Chaps. 14-35.

Chap. 14.—Rubrica; Lemnian Earth: Four Remedies.

Some persons have wished to make out that sinopis is nothing else but a kind of rubrica [Red ochre, or red oxide of iron. See B. xxxiii. c., and B. xxxiv. c..] of second-rate quality, looking upon earth of Lemnos as a rubrics of the highest quality. This last approaches very nearly to minium, [See B. xxxiii. cc.,.] and was as highly esteemed among the ancients as the island that produces it: it was never sold except in sealed packages, a circumstance to which it was indebted for its additional name of “sphragis.” It is with this material that they give the under-coating to minium, in the adulteration of which it is also extensively employed.

In medicine it is very highly esteemed. Applied to the eyes in the form of a liniment, it allays defluxions and pains in those organs, and arrests the discharges from lachrymal fistulas. To persons vomiting blood, it is administered with vinegar to drink. It is taken also internally for affections of the spleen and kidneys; and by females for the purpose of arresting flooding. It is employed too, to counteract the effects of poisons, and of stings inflicted by sea or land serpents; hence it is that it is so commonly used as an ingredient in antidotes.

Chap. 15.—Egyptian Earth.

Of the other kinds of rubrica, those of Egypt and Africa are of the greatest utility to workers in wood, from the fact of their being absorbed with the greatest rapidity. They are used also for painting, and are found in a native state in iron-mines. [Ajasson thinks that this was an hydroxide of iron, of a greenish yellow or brown colour.]

Chap. 16.—Ochra: Remedies Derived from Rubrica.

It is from rubrica also, that ochra [Whence our word “ochre.” See “Sil,” in B. xxxiii. cc.,.] is prepared, the rubrica being burnt [Theophrastus, on the contrary, says that it is “ochra” that is burnt, in order to obtain “rubrica.”] in new earthen pots well luted with clay. The more highly it is calcined in the furnace, the better the colour is. All kinds of rubrica are of a desiccative nature, and hence it is that they are so useful for plasters, and as an application even for erysipelas.

Chap. 17.—Leucophoron.

Half a pound of Pontic sinopis, ten pounds of bright sil, [See B. xxxiii. cc.,.] and two pounds of Greek melinum, [A white earth from the Isle of Melos. See Chapter.] well mixed and triturated together for twelve successive days, produce “leucophoron,” [See B. xxxiii. c.. “One may readily conceive that this must have been a ferruginous ochre, or kind of bole, which is still used as a ground, poliment, assiette.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 294. Bohn’s Edition.] a cement used for applying gold-leaf to wood.

Chap. 18.—Parætonium.

Parætonium [A white, much used for fresco painting. Ajasson is of opinion, that Pliny, in this Chapter, like the other ancient authors, confounds two earths that are, in reality, totally different.—Hydrosilicate of magnesia, or Steatite, and Rhomboidical carbonate of lime.] is so called from the place [See B. v. c. 6.] of that name in Egypt. It is sea-foam, [Ajasson thinks that possibly our compact magnesite, meerschaum, or sea-foam, may be the substance here alluded to.] they say, solidified with slime, and hence it is that minute shells are often found in it. It is prepared also in the Isle of Crete, and at Cyrenæ. At Rome, it is adulterated with Cimolian [See Chapter of this Book.] earth, boiled and thickened. The price of that of the highest quality is fifty denarii per six pounds. This is the most unctuous of all the white colours, and the most tenacious as a coating for plaster, the result of its smoothness.

Chap. 19.—Melinum: Six Remedies. Ceruse.

Melinum, too, is a white colour, the best being the produce of the Isle of Melos. [See B. iv. c. 33. Tournefort says that this earth is exactly similar to the Cimolian earth, described in Chapter.] It is found also in Samos; but this last kind is never used by painters, in consequence of its being too unctuous. The persons employed in extracting it, lie at full length upon the ground, and search for the veins among the rocks. In medicine it is employed for much the same purposes as eretria; [See B. xxxiii. c., and Chapter of this Book.] in addition to which, it dries the tongue, acts as a depilatory, and has a soothing effect. The price of it is one sestertius per pound.

