an account of the most celebrated works in bronze, and of the artists who executed them.
an almost innumerable multitude of artists have been rendered famous by their statues and figures of smaller size. before all others is phidias, the athenian,[218] who executed the 281 jupiter at olympia, in ivory and gold, but who also made figures in bronze as well. he flourished in the eighty-third olympiad, about the year of our city, 300. in the ninetieth olympiad there were polycletus, phradmon, myron, pythagoras, scopas, and perellus. in the hundred and fourth olympiad, flourished praxiteles[219] and euphranor; in the hundred and thirteenth, lysippus of sicyon, who was the contemporary of alexander the great, his brother lysistratus, and silanion, who was remarkable for having acquired great celebrity without any instructor: zeuxis was his pupil.
the most celebrated of these artists, though born at different epochs, have joined in a trial of skill in the amazons which they have respectively made. when these statues were dedicated in the temple of diana at ephesus, it was agreed, in order to ascertain which was the best, that it should be left to the judgment of the artists themselves who were then present: upon which, it was evident that that was the best, which all the artists agreed in considering as the next best to his own. accordingly, the first rank was assigned to polycletus, the second to phidias, the third to cresilas, the fourth to cydon, and the fifth to phradmon.
besides the olympian jupiter, which no one has ever equalled, phidias also executed in ivory the erect statue of minerva, which is in the parthenon at athens. he also made in bronze, beside the amazon above mentioned, a minerva, of such exquisite beauty, that it received its name from its fine proportions. he also made the cliduchus, and another minerva, which paulus ?milius dedicated at rome in the temple of fortune of the present day. also the two statues, draped with the pallium, which catulus erected in the same temple; and a nude colossal statue.
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polycletus of sicyon,[220] the pupil of agelades, executed the diadumenos, the statue of an effeminate youth, and remarkable for having cost one hundred talents; also the statue of a youth full of manly vigor, and called the spear-bearer. in this he made what the artists have called the model statue, from which, as from a sort of standard, they study the lineaments: so that he, of all men, is thought in one work of art to have exhausted all the resources of art. he also made statues of a man using the body-scraper, and of a naked man challenging to play at dice; as also of two naked boys playing at dice, and known as the astragalizontes; they are now in the atrium of the emperor titus, and it is generally considered, that there can be no work more perfect than this. he also executed a mercury, which was formerly at lysimachia; a hercules seizing his arms, which is now at rome. polycletus is generally considered as having attained the highest excellence in statuary, and as having perfected the art, which phidias invented. a discovery which was entirely his own, was the art of placing statues on one leg. it is remarked, however, by varro, that his statues are all square-built, and made very much after the same model.
myron of eleuther?,[221] who was also the pupil of agelades, was rendered more particularly famous by his statue of a heifer, celebrated in many well-known lines. he also made 283 the figure of a dog, a discobolus, a perseus, the wood-sawyers, a satyr admiring a flute, and a minerva, the delphic pentathletes,[222] the pancratiast?,[223] and a hercules, which is at the circus maximus, in the house of pompey. erinna of teios makes allusion in her poems to a monument which he erected to a cricket and a locust. he also executed the apollo, which, after being taken from the ephesians by the triumvir antonius, was restored by the emperor augustus, from a warning received in a dream. myron appears to have been the first to give a varied development to his art, having made a greater number of designs than polycletus, and shown more attention to symmetry. and yet, though he was very accurate in the proportions of his figures, he has neglected to give much expression.
pythagoras of rhegium, in italy, excelled him in the figure of the pancratiast which is now at delphi. pythagoras also executed the statue of astylos, the runner, which is exhibited at olympia; that of a libyan boy holding a tablet, also in the same place; and a nude male figure holding fruit. there is at syracuse a figure of a lame man by him: persons, when looking at it, seem to feel the very pain of his wound. he was the first artist who gave expression to the sinews and the veins, and paid more attention to the hair.
there was also another pythagoras, a samian, who was originally a painter, seven of whose nude figures, in the temple of fortune, and one of an aged man, are very much admired. he is said to have resembled the last-mentioned artist so much in his features, that they could not be distinguished.
lysippus was most prolific in his works, and made more statues than any other artist. among these, is the man using the body-scraper, which marcus agrippa had erected 284 in front of his warm baths, and which wonderfully pleased the emperor tiberius. this prince, although in the beginning of his reign he imposed some restraint upon himself, could not resist the temptation, and had this statue removed to his bed-chamber, having substituted another for it at the baths: the people, however, were so resolutely opposed to this, that at the theatre they clamorously demanded the apoxyomenos to be replaced; and the prince, notwithstanding his attachment to it, was obliged to restore it.
