PHIDIAS or PHEIDIAS (Greek). The greatest Sculptor and Statuary of ancient Greece, born at Athens, where he died in 432 B.C. He flourished in the time of Pericles, under whom he was appointed to direct the works of art projected to the beautifying of the city, and commissioned to execute certain of these works himself. He superintended the erection of the Parthenon, much of which he himself adorned. The most famous of his statues were one of Athene, of ivory and gold, for the Parthenon, and his master-piece, a colossal one of Zeus, also of ivory and gold, for Olympia. Accused of having appropriated some of the gold intended for the statue of Athene he was acquitted, but was afterwards charged with impiety for carving his own likeness and that of Pericles on the shield of the goddess, and was thrown into prison, where he died. “Pheidias' statues show that he was the first sculptor to produce ideal embodiments of the highest moral qualities of which a Greek could conceive, such as majesty, wisdom, or beauty, and to give a new meaning to the religious aspect of each type of divinity. Secondly he was the first sculptor who combined this idealism with a perfect mastery over his material, thus producing a completer harmony than was attained by any before or since " (Walters, Greek Art, p. 59). The great sculptor's influence in art was very marked on the coinage of ancient Greece. Towards the middle of the fifth century a great change took place. Severe simplicity, and a largeness and freedom of treatment became the characteristics of the coin-dies, says Mr. Walters. Yet we do not find this advance on the coins of Athens itself, for the reason that their religious associations necessitated a rigid adherence to the older style, and that as they were an international currency, and represented an important commerce, it was feared to make any change in the type. The best examples of fifth century coins are perhaps those of Thurium and Syracuse. Prof. Furtwängler (Meisterwerke, &c.) dedlcates a special chapter to Pheidian Influences in Sicily and Magna Graecia on Coins and Vases, in which he says : " The close relation of the coins of Thurii to the art of Pheidias is quite evident. The earlier type of Thurii most definitely recalls the Lemnia of Pheidias. The undulating front hair of the Lemnia, the line of her profile, with the low forehead and the nose at a slight angle to it, the restful beauty of the full closed mouth, and the finely wrought transitions in modelling — all this has no such close parallel on coins as the earlier type of Thurii. Somewhat later there appears in the same city a type corresponding to the later style of Pheidias and his circle; the hair above the forehead flows back over the edge of the helmet nearly as it does in the Parthenos, and the expression is more animated and restless than in the other coins. "The remarkable fact that the Pheidian style in its different phases was carried straight from Athens to Lower Italy comes to light nowhere more clearly than on the Thurian coins. But the influence which transplanted art exercised on native work, principally through the agency of the colonists of Thurii, is to be traced in a number of circumstances. "The types of the Athene heads of Thurii, especially the one with the regularly waved hair, were rapidly and widely adopted in Lower Italy, and more particularly in the Greek towns of the Campanian coast, Cumae and Neapolis" (Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, p. 81).
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
PECKHAM, SIR EDMUND
PECKHAM, SIR EDMUND (Brit.). High Treasurer of the London Mint from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Elizabeth. The coins he is said to have issued bear his crest, an ostrich's head, as mintmark. His appointment as Master of the Mint dates from 1546; in 1554 he was a Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire; later, he was made a privy councillor, and knighted in 1555. He retained his post till his death, although during 1552-54 his place was filled temporarily by Martin Pirri, master of the D...
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PECKHAM, SIR EDMUND (Brit.). High Treasurer of the London Mint from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Elizabeth. The coins he is said to have issued bear his crest, an ostrich's head, as mintmark. His appointment as Master of the Mint dates from 1546; in 1554 he was a Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire; later, he was made a privy councillor, and knighted in 1555. He retained his post till his death, although during 1552-54 his place was filled temporarily by Martin Pirri, master of the D...
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PÉCOU, JEAN WILLIAM HENRI
PÉCOU, JEAN WILLIAM HENRI (French). Contemporary Sculptor and Medallist, born at Bordeaux, in 1854. He learned drawing and modelling at the municipal schools of his native city, and in 1874, entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he studied under Jouffroy. Later he became a pupil of Delaplanche and Falgui?re. At the Salon of 1884 and 1885 he obtained Mentions, and he was rewarded with a medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Beside many busts, stone medallions and large works of scu...
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PÉCOU, JEAN WILLIAM HENRI (French). Contemporary Sculptor and Medallist, born at Bordeaux, in 1854. He learned drawing and modelling at the municipal schools of his native city, and in 1874, entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he studied under Jouffroy. Later he became a pupil of Delaplanche and Falgui?re. At the Salon of 1884 and 1885 he obtained Mentions, and he was rewarded with a medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Beside many busts, stone medallions and large works of scu...
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PEIOU
PEIOU (Greek). This inscription on a gem in the British Museum has been erroneously read as an Engraver's signature. Murray, Catalogue of Engraved Gems, describes it thus :— "Artemis standing to l., holding with her r. hand the antler of a deer, standing at her further side; a bow in 1. hand; 1. shoulder bare ; drapery clinging to figure as in archaistic style. Inscribed HEIOY; cable border. Paste. Blacas Coll. "This paste, first published by Stosch, has long been celebrated, but the design, th...
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PEIOU (Greek). This inscription on a gem in the British Museum has been erroneously read as an Engraver's signature. Murray, Catalogue of Engraved Gems, describes it thus :— "Artemis standing to l., holding with her r. hand the antler of a deer, standing at her further side; a bow in 1. hand; 1. shoulder bare ; drapery clinging to figure as in archaistic style. Inscribed HEIOY; cable border. Paste. Blacas Coll. "This paste, first published by Stosch, has long been celebrated, but the design, th...
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PELEGUER
PELEGUER (Span.). Medallist of Valencia, of the latter part of the eighteenth century, and first three decades of the nineteenth, whose signature occurs in full on Proclamation Medals of King Charles IV. (1789) for Murcia, Orihuela, Valencia, &c. and also on the following medals: 1784. Prosperity of the Royal House of Spain; obv. Busts of Charles III. and his children Charles and Marie-Louise ; R. a. pasqval . g.pastor, &c. Arms of Valencia; ex.: PELEGVER. ; — Religious Medal, with figure of the...
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PELEGUER (Span.). Medallist of Valencia, of the latter part of the eighteenth century, and first three decades of the nineteenth, whose signature occurs in full on Proclamation Medals of King Charles IV. (1789) for Murcia, Orihuela, Valencia, &c. and also on the following medals: 1784. Prosperity of the Royal House of Spain; obv. Busts of Charles III. and his children Charles and Marie-Louise ; R. a. pasqval . g.pastor, &c. Arms of Valencia; ex.: PELEGVER. ; — Religious Medal, with figure of the...
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