Ideal proportions of the human body. Polykleitos the Elder

When looking at Polykleitos’s “Doryphoros”, a person living in our century and not experienced in matters of art will not immediately understand why this sculpture is considered so valuable. However, the contemporaries of the ancient Greek master could very quickly identify the differences between the statue and other works of that period. The sculpture “Doriphorus” by Polykleitos stood out for its special positioning of the body; it was one of the first works in ancient Greece, the character of which seemed alive, ready to step down from the pedestal as a person. Even in those distant times, the statue was considered a standard of classical art, an example of mathematically verified proportions that could breathe life into bronze.

Polykleitos the Elder

The sculptor who created the statue that will be discussed in the article lived at the end of the 5th century BC (presumably 480-420s). The exact birthplace of Polykleitos remains unknown. According to ancient Greek authors, it could have been Argos or Sikyon, cities that were centers artistic culture of that time.Polykleitos developed his skills under the supervision of the sculptor Agelar.Another famous ancient Greek artist, Myron, also studied with him.

The work of Polykleitos is distinguished by a tireless search for the ideal. When creating sculptures, he sought to achieve perfection in conveying poses and facial expressions. His heroes are far from vanity, they are calm and wise. Harmony was characteristic not only of the figure, but also of the internal content of the image.

Favorite characters

Before and after the creation of Doryphoros, Polykleitos was interested in the image of athletes. And this is not surprising: who, if not the stately Olympic winners, could demonstrate all the beauty of a developed male body. However, most often Polykleitos depicted athletes not in the process of competition, but after victory. At this moment, excess tension was leaving the body, but there were still no signs of fatigue. The body became relaxed and collected at the same time - one felt the same harmony that the ancient Greek sculptor loved and knew how to convey.

Sculptures

The original statues of the author have not survived. Many works remained only in the form of descriptions by contemporaries, some came to us thanks to Roman copies. Thus, the love of the sculptors of the Holy Empire for repeating ancient Greek works allowed art historians of our time to see one of the earliest works of Polykleitos. The master captured the winner of the Olympic Games at the moment when he crowned his head. But we know about the statues of Pythocles and Ariston, as well as Hercules and Hermes, only thanks to written sources.

Somewhat later than the creation of these works, Polykleitus—“Doriphorus” was also already ready at that time—moved to Athens. Here he creates The Wounded Amazon. This sculpture has come down to us in the form of a Roman copy. In style it is practically no different from Polykleitos's Doryphoros. The positioning of the body, the depiction of a strong muscular body, the palpable inner strength - all this makes the two statues similar.

At the end of life's journey

In Athens, Polykleitos was also engaged in portrait sculpture. At that time, this type of art was not widespread. Polykleitos, judging by the messages and reviews that have reached us, knew his job perfectly. The sources preserve information according to which the master worked on the portrait of Arteman, the engineer of Pericles himself.

The statues of recent years reflected the author's new searches. One such work is the Diadumen (circa 430 BC). The statue depicts the Olympic winner tying a ribbon on his head in a beautiful gesture. There is much less calm in his figure than in the master’s previous works.

"Doriphoros" of Polykleitos: description

However, “Doriphoros” remains the most famous. The sculpture depicts a spearman who has just won a competition. The original, which has not reached us, dates back to 460-450. BC e. We can judge the work today thanks to several surviving copies.

The subtle movement and positioning of the body is what makes the statue that Polykleitus created stand out. Doryphoros the spearman stands leaning on one leg, the other only supporting his figure - as if he is about to take a step. The young man's right hand is lowered; in his left he holds a spear. It is easy to notice that one is at rest and the other is tense. This combination looks so natural that the spearman seems alive. The statue stood out from the static images characteristic of the previous period in art.

Canon

The construction of the body of Polykleitos’s “Doryphorus” was based on precise mathematical calculations and the principles of Pythagoreanism. The male body depicted by the master was repeatedly copied by his followers and was called the “canon of Polykleitos.” The sculptor’s treatise, which outlined the fundamentals of the teachings of Pythagoras and the mathematical calculation of proportions, was also called. The sculptor’s work has not reached us; today scientists can only judge it from the records of the author’s contemporaries.

