Figures D and E (Centaur and Lapith woman), West pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia, miniature
- Title:
- Figures D and E (Centaur and Lapith woman), West pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia, miniature
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Gipsformerei (German repository, Berlin, contemporary) (reproduction)
Unknown (Pausanias attributes the West pediment to Alkamenes, possibly erroneously) (original)
- Photographer:
- Mihaloew, Andreya
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
470-456 BCE
2016 (image)
- Site:
- Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Olympia, Greece (original) - Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall, former Temple of Zeus space, Cornell University
previously, Warehouse
Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Olympia, Greece (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0853
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 132
"H. 1833" incised lightly and inked in red on underside of base
782 - File Name:
- CCC_0853.tif
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Apollo (Greek deity)
Centauromachy (Greek mythology)
Ancient Olympia (Greece) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 17 x 26.5 x 5 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a restored, miniature, cast reproduction of a group of figures, D and E, from the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, identified as a Centaur and a Lapith woman. The figures are depicted between profile and three-quarter views and kneel facing opposite directions as they struggle. On the viewer's right, the Lapith woman--drapery still intact--faces right with lowered head and extends her right arm straight behind her to push against the jaw of the Centaur with which she grapples. With her left hand, she reaches up to her head in an attempt to free her hair from the Centaur's grasp. The full-bearded Centaur faces left and looks towards the ground. He braces himself with his right arm and reaches back with his left arm to grab the hair of the Lapith woman. With raised hindquarters, his posture suggests that he has just been pulled to the ground by the Lapith youth to the viewer's left on the pediment (fig. C; not yet located in Cornell's collection). In this cast, the Lapith's bent left arm has been broken away but is preserved. Much of the original, full-sized statue group is preserved, but it has has sustained heavy damage. The subject of the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus is a scene of battle between Lapiths and Centaurs at the wedding of Perithoos--king of the Lapiths and friend of Theseus--and Deidameia. Apollo watches over the chaotic scene, directing the action. This group was part of a once-complete set of restored miniature figures from the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia held in Cornell's cast collection. The West and East pediment miniature sets were sculpted by Richard Grüttner and produced by the Gipsformerei in Berlin, as the number (1833) marked at the base indicates. After an earthquake in the sixth c. CE toppled the temple, its broken elements were gradually covered and protected under several meters of alluvial deposits from the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers. Many figures and fragments from the Olympia pediments were uncovered by German excavators in the final quarter of the 19th c. Excavations at the site are ongoing. Pausanias' description of the temple pediments (5.10.2-10) sheds great light on the subjects of the pediments and both clarifies and confuses the placement of the figures in relation to each other. Various arrangements of figures have been proposed and scholarly debate on the topic continues.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
- Bibliography:
- Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia: The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London: Phaidon, 1967)
Hans-Volkmar Herrmann, ed., Die Olympia-Skulpturen. Wege der Forschung, Band 577 (Darmstadt, 1987)
Andrew Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 142-146, 253-254, figs. 262-276
John Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period (London: Thames and Hudson, 1985), 33-50, figs. 18-23.6
Gipsformerei, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Katalog der Originalabgüsse, Heft 4, Griechenland und Rom: Freiplastik, no. 1833 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Olympia, Archaeological Museum (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.