Fig. 198.
It would be impossible to enter into the technical details of all the trades. A few pictures taken from the life of artisans must suffice instead. The terra-cotta figure, No. 198, represents an artisan in his usual costume, the exomis, which left the right side free, and the pilos, or felt cap; it is not clear from the picture what occupation he is carrying on, since the object in his left hand is not distinct. Fig. [199] introduces us to a shoemaker at his work; he is seated on a low stool in front of his work-table, and with one hand holds a piece of leather, stretched over a board of hard wood; he is just about to cut it out with the curved shoemaker’s knife; a second knife is suspended above near some shoes, a hammer, and some strips of leather on the wall. Fig. [200] also introduces us into a shoemaker’s workshop. Here a girl is being measured for a pair of shoes; for this purpose she has got
Fig. 199.
on the table, so that the bearded workman, who is sitting in front of it, may mark the outline of her soles on the leather on which she is standing. In his right hand the shoemaker holds his crescent, a knife with a curved blade; the apprentice, seated on the other side, is holding a piece of leather bent together, probably destined to make the upper part of the shoes. A white-haired old man, perhaps the master of the workshop, or the father of the girl, stands by giving directions; tools, lasts, strips of leather, and such like, are hung round on the walls. Fig. [201], the counterpart to Fig. [200], represents a smithy. Near the hearth, of which only a portion can be seen, crouches a young workman, holding a piece of iron on the anvil with the forceps in his right hand, while another workman, also without any clothing, strikes the iron with a massive hammer, suspended above his head by both hands. Two men wearing the himation, perhaps visitors to the workshop, are seated on low stools. On the ground lie a hammer and forceps; on the walls hang tools, such as hammers, chisels, drills, and productions of the workshop, viz. a sword and a can.
Fig. 202 introduces us to the workshop of an artist and a metal founder. In the presence of two men dressed in the himation, leaning on their sticks, two workmen are occupied in chiselling or working over the colossal figure of a warrior, represented in a posture of attack, which is placed under a scaffolding. There is another colossal figure of a naked youth, who has fallen to the ground, and is stretching out his arms as though praying for help. Here the head has not yet been added, for as a rule the ancients composed their large bronze figures in several pieces; the head lies on the ground near the statue, at which a workman is doing something with his hammer, perhaps trying to smooth away roughness produced in the casting. This second figure seems to be connected with the first, and the whole to represent a group of combatants. A little further is the furnace, behind which stands an assistant looking round; a workman crouching on a low stool wears the cap usually worn by labourers with fire, and consequently represented in pictures of Hephaestus; he is stoking the coals in the
Fig. 200.