Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  On the other hand again, as Varro tells us, a single picture by Serapio covered the whole space of the balustrades, beneath the Old Shops, where it was exhibited. This artist was very successful in painting stage-scenery, but was unable to depict the human form. Dionysius, on the contrary, painted nothing but men, and hence it was that he had the surname of “Anthropographos.” Callicles also painted some small pictures, and Calates executed some small works in the comic style. Both of these styles were adopted by Antiphilus; who painted a very fine Hesione, and a Philip and Alexander with Minerva, now in the School of the Porticos of Octavia. In the Portico of Philippus, also, there is a Father Liber by him; an Alexander when a child; and an Hippolytus alarmed at the Bull, which is rushing upon him: and in the Portico of Pompeius we have his Cadmus and Europa. On the other hand, again, he painted a figure in a ridiculous costume, known jocosely as the Gryllus; and hence it is that pictures of this class are generally known as “Grylli.” Antiphilus was a native of Egypt, and received instruction in the art from Ctesidemus.

  It would not be right to pass in silence the painter of the Temple at Ardea, the more particularly as he was honoured with the citizenship at that place, and with the following inscription in verse upon one of the paintings which he executed there:

  “These paintings, worthy of this worthy place,

  Temple of Juno, queen, and wife of Jove,

  Plautius Marcus, from Alalia, made.

  May Ardea now and ever praise him for his skill.”

  These lines are written in ancient Latin characters.

  Ludius too, who lived in the time of the late Emperor Augustus, must not be allowed to pass without some notice; for he was the first to introduce the fashion of covering the walls of our houses with most pleasing landscapes, representing villas, porticos, ornamental gardening, woods, groves, hills, fishponds, canals, rivers, sea-shores, and anything else one could desire; varied with figures of persons walking, sailing, or proceeding to their villas, on asses or in carriages. Then. too, there are others to be seen fishing, fowling, or gathering in the vintage. In some of his decorations there are fine villas to be seen, and roads to them across the marshes, with women making bargains to be carried across on men’s shoulders, who move along slipping at every step and tottering beneath their load; with numberless other subjects of a similar nature, redolent of mirth and of the most amusing ingenuity. It was this artist, too, who first decorated our uncovered edifices with representations of maritime cities, a subject which produces a most pleasing effect, and at a very trifling expense.

  But as for fame, that has been reserved solely for the artists who have painted pictures; a thing that gives us all the more reason to venerate the prudence displayed by the men of ancient times. For with them, it was not the practice to decorate the walls of houses, for the gratification of the owners only; nor did they lavish all their resources upon a dwelling which must of necessity always remain a fixture in one spot, and admits of no removal in case of conflagration. Protogenes was content with a cottage in his little garden; Apelles had no paintings on the plaster of his walls; it not being the fashion in their day to colour the party-walls of houses from top to bottom. With all those artists, art was ever watchful for the benefit of whole cities only, and in those times a painter was regarded as the common property of all.

  Shortly before the time of the late Emperor Augustus, Arellius was in high esteem at Rome; and with fair reason, had he not profaned the art by a disgraceful piece of profanity; for, being always in love with some woman or other, it was his practice, in painting goddesses, to give them the features of his mistresses; hence it is, that there were always some figures of prostitutes to be seen in his pictures. More recently, lived Amulius, a grave and serious personage, but a painter in the florid style. By this artist there was a Minerva, which had the appearance of always looking at the spectators, from whatever point it was viewed. He only painted a few hours each day, and then with the greatest gravity, for he always kept the toga on, even when in the midst of his implements. The Golden Palace of Nero was the prison-house of this artist’s productions, and hence it is that there are so few of them to be be seen elsewhere.

  Next in repute to him were Cornelius Pinus and Attius Priscus, who painted the Temple of Honour and that of Virtue, on their restoration by the Emperor Vespasianus Augustus. Priscus approaches more closely to the ancient masters.

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  CHAP. 38. (11.)

  AN EFFECTUAL WAY OF PUTTING A STOP TO THE SINGING OF BIRDS.

