Dromo's Den

[Up] [Dromo's Den]

Phidias Biography

Phidias Image

PHIDIAS, or PHEIDIAS, The greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, born in Attica, probably between 500 and 490 B.C., the son of Charmides. His master seems to have been the Athenian Hegias, famous for his statues of divinities, and some late authorities connect him with the Argive Hagelaïdas also; but both these statements have been questioned, and in general the information as to his life is scanty and is often contradictory. Interest in the lives of the great artists arose comparatively late, when accurate information was scarcely attainable. For our knowledge of his works we are dependent on the statements of ancient writers, as no certain original from his hand has survived. The descriptions, however, warrant the assignment to him of the originals from which several marbles were copied, and to his designs we probably owe the sculptures of the Parthenon (q.v.), though none of them can with certainty be attributed to his hand. The unanimous testimony of the ancients and the evidence of the monuments mark him as the typical artist of the best culture of Greece. His genius found the soil for its ripest expression in the Athens of Pericles (q.v.), and his works stand with the tragedies of Sophocles as the most perfect expression of the spirit of the noblest period of Greek civilization. Noble ideals and a thorough mastery of technic enabled him beyond any other ancient artist to present beauty in its purity and completeness. In his works we find incorporated the desire of Greek art to reproduce the ideal beauty that lies behind the realities of nature, which, while holding fast to truthful expression, seeks to show forth the typical and permanent elements rather than the individual and transitory. This endeavor to express the sublime ideals formed within the soul was recognized by the ancients as the source whence came the inspiration for the colossal statue "Zeus" at Olympia, which the artist was said to have drawn from Homer (Iliad, i, 529) , and which seemed to incorporate the divine majesty, power, and loving-kindness. In all branches of sculpture we find Phidias celebrated. In bronze were wrought by him the "Athena" of the Lemnians, probably represented in a statue at-Dresden and a head at Bologna, and the colossal "Athena" sometimes called the "Promachos," which ancient tradition at any rate attributed to him; in marble, an "Aphrodite" in Athens, and the face, hands, and feet of an "Athena" at Platæa, whose drapery was of gilded wood, thus forming a cheap substitute for the chryselephantine technic in which he attained his greatest fame. His earliest work in this style was an "Athena" at Pellene in Achæa, but his most celebrated were the "Zeus" at Olympia (q.v.) and the "Athena" of the Parthenon. In this style a core of wood was overlaid with ivory to represent the flesh, and gold, often inlaid with enamel, for drapery. On the statue "Athena" in the Parthenon the gold was detachable and was valued at 44 talents. The "Zeus" at Olympia represented the god seated on his throne, wearing on his head a wreath of olive, and holding in his left hand the sceptre crowned with an eagle; on his extended right hand stood a "Nike" (Victory) holding a fillet. The throne was elaborately decorated with figures in relief and in the round. Our only knowledge of this statue is from descriptions and representations on late coins of Elis, which are, of course, far too small to give any satisfactory idea of its appearance. It may be added that the so-called "Zeus Otricoli" of the Vatican is certainly not Phidian. The "Athena Parthenos" was a standing figure. In her left hand the goddess held her lance, and at her left side stood the shield. The extended right hand. also held a "Nike" and was perhaps supported by a pillar. Here, too, the shield, the pedestal, the helmet, and even the soles of the sandals were decorated with scenes from Grecian legend. This statue was erected in 438 B.C., and if Phidias supervised the decorations of the Parthenon he must have worked in Athens from about 447 to 433 B.C., for the building was not completed before this date. The chronology and events of the closing years of his life are much disputed, and the ancient testimony is conflicting. All accounts agree that he was tried at Athens for embezzling the gold appropriated for the statue; but, while one account says he died in prison, another says he was banished, went to Elis, made the statue "Zeus" at Olympia, and was then accused and put to death by the Eleans. This last can scarcely be right, as we know his descendants enjoyed hereditary honors at Olympia. The most probable theory is perhaps that the statue "Zeus" was made just after the middle of the fifth century B.C. and that after this achievement the artist remained in Athens. It may be regarded as certain that he shared in the attack on the friends of Pericles, and the account may be true that, while acquitted of the charge of embezzlement, he was condemned for impiety in introducing his portrait on the shield of the "Athena Parthenos." Many competent archæologists, however, prefer to date the "Zeus" later than the "Parthenos."

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 466-467.