(), the most celebrated of Grecian painters, was
born, most probably, at Colophon in Ionia (Suidas, s. v.), though Pliny
(Art. Am. 3.401
; Pont. 4.1. 29) call him a Coan. The account of Strabo (De Calumn. 59.
§§ 2, 6), that he was an Ephesian, may be explained from the statements of Suidas,
that he was made a citizen at Ephesus, and that he studied painting there under Ephorus. He
afterwards studied under Pamphilus of Amphipolis, to whom he paid the fee of a talent for a
ten-years' course of instruction. (Suidas, s.v.
The best part of the life of Apelles was probably spent at the court of Philip and Alexander
the Great; for Pliny speaks of the great number of his portraits of both those princes
(35.36.16), and states that he was the only person whom Alexander would permit to take his portrait. (7.38;
see also De Tranq. Anim. 12, p. 471f.) Aelian tells the
anecdote of Zeuxis and Megabyzus. (Var. Hist. 2.2.) Pliny (l. c.) also tells us that Apelles, having been commissioned by Alexander to paint his favourite concubine, Campaspe
(De Calumn. 59. §§ 2-6, vol. iii. pp. 127-132.) Lucian's words imply that he
had seen this picture, but he may have been mistaken in ascribing it to Apelles. He seems also
to speak of Apelles as if he had been living at Ptolemy's court before this event occurred.
If, therefore, Pliny and Lucian are both to be believed, we may conclude, from comparing their
tales, that Apelles, having been accidentally driven to Alexandria, overcame the dislike which
Ptolemy bore to him, and remained in Egypt during the latter part of his life, enjoying the
favour of that king, in spite of the schemes of his rivals to disgrace him. The account of his
life cannot be carried further; we are not told when or where he died; but from the above
facts his date can be fixed, since he practised his art before the death of Philip (Amalth. iii. pp. 117-119) places him between 352 and
308 B. C. According to Pliny, he flonrished about the 112th Olympiad,
Many anecdotes are preserved of Apelles and his contemporaries, which throw an interesting
light both on his personal and his professional character. He was ready to acknowledge that in
some points he was excelled by other artists, as by Amphion in grouping and by Asclepiadorus
in perspective. (ib. § 13.) In speaking of the great artists who were his
contemporaries, he ascribed to them every possible excellence except one, namely, grace, which he claimed for himself alone. (Ib. §
10.)
Throughout his whole life, Apelles laboured to improve himself, especially in drawing, which
he never spent a day without practising. (Plin. ib. § 12; hence the
proverb Nulla dies sine linca.) The tale of his contest with Protogenes
affords an example both of the skill to which Apelles attained in this portion of his art, and
cf the importance attached to it in all the great schools of Greece.
Apelles had sailed to Rhodes, eager to meet Protogenes. Upon landing, he went straight to
that artist's studio. Protogenes was absent, but a large panel ready to be painted on hung in
the studio. Apelles seized the pencil, and drew an in ilia
ipsa). When Apelles returnend and saw the lines, ashamed to be defeated, says Pliny,
"tertio colore lineas secuit, nullum relinquens amplius subtilitati locum." (Ib. § 11.) The most natural explanation of this difficult passage seems to be,
that down the middle of the first line of Apelles, Protogenes drew another so as to divide it
into two parallel halves, and that Apelles again divided the line of Protogenes in the same
manner. Pliny speaks of the three lines as visum effugientes.
Of the means which Apelles took to ensure accuracy, the following example is given. He used
to expose his finished pictures to view in a public place, while he hid himself behind the
picture to hear the criticisms of the passers-by. A cobbler detected a fault in the shoes of a
figure : the next day he found that the fault was corrected, and was proceeding to criticise
the leg, when Apelles rushed from behind the picture, and commanded the cobbler to keep to the
shoes. (Plin. Ib. § 12 : hence the proverb, Ne supra
crepidam sutor : see also pro Imag. 14, vol. ii. p. 492.)
Marvellous tales are told of the extreme accuracy of his likenesses of men and horses. (de
Calumn. l.c.; Aelian, Nocere saepe nimiam diligentiam. (Plin. l.c.
§ 10; Cic. Orat. 22;
Apelles is stated to have made great improvements in the mechanical part of his art. The
assertion of Pliny, that he used only four colours, is incorrect. (Dict. of
Ant. s. v. Colores.) He painted with the pencil, but we are not told whether he used the
cestrum. His principal discovery was that of covering the picture with a very thin black
varnish (atramentum), which, besides preserving the picture, made the
tints clearer and subdued the more brilliant colours. (Plin. l.c. §
18.) The process was, in all probability, the same as that now called glazing
or toning, the object of which is to attain the excellence of colouring "which does not
proceed from fine colours, but true colours; from breaking down these fine colours, which
would appear too raw, to a deeptoned brightness." (Sir. J. Reynolds, Notes on
Du Fresnoy, note 37.) From the fact mentioned by Pliny, that this varnishing could be
discovered only on close inspection, Sir J. Reynolds thought that it was like that of
Correggio. That he painted on moveable panels is evident from the frequent mention of tabulae with reference to his pictures. Pliny expressly says, that he did
not paint on walls. (35.37.)
