Doryphoros Sculpture Analysis

Michaell Cardenas The Doryphoros "Spear Bearer" The Doryphoros is a Greek bronze sculpture or marble it's the roman copies, made at around 450 BC made by Greek Sculptor, Polykleitos. The Doryphoros a perfect example of the evolution and changes of art in history, not only does it have artistic significance but it clearly had influenced later generations and the ancient art that followed. Polykleitos was an ancient Greek sculptor and one of the most significant aestheticians in the history of art, known for his masterly done bronze sculptures of young athletes with idealized body proportions which fully represented the idea of humanism which at the time was very celebrated in the Greek period of art, …show more content…
The Doryphoros is depicted standing as if he was going take a step forward, all of the body proportions and anatomy are seemingly perfect, and the muscles are beautifully heavily defined clearly showing that this is the body of an athlete. The sculpture is youthful with his head that's slightly turned giving off a very relaxed demeanor showing composure. In the original the left hand is holding a spear that rested on the left shoulder which is slightly raised, with the left arm bent to help maintain the spear in its position, The right arm hanging by his side with the right shoulder lowered, slightly away from the torso for balance, leaving left hand free and carrying nothing. The sculpture's left leg is slightly bending pushing off from behind the right foot giving off an impression of movement, with no support from the left leg it leaves the left hip to drop down, slightly stretching the torso and muscles on the left side. The figure's right leg is shown acting as a support for the body's weight, with the right hip raised and contracting the muscles on the right of the torso forming a small strut like appearance. The result of all these characteristic is that of Polykleitos’s classical contrapposto pose, which can be indicated by the angled positioning of the pelvis. In all the surviving Roman marble copies there is a large sculpted marble stump that is right behind the right leg of the statue this is of course to support the weight of the marble statue so it does break under the weight though this stump wouldn't have been in the original bronze because the bronze material would have allowed it to be freestanding this also applies to the connected piece of the right arm and thigh. Unlike the Egyptian sculptures