Polykleitos


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Polykleitos,

 

Polycletus,

or

Polyclitus

(pŏlĭklī`təs, –klē`–, –klī–), two Greek sculptors of the school of Argos. Polykleitos, the elder, fl. c.450–c.420 B.C., was a contemporary of Phidias. Born either in Sicyon or Argos, he became head of the Argive school. He worked principally in bronze and made a number of statues of athletes. His most famous statue embodied his ideal of physical perfection. This "canon of Polykleitos," which emphasized a counterbalance of tension and relaxation through shoulders and hips, known as chiastic balance, became the standard of proportions for sculptors. It is best known through a copy, the Doryphorus or Spear-Bearer (Naples). Other sculptures representing his athletic, muscular, square-headed type, preserved through copies, are the Diadumenus (National Mus., Athens), a man binding a fillet about his head, and an Amazon. Another of his works praised by ancient writers was a gold and ivory Hera for a temple at Argos; now known only from Pausanias' description and from representations on Roman coins. No recognized originals by Polykleitos exist today. Polykleitos, the younger, worked in the 4th cent. B.C. Although he was also a sculptor of athletes, his greatest fame was won as an architect. He designed the great theater at Epidaurus.
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Interestingly, the Doryphoros was a concrete setting into work of the sculptural technique that Polykleitos had expounded geometrically in a (now lost) treatise titled Kanon (c.
2009 Pythagoreans and Sculptors: The Canon of Polykleitos.
Beyond the Canon: Whither beyond?
In creating the Doryphoros, a name probably not of the artist's devising (Stewart 1997:88), Polykleitos gave expression to a type of male physique, that was to inspire three generations of his pupils and influence sculptors of the Roman empire too (Quintilian Inst.
Reading between the loins:a curious anomaly in the portrayal of the male physique in Greek sculpture
The great prowess of Phidias and Polykleitos showed that through you sculpture could equal Nature; It was from you that Lysippos and the others achieved renown.
Donatello's Gattamelata and its humanist audience *
Some of the most famous classical bronzes such as the Doryphoros ('Spear Bearer') by Polykleitos and the Diskobolos ('Discus Thrower') by Myron were identified in Roman copies.
Legacies of loss
One of the more difficult is Diadoumenos, the name for the Classical Greek statue by Polykleitos and a word that explains exactly what the sculpture depicts-a young man tying his victory fillet around his head after winning an athletic contest.
Singing the survey
Personal styles comprises critical studies of Pheidias, Polykleitos, Praxiteles, Lysippos and Damophon.
Personal styles in Greek sculpture
Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition, Madison, WI 1995, pp.
Giant questions: dining with Polyphemus at Sperlonga and Baiae
For example, I was struck by the artistic consistency, at least to my eyes, within the display of Roman copies attributed to Polykleitos in a (retrospective
The Red and the Black: Studies in Greek Pottery

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