CHAP. 40.—THE FIRST INVENTORS OF VARIOUS KINDS OF
PAINTING. THE GREATEST DIFFICULTIES IN THE ART OF
PAINTING. THE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF PAINTING. THE FIRST
ARTIST THAT PAINTED CEILINGS. WHEN ARCHED ROOFS WERE
FIRST PAINTED. THE MARVELLOUS PRICE OF SOME PICTURES.
It is said, too, that Pamphilus,
1 the instructor of Apelles, not
only painted in encaustic, but also instructed Pausias
2 of Sicyon
in the art, the first who rendered himself distinguished in this
branch. Pausias was the son of Bryetes, by whom he was
originally instructed in the art of painting. He retouched
also with the pencil
3 some walls at Thespiæ, then undergoing
repair, which had formerly been painted by Polygnotus. Upon
instituting a comparison, however, it was considered that he
was greatly inferior, this kind of painting not being in his
line. It was he, too, who first thought of painting ceilings;
nor had it been the practice before his day to use this kind of
decoration for arched roofs. He painted many small pictures
also, miniatures of children more particularly; a thing which,
according to the interpretation put upon it by his rivals, was
owing to the peculiarly slow process of encaustic painting.
The consequence was, that being determined to give a memorable
proof of his celerity of execution, he completed a picture
in the space of a single day, which was thence called the
"Hemeresios,"
4 representing the portrait of a child.
In his youth, he was enamoured of Glycera,
5 his fellow-townswoman,
the first inventor of chaplets; and in his rivalry
of the skill shown by her, he achieved so much success in the
encaustic art, as to reproduce the almost numberless tints displayed
by flowers. At a later period, he painted her, seated,
with a chaplet on, and thus produced one of the very finest
of his pictures; known as the "Stephaneplocos"
6 by
some, and as the "Stephanopolis"
7 by others; from the circumstance
that Glycera had supported herself in her poverty by
selling these chaplets. A copy of this picture, usually known
as an "apographon,"
8 was purchased by L. Lucullus at Athens,
during the festival of the Dionysia, at the price of two talents.
Pausias also painted some large pictures, a Sacrifice of Oxen,
for instance, which used to be seen in the Portico of Pom-
peius. In this painting he invented several improvements,
which many artists have since imitated, but none with the
same success. Although in the picture it was particularly his
desire to give an impression of the length of the ox, he
painted it with a front view and not sideways, and still has
caused the large dimensions of the animal to be fully understood.
And then too, whereas all other painters colour in
white such parts as they wish to have the appearance of
being prominent, and in black such portions as are intended
to remain in the back-ground, he has painted the whole of the
ox of a black colour, and has shown the dimensions of the
body which throws the shadow by the medium of the shadow
itself; thus evincing a wonderful degree of skill in showing
relief upon a coat painted with a single colour, and conveying
an impression of uniform solidity upon a broken ground.
9 It
was at Sicyon also that Pausias passed his life, a city which
for a long time continued to be the native place of painting.
Ultimately, all the paintings belonging to that place were sold
by public auction for the discharge of the debts owing by the
city, and were transferred to Rome in the ædileship of
Scaurus.
10
Next to him, in the hundred and fourth Olympiad, Euphranor,
11
the Isthmian, distinguished himself far beyond all
others, an artist who has been already mentioned in our
account of the statuaries. He executed some colossal figures
also, and some statues in marble, and he chased some drinking-vessels;
being studious and laborious in the highest degree,
excellent in every branch, and at all times equal to himself.
This artist seems to have been the first to represent heroes with
becoming dignity, and to have paid particular attention to symmetry.
Still, however, in the generality of instances, he has
made the body slight in proportion to the head and limbs. He
composed some treatises also upon symmetry and colours. His
works are, an Equestrian Combat;
12 the Twelve Gods; and a
Theseus; with reference to which he remarked that the Theseus
of Parrhasius had been fed upon roses, but his own upon beef.
