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Polykleitos ( grc, Πολύκλειτος) was an ancient Greek sculptor 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 ...
of the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the most important sculptors of classical antiquity. The 4th century BCE catalogue attributed to Xenocrates (the "Xenocratic catalogue"), which was Pliny's guide in matters of art, ranked him between Pheidias and Myron. He is particularly known for his lost treatise (a canon of body proportions), the ''
Canon of Polykleitos Polykleitos ( grc, Πολύκλειτος) was an ancient Ancient Greece, Greek Sculpture, sculptor in bronze of the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athens, Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the most impor ...
'', setting out his mathematical basis of an idealised male body shape. None of his original sculptures are known to survive, but there are many of what are believed to be later copies in marble, mostly Roman.


Name

His Greek name was traditionally Latinized ''Polycletus'', but is also transliterated ''Polycleitus'' ( grc, Πολύκλειτος, Classical Greek , "much-renowned") and, due to iotacism in the transition from Ancient to Modern Greek, ''Polyklitos'' or ''Polyclitus''. He is called Sicyonius (lit. "The Sicyonian", usually translated as "of Sicyon") by Latin authors including Pliny the Elder and Cicero, and Ἀργεῖος (lit. "The Argive", trans. "of Argos") by others like Plato and Pausanias. He is sometimes called the Elder, in cases where it is necessary to distinguish him from
his son His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...
, who is regarded as a major architect but a minor sculptor.


Early life and training

As noted above, Polykleitos is called "The Sicyonian" by some authors, all writing in Latin, and who modern scholars view as relying on an error of Pliny the Elder in conflating another more minor sculptor from Sikyon, a disciple of Phidias, with Polykleitos of Argos. Pausanias is adamant that they were not the same person, and that Polykleitos was from Argos, in which city state he must have received his early training, and a contemporary of Phidias (possibly also taught by
Ageladas Ageladas ( grc-gre, Ἀγελάδας ''Agelā́dās'') or Hagelaedas ( grc-gre, Ἁγελᾴδας ''Hagelā́idās'') was a celebrated Greek (Argive) sculptor, who flourished in the latter part of the 6th and the early part of the 5th century B ...
).


Works

Polykleitos's figure of an Amazon for
Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...
was admired, while his colossal
gold and ivory ''Gold and Ivory'' (Spanish:''Oro y marfil'') is a 1947 Spanish film directed by Gonzalo Delgrás Gonzalo Delgrás (1897–1984) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director.Mira p.123 Selected filmography * '' The Complete Idiot'' (1939) * '' ...
statue of
Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...
which stood in her temple—the Heraion of Argos—was favourably compared with the
Olympian Olympian or Olympians may refer to: Religion * Twelve Olympians, the principal gods and goddesses in ancient Greek religion * Olympian spirits, spirits mentioned in books of ceremonial magic Fiction * ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'', fiction ...
Zeus by Pheidias. He also sculpted a famous
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 ...
male nude known as the '' Doryphoros'' ("Spear Bearer"), which survives in the form of numerous Roman marble copies. Further sculptures attributed to Polykleitos are the '' Discophoros'' (" Discus-bearer"), '' Diadumenos'' ("Youth tying a headband") and a Hermes at one time placed, according to Pliny, in Lysimachia (Thrace). Polykleitos's ''Astragalizontes'' ("Boys Playing at Knuckle-bones") was claimed by the Emperor Titus and set in a place of honour in his atrium. Pliny also mentions that Polykleitos was one of the five major sculptors who competed in the fifth century B.C. to make a wounded Amazon for the temple of Artemis; marble copies associated with the competition survive.


Diadumenos

The statue of '' Diadumenos'', also known as ''Youth Tying a Headband'' is one of Polykleitos's sculptures known from many copies. The gesture of the boy tying his headband represents a victory, possibly from an athletic contest. “It is a first-century A.D. Roman copy of a Greek bronze original dated around 430 B.C.” Polykleitos sculpted the outline of his muscles significantly to show that he is an athlete. “The thorax and pelvis of the Diadoumenos tilt in opposite directions, setting up rhythmic contrasts in the torso that create an impression of organic vitality. The position of the feet poised between standing and walking give a sense of potential movement. This rigorously calculated pose, which is found in almost all works attributed to Polykleitos, became a standard formula used in Greco-Roman and, later, western European art."


Doryphoros

Another statue created by Polykleitos is the '' Doryphoros'', also called the ''Spear bearer''. It is a typical Greek sculpture depicting the beauty of the male body. “Polykleitos sought to capture the ideal proportions of the human figure in his statues and developed a set of aesthetic principles governing these proportions that was known as the Canon or 'Rule'. He created the system based on mathematical ratios. "Though we do not know the exact details of Polykleitos’s formula, the end result, as manifested in the Doryphoros, was the perfect expression of what the Greeks called ''symmetria''. On this sculpture, it shows somewhat of a contrapposto pose; the body is leaning most on the right leg. The Doryphoros has an idealized body, contains less of naturalism. In his left hand, there was once a spear, but if so it has since been lost. The posture of the body shows that he is a warrior and a hero. Indeed, some have gone so far as to suggest that the figure depicted was Achilles, on his way to the Trojan War, as a similar depiction of Achilles carrying a shield is seen on a vase painted by the Achilles Painter at around the same time.


