The Project Gutenberg eBook ofGreek Sculpture

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofGreek SculptureThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Greek SculptureAuthor: Estelle M. HurllRelease date: January 3, 2011 [eBook #34842]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Martin Mayer and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREEK SCULPTURE ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Greek SculptureAuthor: Estelle M. HurllRelease date: January 3, 2011 [eBook #34842]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Martin Mayer and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

Title: Greek Sculpture

Author: Estelle M. Hurll

Release date: January 3, 2011 [eBook #34842]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Martin Mayer and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREEK SCULPTURE ***

Click any photo to view an enlarged version.

PERICLES -- British Museum, London -- John Andrew & Son, Sc.PERICLES -- British Museum, London -- John Andrew & Son, Sc.

Riverside PressRiverside Press

Within the limits of this small collection of pictures an attempt is made to bring together as great a variety of subjects as possible. Portraiture is illustrated in the statue of Sophocles and the bust of Pericles,genrestudies in the Apoxyomenos and Discobolus, bas-relief work in the panel from the Parthenon frieze and the Orpheus and Eurydice, and ideal heads and statues in the representations of the divinities. Both the Greek treatment of the nude and the Greek management of drapery have due attention.

As classic literature is the best interpreter of Greek sculpture, the text draws freely from such original sources as the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Homeric hymns, and Ovid's Metamorphoses.

ESTELLE M. HURLL.New Bedford, Mass.January, 1901.

pagePericlesFrom original in British Museum(frontispiece)PrefaceivIntroductionI. On Some Characteristics of Greek SculptureviiII. On Books of ReferencexIII. Historical Directory of the Marbles reproduced in this CollectionxiI. Bust of Zeus Otricoli1Picture from Photograph by Fratelli AlinariII. Athena Giustiniana (MInerva Medica)7Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonIII. Horsemen from the Parthenon Frieze13Picture from Photograph by the London Stereoscopic Co.IV. Bust of Hera (Juno)19Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonV. The Apoxyomenos25Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonVI. Head of the Apollo Belvedere31Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonVII. Demeter (Ceres)37Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonVIII. The Faun of Praxiteles43Picture from Photograph by Fratelli AlinariIX. Sophocles49Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonX. Ares Seated55Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonXI. Head of the Olympian Hermes61Picture from Photograph by the English Photographic Co., AthensXII. The Discobolus (The Disk-thrower)67Picture from Photograph loaned by Edward Robinson, from the only negative known to existXIII. The Aphrodite of Melos (Venus of Milo)73Picture from Photograph by Neurdein FrèresXIV. Orpheus and Eurydice79Picture from Photograph by D. AndersonXV. Nike (The Winged Victory)85Picture from Photograph by Neurdein FrèresXVI. Pericles91(See Frontispiece)Pronouncing Vocabulary of Proper Names95

Nine of the above illustrations are fromphotographs in the collection of the William Hayes FoggArt Museum of Harvard University

The history of Greek sculpture covers a period of some eight or nine hundred years, and falls into five divisions.[1]The first is the period of development, extending from 600 to 480B. C.The second is the period of greatest achievement, under Phidias and his followers, in the Age of Pericles, 480-430B. C.The third is the period of Praxiteles and Scopas, in the fourth century. The fourth is the period of decline, characterized as the Hellenistic Age, and included between the years 320 and 100B. C.The fifth is the Græco-Roman period, which includes the work produced to meet the demand of the Roman market for Greek sculpture, and which extends to 300A. D.

[1]See Gardner'sHandbook of Greek Sculpture, page 42.

Modern criticism differentiates sharply the characteristics of the several periods and even of the individual artists, but such subtleties are beyond the grasp of the unlearned. The majority of people continue to regard Greek sculpture in its entirety, as if it were the homogeneous product of a single age. To the popular imagination it is as if some gigantic machine turned out the Apollo Belvedere, the Venus of Milo, the Elgin Marbles, and all the rest, in a single day. Nor is it long ago since even eminent writers had but vague ideas as to the distinctive periods of these very works. Certain it is that all works of Greek sculpture have a particular character which marks them as such. Authorities have taught us to distinguish some few of their leading characteristics.