13
There are also at Ephesus some famous pictures by him; an
Ulysses, in his feigned madness, yoking together an ox and a
horse; Men, in an attitude of meditation, wearing the pallium;
14
and a Warrior, sheathing his sword.
At the same time, also, flourished Cydias;
15 for whose picture
of the Argonautæ the orator Hortensius paid one hundred and
forty-four thousand sesterces, and had a shrine constructed
expressly for its reception on his estate at Tusculum.
16 There
was also Antidotus, a pupil of Euphranor, by whom there is,
at Athens, a Combatant armed with a shield; a Wrestler, also;
and a Trumpeter, a work which has been considered a most
exquisite production.
Antidotus, as a painter, was more careful in his works than
prolific, and his colouring was of a severe style. His principal
glory was his having been the instructor of Nicias
17 of
Athens; who was a most careful painter of female portraits,
and a strict observer of light and shade,
18 making it his especial
care that the figures in his pictures should appear in
the boldest relief. His works are, a Nemea, which was
brought from Asia to Rome by Silanus, and was placed in
the Curia, as already stated;
19 a Father Liber,
20 in the
Temple
21 of Concord; a Hyacinthus,
22 which the Emperor
Augustus was so delighted with, that he took it away with
him after the capture of Alexandria; for which reason also it
was consecrated in the Temple
23 of Augustus by the Emperor
Tiberius; and a Danaë. At Ephesus, there is a tomb by
him of a megabyzus,
24 or priest of the Ephesian Diana; and at
Athens a representation of the Necyomantea
25 of Homer;
which last he declined to sell to King Attalus for sixty
talents, and in preference, so rich was he, made a present of
it to his own native place. He also executed some large
pictures, among which there are a Calypso, an Io, an Andromeda,
a very fine Alexander, in the Porticos
26 of Pompeius,
and a Calypso, seated. To this painter also there are some
pictures of cattle attributed, and in his dogs he has been remarkably
successful. It was this Nicias, with reference to
whom, Praxiteles, when asked with which of all his works in
marble he was the best pleased, made answer, "Those to
which Nicias has set his hand," so highly did he esteem the
colouring of that artist. It has not been satisfactorily ascertained
whether it is this artist or another of the same name
that some writers have placed in the hundred and twelfth
Olympiad.
With Nicias has been compared, and indeed sometimes
preferred to him, Athenion of Maronea,
27 a pupil of Glaucion
of Corinth. In his colouring he is more sombre than Nicias,
and yet, with all his sombreness, more pleasing; so much so
indeed, that in his paintings shines forth the extensive knowledge
which he possessed of the art. He painted, in the
Temple at Eleusis, a Phylarchus;
28 and at Athens, a family
group, which has been known as the "Syngenicon;"
29 an
Achilles also, concealed in a female dress, and Ulysses detecting
him; a group of six whole-length figures, in one
picture; and, a work which has contributed to his fame more
than any other, a Groom leading a Horse. Indeed, if he had
not died young, there would have been no one comparable to
Athenion in painting.
Heraclides, too, of Macedon, had some repute as an artist.
At first he was a painter of ships, but afterwards, on the capture
of King Perseus, he removed to Athens; where at the
same period was also Metrodorus,
30 who was both a painter
and a philosopher, and of considerable celebrity in both
branches. Hence it was, that when L. Paulus Æmilius, after
the conquest of Perseus,
31 requested the Athenians to send
him the most esteemed philosopher for the education of his
children, and a painter to represent his triumph, they made
choice of Metrodorus, declaring that he was eminently suited
for either purpose; a thing which Paulus admitted to be the
case.
Timomachus of Byzantium, in the time of the Dictator Cæsar,
painted an Ajax
32 and a Medea, which were placed by Cæsar
in the Temple of Venus Genetrix, having been purchased at
the price of eighty talents; the value of the Attic talent
being, according to M. Varro, equivalent to six thousand
denarii. An Orestes, also by Timomachus, an Iphigenia in
Tauris, and a Lecythion, a teacher of gymnastics, are equally
praised; a Noble Family also; and Two Men clothed in the
pallium,
33 and about to enter into conversation, the one standing,
the other in a sitting posture. It is in his picture, however
of the Gorgon,
34 that the art appears to have favoured
him most highly.
