107-662: The Elgin Marbles ( / ˈ ɛ l ɡ ɪ n / EL -ghin ) are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens , removed from Ottoman Greece and shipped to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin , and now held in the British Museum in London. The majority of the sculptures were created in the 5th century BC under
214-447: A cult image in the cella . Access to the cella varied, but apart from the priests, at the least some of the general worshippers could access the cella some of the time, though sacrifices to the deity were normally made on altars outside in the temple precinct ( temenos in Greek). Some cult images were easy to see, and were what we would call major tourist attractions. The image normally took
321-544: A peripteral design that placed the cella in the center of the plan, such as the Parthenon and the Temple of Apollo at Paestum . The Romans favoured pseudoperipteral buildings with a portico offsetting the cella to the rear. The pseudoperipteral plan uses engaged columns embedded along the side and rear walls of the cella . The Temple of Venus and Roma built by Hadrian in Rome had two cellae arranged back-to-back enclosed by
428-422: A terracotta sculpture found on the island of Euboea, dated c. 920 BC . The statue was constructed in parts, before being dismembered and buried in two separate graves. The centaur has an intentional mark on its knee, which has led researchers to postulate that the statue might portray Cheiron , presumably kneeling wounded from Herakles ' arrow. If so, it would be the earliest known depiction of myth in
535-741: A 4th-century BC depiction of Isis . The depiction is unusually sensual for depictions of the Egyptian goddess, as well as being uncharacteristically detailed and feminine, marking a combination of Egyptian and Hellenistic forms around the time of Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt. In Goa , India, were found Buddha statues in Greek styles. These are attributed to Greek converts to Buddhism, many of whom are known to have settled in Goa during Hellenistic times. All ancient Greek temples and Roman temples normally contained
642-465: A club, could just as easily be Apollo or Heracles as that year's Olympic boxing champion. In the Archaic Period, the most important sculptural form was the kouros (See for example Biton and Kleobis ). The kore was also common; Greek art did not present female nudity (unless the intention was pornographic) until the 4th century BC, although the development of techniques to represent drapery
749-435: A deposit of dust and soot. ... I found the body of the marble beneath the surface white. ... The application of water, applied by a sponge or soft cloth, removed the coarsest dirt. ... The use of fine, gritty powder, with the water and rubbing, though it more quickly removed the upper dirt, left much embedded in the cellular surface of the marble. I then applied alkalies, both carbonated and caustic; these quickened
856-478: A few years later, strongly objected to the removal of the marbles from Greece, denouncing Elgin as a vandal. In his narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage , published in 1812, he wrote in relation to the Parthenon: Dull is the eye that will not weep to see Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed By British hands, which it had best behoved To guard those relics ne'er to be restored. Curst be
963-571: A number of local styles may be identified by finds from Athens , Argos , and Sparta . Typical works of the era include the Karditsa warrior (Athens Br. 12831) and the many examples of the equestrian statuette (for example, NY Met. 21.88.24 online ). The repertory of this bronze work is not confined to standing men and horses, however, as vase paintings of the time also depict imagery of stags, birds, beetles, hares, griffins and lions. There are no inscriptions on early-to-middle geometric sculpture, until
1070-424: A range of official Ottoman documents. He argues that the document is possibly a buyuruldi , but "[w]hatever the exact form of the document was, it clearly had to be obeyed, and it was." Historian Edhem Eldem also argues for the likely authenticity of the document and calls it a firman in the broad meaning of the word. There is debate over whether the document authorised Elgin's agents to remove sculptures attached to
1177-554: A shift towards increasing naturalism. Common people, women, children, animals, and domestic scenes became acceptable subjects for sculpture, which was commissioned by wealthy families for the adornment of their homes and gardens. Realistic figures of men and women of all ages were produced, and sculptors no longer felt obliged to depict people as ideals of beauty or physical perfection. At the same time, new Hellenistic cities springing up in Egypt , Syria , and Anatolia required statues depicting
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#17328482519971284-701: A significant scrap value very few original bronzes have survived, though in recent years marine archaeology or trawling has added a few spectacular finds, such as the Artemision Bronze and Riace bronzes , which have significantly extended modern understanding. Many copies of the Roman period are marble versions of works originally in bronze. Ordinary limestone was used in the Archaic period, but thereafter, except in areas of modern Italy with no local marble, only for architectural sculpture and decoration. Plaster or stucco
1391-563: A similar cleaning of the Temple of Hephaestus in the Athenian Agora was carried out by the conservation team of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1953 using steel chisels and brass wire. According to the Greek ministry of Culture , the cleaning was carefully limited to surface salt crusts. The 1953 American report concluded that the techniques applied were aimed at removing
1498-625: A single outer peristyle . According to Vitruvius , the Etruscan type of temples (as, for example, at Portonaccio , near Veio ) had three cellae , side by side, conjoined by a double row of columns on the façade . This is an entirely new setup with respect to the other types of constructions found in Etruria and the Tyrrhenian side of Italy, which have one cell with or without columns, as seen in Greece and
