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The Bronze Statue from Cerigotto1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

In February, 1901, M. Kabbadias very courteously sent to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, of which he is an honorary member, some photographs and a brief description of the remarkable series of bronze and marble statues found in the sea off the north coast of Cerigotto. In view of the great interest that had been excited by this discovery, M. Kabbadias' communications were at once laid before the Society at an open meeting, and were also published in this Journal. But the fragmentary state of the figures and the corrosion of their surface prevented the possibility of any final judgment as to their general effect or the details of their modelling. If this was the feeling even of those who had seen the originals, it was far more so with those who could only judge from somewhat unsatisfactory photographs of them; and such opinions on them as were expressed at the time would be admitted by the authors to be subject to revision in the light of a more complete and careful study. A certain amount of misunderstanding was due to the general interest taken in the discovery, and the consequent demand for some authoritative and generally intelligible information about it; for example, the claim put forward by M. Kabbadias for the Cerigotto statue ‘to rank as high among statues of bronze as does the Hermes of Praxiteles among those of marble’ probably led to its comparison with that masterpiece, to which its resemblance is only superficial.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1903

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Footnotes

1

The modern Greek official name of the island is Antikythera—apparently a recent coinage. The ancient name is Aegila or Ogylos, the local modern name Singilio.

References

2 xxi., 1901, p. 205.

3 I have not thought it necessary to refer in detail to the earlier theories; some were baseless or untenable, some have already been withdrawn by their authors. It was really impossible to form any clear opinion before the statue was cleaned and put together.

4 The photographs reproduced in Pll. VIII., IX. were kindly supplied by Mr. Bosanquet.

5 See J.H.S., x., p. 275.

6 I regret that I was prevented from hearing Dr. Waldstein on this matter, in his paper read before the Hellenic Society.

The photographs, being taken with a wideangled lens from too close, exaggerate the awkwardness of the pose; but even in the original it is felt.