Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/531

474 Primitive Greece : Mvcenian Art. ment, the secret instinct which induces it to seize the leading h'nes of form, and make it stand forth from minor details. We adverted to the fact that Mycenian sculpture, owing to the qualities and tendencies exhibited in some of its works, is the harbinger of Greek sculpture. This will not only never tire of studying nature with passionate curiosity, but will show great discrimination in the choice of its models, and single out from these the noblest and most expressive features, so as to create types distinguished by as much truth and far more beauty than it is possible to find in concrete reality. The artist of the Lions Gate and of the Vaphio vases has not yet reached this high standard ; his aspirations are in advance of his technical skill ; his face, however, is already set in that direction, and moves towards a goal which, mayhap, he would have reached, had not the Dorian invasion arrested him in the full tide of his progressive efforts. Whilst this predecessor of the Greek sculptor turned out works that were as the introduction to the brilliant masterpieces of the future, the ornamentist strove to expand the elements handed down to him by an era that had known no figures except incised ones. Geometric design is everywhere the first instinctive manifestation which induces man to adorn any work to which he puts his hand. Here it developed more especially under the influence of metal industries ; the mind of the artificer succumbed under the spell of the marvellous ** fire- arts " ; which to the folk of that early date appeared as nothing short of magical. No matter the material which the mechanic attacked, he always turned to pliant metal as his guiding star. He strove to imitate the unending curves made by bronze and gold strips or threads, either naturally or with artificial means. When wishful to enrich his repertory, he turned to the living world, where he was first of all attracted by mollusks with long sinuous feelers, because they more than reminded him of those scrolls and spirals of which he was enamoured, in that he could almost transfer them as they stood to make up his habitual designs. Once his attention was drawn in this direction, he passed on to other organic bodies of the same nature, and such insects as furnished him with his beloved curvilinear figures in the shape of antennae, along with the flexible stems of plants and budding flowers. We have watched him as he stood before his models, at first