Praxiteles
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Praxitelen Proper-name noun: masculine ablative singular, Proper-name noun: masculine accusative plural, Proper-name noun: masculine nominative singular, Proper-name noun: masculine nominative plural, Proper-name noun: masculine vocative plural of Praxiteles
- a celebrated Greek sculptor, Prop. 3, 7, 15 (4, 8, 16); cf. Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 2, § 4; Plin. 34, 8, 19, § 69; 36, 5, 4, § 21.
- —Hence, Praxĭtĕlīus, a, um, adj., = Πραξιτέλειος, of or belonging to Praxiteles, Praxitelian: capita, Cic. Div. 2, 21, 48: Venus, Plin. 36, 5, 4, § 22.
(Πραξιτέλης), one of the most distinguished artists of ancient Greece, was both a statuary in bronze and a sculptor in marble; but his most celebrated works were in the latter nmaterial. (Plin. Nat. 34.8. s. 19.10, 36.5. s. 4.5 ) It is remarkable how little is known of his personal history. Neither his country, nor the name of his father or of his instructor, nor the date of his birth or of his death, is mentioned by any ancient author. As to his country, sundry conjectures have been founded on detached passages of some of the later ancient authors, but none of them are sustained by sufficient evidence even to deserve discussion (see Sillig, Cat. Art. s. v.): all that is known with certainty is, that Praxiteles, if not a native, was a citizen of Athens, and that his career as an artist was intimately connected with that city. This fact is not only indicated by the constant association of his name with the later Attic school of sculpture, and by Pliny's reference to his numerous works in the Cerameicus at Athens, but there is an inscription still extant, in which he is expressly called an Athenian. (Böckh, Corp. Inscr.No. 1604).
With respect to his date, he is mentioned by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 34.8. s. 19) as contemporary with Euphranor at the 104th Olympiad, B. C. 364. Pausanias (8.9.1) places him in the third generation after Alcamenes, the disciple of Pheidias ; which agrees very well with the date of Pliny, since Alcamenes flourished between Ol. 83 and 94, B. C. 448-404. Vitruvius (vii. Praef. § 13) states that he was one of the artists who adorned the Mausoleum of Artemisia; and, if so, he must have lived at least as late as Ol. 107, B. C. 350. If we were to accept as genuine the will of Theophrastus, in which he requests Praxiteles to finish a statue of Nicomachus (D. L. 5.14), we must extend the time of Praxiteles to about the year B. C. 287, in which Theophrastus died; but it is not safe to rest much upon such documents, occurring in the work of Diogenes. nor is it likely that Praxiteles lived so late. It is most probable that the date assigned by Pliny is about that of the beginning of the artistic career of Praxiteles.
The position occupied by Praxiteles in the his tory of ancient art can be defined without much difficulty. He stands, with Scopas, at the head of the later Attic school, so called in contradistinction to the earlier Attic school of Pheidias. Without attempting those sublime impersonations of divine majesty, in which Pheidias had been so inimitably successful, Praxiteles was unsurpassed in the exhibition of the softer beauties of the human form, especially in the female figure. Without aiming at ideal majesty, he attained to a perfect ideal gracefulness; and, in this respect, he occupies a position in his own art very similar to that of Apelles in painting. In that species of the art to which he devoted himself, he was as perfect a master as Pheidias was in his department, though the species itself was immeasurably inferior. In fact, the character of each of these artists was a perfect exponent of the character of their respective times. The heroic spirit and the religious earnestness of the period preceding the Peloponnesian War gave birth to the productions of the one; the prevailing love of pleasure and sensual indulgences found its appropriate gratification in the other. The contrast was marked in their subjects as well as in their style. The chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia realised, as nearly as art can realise, the illusion of the actual presence of the supreme divinity; and the spectator who desired to see its prototype could find it in no human form, but only in the sublimest conception of the same deity which the kindred art of poetry had formed: but the Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles, though an ideal representation, expressed the ideal only of sensual charms and the emotions connected with them, and was avowedly modelled from a courtezan. Thus also the subjects of Praxiteles in general were those divinities whose attributes were connected with sensual gratification, or whose forms were distinguished by soft and youthful beauty,--Aphrodite and Eros, Apollo and Dionysus. His works were chiefly imitated from the most beautiful living models he could find; but he scarcely ever executed any statues professedly as portraits. Quintilian (12.10) praises him and Lysippus for the natural character of their works.
