The Followers of Praxiteles

Extract

A very large proportion of the statues that fill our museums are liable to be dismissed somewhat curtly in descriptions as belonging to the ‘School of Praxiteles.’ It would be interesting to know exactly what percentage of the total number of ancient statues which have come down to us is formed by the Aphrodites, Satyrs, Erotes, and others usually classed under this head, but it must certainly be a very large proportion.

Considering the very large number of statues which we treat in this way, it is startling to discover that our literary evidence contains no record at all of any such school ever having been in existence. We know of followers and pupils of Pheidias, of Polycleitus, and of Lysippus, but we hear of no followers or pupils of Praxiteles or of Scopas, in spite of the undoubted and obvious influence of their style upon the sculpture that now fills our museums. It is true that we know of two sons of Praxiteles, Cephisodotus and Timarchus, but the list of their works, though containing a Leto, an Aphrodite, and two statues of Artemis, includes a greater number of statues which we should be inclined to call un-Praxitelean in character.