A list of the works of Apelles is given by Pliny. (35.36.) They are for the most part single
figures, or groups of a very few figures. Of his portraits the most celebrated was that of
Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, which was
known as Fort. Alex. 2, 3.) In this picture, the
thunderbolt and the hand which held it appeared to stand out of the panel; and, to aid this
effect, the artist did not scruple to represent Alexander's complexion as dark, though it was really light. (l.c.;
l.c., and 40.41; de Off. 3.2.)
By the general consent of ancient authors, Apelles stands first among Greek painters. To the
undiscriminating admiration of Pliny, who seems to have regarded a portrait of a horse, so
true that other horses neighed at it, as an achievement of art as admirable as the Venus
Anadyomene itself, we may add the unmeasured praise which Cicero, Varro, Columella, Ovid, and
other writers give to the works of Apelles, and especially to the Venus Anadyomene. (de Orat. 3.7; Varro, L. L. 9.12, ed. Muller; Colum. R. R. Praef. § 31,
Schn.; Ovid. Art. Am. 3.401; Pont. 4.1. 29; Propert.
3.7. 11; Auson. Ep. 106 ; Anthol. Planud.
4.178-182.) Statius (Notes on Du Fresnoy, note 37);
and, though the point has been disputed, such is the general judgment of the best modern
authorities. It need scarcely be said, that not one of the pictures of Apelles remains to
decide the question by.
In order to understand what was the excellence which was peculiar to Apelles, we must refer
to the state of the art of painting in his time. (Dict. of Ant. s. v.
Painting.) After the essential forms of Polygnotus had been elevated to dramatic effect
and ideal expression by Apollodorus and Zeuxis, and enlivened with the varied character and
feeling which the school of Eupompus drew forth from direct observation of nature, Apelles
perceived that something still was wanting, something which the refinements attained by his
contemporaries in grouping, perspective, accuracy, and finish, did not supply--something which
he boasted, and succeeding ages confirmed the boast, that he alone achieved--namely, the
quality called in its proper measure ; the expending
of power enough to produce the desired effect, and no more; the absence of all exaggeration,
as well as of any sensible deficiency; the most natural and pleasing mode of impressing the
subject on the spectator's mind, without displaying the means by which the impression is
produced. In fact, the meaning which Fuseli attaches to the word seems to be that in which it
was used by Apelles : " By grace I mean that artless balance of motion
and repose sprung from character, founded on propriety, which neither falls short of the
demands nor overleaps the modesty of nature. Applied to execution, it means that dexterous
power which hides the means by which it was attained, the difficulties it has conquered." (Lect. 1.) In the same Lecture Fuseli gives the following estimate of the
character of Apelles as an artist : "The name of Apelles in Pliny is the synonyme of
unrivalled and unattainable excellence, but the enumeration of his works points out the
modification which we ought to apply to that superiority; it neither comprises exclusive
sublimity of invention, the most acute discrimination of character, the widest sphere of
comprehension, the most judicious and best balanced composition, nor the deepest pathos of
expression: his great prerogative consisted more in the unison than in the extent of his
powers; he knew better what he could do, what ought to be done, at what point he could arrive,
and what lay beyond his reach, than any other artist. Grace of conception and refinement of
taste were his elements, and went hand in hand with grace of execution and taste in finish;
powerful and seldom possessed singly, irresistible when united: that he built both on the firm
basis of the former system, not on its subversion, his well-known contest of lines with
Protogenes, not a legendary tale, but a well attested fact, irrefragably proves : .... the
corollaries we may adduce from the contest are obviously these, that the schools of Greece
recognized all one elemental principle : that acuteness and fidelity of eye and obedience of
hand form precision ; precision, proportion; proportion, beauty : that it is the `little more
or less,' imperceptible to vulgar eyes, which constitutes grace, and establishes the
superiority of one artist above another : that the knowledge ledge of the degrees of things,
or taste, presupposes a perfect knowledge of the things themselves : that colour, grace, and
taste, are ornaments, not substitutes, of form, expression, and character; and, when they
usurp that title, degenerate into splendid faults. Such were the principles on which Apelles
formed his Venus, or rather the personification of Female Grace,--the wonder of art, the
despair of artists." That this view of the Venus is right, is proved, if proof were needed, by
the words of Pliny (Venerem dicebat, quam Graeci Charita vocant," except that there is no reason
for calling the Venus "the personification of Female Grace ;" it was
rather Grace personified in a female form.
Apelles wrote on painting, but his works are entirely lost.