1605-548: A unified public display with the other major Parthenon antiquities in the Acropolis Museum. The UK government and British Museum have argued that they were obtained legally, that their return would set a precedent which could undermine the collections of the major museums of world culture, and that the British Museum's collection allows them to be better viewed in the context of other major ancient cultures and thus complements
1712-467: Is commonly thought that the earliest incarnation of Greek sculpture was in the form of wooden or ivory cult statues , first described by Pausanias as xoana . No such statues survive, and the descriptions of them are vague, despite the fact that they were probably objects of veneration for hundreds of years. The first piece of Greek statuary to be reassembled since is probably the Lefkandi Centaur,
1819-645: Is held by the British Museum, and an English translation was submitted to the 1816 Select Committee. The document states in part, that it be written and ordered that the said painters [Elgin's men] while they are occupied in entering and leaving by the gate of the Castle of the City, which is the place for their observations, in setting up scaffolding round the ancient temple of the Idols [the Parthenon], and taking moulds in lime paste (that
1926-669: Is obviously important. As with pottery, the Greeks did not produce sculpture merely for artistic display. Statues were commissioned either by aristocratic individuals or by the state, and used for public memorials, as offerings to temples, oracles and sanctuaries (as is frequently shown by inscriptions on the statues), or as markers for graves. Statues in the Archaic period were not all intended to represent specific individuals. They were depictions of an ideal—beauty, piety, honor or sacrifice. These were always depictions of young men, ranging in age from adolescence to early maturity, even when placed on
2033-637: Is plaster) of the same ornaments, and visible figures, in measuring the remains of other ruined buildings, and in undertaking to excavate, according to need, the foundations to find any inscribed blocks, which may have been preserved in the rubble, be not disturbed, nor in any way impeded by the Commandant of the Castle, nor any other person, and that no one meddle with their scaffolding, and implements, which they may have made there; and should they wish to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions, and figures, that no opposition be made. Vassilis Demetriades, of
2140-441: Is suggested that "little money" was paid to the disdar, and only to induce him to continue the work. No money is ever mentioned for the commencement of the work, which is due to the official authorisation. Merryman argues that bribery would not have rendered the acquisition of the marbles illegal by the standards of the time: The Ottomans who were bribed were the responsible officials. Whatever their motivation may have been, they had
2247-417: Is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple . Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or monk's cell , and since the 17th century, of a biological cell in plants or animals. In ancient Greek and Roman temples , the cella was a room at the center of the building, usually containing a cult image or statue representing the particular deity venerated in
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#17328482519972354-477: Is used in this sense by both the British Museum and the Greek government. The Parthenon was built on the Acropolis of Athens from 447 BCE as a temple to the goddess Athena. It is likely that Phidias was responsible for the sculptural design. In subsequent centuries the building was converted into a church and a mosque and the sculptures were extensively damaged, although the building remained structurally sound. During
2461-538: The Charioteer of Delphi (474 BC), which demonstrates a transition to more naturalistic sculpture. From about 500 BC, Greek statues began increasingly to depict real people, as opposed to vague interpretations of myth or entirely fictional votive statues , although the style in which they were represented had not yet developed into a realistic form of portraiture. The statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton , set up in Athens mark
2568-574: The Erechtheion , the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia , sending them to Britain in efforts to establish a private museum. Elgin stated he removed the sculptures with permission of the Ottoman officials who exercised authority in Athens at the time. The legality of Elgin's actions has been disputed. Their presence in the British Museum is the subject of longstanding international controversy. In Britain,
2675-644: The Lapiths and the centaurs , as well as 75 metres of the Parthenon frieze which decorated the horizontal course set above the interior architrave of the temple. As such, they represent more than half of what now remains of the surviving sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. Elgin's acquisitions also included objects from other buildings on the Athenian Acropolis – a caryatid from the Erechtheion; four slabs from
2782-478: The Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War (1684–1699) , the defending Turks fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as a gunpowder store. On 26 September 1687, a Venetian artillery round ignited the gunpowder, and the resulting explosion blew out the central portion of the Parthenon and caused the cella 's walls to crumble into rubble. Three of the four walls collapsed, or nearly so, and about three-fifths of
2889-508: The Society of Dilettanti . In February 1816, a House of Commons Select Committee held public hearings on whether Elgin had acquired the marbles legally and whether they should be purchased by the government. In his evidence to the committee, Elgin stated that the work of his agents at the Acropolis, and the removal of the marbles, were authorised by a firman (a generic term employed by Western travellers to signify any official Ottoman order) from
