Praxiteles 48 Things

the weary herakles

The sculpture type called “Weary Herakles” was an artistic creation of Lysippos, who was one of the most important sculptors of the Classic Period. This statue soon became a prototype to be copied in several forms of media, including coins and later came to our day as one of the most common features of the Classical Art. Besides its popularity in all art book and many museums, the particular statue of Lysippos is an important benchmark. First of all, Lysippos was the personal sculptor of Alexander and thus was one of the pioneers of Hellenistic sculpture. On the other hand, Lysippos was still a sculptor belonging to the Classical Greek tradition, a contemporary of other important artists such as Praxiteles and Skopas, and a follower of Polykleitos. Lysippos enjoyed a long life and a long career and he achieved fame as the most creative and influential artist of the Hellenistic period. His numerous Works or art include the famous Apoxyomenos, Herakles Farnese, Herakles Epitrapezios, Agias, and many portraits and colossal works. In this paper, I intend to study some aspects of the “Farnese” type, together with its many copies, because it is an interestingly popular work of art and it aptly reflects some of the problems art historians face today. Also, its popularity through different ages and geographies depicts the artist’s arability to create an attractive, influential iconography. Because there are many copies of the weary Herakles statue, I find it useful to divide the subject into pieces and start from the very beginning, the original work of art which comes to our day only thanks to the written sources. An account of Lysippos’ art and style will be given as it is the key factor in identifying both the closest copies of Lysippos’ Herakles and the “ Lysippic” Herakleses which are iconographically similar but deviate in style. The main emphasis will be given to the sculptural works which are grouped an un-grouped by several scholars according to their style. Because of the high number of statues and fragments, only the most relevant will be mentioned, in order not to go beyond the scope of this paper. We learn about his life from ancient writers; especially Pliny the Elder. According to Pliny, Lysippos was from the city of Sikyon and not a student of any artist, but a self-made bronze worker having been influenced by the painter Eupompos. Pliny places him in the 113th Olympiad (328 BC) ( N.H. XXXIV.

The Praxiteles marble group in Olympia

Letters

Greek Sculpture and Painting, To the End of the Hellenistic Period

Greek Sculpture

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