statues, alti and bassi rilievi, capitals,
cornices, friezes, and columns as, with the aid of a few of the casts,
to present all the sculpture and architecture of any value to the artist
or man of taste which can be traced at Athens.
In proportion as Lord Elgin's plan advanced, and the means accumulated
in his hands towards affording an accurate knowledge of the works of
architecture and sculpture in Athens and in Greece, it became a subject
of anxious inquiry with him, in what way the greatest degree of benefit
could be derived to the arts from what he had been so fortunate as to
procure.
In regard to the works of the architects employed by him, he had
naturally, from the beginning, looked forward to their being engraved;
and accordingly all such plans, elevations, and details as to those
persons appeared desirable for that object, were by them, and on the
spot, extended with the greatest possible care for the purpose of
publication. Besides these, all the working sketches and measurements
offer ample materials for further drawings, if they should be required.
It was Lord Elgin's wish that the whole of the drawings might be
executed in the highest perfection of the art of engraving; and for this
purpose a fund should be raised by subscription, exhibition, or
otherwise; by aid of which these engravings might still be
distributable, for the benefit of artists, at a rate of expense within
the means of professional men.
Great difficulty occurred in forming a plan for deriving the utmost
advantage from the marbles and casts. Lord Elgin's first attempt was to
have the statues and bassi rilievi restored; and in that view he went to
Rome to consult and to employ Canova. The decision of that most eminent
artist was conclusive. On examining the specimens produced to him, and
making himself acquainted with the whole collection, and particularly
with what came from the Parthenon, by means of the persons who had been
carrying on Lord Elgin's operations at Athens, and who had returned with
him to Rome, Canova declared, "That however greatly it was to be
lamented that these statues should have suffered so much from time and
barbarism, yet it was undeniable that they never had been retouched;
that they were the work of the ablest artists the world had ever seen;
executed under the most enlightened patron of the arts, and at a period
when genius enjoyed the most liberal encouragement, and had attained the
highest degree of perfection; and that they had been found worthy of
forming the decoration of the most admired edifice ever erected in
Greece. That he should have had the greatest delight, and derived the
greatest benefit from the opportunity Lord Elgin offered him of having
in his possession and contemplating these inestimable marbles." But
(_his expression was_) "it would be sacrilege in him or any man to
presume to touch them with his chisel." Since their arrival in this
country they have been laid open to the inspection of the public; and
the opinions and impressions, not only of artists, but of men of taste
in general, have thus been formed and collected.
From these the judgment pronounced by Canova has been universally
sanctioned; and all idea of restoring the marbles deprecated. Meanwhile
the most distinguished painters and sculptors have assiduously attended
the Museum, and evinced the most enthusiastic admiration of the
perfection to which these marbles now prove to them that Phidias had
brought the art of sculpture, and which had hitherto only been known
through the medium of ancient authors. They have attentively examined
them, and they have ascertained that they were executed with the most
scrupulous anatomical truth, not only in the human figure, but in the
various animals to be found in this collection. They have been struck
with the wonderful accuracy, and at the same time, the great effect of
minute detail; and with the life and expression so distinctly produced
in every variety of attitude and action. Those more advanced in years
have testified great concern at not having had the advantage of studying
these models; and many who have had the opportunity of forming a
comparison (among these are the most eminent sculptors and painters in
this metropolis), have publicly and unequivocally declared, that in the
view of professional men, this collection is far more valuable than any
other collection in existence.
With such advantages as the possession of these unrivalled works of art
afford, and with an enlightened and encouraging protection bestowed on
genius and the arts, it may not be too sanguine to indulge a hope, that,
prodigal as nature is in the perfections of the human figure in this
country, animating as are the instances of patriotism, heroic actions,
and private virtues deserving commemoration, sculpture may soon be
raised in England to rival these, the ablest productions of the best
times of Greece. The reader is referred to the synopsis of the British
Museum, and to the Chevalier Visconti's Memoirs, before quoted, for
complete and authentic catalogues of these marbles, but the following
brief abstract is necessary to give a view of what they consist, to
readers who may reside at a distance from the metropolis, or have not
those works at hand.
In that part of the collection which came from the eastern pediment of
the Parthenon are several statues and fragments, consisting of two
horses' heads in one block, and the head of one of the horses of Night,
a statue of Hercules or Theseus, a group of two female figures, a female
figure in quick motion, supposed to be Iris, and a group of two
goddesses, one represented sitting, and the other half reclining on a
rock. Among the statues and fragments from the western pediment are part
of the chest and shoulders of the colossal figure in the centre,
supposed to be Neptune, a fragment of the colossal figure of Minerva, a
fragment of a head, supposed to belong to the preceding, a fragment of a
statue of Victory, and a statue of a river god called Ilissus, and
several fragments of statues from the pediments, the names or places of
which are not positively ascertained, among which is one supposed to
have been Latona, holding Apollo and Diana in her arms; another of the
neck and arms of a figure rising out of the sea, called Hyperion, or the
rising Sun; and a torso of a male figure with drapery thrown over one
shoulder. The metopes represent the battles between the Centaurs and
Lapithæ, at the nuptials of Pirithous. Each metope contains two figures,
grouped in various attitudes; sometimes the Lapithæ, sometimes the
Centaurs victorious. The figure of one of the Lapithæ, who is lying
dead and trampled on by a Centaur, is one of the finest productions of
the art, as well as the group adjoining to it of Hippodamia, the bride,
carried off by the Centaur Eurytion; the furious style of whose
galloping in order to secure his prize, and his shrinking from the spear
that has been hurled after him, are expressed with prodigious animation.
They are all in such high relief as to seem groups of statues; and they
are in general finished with as much attention behind as before.
They were originally continued round the entablature of the Parthenon,
and formed ninety-two groups. The frieze which was carried along the
outer walls of the cell offered a continuation of sculptures in low
relief, and of the most exquisite beauty. It represented the whole of
the solemn procession to the temple of Minerva during the Panathenaic
festival; many of the figures are on horseback, others are about to
mount, some are in chariots, others on foot, oxen and other victims are
led to sacrifice, the nymphs called Canephoræ, Skiophoræ, &c., are
carrying the sacred offering in baskets and vases; there are priests,
magistrates, warriors, deities, &c., forming altogether a series of most
interesting figures in great variety of costume, armor, and attitude.
From the Opisthodomus of the Parthenon, Lord Elgin also procured some
valuable inscriptions, written in the manner called Kionedon or
columnar. The subjects of these monuments are public decrees of the
people, accounts of the riches contained in the treasury, and delivered
by the administrators to their successors in office, enumerations of the
statues, the silver, gold, and precious stones, deposited in the temple,
estimates for public works, &c.