artists.
1. APOLLONIUS and TAURISCUS of Tralles,
were two brothers, and the sculptors of the group which is commonly known as the Farnese bull,
representing the punishment of Dirce by Zethus and Amphion. [DIRCE.]
It was taken from Rhodes to Rome by Asinius Pollio, and afterwards placed in the baths of
Caracalla, where it was dug up in the sixteenth century, and deposited in the Farnese palace.
It is now at Naples. After its discovery, it was restored, in a manner not at all in keeping
with its style, by Battista Bianchi of Milan. There is some reason to believe that additions
were made to it in the time of Caracalla. It was originally formed out of one block of marble.
A full description of the group, is given by Winckelmann, who distinguishes the old parts from
the new.
From the style of the ancient portions of the group, Winckelmann and Müller refer its
execution to the same period to which they imagine the Laocoon to belong, that is, the period
after Alexander the Great. Both groups belong to the same school of art, the Rhodian, and both
probably to the same period. If, therefore, we admit the force of the arguments of Lessing and
Thiersch respecting the date of the Laocoon [AGELADAS], we may
infer, that the Farnese bull was newly executed when Asinius Pollio took it to Rome, and
consequently, that Apollonius and Tauriscus flourished at the beginning of the first century
of the Christian aera. It is worth while to notice, that we have no history of this work
before its removal from Rhodes to Rome.
Pliny says of Apollonius and Tauriscus, "Parentum ii certamen de se fecere: Menecratem
videri professi, sed esse naturalem Artemidorum," which is understood to mean, that they
placed an inscription on their work, expressing a doubt whether their father, Artemidorus, or
their teacher, Menecrates. ought to be considered their true parent. Werke, vi. p. 52, vii. p. 205;
Müller, Archäol. der Kunst. § 157.)