Agesander (Gr. Άγήσανδρος, also Agesandros, Hagesander, Hagesandros, or Hagesanderus) was a sculptor from the island of Rhodes.[1] His name occurs in no author except Pliny,[2] and until very recently we have known of only one work which he executed, albeit one very highly renowned work. In conjunction with Polydorus and Athenodorus, Agesander sculpted Laocoön and his Sons, a work which has been ranked by some among the most perfect specimens of art, although modern critics suspect the trio of being "high-class copyists".[3]
Controversy over the general date of Agesander's life has never quite been settled. 18th century art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann felt certain he was a contemporary of Lysippos in the 4th century BC;[1] others have placed him as late as 68 AD, in the reign of Nero. Modern scholarly consensus puts the likely time frame as between 50 BC and 25 AD. Another theory is that Agesander and the other two all possessed the same names as sculptors from an earlier period.[3]
In 1959, other works of this trio were discovered at Spelunca, where the emperor Tiberius had a celebrated villa. The scenes were not entirely identifiable, but are thought to all feature Odysseus.[3]
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).