The most striking characteristic of Greek art is perhaps its closeness to nature. The sculptor showed an intimate knowledge of the human form, acquired by constant observation of the splendid specimens of manhood produced in the palæstra. It is because the artist "clung to nature as a kind mother," says Waldstein, that the influence of his work persists through the ages.

Again, Greek art is distinctly an art of generalization, dealing with types rather than with individuals. This characteristic is of varying degrees in different periods and with different sculptors. It is seen in its perfection in the Elgin Marbles, in exaggeration in the Apollo Belvedere, and at the minimum in the work of Praxiteles. Yet it is everywhere sufficiently marked to be indissolubly connected with Greek sculpture.

The quality of repose, so constantly associated with Greek sculpture, is another characteristic which varies with the period and the individual sculptor. Between the calm dignity of the portrait statue of Sophocles and the intense muscular concentration of Myron's Discobolus, a long range of degrees may be included. Yet on the whole, repose is an essential characteristic of the best Greek sculpture, provided we do not let our notion of repose exclude the spirited element. Fine as is the effect of repose in the Parthenon frieze, the composition is likewise full of spirit and life.

A distinguishing characteristic of the best Greek sculpture is its simplicity. Compared with the Gothic sculptors, the Greeks appear to us, in Ruskin's phrase, as the "masters of all that was grand, simple, wise and tenderly human, opposed to the pettiness of the toys of the rest of mankind." Their work is free from that "vain and mean decoration"—the "weak and monstrous error"—which disfigures the art of other peoples.

As we turn from one Greek marble to another in thegreat sculpture galleries of the world, the best features of the art impress themselves deeply even upon the untutored eye. The Greek instinct for pose is unfailing and unsurpassable. Standing or seated, the attitude is always graceful, the lines are always fine. The best statues are equally well composed, viewed from any standpoint. The camera may describe a circumference about a marble as a centre, and a photograph made at any point in the circle will show lines of rhythm and beauty.

The faultless regularity of the Greek profile has passed into history as the accepted standard of human beauty. The straight continuous line of brow and nose, the well moulded chin, the full lip, the small ear, satisfy perfectly our æsthetic ideals.

The art of sculpture was an essential outgrowth of the Greek spirit, and perfectly suited the requirements of Greek thought. In the words of a recent writer, "it was the consummate expression in art of the genius of a nation which worshiped physical perfection as the gift of the immortals, which honored the gods by athletic games and choral dances, and whose deities wore the flesh and shared the nature of men."[2]It was moreover a national art, entering into every phase of public life, and embodying the Greek sense of national greatness.

[2]FromItalian Cities, by E. H. and E. W. Blashfield.

Greek sculpture can be sympathetically understood only by catching something of the spirit which produced it. One must shake off the centuries and regard life with the childlike simplicity of the young world: one must give imagination free rein. The same attitude of mind which can enjoy Greek mythology and Greek literature is the proper attitude for the enjoyment of Greek sculpture. The best interpreter of a nation's art is the nation's poetry.

Many learned works on the subject of Greek Sculpture have been written in various languages. Three standard authorities are the English work by A. S. Murray, "History of Greek Sculpture," second edition, London, 1890; the French work by Collignon, "Histoire de la Sculpture Grecque," Paris, 1892; and the German work by Furtwängler, translated into English by E. Sellers, "The Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture," London, 1895. Naturally these three writers are not always of one opinion, and the student must turn from one to another to learn all the arguments concerning a disputed point.

For the practical every-day use of the reader who has no time to sift the evidences on difficult questions of archæology, Gardner's "Handbook of Greek Sculpture" is an excellent outline summary of the history of the subject.

Charles Waldstein's "Essays on the Art of Pheidias," New York, 1885, is an exceedingly valuable and suggestive volume.

