Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attica sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubitably attributable sculpture by Praxiteles is extant, numerous copies of his works have survived; several authors, including Pliny the Elder, wrote of his works; and coins engraved with silhouettes of his various famous statuary types from the period still exist.
Medallion representing Praxiteles
Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles, Archaeological Museum of Olympia
The Louvre Apollo Sauroctonos
The Resting Satyr
Thespiae was an ancient Greek city (polis) in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which run eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, near modern Thespies.
Silver Obol from Thespiae, 431-424 BCE. Obverse: Boeotian shield. Reverse: crescent, ΘΕΣ[ΠΙΕΩΝ] (of the Thespians).
The Venus of Arles, modeled after the Aphrodite of Thespiae by Praxiteles
A kantharos from Thespiae (450–425 BC) inscribed in the Boeotian alphabet