A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Ἀγλαοφῶν), a painter, born in the island of Thasos, the father and instructor of Polygnotus. (Suidas and Photius, s. v. Πολύγνωτος; Anth. Gr. 9.700.) He had another son named Aristophon. (Plat. Gorg. p. 448. B.) As Polygnotus flourished before the 90th Ol. (Plin. Nat. 35.9. s. 35), Aglaophon probably lived about Ol. 70. Quintilian (12.10.3) praises his paintings, which were distinguished by the simplicity of their colouring, as worthy of admiration on other grounds besides their antiquity. There was an Aglaophon who flourished in the 90th Ol. andmother, who were possessed of great wealth, according to Pliny (Plin. Nat. 35.9. s. 36), and his statement is confirmed by a passage of Athenaeus (xii. p. 543, D.), from which we learn that he painted two pictures, in one of which Olympias and Pythias, as the presiding geniuses of the Olylmpic and Pythian games, were represented crowning Alcibiades; in the other Nemea, the presiding deity of the Nemean games, held Alcibiades on her knees. Alcibiades could not have gained any victories much before Ol. 91. (B. C. 416.) It is therefore exceedingly likely that this artist was the son of Aristophon, and grandson of the older Aglaophon, as among the Greeks the son generally bore the name not of his father but of his grandfather. Plutarch (Plut. Alc. 16) says, that Aristophon was the author of the picture of Nemea and Alcibiades. He may perhaps have assisted his son. This Aglaophon was, according to some, the first who represented Victory with wings. (Schol. ad Aristoph. Birds 573.)

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