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373:. It is a typical Greek sculpture depicting the beauty of the male body. "Polykleitos sought to capture the ideal proportions of the human figure in his statues and developed a set of aesthetic principles governing these proportions that was known as the Canon or 'Rule'. He created the system based on mathematical ratios. "Though we do not know the exact details of Polykleitos’s formula, the end result, as manifested in the Doryphoros, was the perfect expression of what the Greeks called
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significantly to show that he is an athlete. "The thorax and pelvis of the
Diadoumenos tilt in opposite directions, setting up rhythmic contrasts in the torso that create an impression of organic vitality. The position of the feet poised between standing and walking give a sense of potential movement. This rigorously calculated pose, which is found in almost all works attributed to Polykleitos, became a standard formula used in Greco-Roman and, later, western European art."
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596:: the artist could take a long cord and make knots separated from each other by a distance which equals the diagonal of the square drawn on the preceding length. On the body proper, the process is repeated but the geometric progression is taken and retaken from the top of the head (rather than additively, as on the hand/arm): the head from crown to chin is the same size as the fore-arm; from crown to
592:. Next, a square of side equal to the length of the hand from little finger to wrist yields a diagonal of length equal to that of the forearm. This "diagonal of a square" process gives the relative ratios of many other key reference distances in the human male body. The process would not require measurement of
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Despite the many advances made by modern scholars towards a clearer comprehension of the theoretical basis of the Canon of
Polykleitos, the results of these studies show an absence of any general agreement upon the practical application of that canon in works of art. An observation on the subject by
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pose; the body is leaning most on the right leg. The
Doryphoros has an idealized body, contains less of naturalism. In his left hand, there was once a spear, but if so it has since been lost. The posture of the body shows that he is a warrior and a hero. Indeed, some have gone so far as to suggest
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is one of
Polykleitos's sculptures known from many copies. The gesture of the boy tying his headband represents a victory, possibly from an athletic contest. "It is a first-century A.D. Roman copy of a Greek bronze original dated around 430 B.C." Polykleitos sculpted the outline of his muscles
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remains valid: "Yet it must rank as one of the curiosities of our archaeological scholarship that no-one has thus far succeeded in extracting the recipe of the written canon from its visible embodiment, and compiling the commensurable numbers that we know it incorporates."
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defines beauty "in the proportions, not of the elements, but of the parts, that is to say, of finger to finger, and of all the fingers to the palm and the wrist, and of these to the forearm, and of the forearm to the upper arm, and of all the other parts to each other."
457: 'measuring rod, standard') and designing a male nude exemplifying his theory of the mathematical basis of ideal proportions. Though his theoretical treatise is lost to history, he is quoted as saying, "Perfection ... comes about little by little (
463:) through many numbers". By this he 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. Though his Canon was probably represented by his
336:. Pliny also mentions that Polykleitos was one of the five major sculptors who competed in the fifth century B.C. to make a wounded Amazon for the temple of Artemis; marble copies associated with the competition survive.
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In a 1975 paper, art historian
Richard Tobin suggested that earlier work to reconstruct the Canon had failed because previous researchers had made a flawed assumption of a foundation in linear ratios rather than
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As noted above, Polykleitos is called "The
Sicyonian" by some authors, all writing in Latin, and who modern scholars view as relying on an error of Pliny the Elder in conflating another more minor sculptor from
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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.
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is as long as the upper arm; a diagonal on that square yields the distance from the crown to the line of the nipples. Tobin validated his calculation by comparing his theoretical model with a Roman copy of
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that the figure depicted was
Achilles, on his way to the Trojan War, as a similar depiction of Achilles carrying a shield is seen on a vase painted by the Achilles Painter at around the same time.
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we are told quite unequivocally that he related every part to every other part and to the whole and used a mathematical formula in order to do so. What that formula was is a matter of conjecture.
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observed that " general aim was clarity, balance, and completeness; his sole medium of communication the naked body of an athlete, standing poised between movement and repose".
621:. Polykleitos's school lasted for at least three generations, but it seems to have been most active in the late 4th century and early 3rd century BCE. The Roman writers
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That a "school of Argos" existed during the fifth century is minimized as "marginal" by
Jeffery M. Hurwit, "The Doryphoros: Looking Backward", in Warren G. Moon, ed.
652:, worked in the 4th century BCE. Although the son was also a sculptor of athletes, his greatest fame was won as an architect. He designed the great theatre at
216:, a disciple of Phidias, with Polykleitos of Argos. Pausanias is adamant that they were not the same person, and that Polykleitos was from Argos, in which
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noted the names of about twenty sculptors in
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Apollo of the "Mantua type", marble Roman copy after a 5th-century-BC Greek original attributed to Polykleitos, Musée du Louvre
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None of his original sculptures are known to survive, but many marble works, mostly Roman, are believed to be later copies.