Style

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. Contrapposto, a pose that visualizes the shifting balance of the body as weight is placed on one leg, was a source of his fame. The refined detail of Polykleitos's 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".


The ''Canon of Polykleitos'' and "symmetria"

Polykleitos consciously created a new approach to sculpture, writing a treatise (an artistic canon () and designing a male nude exemplifying his theory of the mathematical basis of ideal proportions. Though his theoretical treatise is lost to history, he is quoted as saying, "Perfection ... comes about little by little () through many numbers". By this he 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. Though his Canon was probably represented by his ''Doryphoros'', the original bronze statue has not survived, but later marble copies exist. References to the ''Kanon'' by other ancient writers imply that its main principle was expressed by the Greek words , the Hippocratic principle of ("equilibrium"), and . Galen wrote that Polykleitos's ''Kanon'' "got its name because it had a precise commensurability (''symmetria'') of all the parts to one another." He also wrote that the ''Kanon'' defines beauty "in the proportions, not of the elements, but of the parts, that is to say, of finger to finger, and of all the fingers to the palm and the wrist, and of these to the forearm, and of the forearm to the upper arm, and of all the other parts to each other." The art historian Kenneth Clark observed that " olykleitos'sgeneral aim was clarity, balance, and completeness; his sole medium of communication the naked body of an athlete, standing poised between movement and repose".Clark 1956:63.


Conjectured reconstruction

Illustration of the phalanges of a human hand In a 1975 paper, art historian Richard Tobin suggested that earlier work to reconstruct the Canon had failed because previous researchers had made a flawed assumption of a foundation in linear ratios rather than areal proportion. He conjectured that the Canon begins from the length of the outermost part (the "
distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...
phalange") of the little finger. The length of the diagonal of a square of this side (mathematically, , about 1.4142) gives the length of the middle phalange. Repeating the process gives the length of the
proximal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position ...
phalange; doing so again gives the length of the metacarpal plus the carpal bones the distance from knuckle to the head of the ulna. Next, a square of side equal to the length of the hand from little finger to wrist yields a diagonal of length equal to that of the forearm. This "diagonal of a square" process gives the relative ratios of many other key reference distances in the human male body. The process would not require measurement of square roots: the artist could take a long cord and make knots separated from each other by a distance which equals the diagonal of the square drawn on the preceding length. On the body proper, the process is repeated but the geometric progression is taken and retaken from the top of the head (rather than additively, as on the hand/arm): the head from crown to chin is the same size as the fore-arm; from crown to clavicle is as long as the upper arm; a diagonal on that square yields the distance from the crown to the line of the nipples. Tobin validated his calculation by comparing his theoretical model with a Roman copy of ''Doryphoros'' in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.


Followers

Polykleitos and Phidias were among the first generation of Greek sculptors to attract schools of followers. Polykleitos's school lasted for at least three generations, but it seems to have been most active in the late 4th century and early 3rd century BCE. The Roman writers Pliny and Pausanias noted the names of about twenty sculptors in Polykleitos's school, defined by their adherence to his principles of balance and definition. Skopas and Lysippus are among the best-known successors of Polykleitos. Polykleitos's son,
Polykleitos the Younger Polykleitos the Younger ( grc-gre, Πολύκλειτος; fl. c. 4th century BC) was an ancient Greek sculptor of athletes. His greatest achievements, however, were as an architect. A renowned sculptor, Polykleitos the Younger was architect of the ...
, worked in the 4th century BCE. Although the son was also a sculptor of athletes, his greatest fame was won as an architect. He designed the great theatre at
Epidaurus Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the ...
.


Gallery

File:Doryphoros MIA 866.jpg, ''Doryphoros'', Minneapolis Institute of Art File:Bronze statue of an athlete from Ephesus cleaning his strigil 1st century CE copy of 4th century BCE Greek original.jpg, Bronze statue of an athlete from Ephesus cleaning his
strigil The strigil ( el, στλεγγίς, translit=stlengis, probably a loanword from Pre-Greek substrate) is a tool for the cleansing of the body by scraping off dirt, perspiration, and oil that was applied before bathing in Ancient Greek and Roman cu ...
; 1st century CE copy of a possible original by Polykleitos File:Statua di pan col flauto, copia imperiale da originale di policleto, dall'italia.jpg, Pan with flute, Roman copy of a possible original by Polykleitos


Notes


References


Sources

* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece''. * *


External links


smARThistory - Diadumenos
{{Authority control 5th-century BC Greek sculptors 4th-century BC Greek sculptors Ancient Greek sculptors Ancient Argives Ancient Greek athletic art