CARYA´TIDES
CARYA´TIDES is the name commonly given to female
figures used in place of columns as the supports of an entablature. This was
not the only or even the usual meaning of the word in ancient times. Thus
the Caryatids made by Callimachus (Brunn,
Künstlergesch. 1.251;
Plin. Nat. 34.92, “Saltantes Lacaenae” ), by
Praxiteles (
Plin. Nat. 36.23), and for
the Pantheon by Diogenes (
Plin. Nat.
36.38; Overbeck,
Gesch. d. Gr. Pl. 2.380) were
probably maidens executing the dance in honour of Artemis Caryatis, though
by a misapprehension those of Callimachus have been by some identified with
the figures supporting the portico of the Pandroseum at Athens
(Rangabé,
Rev. Arch. 2.425), and those of Diogenes
with similar figures now extant in Rome. The maidens of the Pandroseum are
called simply
κόραι in contemporary records
(
C. I. G. 160); the word Caryatis in this application is
found, however, in Lynceus (ap.
Ath. 6.241 e), a
writer of about 300 B.C., and in Vitruvius (
1.1). The traditional story refers their
introduction to retaliation on the people of Caryae by the Greeks, at the
same time as a portico was erected at Delphi, supported by figures of
Persians. Others suggest that these Caryatides may be derived from maidens,
perhaps Canephori, in the service of Artemis Caryatis.
It will be as well to include under this head also Atlantes and Telamones,
the names given by the Greeks and Romans to male figures similarly applied
in architecture ( “bearers,” from
Τλάω).
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Caryatid from the Pandroseum (Erechtheum) at Athens. (From
Fergusson.)
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Several specimens of Caryatides and similar figures are still extant. The
most important, and also probably the and also probably the earliest, tare
the six maidens (one now in the British Museum) who support the portico of
the Pandroseum (Erechtheum) at Athens (408 B.C.). At Cambridge there is part
of a colossal Caryatid from Eleusis, probably dating from the time of
Demetrius Phalereus (317-307 B.C.). In the temple of Zeus at Agrigentum,
Giants, as Atlantes, take the place of square pilasters within the cella.
This temple probably dates from the beginning of the 5th century. In the
Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican and in the Palazzo Giustiniani at Rome are
Caryatids found near the Pantheon; these are imitated from those of the
Pandroseum. Others are preserved in the Villa Albani, in the Glyptothek at
Munich, and elsewhere. Satyrs and Sileni, who had served as supports to
entablatures, have been found near the scena of the theatre of Dionysus at
Athens. At Pompeii was discovered a relief representing Caryatids; but the
inscription on it,
τῆ Ἑλλάδι τὸ τρόπαιον
ἐστάθη κατανικηθέντων τῶν Καρυατῶν, is probably forged.
From these examples we may learn the characteristics of this class of
architectural figures. They naturally fall into two divisions, of each of
which we have representative specimens in the maidens of the Pandroseum and
the Giants of Agrigentum respectively. The former are regarded as the
willing performers of an honourable service, while the latter are vanquished
enemies compelled to a laborious task; and therefore in the two cases we
have very different treatment. The burden of the maidens of the Pandroseum
is lightened by the omission of the frieze from the entablature, and what
they support is only a portico. An explanation of their service is suggested
by their assimilation to the Canephori, or basket-bearers, who held an
honourable place in the Panathenaic procession. Too sudden a transition from
the architrave to the human figure is avoided by the sloping sides of the
basket-capital; the neck is strengthened by a careful arrangement of the
hair. Their position is one of ease and firmness, and their weight rests in
each case upon one leg: thus is gained an appearance of elasticity and also
of reserve power. This supporting leg is also in each case that towards the
outside of the building, and the apparent concentration of pressure thus
produced gives additional stability to the general effect. Other means are
taken to emphasise the similarity of the human figure to a column: thus the
swelling of the body at the hips corresponds to an entasis, and the
treatment of the drapery in regular parallel folds recalls flutings. In
other respects, also, the drapery of these and other Caryatids calls for
notice: we often find a broad mantle hanging down the back from two brooches
on the shoulders, a garment used also by Canephori in the Caryatid from
Eleusis there are also fastened to the same two brooches straps which cross
on the breast, with a Gorgoneion at their place of crossing. This whole
scheme recurs on some Canephori in the Villa Albani. In the best examples of
Caryatids the arms hang freely at the sides; but in some cases one hand
supports the basket on their heads.
In the second class of such figures--the Giants of Agrigentum, for instance,
figured under
ATLANTES--the
treatment is quite different. Here the weight borne is emphasised rather
than lightened, and no drapery conceals the muscular strain. But a slight
archaicism of execution, especially in the faces, prevents this strain from
being too painful to the spectator. These Giants
[p. 1.369]stand firmly on both feet, with their backs against the cella-wall, and
raise both arms to bear part of the weight that rests on their heads. But
such figures as these do not lend themselves to architectural treatment so
easily as draped Caryatids. Hence their characteristics hardly require so
much notice.
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E.A.G]