Two small books, written in a somewhat popular vein, make very pleasant reading for those pursuing these studies: "Studies in Greek Art," by J. E. Harrison, London, 1885, and "Greek Art on Greek Soil," by J. M. Hoppin, Boston, 1897.

Besides the works devoted exclusively to the subject of Greek sculpture, the subject receives due attention in various general histories of art, of which may be mentioned, Lucy Mitchell's "History of Ancient Sculpture," Lübke's "History of Sculpture," and Von Reber's "History of Ancient Art."

A valuable bibliography is given in Gardner's "Handbook."

Frontispiece.Terminal bust of Pericles, after an original by Cresilas. Approximate date, 440-430B. C.In the British Museum, London.

1.Bust of Zeus Otricoli.Considered by Brunn and others a copy from a head of the statue by Phidias. Later critics do not agree with this opinion, and Furtwängler calls the head a Praxitelean development of the type of Zeus created in the time of Myron. Now in the Vatican Gallery, Rome.

2.Athena Giustiniana(Minerva Medica). Considered by Furtwängler a copy, after Euphranor, of a statue dedicated below the Capitol, called Minerva Catuliana, set up by A. Lutatius Catulus. The ægis and sphinx are copyist's additions. Found in the gardens of the convent of S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. Both arms are restored. Now in the Vatican Gallery, Rome.

3.Horsemen from the Parthenon Frieze.The frieze of the Parthenon is part of the decorative scheme of the marble temple of Athena, built during the age of Pericles (480-430B. C.) on the Acropolis, Athens, and decorated under the direction of Phidias. The frieze consisted of a series of panels or slabs, about 3 ft. 4 in. in height, and was set on the outer wall of the cella. Being lighted from below, the lower portion is cut in low relief (1¼ in.) and the upper parts in high relief (2¼ in.). The panel of the Horsemen is one of the Elgin Marbles, removed by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in 1801-1802, and now in the British Museum, London.

4.Bust of Hera.Considered by Murray a copy after Polyclitus. Regarded by Furtwängler as a "Roman creation based on a Praxitelean model." Catalogued in Hare's "Walks in Rome" as a probable copy after Alcamenes. In the Ludovisi Villa, Rome.

5.The Apoxyomenos.. A marble copy of the original bronze statue by Lysippus, who flourished in the 4th century B. C. According to Pliny the original was brought from Greece to Rome by Agrippa to adorn the public baths. This copy was found in 1849 in the Trastevere, Rome, and is now in the Vatican Gallery.

6.Head of the Apollo Belvedere.According to Gardner, a marble copy (Roman) of a bronze original of the Hellenistic Age (320-100B. C.). Some (Winter and Furtwängler) have assigned the original to Leochares, a sculptor of the 4th century, and others to Calamis, in the 5th century. This copy was found in the 16th century at Antium, and was purchased by Pope Julius II. for the Belvedere Palace. Now in the Vatican Gallery, Rome.

7.Demeter(Ceres)Considered by Furtwängler a copy from an original by Agoracritus, who was a pupil of Phidias, and whose works are closely allied to those of Alcamenes. By the same authority the statue is called the Nemesis. In the Vatican Gallery, Rome.

8.The Faun of Praxiteles.A copy of the original statue by Praxiteles, which was in the street of the Tripods, Athens. In the Capitol Museum, Rome.

9.Sophocles.Referred to by Collignon as a faithful copy of the bronze statue raised by Lycurgus. Found at Terracina in 1838, and now in the Lateran Museum, Rome.

10.Ares Seated.Considered by Furtwängler and others a copy on a reduced scale of a colossal statue by Scopas. The little god Eros is the copyist's addition. Found in the portico of Octavia, and restored by Bernini. Now in the Ludovisi Villa, Rome.

11.Head of the Olympian Hermes.An undisputed original work of Praxiteles, dating from the middle of the 4th centuryB. C.It was in the Heræum (or Temple of Hera) at Olympia, and was discovered by German excavators, May 8, 1877. Now in the museum at Olympia, Greece.

