Apelles

Apelles (flourished 4th century BC) was a renowned painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of this artist (N.H. 35.36.79-97 and passim) rated him first of all who preceded him and who came after. He dated Apelles to the 112th Olympiad (332-329 BC), possibly because he had produced a portrait of Alexander the Great.

Biography

Probably born at Colophon in Ionia, he first studied under Ephorus of Ephesus, then became a student to Pamphilus at Sicyon (N.H. 35.36.75). He executed a number of paintings for Phillip II and the young Alexander the Great to the advancement of his reputation.

His skill at drawing the human face is the point of a story connecting him with Ptolemy I. This onetime general of Alexander disliked Apelles while they both were in Alexander's retinue, and many years later, while travelling by sea a storm forced Apelles to land in Ptolemy's Egyptian kingdom. Ptolemy's jester was suborned by Apelles' rivals to convey to the artist an invitation to dine with Ptolemy. Apelles's unexpected arrival enraged the king. Ptolemy demanded to know who had given Apelles the invitation, and with a piece of charcoal from the fireplace Apelles drew a likeness on the wall -- which Ptolemy recognized as his jester in the first strokes of the sketch.

Apelles was a contemporary of Protogenes, whose reputation he advocated. Apelles travelled to Protogenes' home on Rhodes make the acquaintance of this painter he had heard so much about. Arriving at Protogenes's studio, he encountered an old woman who told him that Protogenes was out and asked for his name so she could report who had enquired after him. Observing in the studio a panel Protogenes had prepared for a painting, Apelles walked over to the easel, and taking up a brush told the servant to tell Protogenes "this came from me," and drew in color an extrememly fine line across the panel. When Protogenes returned, and the old woman explained what had taken place, he examined the line and pronounced that only Apelles could have done so perfect of work; Protogenes then dipped a brush into another color and drew a still finer line above the first one, and asked his servant to show this to the visitor should he return. When Apelles returned, and was shown Protogenes' response, ashamed that he might be bettered, he drew in a third color an even finer line between the first two, leaving no room for another display of craftsmanship. On seeing this, Protogenes admitted defeat, and went out to seek Apelles and meet him face-to-face.

Pliny claims that this very painting had been part of the collection of Julius Caesar, but was destroyed when Caesar's mansion on the Palatine Hill burned down. (It is unknown if this story was the inspiration for a similar exchange between the alien Klaatu and the scientist in the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still".)

While sketching one of Alexander the Great's concubines, Campaspe, Apelles fell in love with her. As a mark of appreciation for the great painter's work, Alexander presented her to him.

Apelles is said to have been working on a painting of Aphrodite of Kos when he died, and the painting was left unfinished for no one could be found with skill enough to complete it.

Works

Pliny states that Apelles made a number of useful innovations to the art of painting, but his recipie for a black varnish -- that both protected and enhanced the colors in his paintings, and created an effect that Pliny praises to no end -- Apelles kept secret and was lost with his death.

His paintings (none of which survive) include:

Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, one of the many he did of both Alexander and his father Philip;
Aphrodite Anadyomene ("Aphrodite Rising from the Sea"), showing the goddess rising from the sea (not the painting he was working on when he died, but an earlier painting), for which Pliny relates the tradition he used a former mistress of Alexander, Campaspe, as his model for Aphrodite;
A portrait of Antigonus I Monophthalmus on horseback, in a three-quarters view which artfully concealed the subject's blind eye;
A portrait of Artemis surrounded by a group of maidens offering a sacrifice, based on Odyssey 6.102ff;
Sacrifice in Cos, described in the Mimes (4.59) of Herodas.
A number of his paintings were taken to Rome (including Aphrodite Anadyomene and placed there on public display; two compositions that included a portrait of Alexander -- Castor and Pollux with Victory and Alexander the Great, and The Figure of War with his Hands Tied Behind Him Following the Triumphal Chariot of Alexander -- the Emperor Claudius later had Alexander's face replaced with that of his grandfather Augustus.

Legacy

Pliny connects a number of sayings to Apelles, which may come from Apelles' lost treatise on the art of painting. One comes from Apelles' judgement on Protogenes, that Protogenes knew when his painting was finished: quod manum de tabula scirat -- "[He knew] when to take the hand from the picture." Another refers to his practice of exhibiting his works in the front of his shop, then hiding near by to hear the comments of passers-by. When a cobbler commented on his mistakes in painting a shoe, Apelles made the corrections that very night; the next morning the cobbler noticed the changes, and proud of his effect on the artist's work began to criticize how Apelles portrayed the leg -- whereupon Apelles emerged from his hiding-place to state: Ne sutor ultra crepidam -- "Let the shoemaker venture no further." The last saying Pliny attributes to Apelles refers to the painter's diligence at practicing his art every day: Nulla dies sine linea -- "Not a day without a line drawn."

The paintings are the excellent portrayal of the events and scenes that we see around us. The painters are the best cameras of the world. They reproduce many different types of pictures. They even draw imaginary pictures that do not exist in this world. We tend to use both thinned oil paints and dense oil paints. Masterpieces can be dyed more than once, but each time it may be different from the existing paintings.h

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