Scopas

This article is about the ancient sculptor. For the ancient writer, see Agriopas.

Roman marble head of Meleager, after Scopas, on a restored bust (British Museum).

Scopas or Skopas (Ancient Greek: Σκόπας) (c. 395 BC – 350 BC) was an Ancient Greek sculptor and architect most famous for his statue of Meleager, the copper statue of "Aphrodite" and the head of goddess Hygieia, daughter of Asclepius.

Early life and family

Scopas was born on the island of Paros. His father was the sculptor Aristander of Paros. Skopas left Paros at an early age and travelled throughout the Hellenic world.

Career as sculptor and architect

Head of the goddess Hygieia by Scopas from the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea (National Archaeological Museum of Athens)

Scopas worked with Praxiteles, and he sculpted parts of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, especially the reliefs. He led the building of the new temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. Similar to Lysippus, Scopas is artistically a successor of the Classical Greek sculptor Polykleitos. The faces of the heads are almost in quadrat. The deeply sunken eyes and a slightly opened mouth are recognizable characteristics in the figures of Scopas.

Works by Scopas are preserved in the British Museum (reliefs) in London; fragments from the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens; the celebrated Ludovisi Ares in the Palazzo Altemps, Rome; a statue of Pothos restored as Apollo Citharoedus in the Capitoline Museum, Rome; and his statue of Meleager, unmentioned in ancient literature but surviving in numerous replicas, perhaps best represented by a torso in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

One of many Roman copies of Pothos (Desire), a statue by Scopas, restored here as Apollo Kitharoidos (Apollo, the Cithara-player)

Pothos

Pothos, or Desire, was a celebrated and much imitated statue by Scopas. Roman copies featured the human figure with a variety of props, such as musical instruments and fabrics as depicted here, in an example that was in the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani.

Literature

• Andreas Linfert: Von Polyklet zu Lysipp. Polyklets Schule und ihr Verhältnis zu Skopas v. Paros. Diss. Freiburg i. B. 1965.
• Andrew F. Stewart: Skopas of Paros. Noyes Pr., Park Ridge, N.Y. 1977. ISBN 0-8155-5051-0
• Andrew Stewart: Skopas in Malibu. The head of Achilles from Tegea and other sculptures by Skopas in the J. Paul Getty Museum J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Calif. 1982. ISBN 0-89236-036-4