APEL'LES (Gk. 'Ar-EXXijs). The most cele brated painter in ancient times, the son of Pytheas, and probably a native of Colophon, on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor. The state ments that he was a native of Cos or of Ephesus, seem due to his long residence in those places. He was probably made a citizen of Ephesus, and may have died at Cos, which afterward possessed an unfinished painting by him. The dates of his birth and death arc unknown, but the list of his portraits shows that he lived during the last part of the fourth century B.C. He first studied at Ephesus, and afterward at Sicyon under the celebrated teacher Pamphilus of Am phipolis, where he may have learned the fine drawing in which he excelled. From Sicyon he scents to have gone to Pella in Macedonia, where he painted portraits of Philip, and became the friend of Alexander, who sat to no other painter, though frequently to him, and permitted him much freedom of speech. His most celebrated portrait represented Alexander wielding the thunderbolt, of which it was said "of the two .Alexanders, Philip's is invincible, Apelles's in imitable." He also painted portraits of some of the generals of Alexander. His most celebrated works were mythological or allegorical. Very fa /11011S were his "Anadymnene" (q.v.) and his "Artemis Surrounded by Maidens." Of his paint ing of "Slander," in which also appeared lg,no ranee, Suspicion, Envy, Deceit, Remorse, and other personifications. Lucian gives a detailed description which has inspired Botticelli, Dfircr, and other artists. He seems to have returned to Asia after Alexander's conquests, and most of his celebrated works were found in Asiatic cities. At
Rhodes he visited the painter Protogenes, and is said to have contributed to his reputation by of fering a high price for one of his pictures. He was generous in his appreciation of his rivals, though fully aware of his own merits. He ad mitted that Melanthius surpassed him in group ing, and Aselepiodorus in symmetry, and that Protogenes was inferior only in never knowing when to stop, which deprived his pictures of that grace, which Apelles claimed as his own. He seems to have been remarkable for his accuracy of drawing and fine coloring, probably due to a thorough theoretical and practical training. The industry with which he practiced drawing was so great as to give rise to the proverb which in the Latin version is, NuHa dies sine Linea. Many anecdotes are related of Apelles. When his works were exposed to public view, he used to place himself behind a picture, to listen to the criticisms of the common people. A cobbler having detected a fault in the shoe of one of his figures, it is stated that Apelles instantly rectified it ; but when the cobbler, on the follow ing day, extended his criticism to the legs. the painter rushed from his hiding-place and told the cobbler to stick to the shoes, or, in the Latin version, which has become proverbial, :Vc sutor supra erepidam. Consult: Woltmann and Woermann, History of Painting, Vol. I., Eng. trams. (New York, 1386) ; Ilmissaye, Histoire d'A penes (Paris, 1S6;) ; Wust mann, Apellcs' Lcben Werke (Leipzig. 1870).