C. affected the development of the visual arts. In general, the idealism and heroic characters of High Classical art were replaced with a growing interest in realism and emotion. Our knowledge of the visual arts in the 4th century B.C. is , however, far from complete. In sculpture, fortunately, Roman copies of lost original statues enable us to form a fairly good estimate of the main developments. It is clear that Plato's interest in the fate of the 'individual soul finds its parallel in the sculptural treatment of the human form.
Facial expressions become more emotional, often characterized by a mood of dreamy tenderness.
Technical skill in depicting drapery and the anatomy beneath are put to the service of a new virtuosity. The three sculptors who dominated the art of the 4th century B.C. are Praxiteles, Scopas, and Lysippus. The influence of Praxiteles on his contemporaries was immense. His particular brand of gentle melancholy is well illustrated by the Hermes at Olympia that is generally attributed to him. Equally important is his famous statue of Aphrodite nude, of which some fifty copies have survived.