Kresilas | |
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| Born | c. 480 BC |
| Died | c. 410 BC |
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| Known for | sculpture |
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Kresilas (Greek:ΚρησίλαςKrēsílas;c. 480 – c. 410 BC) was aGreeksculptor in theClassical period (5th century BC), fromKydonia. He was trained in Argos and then worked inAthens at the time of thePeloponnesian War, as a follower of the idealistic portraiture ofMyron. He is best known for his statuePericles with the Corinthian helmet.
Kresilas hailed from the city-state ofKydonia, on the island ofCrete.[1] He was trained inArgos as a student ofDorotheos, with whom he worked atDelphi andHermione.[2] Between 450 and 420 BC he worked mainly in Athens, as a follower ofMyron's school and in the post-Phidias period he brought elements of compactness due to the Peloponnesian period.[2]
Roman writerPliny the Elder wrote of a competition between the four sculptorsPolykleitos,Phidias, Kresilas, andPhradmon, on the best statues of Amazons for theTemple of Artemis atEphesus. Each sculptor placed himself at first place, but Phidias, Kresilas, and Phradmon had all put Polykleitos at second place, thus, Polykleitos won, Pheidias came second, and Kresilas third.[3]
In Athens he created, for example, a bronzestatue ofPericles (440–430 BC) with theCorinthianhelmet upon the head as a sign of his position asstrategos. Pliny the Elder said of it: "a work worthy of the title; it is a marvellous thing about this art that it can make famous men even more famous".[4] Its base was found in the AthenianAcropolis; it was doubtless the bronze that Pausanias saw there (Pausanias I.25.1, I.28.2). It seems the series of Pericles portrait busts derive from it,of which there are examples at theVatican Museums,British Museum (found atHadrian's Villa at Tivoli, and owned byCharles Townley) andAltes Museum.
Kresilas also created the wounded men and a dyingAmazon forEphesus inconcurrence (in acompetition withPhidias andPolykleitos), possibly the model for many copies, one of which is thewounded Amazon of Kresilas (volnerata;Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 75) in theVatican Museums. He has also been identified as the originator of the Velletri type ofAthena statue (Athena of Velletri). He created a Diomedes statue according toHomer's description.[5]
In 1804 CE, Kresilas was mistakenly identified as a woman named "Cresilla" byMatilda Betham, who thought "she" had placed third behindPolykleitos andPhidias in a competition to sculpt seven Amazons for theTemple of Artemis at Ephesus.[6] As a result, Kresilaswas mistakenly included in artistJudy Chicago's symbolic history of women in Western civilization,The Dinner Party.[7]
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