Lysipp

Kairos. Roman work after the original by Lysippos ca. 350-330 BC. 

Turin, Museum of Antiquities (© www.iflebenskunde.de)

I. Introduction 

Lysipp was one of the most renown sculptors of the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic periods (4th-3rd centuries BC), establishing a new canon for the proportions of the human body. Distinguished on the same level as Praxiteles and Pheidias, he was from Sikyon and worked mainly on bronze. Lysipp has been the official sculptor of the Macedonian court under Alexander the Great. Although no original work of him has survived, it is considered that his oeuvre prepared the prominent "baroque style" of the hellenistic period. 

Terme Boxer, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome, Italy (© wikipedia.org)

II. Sources for his work

According to Pliny the Elder, Lysipp's flourishing period is placed during the 113th Olympiad, while other sources indicate that he had a long career during the 4th century BC. Due to the lack of Lysipp's original works, it is difficult to trace his artistic production over time. Main sources for his work are the Roman copies, the literary sources, the miniature art as well as the numismatic and epigraphic material. 

Hercules Farnese. Roman copy of a lysippian work. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. 
(© pinterest.com)

III. Works of Lysipp
Lysipp was mostly renown for statues of athletes. His best-known work is the so-called Apoxyomenos, which is associated with a surviving Roman marble copy at the Vatican's Pio-Clementino Museum. It is believed to incorporate dominant elements of his style, such as the small head, slim body, long legs and careful sculpting hair performance. 

 A statue of Hagias the pankratist (boxer), discovered at Delphi, is also considered a reproduction of Lysipp' athletic type and belongs to the so-called Daochos-Monument. If indeed it is based on a sculpture by Lysipp, then its apparent differences in comparison to the Apoxyomenos indicate that it probably belongs to a different time period or that it is a disciple's work. 
A bronze statue, known as Kairos (or Opportunity), is attributed to Lysipp and was designed for him, adorning his home in Sikyon. It depicted a winged young man standing on a spherical item, holding a razor in his right hand and a scales in his left hand, with long hair on the side but short on the back of the head.

 The so-called Farnese Hercules is a massive marble statue, representing the hero having just performed one of the last of the Twelve Labours,  suggested by the apples of the Hesperides he holds behind his back. The lost original was cast in bronze. Hercules is depicted muscular, leaning on his club, which has the lion-skin draped over it. 

 According to Pausanias, a statue of Troilos at Olympia is attributed to Lysipp, and is a tribute to Troilos victories in the races of 372 BC. This is often referred to as his oldest work, although the inscription he brought may be younger. According to another inscription found at Delphi and testifies to Lysipp as a sculptor of a statue of Peloponnese, it appears to have been an active sculptor since the 360 ​​BC. About 340 BC, he was one of the artists of Alexander's Court, indicating that at that time his reputation had already spread.

IV. Lysipp's artistic style

  Most of the statues he made, if not all, were bronze. As master of a prominent workshop , he had enough students to imitate his style faithfully. Today, several Roman sculptures are recognized as copies of his works, though few of them are certain and mainly based on ancient descriptions of his sculptures. Although there are plenty of Greek and Roman sources with references to Lysipp, most of them are not specific enough to identify the elements of his style. According to Pliny, he was distinguished for the sculptural performance of the hair, while the main characteristic of his art was the subtlety of the works overall, even in their smallest detail. Lysippos specialized more in statues of athletes, deities, and heroes, as well as in portraits, such as those of Alexander or the people around him.

Bust of Alexander the Great. Louvre, Paris. (© pinterest.com)

LITERATURE:

A. F. Stewart, Lysippan Studies, AJA lxxxii (1978), σσ. 163–71, 301–13, 473–82

A. Lichtenberger, Der Zeus Nemeios des Lysipp und Alexander der Große, in: Georg Kalaitzoglou, Gundula Lüdorf (Hg.), Petasos. Festschrift für Hans Lohmann, Paderborn, 2013, 179-192.

H.-Chr. von Mosch, Hadrians Sandalenlöser. Der Hermes des Lysipp(?) auf den Münzen von Trapezous, Amastris und Markianopolis, Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 63 (2013), 93-149.

K. Moser von Filseck, Der Apoxyomenos des Lysipp und das Phänomen von Zeit und Raum in der Plastik des 5. und 4. Jhs. v. Chr., Habelts Dissertationsdrucke. Reihe klassische Archäologie Heft 27, Bonn 1988.

D. Krull, Der Herakles vom Typ Farnese. Kopienkritische Untersuchung einer Schöpfung des Lysipp, Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe XXXVIII, Archäologie 5, Frankfurt am Main - Bern - New York 1985.

L. Trümpelmann, Der Kanon des Lysipp, Boreas. Münstersche Beiträge zur Archäologie, 5.1982, 70-77.

P. Moreno, Lisippo, Storia e civiltà 11, Bari 1974.