So who were the greek sculptors?

Cafe Society
1

From my limited art history experience, it seems like most of the great sculptures from renaissance times were done by a handful of famous sculptors/artists. DaVinci, Michaelangelo, etc… So i’m assuming that it takes a great deal of time/talent to produce such marvels.

Obviously the renaissance was copying the style of greek/roman artistry, and all the greek/roman sculptures I’ve seen share the level of detail/accuracy found in renaissance works. So my question is this: If only the greatest (And hence, most famous) sculptors of the renaissance could produce sculptures of this caliber, who sculpted them in classical times? Was the art just that much more widespread that many more people could do it than were worth listing? Or were there only a few great sculptors and we’ve since lost any record of their names? Or do we know the names of the great greek/roman sculptors and the works they created and I’m just ignorant? (I would not be surprised by this at all)

I suppose if you get down to it I’m more interested in the Greeks…But I don’t know anything about Roman sculpture either so feel free to comment on that as well.

Any enlightenment offered would be much appreciated

-K

2

Actually, we know the names of several Greek sculptors. Phidias comes to mind. Pliny talks about the sculptor Butades (who is, I suspect, at least part mythical). Look up any good book on Greek Art. Also, if you can find it, L. Sprague de Camp’s historical novel The Bronze God of Rhodes tells the story of the building of the Colossus of Rhodes. It also includes a lot about Greek sculptors and their methods.

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Lyssipos and Praxiteles (my favorite of that bunch-- very sexy stuff) are the first that come to mind. . . I don’t like the later Hellenistic stuff that much-- like I can’t rememeber the names of the guys who sculpted the Laocoon.

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Don’t forget Myron, the sculptor of the discus thrower.

I happen to love Hellenistic sculpture, but many of the names of the sculptures of truly great pieces, like the Winged Victory of Samothrace, have been lost.