Aristolaüs, the son and pupil of Pausias, was one of the
painters in a more severe style: there are by him an Epaminondas,
a Pericles, a Medea, a Theseus, an emblematical
picture of the Athenian People, and a Sacrifice of Oxen.
Some persons, too, are pleased with the careful style of
Nicophanes,
35 who was also a pupil of Pausias; a carefulness,
however, which only artists can appreciate, as in other
respects he was harsh in his colours, and too lavish of sil;
36 as
in his picture, for example, of Æsculapius with his daughters,
Hygia,
37 Ægle, and Panacea, his Jason, and his Sluggard,
known as the "Ocnos,"
38 a man twisting a rope at one end
as an ass gnaws it at the other. As to Socrates,
39 his pictures
are, with good reason, universally esteemed.
Having now mentioned the principal painters in either
branch,
40 I must not pass in silence those who occupy the
next rank. Aristoclides decorated the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi. Antiphilus
41 is highly praised for his picture of a
Boy blowing a Fire, which illumines an apartment handsomely
furnished, and throws a light
42 upon the features of the
youth; a Spinning-room, with women plying their respective
tasks; and a King Ptolemæus hunting. But his most famous
picture is his Satyr, clad in a panther's skin, and known as
the "Aposcopeuon."
43 Aristophon
44 has painted an Ancæus
45
wounded by the Boar, with Astypale, the sharer of his grief;
and a picture with numerous figures, representing Priam,
Helena, Credulity, Ulysses, Dphobus, and Guile.
46 Androbius
has painted a Scyllus
47 cutting away the anchors of the Persian
fleet: and Artemon a Danaë, with Robbers in admiration;
a Queen Stratonice;
48 and a Hercules and Deianira. But the
finest of all this artist's works are those now in the buildings
of Octavia; a Hercules ascending to heaven, with the sanction
of the gods, from his funeral pile upon Mount Œta in Doris;
and the story of Laomedon and his bargain
49 with Hercules
and Neptune. Alcimachus has painted Dioxippus,
50 who was
victorious in the pancratium at Olympia, without raising the
dust; a victory known to the Greeks as being gained "aconiti."
51
Cœnus painted pedigrees.
52
Ctesilochus, a pupil
53 of Apelles, was famous for a burlesque
picture of his representing Jupiter in labour with Bacchus,
54
with a mitra
55 on his head, and crying like a woman in the
midst of the goddesses, who are acting as midwives. Cleon
distinguished himself by his Cadmus; and Ctesidemus, by his
Capture of Œchalia
56 and his Laodamia.
Ctesicles became notorious for the insult which he offered
to Queen Stratonice;
57 for, upon failing to meet with an
honourable reception from her, he painted her, romping with
a fisherman, for whom, according to common report, she had
conceived an ardent affection. After exhibiting this picture
in the harbour at Ephesus, he at once set sail and escaped:
the queen, however, would not allow of its removal, the likenesses
of the two figures being so admirably expressed. Cratinus,
58
the comic writer, painted at Athens, in the Pompeion
59
there.
Of Eutychides, there is a Victory guiding a chariot drawn by
two horses. Eudorus is famous for his dramatic scenery; he
executed some statues in bronze also. By Hippys there is a
Neptune and Victory. Habron painted a picture of Friendship
and Concord, and several figures of divinities; Leontiscus,
an Aratus with the trophies of victory,
60 and a Singing-girl;
Leon, a portrait of Sappho; and Nearchus, a Venus attended
by Cupids and Graces, and a Hercules, sorrowing and repentant
at the sad results of his madness.