2996-617: The Statue of Athena Parthenos (both chryselephantine and executed by Phidias or under his direction, and considered to be the greatest of the Classical Sculptures), are lost, although smaller copies (in other materials) and good descriptions of both still exist. Their size and magnificence prompted rivals to seize them in the Byzantine period, and both were removed to Constantinople , where they were later destroyed. The transition from
3103-403: The Statue of Zeus at Olympia , and Phidias 's Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon in Athens, both colossal statues now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues from Delphi have been excavated. Cult images generally held or wore identifying attributes, which is one way of distinguishing them from the many other statues of deities in temples and other locations. The acrolith
3210-575: The Strangford Apollo from Anafi (British Museum), a much later work; and the Anavyssos Kouros ( National Archaeological Museum of Athens ). More of the musculature and skeletal structure is visible in this statue than in earlier works. The standing, draped girls have a wide range of expression, as in the sculptures in the Acropolis Museum of Athens . Their drapery is carved and painted with
3317-470: The kouroi . The Classical period saw changes in the style and function of sculpture, along with a dramatic increase in the technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting realistic human forms. Poses also became more naturalistic, notably during the beginning of the period. This is embodied in works such as the Kritios Boy (480 BC), sculpted with the earliest known use of contrapposto ('counterpose'), and
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3424-591: The 5th and 4th centuries BC, monumental sculpture was composed almost entirely of marble or bronze ; with cast bronze becoming the favoured medium for major works by the early 5th century BC; many pieces of sculpture known only in marble copies made for the Roman market were originally made in bronze. Smaller works were in a great variety of materials, many of them precious, with a very large production of terracotta figurines. The territories of ancient Greece, except for Sicily and southern Italy, contained abundant supplies of fine marble, with Pentelic and Parian marble
3531-405: The Archaic (from about 650 to 480 BC), Classical (480–323 BC) and Hellenistic. At all periods there were great numbers of Greek terracotta figurines and small sculptures in metal and other materials. The Greeks decided very early on that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour. Seeing their gods as having human form, there was little distinction between the sacred and
3638-556: The British government's decision to buy the marbles would herald "a new age of great art". The marbles went on public display in a temporary room of the British Museum in 1817 and soon broke attendance records for the museum. John Keats visited the British Museum in 1817, recording his feelings in the sonnet titled "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles". Some lines of his " Ode on a Grecian Urn " are also thought to have been inspired by his visit to
3745-620: The Classical to the Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century BC. Greek art became increasingly diverse, influenced by the cultures of the peoples drawn into the Greek orbit, by the conquests of Alexander the Great (336 to 323 BC). In the view of some art historians, this is described as a decline in quality and originality; however, individuals of the time may not have shared this outlook. Many sculptures previously considered classical masterpieces are now known to be of
3852-463: The Elgin Marbles. William Wordsworth also viewed the marbles and commented favourably on their aesthetics in a letter to Haydon. The marbles were later displayed in the specially constructed Elgin Saloon (1832) and became the preferred models for academic training in fine arts. Plaster casts of the marbles were in high demand and were distributed to museums, private collectors and heads of state throughout
3959-459: The Greek statues well known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as the Apollo Barberini , can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example the bronze Piraeus Athena (2.35 metres high, including a helmet). In Greek and Roman mythology , a " palladium " was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city
4066-670: The Hellenistic age. The technical ability of the Hellenistic sculptors are clearly in evidence in such major works as the Winged Victory of Samothrace , and the Pergamon Altar . New centres of Greek culture, particularly in sculpture, developed in Alexandria , Antioch , Pergamum , and other cities. By the 2nd century BC, the rising power of Rome had also absorbed much of the Greek tradition—and an increasing proportion of its products as well. During this period, sculpture again experienced
4173-544: The Orient. In the Hellenistic culture of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in ancient Egypt, the cella referred to that which is hidden and unknown inside the inner sanctum of an Egyptian temple , existing in complete darkness, meant to symbolize the state of the universe before the act of creation. The cella , also called the naos , holds many box-like shrines. The Greek word " naos " has been extended by archaeologists to describe
4280-449: The Ottoman government obtained in July 1801, and was undertaken with the approval of the voivode (civil governor of Athens) and the dizdar (military commander of the Acropolis citadel). In March 1810, another firman was obtained, authorising the second shipment of marbles from Athens to Britain. Elgin told the committee, "the thing was done publicly before the whole world ... and all
