Praxiteles meaning
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Praxiteles
4th-century BC Athenian sculptor
For the asteroid, see 5983 Praxiteles. For the crater on Mercury, see Praxiteles (crater).
Praxiteles (; Greek: Πραξιτέλης) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Atticsculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nudefemale form in a life-size statue. While no indubitably attributable sculpture by Praxiteles is extant, numerous copies of his works have survived; several authors, including Pliny the Elder, wrote of his works; and coins engraved with silhouettes of his various famous statuary types from the period still exist.
A supposed relationship between Praxiteles and his beautiful model, the ThespiancourtesanPhryne, has inspired speculation and interpretation in works of art ranging from painting (Gérôme) to comic opera (Saint-Saëns) to shadow play (Donnay).
Some writers have maintained that there were two sculptors of the name Praxiteles. One was a contemporary of Pheidias, and the other his more celebrated grandson. Though the repetition of the same name in every o
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" Thanks to the excellence of his talent, Praxiteles is unknown to no man, however uncultivated…" Marcus Terentius Varro's words, written in the 1st century BC, are ample proof of the Athenian sculptor's undimmed reputation some 300 years after his own lifetime (the 4th century BC). Praxiteles's renown has spread and been further enhanced over the intervening centuries, to the present day. Ancient writers such as Pausanias, Pliny the Elder, and Lucian of Samosata describe his works with high praise, but they give little information about his origins, or what we might nowadays term his "career."
Praxiteles was born around 400 BC and trained in the workshop of the sculptor Kephisodotos (possibly his father). He died shortly before 326 BC, when his name disappears from the official registers. His family was one of the wealthiest in Athens, with a fortune doubtless based on other sources of income besides his talent as a sculptor.
Praxiteles's fame has continued down the centuries: he was idolized in Ancient Rome, and since Renaissance times more or less scholarly o
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Praxiteles (fl. ca. 400 BC-300 BC)
RA Collection: People and Organisations
The Greek sculptor Praxiteles (c.400 BC–330 BC) was wealthy and well-documented in literary sources in comparison with his contemporaries, giving valuable insight into the status of great artists in Classical Athens. His statues were particularly admired by the Romans and many were removed to Rome.
None of Praxiteles’ original work survives, apart from the disputedHermes Carrying the Infant Dionysus in Olympia. A cast of the head of Hermes from this statue is in the RA collection. Several more of Praxiteles’ works can be reconstructed from Roman copies, however, with some attributions dating back to the 18th century.
Profile
Born: fl. ca. 400 BC-300 BC
Nationality: Greek
Gender: Male
Works associated with Praxiteles in the RA Collection
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Associated books
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