statue of Hermes and
the infant Dionysos (FIG.
5-63) brings to the
realm of monumental
statuary the theme the
Phiale Painter had cho-
sen for a white-ground
krater (FIG. 5-60) a cen-
tury earlier. Hermes has
stopped to rest in a forest on his journey to Nysa to entrust the up-
bringing of Dionysos to Papposilenos and the nymphs. Hermes leans
on a tree trunk (here it is an integral part of the composition and not
a copyist’s addition), and his slender body forms a sinuous, shallow
S-curve that is the hallmark of many of Praxiteles’ statues. He looks
off dreamily into space while he dangles a bunch of grapes (now
missing) as a temptation for the infant, who is to become the Greek
god of the vine. This is the kind of tender and very human interaction
between an adult and a child that is common in real life but that had
been absent from Greek statuary before the fourth centuryBCE.
The quality of the carving is superb. The modeling is deliber-
ately smooth and subtle, producing soft shadows that follow the
planes as they flow almost imperceptibly one into another. The deli-
cacy of the marble facial features stands in sharp contrast to the
metallic precision of Polykleitos’s bronze Doryphoros (FIG. 5-40).
Even the Spear Bearer’s locks of hair were subjected to the fifth-cen-
tury sculptor’s laws of symmetry and do not violate the skull’s per-
fect curve. A comparison of these two statues reveals how broad was
the change in artistic attitude and intent from the fifth to the fourth
centuryBCE. In the statues of Praxiteles, the deities of Mount Olym-
pus still possess a beauty mortals can aspire to, although not achieve,
but they are no longer remote. Praxiteles’ gods have stepped off their
fifth-century pedestals and entered the fourth-centuryBCEworld of
human experience.
SKOPAS In the Archaic period and throughout most of the Early
and High Classical periods, Greek sculptors generally shared com-
mon goals, but in the Late Classical period of the fourth centuryBCE,
distinctive individual styles emerged. The dreamy, beautiful divini-
ties of Praxiteles had enormous appeal, and the master had manyfollowers. But other sculptors pursued very different interests. One
of these was Skopas of Paros,and although his work reflects the
general trend toward the humanization of the Greek gods and he-
roes, his hallmark was intense emotionalism. None of Skopas’s stat-
ues survives, but a grave stele (FIG. 5-64) found near the Ilissos
River in Athens exhibits the psychological tension for which the
master’s works were famous. The stele was originally set into an
architectural frame similar to that of the earlier Hegeso stele (FIG.
5-57). A comparison between the two works is very telling. In the
Ilissos stele, the relief is much higher, with parts of the figures carved
fully in the round. But the major difference is the pronounced
change in mood, which reflects the innovations of Skopas. The later
work makes a clear distinction between the living and the dead, and
depicts overt mourning. The deceased is a young hunter who has the
large, deeply set eyes and fleshy overhanging brows that character-
ized Skopas’s sculpted figures. At his feet a small boy, either his ser-
vant or perhaps a younger brother, sobs openly. The hunter’s dog
also droops its head in sorrow. Beside the youth, an old man, un-
doubtedly his father, leans on a walking stick and, in a gesture remi-
niscent of that of the Olympia seer (FIG. 5-32), ponders the irony of
fate that has taken the life of his powerful son and preserved him in138 Chapter 5 ANCIENT GREECE5-63Praxiteles(?),
Hermes and the infant
Dionysos, from the
Temple of Hera, Olympia,
Greece. Copy of a statue
by Praxiteles of ca. 340
bceor an original work
of ca. 330–270 bceby a
son or grandson. Marble,
7 1 high. Archaeological
Museum, Olympia.
Praxiteles humanized the
Olympian deities. This
Hermes is as sensuous as
the sculptor’s Aphrodite.
The god gazes dreamily
into space while he
dangles grapes as
temptation for the infant
god of wine.5-64Grave stele of a young hunter, found near the Ilissos River, Athens,
Greece, ca. 340–330 bce.Marble, 5 6 high. National Archaeological
Museum, Athens.
The emotional intensity of this stele representing an old man mourning
the loss of his son and the figures’ large, deeply set eyes with fleshy
overhanging brows reflect the style of Skopas of Paros.1 ft.1 ft.5-63AArtist
painting a
statue of
Herakles,
ca. 350–320 BCE.
5-64AHead of
Herakles,
Temple of
Athena Alea,
Tegea,
ca. 340 BCE.