POL'YGNO'TIIS I Lat.. from Gk. II0Vpneros, A Oreek painter of the second quar ter of the fifth century B.C. He was the son of Aglaophon. and a native of the island of Thasos, where his family were artists. He seems to have come to Athens shortly after the Persian wars, and found abundant scope for his talents in the decoration of the great buildings which mark this period. Along with the Ionian Nikon. and Parmnos, brother of Phidias. he is said to have decorated the Tlu.seum. Stott Percile (or painted portico), and Anakcion, or temple of the Dios euri, with paintings from legend and recent his tory. though the division of the paintings among the artists was not certain. The first building contained the battles of the Athenians with the tle of Theseus with the Amazons, the battle of Atrathon, and the victory of the Athenians and Argives over the Spartans at (Enoe, of which the second was by some attributed to Polygnotus. In the Anakeion he painted the Dioscuri carry ing off the daughters of Leucippus. In the temple of Athena Areia at Plata'u was a painting by hint representing the slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus, and some frescoes in the Propyla-a at Athens were attributed to him. celebrated and best known from the descriptions by Pau sanias are the great paintings in the Lesehe (or porch) at Delphi, representing the departure of the Greeks ,from Troy and the descent of Odys seus to the lower world. As is clear from these subjects, Polygnotus devoted himself to extensive compositions containing litany figures whose grouping and characterization required careful study. At the same time his means were simple.
Black, white, red, yellow, blue, and green were his colors, light and shade were unknown, and the strength of the artist lay in his beauty of outline and coloring, and above all in his de lineation of character. His subjects led him to arrange his figures on various levels, and for this reason he chose when possible sloping ground, could be easily indicated by waving lbws and the partial concealment of sonic figures. His influence was very marked not only on painting, as is clear from a group of Attic vases, but also on sculpture, and it is probable that the reliefs at Tryso (Gy61-bashi) reflect his art, or that of the Ionian school, of which he was the greatest exponent.
Consult Brunn. Gesehiehte der gpieehisc)en K iinstler (Stuttgart, 1853.59). The earlier works on the paintings of Polygnotus, tlmugh of some value, are in general superseded by later investi gations, especially those of Robert, Sch;ne, Schreiber, and IVeizsiteker: Robert, Die Nekyia des Polygnot (Halle, 1892); Die Iliupersis des Polygnot Ob., 1893); Die Marathonschlacht in der Poikile and Weiteres iiber Polygnot Ob., 1895) : Sch6ne, Polygnots delphischen Bild ern," in Jahrbuch des arehaologischen Instituts Berlin, 1803) : Schreiber, Die Wandbilder des Polygnot in. Delphi (Leipzig. 1897) ; Weizstieker, Polygnors Gemiilele in der Lesehe der Knidier in Delphi (Stuttgart, 1805). For reconstructions, see Robert, and Wiener Forlegebriitter (Vienna„ 1888 ) .