The basis of the composition is the cross uneven movement of the body. On the right, the lowered arm and supporting leg are static but tense. On the left, the corresponding parts of the body are relaxed, but at the same time in motion. With the help of such a contrast, Polycletus managed to convey the hero’s inner calm and simultaneous readiness for any challenge.

Golden ratio

When the Doryphorus statue was created, Polykleitos also applied another principle of Pythagoreanism. Everything is built according to the rule. It can be briefly formulated as follows: the length of the entire object or body is related to the larger part as the latter is to the smaller one. The height of the statue refers to the distance from the pedestal to the navel of the spearman, as the latter to the distance from the navel to the crown of the head.

All proportions of the sculpture are subject to certain calculations. It was precisely the ideal relationships of body parts that made it possible to create a stately warrior, and not an elongated or stocky figure, that numerous students of the master tried to repeat, copying “Doriphoros”. Here are some of these proportions:

the distance from the crown to the chin is 7 times less than the height of the spearman;

from eyes to chin - at 16;

face height - 10.

And Polykleitos observed proportional relationships in all his works. The master refused them only if they began to contradict the natural parameters of the human body in a particular sculpture.

Contrapposto

Polykleitos was one of the first to use the contrapposto technique, which later became classical. It is expressed precisely in cross tension in the arms and legs. This technique allows you to make the pose more natural and convey the movement inherent in it. Statues created using contrapposto compare favorably with static sculptures of antiquity. They depict living people, but not frozen copies of deities.

While working on sculptures, Polykleitos observed people. He noticed that the movement of one part of the body always causes a change in the position of the other. He was not the first to see this feature, but he was able to convey it better than others. Like some of his predecessors, he realized that to convey movement it was necessary to move forward the left leg and right arm, or the right leg and left arm. This is the cross position of body parts, which resulted in the principle of contrapposto.

Unfortunately, the original of the statue that Polykleitos created has not reached us. “Doriphoros”, the photos show this well, and in surviving copies it embodies the canon of depicting a stately male body. However, there is reason to believe that the original, lost through the centuries, looked even more harmonious. And yet, “Doriphoros” remains a role model in art to this day. The proportions of the body and the principle of the golden ratio used to create it are still considered ideal today. Nowadays, the Doryphora sculpture can be considered a kind of educational material, not only for sculptors, but also for artists and other craftsmen.

Different men...

I was about five years old, my cousin was twelve.
And he was expelled from school for a week.
For some people's lack of a sense of humor.
He and a friend stole a dummy liver from class.
Not just like that, but to scare the beautiful girl Ksenya.
This is not the banal “briefcase hit to the head.”
According to their idea, a demonstration of the liver in the September twilight will clearly show the depth of feeling and purity of intentions.
These young Romeos spanked the unfortunate liver on a stick, made their way to the girl’s house, knocked on the window and lay down under it.
And when the window opened, they howled in terrible voices and waved their livers.
To their misfortune, the girl’s aunt appeared, who turned out to be unprepared for the evening anatomy lesson.
And already at the sound of my aunt’s fall, the whole family came running.
Ksenin’s dad brought his brother by the ear.
After verbal and verbal explanations of why one should not take someone else’s liver and scare innocent people with it, the brother realized, repented, returned what he had taken and joyfully accepted the exception.
He later told me: “It’s all Sashka.” It was not this healthy one that I should have taken. There was a liver of people who drink vodka, big, scary, scary, black! Ksenka would make everyone faint!
And I imagined Kravets, here he walks, breathes, quarrels with Kravets, and inside he has a large, terrible, terrible, black liver.
From butt to chin.
And I felt so sorry for him, I still remember it.

....................................................

Leaves, branches and wood chips float in Chinese tea from a beautiful tin.
They do not sink, which once again proves the superiority of the specific gravity of water over the specific gravity of wood.
The tea is wonderful, but I don't like cellulose.
Sorted: leaves separately, lumber - separately.
Now it’s neat in the cup, but the taste is gone along with the bouquet and sawdust.
Involuntarily the thought comes that in perfection there must be some kind of wormhole in order to add color to this very perfection.

