Leochares


Leochares

(lēŏk`ərēz), fl. 4th cent. B.C., Greek sculptor, probably an Athenian. Leochares was associated in the decoration of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. He is known to have made portraits, including a gold and ivory group of Philip, Alexander, and others, for Olympia. His Lion Hunt of Alexander was made with Lysippos after 321 B.C. A copy of his Ganymede and the Eagle of Zeus is in the Vatican. The Apollo Belvedere (Vatican) is sometimes attributed to him, and the Diana of Versailles (Louvre), conceived as a companion piece, also reflects his style.

Leochares

 

an ancient Greek sculptor of the late classical period.

Leochares worked in the mid-fourth century B.C. in Athens, Olympia, Delphi, and Halicarnassus (with Scopas). He also worked at the court of Alexander the Great. Leochares’ works that were well known in antiquity included the bronze group The Lion Hunt of Alexander and the chryselephantine statues of the Macedonian dynasty for the Philippeum at Olympia. Works attributed to Leochares, which have survived in Roman marble copies (The Versailles Artemis, Louvre, Paris; Apollo Belvedere and The Abduction of Ganymede —both in the Pio-Clementine Museum in the Vatican), are distinguished by virtuosity of execution, complicated structural rhythm, and cold elegance of form.