4387-467: The Parthenon and other structures. Demetriades, David Rudenstine and others argue that the document only authorised Elgin's party to remove artefacts recovered from the permitted excavations, not those still attached to buildings. Williams argues that the document was "rather open ended" and that the civil governor agreed with Hunt's interpretation that it allowed Elgin's party to remove sculptures fixed to buildings. Beard concludes, "No amount of poring over
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4494-610: The Sublime Porte of Selim III , Sultan of Turkey" (Greece was then part of the Ottoman Empire ). Before his departure to take up the post, he had approached officials of the British government to inquire if they would be interested in employing artists to take casts and drawings of the sculptured portions of the Parthenon. According to Elgin, "the answer of the Government ;... was entirely negative." Elgin decided to carry out
4601-522: The Turkish archives show that this denial was only a delaying tactic for reasons of diplomacy, and that the Porte eventually granted permission for the transport of the marbles to Britain later in 1811. A number of eyewitnesses to the removal of the marbles from the Acropolis, including members of Elgin's party, stated that expensive bribes and gifts to local officials were required to ensure their work progressed. It
4708-591: The Turks and other barbarians had considered sacred. Edward Daniel Clarke witnessed the removal of the metopes and called the action a "spoliation", writing that "thus the form of the temple has sustained a greater injury than it had already experienced from the Venetian artillery", and that "neither was there a workman employed in the undertaking ... who did not express his concern that such havoc should be deemed necessary, after moulds and casts had been already made of all
4815-565: The UK government to return them to Greece, and subsequently listed the dispute with UNESCO . The UK government and British Museum declined UNESCO's offer of mediation. In 2021, UNESCO called upon the UK government to resolve the issue at the intergovernmental level. The Greek government and supporters of the marbles' return to Greece have argued that they were obtained illegally or unethically, that they are of exceptional cultural importance to Greece, and that their cultural value would be best appreciated in
4922-634: The University of Crete, argues that the document is not a firman (a decree from the Sultan), or a buyuruldi (an order from the Grand Vizier ), but a mektub (official letter) from the Sultan's acting Grand Vizier which did not have the force of law. Dyfri Williams states that although the document is not a firman in the technical sense, the term was widely used informally in diplomatic and court circles to refer to
5029-462: The Venetians. Elgin consulted with Italian sculptor Antonio Canova in 1803 about how best to restore the marbles. Canova was considered by some to be the world's best sculptural restorer of the time; Elgin wrote that Canova declined to work on the marbles for fear of damaging them further. To facilitate transport by Elgin, the columns' capitals and many metopes and frieze slabs were either hacked off
5136-553: The Winged Victory of Samothrace (2nd or 1st century BC), the statue of Aphrodite from the island of Melos known as the Venus de Milo (mid-2nd century BC), the Dying Gaul (about 230 BC), and the monumental group Laocoön and His Sons (late 1st century BC). All these statues depict Classical themes, but their treatment is far more sensuous and emotional than
5243-402: The acquisition of the collection was supported by some, while others, such as Lord Byron , likened Elgin's actions to vandalism or looting. A UK parliamentary inquiry in 1816 concluded that Elgin had acquired the marbles legally. Elgin sold them to the British government in that year, after which they passed into the trusteeship of the British Museum. In 1983, the Greek government formally asked
5350-541: The appearance of the Mantiklos "Apollo" (Boston 03.997) of the early 7th century BC found in Thebes. The figure is that of a standing man with a pseudo- daedalic form, underneath which lies the hexameter inscription reading "Mantiklos offered me as a tithe to Apollo of the silver bow; do you, Phoibos [Apollo], give some pleasing favour in return". Apart from the novelty of recording its own purpose, this sculpture adapts
5457-501: The austere taste of the Classical period would have allowed or its technical skills permitted. Hellenistic sculpture was also marked by an increase in scale, which culminated in the Colossus of Rhodes (late 3rd century), thought to have been roughly the same size as the Statue of Liberty . The combined effect of earthquakes and looting have destroyed this as well as any other very large works of this period that might have existed. Following
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#17328482519975564-493: The black deposit formed by rain-water and "brought out the high technical quality of the carving" revealing at the same time "a few surviving particles of colour". Ancient Greek sculpture The sculpture of ancient Greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient Greek art as, with the exception of painted ancient Greek pottery , almost no ancient Greek painting survives. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monumental sculpture in bronze and stone:
5671-452: The central room of the pyramids. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom , naos construction went from being subterranean to being built directly into the pyramid, above ground. The naos was surrounded by many different paths and rooms, many used to confuse and divert thieves and grave robbers. In early Christian and Byzantine architecture , the cella or naos is an area at the center of
5778-535: The civil governor and the military commander of Athens ratifying their conduct and, in March 1810, issued a command allowing Elgin to transport a shipment of marbles from Greece to Britain. Legal academic Catharine Titi states that Sir Robert Adair reported that the Ottomans in 1811 "absolutely denied" that Elgin had any property in the sculptures. Legal scholar Alexander Herman and historian Edhem Eldem state that documents in