61 Nealces,
62 a remarkably
ingenious and inventive artist, painted a Venus. On one occasion,
when he had to represent a naval engagement between
the Persians and Egyptians, wishing it to be understood that
it took place on the river Nilus, the waters of which are similar
in appearance to those of the sea, he employed an emblem to
disclose that which would not admit of expression by art; for he
painted an ass drinking on the shore, and a crocodile lying in
wait for him.
63
Œnias has painted a Family Group; Philiscus, a Painter's
Studio, with a boy blowing the fire; Phalerion, a Scylla; Simonides,
an Agatharchus and a Mnemosyne; Simus, a youth
reposing, a Fuller's Shop, a person celebrating the Quinquatria,
64
and a Nemesis of great merit. By Theorus
65 there is a
Man Anointing himself; a picture of the Murder of Ægisthus
and Clytæmnestra by Orestes; and a representation of the
Trojan War, in a series of paintings, now at Rome, in the
Porticos
66 of Philippus: a Cassandra
67 also, in the Temple of
Concord; a Leontium, the mistress of Epicurus, in an attitude
of meditation; and a King Demetrius.
68 Theon
69 has painted
the Frenzy
70 of Orestes, and a Thamyras
71 playing on the
lyre; Tauriscus, a Discobolus,
72 a Clytæmnestra, a Pan in miniature,
a Polynices claiming
73 the sovereignty, and a Capaneus.
74
In speaking of these artists, I must not omit to mention
one memorable circumstance: Erigonus, who was colour-grinder
to the painter Nealces, himself made such progress in
the art as to leave a very celebrated pupil, Pasias, the brother of
Ægineta, the modeller. It is also a very singular fact, and one
well deserving of remark, that the last works of these artists,
their unfinished paintings, in fact, are held in greater admiration
than their completed works; the Iris of Aristides, for instance,
the Tyndaridæ
75 of Nicomachus, the Medea of Timomachus,
76
and the Venus of Apelles,
77 already mentioned. For in such
works as these, we not only see the outline depicted, and the
very thoughts of the artist expressed, but have the composition
additionally commended to our notice by the regrets which we
must necessarily feel on finding the hand that commenced it
arrested by death.
There are still some other artists, who, though by no means
without reputation, can only be noticed here in a summary
manner: Aristocydes; Anaxander; Aristobulus of Syria;
Arcesilas,
78 son of Tisicrates; Corœbos, a pupil of Nicomachus;
Charmantides, a pupil of Euphranor; Dionysodorus of Colophon;
Dicæogenes, a contemporary of King Demetrius;
79 Euthymides;
Heraclides
80 of Macedon; Milo of Soli, a pupil of the statuary
Pyromachus; Mnasitheus of Sicyon; Mnasitimus, the son and
pupil of Aristonidas;
81 Nessus, son of Habron;
82 Polemon of
Alexandria; Theodorus of Samos, and Stadieus, pupils of
Nicosthenes; and Xeno of Sicyon, a pupil of Neocles.
There have been some female painters also. Timarete, the
daughter of Micon,
83 painted a Diana at Ephesus, one of the
very oldest panel-paintings known. Irene, daughter and
pupil of the artist Cratinus,
84 painted a figure of a girl, now
at Eleusis, a Calypso, an Aged Man, the juggler Theodorus,
and Alcisthenes the dancer. Aristarete, daughter and pupil of
Nearchus, painted an Æsculapius. Iaia of Cyzicus, who always
remained single, painted at Rome, in the youth of M. Varro,
both with the brush, and with the graver,
85 upon ivory, her subjects
being female portraits mostly. At Naples, there is a large
picture by her, the portrait of an Old Woman; as also a portrait
of herself, taken by the aid of a mirror. There was no painter
superior to her for expedition; while at the same time her
artistic skill was such, that her works sold at much higher
prices than those of the most celebrated portrait-painters of
her day, Sopolis namely, and Dionysius,
86 with whose pictures
our galleries are filled. One Olympias painted also, but nothing
is known relative to her, except that she had Autobulus
for a pupil.