Polycleitos was a Greek sculptor of heroic bronze figures during the 5th and early 4th century

BCE. There is a canon of figurative proportions which is attributed to him, and is seen by art
historians to have made a tremendous influence on future figurative art in Greece and Rome,
and arguably, on modern classical techniques taught in traditional art schools. The Polykleiton
Canon often seems like an archaeological myth, since no workshop manual has been found and
no original sculptures made by Polykleitos survive. The existence of the canon has been
inferred by studying Roman copies of the Polykleiton originals, in particularly the statue of the
Doryphoros, or Spear Bearer which is also often simply called the Canon since it seems to
exemplify the methodological canon of proportions attributed to Polyklietos. Historical evidence
for the Canon is also found in the writings of Galen. The Doryphoros is an exemplar of classical
contrapposto, where one side of the pelvis is tilted upward on the weight bearing leg, giving a
sense of movement and tension. Although I did not find contrapposto mentioned in relation to
Indian figure sculpture, there are figures that emulate a similar pose.

The Doryphoros
Scholars havent been able to agree on the exact proportional measurements used by
Polykleitos, though there is strong evidence for the influence of the Egyptian Canon of
Proportions on 4th and 5th Century Greek sculpture and there is more exacting information on
this canon (Mark 1995). The so-called Second Canon which was used in Egypt during the 7th
century BCE up until the Roman period dictates the height of a figure using a squared grid. The
convention was 19 squares to the shoulders and 22.5 squares to the crown of the head
proportions that were used by the Greeks Theodoros and Telekles (Iverson 1975).
 'The
Second Canon'