His works are too numerous to be all mentioned here individually. The most important of them will be described according to the department of mythology from which their subjects were taken.
1. Statues of Aphrodite. By far the most celebrated work of the master, and that in which he doubtless put forth all his power, was the marble statue of Aphrodite, which was distinguished from other statues of the goddess by the name of the Cnidians, who purchased it. The well-known story, related by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 36.5. s. 4.5), is that the artist made two statues of Aphrodite, of which the one was draped, the other not. In his own opinion, they were of equal value, for he offered them for sale together at the same price. The people of Cos, who had always possessed a character for severe virtue, Purchased the draped statue, severum id ac pudicum arbitrantes; the other was bought by the Cnidians, and its fame almost entirely eclipsed the merits of the rival work. It was always esteemed the most perfectly beautiful of the statues of the goddess. According to Pliny, it surpassed all other works, not only of Praxiteles, but in the whole world; and many made the voyage to Cnidus expressly to behold it. So highly did the Cnidians themselves esteem their treasure, that when King Nicomedes offered them, as the price of it, to pay off the whole of their heavy public debt, they preferred to endure any suffering rather than part with the work which gave their city its chief renown. It was afterwards carried, with the Samian Hera and the Lindian Athena, to Constantinople, where it perished by fire, with innumerable other works of art, in the reign of Justinian. (Zonar. 14.2.)
The temple in which it stood at Cnidus was so constructed, that the beauties of the statue could be seen equally well from every point of view.
Of the numerous descriptions and praises of the statue, which abound in the ancient authors, the one which gives us the best notion of it is that of Lucian (Amor. 13, 14, vol. ii. pp. 411, 412; comp. Imag. 6, vol. ii. p. 463.) The material was the purest and most brilliant Parian marble; the form was in every respect perfect; the position of the left hand was the same as in the Venus de Medici ; the right hand held some drapery which fell over a vase standing by her; the face wore supposed by the ancients to indicate the appearance of the goddess when Paris adjudged to her the prize of beauty :
Οὔτε σε Πραξιτέλης τεχνάσατο, οὕθʼ ὁ σίδαρος, Ἀλλʼ οὕτως ἔστης, ὥς ποτε κρινομένη,
an opinion, which, however well it may have accorded with the grace and beauty of the work, cannot be regarded as the true expression of the intention of the artist, for the drapery and vase by the side of the figure indicate that she has either just left or is about to enter the bath. The representation of the goddess as standing before Paris is rather to be seen in the Venus de Medici and in the copy, by Menophantus, of the Aphrodite in the Troad. (Plato, Epig. 10, apud Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 171, Anth. Plan. 4.161, Jacobs, Anth. Pal. App. vol. ii. p. 675; comp Even in Anth. Plan. 4.166, Jacobs, l.c., p. 676, and several other epigrams, which stand with these in the Anthology of Planudes; Auson. Epig. 56; Athenag. Legat. pro Christ. 14, p. 61; Jacobs, in Wieland's Attisches Museum, vol. iii. pp. 24, f., 29, f.) This statue appears to have been the first instance in which any artist had ventured to represent the goddess entirely divested of drapery. The artist modelled it from a favourite courtezan named Phryne (Ath. xiii. pp. 585, 591), of whom also he made more than one portrait statue. (Paus. 9.27.4. s. 5, 10.14.5. s. 7; Ael. VH 9.32 ; Tatian. Orat. ad Graec. 53, p. 115, ed. Worth.) This statue was, therefore, a new ideal of the goddess; which was frequently imitated by succeeding artists. It is, however, very doubtful which, or whether any, of the existing statues of Venus, are copies of the Cnidian Aphrodite. Its type is preserved on coins of Cnidos, struck in hosour of Plautilla, and on gems: the marble statues, which are probably copies of it, are the following: one in the garden of the Vatican; another in the Museo Pio-Clementino, which, however, is supposed by Böttiger to be a copy of the Coan, on account of the drapery which covers part of the figure, which Visconti, and most of the subsequent writers, take to be a mere addition made by the artist in copying the Cnidian statue ; another, which was formerly in the Braschi palace, and is now in the Glyptothek at Munich ; there are also some busts after it. (Rasche, Lex Rei Num. s. v. Cnidus ; Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet vol. ii. p. 580; Lippert, Dactyl. 