The Marbles of Phigaleia.
During the long period which had thus intervened between the first exhibition to the Public of the sculptures from the Temple of Minerva and their final acquisition for the national Museum, an inferior but valuable series of Greek marbles was obtained from Phigaleia, in Arcadia. They were the fruit of the joint researches, in 1812, of the late eminent architect, Mr. Charles Robert Cockerell, Mr. John Foster, Mr. Lee, Mr. Charles Haller von Hallerstein, and Mr. James Linkh, who, in that year, had become fellow-travellers in Greece, and partners in the work of exploration for antiquities.
The temple to which these marbles had belonged, and beneath the ruins of which they were found, stands on a ridge clothed with oak trees on one of the slopes of Mount Cotylium. The scenery which surrounds it is of great beauty. The temple itself has long been a ruin. It was the work of Ictinus, the builder of the Parthenon. One portion of the frieze of its cella represents the battles of the Centaurs and the Lapithæ—the subject of the metopes of the Parthenon entablature. The remaining portion illustrates another series of mythic contests—that of the Athenians and the Amazons.
The extent of this frieze, in its integrity, was about a hundred and eight feet in length, by two feet one and a quarter inches in height. About ninety-six lineal feet were found, broken into innumerable fragments, but susceptible, as it proved—by dint of skill and of marvellous patience—of almost entire reunion, so that no restoration was needed to bring the subject of the sculpture into perfect intelligibility.
The Excavations on Mount Cotylium.
Mr. Cockerell, one of the most active of the explorers of 1812, had to proceed to Sicily whilst his fellows in the enterprise carried on the toils of digging and removal. But it is from his pen that we have a charming little notice of the progress of the work, and of the amusements which enlivened it. ‘I regret’ wrote Mr. Cockerell, ‘that I was not of that delightful party at Phigaleia, which amounted to above fifteen persons. They established themselves, for three months, on the top of Mount Cotylium—where there is a grand prospect over nearly all Arcadia—building, round the Temple, huts covered with boughs of trees, until they had almost formed a village, which they called Francopolis. They had frequently fifty or eighty men at work in the Temple, and a band of Arcadian music was constantly playing to entertain this numerous assemblage. When evening put an end to work, dances and songs commenced; lambs were roasted whole on a long wooden spit; and the whole scene in such a situation, at such an interesting time, when, every day, some new and beautiful sculpture was brought to light, is hardly to be imagined. Apollo must have wondered at the carousals which disturbed his long repose, and have thought that his glorious days of old were returned.’
Cockerell to ...; printed by Hughes, Travels in Greece, vol. i, p. 194.
‘The success of our enterprise,’ continues Mr. Cockerell, ‘astonished every one, and in all circumstances connected with it good fortune attended us.’ One of these circumstances, however—that of the mixed nationality of the discoverers—put, it must be added, some difficulty in the way towards accomplishing an earnest wish, on the part of the English sharers in the adventure, that England should be made the final home of the Phigaleian sculptures. Two Germans, as we have seen, were active partners in the exploration. A third, Mr. Gropius, had likewise some interest in it. And there was also a more formidable sleeping partner in the rich digging. Vely Pasha had stipulated that he was to have one half of the marbles discovered, as the price of his licence to explore. But, very fortunately, one of the ordinary changes in Turkish policy at Constantinople removed Vely from his government, just at the critical moment; and so made him anxious to sell his share, and to facilitate the removal of the spoil. The new Pasha had heard of the discoveries, and was hastening to lay hands upon the whole. But he was too late.
The marbles were removed to Zante. The German proprietors insisted on a public sale by auction. There was not time to bring the matter before Parliament. |The Transfer of the Marbles of Phigaleia to Zante;| But the Prince Regent took an active interest in it. With his sanction, and mainly by the exertions of Mr. W. R. Hamilton (afterwards a zealous Trustee of the British Museum), some members of the Government authorised the despatch of Mr. Taylor Combe to Zante. By him the marbles were purchased, at the price of sixty thousand dollars; but that sum was enhanced by an unfavourable exchange, so that the actual payment amounted to nineteen thousand pounds. |and to England.| It was paid out of the Droits of the Admiralty,—a fund of questionable origin, and one which had been many times grossly abused, but which, on this occasion, subserved a great national advantage.
The marbles thus obtained are confessedly inferior to those of the Parthenon; but they possess great beauty, as well as great archæological value. Both acquisitions, in their place, have contributed to increase historic knowledge, not less conspicuously than to develop artistic power, or to enlighten critical judgment, both in art and in literature. It would not be an easy task to estimate to what degree a mastery of the learning which is to be acquired only from the marbles of Attica and of Arcadia, and their like, has tended to make the study of Greek books a living and life-giving study.