And by other sculptors in 460 - 450 BC, they formed a transition to a more realistic direction in the depiction of deities, which received its fullest development in the Peloponnese. The head of this school was the younger contemporary of Phidias, Polikleitos of Argos (second half of the 5th century BC), whose talent had its strongest side not in the creation of ideals, but inimitable perfection in depicting the beauty of the human body. Policlet was especially fond of portraying the beautiful figures of young men, developed by gymnastics, slender and elastic. His most famous works represented such youths; for example, his "Spearman" (Dorifor) was famous. Even more famous were: “The Tethering” (Diadumen), a young man with strong body shapes, tying a bandage on his head, and “Cleansing” (Apoxiomen) - an athlete cleansing the body from the sand of the palestra with a spatula, which was used for this by the Greeks. One of the statues of Poliklet, depicting a young man, was called the "norm" (canon), because the proportions of its parts represented the norm of a correctly developed physique of a young man. Polikleitos also created the work "Canon" about the human body in sculpture that has not come down to us.
In the statue of Polikleitos "Doriphoros", which shows a young man who won the competition, calmly standing with a heavy and long spear on his shoulder, typification found a manifestation; noticeable distraction of the master from everything private, individual, the desire to reveal in a specific artistic image the general moments of reality. In the face of the Spearman there are no portrait features of that young man who won the competition and was awarded an honorary statue. In the sculpture of Doryphoros, Polikleitos showed not only an excellent athlete and a courageous heavily armed infantryman (hoplite). This complex and multifaceted collective image is the ideal of a valiant citizen of the Hellenic city-polis.
The module for the proportions of Doryphoros Poliklet took, obviously, the width of the palm, but, looking at the statue, you do not feel the numerical ratios. In a statue full of life and beauty, there is no dryness or abstract geometrization of forms. Polikleitos held the same view of the work of art as the unknown ancient poet who wrote:
“Excessive everything is useless. There is an old saying:
If not in moderation - and honey becomes bile to us.
A later statue of Polykleitos "Diadumen" - an athlete tying a victory ribbon on his head, was created by him already in Athens and under the influence of the Attic school. The young man is more slender than Doryfor, the leg is further set aside and the hip is more advanced, the position of the hands is more complicated. In the bronze statue of a perfect and harmonious man, Polikleitos restrainedly and at the same time expressively conveys the jubilant feelings of victory, pride and triumph.
Only in his older years did Poliklet create an ideal image, which gained importance. It was a colossal figure of Hera, made of gold and ivory and placed in the Argive temple of this goddess. It seems that ideas about Hera have developed with this statue forever. Like Zeus from the temple at Olympia, Hera was depicted seated. She had a crown on her head, decorated with images of the goddesses of order (Or) and Harit; in one hand she held a pomegranate, in the other a scepter. “Formerly, it was believed,” says the art critic Lubke, “that the colossal marble head of Hera, located in Rome, in the Villa Ludovisi, belongs to a statue that was a faithful reproduction of the statue of Poliklet. True, in the features of the face of this head, the greatness of the wife of the king of the gods Zeus is perfectly combined with feminine grace. But upon closer examination, we see that this is a copy from a work of much later times. For the era of Polikleitos, her features are too gentle, her expression is too kind. The Hera of Polykleitos should have stricter features, more in line with the general character of the Peloponnesian sculpture of that period. One must think that the head of Hera, located in the Neapolitan Museum, is closer than any other image of this goddess to convey the character of the statue of Policlet.
The Peloponnesian school generally strove for fidelity to nature and for showiness; ancient writers, now with praise, now with censure, say that the works of its representatives Callimachus (c. 410) and Demetrius (c. 400) were distinguished by such qualities. The development of art in this direction was greatly facilitated by the rather early and rapidly growing custom of placing statues in honor of remarkable people. In antiquity, such statues played the role of portraits.
The culture of Ancient Greece during its heyday was full of beauty. In the understanding of the ancient Greeks, the beauty of man and the world around him was in harmony and balance. That is, the main rule of the ancient Greek master was the observance of a sense of proportion, the perfection and proportionality of forms.
The ancient Greeks achieved the greatest success in such an art form as sculpture.
The most ancient statues of the Greeks were made of wood. Then they began to be made of clay and stone. Most often, sculptors used marble, since its white and pink color was very similar to the color of the skin, and therefore the statues seemed alive. But most of all, the Greeks valued bronze statues. The first sculptures depicted only gods. Then they began to make statues of prominent citizens.
The first statues were very simple and even primitive. These are upright, as if numb figures with arms tightly pressed to the body. Over time, the Greek masters learned more realistically, i.e. accurately and truthfully convey the figure of the depicted god or person.
