Lysippos [key], fl. late 4th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor, head of the Sicyon school. Hellenistic sculpture was based largely on the style he introduced. In treating the human figure, he modified the proportions set by the canon of Polykleitos, making the head smaller, the form slender, the muscles close-lying. There is also a new sense of movement—torso, head, and limbs all face in different directions, indicating a momentary change of action. Of the many bronze statues and groups mentioned by Pliny and other ancient writers as his work, no certain original exists, and the marble statues accepted as copies of his bronzes probably do not follow his modeling exactly. The figure of an athlete, Apoxyomenus, in the Vatican and the Agias at Delphi are the most famous of these copies or adaptations. The copy by Glycon of the Farnese Hercules (National Mus., Naples) of Lysippos stood originally in the Baths of Caracalla and later in the Farnese Palace. It is one of more than three dozen copies of this work. Lysippos made numerous statues of Alexander the Great after 340 b.c. According to tradition, he produced 1,500 works. The subjects were gods, heroes, and athletes. The sizes ranged from small bronzes to a statue of Zeus 60 ft (18 m) high.
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