APELLES (4th century B.c.), probably the greatest painter of antiquity. He lived in the time of Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander. He was of Ionian origin but became a student at the celebrated school of Sicyon, where he worked under Pamphilus. He thus combined the Dorian thoroughness with the Ionic grace. He became the recognized court painter of Macedon, and his picture of Alexander holding a thunderbolt ranked with the Alexander with the spear of the sculptor Lysippus. Other works of Apelles had a great reputation, such as the portraits of the Macedonians Clitus, Archelaus, and Antigonus, the procession of the high priest of Artemis at Ephesus, Artemis amid a chorus of maidens, a great allegorical picture representing Calumny, and the painting representing Aphrodite rising out of the sea. Of none of these works have we any copy, unless indeed we may consider a painting of Alexander as Zeus in the house of the Vettii at Pompeii as a reminiscence of his work. We are told that he attached great value to the drawing of outlines, practising every day. The tale is well known of his visit to Protogenes, and the rivalry of the two masters as to which could draw the finest and steadiest line. The power of drawing such lines is conspic uous in the decoration of the red-figured vases of Athens. Apelles allowed the superiority of some of his contemporaries in particular matters : according to Pliny he admired the dispositio of Melan thius, i.e., the way in which he spaced his figures, and the mensurae of Asclepiodorus, who must have been a great master of sym metry and proportion. Apelles was also noted for improvements which he introduced in technique. He had a dark glaze, called by Pliny atramentum, which served both to preserve his paintings and to soften their colour.