PRAXITELES, a very distinguished artist of ancient Greece, who wrought both in bronze and marble. Hardly anything is known of his personal history. Pliny alludes to him (Hist. Nat., xxxiv. 8, § 19) as contemporary with Euphranor, B.C. 364, a date which probably determines the beginning of his artistic career. Judging from an inscription still extant, in which Praxiteles is called an Athenian, he must either have been a native, or at least a citizen of Athens. His position as an artist can be ascertained with more definiteness. He stands with Scopas at the head of the later Attic school, so called in contradistinction to the earlier Attic school of Phidias. If Phidias exceeded all men in his idealization of divine majesty and sublimity, Praxiteles was unsurpassed in his exhibition of the softer beauties of the human form, and especially of female grace. He is reported by Pliny to have made two statues of the goddess Aphrodite, the one draped and the other not. The inhabitants of Cos, of severe virtue, bought the draped statue; while the inhabitants of Cnidus, of less rigid tastes, chose the naked figure. The choice of the Cnidian entirely eclipsed its rival. According to Pliny, it surpassed all other works, not only of Praxiteles, but in the whole world; and all who had leisure voyaged to Cnidus expressly to behold it. King Nicomedes offered to pay off the whole of the heavy public debt of the Cnidian if they would let him have it, but to no purpose. It was afterwards borne to Constantinople, where it was destroyed by fire. Of the numerous descriptions of this masterpiece, the most satisfactory is that of Lucian. The material was Parian marble of the most brilliant character; the form was in all respects perfect; the right hand held some drapery, which fell over a vase standing by the goddess; and her face wore a gentle smile. This was the first instance in which any artist had ventured to represent this divinity entirely divested of drapery. The artist modelled it after a favourite courtesan named Phryne, who became possessed of his statue of Eros in the following manner:—Praxiteles, in his fondness for the courtesan, had promised to give her whichever of his works she might choose. She was anxious to learn which of them, in his own opinion, was the best; but this was precisely what the artist was unwilling to disclose. Not to be baffled, Phryne sent a slave to inform Praxiteles
that a fire had broken out in his house, and that nearly all his works had perished. On hearing this, the artist rushed out, exclaiming frantically that all his toil was lost if the fire had reached his Satyr or his Eros. Phryne lost no time in confessing the stratagem, and claimed the Eros, which Praxiteles, however unwillingly, allowed her to carry off.
Of his statuary in bronze, the most noted was the Dionysus which stood at Elis. It represented the god, clad in ivy, girt with a faun's skin, bearing the lyre and the thyrsus. Of his subjects from the mythology of Apollo, the most celebrated statue was the bronze figure of Apollo the lizard-slayer. A full enumeration of the works of Praxiteles are to be found in Sillig (Cat. Artif.)