The Doryphoros of Polyclitus, an early example of classical contrapost.

Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles

Classical Contrapost (or Italian Classical Contrapposto) is a term most commonly used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This gives the figure a more relaxed and less stiff appearance. It can also encompass the tension as a figure changes from resting on a given leg to walking or running upon it (so-called ponderation). Image File history File links Copied from German language version of Wikipedia. ... Image File history File links Copied from German language version of Wikipedia. ... Download high resolution version (800x1210, 203 KB)Hermes by Praxiteles Photographer: Lucretious Source: Stock. ... Download high resolution version (800x1210, 203 KB)Hermes by Praxiteles Photographer: Lucretious Source: Stock. ... For other uses, see Hermes (disambiguation). ... Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) This article is about the ancient deity. ... In medical terms, stress is a physical or psychological stimulus that can produce mental or physiological reactions that may lead to illness. ...

Contrapost has been used since the dawn of classical western sculpture. According to the canon of the Classical Greek Sculptor Polykleitos in the fourth century B.C., it is one of the most important characteristics of his figurative works and those of his successors, Lysippos, Skopas, etc. The Polykletian statues for example Discophoros and Doryphoros are idealized athletic young men with the divine sense, and captured in contrapost. In these works, the pelvis is no longer axial with the vertical statue as in the archaic style of earlier Greek sculpture until the Ephebe-statue of Kritios ca. 490-480 B.C. The History of Greece extends back to the arrival of the Greeks in Europe some time before 1500 BC, even though there has only been an independent state called Greece since Turkey, Italy and Libya. ... why hello hello Sculptor redirects here. ... Polykleitos (or Polycletus, Polyklitos, Polycleitus, Polyclitus) the Elder was a Greek sculptor of the 5th century BC and the early 4th century BC. Next to famous Phidias, Myron and Kresilas he is the most important sculptor of the Classical antiquity. ... Roman copy of Eros Stringing the Bow from the Capitoline Museum. ... Scopas (c. ... The Discophoros, also spelled Discophorus, meaning Discus-Bearer is one of the figures in according to the Classical Greek sculptor Polyclitus. ... The Doryphoros of Polykleitos The Doryphoros (Greek δορυφόρος, lit. ... Axial has different meanings: In geometry it means: along the same line as an axis (coaxial) or centerline: parallel (geometry), contrary to radial or perpendicular In anatomy it relates to an anatomical direction of animals and humans. ... An object is in a vertical position when it is aligned in an up-down direction, perpendicular to the horizon. ... Archaic is a generic adjective that can refer to several things from the past. ... EPHEBE is either the anglicisized form (via the French Éphèbe) of the Greek word Ephebos a location of Discworld ... Roman copy of Kritios Tyrannicides (Archaeological Museum, Naples) Kritios was an Athenian sculptor, probably a pupil of Antenor, working in the early fifth century BCE, whose manner is on the cusp of the Late Archaic and the severe style of Early Classicism in Attica. ...

Contrapost can be clearly seen in the Roman copies of the statues of Hermes and Heracles. A famous example is the marble statue of Hermes with the infant Dionysus in Olympia by Praxiteles. It can also be seen in the Roman copies of Polyclitus' amazon. The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... For other uses, see Hermes (disambiguation). ... Hercules, a Roman bronze (Louvre Museum) For other uses, see Heracles (disambiguation). ... Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) This article is about the ancient deity. ... Olympia (Greek: Ολυμπία Olympía or Ολύμπια Olýmpia, older transliterations, Olimpia, Olimbia), a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. ... Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus, was the greatest of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC, who has left an imperishable mark on the history of art. ... The Amazons () were an ancient nation of female warriors, or a society dominated by women, at the edges of Scythia in Sarmatia (Herodotus). ...

Classical contrapost was revived in the Renaissance by the Italian artists Michelangelo and Donatello, as well as Leonardo da Vinci. One of the major achievements of the Italian Renaissance was the re-discovery of contrapposto. Raphael was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ... Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer. ... Statue of Donatello outside the Uffizi, Florence. ... Leonardo da Vinci statue outside the Uffizi, Florence Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath: scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician and writer. ... The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. ...

The term should not be confused with the somewhat similar musical term contrapunto. Allegory of Music on the Opéra Garnier Music is an art form that involves organized and audible sounds and silence. ... In music, counterpoint is a texture involving the simultaneous sounding of separate melodies or lines against each other, as in polyphony. ...

Contrapposto was an extremely important sculptural development for it is the first time in Western art that the human body is used to express a psychological disposition. The balanced, harmonious pose of the Kritios Boy suggests a calm and relaxed state of mind, an evenness of temperament that is part of the ideal of man represented. From this point onwards Greek sculptors went on to explore how the body could convey the whole range of human experience, culminating in the desperate anguish and pathos of Laocoön and his Sons (1st century AD) in the Hellenistic period. The Kritios boy belongs to the Late Archaic period and is considered the precursor to the later classical sculptures of athletes. ... Statue of Laocoön and his Sons, Vatican Museums, Rome The statue of Laocoön and his Sons, also called the Laocoön Group, is a monumental marble sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. ...

See also

• Greek statue

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sculpture of Ancient Greece. ...

References

• Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works Polykleitos of Argos, 16.72
• Polykleitos, The J. Paul Getty Museum
• Polyclitus, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica: "Polyclitus"

Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ...

Weblinks

• contrapposto sculpture Atelier Yoyita