5885-563: The conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek culture spread as far as India, as revealed by the excavations of Ai-Khanoum in eastern Afghanistan, and the civilization of the Greco-Bactrians and the Indo-Greeks . Greco-Buddhist art represented a syncretism between Greek art and the visual expression of Buddhism. Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century surrounding the (now submerged) ancient Egyptian city of Heracleum include
5992-401: The delicacy and meticulousness common in the details of sculpture of this period. The Greeks thus decided very early on that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour. Seeing their gods as having human form, there was no distinction between the sacred and the secular in art—the human body was both secular and sacred. A male nude without any attachments such as a bow or
6099-400: The detailed tone of many carvings. According to Harold Plenderleith , the surface removed in some places may have been as much as one-tenth of an inch (2.5 mm). The British Museum responded by saying that "mistakes were made at that time." On another occasion, it was said that "the damage had been exaggerated for political reasons" and that "the Greeks were guilty of excessive cleaning of
6206-437: The direction of sculptor and architect Phidias . The term Parthenon Marbles or Parthenon Sculptures ( Greek : Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα ) refers to sculptures—the frieze , metopes and pediments —from the Parthenon held in various collections, principally the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens. From 1801 to 1812, Elgin's agents removed about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures, as well as sculptures from
6313-581: The first to be considered artistically respectable. Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos , which survives in copies, was often referenced to and praised by Pliny the Elder . Lysistratus is said to have been the first to use plaster molds taken from living people to produce lost-wax portraits, and to have also developed a technique of casting from existing statues. He came from a family of sculptors and his brother, Lysippos of Sicyon , produced fifteen hundred statues in his career. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia and
6420-399: The form of a statue of the deity, originally less than life-size, then typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size, in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious form of a Chryselephantine statue using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around a wooden framework. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including
6527-506: The formulae of oriental bronzes, as seen in the shorter more triangular face and slightly advancing left leg. This is sometimes seen as anticipating the greater expressive freedom of the 7th century BC and, as such, the Mantiklos figure is referred to in some quarters as proto-Daedalic. Inspired by the monumental stone sculpture of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia , the Greeks began again to carve in stone. Free-standing figures share
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#17328482519976634-500: The gods and heroes of Greece for their temples and public places. This made sculpture, like pottery, an industry, with the consequent standardisation and (some) lowering of quality. For these reasons, quite a few more Hellenistic statues survive to the present than those of the Classical period. Alongside the natural shift towards naturalism, there was a shift in expression of the sculptures as well. Sculptures began expressing more power and energy during this time period. An easy way to see
6741-593: The government offered only £30,000; less than half of his expenses relating to them. The following years marked an increased interest in classical Greece, and Elgin procured testimonials from Ennio Quirino Visconti , director of the Louvre, and Antonio Canova of the Vatican Museum, who affirmed the high artistic value of the marbles. In 1816, a House of Commons Select Committee, established at Lord Elgin's request, found that they were of high artistic value and recommended that
6848-487: The government purchase them for £35,000 to further the cultivation of the fine arts in Britain. In June 1816, after further debate, parliament approved the purchase of the marbles by a vote of 82–30. The marbles were transferred to the British Museum on 8 August. The marbles acquired by Elgin include some 21 figures from the statuary from the east and west pediments , 15 of an original 92 metope panels depicting battles between
6955-435: The graves of (presumably) elderly citizens. Kouroi were all stylistically similar. Graduations in the social stature of the person commissioning the statue were indicated by size rather than artistic innovations. The Classical period saw a revolution of Greek sculpture, sometimes associated by historians with the popular culture surrounding the introduction of democracy and the end of the aristocratic culture associated with
7062-413: The highly personal family groups of the Classical period. These monuments are commonly found in the suburbs of Athens, which in ancient times were cemeteries on the outskirts of the city. Although some of them depict "ideal" types—the mourning mother, the dutiful son—they increasingly depicted real people, typically showing the departed taking his dignified leave from his family. This is a notable increase in
7169-575: The history of Greek sculpture. The forms from the Geometric period ( c. 900 to 700 BC ) were chiefly terracotta figurines , bronzes , and ivories . The bronzes are chiefly tripod cauldrons , and freestanding figures or groups. Such bronzes were made using the lost-wax technique probably introduced from Syria, and are almost entirely votive offerings left at the Hellenistic civilization Panhellenic sanctuaries of Olympia , Delos , and Delphi , though these were likely manufactured elsewhere, as
