The Apoxyomenus (Scraper) Of Lysippus. Roman marble copy of a bronze original of about 325BC. The figure is of a
young athlete scraping his forearm after bathing. The more relaxed, twisting pose offers a figure which claims no single
optimum viewpoint, unlike Polyclitus' Doryphorus. This is a new trait in sculpture, and Lysippus introduces also new ideal
proportions, with a relatively smaller head.
In the fourth century, until the patronage and aspirations of Hellenistic kings changed the focus of Greek life, thought, and
art, the sculptors modestly explored beyond Phidian or Polyclitan Classicism. Praxiteles perfected the more feminine line of
sinuous grace, and the female nude at last enters the history of western art. The louring brows of Scopas' heads marked a
clear step towards the exaggerated expressionism of the Hellenistic. Lysippus had new views on ideal human proportions
and could conceive and execute his figures in a fully three-dimensional manner, which must have revolutionized the setting
of figures as well as the reaction and behaviour of viewers. All this amounts to further exploration of the possibility of
realism, part passu with the painters and, inevitably, of the realistic presentation not merely of specific types or age or
mood, but of named individuals. Earlier commemorative statues of athletes or generals normally presented them in an
idealized form with minimal personal traits. It is perhaps surprising that it took so long for observation and expression of
the type to turn to observation and expression of the individual, especially since dedicatory practice and Greek personal
pride gave every opportunity and encouragement. There must have been latent inhibitions about imposing personal features
on generalized or idealized figures which were models for both men and gods. But the Greeks were becoming more aware
of the divine in man, heroizing their dead and soon to declare divinity in certain favoured or powerful living. Thus, true