Figure 1: Sounion Tattoo
Illustration 3: Goddess with a hare
Figure 4: Goddess with Pomegranate
Figure 2: Cleobis and Beaton
In the 5th century BC e. three famous sculptors worked in Greece: Phidias, Myron and Polikleitos.
Figure 5: Doryphoros "Spearman" Polikleitos
Figure 6: Supposed self-portrait of Phidias as a bald old man (Daedalus) brandishing a hammer (attribute of the sculptor) in the battle scene with the Amazons on the shield of the "Athena Parthenos"
Figure 7: Miron's Disco Thrower in the Copenhagen Botanical Garden (copy)
“No one doubts that Phidias the most famous artist of all peoples, ”wrote the ancient Roman historian almost 500 years after the death of the great sculptor of Ancient Greece. And yet, almost nothing is known about this remarkable man. Even the dates of his life are very approximate: he was born at the beginning of the 5th century. BC, died about 432-431 BC e. Most of his many creations perished, at least those that delighted his contemporaries.
The most famous work of Phidias is the statue of Zeus at Olympia. A huge fourteen-meter god sat on a golden throne. The head of Zeus was decorated with a wreath of olive branches - a sign of the peacefulness of the formidable god. The face, shoulders, arms, chest were made of ivory, and the cloak thrown over the left shoulder, the crown, the beard of Zeus were made of gold.
Behind the throne of Zeus was the shield of the god - the aegis, which was a symbol of the patronage of the gods. The statue made such an impression that, according to the ancient author, people, dejected by grief, sought solace in contemplating the creation of Phidias. Rumor has declared the statue of Zeus one of the "seven wonders of the world."
"Olympic Zeus" stood for almost 900 years and died in the 5th century. n. e. during a fire. All this time, the descendants of Phidias kept and protected the great work of their ancestor. The house of Phidias in Olympia was also carefully preserved for centuries, for it was also considered sacred. No less outstanding sculptor of ancient Greece was Miron. He was especially occupied with the task of depicting movement in stone. Among the works of Myron, the statue of a discus thrower is the most famous. The young man, as it were, froze in order to straighten up and throw the discus the next moment.
Zeus Olympian. Phidias
Athena and Marsyas. Roman marble copies from Greek. originals by sculptor Miron
Discus thrower
Myron
Goddess Promachos Phidias
Phidias led the restructuring of the Athenian Acropolis that has survived to this day. All the sculpture included in his ensemble conveys the spirit of his art. The statues and reliefs of the Parthenon, built in 447-438 BC, have survived to our time, albeit badly damaged. e. The sculptural decoration of the temple continued to be created until 431.
Having passed the propylaea and entered the territory of the Acropolis, a person first of all met the bronze statue of Athena Promachos (warrior), who was the divine patronage of Athens. The goddess was depicted wearing a helmet with a spear and a shield. A tall monument, visible from afar from Piraeus, was created by Phidias in 465-455 BC. e. Its original has been lost. Another bronze statue by Phidias was Athena Lemnia, depicting the goddess looking thoughtfully at the removed helmet, which she held in her hand. 
Goddess Lemnia (with a helmet removed in her hand, which she looks at). Phidias
A contemporary of Phidias, a master of the second direction was Polykleitos. His work falls on 460-420 BC. e. The so-called. "Canon of Polykleitos" - a system of proportional relations that determines the beauty of the human body. All the work of the master was aimed at expressing the order, structure and measure inherent in the universe and in man himself.
Poliklet created the image of a heroically beautiful person, almost the only subject of whose image was a person or an anthropomorphic deity.
The most famous work of Polykleitos was the bronze "Dorifor" (spear-bearer) c. 440, which has come down to us only in dry marble copies (Naples, National Museum). An idea of the true plasticity of the master is given by a bronze statuette of a young man of the 3rd quarter of the 5th century BC. e. (Louvre).
The later works of Polykleitos include the Diadumen c. 430, also preserved only in numerous copies. He is characterized by even great elegance of the silhouette and lightness of proportions, showing the further development of the master's creativity. A special state of "heroic minor", conveyed through attention to the shades of plastic form, is present in The Wounded Amazon (marble copy in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). In this case, a pedestal was originally included in the composition, emphasizing the weakening of the forces supporting the standing figure.
"Diadumen" Policlet
Wounded Amazon Polykleitos
"Dorifor" Poliklet
All these statues were not portraits. The sculptors sought to create an ideal image of a citizen of the Greek polis.
ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist who worked in Argos in the 2nd half of the 5th century BC
Creation
Poliklet loved to depict athletes at rest, he specialized in depicting athletes, Olympic winners.
As Pliny [who?] writes, Poliklet was the first to think of giving the figures such a statement that they rested on the lower part of only one leg. Polikleitos knew how to show the human body in a state of balance - a human figure at rest or a slow step seems natural due to the fact that the horizontal axes are not parallel.
