The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

century tomb of Persephone at Vergina. Contemporary with Aristotle, the painted
decoration that covers three (north, south, east) of the four walls of this cist grave has as
its subject the abduction of Persephone by Plutus. On the north wall, Hermes leads the
way for a quadriga driven by Plutus, whose right hand clasps the reins and a scepter,
while his left arm clutches the distressed figure of Persephone. Left behind, crouching on
the ground is the figure of a horrified female (Fig. 29). The east wall depicts the
perplexed figure of Demeter seated on a rock, and the south carries three seated female
figures. As has been noted, the painting of this episode supersedes a preliminary design
incised on the plastered surface of the walls and defining the outlines of the subjects
depicted. 616 It has also been suggested that the existence of multiple incisions for the
same member, as is the case with Hermes’ torso, for example, and “the deviation from all
the incisions in the final painting, which is observed in several places [e.g., Plutus’ face],
confirms that the artist did not have a ready-made design or stencil to be faithfully
reproduced on the wall.” 617 Notwithstanding this observation, the evidence of a
preparatory sketch underneath the final painting is crucial here, for it confirms Aristotle’s
contemporary assertion about this step as being standard in preceding the application of
colors on a painting. That Aristotle actually considered this step in the formation of a
work of art analogous to the early formation of the body of an animal that eventually
grows out of this phase is particularly illuminating: it implies that for Aristotle the
creation of a work of art in painting, and zw|~on as part of it was an evolving process. In
this sense, his argument is reminiscent of Plato’s earlier statement in the Laws that
616 M. Andronikos, Vergina II. The Tomb of Persephone (Athens, 1994) 92-96.
617 Andronikos, Vergina II 93; he also notes, (96-99), that this is not the earliest example of the use of a
preliminary sketch in Classical painting. According to him, (97-98, ns. 51-54), Attic black-figured and
white-ground vases, as well as the tomb of the Diver in Paestum present the earliest evidence of a
preliminary design preceding actual painting.
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