The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.83

v1.c9.83

[ 55 ] **Aeginetan school :** The works of the Aeginetan age (B.C. 580-480) are somewhat in advance of the last; but "the heads are still either totally destitute of expression, or are all reduced to a general and conventional expression", and by "the oblique position of the eyes and mouth, they present that forced smile which seems to have been the characteristic feature common to all productions of the ancient style".³⁰ Adverting to this era Mr. Westmacott, in his remarks on the celebrated collection of statues discovered in 1812 in the island of Aegina, observes: "Here again the archaic element steps in the character of the head, which exhibits all the peculiarities of the more ancient schools before referred to. However earnestly engaged, and even when wounded or dying, each warrior or hero has a smiling expression; the mouth being slightly open, as though the occupation of slaying and being slain was of the most pleasing and satisfactory nature".³¹