Page:Anecdotes of painters, engravers, sculptors and architects, and curiosities of art (IA anecdotesofpaint01spoo).pdf/177

 the exception of the Olympian Jupiter of Phidias, has received higher and more unqualified eulogiums from ancient writers, than any other work of Grecian art. These two great artists may therefore be considered as standing at the head of their respective schools; Praxiteles, the delicate and beautiful—Phidias, the grand and sublime.

THE WORKS OF PRAXITELES.

Praxiteles was eminent for his works, both in bronze and marble, but he seems to have had the highest reputation for his skill in the latter. Among those in bronze, Pliny and Pausanias mention a statue of Bacchus; and one of a Satyr so excellent, that it was called Periboetos, or the Celebrated. He also made a statue of Venus; a statue of a Matron weeping; and one of a Courtesan laughing, believed to be a portrait of the celebrated Thespian courtesan, Phryne. His Apollo Sauroctonos (or the Lizard Killer), was the finest of his works in bronze, and was greatly distinguished for purity of style, and graceful beauty of form. In the Vatican there is a well-authenticated marble copy of this work, which is justly considered one of the greatest treasures of that storehouse of art. Among the works in marble by Praxiteles, the famous Venus of Cnidus takes the preëminence.

THE VENUS OF CNIDUS.

Praxiteles executed two statues of Venus—the one draped, and the other naked. The people of