Praxiteles
3 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Praxiteles. All 3 are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
praks-it'e-leez, a famous sculptor of Greece. The details of his life are not known. He was born probably about 400 B. C. He was one of the greatest sculptors of ancient times. His life fell in the period succeeding that of Phidias, the great master of the sculptor's art. Phidias worked for the public; Praxiteles worked for private employers. His figures, groups, and statues were made chiefly for the adornment of palaces and private grounds. A number of his masterpieces are known through copies which have escaped destruction. Only one original is known certainly to have been preserved. It is a statue of Hermes bearing the infant Dionysius on his arm. It was discovered by German excavators in the ruins of Olympia. It is still preserved in a museum there. The face of the god is considered the most beautiful Greek face known to art. The Capitolian Museum at Rome possesses a satyr leaning gracefully on a support. It is almost certainly a faithful reproduction of one of the artist's greatest works. It furnished the subject for the title of Hawthorne's Marble Faun. Other reproductions are preserved in the Louvre, at Florence, Berlin, and elsewhere.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a celebrated Greek sculptor; born about 360 b. c., who executed several fine statues, in bronze and marble, of Bacchus, a satyr, Venus, and Apollo. An ancient copy of one of his works, the "Apollo Sauroctonos," is the only example extant. Phryne, the celebrated Thespian courtesan, was his mistress, and served as the model for his statues of Venus. Two of his sons acquired fame as sculptors. He died about 280 B. C.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A famous sculptor of Greece, who lived about 324 years before the Christian era. The most famous of his works was a Cupid, which he gave to Phryne. He executed a statue of Phryne, and also one of Venus .
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's Encyclopedia in 1910 could say that of all Praxiteles' work "only one original is known certainly to have been preserved" — the Hermes carrying the infant Dionysus, dug up by the German excavators at Olympia in 1877 and still in the museum there. That certainty has gone: since the mid-twentieth century many specialists have argued the Olympia Hermes is a later Hellenistic or Roman version rather than the sculptor's own hand, and the safest modern statement is that no surviving marble can be attributed to him beyond doubt. The dates have also tightened — he is now placed as active in the middle of the fourth century B.C., roughly 375–330, which rules out both Aiton's birth "about 400 B.C." and Collier's death "about 280 B.C." His best-remembered achievement is one none of the three entries names as such: the Aphrodite of Knidos, the first life-size female nude in Greek sculpture, known now only through copies.
Written for this edition, 2026.