Lysippos (; grc-gre, Λύσιππος) was a
Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with
Scopas and
Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the
Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the
Hellenistic period. Problems confront the study of Lysippos because of the difficulty of identifying his style among the copies which survive. Not only did he have a large workshop and many disciples in his immediate circle, but there is understood to have been a market for replicas of his work, supplied from outside his circle, both in his lifetime and later in the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
and
Roman periods. The ''
Victorious Youth'' or Getty bronze, which resurfaced around 1972, has been associated with him.
Biography
Born at
Sicyon
Sicyon (; el, Σικυών; ''gen''.: Σικυῶνος) or Sikyon was an ancient Greek city state situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-day regional unit of Corinthia. An ancient mona ...
around 390 BC, Lysippos was a worker in
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
in his youth. He taught himself the art of sculpture, later becoming head of the school of
Argos and Sicyon. According to Pliny, he produced more than 1,500 works, all of them in bronze. Commentators noted his grace and elegance, and the ''symmetria,'' or coherent balance, of his figures, which were leaner than the ideal represented by Polykleitos and with proportionately smaller heads, giving them the impression of greater height. He was famous for his attention to the details of eyelids and toenails.
His pupil,
Chares of Lindos, constructed the
Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes ( grc, ὁ Κολοσσὸς Ῥόδιος, ho Kolossòs Rhódios gr, Κολοσσός της Ρόδου, Kolossós tes Rhódou) was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes (city), Rhodes, on ...
, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. As this statue does not exist today, debate continues as to whether its sections were cast in bronze or hammered of sheet bronze.
Career and legacy
Lysippos was successor in contemporary repute to the famous sculptor
Polykleitos. Among the works attributed to him are the so-called
Horses of Saint Mark, ''Eros Stringing the Bow'' (of which various copies exist, the best in the
British Museum), ''Agias'' (known through the marble copy found and preserved in
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
), the similar ''
Oil Pourer'' (
Dresden and
Munich), the ''
Farnese Hercules'' (which was originally placed in the
Baths of Caracalla, although the surviving marble copy lies in the
Naples National Archaeological Museum) and ''
Apoxyomenos
Apoxyomenos (plural apoxyomenoi: the "Scraper") is one of the conventional subjects of ancient Greek votive sculpture; it represents an athlete, caught in the familiar act of scraping sweat and dust from his body with the small curved instrument ...
'' (or ''The Scraper'', known from a
Roman marble copy in the
Vatican Museums). Lysippos was also famous for his bronze colossal sculptures of Zeus, 17 metres tall, and Herakles, seven meters seated, both from the city of
Taras
Taras may refer to:
Geography
* Taras (ancient city) of Magna Graecia, modern-day Taranto
* Taras, Iran, a village in Tehran province
* Taras, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland
* Taraš, a village in Vojvodina, Serbia
* Taras, Kazakhstan, a village in ...
. The only remaining version of one such statue is a Roman copy of ''The Weary Herakles (Farnese Hercules)'', by Glykon, with heavy musculature typical of early third century Rome.
Canon of Lysippos
Lysippos developed a more
gracile
Gracility is slenderness, the condition of being gracile, which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjective ''gracilis'' (masculine or feminine), or ''gracile'' ( neuter), which in either form means slender, and when transferred for examp ...
style than his predecessor
Polykleitos and this has become known as the Canon of Lysippos.
In his ,
Pliny the elder wrote that Lysippos introduced a new
canon into art: signifying "a canon of bodily proportions essentially different from that of Polykleitos". Lysippos is credited with having established the '
eight heads high' canon of
body proportions.
Lysippos and Alexander
During his lifetime, Lysippos was personal sculptor to
Alexander the Great; indeed, he was the only artist whom the conqueror saw fit to represent him. An epigram by
Posidippus, previously only known from the
Anthology of Planudes
The ''Anthology of Planudes'' (also called ''Planudean Anthology'', in Latin ''Anthologia Planudea'' or sometimes in Greek ''Ἀνθολογία διαφόρων ἐπιγραμμάτων'' ("Anthology of various epigrams"), from the first line of ...
(APl 119), but also found on the recently discovered
Milan Papyrus (65 Austin-Bastianini), takes as its inspiration a bronze portrait of Alexander:
And similarly, an epigram by
Asclepiades (APl 120):
Lysippos has been credited with the stock representation of an inspired, godlike Alexander with tousled hair and lips parted, looking upward in what came to be known as the 'Lysippean gaze'. One fine example, an early Imperial Roman copy found at
Tivoli
Tivoli may refer to:
* Tivoli, Lazio, a town in Lazio, Italy, known for historic sites; the inspiration for other places named Tivoli
Buildings
* Tivoli (Baltimore, Maryland), a mansion built about 1855
* Tivoli Building (Cheyenne, Wyoming), a ...
, is conserved at the
Louvre.
The Victorious Youth (Getty Bronze)
In 1972, the ''
Victorious Youth'', Getty Bronze, or ''Atleta di Fano'' to Italians, was discovered and at the urging of Paul Getty, bought by the
Getty Museum. The bronze was pulled out of the sea and restored. Because of the amount of corrosion and the thick layer of incrustation that coated the statue when it was found, it can be assumed that it was beneath the water for centuries. This is less than surprising, as most of the classical bronze statues archeologists have found have been fished out of the Mediterranean Sea. It was not uncommon for a shipwreck to occur with something as precious as a sculpture on board. Without any way to find or retrieve them, these pieces were left to sit at the bottom of the ocean for centuries. The damaging corrosion can be removed by cleaning the surfaces mechanically with a scalpel.
The Getty Bronze is believed by some to be Lysippos's work, or at least a copy, because the detail on it is consistent with his style of work and his
canon of proportions
An artistic canon of body proportions (or aesthetic canon of proportion), in the sphere of visual arts, is a formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art. The word ''canon'' () was first us ...
. Lysippos's work is described by ancient sources as naturalistic with slender and often lengthened proportions, often with exaggerated facial features. Those depicted in the works of Lysippos had smaller heads than those of his mentor
Polykleitos because he used a one to eight scale for the head and the total height of the body.
See also
*
Lysistratus
Lysistratus ( el, Λυσίστρατος Σικυώνιος) was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC, brother of Lysippos. We are told by Pliny the Elder that he followed a strongly realistic line, being the first sculptor to take impressions of ...
, another Greek sculptor
Notes
References
* A. F. Stewart, "Lysippan Studies" 2. Agias and Oilpourer" ''
American Journal of Archaeology
The ''American Journal of Archaeology'' (AJA), the peer-reviewed journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, has been published since 1897 (continuing the ''American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts'' founded by t ...
'' 82.3 (Summer 1978), pp. 301–313.
Further reading
* Gardner, P. 1905. ‘The Apoxymenos of Lysippos’, ''JHS'' 25:234-59.
* Serwint, N. 1996. ‘Lysippos’, in ''The Dictionary of Art'' vol. 19: 852–54.
* Stewart, A.F. 1983. ‘Lysippos and Hellenistic sculpture’, ''AJA'' 87:262.
* Vermeule, C.C. 1975. ‘The weary Herakles of Lysippos’, ''AJA'' 79:323–32.
External links
Lysippos biography - an Essay
{{Authority control
4th-century BC Greek sculptors
Ancient Greek sculptors
Sculptors of Alexander the Great
Ancient Sicyonians