Canon of Polykleitos
The most famous work of Polikleitos is "Dorifor" (Spear-bearer) (450-440 BC). It was believed that the figure was created on the basis of the provisions of Pythagoreanism, therefore, in ancient times, the statue of Doryphoros was often called the "canon of Poliklet", especially since his unpreserved treatise on aesthetics was called "Canon". Here, the rhythmic composition is based on the principle of cross uneven movement of the body (the right side, that is, the supporting leg and the arm lowered along the body, are static and tense, the left, that is, the leg left behind and the arm with the spear, are relaxed, but in motion). The forms of this statue are repeated in most of the works of the sculptor and his school.
The distance from the chin to the top of the head in the statues of Poliklet is one seventh of the height of the body, the distance from the eyes to the chin is one sixteenth, and the height of the face is one tenth.
In his "Canon" Polikleitos paid great attention to the Pythagorean theory of the golden division (the entire length is related to the larger part as much as the larger to the smaller). For example, the entire height of "Dorifor" refers to the distance from the floor to the navel, as this last distance - to the distance from the navel to the crown. At the same time, Policlet refused the golden division if it contradicted the natural parameters of the human body.
The treatise also embodies theoretical ideas about the crossed distribution of tension in the arms and legs. "Dorifor" is an early example of a classic contrapposto (from Italian contrapposto - opposite), an image technique in which the position of one part of the body is contrasted with the position of another part. Sometimes this statue was also called the "Canon of Polikleitos", it was even assumed that Poliklet made the statue so that others could use it as a model.
Artworks
- "Diadumen" ("Young man tying a bandage"). Around 420-410 BC. e.
- "Dorifor" ("Spear-bearer").
- "Wounded Amazon", 440-430 BC. e.
- Colossal statue of Hera in Argos. It was made in the chrysoelephantine technique and was perceived as a pandan to Zeus Olympus Phidias.
- "Diskofor" ("Young man holding a disc"). Not to be confused with Miron's "Disco Thrower".
- "Apoxiomen".
The sculptures have been lost and are known from surviving ancient Roman copies.
Gallery
Head of the Wounded Amazon statue
"Diadumen"
"Discofor"
"Wounded Amazon"
POLYKET
DORIFOR
5th century BC. Roman copy
National Museum,
Naples
« D orifor ”(“ Spear-bearer ”) is the most famous work of Polikleitos from Argos, in which the image of a free Hellene is ideally presented, the plasticity of a healthy muscular body is subtly conveyed. "Dorifor" for the perfection of bodily proportions was called Achilles in memory of the mythical hero of the Trojan War.
Polykleitos was a younger contemporary of Myron, he also created statues of winning athletes in competitions, worked in bronze, and just like Myron, only copies of his sculptures have survived. The best repetitions of "Dorifor" were found in Italy. Sometimes Roman copyists chose a dark green stone to work with in order to more accurately imitate the bronze original.
Diadumen, or Youth tying his head.
In ancient times, the Doryphoros itself was sometimes called the "canon of Polykleitos", believing that the master created the statue so that other artists could use it as a model. In fact, the sculptor's treatise on aesthetics was called "Canon", or "Measure" (fragmentary information in two fragments remained).
In the treatise, Poliklet developed the theory of the correct ratio of the proportions of the human body in a sculptural image. According to the canon of Polykleitos, proportions must be subject to mathematical calculation, like the construction of an architectural structure. The artist worked out the ideal proportions by measuring numerous nature and choosing the arithmetic mean. According to the canon, the size of the head of a normal male figure should be equal to 1/7 of his height, the profile should approach a square, and the line of the forehead and nose should be one line.
Discophore (holding disc).
OK. 420–410 AD BC e. National Museum, Athens
The so-called Greek profile was part of the canon of ancient Greek sculpture of the classical and Hellenistic eras, the most important characteristic of beauty, according to which the line of the nose goes straight into the forehead without any emphasis on the bridge of the nose. Another canonical facial feature can be called a relatively heavy chin. The rhythmic composition of Poliklet's sculptures is based on the principle of asymmetry: the right side - the supporting leg and the arm hanging along the body, despite the static nature, are full of hidden energy, the left side - the leg left behind and the arm with the spear - are relaxed, which violates the symmetry of the sculpture. The torso is given in a slight bend. Polykleitos also makes other horizontal axes in the construction of the figure non-parallel, and therefore the human body, being in a state of balance, rest or slow walking, seems to be alive and mobile.
Clear forms of sculpture "Dorifor" are repeated in most of the works of the master and his school. Known sculptures "Diadumen" and "Diskofor" (holding a disk).
Wounded Amazon.
440–430 AD BC e. Pergamon Museum. Berlin
When Poliklet participated in the competition for the best performance of the statue of a wounded Amazon for the temple of Artemis in Ephesus (Asia Minor), he defeated other best sculptors - Phidias, Cresilaus and Fradmon. His wounded Amazon is presented in the canonical form characteristic of the sculptor. She leans with one hand on the pole, throws the other behind her head, as if afraid to touch the wound near her right breast.
