MWW Artwork of the Day (7/26/17) Kresilas (Greek, c. 480-410 BCE) Bust of Pericles (c. 430 BCE) Roman copy after a Greek original Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican City
Pericles (c. 495–429 BCE) was the most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age —- specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family. He had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, his contemporary historian, acclaimed him as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BCE, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", though the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars, or as late as the next century.
Kresilas hailed from the city-state of Kydonia, on the island of Crete. He was trained in Argos as a student of Dorotheos, with whom he worked at Delphi and Hermione. Between 450 and 420 BCE he worked mainly in Athens, as a follower of Myron's school and in the post-Phidias period he brought elements of compactness due to the Peloponnesian period.
(Wikipedia extracts)
For more Classical Greek art, see this MWW Special Collection: * MWW Ancient/Medieval Art