Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Biographies Sculptors for destination: "LINDOS Ancient city LINDOS".
Chares, of Lindus in Rhodes, a statuary in bronze, was the favourite pupil of
Lysippus, who took the greatest pains with his education, and did not grudge to
initiate him into all the secrets of his art. Chares flourished at the beginning
of the third century B. C. (Anon. ad Herenn. iv. 6; printed among Cicero's rhetorical
works). He was one of the greatest artists of Rhodes, and indeed he may be considered
as the chief founder of the Rhodian school of sculpture. Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. 7.
s. 18) mentions among his works a colossal head, which P. Lentulus (the friend
of Cicero, cos. B. C. 57) brought to Rome and placed in the Capitol, and which
completely threw into the shade another admirable colossal head by Decius which
stood beside it (The apparently unnecessary emendation of Sillig and Thiersch,
improbabilis for probabilis, even if adopted, would not alter the general meaning
of the sentence, at least with reference to Chares).
But the chief work of Chares was the statue of the Sun, which, under
the name of "The Colossus of Rhodes", was celebrated as one of the seven wonders
of the world. Of a hundred colossal statues of the Sun which adorned Rhodes, and
any one of which, according to Pliny, would have made famous the place that might
possess it, this was much the largest. The accounts of its height differ slightly,
but all agree in making it upwards of 105 English feet. Pliny, evidently repeating
the account of some one who had seen the statue after its fall, if he had not
seen it himself, says that few could embrace its thumb; the fingers were larger
than most statues; the hollows within the broken limbs resembled caves; and inside
of it might be seen huge stones, which had been inserted to make it stand firm.
It was twelve years in erecting (B. C. . 292-280), and it cost 300 talents. This
money was obtained by the sale of the engines of war which Demetrius Poliorcetes
presented to the Rhodians after they had compelled him to give up his siege of
their city (B. C. 303). The colossus stood at the entrance of the harbour of Rhodes.
There is no authority for the statement that its legs extended over the mouth
of the harbour. It was overthrown and broken to pieces by an earthquake 56 years
after its erection (B. C. 224, Euseb. Chron., and Chron. Pasch. sub Ol. 139. 1;
Polyb. v. 88, who places the earthquake a little later, in B. C. 218). Strabo
(xiv.) says, that an oracle forbade the Rhodians to restore it (See also Philo
Byzant. de VII Orbis Miraculis, c. iv.). The fragments of the colossus remained
on the ground 923 years, till they were sold by Moawiyeh, the general of the caliph
Othman IV., to a Jew of Emesa, who carried them away on 900 camels (A. D. 672).
Hence Scaliger calculated considering the mechanical difficulties both of modelling
and of casting so large a statue, the nicety required to fit together the separate
pieces in which it must necessarily have been cast, and the skill needed to adjust
its proportions, according to the laws of optics, and to adapt the whole style
of the composition to its enormous size, we must assign to Chares a high place
as an inventor in his art.
There are extant Rhodian coins, bearing the head of the Sun surrounded
with rays, probably copied from the statue of Chares or from some of the other
colossal statues of the sun at Rhodes. There are two epigrams on the colossus
in the Greek Anthology.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Another passage concerning Chares, written in Rome around 70 B.C. but probably derived from a second-century Hellenistic rhetorician, has been taken by Preisshofen 1970-1 as a manifesto for eclectic neo-classicism:
Do not these schoolmasters, teachers of rhetoric to all the world, see that they are making asses of themselves when they seek to borrow the very thing they offer to bestow on others? . . . Chares did not learn from Lysippus how to make statues by Lysippus showing him a head by Myron, arms by Praxiteles, a torso by Polycleitus, but observed the master making all right in front of him; he could study the works of others, if he wished, on his own initiative. But these writers believe that those who want to learn [rhetoric] can best be taught by the methods of others.
(Auctor ad Herrenium 4.6.9)
This extract is from: Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works. Cited Feb 2003 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains extracts from the ancient literature, bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Architect, Sculptor, student of the famous sculptor Lysippos. Mentioned by Polybios,
Plinius, Philon the Byzantian, Stobaios and Strabon.
Work: The Colossus of Rhodes
This bronze statue is a remarkable work combining engineering, architecture and
sculpture and is one of the Seven Wonders of the world. It was dedicated to God
Apollon and weighed 225 ton. The height was equal to 33 m. The construction time
lasted 12 years, from 292 to 280 BCE. A group of almost normal beams, starting
at the feet and ending at the head, were connected to the outside covering (3,5
cm thick) which supported the whole statue. Chares used great volume of earth
which surrounded the statue. He began the construction from the lowest point going
upwards. After finishing the statue he removed the beams and the earth masses.
The total cost of the work amounted to 300 talents. Parts of the descriptions
of Philon Byzantios, Plinius and Strabon still exist today. Polybios mentions
that Plolaemeos promised the Rhodians to spend 3.000 talents for the re-erection,
but it never took place. Strabon justifies the "non reerection" by the
existence of an adverse oracle. The statue was broken at the knees and destroyed
by an earthquake in the year 220 BCE. The year 654 ACE it was sold to a Jewish
merchant who used 900 camels to remove it, according to the Byzantine Chonicler
Kedrenos (" A composition of Stories" - 11th cent. ACE ).
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