Here, by the way.
There lived one man. Let's face it - not a role model.
And one day he almost died.
He dashingly braked in a puddle at a traffic light, splashing a nondescript old woman in a checkered coat from head to toe with dirty snow porridge.
She screamed at the grandmother, what are you doing, you say, such a dragon?!
In response, the man described her as a turtle out of her mind, advised her in powerful Russian to watch where you were standing, and pressed on the gas.
Further – it’s dark.
And when it got lighter, the man found himself not floating disembodied under the ceiling of the intensive care unit, waiting for the tunnel to open, as is customary, but incoherently explaining something to his old grandmother.
The grandmother looked sternly, did not want to accept explanations and kept muttering about the dragon.
In short, he didn’t die, and in general he got off easy, except that he suffered from fear.
It would seem to live and live.
But no.
A checkered grandmother, an effervescent snake, every night - right there, in another nightmare.
As soon as you close your sleepy lids, you’re either snoring in a chair, or wandering around the bedroom, looking with interest at the frivolous watercolors on the walls, or clasping your hands and babbling about the inner beast.
Familiar beauties jumped up at night with an alarming cry: “Who’s there?” – and they categorically refused to continue the acquaintance.
He didn’t move, he splashed a little, so why?!
And so a man was sitting in front of the TV in the evening, clicking the remote control thoughtlessly, postponing the moment of the inevitable and painful night meeting, he came across a famous film and saw the light: in order to get rid of the old hag, you need to kill the dragon within yourself.
Found and killed.
First the dragon.
Then the fox.
Then came the turn of the hyena, the boa constrictor, the wolf, then according to Brem and Borges’s Book of Fictitious Creatures.
The rabbit also came under attack.
Holiness is as addictive as depravity.
Cleansed from the insidious fauna, the soul became transparent and deserted.
Only the gentle doves easily flapped their white wings and cooed tenderly about their own, about the sinless dove.
True, they shit a lot.
The crystalline nature of the soul required a way out, and the man pretty soon became fed up with his neighbors, colleagues and strangers - he helped them, despite active resistance, and was offended to the point of tears when his help was refused in both a polite and not so polite form.
He could not say a word of lie, he cut the truth to the quick, which resulted in three divorces, one dismissal with a wolf ticket and an ugly fight between the singing teacher Barskaya, the electrician Martynov and the promptly arrived police squad.
Things didn't go well with the beauties either. Even those who had previously harbored mariage hopes did not agree to listen to highly moral and accusatory statements for hours.
The bill for the grandmothers transferred across the street ran into the hundreds, but the tormentor still didn’t go away, showing up every night as if she were going to work.
Then the man took a leave of absence and began to stand guard at the damned intersection. And one gray day I finally saw a dear old lady. He rushed to her, reflexively took her to the other side of the street and there he fell to his knees and cried out: “I did everything as you ordered!” I killed everyone in myself, a dragon, a ferret, and an unidentified chthonic monster, I lost all my friends, people shy away from me, the halo blinds them - why won’t you leave me alone, why won’t you let me live?!
- Did I say kill? I’m already tired of explaining to you, the unlucky one, that you shouldn’t kill, but should have been tamed!

Polykleitos the Elder of Argos is an ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist, famous for his statues of athletes, as well as for his teaching on proportions. Along with Phidias, one of the two best masters of Greek sculpture of the classical era. Polykleitos was most likely born on the island of Argos (Plato points out this in his Protagoras); He also studied there (with the sculptor Agelad of Argos, who, according to legend, also taught Phidias). The period of his active creativity falls on 440–410 BC. e. None of his original works have survived, but the best of them (and most often mentioned in ancient sources, primarily in the Natural History, or Natural History, of Pliny the Elder, 1st century AD) are known from fairly high-quality and reliable Roman copies. This is, first of all, his most famous sculpture, Doryphoros (Spearman, c. 440-435 BC), as well as Diadumen (a young man tying the winner’s armband; c. 423-419 BC); More than 30 Roman copies of each of them have reached us. Despite the obvious difference in characters - according to Pliny, Polykleitos created Diadumen as a “pampered youth”, and Doryphoros as a “courageous boy” - both are imbued with strict harmony, expressed both in the general arrangement of standing figures (according to the principle of chiasmus, that is, such an image where the weight of the body is transferred to one leg, - with the raised shoulder corresponding to the lowered hip of the other half of the body and vice versa), and in the mutual proportionality of the various members, muscles and accessories. Among the masterpieces of Polykleitos is also the Wounded Amazon (or Amazon of Ephesus, c. 430 BC).

