DoryphorusThe Work of Ploykleitos

by Richard

Basic Facts• Made by Polykleitos• Originally made c.440

BCE (High Classical)• Bronze (marble copy)• 2.12 metres• Holding a spear• Most likely displayed in

place of exercise eg. Palaestras

• This copy found in Pompeii

Polykleitios’ other works

The significance of this statue

• There are many Roman copies of this statue.

• The most copied Greek statue

The Canon

• Polykleitos pioneered this idea - a rule for a standard of beauty

• Proportions and ratio between each body part – unrealistic head size?

• Mathematical calculation of relations between body parts

• The Doryphorus is a manifestation ofThe Canon

Contrapposto

• Notice the line going down the middle – straight VS s-shaped

• The tension in the limbs – balanced, equilibrium

• A walking man, alive• "poised about to walk but still at

rest, relaxed and yet alert."

Relaxed

Cont

ract

ed

Relax

ed

Contracted

Head turn

Hip twist

Contrapposto in later years

• Nice to look at from the sides and the front, because of the head turning away to the side

• This is unlike Kouroi or even the Discobolus, only good from one angle

• “The left side is enlivened by the angular elbow and the bent knee, while the right side... Is animated by the turn of the head.” - Woodford

The back

• The back doesn’t look as pleasing to look at

• Has the deep groove – no coccyx bone

• From the back we can see the contrapposto

The face

• Detailed wavy hair, not patterned, boring

• Relaxed expression, showing calmness in war

• Distant and aloof• Short hair and no beard

• Except for the spear, there are no clues to show that the statue is of a soldier (no armour)

• Many Ancient scholars believed it to represent Achilles, the ideal soldier

• But it has a generic face and no attributes• Modern scholars think the statue didn’t

represent anyone, but was instead the ideal person – with Polykleitos’ perfect proportions

• Extremely detailed – veins are visible

• Impossibly defined hip muscles

Legs

• The left leg is raised, with only toes touching the ground.

• This creates movement, more so than the Riace warriors.

• “The spear bearer is shown pausing for a moment as he steps forward – a stable image which retains the suggestion of movement” - Woodford

What does Woodford say?

• “The contrast of contracted torso on one side and extended torso on the other holds the body in dynamic equilibrium”

• “It is as if (Polykleitos) had rediscovered the virtues of the ambiguity of the standing-walking pose of the kouros”