_Period IV., 300-50 B.C._--There can be no question but that the period
which followed the death of Alexander, commonly called the age of
Hellenism, was one of great activity and expansion in architecture. The
number of cities founded by himself and his immediate successors in Asia
and Egypt was enormous. The remains of these cities have in a few cases
(Ephesus, Pergamum, Assus, Priene, Alexandria) been partially excavated.
But the adaptation of Greek architecture to the needs of the semi-Greek
peoples included in the dominions of the kings of Egypt, Syria and
Pergamum is too vast a subject for us to enter upon here (see
ARCHITECTURE).
Painting during this age ceased to be religious. It was no longer for
temples and public stoae that artists worked, but for private persons;
especially they made frescoes for the decoration of the walls of houses,
and panel pictures for galleries set up by rich patrons. The names of
very few painters of the Hellenistic age have come down to us. There can
be no doubt that the character of the art declined, and there were no
longer produced great works to be the pride of cities, or to form an
embodiment for all future time of the qualities of a deity or the
circumstances of scenes mythical or historic. But at the same time the
mural paintings of Pompeii and other works of the Roman age, which are
usually more or less nearly derived from Hellenistic models, prove that
in technical matters painting continued to progress. Colouring became
more varied, groups more elaborate, perspective was worked out with
greater accuracy, and imagination shook itself free from many of the
conventions of early art. Pompeian painting, however, must be treated of
under Roman, not under Greek art. We figure a single example, to show
the elaboration of painting at Alexandria and elsewhere, the wonderful
Pompeian mosaic (fig. 47), which represents the victory of Alexander at
Issus. This work being in stone has preserved its colouring; and it
stands at a far higher level of art than ordinary Pompeian paintings,
which are the work of mere house-decorators. This on the contrary is
certainly copied from the work of a great master. It is instructive to
compare it with the sarcophagus illustrated in Fig. 46, which it excels
in perspective and in the freedom of individual figures, though the
composition is much less careful and precise. Alexander charges from the
left (his portrait being the least successful part of the picture), and
bears down a young Persian; Darius in his chariot flees towards the
right; in the foreground a young knight is trying to manage a restive
horse. It will be observed how very simple is the indication of
locality: a few stones and a broken tree stand for rocks and woods.
Among the original sculptural creations of the early Hellenistic age, a
prominent place is claimed by the statue of Fortune, typifying the city
of Antioch (Plate VI. fig. 81), a work of Eutychides, a pupil of
Lysippus. Of this we possess a small copy, which is sufficient to show
how worthy of admiration was the original. We have a beautiful
embodiment of the personality of the city, seated on a rock, holding
ears of corn, while the river Orontes, embodied in a young male figure,
springs forth at her feet.
[Illustration: From a photograph by G. Borgi.