7276-452: The hour when from their isle they roved, And once again thy hapless bosom gored, And snatch'd thy shrinking gods to northern climes abhorred! Byron was not the only one to protest against the removal at the time. Sir John Newport said: The Honourable Lord has taken advantage of the most unjustifiable means and has committed the most flagrant pillages. It was, it seems, fatal that a representative of our country loot those objects that
7383-528: The images on the affected metopes often can't be confidently identified. The Venetian bombardment of the Parthenon in 1687 seriously damaged the majority of sculptures, including some of those later removed by Elgin. Further damage to the Parthenon's artwork occurred when the Venetian general Francesco Morosini attempted to remove some of the larger sculptures. During the operation, a sculpture of Poseidon and two horses of Athena 's chariot fell and broke into pieces. Several sculptures and fragments were removed by
7490-526: The legal authority to perform those actions. At a time and in a culture in which officials routinely had to be bribed to perform their legal duties (as is still true today in much of the world), the fact that bribes occurred was hardly a significant legal consideration. Rudenstine, states that further investigation would be required to determine whether, at the time, bribery would have been a significant legal consideration in such official transactions under Ottoman or British law. Herman argues that bribing officials
7597-457: The level of emotion relative to the Archaic and Geometrical eras. Another notable change is the burgeoning of artistic credit in sculpture. The entirety of information known about sculpture in the Archaic and Geometrical periods are centered upon the works themselves, and seldom, if ever, on the sculptors. Examples include Phidias , known to have overseen the design and building of the Parthenon , and Praxiteles , whose nude female sculptures were
7704-404: The local authorities were concerned in it, as well as the Turkish government". The committee cleared Elgin of all allegations that he had acquired the marbles illegally or had misused his powers as ambassador. Elgin's version of events, however, remains controversial. No official record of the July 1801 firman has been found in the Turkish archives. An Italian translation of the purported firman
7811-409: The loosening of the surface dirt ... but they fell far short of restoring the marble surface to its proper hue and state of cleanliness. I finally used dilute nitric acid, and even this failed. ... The examination has made me despair of the possibility of presenting the marbles in the British Museum in that state of purity and whiteness which they originally possessed. A further effort to clean
7918-492: The main structure or sawn and sliced into smaller sections, causing irreparable damage to the Parthenon itself. One shipload of marbles on board the British brig Mentor was caught in a storm off Cape Matapan in southern Greece and sank near Kythera , but was salvaged at the Earl's personal expense; it took two years to bring them to the surface. The artefacts held in London suffered from 19th-century pollution which persisted until
8025-452: The marbles before they were brought to Britain." During the international symposium on the cleaning of the marbles, organised by the British Museum in 1999, curator Ian Jenkins , deputy keeper of Greek and Roman antiquities, remarked that "The British Museum is not infallible, it is not the Pope. Its history has been a series of good intentions marred by the occasional cock-up, and the 1930s cleaning
8132-617: The marbles ensued in 1858. Richard Westmacott , who was appointed superintendent of the "moving and cleaning the sculptures" in 1857, in a letter approved by the British Museum Standing Committee on 13 March 1858 concluded I think it my duty to say that some of the works are much damaged by ignorant or careless moulding – with oil and lard – and by restorations in wax and resin. These mistakes have caused discolouration. I shall endeavour to remedy this without, however, having recourse to any composition that can injure
8239-476: The marbles to enhance the art of Britain, and his ultimate goal had been for them to be purchased by the Government. To build the case for the public expenditure, Elgin bought a house in London and set up the sculptures there as a private museum, making them accessible to artists, and eventually, the public. Elgin resumed negotiations for the sale of the collection to the British Museum in 1811, but talks failed when
8346-647: The marbles when he realised that they were not being cared for by Ottoman officials and were in danger of falling into the hands of Napoleon's army. The marbles were purchased by Britain in 1816 and transferred to the British Museum. Felicia Hemans supported the purchase of the marbles and in her Modern Greece: A Poem (1817), defied Byron with the question: And who may grieve that, rescued from their hands, Spoilers of excellence and foes of art, Thy relics, Athens! borne to other lands Claim homage still to thee from every heart? and quoted Haydon and other defenders of their accessibility in her notes. Goethe thought
8453-507: The mid-20th century and have suffered irreparable damage by previous cleaning methods employed by British Museum staff. As early as 1838, scientist Michael Faraday was asked to provide a solution to the problem of the deteriorating surface of the marbles. The outcome is described in the following excerpt from the letter he sent to Henry Milman, a commissioner for the National Gallery . The marbles generally were very dirty ... from
8560-410: The most highly prized. The ores for bronze were also relatively easy to obtain. Both marble and bronze are easy to form and very durable; as in most ancient cultures there were no doubt also traditions of sculpture in wood about which we know very little, other than acrolithic sculptures, usually large, with the head and exposed flesh parts in marble but the clothed parts in wood. As bronze always had