1.50.81; Perrier, No. 85; Episcopius, No. 86; Mus. Pio-Clem. i. II; Flaxman, Lectures on Sculpture, pl. xxii. ; Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, § 127, n. 4, Denkmäler d. alt. Kunst, vol. i. pl. xxxv. No. 146, a. b. c. d., vol. ii. pl. xxv. No. 277.) It has been the subreign of Justject of much discussion among the writers on art, whether or not the Venus de Medici is an imitation of the Cnidian Aphrodite. (See Heyne, Antig. Aufsätze, vol. i. pp. 123, f.; Winckelmann, Gesch. d. Kunst, b. 5.2.3; Meyer, zu Winck. l.c., and Bcilage viii. zu, b. ix., Gesch. d. Kunst, vol. i. p. 113; Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. vol. i. p. 18 ; Levezow, Ob die Med. Ven. ein Bild. d. Knid. sei ; Thiersch, Epochen, p. 288; Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, l.c.) The truth appears to be that Cleomenes, in making the Venus de Medici, had the Venus of Praxiteles in his mind, and imitated it in some degree; but the difference in the treatment of the subject is sufficient to prevent the one being considered a copy of the other. Types between the two are seen in the Aphrodite of Menophantus and in the Capitoline Venus; of which the latter, while preserving the drapery and vessel of the Cnidian statue, has almost exactly the attitude and expression of the Venus de Medici. (See Müller, Denkmäler, vol. ii. pl. xxvi. n. 278.)
The supposed copies of the Coan Venus are even more doubtful than those of the Cnidian. Indeed, with the exception of that in the Museo Pio-Clementino, already mentioned, there is none which can with any probability be regarded as a copy of it. A fine conjectural restoration of it is given in plate xxiii. to Flaxman's Lectures on Sculpture.
Besides the Coan and the Cnidian, Praxiteles made other statues of Aphrodite, namely : one in bronze which, Pliny tells us, was considered equal to the Cnidian, and which perished at Rome in the fire in the reign of Claudius (Plin. Nat. 34.8. s. 19.10); another, of Pentelic marble, at Thespiae (Paus. 9.27.3); another at Alexandria on Mt. Latmus. (Steph. Byz. s. v.)
2. Eros, and other divinities connected with Aphrodite. Praxiteles made two marble statues of Eros, of the highest celebrity, the one of which was dedicated at Thespiae, the other at Parium on the Propontis. Like all the early Greek artists, Praxiteles represented Eros, not as a child. but as in the flower of youth. The statute at Thespiae, which was of Pentelic marble, with the wings gilt (Julian. Or. ii. p. 54c.), was dedicated by Phryne (Lucian, Am. 14, 17; Paus. 9.27.3), and an interesting story is told of the manner in which she became possessed of it. Praxiteles, in his fondness for Phryne, had promised to give her whichever of his works she might choose, but he was unwilling to tell her which of them, in his own opinion, was the best. To discover this, she sent a slave to tell Praxiteles that a fire had broken out in his house, and that most of his works had already perished. On hearing this message, the artist rushed out, exclaiming that all his toil was lost, if the fire had touched his Satyr or his Eros. Upon this Phryne confessed the stratagem, and chose the Eros. (Paus. 1.20.2.) When Mummius plundered Thespiae, like other Greek cities, of the works of art, he spared this statue, and it was still at Thespiae in the time of Cicero, who says that visits were made to that city expressly to see it. (In Verr. 4.2.) It was removed to Rome by Caligula, restored to Thespiae by Claudius, and carried back by Nero to Rome, where it stood in Pliny's time in the schools of Octavia, and it finally perished in the conflagration of that building in the reign of Titus. (Paus. 9.27.3 ; Plin. Nat. 36.5. s. 4.5; D. C. 66.24.) Its place at Thespiae was supplied by a marble copy by Menodorus. (Paus. l.c.) There was in the same place a bronze statue of Eros, made by Lysippus, in emulation of the work of Praxiteles. (ib.)