The third of the white pigments is ceruse, the nature of which we have already [In B. xxxiv. c..] explained when speaking of the ores of lead; there was also a native ceruse, formerly found on the lands of Theodotus at Smyrna, which the ancients made use of for painting ships. At the present day, all ceruse is prepared artificially, from lead and vinegar, [Ceruse, white lead, or carbonate of lead, is prepared in much the same manner at the present day. Ajasson is of opinion that the native pigment discovered on the lands of Theodotus, was native carbonate of lead, the crystals of which are found accompanied by quartz.] as already stated.

Chap. 20.—Usta.

Usta [“Burnt” ceruse. This was, in fact, one of the varieties of “minium,” red oxide of lead, our red lead. Vitruvius and Dioscorides call it “sandaraca,” differing somewhat from that of Pliny.] was accidentally discovered at a fire in the Piræus, some ceruse having been burnt in the jars there. Nicias, the artist above-mentioned, [In Chapter 10.] was the first to use it. At the present day, that of Asia, known also as “purpurea,” is considered the best. The price of it is six denarii per pound. It is prepared also at Rome by calcining marbled sil, [See B. xxxiii. cc.,.] and quenching it with vinegar. Without the use of usta shadows cannot be made. [It was possibly owing to this that the colour known as “umber” received its name, and not from Ombria, in Italy. Ajasson says that shadows cannot be successfully made without the use of transparent colours, and that red and the several browns are remarkably transparent.]

Chap. 21.—Eretria.

Eretria takes its name from the territory [See B. iv. c. 21.] which produces it. Nicomachus [As to both of these artists, see Chapter 36.] and Parrhasius made use of it. In a medicinal point of view, it is cooling and emollient. In a calcined state, it promotes the cicatrization of wounds, is very useful as a desiccative, and is particularly good for pains in the head, and for the detection of internal suppurations. If the earth, when applied [To the chest.] with water, does not dry with rapidity, the presence of purulent matter is apprehended.

Chap. 22.—Sandarach.

According to Juba, sandarach and ochra are both of them productions of the island of Topazus, [See B. vi. c. 34, and B. xxxvii. c..] in the Red Sea; but neither of them are imported to us from that place. The mode of preparing sandarach we have described [In B. xxxiv. c.. “Pliny speaks of different shades of sandaraca, the pale, or massicot, (yellow oxide of lead), and a mixture of the pale with minium. It also signified Realgar, or red sulphuret of arsenic.”—Wornum, in Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art. Colores.] already: there is a spurious kind also, prepared by calcining ceruse in the furnace. This substance, to be good, ought to be of a flame colour; the price of it is five asses per pound.

Chap. 23.—Sandyx.

Calcined with an equal proportion of rubrica, sandarach forms sandyx; [Sir H. Davy supposes this colour to have approached our crimson. In painting, it was frequently glazed with purple, to give it an additional lustre.] although I perceive that Virgil, in the following line, [Ecl. iv. l. 45. “Sponte suâ sandyx pascentes vestiet agnos.” Ajasson thinks that “Sandyx” may have been a name common to two colouring substances, a vegetable and a mineral, the former being our madder. Beckmann is of the same opinion, and that Virgil has committed no mistake in the line above quoted. Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 110. Bohn’s Edition. See also B. xxiv. c. 56.] has taken sandyx to be a plant—

The price of sandyx [The form “ sand,” in these words, Ajasson considers to be derived either from “Sandes,” the name of Hercules in Asia Minor, or at least in Lydia: or else from Sandak, the name of an ancestor of Cinyras and Adonis.] is one half that of sandarach; these two colours being the heaviest of all in weight.

Chap. 24.—Syricum.

Among the artificial colours, too, is syricum, which is used as an under-coating for minium, as already [In B. xxxiii. c.. According to Aetius, syricum was made by the calcination of pure ceruse, (similar to the “usta” above mentioned). He states also that there was no difference between sandyx and syricum, the former being the term generally used by medical men.] stated. It is prepared from a combination of sinopis with sandyx.

Chap. 25.—Atramentum.