8667-494: The original pigments have deteriorated. References to painted sculptures are found in classical literature, including in Euripides 's Helen in which the eponymous character laments, "If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect/The way you would wipe color off a statue." Some well-preserved statues still bear traces of pigments and archaeologists can reconstruct what they may have originally looked like. It
8774-420: The overthrow of the aristocratic tyranny , and have been said to be the first public monuments to show actual individuals. The Classical Period also saw an increase in the use of statues and sculptures as decorations of buildings. The characteristic temples of the Classical era, such as the Parthenon in Athens, and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, used relief sculpture for decorative friezes , and sculpture in
8881-595: The parapet frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike; and a number of other architectural fragments of the Parthenon, Propylaia, Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athene Nike – as well as the Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae . The British Museum also holds additional fragments from the Acropolis, acquired from various collections without connection to Elgin, such as those of Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois , William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire , and
8988-540: The person or situation depicted, may have been a device to give the figures a distinctive human characteristic. Three types of figures prevailed—the standing nude male youth ( kouros , plural kouroi), the standing draped girl ( kore , plural korai), and the seated woman. All emphasize and generalize the essential features of the human figure and show an increasingly accurate comprehension of human anatomy. The youths were either sepulchral or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), an early work;
9095-518: The perspective provided by the Acropolis Museum. Discussions between UK and Greek officials are ongoing. The Elgin Marbles are named after Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin who, between 1801 and 1812, oversaw their removal from the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia and their shipment to England. By an act of parliament, the British Museum Act 1816 , the collection
9202-462: The round to fill the triangular fields of the pediments . The difficult aesthetic and technical challenge stimulated much in the way of sculptural innovation. Most of these works survive only in fragments, for example the Parthenon Marbles , roughly half of which are in the British Museum . Funeral statuary evolved during this period from the rigid and impersonal kouros of the Archaic period to
9309-433: The sculpture which it was designed to remove." When Sir Francis Ronalds visited Athens and Giovanni Battista Lusieri in 1820, he wrote that "If Lord Elgin had possessed real taste in lieu of a covetous spirit he would have done just the reverse of what he has, he would have removed the rubbish and left the antiquities." In 1810, Elgin published a defence of his actions, in which he argued that he had only decided to remove
9416-598: The sculptures and supported their arrival. The sculptor John Flaxman thought them superior to "the treasures of Italy", and Benjamin West called them "sublime specimens of the purest sculpture". Henry Fuseli was enthusiastic, and his friend Benjamin Haydon became a tireless advocate for their importance. Classicist Richard Payne Knight , however, declared they were Roman additions or the work of inferior craftsmen, and painter Ozias Humphrey called them "a mass of ruins". Lord Byron ,
9523-436: The sculptures from the frieze fell. About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over a significant area. For the next century and a half, portions of the remaining structure were scavenged for building material and many valuable objects were removed. In November 1798, the Earl of Elgin was appointed as "Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty to
9630-473: The secular in art—the human body was both secular and sacred. A male nude of Apollo or Heracles had only slight differences in treatment to one of that year's Olympic boxing champion. The statue, originally single but by the Hellenistic period often in groups was the dominant form, though reliefs , often so "high" that they were almost free-standing, were also important. By the classical period , roughly
9737-455: The shift in expressions during the Hellenistic period would be to compare it to the sculptures of the Classical period. The classical period had sculptures such as the Charioteer of Delphi expressing humility. The sculptures of the Hellenistic period however saw greater expressions of power and energy as demonstrated in the Jockey of Artemision . Some of the best known Hellenistic sculptures are
9844-484: The solidity and frontal stance characteristic of Eastern models, but their forms are more dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture, as for example the Lady of Auxerre and Torso of Hera (Early Archaic period, c. 660–580 BC , both in the Louvre, Paris). After about 575 BC, figures such as these, both male and female, began wearing the so-called archaic smile . This expression, which has no specific appropriateness to
9951-467: The state of rapid decay of the remains. Pieces were also removed from the Erechtheion, the Propylaia, and the Temple of Athena Nike, all inside the Acropolis. They were brought from Greece to Malta, then a British protectorate , where they remained for a number of years until they were transported to Britain. The excavation and removal was completed in 1812 at a personal cost to Elgin of £74,240 (equivalent to £5,670,000 in 2023 pounds). Elgin intended to use
10058-447: The surface of the marble. Yet another effort to clean the marbles occurred in 1937–38. This time the incentive was provided by the construction of a new Gallery to house the collection. The Pentelic marble mined from Mount Pentelicus north of Athens, from which the sculptures are made, naturally acquires a tan colour similar to honey when exposed to air; this colouring is often known as the marble's "patina" but Lord Duveen , who financed
