The Doryphoros: Classical Greek Sculpture

The Doryphoros is one of the most iconic and well known sculptures from the classical period in Greek. It exhbits the characteristics of Classical Greek art all too well, as it shows a baby-faced man with a grown man body. Greece at the time tried to idealistically show what a “true man” would look like, as shown by the Doryphoros. The man in the sculpture is supposed to symbolize a Greek soldier, as Doryphoros means, spearbearer. The Greek would idealize all of their soldiers and held them to high regard in their society. That is why people like Polykleito would make these statues, they wanted to show the greatness of man, they wanted to represent the epitome of a Greek man at the time they were sculpting. Even if they were not all that realistic, they wanted something that Greek men could relate to and sort of help motivate them into looking as wonderful as the statues did. What made the sculpture so efficient to the people of Greece was the way that the muscles were made. The way that Polykeitos balanced the way the muscles looked compelled many at the time as it “created a visual heirarchy of forms that was intended to appeal to both eye and mind.” The fact that the Doryphoros was supposed to represent a solider makes the sculpture stand out
But in reality, all the different and unique aspects of the sculpture gives the art a deeper meaning to it. It provides observers with deep thoughts, where the balancing of the Doryphoros speaks levels to the observers, as it is a mix of both tense yet relaxed muscles. The careful details on the sculpture makes up the way the muscles look to the viewer, as it was sculpted using a careful mathematic scheme that ultimately met its goal of making the figure look more realistic than sculptures before it. Though it is not the most realistic, it was a huge stepping stone to more realistic