Customer Reviews

Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition (Wisconsin Studies in Classics)

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This book is amazing. It covers in detail the sculpture of Polykleitos, a name that should be better known as it is actually his creation, the Doryphoros that makes up a large number of the surviving torsos from antiquity. The original in bronze was copied through the centuries with such frequency that the author can actually get an accurate idea of what it looked like by comparing the deatils of the surviving copies. The book covers all aspects of this celebrated sculpture with incredible detail, and the beautiful illustrations offer an entire course on classical sculpture and Greek aesthetics. The comparisons that he also makes to other famous athlete statuary both in marble and bronze is one of the most interesting and illuminating contributions of this encyclopedic work. This book is a must for all interested in classical art. We should be so lucky to have the author cover Phidias and Praxitles with the extraordinary expertise this volume demonstrates.