Apelles

c. 370 b.c.e.–Early third century b.c.e.

Painter

Greece's Greatest Painter.

Apelles was probably the greatest artist in the Greek world, though all that survives are descriptions of his works. He gained fame as the portrait artist of choice to some of the most powerful men in the ancient world, including Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, and Ptolemy I in Egypt. He placed great emphasis on precise line drawing, and every day he made a point of practicing it to maintain his skill. He also used a transparent varnish to preserve his paintings. The exact formula of the varnish is not known, but the word that the historian Pliny the Elder used for it was atramentum (black lacquer) which indicates that it darkened his colors and probably softened them.

Training.

Apelles was born either on the island of Cos, or on the Asia Minor mainland at Colopohon around 370 b.c.e. He was thus an Ionian Greek and he trained first with Ephorus of Ephesus who belonged to the Ionian School of artists. He then moved to the Greek mainland to study with the celebrated artist Pamphilus, who headed a school at Sicyon, the western neighbor of Corinth. Pamphilus was famous for charging high tuition fees, but his school had some famous alumni, including the sculptor Lysippus, who became Alexander the Great's sculptor of choice. Apelles learned to combine the precision of the Sicyonian style with the elegance that he had learned in Ionia, and about 340 b.c.e., his reputation was such that he was invited to the court of Philip II, king of Macedonia, where he painted portraits and won the admiration of the young Alexander, Philip's son.

Alexander's Favorite Portrait Artist.

Alexander was the subject of Apelles' most famous portraits, and Apelles helped to create the image of Alexander as a superhuman hero, ruler of the inhabited world. Alexander recognized the value of art in creating an image, and he entrusted his representation to only three artists: Apelles, Lysippus, and the engraver Pyrgoteles. The most famous of the portraits was Apelles' depiction of Alexander as the god Zeus holding a thunderbolt, Alexander as Zeus Keraunophoros, a painting that aimed to support Alexander's claim to deity. Another painting of Alexander showed him with the Victory Goddess, Nike, and another with strong allegorical overtones showed Alexander in a triumphal chariot along with the personification of war, Polemos, whose hands are bound. Both these paintings were later taken to Rome where they were displayed in the Forum of Augustus and later repainted so that Alexander's features in the paintings were replaced by those of Augustus himself by order of the emperor Claudius (r. 42–54 c.e.).

Aphrodite Anadyomene.

One of Apelles' most famous works was Aphrodite Anadyomene (Aphrodite Arising) which showed Aphrodite arising from the sea where she was born, and wringing her hair. According to one story, the model for the work was Alexander's mistress, with whom Apelles fell in love during a previous portrait sitting. When Alexander discovered Apelles' feelings, he gave his mistress to Apelles. If the anecdotes from ancient writers about Apelles' relationship with Alexander can be believed, Apelles was able to take liberties with Alexander that others could not. Both Pliny the Elder and Aelian noted instances when Apelles directly insulted Alexander's understanding of art and apparently suffered no consequences for his cheekiness. Apelles also did a self-portrait, the first self-portrait known from the ancient world.

Painter to the Kings.

When Alexander died in 323 b.c.e., Apelles painted portraits of his successors, including Antiogonus Monopthalmus (One-Eyed), who was blind in one eye. According to a description of this portrait, Apelles painted it in such a way as to show only the good eye, suggesting that he introduced a three-quarters view. Apelles then travelled to Alexandria in Egypt, where he worked in the court of King Ptolemy I. His career nearly came to an abrupt end there when he was implicated in a plot against Ptolemy, but he managed to clear his name and regain the favor of the king. Some scholars suggested that his famous allegorical painting, Calumny, described by the second-century c.e. satirist Lucian, was part of Apelles' argument for his innocence. The fifteenth-century Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) recreated this work from Lucian's description, and it now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Death.

Apelles died on the island of Cos, while copying his famous Aphodite Anadyomene. The painting was later taken to Rome. While the exact date of his death is unknown, it was probably early in the third century b.c.e.

sources

Vincent J. Bruno, Form and Color in Greek Painting (New York: Norton, 1977).

E. H. Gombrich, The Heritage of Apelles: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1976).

Andrew Sherwood, "Apelles," in Encyclopedia of Greece and the Classical Tradition. Ed. Graham Speake (London, England: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000): 99–101.