12.The Discobolus, a copy from an original by Myron, one of the last masters of the "severe style," whose career culminated 465-450B. C.In the Lancelotti Palace, Rome.

13.The Aphrodite of Melos(The Venus of Milo).Formerly attributed to the period of transition between Phidias and Praxiteles, but assigned by late critics to the Hellenistic Age (320-100B. C.). Believed by Furtwängler to be based on a work by Scopas, with considerable modification of the original. Found in 1820 on the island of Melos at the entrance of the Greek Archipelago. Purchased by the French government for 6000 francs, and now in the Louvre, Paris.

14.Orpheus and Eurydice.One of several copies of an original bas-relief referred by Collignon to the second half of 5th centuryB. C.In the Albani Villa, Rome.

15.Nike(The Winged Victory).A marble statue believed to have been set up by Demetrius Poliorcetes to celebrate a naval victory in 306B. C.Found in 1863 by the French consul on the island of Samothrace. Now in the Louvre, Paris.

From the earliest times men have sought to explain in one way and another the common facts of daily life. Sunrise and sunset, seedtime and harvest, life, death, and the hereafter are some of the mysteries which have always puzzled the human mind. The primitive races, knowing nothing of science, looked upon the forces of nature as gigantic personalities, or gods, who controlled human destiny.

The most refined and imaginative of the ancient nations were the Greeks. They invented innumerable tales or myths, in which all the changes of nature and all the affairs of life were attributed to the workings of the gods. When the sun rose, they said that Apollo had begun to drive his chariot across the sky. When the wind blew, Zeus was sending his messenger from the sky to the earth. When a man did a courageous deed, it was because Athena had whispered to him what to do.

In this way the beliefs gradually took form which made the Greek religion. Great temples were built for the worship of the gods, and statues were set up in their honor. The finest works of Greek art were connected with religious worship.

The gods were conceived as having the same form as human beings, but of colossal size. They lived in an ideal country called Olympus,

"Olympus, where the gods have made,So saith tradition, their eternal seat.The tempest shakes it not, nor is it drenchedBy showers, and there the snow doth never fall.The calm, clear ether is without a cloud,And in the golden light that lies on all,Day after day the blessed gods rejoice."[3]

[3]Odyssey, Book vi., lines 54-60 in Bryant's translation.

Here each god had a separate dwelling, and in the midst was the palace of their supreme ruler, Zeus, known to the Romans as Jupiter or Jove.

Zeus was the sky god, "the father of gods and men," and the ruler of heaven and earth. He was the "cloud compeller" at whose will the clouds gathered or scattered across the sky, the "ruler of the storms," the "thunderer," by whom were hurled the ruddy lightnings. How far he surpassed all other gods in power is explained in the Iliad in an address made by Zeus himself to the gods:—

"Suspend from heavenA golden chain; let all the immortal hostCling to it from below: ye could not draw,Strive as ye might, the all-disposing JoveFrom heaven to earth. And yet if I should chooseTo draw it upward to me, I should lift,With it and you, the earth itself and seaTogether, and I then would bind the chainAround the summit of the Olympian mount,And they should hang aloft."[4]

[4]Iliad, Book viii., lines 21-30 in Bryant's translation.

BUST OF ZEUS OTRICOLI -- Vatican Gallery, Rome -- Alinari, Photo. John Andrew & Son, Sc.BUST OF ZEUS OTRICOLI -- Vatican Gallery, Rome -- Alinari, Photo. John Andrew & Son, Sc.

In the imagination of the Greeks Zeus was endowed with all the noblest elements in human character. He ruled the affairs of men with fatherly benevolence. He rewarded goodness, punished the wicked, and was withal the fountain-head of justice. By a nod of his head he made known his will, and there was no appeal from his decrees.

Naturally, the Greeks pictured this god as a being of majestic stature and grand, benignant countenance, and sculptors did their best to make statues worthy of this conception. By common consent a certain type of countenance was accepted as the most fitting expression of this ideal. At last a great artist named Phidias produced a statue which perfectly carried out all the ideas at which other sculptors had aimed. It was of colossal size, made of gold and ivory, and was set up in a temple of Olympia. From this time forth every sculptor who had to represent Zeus had only to repeat the design of Phidias.

