The Spear Bearer: Doryphoros By Polykleitos Sculpture

Ashley Vickrey
November 17, 2011
Art Survey T&Th.
Mrs. Zeilman

Spear Bearer Doryphoros by Polykleitos sculptors of the Early and High Classical Greek periods in art strived for perfection in creating the human form. They combined such features such as regular facial features, smooth skin, and particular body portions into an ideal of perfect beauty. Polykleitos of Argos was a well known sculptor. His aim in sculpting was to produce the perfect human figure using a mathematical equation to sculpt the body parts. It is believed that he used a basic unit ratio to measure the rest of the body parts. A sculpture he created named the “Doryphoros” and is now called “The Spear Bearer” is an example of his work. Unfortunately nobody knows
exactly what the unit of measurement was because his statue did not survive the centuries.
The figure is of a soldier carrying a heavy spear. The sculpture is physically stocky, with broad shoulders and thickly muscled arms and legs. Either because he was a warrior in the Spartan form, or maybe even just a well trained athlete. The Spear Bearer was created out of bronze; this was used more at the time because it had the ability to show more movement than in marble. This statue was one of the earliest to be shown in the fully developed contraposto position. This technique makes it look to be relaxed but yet a certain tension is there and he is ready to spring into action at any moment. The right arm of The Spear Bearer is relaxed and languid at his side while the left has tension from holding the spear over his shoulder. His right leg the opposite of the right arm and tensed to support the weight of the body, while the left leg relaxes with his heel up, ready to take action. The hips as well are offset and the
head faces the opposite direction fully giving us the idea of counter balance technique. There are very unique things done in this piece. This would not have been one the easier sculptures to sculpt. It is a complex piece of art, to make everything perfect like he wanted it to be it would have taken much time and thinking to do. Depending what you are interested in the most depends on where your eyes draw to the most. Personally the upper body catches my eye more than anything else. As said early Polykleitos was striving for perfection in the human body; he wanted to make everything mathematically proportionate. Therefore, it would have taken much more time than any others. Because of this he put a lot of emphasis on the upper body of “The Spear Bearer,” and also his legs are very muscular. And the spear in his hand could help contribute to the theory that he could be a warrior as well as a role model to the Greeks. Most warriors are very fit and intelligent. They wouldn’t want to send someone weak and unhealthy to fight in their battles because they would have a less chance of survival. This sculpture was first done by the Greeks, when the sculpture was first found it was incomplete; it was destroyed throughout centuries. The Romans then copied the sculpture and added and tree trunk and brace strut. This would have made the sculpture sturdier.