  I must not omit here, in reference to painting, a celebrated story that is told about Lepidus. During the Triumvirate, when he was entertained by the magistrates of a certain place, he had lodgings given him in a house that was wholly surrounded with trees. The next day, he complained to them in a threatening tone, that he had been unable to sleep for the singing of the birds there. Accordingly, they had a dragon painted, on pieces of parchment of the greatest length that could possibly be obtained, and surrounded the grove with it; a thing that so terrified the birds, it is said, that they became silent at once; and hence it was that it first became known how this object could be attained.

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  CHAP. 39.

  ARTISTS WHO HAVE PAINTED IN ENCAUSTICS OR WAX, WITH EITHER THE CESTRUM OR THE PENCIL.

  It is not agreed who was the inventor of the art of painting in wax and in encaustic. Some think that it was a discovery of the painter Aristides, and that it was afterwards brought to perfection by Praxiteles: but there are encaustic paintings in existence, of a somewhat prior date to them, those by Polygnotus, for example, and by Nicanor and Arcesilaüs, natives of Paros. Elasippus too, has inscribed upon a picture of his at Ægina, the word ἐνέχαεν; a thing that he certainly could not have done, if the art of encaustic painting had not been then invented.

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  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, the instructor of Apelles, not only painted in encaustic, but also instructed Pausias 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 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,” representing the portrait of a child.

  In his youth, he was enamoured of Glycera, 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” by some, and as the “Stephanopolis” 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,” 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 th
e 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. 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.

  Next to him, in the hundred and fourth Olympiad, Euphranor, 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; 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. 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; and a Warrior, sheathing his sword.

  At the same time, also, flourished Cydias; 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. 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 of Athens; who was a most careful painter of female portraits, and a strict observer of light and shade, 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; a Father Liber, in the Temple of Concord; a Hyacinthus, 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 of Augustus by the Emperor Tiberius; and a Danaë. At Ephesus, there is a tomb by him of a megabyzus, or priest of the Ephesian Diana; and at Athens a representation of the Necyomantea 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 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, 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; and at Athens, a family group, which has been known as the “Syngenicon;” 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, 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, 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 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, and about to enter into conversation, the one standing, the other in a sitting posture. It is in his picture, however of the Gorgon, 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, 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; as in his picture, for example, of Æsculapius with his daughters, Hygia, Ægle, and Panacea, his Jason, and his Sluggard, known as the “Ocnos,” a man twisting a rope at one end as an ass gnaws it at the other. As to Socrates, his pictures are, with good reason, universally esteemed.

  Having now mentioned the principal painters in either branch, I must not pass in silence those who occupy the next rank. Aristoclides decorated the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Antiphilus is highly praised for his picture of a Boy blowing a Fire, which illumines an apartment handsomely furnished, and throws a light 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.” Aristophon has painted an Ancæus 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. Androbius has painted a Scyllus cutting away the anchors of the Persian fleet: and Artemon a Danaë, with Robbers in admiration; a Queen Stratonice; 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 with Hercules and Neptune. Alcimachus has painted Dioxippus, who was victorious in the pancratium at Olympia, without raising the dust; a victory known to the Greeks as being gained “aconiti.” Cœnus painted pedigrees.

  Ctesilochus, a pupil of Apelles, was famous for a bu
rlesque picture of his representing Jupiter in labour with Bacchus, with a mitra 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 and his Laodamia.

  Ctesicles became notorious for the insult which he offered to Queen Stratonice; 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, the comic writer, painted at Athens, in the Pompeion 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, 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. Nealces, 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.

  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, and a Nemesis of great merit. By Theorus 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 of Philippus: a Cassandra also, in the Temple of Concord; a Leontium, the mistress of Epicurus, in an attitude of meditation; and a King Demetrius. Theon has painted the Frenzy of Orestes, and a Thamyras playing on the lyre; Tauriscus, a Discobolus, a Clytæmnestra, a Pan in miniature, a Polynices claiming the sovereignty, and a Capaneus.