From the accounts given of the various pictures paint ed by Apelles, which call forth commendations in every particular quality of the art, he seems particularly to have studied the pleasing illusion of fore-shortening, which im plies a degree of knowledge and address that has been of ten denied to the ancients. The thunderbolt held in the hand of Alexander, painted in the character of Jupiter, was said to advance beyond the picture. His celebrated allegorical picture of Calumny was likewise the subject of much praise among the ancients. The occasion of this picture was an accusation brought against Apelles, when in Egypt, by the jealousy of one of his rivals. The charge having been entertained by Ptolemy, occasioned the re turn of Apelles to Greece, where he took this means of vindicating his character, and teaching to the world a good moral lesson. He represents Calumny as a female of haughty mien, and magnificently attired, with a fierce and malicious expression, in one hand holding a flambeau, and with the other dragging a young man by the hair, who holds his hands up to heaven, as if declaring his innocence. Pale wasted Envy precedes, with piercing eyes, and be hind is a crowd of female harpies, with artful smiles. This train approaches the judge, who readily holds out his hand to Calumny. In the back ground appears Repentance in tears, and preparing to receive Truth, who is seen coming up from a considerable distance. Much has since been borrowed from this noble composition.
Protogenes of Rhodes, who was the contemporary of Apellcs, was a careful painter, whose merits were brought into notice through the good offices of Apelles. He is said to have finished with such laborious toil as to have been occupied seven years in the execution of one pic ture, which he painted several times over, in order, by giving so thick a body of colour, to secure its durability, Apelles accused him of working off the spirit of his com position by over-finishing ; he was in great poverty, and painted ships to gain a livelihood. There is an anecdote mentioned of his great composure during the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius Phatereus, having been found qui etly at work by the besiegers ; but this story is at variance with the account of the siege given by Aulus Gellius, in th9 16th Chap. 1st who places the event after the death of Protogenes, and states that the possession of his famous picture of Ialysus, which the Rhodians valued as the treasure of their city, was one motive for pushing the siege with such determination. At the representation of the deputies of the town to Demetrius, that the picture would certainly be consumed if he persisted in burning the town, he is reported to have refrained from continu ing the siege. If there is any truth in this 'story, it shows painting to have been held in a degree of estimation at that time, which surpasses any thing we know of it since. The picture represented the founder of Rhodes returning from the chase with his dog: the painter wishing to re present the foam about the dog's mouth, in which he fail ed of success, is said in a fit of despair to have tossed the pencil at the picture ; this accidental stroke fell so fortun ately on the dog's mouth, as to produce at once what he had so long laboured in vain to accomplish. Nichoma
cus, who succeeded Protogenes, excelled in the opposite extreme of rapidity of execution, with a light and easy pencil.
Pansies painted ceilings and flowers, and first introduc ed the encaustic mode of painting; Antiphilius was the calumniator, whose jealousy occasioned the famous pic ture of Calumny, by Apelles. He, as well as Pansies, painted in the taste which has been since adopted by the Dutch school. In a picture of a sacrifice painted by Pan sies, he is said to hare introduced a black ox, seen di rectly in front, but executed with such skill in perspec tive, as to make the whole length of the animal be dis tinctly perceptible, and as much so to appearance as if it had been seen sideways. The rich Lucullus gave no less a sum, according to Pliny, than two talents, about 5001., for a copy of his picture of the flower girl. With Pan sies originated the idea which has been so much repeated by the Dutch school, of representing the countenance of a person drinking, as seen through a glass tankard. No thing could be more perfectly a Dutch subject than a boy blowing up a piece of charcoal, with which his own coun tenance is brilliantly illuminated. This was the master piece of Antiphilius's performances. Euphranon painted the battle of dantinea, so much praised by Plutarch and Pausanias, and a picture of the Argonauts, painted by Cy dies, was bought by the Roman orator Ilortensius for for ty-four thousand sesterces.
Pliny makes no mention of Łtion, who lived not long after Apelles. He is taken notice of by Cicero among the great painters. His principal picture, which he ex hibited at the Olympic games, was the marriage of Alex ander and Roxane, described at some length by Lucian, as having been remarkably happy in the allegorical em ployments given to a number of little Cupids. We should imagine that he was describing a composition of Albano, so close is the resemblance of style. The different pieces of the hero's armour are lying about, and occupy the at tention of the little Cupids, who are seen exercising every sort of playful invention in tricking each other, and mock ing the graver personages of the piece ; marching about under the burden of some piece of armour, with the gro tesque air of warriors, while a cunning little rogue hides himself in ambuscade within the coat of mail, impatient to play off his stratagem, and scare the warlike troop. Were we to describe the beautiful realization of these ideas in the loves of Cupid and Psyche, with which the divine master of modern art has decorated the Farnesiana, where colouring and the excellent disposition of light and shade seem carried to the height of perfection, it could only be in similar terms ; and it is difficult to suppose any inferi ority in the ancient artist with whom the conception ori ginated.