Brief biography of Fidia

Phidias Phidias is an ancient Greek sculptor and architect, one of the greatest artists of the period of high classics. Greek classical art reached its highest heyday in the middle of the 5th century BC a galaxy of sculptors and painters of the first half of the 5th century BC and among them senior contemporaries of Fidiya, the famous sculptors of Pythagoras, Miron and others, claimed in their work a new stylish Greek artistic style.

Portraying a warrior or athlete, a mythological hero either a deity, and Pythagoras, and Miron created the images of a person - live, beautiful, mobile and strong. But these talented masters and their contemporaries have not yet been able to achieve the disclosure of the inner world of a person, his feelings and experiences. Only Fidiy managed to breathe a full -blooded life into the images of classical beauty, to show the great spiritual power of a person, his dignity, to brightly characterize each hero, to create grandiose dynamic compositions full of deep inner meaning.

This great artist completed the search for his predecessors, took a new big step in the development of realistic art, taking the primitive position among the masters of his time. Very little information has been preserved about the life of Fidiya; It is difficult to even set the time to create some of his works. He was born in Athens at the beginning of the century, died in the year BC; He worked in different places of Greece, but most of his creative biography is associated with Athens.

Fidia's childhood and youth passed during the Greek Persian War. He devoted almost all of his creative activity to the creation of monuments glorifying his homeland and its heroes. From a year BC, Fidiy began working in Athens.

This city-state, the advanced Greek slave-owning republic, the Center for Greek Culture, took a leading place during the war and became the head of the Athenian Marine Union in the year BC. The leading role of the government of the Athenian state was played by an energetic and influential politician strategist Perikl. Considering that Athens have the right to dispose of the Allied treasury, due to its position of the Hegemon of the Greek states, Perikl decided to use these funds to restore the city and acropolis.

Speaking at the Athens People’s Assembly, he explained to them: “The city is enough to be necessary for the war, so excess in cash should be used for buildings, which, after their end, will deliver immortal fame to citizens, during the work of work they will improve their financial situation.” The central architectural complex of Athens - Acropolis, built up before the war with cult structures, decorated with many gift statues, now lay in ruins.

Before starting its reconstruction, it was necessary to disassemble the ruins, clean the place for the main buildings, which took several years. But the desert acropolis could not stay for a long time; Gradually, the Athenians began to install statues of gods and heroes on it. One of the first monuments about a year BC. On the Acropolis Square, not far from the entrance, a majestic bronze sculptor was installed in the year BC with a height of 9 m.

Soon, another statue of Fidiya's work appeared on the acropolis. It was the order of the Athenians who lived away from their homeland. Having settled on the island of Lemons, they wished to put on the Acropolis the statue of Athena, which later received the nickname "Lemia". Athenos Partenos and Athena Lemnia approved the glory of Fidia throughout Greece, and he was now attracted to the two most grand works of that time: to create a colossal statue of the god Zeus in Olympia and the leadership of the reconstruction of the entire ensemble of the Acropolis.

Ancient literary sources call the head of work on the creation of a large and diverse sculptural decoration of Parthenon. In the middle of the last century, archaeologists were opened by the ruins of the workshop of Phidias in Olympia east of the Temple of Zeus. In ruins, abandoned and devastated, a small number of forms of rough clay were found for lifting from thin plates of gold parts of women's clothing for small figures, small pieces of ivory, golden foil crumbs, iron, bronze and lead plates for fastening the shapes and parts of the wooden base of the statue, slices of glass for in -blade, tools made Bones and bronze hammer for processing the surface of gold.

Among the instruments, a small, varnished cup with a scratched inscription was found, as it were, on behalf of the vessel “I am the property of Fidiya”, he took part in the competition for the statue of the Amate Temple in Ephesus. This competition was the famous contemporary of Phidias Pelopone Master Polyclet, a student and employee of Fidiya Kremilai and sculptor Fradmon.

The work of the polyclet was recognized as the best. Three different options for the statues of the Amazon in Roman marble copies have been preserved, and the fourth option has been identified recently. All the Amazons are depicted by wounded, probably this was a condition for the order.Several marble Roman copies repeat the bronze original of the Amazon of Fidiya, the best of which is recently opened in the excavations of the villa of the Roman emperor Adrian II century in Tivoli near Rome.

The Amazon Fidiya is a tall slender girl-warrior, in a short chiton, stands, bowing her head; She was wounded in her left thigh and gently put her leg forward. Judging by the statue from Tivoli, with her right hand, she relied on a spear. The soft folds of the chiton, the flexibility of the figure, the smoothness of the movement closely resemble the figures of Frisa Parthenon. Another of the famous works of Phidias is the statue of Aphrodite of Uralia, heavenly, based on the turtle.

The original of gold and ivory, which stood in the temple in the elite of Pelopones, died in antiquity; His marble copy is now considered a fragmented statue in the Berlin Museum. A strong young, full grace of a female figure with its proportions, plasticity, a picturesque game of folds of clothing is like an attending goddess of the Eastern Front Parthenon. The western pediment of the Parthenona of the Eastern pediment of Parthenon in all the creations of Phidias and his school brightly embodied the progressive features of the Greek art of the 5th century BC Fidia created works perfect in its artistic form, full of deep humanism, greatness and at the same time simple and understandable to everyone.

The artist finished his life tragically. Political opponents of the perira, trying to compromise this statesman and his closest associates, accused Fidiya of hiding gold when working on Athena Parthenos. Fidia was imprisoned and not waiting for an excuse, there he committed suicide. Not preserved, known for descriptions. The statue of Zeus was in the temple, the length of which reached 64 m, the width was 28 m, and the height of the interior was about 20 m.

Zeus sitting at the end of the hall on the throne propped up the ceiling. Naked to the waist Zeus was made of wood. His body was covered by the plates of pinkish, warm ivory, clothes - gold sheets, in one hand he held the gold statue of Nicky - the goddess of Victory, the other relied on a high rod. Four dancing nicknames were depicted on the legs of the throne.

They also depicted: centaurs, lapifs, exploits of Tesheus and Hercules, frescoes depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons. The base of the statue was 6 m in width and 1 m in height. According to various sources, the height of the entire statue, along with the pedestal, was from 12 to 17 m. The impression was “that if he would like to stand from the throne, he would have demolished the roof.” Zeus's eyes were the size of an adult.

The wounded Amazon “Wounded Amazon”, a statue that took second place in the famous sculptors competition for the church of Artemis Ephesus, was created in years BC. Not preserved, known for copies. Its copy of the Amazon Mattea is considered to be its copy. Fidiy performed the famous statue of the wounded Amazon, which was ordered for the church of Artemis, residents of the city of Ephesus, who revered the Amazons as the founders of their city.

It is noteworthy that all the statues were so good that the Greeks decided to entrust the sculptors themselves to determine the best. Everyone first called the statue he created, but after his own indicated the Amazon of the Polyclet, to which the commission awarded the first prize. Accordingly, Fidiya had the second place, the third of Kremila, the fourth at Kidon, and the fifth of the phradmon.