Polykleitos (or
Polyklitos,
Polycleitus,
Polyclitus;
Greek ??????e?t??); called the Elder
[1], was a
Greek sculptor in bronze of the fifth and the early fourth century BC. Next to
Phidias,
Myron and
Kresilas, he is considered the most important sculptor of
Classical antiquity the fourth-century catalogue attributed to
Xenocrates (the "Xenocratic catalogue"), which was Pliny's guide in matters of art, ranked him between Phidias and Myron
[2].
He was of the school of Argos, a contemporary of Phidias (possibly also taught by Ageladas) and, in the opinion of the Greeks[citation needed], his equal. His figure of an Amazon for Ephesus was regarded as superior to those by Phidias and Kresilas at the same time[citation needed]; and his colossal gold and ivory statue of Hera which stood in her temple&_160;– the Heraion of Argos&_160;– was compared with the Zeus by Phidias. He also sculpted a famous bronze male nude known as the Doryphoros ("Spear-carrier"), which survives in the form of numerous Roman copies. Further sculptures attributed to Polykleitos[citation needed] are the Discophoros ("Discus-bearer"), Diadumenos ("Diadem-wearer") and a Hermes at one time placed, according to Pliny, in Lysimachia (Thrace). Polykleitos' Astragalizontes ("Boys Playing a Knuckle-bones") was claimed by the Emperor Titus and set in a place of honour in his atrium[3].
Polykleitos, along with Phidias, created the Classical Greek style. Although none of his original works survive, literary sources identifying Roman marble copies of his work allow reconstructions to be made. An essential element of his and the Classical Greek style is the use of a relaxed pose with the shifted balance of weight known today as contrapposto yielding a naturalness that was a source of his fame.
Polykleitos consciously created a new approach to sculpture; he wrote a treatise (Kanon) and designed a male nude (also known as Kanon) exemplifying his aesthetic theories[4]. The bronze has not survived, but references to it in other ancient books imply that its main principle was expressed by the Greek words symmetria, the Hippokratic principle of isonomia ("equilibrium"), and rhythmos. "Perfection, he said, comes about little by little (para mikron) through many numbers"[5]. By this Polykleitos meant that a statue should be composed of clearly definable parts, all related to one another through a system of ideal mathematical proportions and balance, no doubt expressed in terms of the ratios established by Pythagoras for the perfect intervals of the musical scale 12 (octave), 23 (harmonic fifth), and 34 (harmonic fourth). The refined detail of Polykleitos' models for casting executed in clay is revealed in a famous remark repeated in Plutarch's Moralia, that "the work is hardest when the clay is under the fingernail"[6].
