Praxit'cles

Praxit'cles, one of the greatest sculptors of ancient Greece, of whose life little is known, except that he was a citizen of Athens, and lived in the 4th century B.C. His principal works—nearly all of which have perished—were statues of Aphrodite (at Cos, Cnidus, Thespiae, and elsewhere, of which that of Cnidus was the most famous), Eros (at Thespiae), Dionysus (at Elis, Athens, Megara, and other places), Apollo (the best representing Apollo as the Python-slayer), and Hermes carrying Dionysus (found at Olympia in 1877). Feminine beauty and Bacchic pleasures were his favourite subjects; and in his treatment of these he displayed unrivalled sweetness, grace, and naturalness. His gods and goddesses were not very divine, but they were ideal figures of the fairest earthly loveliness.