For all its vitality, Doryphoros is also an exemplary model (according to according to Pliny, “artists call him Canon”) - that aesthetic ideal to which the master dedicated a special treatise; from the latter, only a few quotes and references have survived from Pliny the Elder, Galen, Lucian and other authors. In it, Polykleitos developed a system of “symmetries,” that is, optimal relationships between parts and the whole for a work of art. Since the source of these modules was the human figure, the principle of universal, in its own way cosmic corporeality, characteristic (according to A.F. Losev) of ancient classics as a whole, was expressed here with maximum completeness, having - like the art of Polykleitos itself - a huge influence on European culture (despite the fragmentary information about the Canon and the fact that its mathematical basis has not yet been determined with complete accuracy).
Polykleitos created a significant school, in fact the first fairly well-documented personal school-tradition in the history of art (about 20 names of his students are known).
Source: http://www.krugosvet.ru/. "Doriphorus" (Spear-bearer) is one of the most famous statues of antiquity, the work of the sculptor Polycletus, embodying the so-called. The Canon of Polykleitos was created in 450-440. BC. Not preserved, known from copies and descriptions. Numerous copies have survived, including in Naples, the Vatican, Munich, and Florence.
It is in this work that Polykleitos’s ideas about the ideal proportions of the human body, which are in numerical proportion to each other, are embodied. It was believed that the figure was created on the basis of the principles of Pythagoreanism, therefore in ancient times the statue of Doryphorus was often called the “canon of Polykleitos,” especially since the Canon was the name of his unpreserved treatise on aesthetics. Here, the basis of the rhythmic composition is the principle of asymmetry.
"The Wounded Amazon", the statue that won first place in the famous sculpting competition for the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus, was created in 440-430. BC e. Not preserved, known from copies.
Polykleitos executed the famous statue of a wounded Amazon, which was commissioned for the Temple of Artemis by the inhabitants of the city of Ephesus, who revered the Amazons as the founders of their city. Polykleitos, Phidias, Cresilaus, Fradmon and Kydon participated in the competition to create a statue of the Amazon. It is noteworthy that all the sculptures were so good that the Greeks decided to instruct the sculptors themselves to determine the best. Each first named the statue he had created, but after his own he indicated the Amazon of Polykleitos, to whom the commission awarded the first prize.
"Diadumen" (Athlete crowning his head with a victory ribbon) is a famous statue of Polykleitos, created in 420-410. BC e. Not preserved, known from copies.
The proportions of Diadumen's powerful body are the same as those of Doryphoros, but in contrast to the calmness of Doryphoros, Diadumen's figure has more expression and movement is more complex: his arms move freely at shoulder level, holding the ends of the victory ribbon. But just like Doryphoros, the entire weight of the body is transferred to the right leg, the left is set aside in the same free movement, and the head is tilted in the same way - to the right and slightly down. In Diadumen, the canon of the “athlete at rest”, previously embodied in Doryphoros, was further developed, containing an element of calm movement. The arithmetic proportions underlying the body composition are more harmonious and subtler here; hands moving at shoulder level and holding the ends of the tape free the torso, giving harmony and greater freedom to the athlete’s entire figure.

If Myron was fascinated by the problem of a truthful and convincing depiction of movement, then the sculptor Polykleitos set other goals in his work. By creating statues of calmly standing athletes, the sculptor sought to find ideally correct proportions on the basis of which the human body could be built in sculpture. In his search, Polykleitos proceeded from a careful study of life. Contemplating the figures of naked athletes, the sculptor generalized his impressions and ultimately created an artistic image that became a kind of norm and example to follow in the eyes of the citizens of the city-state.

