together in fifth-century Athens) and also to disguise the onion shape of his head.
However near or far it may be from the actual features of Pericles, the severe and
dignified image represents him as the philosopher-general of Athens and as such
expresses the idealism of the Periclean age. Generally speaking, realistic portraiture
did not develop until the Hellenistic period.
Equally ideal is the head of one of the chariot horses of Selene, the moon, from
the east pediment of the Parthenon (fig. 59). The eyes, the nostril and the mouth,
together with the tautness of the sinewy nose and the muscular neck, are beautifully
naturalistic, yet the overall effect is to suggest a powerful and epic nobility that is
almost beyond nature. The artist may be said to have encapsulated the essence of
the equine, the Platonic form of a horse’s head, or at the very least to have sculpted
a horse worthy of a god.
The sculptors of the Parthenon are not known, but are thought to have been a
team under the direction of a single hand and mind, probably of Pheidias. The metope
showing a Lapith in single combat with a Centaur (fig. 60) is finely composed and
executed. The dynamic positioning of the Lapith’s legs and the contrasting lines of
the stretched torsos create a composition of vivid energy for which the sweeping
curves of the Lapith’s cloak provide a dramatic backcloth. The variously folded
ART 249FIGURE 59 Marble head of the horse of Selene from the east pediment of the
Parthenon. 438–432 BC, 1816,0610.98
Source:Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum