Saturday, April 21, 2007

In the ancient Greek gallery: British Museum.





Probably, my favourite museum. And a favourite for art students.
The first 2 pics show a Caryatid, a type of column portrayed as a female figure.
This is one of six figures from the the Erechtheion on the Acropolis, Athens, removed by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s. The other five figures remained in Greece and are in the Acropolis Museum.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Porch_of_Maidens.jpg
there remains much controversy over ownership of the what are known as the Elgin marbles, part of which can be seen in the last pic above.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles
the two middle pics show a sculpture of Venus, just outside the greek rooms.
Aphrodite (Greek) and Venus (Roman) were approximate equivalents.

No comments: