The Lesche of the Knidians: Attempts at Recreating the
Famous Paintings by Polygnotos

Click here to see Glynnis Fawkes new reconstruction!

The Paintings

Our knowledge of the paintings from the Lesche is indebted to the accounts given by Pausanias. Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the pictures. The first attempt was made in 1757 and the most recent reconstruction was made in 1990. Traditionally, most scholars consider the version by C. Robert, completed in 1892 and 1893, to be the most artistically beautiful and based on Pausanias' description, the closest to the original. (Frazer 1965: 358) Robert based his reconstruction on the written description and similarities to compositions on vase paintings.

New Theories

Recently, scholars have avoided graphic reconstructions of the famous paintings based on the descriptions by Pausanias. Instead, the emphasis has been placed on the careful reading of the descriptions in order to "learn something about the nature of the painter's compositions, which vase-paintings can help us to visualize; and from certain vase-paintings and sculpture, taken with the judgments of ancient writers, we may even be able to glimpse imaginatively something of the deeper character of his art." (Robertson 1975: 248) Stansbury-O'Donnell recently published two new reconstructions of the paintings by Polygnotos. He based his new interpretations on a careful reading of Pausanias' text, paying particular attention to his use of prepositions and spatial relationships. According to O'Donnell, Robert's reconstructions depart significantly from Pausanias' description, sometimes radically in order to conform to his own conception of the paintings. O'Donnell's reconstructions follow the texts by Pausanias as literally as possible "...trusting the accuracy of what is, after all, the only existing eyewitness description of the elements of the painting." (O'Donnell 1989: 203)