Now we know that the farther an imitator gets from the original standard, the weaker is his copy. The first successors of Phidias made direct studies from his statue, but those coming after worked from copies. Still later artists took for their models copies of these copies, until at last much of the original grandeur of Phidias's conception was lost.

The bust of Zeus reproduced in our illustration is thought to be a far-away copy of the head of Phidias's statue. From the marble of which it is made we know that it was executed in Italy, probably by some Greek sculptor who had come thither after his own nation had been conquered by Rome. Themarvel is that he preserved so well the noble dignity of the ideal Zeus. This is the father of gods and men in his most benign aspect. The massive head is crowned like that of a lion with long, overhanging locks with which the flowing beard is mingled. These are the

"Ambrosial curlsUpon the Sovereign One's immortal head,"

of which Homer writes in the Iliad. The symmetrical arrangement of hair and beard carry out the character of perfect evenness belonging to the supreme ruler.

The forehead has the full bar of flesh which denotes virility. The brows are straight, the nose finely modeled, the lips rather full, the expression benignant. Altogether the impression is of a being of mental and moral equipoise, full of energy and noble dignity.

Athena was the air goddess of the Greeks, or, in Ruskin's phrase, "the queen of the air." She was known also by the name Pallas, and among the Romans as Minerva. As the air comes to us from out the great dome of the sky, so Athena was said to have sprung fully armed from the head of her father Zeus. The old Homeric hymn tells how

"Wonder strange possessedThe everlasting gods that shape to see,Shaking a javelin keen, impetuouslyRush from the crest of ægis-bearing Jove."[5]

[5]In Shelley's translation.

Her eyes were blue, the color of the sky; her hair hung in ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was

"A gorgeous robeOf many hues, which her own hands had wrought."[6]

[6]Iliad, Book viii., lines 483, 484.

When arrayed for war she wore a golden helmet and carried a shield, orægis. In the centre of this shield was fastened the gorgon's head which Perseus had cut off with her aid. In her hand she wielded a mighty spear.

The owl was her symbolic bird, and she was calledglaukopis, or owl-eyed, because her wisdom gave her sight in darkness. The serpent was the emblem of her command over the beneficent and healing influences in the earth. Her favorite plant was the fruitful olive, valued by the Greeks both for the beauty of its foliage and for the usefulness of its oil.

In the fortunes of war, when it was for defensive aims, Athena took an intense interest and an active part. In the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, she was on the side of the Greeks, who sought to recover from their enemies their queen Helen, whom the Trojan prince had captured. When the Greek army assembled before the walls of Troy—

"Among them walkedThe blue-eyed Pallas, bearing on her armThe priceless ægis, ever fair and new,And undecaying; from its edge there hungA hundred golden fringes, fairly wrought,And every fringe might buy a hecatomb.With this and fierce, defiant looks she passedThrough all the Achaian host, and made their heartsImpatient for the march and strong to endureThe combat without pause,—for now the warSeemed to them dearer than the wished returnIn their good galleys to the land they loved."[7]

[7]Iliad, Book ii., lines 549-560 in Bryant's translation.

As the air gives us the breath of life, so Athena gave inspiration to the heart of man. It was her friendly mission to fill with "strength and courage" the hearts of those who were beset by difficulties of many kinds.[8]To Achilles, lamenting the death of Patroclus, she came with nectar and ambrosia, that his limbs might not grow faint with hunger.[9]It was because of her aid that Diomed could proudly declare, "Minerva will not let my spirit falter;" and when he cast his spear, "Minerva kept the weapon faithful to its aim."[10]

[8]See the Iliad, Book v., line 2, and the Odyssey, Book i., line 396.

[9]Iliad, Book xix., lines 427-429.

[10]Iliad, Book v., lines 309 and 352.

