CALLIMACHUS
(Active between c. 432 – c. 408 B. C. E.)
An ancient sculptor and engraver, Callimachus was nicknamed “katatxitechnos” – “the perfectionist.” He left behind no writings, but we know his life through the works of Pausanias and Vitruvius, although today certain of their accounts seem doubtful. It is known that he contributed to the decoration of the Erechtheion. For this temple he created, among other things, a magnificent golden lamp, above which was mounted a bronze palm branch, which trapped the smoke. Several beautiful sculptures were also ascribed to him: a group of Lacedemonian dancers and a statue of the seated Hera made for the Heraion of Plataea. What characterises Callimachus more than anything else is his painstaking attention to detail; hence the nickname. Purportedly, he was the first to use a drill for shaping marble. He modelled his work on the tradition of the old masters and pioneered the Archaic style.
Callimachus also has a place in the history of architecture. He is considered the inventor of the Corinthian capital. According to the legend told by Vitruvius, he got the idea while looking at the acanthus blossom wrapped around a basket which had been placed on a child’s tomb.
27. Anonymous, Doryphoros, Roman copy after a Greek original created by Polykleitos, c. 440 B. C. E. Marble, h: 196 cm. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis (United States).
POLYKLEITOS
(Active during the 5th century B. C. E.)
Polykleitos was a contemporary of Phidias, and in the opinion of the Greeks his equal. He made a figure of an Amazon for Ephesus regarded as superior to the Amazon of Phidias made at the same time; and his colossal Hera of gold and ivory, which stood in the temple near Argos, was considered worthy to rank with the Zeus of Phidias.
It would be hard for a modern critic to rate Polykleitos so high, for reasons of balance, rhythm, and minute perfection of bodily form, the great merits of this sculptor, which appeal less to us than they did to the fifth century Greeks. He worked mainly in bronze.
His artistic activity must thus have been long and prolific.
Copies of his spearman (Doryphoros) and his victor winding a ribbon round his head (Diadoumenos (see nos. 29 & 32)) have long been recognised in galleries. While we understand their excellence, they inspire no enthusiasm; they are fleshier than modern athletic figures and lack charm. They are chiefly valuable for showing us the square forms of body affected by Polykleitos, and the scheme he adopted, for throwing the body’s weight (as Pliny says of him) onto one leg.
The Amazon of Polykleitos survives in several copies. Here again we find a certain heaviness, and the Amazon’s womanly character scarcely appears through her robust limbs.
The masterpiece of Polykleitos, his Hera of gold and ivory, has of course totally disappeared. The Argos coins give us only the general type. Ancient critics reproached Polykleitos for the lack of variety in his works. We have already observed the slight variety in their attitudes. Except for the statue of Hera, which was the work of his old age, he produced hardly any notable statue of a deity. His field was narrowly limited; but in that field he was unsurpassed.
28. Anonymous, The Tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Roman copy after a Greek original created by Critios, c. 477 B. C. E. Marble, h: 195 cm. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (Italy).
Harmodius and Aristogeiton Metal was a valuable commodity in the ancient world, so sculptures made of bronze or other metals were often eventually melted down by a conquering nation or a successive ruler who did not care for the art of his predecessor. For that reason, few large-scale bronze sculptures survive from Antiquity. Romans, however, had a taste for Greek art, and copied many of their bronze sculptures in stone, the material preferred by Romans. Often, the bronze original has since been lost, and the Roman copies are all that survive. Such is the case with this group, Roman copies in marble of two Greek sculptures in bronze. The subjects are Harmodius and Aristogeiton, lovers who together conspired to murder the political tyrant, Hippias. They lost their nerve and killed his brother instead, but were revered as heroes by Athenians who believed them to have murdered the tyrant. Statues of the two were erected in their honour in the Athenian Agora.
29. Anonymous, Diadoumenos, the Young Athlete, copy after a bronze original created by Polykleitos, c. 430 B. C. E. Marble, h: 186 cm. National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Athens (Greece).
Polykleitos is one of the best-known sculptors of the fifth century B. C. E., known especially for his athletic dedications, such as this one. The figure binds his hair with a tie in preparation for sport. His clothes rest next to him on a low branch, since Greek athletes exercised in the nude. Polykleitos’ Doryphoros, or Canon, sought to illustrate the ideal male figure. In the piece shown, we see the same proportions the sculptor established with his Canon, and the same attention to anatomical realism. The Polykleitan ideal is a heavy, muscled, somewhat stocky body, especially in comparison to the more gracile figures of the next century.
30. Anonymous, Apollo, known as Apollo Parnopios, copy after a Greek original created by Phidias, c. 450 B. C. E. Marble, h: 197 cm. Staatliche Museen, Kassel (Germany).
Apollo was the god of music, poetry, medicine, archery, and prophecy, and was always shown as young and beautiful. Here, he has the idealised body of a young male athlete. The naturalism of his anatomy, with its sculpted muscles and graceful movement, is expressed through the relaxed, contrapposto stance. His expression is thoughtful but emotionless. This classic fifth-century B. C. E. statue type is transformed into Apollo by the addition of the elaborately curled long hair, and his attributes, the bow and laurel wreath, which he would have held in each hand.
PHIDIAS
(Athens, c. 488 B. C. E. – c. 431 B. C. E.)
Son of Charmides, universally regarded as the greatest of Greek sculptors, Phidias was born in Athens. We have varying accounts of his training. Hegias of Athens, Ageladas of Argos, and the Thasian painter Polygnotus, have all been regarded as his teachers.
The earliest of his great works were dedications in memory of Marathon, from the spoils of the victory. On the Acropolis of Athens he erected a colossal bronze image of Athena, visible far out at sea. Other works at Delphi, at Pellene in Achaea, and at Plataea were appreciated; among the Greeks themselves, however, the two works of Phidias which far outstripped all others – providing the basis of his fame – were the colossal figures in gold and ivory of Zeus at Olympia and of Athena Parthenos at Athens, both of which belong to about the middle of the fifth century.
Plutarch gives in his life of Perikles a charming account of the vast artistic activity that went on at Athens while that statesman was in power. For the decoration of his own city he used the money furnished by the Athenian allies for defence against Persia. “In all these works,” says Plutarch, “Phidias was the adviser and overseer of Perikles.” Phidias introduced his own portrait and that of Perikles on the shield of his Parthenos statue. And it was through Phidias that the political enemies of Perikles struck at him.
It is important to observe that in resting the fame of Phidias upon the sculptures of the Parthenon we proceed with little evidence. What he was celebrated for in Antiquity was his statues
