Praxiteles (lived mid-4th century BC)

Greek sculptor. His Aphrodite of Cnidus of about 350 BC is thought to have initiated the tradition of life-size free-standing female nudes in Greek sculpture. It was destroyed by fire in AD 475, but a Roman copy exists in the Vatican.

Praxiteles was active in Athens. He worked in a softer, more poetic style than his predecessors of the 5th century BC. His Hermes, a major work of the time, was found in Olympia 1877.