The other statue of Eros, at Parium on the Propontis, is said by Pliny (l.c.) to have equalled the Cnidian Venus. Nothing is known of its history, unless it be (which is extremely probable) the same as that of which the Sicilian, Heius, was robbed by Verres. (Cic. in Verr. l.c.) Callistratus ascribes two bronze statues of Eros to Praxiteles ; but the truth of this statement is doubtful, and the author may perhaps have confounded the bronze statue at Thespiae by Lysippus with the marble one by Praxiteles. (Callist. Ecphr. 3, 11.) A copy of one of these statues is seen in a beautiful torso found at Centocelle, on the road from Rome to Palestrina (Mus. Pio-Clem. i. pl. 12), of which there is a more perfect specimen at Naples (Mus. Borb. 6.25); there is also a very similar figure among the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. (Müller, Denkmäler, vol. i. pl. xxxv. n. 144, 145.) To this class of the artist's works belong also the statues of Peitho and Paregoros, in the temple of Aphrodite Praxis at Megara. (Paus. 1.43.6.)
3. Subjects from the Mythology of Dionysus. The artist's ideal of Dionysus was embodied in a bronze statue, which stood at Elis (Paus. 6.26.1), and which is described by Callistratus (Ecphr. 8). It represented the god as a charming youth, clad with ivy, girt with a Faun's skin, carrying the lyre and the thyrsus. He also treated the subject in a famous bronze group, in which Dionysus was represented as attended by Intoxication and a Satyr (Plin. Nat. 34.8. s. 19.10 : Liberum Patrem et Ebrietatem nobilewmque una Satyrum, quem Graeci Periboeton nominant). According to these words of Pliny, the celebrated statue of a satyr, which Praxiteles, as above related, ranked among his best works, was the figure in this group. This may, however, be one of Pliny's numerous mistakes, for it seems, from Pausanias's account of this satyr, that it stood alone in the street of the tripods at Athens (Paus. 1.20.1; Ath. xiii. p. 591b.; Heyne, Antiq. Aufsätze, vol. ii. p. 63). It is generally supposed that we have copies of this celebrated work in several marble statues representing a satyr resting against the trunk of a tree, the best specimen of which is that in the Uapitoline Museum (Mus. Cap. 3.32; Mus. Franç. ii. pl. 12; Mus. Pio-Clem. 2.30; Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, § 127, n. 2, Denkmäler, vol. i. pl. xxxv. n. 143). Another satyr, of Parian marble, was at Megara. (Paus. 1.43. s. 5.) Groups of Maenades, Thyiades, and dancing Caryatides are mentioned by Pliny among the marble works of Praxiteles; and also some Sileni in the collection of Asinius Pollio. (Plin. Nat. 36.5. s. 4.5 ; Aemilian. Ep. 2, apud Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 275, Anth. Pal. 9.756; Böttiger, Amalth. vol. iii. p. 147; Müller, Archäol. l.c.) Among other works of this class, for which the reader is referred to Müller (l.c.) and Sillig (s. v.), the only one requiring special mention is the marble group of Hermes carrying the infant Dionysus, of which copies are supposed to exist in a bas-relief and a vase-painting. (Paus. 5.17. I; Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, l.c.)
4. Subjects from the Mythology of Apollo. This class contained one of the most celebrated statues of Praxiteles, namely the bronze figure of Apollo the Lizard-slayer (Plin. Nat. 34.8. s. 19.10 ; puberem Apollinem subrepenti Lacertae cominus insidiantem, quem Sauroctonon vocant ; comp. Martial, Mart. 14.172). Numerous copies of it exist ; some in marble, one in bronze, and several on gems. (Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, l.c. n. 7, Denkmäler, vol. i. pl. xxxvi. n. 147, a. b.)
There still remain numerous works of Praxiteles, a full enumeration of which will be found in Sillig. (Cut. Artif. s. v.) It was an undecided question among the ancients, whether the celebrated group of Niobe was the work of Praxiteles or of Scopas.