Atramentum, [“Black colouring substance.”] too, must be reckoned among the artificial colours, although it is also derived in two ways from the earth. For sometimes it is found exuding from the earth like the brine of salt-pits, while at other times an earth itself of a sulphurous colour is sought for the purpose. Painters, too, have been known to go so far as to dig up half-charred bones [“Carbones infectos.” The reading is very doubtful. It may possibly mean “charred bones tainted with dirt.” This would make an inferior ivory-black. The earth before-mentioned is considered by Ajasson to be a deuto-sulphate of copper, a solution of which, in gallic acid, is still used for dyeing black. The water near copper-mines would very probably be also highly impregnated with it. Beckmann considers these to have been vitriolic products. Vol. II. p. 265.] from the sepulchres for this purpose.

All these plans, however, are new-fangled and troublesome; for this substance may be prepared, in numerous ways, from the soot that is yielded by the combustion of resin or pitch; so much so, indeed, that manufactories have been built on the principle of not allowing an escape for the smoke evolved by the process. The most esteemed black, [Our Lamp-black. Vitruvius describes the construction of the manufactories above alluded to.] however, that is made in this way, is prepared from the wood of the torch-pine.

It is adulterated by mixing it with the ordinary soot from furnaces and baths, a substance which is also employed for the purpose of writing. Others, again, calcine dried wine-lees, and assure us that if the wine was originally of good quality from which the colour is made, it will bear comparison with that of indicum. [Probably, our Chinese, or Indian ink, a different substance from the indicum of Chapter.] Polygnotus and Micon, the most celebrated painters of Athens, made their black from grape-husks, and called it “tryginon.” [From τρύξ, “grape-husks” or “wine-lees.”] Apelles invented a method of preparing it from burnt ivory, the name given to it being “elephantinon.”

We have indicum also, a substance imported from India, the composition of which is at present unknown to me. [Indian ink is a composition of fine lamp-black and size.] Dyers, too, prepare an atramentum from the black inflorescence which adheres to the brazen dye-pans. It is made also from logs of torch-pine, burnt to charcoal and pounded in a mortar. The sæpia, too, has a wonderful property of secreting a black liquid; [See B. ii. c. 29. Sepia, for sepic drawing, is now prepared from these juices.] but from this liquid no colour is prepared. The preparation of every kind of atramentum is completed by exposure to the sun; the black, for writing, having an admixture of gum, and that for coating walls, an admixture of glue. Black pigment that has been dissolved in vinegar is not easily effaced by washing.

Chap. 26.—Purpurissum.

Among the remaining colours which, as already stated, [In Chapter of this Book.] owing to their dearness are furnished by the employer, purpurissum holds the highest rank. For the purpose of preparing it, argentaria or silver chalk [Plate powder. See B. xvii. c. 4, and Chapter of this Book.] is dyed along with purple [See B. ix. c. 60.] cloth, it imbibing the colour more speedily than the wool. The best of all is that which, being thrown the very first into the boiling cauldron, becomes saturated with the dye in its primitive state. The next best in quality is that which has been put into the same liquor, after the first has been removed. Each time that this is done, the quality becomes proportionally deteriorated, owing, of course, to the comparative thinness of the liquid. The reason that the purpurissum of Puteoli is more highly esteemed than that of Tyre, Gætulia, or Laconia, places which produce the most precious kinds of purple, is the fact that it combines more readily with hysginum, [See B. ix. c. 65, and B. xxi. cc. 38, 97. According to Vitruvius, it is a colour between scarlet and purple. It may possibly have been made from woad.] and that it is made to absorb the colouring liquid of madder. The worst purpurissum is that of Lanuvium. [See B. iii. c. 16.]

The price of purpurissum is from one to thirty denarii per pound. Persons who use it in painting, place a coat of sandyx beneath; a layer on which of purpurissum with glair of egg, produces all the brilliant tints of minium. If, on the other hand, it is their object to make a purple, they lay a coat of cæruleum [See B. xxxiii. c..] beneath, and purpurissum, with egg, [White of egg, probably.] upon it.

Chap. 27.—Indicum.