lysippus is also celebrated for his statue of the intoxicated female flute-player, his dogs and huntsmen, and, more particularly, for his chariot with the sun, as represented by the rhodians. he also executed a numerous series of statues of alexander the great, commencing from his childhood.[224] the emperor nero was so delighted with his statue of the infant alexander, that he had it gilt: this addition, however, to its value, so detracted from its artistic beauty that the gold was removed, and in this state it was looked upon as still more precious, though disfigured by the scratches and seams which remained upon it, and in which the gold was still to be seen. he also made the statue of heph?stion, the friend of alexander the great, which some persons attribute to polycletus, whereas that artist lived nearly a century before his time. also the statue of alexander at the chase, now consecrated at delphi, the figure of a satyr, now at athens, and the squadron of alexander, all of whom he represented with the greatest accuracy. this last work of art, after his conquest of macedonia, metellus conveyed to rome. lysippus also executed chariots of various kinds. he is considered to have contributed very greatly to the art of statuary by expressing the details of the hair, and by making the head smaller than had been done by the ancients, and the body more graceful 285 less bulky, a method by which his statues were made to appear taller. the latin language has no appropriate name for that “symmetry,” which he so attentively observed in his new and hitherto untried method of modifying the squareness observable in the ancient statues. indeed, it was a common saying of his, that other artists made men as they actually were, while he made them as they appeared to be. one peculiar characteristic of his work, is the finish and minuteness which are observed in even the smallest details. lysippus left three sons, who were also his pupils, and became celebrated as artists, laippus, b?das, and, more particularly, euthycrates; though this last-named artist rivalled his father in precision rather than in elegance, and preferred scrupulous correctness to gracefulness. nothing can be more expressive than his hercules at delphi, his alexander, his hunter at thespi?, and his equestrian combat. equally good, too, are his statue of trophonius, erected in the oracular cave of that divinity, his numerous chariots, his horse with the panniers, and his hounds.
praxiteles, who excelled more particularly in marble, and thence acquired his chief celebrity, also executed some very beautiful works in bronze, the rape of proserpine, a father liber, a figure of drunkenness, and the celebrated satyr. he also made the youthful apollo, known as the “sauroctonos” (lizard-killer), because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard which is stealing towards him.
his kindness of heart, too, is witnessed by another figure; for in a chariot and horses which had been executed by calamis, he himself made the charioteer, in order that the artist, who excelled in the representation of horses, might not be considered deficient in the human figure. this last mentioned artist has executed other chariots also, some with four horses, and some with two; and in his horses he is always unrivalled. but that it may not be supposed that he was so 286 greatly inferior in his human figures, it is as well to remark that his alcmena is equal to any that was ever produced.
lycius was the son and pupil of myron: he made a figure representing a boy blowing a nearly extinguished fire, well worthy of his master, as also figures of the argonauts. leochares made a bronze representing the eagle carrying off ganymede:[225] the eagle has all the appearance of being sensible of the importance of his burden, and for whom he is carrying it, being careful not to injure the youth with his talons, even through the garments.
theodorus of samos,[226] who constructed the labyrinth at crete, cast his own statue in bronze, which was greatly admired not only for its resemblance, but for the extreme delicacy of the work. in the right hand he holds a file, and with three fingers of the left, a little model of a four-horse chariot, which has since been transferred to pr?neste: it is so extremely minute, that the whole piece, both chariot and charioteer, may be covered by the wings of a fly, which he also made with it.
the most celebrated of all the works, of which i have here spoken, were dedicated, some time ago, by the emperor vespasianus in the temple of peace, and other public buildings of his. they had before been forcibly carried off by nero, brought to rome, and placed by him in the reception-rooms of his golden palace. there is one other famous statue, the author unknown, which should not be omitted here,—that of hercules clothed in the poisoned tunic; it stands near the rostra, and the countenance is stern and expressive of his last agonies, caused by that dress. there are three inscriptions on it; the first of which states that it had formed part of the spoil obtained by lucullus the general, in his war 287 against mithridates; the second, that his son, while still a minor, dedicated it in accordance with a decree of the senate; the third, that septimius sabinus, the curule ?dile, had it restored to the public from the hands of a private individual. so vast has been the rivalry caused by this statue, and so high the value set upon it.
