e of the structure of
the human body, so great a readiness of hand--in a word, an imitation
of nature so skillful, and, at the same time, so simple, that one can
not but recognize in them the productions of an art which had arrived
at a point which required only a few steps more to reach perfection.
To the latter part of this period belong the sculptors Canachus,
Calamis, and Pythagoras. Canachus was the sculptor of a famous statue
of a nude Apollo in bronze, termed Philesius, at Didymi, near Miletus,
and was considered as very hard in his style.

_Phidian._--"This period (we here adopt Mr. Vaux's words) is the
golden age of Greek art. During this period arose a spirit of
sculpture which combined grace and majesty in the happiest manner, and
by emancipating the plastic art from the fetters of antique stiffness,
attained, under the direction of Pericles, and by the hand of Phidias,
its culminating point. It is curious to remark the gradual progress of
the arts; for it is clear that it was slowly and not _per saltum_ that
the gravity of the elder school was changed to the perfect style of
the age of Phidias." In this phase of the art, the ideal had reached
its zenith, and we behold a beauty and perfection which has never been
equaled. In this age alone sculpture, by the grandeur and sublimity it
had attained to in its style, was qualified to give a form to the
sublime conceptions of the deity evolved by the mind of Phidias. He
alone was considered able to embody and to render manifest to the eye
the sublime images of Homer. Hence, he was called "the sculptor of the
gods." It is well known that in the conception of his Jupiter Olympus,
Phidias wished to render manifest, and that he succeeded in realizing,
the sublime image under which Homer represents the master of the gods.
The sculptor embodied that image in the following manner, according to
Pausanias: "The god, made of ivory and gold, is seated on a throne,
his head crowned with a branch of olive, his right hand presented a
Victory of ivory and gold, with a crown and fillet; his left hand
held a sceptre, studded with all kinds of metals, on which an eagle
sat; the sandals of the god were gold, so was his drapery, on which
were various animals, with flowers of all kinds, especially lilies;
his throne was richly wrought with gold and precious stones. There
were also statues; four Victories, alighting, were at each foot of the
throne; those in front rested each on a sphin