to receive the open light, they were executed in bolder relief, to insure the masses of shadow which make them conspicuous. They represent the contests between the Centaurs and the Athenians. The sculptured metopes of the temple of Selinus, in Sicily, afford examples of the earliest styles of alto-relievo.

Mezzo-relievo was generally used to adorn sculptured vases and urns. These sculptured vases probably ornamented interiors, where any indistinctness in their distant effect, or in unfavourable light, might be obviated by closer inspection. The celebrated Medici and Borghese vases, the finest known examples, are ornamented with mezzi-relievi. The frieze encircling the choragic monument of Lysicrates is also in mezzorelievo. It was also employed (as well as alto-relievo, when in situations not exposed to accidents) to ornament tombs and sarcophagi.

Bas-relief, or basso-relievo, may be fully exemplified in the most perfect examples of that art in the celebrated Panathenaic frieze of the Parthenon. It was executed under the direction of Phidias himself; it was one uninterrupted series of basreliefs, which occupied the upper part of the Parthenon within the colonnade, and which was continued entirely around the building. By its position it only obtained a secondary light. Being placed immediately below the soffit, it received all its light from between the columns, and by reflection from the pavement below. The flatness of the sculpture is thus suf

ficiently accounted for; had the relief been prominent, the upper parts could not have been seen; the shade projected by the sculpture would have rendered it dark, and the parts would

ACHILLES AMONGST THE DAUGHTERS OF LYCOMEDES.

have been reduced by their shadows. The heads of the figures project more than half an inch (§) beyond the lower parts in order to receive more fully the light reflected from below. From the elevated position of the bas-reliefs, and from their being seen from below, optical laws required that the heads should be increased in a proportion which can be ascertained by geometrical rules. The subject represents the sacred procession, which was celebrated every fifth year at Athens, in honour of Minerva, conveying in solemn pomp to the temple of the Parthenon the Téλos, or sacred veil, which was to be suspended before the statue of the goddess within the temple. Mr. Westmacott remarks that these works are unquestionably the finest specimens of the art that exist, and they illustrate, fully and admirably, the progress, and it may be said, the consummation, of sculpture. They exhibit in a remarkable degree all the qualities that constitute fine art,-truth, beauty, and perfect execution. In the forms, the most perfect, the most appropriate, and the most graceful, have been selected. The earliest known example of bas-relief is that in the Louvre representing Agamemnon and Talthybius. It is in very low relief. In style it corresponds with that of the early vase painting. In the decline of art in Greece, bas-reliefs were erected in memory of illustrious men instead of statues. In Rome bas-reliefs were more particularly employed in adorning arches of triumph, triumphal columns, and especially sarcophagi. The subjects which decorated the front of these funereal monuments were various, though sometimes repeated when a subject was composed by a celebrated artist. In general the bas-reliefs of sarcophagi are of inferior workmanship; sometimes the last farewell of the deceased is represented; sometimes two figures only, and the one which is the object of the attentions of the the other, is the figure of the deceased. Others represent mythological subjects. One in the Capitol presents a bas-relief which Flaxman considered one of the finest specimens of basrelief. It represents the battle of Theseus and Amazons. An excellent example, in the British Museum, forming the front of a sarcophagus, represents Achilles amongst the daughters of Lycomedes. It has been remarked with regard to some sarcophagi that the head of the principal figure is not finished; it has been inferred from this that the sculptors preparing these monuments as objects for sale, did not terminate the head until

the sarcophagus was sold, endeavouring then to give, as well as he was able, the portrait of the deceased. Funereal urns are also frequently ornamented with bas-reliefs, several examples of which will be found in the British Museum. Sepulchral stelæ are sometimes ornamented with bas-reliefs. They are generally in low relief, and usually represent some scene in connection with the memory of the deceased.

MATERIALS OF SCULPTURE.

WE extract the following excellent summary of the materials of sculpture from Professor Westmacott's' Handbook of Sculpture:-"Every substance that could by possibility be used for carved works has been employed by sculptors. Among the Egyptians especially the hardest were preferred, as basalt, porphyry, and granite, though they also worked extensively in other materials. Marble, various kinds of alabaster, stone, ivory, bone, and wood of all kinds, were used according to circumstances. The variety of marbles both found and recorded is almost infinite. Pliny supplies an interesting catalogue of those most generally employed in ancient times. The chief Greek marbles were the Parian and the Pentelic. The former was found in the island of Paros, whence its general name; but it is also alluded to as the marble of Marpessus, from the particular mountain where it abounded. Its colour is a warm or creamy white, and it is remarkable for a sparkling quality in its crystals, from which it is supposed it received its epithet of "lychneum." The Pentelic marble came from Mount Pentelicus, in the neighbourhood of Athens. Its colour also is white, but it often has blue or grey, and even light green streaks, running through it, which gave it a cold tone compared with the Parian marble. The ancients also much esteemed a marble procured from Mount Hymettus in Attica. It bore in many respects a close resemblance to the Pentelic. A great quantity of this marble was imported into Italy after the conquest of Greece by the Romans. A marble of Thasos was also much used, but more for architecture than sculpture. It was in this way employed for baths, fishponds, and for encasing buildings. Italy produces marble of a very fine quality. That spoken of as the marble of Luni was produced from the range of mountains