10165-612: The temple. In addition, the cella might contain a table to receive supplementary votive offerings , such as votive statues of associated deities, precious and semi-precious stones, helmets , spear and arrow heads, swords , and war trophies . No gatherings or sacrifices took place in the cella , as the altar for sacrifices was always located outside the building along the axis and temporary altars for other deities were built next to it. The accumulated offerings made Greek and Roman temples virtual treasuries , and many of them were indeed used as treasuries during antiquity . The cella
10272-511: The text can provide the answer. As often with documents sent out from head office, the precise interpretation would rest with men carrying out the orders on the spot." Legal academic John Henry Merryman argues that the document provides only "slender authority" for the removal of the fixed sculptures, but that legally Elgin's actions were ratified by the conduct of Ottoman officials. In 1802, Ottoman officials in Constantinople issued documents to
10379-410: The whole undertaking, acting under the misconception that the marbles were originally white probably arranged for the team of masons working in the project to remove discolouration from some of the sculptures. The tools used were seven scrapers, one chisel and a piece of carborundum stone. They are now deposited in the British Museum's Department of Preservation. The cleaning process scraped away some of
10486-554: The work himself, and employed artists to take casts and drawings under the supervision of the Neapolitan court painter, Giovanni Lusieri . Although his original intention was only to document the sculptures, in 1801 Elgin began to remove material from the Parthenon and its surrounding structures under the supervision of Lusieri. According to a Turkish local, marble sculptures that fell were being burned to obtain lime for building, and comparison with previously published drawings documented
10593-472: The world. They were moved to the Duveen Gallery, named after Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen , in 1939 where they continued to attract record attendances. Sometime after the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church in the 6th-century CE, the metopes of the north, west and east facades of the Parthenon were defaced by Christians in order to remove images of pagan deities. The damage was so extensive that
10700-556: Was another composite form, this time a cost-saving one with a wooden body. A xoanon was a primitive and symbolic image, usually in wood, some perhaps comparable to the Hindu lingam , although the oldest cult image from the Greek world, the Minoan Palaikastro Kouros , is highly sophisticated. Many xoana were retained and revered for their antiquity in later periods; they were often light enough to be carried in processions. Many of
10807-502: Was carried out by "UK colonialists", adding: "I don't think there's room to discuss its legality, even during the time and under the law of the time." In response, archaeologist Mario Trabucco della Torretta states that scholars consider that the British copy of the firman is genuine and that it is arguable that it did grant Elgin permission to remove the sculptures. When, in 1807, Elgin put the first shipment of marbles on display in London they were "an instant success among many" who admired
10914-415: Was illegal under British and Ottoman law at the time, but that the Porte took no action against its officials in Athens and therefore tacitly tolerated their actions. In May 2024, a spokesperson for Turkey, which is a successor or the continuing state of the Ottoman Empire, denied knowledge of the firman and stated that Turkey supported the return of the marbles. The spokesman stated that the marbles' removal
11021-460: Was said to depend, especially the wooden one that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to Rome by Aeneas . (The Roman story was related in Virgil 's Aeneid and other works.) Cella In Classical architecture , a cella (from Latin 'small chamber') or naos (from Ancient Greek ναός (nāós) 'temple')
11128-577: Was sometimes used for the hair only. Chryselephantine sculptures, used for temple cult images and luxury works, used gold , most often in leaf form and ivory for all or parts (faces and hands) of the figure, and probably gems and other materials, but were much less common, and only fragments have survived. Many statues were given jewellery, as can be seen from the holes for attaching it, and held weapons or other objects in different materials. Ancient Greek sculptures were originally painted in multiple colors; they only appear colorless today because
11235-438: Was such a cock-up". Nonetheless, he claimed that the prime cause for the damage inflicted upon the marbles was the 2000-year-long weathering on the Acropolis. In a newspaper article, American archaeologist Dorothy King wrote that techniques similar to those used in 1937–1938 were applied by Greeks as well in more recent decades than the British, and maintained that Italians still find them acceptable. The British Museum said that
11342-406: Was transferred to the British Museum on the condition that it be kept together and named "the Elgin Marbles". The term "Parthenon Marbles" or "Parthenon Sculptures" refers to the sculptures and architectural features removed specifically from the Parthenon. These are currently held in nine museums around the world, principally the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum. The term "Parthenon Sculptures"
11449-467: Was typically a simple, windowless, rectangular room with a door or open entrance at the front behind a colonnaded portico facade. In larger temples, the cella was typically divided by two colonnades into a central nave flanked by two aisles . A cella may also contain an adyton , an inner area restricted to access by the priests—in religions that had a consecrated priesthood—or by the temple guard. With very few exceptions, Greek buildings were of
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