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The refined detail of Polykleitos's models for casting executed in clay is revealed in a famous remark repeated in
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are among the best-known successors of Polykleitos, along with other, more obscure statuaries, such as
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proportion. He conjectured that the Canon begins from the length of the outermost part (the "
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88:(the "Xenocratic catalogue"), which was Pliny's guide in matters of art, ranked him between
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bones – the distance from knuckle to the head of the
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De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G.; Kirkpatrick, Diane (1991).
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he must have received his early training, and a contemporary of
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copies. Further sculptures attributed to Polykleitos are the
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with flute, Roman copy of a possible original by Polykleitos
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One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works
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508:) of all the parts to one another." He also wrote that the
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1126:"Tobin appointed director of UNM's Harwood Museum of Art"
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293:("Spear Bearer"), which survives in the form of numerous
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Bronze statue of an athlete from Ephesus cleaning his
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1094:. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 100.
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Richard Tobin holds a doctorate in Art History from
1243:Tobin, Richard (1975). "The Canon of Polykleitos".
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580:phalange; doing so again gives the length of the
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171:in the transition from Ancient to Modern Greek,
64:, active in the 5th century BCE. Alongside the
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84:. The 4th century BCE catalogue attributed to
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1207:. Translated by W H S Jones. London: Heinman.
532:Illustration of the phalanges of a human hand
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363:Another statue created by Polykleitos is the
377:. On this sculpture, it shows somewhat of a
1053:(9th ed.). Thomson/Wadsworth. p.
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989:. Art Through Time: A Global View.
927:. Art Through Time: A Global View.
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815:. New Haven: Yale University Press.
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900:. Metropolitan Museum of Art
894:"Statue of a wounded Amazon"
857:. Metropolitan Museum of Art
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550:The Canon of Polykleitos
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1375:Polykleitos the Younger
1235:Encyclopædia Britannica
807:Andrew Stewart (1990).
787:Encyclopedia Britannica
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207:Early life and training
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954:www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
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428:Mathematics and art
322:Lysimachia (Thrace)
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431:
419:
411:
405:
401:Contrapposto
397:
379:contrapposto
374:
371:Spear bearer
370:
364:
362:
351:
345:
343:
325:
311:
301:
288:
255:
244:
210:
180:
176:
172:
147:
143:
141:
130:
116:
97:
49:
48:
39:contrapposto
37:
31:
1358:Discophoros
1329:Polykleitos
1293:Polykleitos
482:Hippocratic
460:para mikron
310:-bearer"),
303:Discophoros
246:Discophoros
156:Πολύκλειτος
148:Polycleitus
58:Πολύκλειτος
50:Polykleitos
1396:Categories
1351:Diadumenos
1344:Doryphoros
1336:Sculptures
1230:Polyclitus
1015:Mechanicus
972:Plutarch,
959:2021-05-20
768:References
682:Doryphoros
643:Asopodorus
603:Doryphoros
582:metacarpal
465:Doryphoros
436:(from
366:Doryphoros
359:Doryphoros
347:Diadumenos
340:Diadumenos
313:Diadumenos
290:Doryphoros
268:statue of
218:city state
177:Polyclitus
173:Polyklitos
144:Polycletus
132:Diadumenos
86:Xenocrates
78:Praxiteles
68:sculptors
33:Doryphoros
1273:191362470
1203:(1911) .
1201:Pausanias
1132:2 October
1096:cited in
654:Epidaurus
627:Pausanias
613:Followers
584:plus the
506:symmetria
477:symmetria
375:symmetria
197:Pausanias
181:Sicyonius
60:) was an
1090:(1960).
833:34.19.23
635:Lysippus
598:clavicle
578:proximal
567:phalange
546:—
493:rhythmos
487:isonomia
408:Plutarch
278:Olympian
226:Ageladas
169:iotacism
90:Pheidias
70:Pheidias
66:Athenian
1368:Related
1223::
1193:Sources
1013:Philo,
904:24 June
861:24 June
792:25 June
701:strigil
660:Gallery
605:in the
571:√
552:, 1975.
412:Moralia
262:Ephesus
222:Phidias
201:his son
1271:
1265:503064
1263:
1217:
1061:
631:Skopas
586:carpal
564:distal
480:, the
334:atrium
318:Hermes
308:Discus
298:marble
285:bronze
258:Amazon
214:Sikyon
189:Cicero
1377:(son)
1269:S2CID
1261:JSTOR
1027:Galen
727:Notes
623:Pliny
560:areal
510:Kanon
502:Kanon
498:Galen
472:Kanon
452:Kanṓn
445:Κανών
440:
386:Style
330:Titus
295:Roman
232:Works
193:Plato
94:Myron
74:Myron
1134:2020
1059:ISBN
998:2020
936:2015
906:2015
863:2015
794:2023
641:and
633:and
625:and
590:ulna
418:The
281:Zeus
270:Hera
260:for
240:The
195:and
187:and
121:Name
92:and
76:and
1253:doi
1232:".
1055:163
716:Pan
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175:or
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