One point in the technical processes of Praxiteles deserves particular notice. It is recorded by Pliny that Praxiteles, on being asked which of his own works in marble he thought the best, replied, those in which Nicias had had a hand, "tantum," adds Pliny, "circumlitioni ejus tribucbat." (Plin. Nat. 35.11. s. 40.28.) In all probability, this circumlitio consisted in covering the marble with a tinted encaustic varnish, by which we can easily conceive how nearly it was made to resemble flesh. (See Dict. of Ant. art. Pictura, § viii.) It was probably from a confused recollection of this statement in his Greek authorities that Pliny had shortly before (l.c. 11. s. 39), mentioned Praxiteles as an improver of encaustic painting.
Praxiteles had two sons, who were also distinguished sculptors, Timarchus and Cephisodotus II. (Pseudo-Plut. Vit. X. Orat. pp. 843, 844; Paus. 1.8.5, 9.12.5.) Respecting the error by which some writers make a second Praxiteles out of the artist Pasiteles, see Pasiteles, No. 2. [P.S]
(Πραξιτέλης). One of the most famous Greek sculptors, born at Athens about B.C. 390. He and his somewhat older contemporary, Scopas, were at the head of the later Attic school. He chiefly worked in marble, but at the same time occasionally used bronze. His recorded works exhibit every age and sex in the greatest variety of the divine and human form. Still, he paid most attention to youthful figures, which gave him the opportunity of displaying all the charm of sensuous grace in soft and delicate contours.
Among his most celebrated works the naked Aphrodité, of Cnidus, stands first—according to the enthusiastic descriptions of the ancients a masterpiece of the most entrancing beauty (e. g. Pliny H. N. xxxvii. 20, 21; cf. Aphrodite). Not less famous were his representations of Eros, among which the marble statue at Thespiae was esteemed most highly (ib. 22; cf. Eros); his Apollo Sauroctonos (lizard-slayer) in bronze (ib. xxxiv. 70); and a youthful Satyr in Athens (Pausan. i. 20. 1). As to the group of Niobé's children, preserved at Rome in Pliny 's time, it was disputed even among the ancients whether it was the work of Praxiteles or, as is more probable, of Scopas (Pliny H. N. xxxvi. 28). Of all these only later copies have been preserved. An important original work by him (mentioned by Pausan. v. 17. 3) was unearthed in 1877 by the German excavators at Olympia. It represents Hermes with the child Dionysus in his arms, and was set up in the cella of the temple of Heré. The arms and legs are partially mutilated, but otherwise it is in an excellent state of preservation. His sons, Cephisodotus the younger and Timarchides, were masters of some importance. See statuaria ars.
- worked two generations after Alcamenes: Paus. 8.9.1
- lover of Phryne: Paus. 1.20.1, Paus. 10.15.1
- beguiled by Phryne: Paus. 1.20.1ff., Paus. 9.27.3
- sons of Praxiteles, sculptors: Paus. 1.8.4, Paus. 9.12.4
- Works-image of Aphrodite at Thespiae: Paus. 9.27.5
- image of Artemis at Anticyra: Paus. 10.37.1
- image of Brauronian Artemis at Athens: Paus. 1.23.7
- images of Cronus, Rhea, and Hera at Plataea: Paus. 9.2.7
- images of Demeter, Proserpine, and Iacchus at Athens: Paus. 1.2.4
- image of Dionysus at Elis: Paus. 6.26.1
- images of Hera, Athena, and Hebe: Paus. 8.9.3
- sculptures in gables of temple of Herakles at Thebes representing labours of Herakles: Paus. 9.11.6
- image of Hermes bearing babe Dionysus at Olympia: Paus. 5.17.3
- image of Latona at Argos: Paus. 2.21.8
- images of Latona and her children at Megara and Mantinea: Paus. 1.44.2, Paus. 8.9.1
- image of Love at Thespiae: Paus. 1.20.2, Paus. 9.27.3
- images of Persuasion, Comforter, and Fortune: Paus. 1.43.6
- statues of Phryne at Thespiae and Delphi: Paus. 9.27.5, Paus. 10.15.1
- images of Satyrs at Athens and Megara: Paus. 1.20.1, Paus. 1.43.5
- image of Trophonius at Lebadea: Paus. 9.39.4
- images of Twelve Gods at Megara: Paus. 1.40.3
- statue of warrior and horse at Athens: Paus. 1.2.3