PROTOGENES, a Greek painter, born in Caunus, on the coast of Caria, but resident in Rhodes during the latter half of the 4th century B.C. He was celebrated for the minute and laborious finish which he bestowed on his pictures, both in drawing and in colour. Apelles, his great rival, standing amazed in the presence of one of these works, could only console himself by saying that it was wanting in charm. On one picture, the "Ialysus," he spent seven years; on another, the "Satyr," he worked continuously dur ing the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius Poliorcetes (305-304 B.c.) notwithstanding that the garden in which he painted was in the middle of the enemy's camp. lalysus was a local hero, the founder of the town of the same name in the island of Rhodes. This picture was still in Rhodes in the time of Cicero, but was afterwards removed to Rome, where it perished in the burning of the Temple of Peace. The picture painted during the siege of Rhodes consisted of a satyr leaning idly against a pillar on which was a figure of a partridge, so life-like that ordinary spectators saw nothing but it. Enraged on this account, the painter
wiped out the partridge. The "Satyr" must have been one of his last works. He would then be about 7o years of age, and had enjoyed for about 20 years a reputation next only to that of Apelles, his friend and benefactor.
In the Propylaea at Athens was a painting by Protogenes representing personifications of the coast of Attica, Paralus and Hammonias. For the council chamber at Athens he painted fig ures of the Thesmothetae. Among his portraits are mentioned those of the mother of Aristotle, Philiscus the tragic poet, and King Antigonus. But Protogenes was also a sculptor and made several bronze statues of athletes, armed figures, huntsmen and persons in the act of offering sacrifices. He wrote two books on painting and design.