Lysippos


Lysippos

(līsĭp`əs), fl. late 4th cent. B.C., Greek sculptor, head of the Sicyon school. Hellenistic sculpture was based largely on the style he introduced. In treating the human figure, he modified the proportions set by the canon of PolykleitosPolykleitos,
 Polycletus,
or Polyclitus
, two Greek sculptors of the school of Argos. Polykleitos, the elder, fl. c.450–c.420 B.C., was a contemporary of Phidias. Born either in Sicyon or Argos, he became head of the Argive school.
..... Click the link for more information.
, making the head smaller, the form slender, the muscles close-lying. There is also a new sense of movement—torso, head, and limbs all face in different directions, indicating a momentary change of action. Of the many bronze statues and groups mentioned by Pliny and other ancient writers as his work, no certain original exists, and the marble statues accepted as copies of his bronzes probably do not follow his modeling exactly. The figure of an athlete, Apoxyomenus, in the Vatican and the Agias at Delphi are the most famous of these copies or adaptations. The copy by GlyconGlycon
, fl. c.3d cent. A.D., Athenian sculptor and copyist. He executed the Farnese Hercules after the original by Lysippos.
..... Click the link for more information.
 of the Farnese Hercules (National Mus., Naples) of Lysippos stood originally in the Baths of Caracalla and later in the Farnese Palace. It is one of more than three dozen copies of this work. Lysippos made numerous statues of Alexander the Great after 340 B.C. According to tradition, he produced 1,500 works. The subjects were gods, heroes, and athletes. The sizes ranged from small bronzes to a statue of Zeus 60 ft (18 m) high.