The sculptor Polykleitos mathematically accurately calculated the sizes of all parts of the body and their relationship to each other. He took human height as the unit of measurement. In relation to height, the head was one seventh, the face and hand - one tenth, the foot - one sixth. The sculptor wrote a theoretical treatise called “Canon” (which means “rule”), where he outlined his thoughts on the most harmonious proportions of the human figure, as if established for it by nature itself. “The success of a work of art,” argued Polykleitos, “comes from many numerical relationships, and any little thing can disrupt it.” Polykleitos embodied his ideal of an athlete-citizen in a bronze sculpture of a young man with a spear, cast around 450-440 BC. e. The mighty naked athlete - Doryphoros ("Spear-bearer") - is depicted in a mighty and majestic pose. He holds a spear in his hand, which lies on his left shoulder, and the fledgling turns his head and looks into the distance. It seems that the young man just bent forward and stopped. The beauty of a person becomes for her a measure of the value of a rationally constructed world.

Polykleitos affirms the idea. that every man must improve himself in order to serve his people. The civic pathos of Polpklet echoes the characterization of the ideal citizen, which we find in the Greek writer Lucian: “Most of all we try to ensure that citizens are beautiful in soul and strong in body: for it is precisely such people who live well together in times of peace and in times of war who save the state and protect his freedom and happiness." Advanced Greek thinkers of the 5th century BC. e. they called such people “beautiful and valiant.”

The immaculate perfection of Doryphoros made him, in the eyes of the Greeks, an unsurpassed example of human beauty. Reproductions of this sculpture stood in many cities of Ancient Hellas, in those places where young men practiced gymnastic exercises. To this day, Doryphoros, the greatest work of the sculptor Polycletus, remains one of the most beautiful images of man in world art.

Ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist who worked in Argos in the 2nd half of the 5th century BC

Creation

Polykleitos loved to depict athletes at rest and specialized in depicting athletes and Olympic winners.

As Pliny[who?] writes, Polykleitos was the first to think of giving the figures such a position that they rested on the lower part of only one leg. Polykleitos knew how to show the human body in a state of balance - a human figure at rest or at a slow pace seems natural due to the fact that the horizontal axes are not parallel.

Canon of Polykleitos

The most famous work of Polykleitos is “Doriphoros” (Spear-bearer) (450-440 BC). It was believed that the figure was created on the basis of the principles of Pythagoreanism, therefore in ancient times the statue of Doryphorus was often called the “canon of Polykleitos,” especially since “Canon” was the name of his unpreserved treatise on aesthetics. Here, the rhythmic composition is based on the principle of cross-uneven movement of the body (the right side, that is, the supporting leg and the arm lowered along the body, are static and tense, the left, that is, the leg remaining behind and the arm with the spear, are relaxed, but in motion). The forms of this statue are repeated in most of the works of the sculptor and his school.

The distance from the chin to the crown of the head in the statues of Polykleitos is equal to one seventh of the body height, the distance from the eyes to the chin is one sixteenth, the height of the face is one tenth.

In his “Canon,” Polykleitos paid great attention to the Pythagorean theory of golden division (the whole length is related to the larger part as the larger one is to the smaller one). For example, the entire height of "Doryphorus" refers to the distance from the floor to the navel, just as this last distance refers to the distance from the navel to the crown. At the same time, Polykleitos refused the golden division if it contradicted the natural parameters of the human body.

The treatise also embodies theoretical ideas about the crossed distribution of stress in the arms and legs. “Doriphoros” is an early example of classical contrapposto (from Italian contrapposto - opposite), an image technique in which the position of one part of the body is contrasted with the position of another part. Sometimes this statue was also called the “Canon of Polykleitos,” and it was even assumed that Polykleitos made the statue so that others could use it as a model.

Works

• "Diadumen" ("Young man tying a bandage"). Around 420-410 BC e.
• "Doriphoros" ("Spearman").
• "The Wounded Amazon", 440-430 BC. e.
• Colossal statue of Hera in Argos. It was made in the chrysoelephantine technique and was perceived as a pandan to Phidias the Olympian Zeus.
• "Discophore" ("Young man holding a disk"). Not to be confused with Myron's Disco Thrower.
• "Apoxyomenes."

The sculptures were lost and are known from surviving ancient Roman copies.

Gallery

Head of the Wounded Amazon statue

"Diadumen"

"Discophore"

"Wounded Amazon"