On a very warm and busy Thursday in July, our project administrator took a trip to the British Museum in London to visit Rodin and the art of ancient Greece temporary exhibition and to see the museums extensive collection of Greek and Roman antiquities.
The female figure above is a one of six Caryatids that were used to support the porch on the Southern side of the Erechtheum, a building located at the Acropolis complex in Athens. It is thought that the Erechtheum was originally used to house a wooden statue of Athena Polias. The Caryatids that currently surround the porch at the Acropolis are concrete replicas, with the originals removed to keep them preserved. Five of the Caryatids remain in Athens, at the Acropolis Museum, whilst the sixth is on display at the British Museum.
These three sculpted segments formed part of the Rodin and the art of ancient Greece exhibition. They have been moved from their usual spot, a larger display of the Parthenon's metopes, frieze and sculptures, to be included in the Rodin spectacle. The first scene, a metope from the south side of the Parthenon, depicts the combat between Centaur and Lapith. The second image is from the south frieze of the Parthenon and shows an uncontrollable bull en-route to be slaughtered, whilst the right-hand section manages to capture the ferocity of a chariot and his galloping horses. According to the British Museum, Rodin was fascinated with how Greek sculptors were able to capture movement in the marble sculptures, whether through lively animals, combat or clothing.
The image above is a perfect example of how fluttering movement can be depicted on a stationary marble figure. The statue in the photograph is said to be of the winged messenger Iris. The draping of the material certainly alludes to wind rushing past, possibly as if she in flight. This sculpture was originally on the West pediment of the Parthenon in Athens and is more commonly displayed in a line-up of other remaining west pediment fragments held by the British Museum.
The Rodin and the art of ancient Greece exhibition has now ended, however almost all of the sculptures, metopes and frieze are part of permanent collections on display at the museum.
More information on the British Museum can be found at: www.britishmuseum.org/
In addition to these original works of art at the British Museum, our very own Museum of Classical Archaeology, based at Cambridge University's Faculty of Classics, houses one of the largest plaster cast collections around and includes cast replicas of the pieces mentioned above and many more. Built in a bright and airy glass-roofed gallery, the Museum of Classical Archaeology offers a more personal and intimate alternative in which to learn about some fantastic pieces of artwork and history.
More information on the Museum of Classical Archaeology can be found at: www.classics.cam.ac.uk/museum
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