30 Millennia of Erotic Art. Victoria Charles
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35. Anonymous, The Tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Roman copy after a Greek original created by Critios, c. 477 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 195 cm. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
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 the Classical era. 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.
36. Anonymous, Doryphoros, Roman copy after a Greek original created by Polykleitos, c. 440 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 196 cm. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis.
The Doryphoros is one of the most famous sculptures of ancient Greece, embodying the ambition of Polyclitus to illustrate, in a single work, the ideal proportions of the human body. Yet the work we admire today is only a copy of the original bronze created by a contemporary of Phidias. The work owes its name to the fact that the young man kept in his left hand a spear (now missing); “Doryphoros” in Greek meaning “spear carrier”. Defining the canons of male beauty, it evokes both the Hellenic ideal of the athlete and the soldier. Traditionally, Polyclitus is recognised as being the first sculptor to use the contrapposto in his works, with the pelvis being twisted to one side. This method is used to give more flexibility to traditional, hieratic sculptures and presents a man standing with most of his weight on one foot while the other one is resting, slightly bent end extended back, so that his shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This posture, which gives the impression of a contrast between movement and rest, crossed the centuries and influenced many works, as witnessed by the David of Michelangelo (fig. 167).
37. Anonymous, Diadoumenos, the Young Athlete, copy after a bronze original created by Polykleitos, c. 430 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Marble, height: 186 cm. National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Athens.
Polykleitos is one of the best-known sculptors of the 5th century BCE, renowned for his athletic dedications. The figure ties back his hair in preparation for sport. His clothes rest next to him on a low branch, as Greek athletes exercised in the nude. Polykleitos’ Doryphoros, or Canon, sought to illustrate the ideal male figure. In this piece, we see the same proportions the sculptor established with his Canon and the same attention to anatomical realism. The Polykleitan ideal is a heavily muscled, somewhat stocky body, especially compared to the more gracile figures of the next century.
Polykleitos was a contemporary of Phidias, and, in Greek opinion, his equal; he made a superior Amazon figure (fig. 46) for Ephesus. His colossal Hera of gold and ivory, which stood in the temple near Argos but has since disappeared, was considered worthy of Phidias’ Zeus. Working mainly in bronze, his artistic activity must have been long and prolific.
The balance, rhythm, and minute perfection of bodily form make it difficult for a modern critic to rate the merits of this sculptor so high, as they appeal less to us than they did to the 5th century Greeks. We find a certain heaviness in his female characters that makes it difficult to distinguish them from males.
Copies of his spearman (Doryphoros) and victor (Diadoumenos, figs. 36, 37) 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. Ancient critics reproached Polykleitos for his lack of variety, though his talent remained unsurpassed.
38. Anonymous, Apollo, known as Apollo Parnopios, copy after a Greek original created by Phidias, c. 450 BCE.
Marble, height: 197 cm. Staatliche Museen, Kassel.
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 his sculpted muscles and graceful movement, is expressed through the relaxed, contrapposto stance. His expression is thoughtful but emotionless. This statue 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.
39. Anonymous, Riace Bronze B, Roman copy after a Greek original created by Phidias, c. 450 BCE.
Ancient Greek. Bronze, height: 197 cm. Museo Nazionale, Reggio Calabria.
A sunken treasure, this bronze statue was pulled from the sea, having been lost in a shipwreck during the Classical period. Ironically, its loss in the sea resulted in it being one of the few bronze statues to survive from the era, since it was never melted down for its valuable metal. The warrior is one of a pair that has been attributed to the 5th century BCE, or High Classical Period. In this piece we can see the ideals of High Classical period sculpture fully realised. At the same time realistic and idealistic, the sculpture shows a lifelike, but perfect, body, each muscle articulated, the figure frozen in a relaxed, life-like pose. The solid, athletic body reflects the ideal of a young athlete, although this figure represents an older warrior, who once would have held a spear and a shield. The nudity of the figure also alludes to the athlete, who in Greece would have practised or competed in the nude, and also to the mythical hero, a reminder that the man represented here was no ordinary warrior, but a semi-divine hero, an appropriate offering for one of the great sanctuaries of the Greek world.
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 date to about the middle of the 5th 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 in bronze or gold and ivory. If Plutarch tells us that he superintended the great works of Perikles on the Acropolis, this phrase is very vague.
Of his death we have two discrepant accounts. According to Plutarch he was made an object of attack by the political enemies of Perikles,