The Boys' and Girls' Pliny: Being parts of Pliny's "Natural History" edited for boys and girls, with an IntroductionPliny, the Elder
History
The Boys' and Girls' Pliny: Being parts of Pliny's "Natural History" edited for boys and girls, with an Introduction
Pliny, the Elder
Animals -- Juvenile literature; Natural history -- Juvenile literature; Physical sciences -- Juvenile literature
Lysippus is also celebrated for his statue of the intoxicated Female
Flute-player, his dogs and huntsmen, and, more particularly, for his
Chariot with the Sun, as represented by the Rhodians. He also executed a
numerous series of statues of Alexander the Great, commencing from his
childhood.[224] The Emperor Nero was so delighted with his statue of the
infant Alexander, that he had it gilt: this addition, however, to its
value, so detracted from its artistic beauty that the gold was removed,
and in this state it was looked upon as still more precious, though
disfigured by the scratches and seams which remained upon it, and in
which the gold was still to be seen. He also made the statue of
Hephæstion, the friend of Alexander the Great, which some persons
attribute to Polycletus, whereas that artist lived nearly a century
before his time. Also the statue of Alexander at the chase, now
consecrated at Delphi, the figure of a Satyr, now at Athens, and the
Squadron of Alexander, all of whom he represented with the greatest
accuracy. This last work of art, after his conquest of Macedonia,
Metellus conveyed to Rome. Lysippus also executed chariots of various
kinds. He is considered to have contributed very greatly to the art of
statuary by expressing the details of the hair, and by making the head
smaller than had been done by the ancients, and the body more graceful
less bulky, a method by which his statues were made to appear taller.
The Latin language has no appropriate name for that “symmetry,” which he
so attentively observed in his new and hitherto untried method of
modifying the squareness observable in the ancient statues. Indeed, it
was a common saying of his, that other artists made men as they actually
were, while he made them as they appeared to be. One peculiar
characteristic of his work, is the finish and minuteness which are
observed in even the smallest details. Lysippus left three sons, who
were also his pupils, and became celebrated as artists, Laippus, Bœdas,
and, more particularly, Euthycrates; though this last-named artist
rivalled his father in precision rather than in elegance, and preferred
scrupulous correctness to gracefulness. Nothing can be more expressive
than his Hercules at Delphi, his Alexander, his Hunter at Thespiæ, and
his Equestrian Combat. Equally good, too, are his statue of Trophonius,
erected in the oracular cave of that divinity, his numerous chariots,
his Horse with the Panniers, and his hounds.
Praxiteles, who excelled more particularly in marble, and thence
acquired his chief celebrity, also executed some very beautiful works in
bronze, the Rape of Proserpine, a Father Liber, a figure of Drunkenness,
and the celebrated Satyr. He also made the youthful Apollo, known as the
“Sauroctonos” (Lizard-killer), because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard
which is stealing towards him.
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