ATHENA GIUSTINIANA (MINERVA MEDICA -- Vatican Gallery, Rome -- D. Anderson, Photo. John Andrew & Son, Sc. )ATHENA GIUSTINIANA (MINERVA MEDICA -- Vatican Gallery, Rome -- D. Anderson, Photo. John Andrew & Son, Sc. )

To Athena Ulysses owed his safe return to Ithaca after the adventures related in the Odyssey. It was her adroit planning which brought together the long lost father and his son Telemachus, with the faithful wife Penelope. She also found ways to help Jason when he went in search of the golden fleece; she aided Hercules in his labors and guided the hand of Perseus when he cut off the Gorgon's head.

Athena was also the patroness of the industrial arts. She was skilful in weaving and needlework, making both her own and others' beautiful robes and teaching the craft to some favored mortals. She was, in short, the personification of "inspired and impulsive wisdom in human conduct and human art, giving the instinct of infallible decision, and of faultless invention."[11]Finally, and not least important, Athena was one of the agencies in the productiveness of the earth, and hence the patron goddess of farmers.

[11]From Ruskin'sQueen of the Air.

Our statue shows as many as possible of the attributes of the goddess. The figure is tall and stately and magnificently developed. The Greek ideal of beauty was to let nature have its way in the human body, unhindered by any such restraints of clothing as our modern fashions have invented. The broad shoulders and ample waist bespeak the splendid strength of the goddess.

The neck rises from the shoulders like a column to support the well-set head. A tunic falls in straight folds to the feet, and over this is worn a long mantle gathered over the left shoulder. Upon her breast hangs the shield, here made very small, and the helmet and spear complete her equipment as a goddess of war. At her side coils the emblematic serpent.

Her aspect is far from warlike. The face is intellectual and the expression thoughtful. This is the goddess of wisdom reflecting upon grave concerns. The mouth is set somewhat proudly, and the countenance is full of a dignified reserve. The masterful element, so strong in her character, is admirably expressed. There is something almost austere in the beauty of this virgin goddess. A majestic being like this is not one to be familiarly approached.

To understand the history and meaning of the bas-relief reproduced in our illustration, we must first learn something of the worship of Athena in her chosen city of Athens. An annual festival was held here in her honor, and every four years occurred a very elaborate celebration called the Panathenæa. The Panathenæa lasted several days, and attracted throngs of people from all parts of Greece. There were contests in gymnastics and music, torch-races, horse-races, feasts and dances. Sacrifices of oxen were offered on the altar of the goddess, every state having to furnish an ox for the purpose. The climax was reached on the last day, when a great procession started at sunrise and traversed the streets of the city to the temple of Athena. It is with this procession that the bas-relief of our picture is connected, as we shall presently see.

Some time before the festival a group of Athenian maidens of the noblest families had made and embroidered for Athena a beautiful robe called thepeplos. This was carried above the procession, stretched like a sail on the mast of a ship which was rolled through the street on wheels. The pageant was made up of many different companies. Therewere the Athenian magistrates, grave and dignified, maidens carrying sacrificial vessels, men bearing trays of cakes, citharists (harpists) and flute-players, old men with olive branches, four-horse chariots with armed warriors, rows of young men mounted on prancing steeds, and attendants with the cattle for the sacrifice.

During the invasion of Greece by the Persians, the temple of Athena in Athens was destroyed by fire. Later, on its site, was erected another to replace it, called the Parthenon. The city was now at the height of its prosperity under the statesman Pericles. At this time also lived the great sculptor Phidias, and to him Pericles intrusted the decoration of the new temple.

The Parthenon was built of Pentelic marble, and the temple proper was surrounded by a portico supported on rows of columns. The outside of the building was richly adorned with bas-reliefs. There were designs in the triangular spaces under the roof calledpediments. Above the columns ran a series of panels calledmetopes. Finally, there was afriezeextending around the temple wall, to be seen from within the portico. It is a bit of this frieze which is reproduced in our illustration.

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