Ancient history

Phidias

Unless otherwise specified, dates on this page are all assumed to be BC.

Phidias, in ancient Greek Pheidias (Athens, c. 490 - Olympia, ap. 430), was a sculptor of the first Greek classicism.

There are few details about the life of Phidias. Born in Athens shortly after the battle of Marathon, he was a pupil of Hegias and learned the technique of bronze at the school of Argos, at the same time as Myron and Polyclète. He seems to have really started his activity in 464.

His first major work was a colossal Athena Promachos, for the Acropolis, in 460. He was then chosen by Pericles to execute statues for the Parthenon, but also to supervise all the sculpting work. He himself made the chryselephantine statue, that is to say made of gold and ivory, of Athena Parthenos, dedicated in 438, and made models for the two pediments, the 92 metopes and the frieze. He closely supervised their execution by his workshop, before leaving in 437 to Elis and Olympia, where he produced his chryselephantine Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

When he returned to Athens in 433, he was the victim of a maneuver intended to discredit, through him, his protector Pericles. He is first accused of having stolen part of the gold from the Athena Parthenos. After being exonerated by a weighing of the gold elements, he is again accused, this time of impiety:he has indeed represented himself, with Pericles, in the very middle of the amazonomachy, on the shield of the goddess. Thrown into prison, he was then, in 430, exiled to Olympia where he died.

Work

The style of Phidias, the best representative of early classicism, is characterized by a realistic representation of human anatomy, but idealistic by its ideal of majesty and serenity. In the words of Edmond Lévy, he thus achieves "a subtle synthesis of archaic power and classical harmony".

His bas-reliefs are remarkable for the rigor of their composition, and their concern for rhythm:detaching himself from the static nature of the large oriental friezes, Phidias introduces counterpoints into the scenes (characters turned upside down, against the current) and plays on curved lines , divergent and convergent. He succeeds in detaching and layering his characters well, giving the impression of a multitude of individuals and not of an indiscernible cluster. The meticulousness of the representations (we see the salient veins of Selene's horse on the eastern pediment, representing the birth of Athena) makes each subject a veritable sculpture.


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