Polykleitos

Polykleitos (or Polyklitos, Polycleitus, Polyclitus; Greek Πολύκλειτος); called the Elder [Only in cases where it is necessary to distinguish him from his son, a major architect but minor sculptor.] , was a Greek sculptor in bronze of the fifth and the early fourth century BC. Next to Phidias, Myron and Kresilas, he is considered the most important sculptor of Classical antiquity: the fourth-century catalogue attributed to Xenocrates (the "Xenocratic catalogue"), which was Pliny's guide in matters of art, ranked him between Phidias and Myron [Andrew Stewart, "Polykleitos of Argos," "One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works", 16.73] .

He was of the school of Argos, a contemporary of Phidias (possibly also taught by Ageladas) and, in the opinion of the GreeksFact|date=May 2008, his equal. His figure of an Amazon for Ephesus was regarded as superior to those by Phidias and Kresilas at the same timeFact|date=May 2008; and his colossal gold and ivory statue of Hera which stood in her templendash the Heraion of Argosndash was compared with the Zeus by Phidias. He also sculpted a famous bronze male nude known as the "Doryphoros" ("Spear-carrier"), which survives in the form of numerous Roman copies. Further sculptures attributed to PolykleitosFact|date=May 2008 are the "Discophoros" ("Discus-bearer"), "Diadumenos" ("Diadem-wearer") and a Hermes at one time placed, according to Pliny, in Lysimachia (Thrace). Polykleitos' "Astragalizontes" ("Boys Playing a Knuckle-bones") was claimed by the Emperor Titus and set in a place of honour in his atrium [Pliny the Elder, "Naturalis Historia"] .

Polykleitos, along with Phidias, created the Classical Greek style. Although none of his original works survive, literary sources identifying Roman marble copies of his work allow reconstructions to be made. An essential element of his and the Classical Greek style is the use of a relaxed pose with the shifted balance of weight known today as contrapposto yielding a naturalness that was a source of his fame.

Polykleitos consciously created a new approach to sculpture; he wrote a treatise ("Kanon") and designed a male nude (also known as "Kanon") exemplifying his aesthetic theories ["...they derive the principles of their art, as if from a law of some kind, and he alone of men is deemed to have rendered art itself in a work of art." Pliny's Natural History, 34.55-6. His "Kanon" "got its name because it had a precise commensurability ("symmetria") of all the parts to one another" Galen, "De Temperamentis". The "Kanon" may be his "Doryphoros".] . The bronze has not survived, but references to it in other ancient books imply that its main principle was expressed by the Greek words "symmetria", the Hippokratic principle of "isonomia" ("equilibrium"), and "rhythmos". "Perfection, he said, comes about little by little ("para mikron") through many numbers" [Philo, "Mechanicus", quoted in Stewart.] . By this Polykleitos meant that a statue should be composed of clearly definable parts, all related to one another through a system of ideal mathematical proportions and balance, no doubt expressed in terms of the ratios established by Pythagoras for the perfect intervals of the musical scale: 1:2 (octave), 2:3 (harmonic fifth), and 3:4 (harmonic fourth). The refined detail of Polykleitos' models for casting executed in clay is revealed in a famous remark repeated in Plutarch's "Moralia", that "the work is hardest when the clay is under the fingernail" [Plutarch, "Moralia", quoted in Stewart.] .

Polykleitos and Phidias were of the first generation of Greek sculptors to have a schools of followers. Polykleitos' school lasted for at least three generations, but it seems to have been most active in the late 300s and early 200s BC. The Roman writers Pliny and Pausanias noted the names of about twenty sculptors in Polykleitos' school, defined by their adherence to his principles of balance and definition. Skopas and Lysippus are the best-known successors of Polykleitos.

His son, Polykleitos the Younger, worked in the fourth century BC. Although he was also a sculptor of athletes, his greatest fame was won as an architect. He designed the great theater at Epidaurus.

Notes

ources

* [http://35.1911encyclopedia.org/P/PO/POLYCLITUS.htm Polyclitus] , 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
* Pausanias, "Description of Greece".

External links

* [http://smarthistory.org/blog/19/a-roman-copy-of-an-ancient-greek-sculpture-at-the-met/ smARThistory - Diadumenos]