Classic Greek sculptures of draped female figures, called caryatids, sometimes replaced architectural columns. The earliest examples that still exist of figurative sculptures replacing columns were classical female figures that seemed to be unbowed by the weight they were carrying. Male sculpted figures that bore the weight of buildings, originally known as Persians, and later known as telamones, were often depicted, like Atlas, bowed under the weight of their burden.
Figurative Columns in Greece
The Acropolis in Athens has a famous portico (porch) with six caryatids in place of architectural columns. Click the pictures below for a larger view. Five of the originals have been only recently moved to the Acropolis Museum and replaced with replicas. The sixth caryatid was taken from Greece by Lord Elgin who sold it to the British Museum along with the famous Elgin marbles. The one in the British Museum has less wear than the other originals.
The Acropolis caryatids are the most famous, but not the oldest in Greece. The Siphnian Treasury at Delphi also had caryatids. The first century B.C. Roman architect, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, wrote ten books on architecture that survive today. In the first chapter of book one, he talks about caryatids. He asserts that the city of Carya took sides with Persia against the Greeks. As a result, the Greeks destroyed the male population and enslaved the females of Carya. Architects, "by the use of these statues hand down to prosperity a memorial of the crimes of the Caryans."
The Greeks, according to Vitruvius, also constructed a portico, "its roof was supported by statues of the barbarians in their magnificent costume;...intimidating their enemies [of Greece] by fear of their courage..." The barbarians Vitruvius refers to are the Persians. Thomas Martin in 1813 also referred to male figures that replaced columns as Persians.
Beyond a History Lesson
A monument to Doge (chief magistrate of Venice) Giovanni Pesaro in the Frari, Venice, sculpted by Melchior Barthel, has four black telamons supporting the entablature upon which the Doge sits. Built in 1669, there is no explanation of the use of the telamons. As there is so little known about the monument and the choice of design, the telamons, who hold filled sacks to cushion the weight, dominate the memorial. They each show the extreme strain and have powerful, individual facial expressions showing their suffering.
The other examples of caryatids and telamones shown below include a caryatid carrying a basket sculpted out of roughly placed stones. She is only part of a supporting column. The Stockholm telamon is a combination of a square column on the bottom with only a male torso as the top of the column. Golden angel caryatids can be seen near the top of a building in London.
Using figurative sculpture as architectural columns began as a way of exhibiting the vanquished to discourage the enemies of Greece, according to Vitruvius. While the name caryatids is still applied to female statues used as columns, there is no evidence that later caryatids represented either vanquished enemies or slaves.
Persians later became telamones, which are often associated with Telamon of Greek mythology and Atlas. They don't carry the weight of the world, but they still carry a heavy burden.
Sources:
- The British Museum
- Marcus Vetruvius Pollio
- The Circle of Mechanical Arts by Thomas Martin, London, 1813
Corinne Shibley - Corinne Shibley studied sculpture in art history and created her own sculpture on the way to a B.A. in Studio Art. "There's something ...
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