Polikleitos the Elder of Argos is an ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist, famous for his statues of athletes, as well as for his doctrine of proportions. Along with Phidias, one of the two best masters of Greek sculpture of the classical era. Polykleitos was most likely born on the island of Argos (this is indicated by Plato in his Protagoras); there he studied (with the sculptor Agelad of Argos, who, according to legend, also taught Phidias). The period of his active work falls on the years 440-410 BC. e. None of his original works have survived, but the best of them (and most often mentioned in ancient sources, primarily in Natural History, or Natural History, Pliny the Elder, 1st century AD) are known from fairly high-quality and reliable Roman copies. This is, first of all, his most famous sculpture, Doryphoros (Spear-bearer, ca. 440-435 BC), as well as Diadumen (a young man tying the bandage of the winner; ca. 423-419 BC); more than 30 Roman copies of each of them have come down to us. With a clear difference in characters, - according to Pliny, Poliklet created Diadumen "a pampered young man", and Doryforus "a courageous boy", - both are imbued with strict harmony, expressed both in the general arrangement of standing figures (according to the principle of chiasm, that is, such an image where the weight of the body is transferred to one leg - with a raised shoulder corresponding to the lowered thigh of the other half of the body and vice versa), and in the mutual proportionality of various members, muscles and accessories. The Wounded Amazon (or the Amazon of Ephesus, ca. 430 BC) also belongs to the number of masterpieces of Polykleitos.
For all its vitality, Doryfor is also an exemplary model (according to 
according to Pliny, "artists call it the Canon") - that aesthetic ideal, to which the master devoted a special treatise; only a few quotations and references from Pliny the Elder, Galen, Lucian and other authors have survived from the latter. In it, Policlet developed a system of "symmetries", that is, the optimal relationship between parts and the whole for a work of art. Since the source of these modules was the human figure, the principle of universal, in its own way cosmic corporality, characteristic (according to A.F. Losev) of the ancient classics as a whole, was expressed here with maximum completeness, having - like the art of Polykleitos itself - a huge influence on the European culture (despite the fragmentary information about the Canon and the fact that its mathematical basis has not yet been determined with exhaustive accuracy).
Poliklet created a significant school, in fact the first fairly well-documented personal school-tradition in the history of art (about 20 names of his students are known).
Source: http://www.krugosvet.ru/. "Dorifor" (Spearman) - one of the most famous statues of antiquity, the work of the sculptor Polikleitos, embodying the so-called. The Canon of Polykleitos was created in 450-440. BC. Not preserved, known from copies and descriptions. Numerous copies have been preserved, including in Naples, the Vatican, Munich, Florence.
It is in this work that Poliklet's ideas about the ideal proportions of the human body, which are in numerical ratio with each other, are embodied. It was believed that the figure was created on the basis of the provisions of Pythagoreanism, therefore, in ancient times, the statue of Doryphoros was often called the "canon of Poliklet", especially since his unsurviving treatise on aesthetics was called the Canon. Here the rhythmic composition is based on the principle of asymmetry.
The "Wounded Amazon", the statue that won first place in the famous sculpture competition for the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, was created in 440-430. BC e. Not preserved, known from copies.
Poliklet executed the famous statue of a wounded Amazon, which was ordered for the temple of Artemis by the inhabitants of the city of Ephesus, who revered the Amazons as the founders of their city. The competition for the creation of the statue of the Amazon was attended by Polykleitos, Phidias, Cresilaus, Fradmon and Kidon. It is noteworthy that all the sculptures were so good that the Greeks decided to instruct the sculptors themselves to determine the best. Each first named the statue he had created, but after his own he indicated the Amazon Polykleitos, to whom the commission awarded the first prize.
"Diadumen" (Athlete crowning his head with a victory ribbon) - the famous statue of Polikleitos, was created in 420-410. BC e. Not preserved, known from copies. 
The proportions of the powerful body of Diadumen are the same as those of Doryphorus, but in contrast to the calmness of Doryphorus, in the figure of Diadumen there is more expression, the movement is more complex: the arms move freely at shoulder level, holding the ends of the victory ribbon. But just like in Doryphorus, the entire weight of the body is transferred to the right leg, the left is set aside in the same free movement, and the head is tilted in the same way - to the right and somewhat downward. In Diadumen, the canon of the “athlete at rest”, previously embodied in Doryphoros, was further developed, embodying an element of calm movement. The arithmetic proportions underlying the composition of the body are more harmonious and thinner here, the arms moving at shoulder level and holding the ends of the tape free the torso, giving harmony and greater freedom to the entire figure of the athlete.Posted by
