With Nicias has been compared, and indeed sometimes preferred to him, Athenion of Maronea,[2126] 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;[2127] and at Athens, a family group, which has been known as the “Syngenicon;”[2128] 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,[2129] 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,[2130] 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[2131] 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,[2132] and about to enter into conversation, the one standing, the other in a sitting posture. It is in his picture, however of the Gorgon,[2133] 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,[2134] 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;[2135] as in his picture, for example, of Æsculapius with his daughters, Hygia,[2136] Ægle, and Panacea, his Jason, and his Sluggard, known as the “Ocnos,”[2137] a man twisting a rope at one end as an ass gnaws it at the other. As to Socrates,[2138] his pictures are, with good reason, universally esteemed.
Having now mentioned the principal painters in either branch,[2139] I must not pass in silence those who occupy the next rank. Aristoclides decorated the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Antiphilus[2140] is highly praised for his picture of a Boy blowing a Fire, which illumines an apartment handsomely furnished, and throws a light[2141] 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.”[2142] Aristophon[2143] has painted an Ancæus[2144] wounded by the Boar, with Astypale, the sharer of his grief; and a picture with numerous figures, representing Priam, Helena, Credulity, Ulysses, Deiphobus, and Guile.[2145] Androbius has painted a Scyllus[2146] cutting away the anchors of the Persian fleet: and Artemon a Danaë, with Robbers in admiration; a Queen Stratonice;[2147] 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[2148] with Hercules and Neptune. Alcimachus has painted Dioxippus,[2149] who was victorious in the pancratium at Olympia, without raising the dust; a victory known to the Greeks as being gained “aconiti.”[2150] Cœnus painted pedigrees.[2151]
Ctesilochus, a pupil[2152] of Apelles, was famous for a burlesque picture of his representing Jupiter in labour with Bacchus,[2153] with a mitra[2154] 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[2155] and his Laodamia.
Ctesicles became notorious for the insult which he offered to Queen Stratonice;[2156] 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,[2157] the comic writer, painted at Athens, in the Pompeion[2158] 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,[2159] 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.[2160] Nealces,[2161] 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.[2162]
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,[2163] and a Nemesis of great merit. By Theorus[2164] 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[2165] of Philippus: a Cassandra[2166] also, in the Temple of Concord; a Leontium, the mistress of Epicurus, in an attitude of meditation; and a King Demetrius.[2167] Theon[2168] has painted the Frenzy[2169] of Orestes, and a Thamyras[2170] playing on the lyre; Tauriscus, a Discobolus,[2171] a Clytæmnestra, a Pan in miniature, a Polynices claiming[2172] the sovereignty, and a Capaneus.[2173]
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[2174] of Nicomachus, the Medea of Timomachus,[2175] and the Venus of Apelles,[2176] 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.