The Parthenon Frieze

The Parthenon Frieze. . , On the front façade of The Little Studio Saint-Gaudens placed casts from the Parthenon Frieze. The original frieze encircled the inner chamber of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The frieze was removed from the Parthenon over a period of more than ten years starting in 1801 and large portions were relocated to museums. Saint-Gaudens would have likely seen parts of the original marble sculptures on visits to the British Museum in London, as well as in published descriptions. These plaster casts were bought from the Caproni Brothers in Boston., Saint-Gaudens selected his favorite sections of the Frieze to show the beauty of the Greek drapery and the grace and power of the cavalry procession. He was aware of the contemporary research into coloration of Greek sculpture, so asked his assistants to paint the figures in what he believed to be authentic colors., The Frieze serves as decoration, but also as inspiration for the work Saint-Gaudens and his assistants undertook inside the Little Studio.