Next in esteem to this is indicum, [Indigo, no doubt, is the colour meant. See B. xxxiii. c..] a production of India, being a slime [It is the produce of the Indigofera tinctoria, and comes from Bengal more particularly. Beckmann and Dr. Bancroft have each investigated this subject at great length, and though Pliny is greatly mistaken as to the mode in which the drug was produced, they agree in the conclusion that his “indicum” was real indigo, and not, as some have supposed, a pigment prepared from isatis, or woad.] which adheres to the scum upon the reeds there. When powdered, it is black in appearance, but when diluted in water it yields a marvellous combination of purple and cæruleum. There is another [This passage, similar in many respects to the account given by Dioscorides, is commented on at great length by Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 263. Bohn’s Edition.] kind, also, which floats upon the surface of the pans in the purple dye-houses, being the scum which rises upon the purple dye. Persons who adulterate it, stain pigeons’ dung with genuine indicum, or else colour Selinusian [See Chapter of this Book.] earth, or anularian [See Chapter of this Book.] chalk with woad.

The proper way of testing indicum is by laying it on hot coals, that which is genuine producing a fine purple flame, and emitting a smell like that of sea-water while it smokes: hence it is that some are of opinion that it is gathered from the rocks on the sea-shore. The price of indicum is twenty denarii per pound. Used medicinally, it alleviates cold shiverings and defluxions, and acts as a desiccative upon sores.

Chap. 28.—Armenium; One Remedy.

Armenia sends us the colouring substance which is known to us by its name. [“Armenium.” Armenian bole is still used for colouring tooth-powder and essence of anchovies.] This also is a mineral, which admits of being dyed, like chrysocolla, [See B. xxxiii. c..] and is best when it most closely resembles that substance, the colour being pretty much that of cæruleum. In former times it was sold at thirty sesterces per pound; but there has been found of late in the Spanish provinces a sand which admits of a similar preparation, and consequently armenium has come to be sold so low as at six denarii per pound. It differs from cæruleum in a certain degree of whiteness, which causes the colour it yields to be thinner in comparison. The only use made of it in medicine is for the purpose of giving nourishment to the hair, that of the eyelids in particular.

Chap. 29.—Appianum.

There are also two colours of very inferior quality, which have been recently discovered. One of these is the green known as “appianum,” [So called, probably, either from the place where it was made, or from the person who first discovered it. Some commentators have suggested that it should be “apian” green, meaning “parsley” colour.] a fair imitation of chrysocolla; just as though, we had not had to mention sufficient of these counterfeits already. This colour, too, is prepared from a green chalk, the usual price of it being one sesterce per pound.

Chap. 30.—Anularian White.

The other colour is that known as “anularian [So called from “anulus,” a “ring,” as mentioned below.] white;” being used for giving a brilliant whiteness to the figures of females. [“Quo muliebres picturæ illuminantur.” The meaning of this passage is obscure. It would seem almost to apply to paintings, but Beckmann is of opinion that the meaning is, “This is the beautiful white with which the ladies paint or ornament themselves.”—Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 261. Bohn’s Edition.] This, too, is prepared from a kind of chalk, combined with the glassy paste which the lower classes wear in their rings: [Beckmann suggests that it was so called from its being one of the sealing earths, “anulus” being the name of a signet ring. Vol. II. p. 260.] hence it is, that it has the name “anulare.”

Chap. 31. (7.)—Which Colours Do Not Admit of Being Laid on a Wet Coating.

Those among the colours which require a dry, cretaceous, coating, [“Cretulam.”] and refuse to adhere to a wet surface, are purpurissum, indicum, cæruleum, [See B. xxxiii. c..] melinum, orpiment, appianum, and ceruse. Wax, too, is stained with all these colouring substances for encaustic painting; [See Chapter, where this process is more fully described. “‘ Ceræ,’ or ‘waxes,’ was the ordinary term for painters’ colours among the Romans, but more especially encaustic colours, which were probably kept dry in boxes, and the wet brush or pencil was rubbed upon them when colour was required, or they were moistened by the artist previous to commencing work. From the term ‘ceræ’ it would appear that wax constituted the principal ingredient in the colouring vehicle used; but this does not necessarily follow, and it is very improbable that it did; there must have been a great portion of gum or resin in the colours, or they could not have hardened. Wax was undoubtedly a most essential ingredient, since it apparently prevents the colours from cracking. ‘Ceræ’ therefore might originally simply mean colours which contained wax, in contradistinction to those which did not; but was afterwards applied generally by the Romans to the colours of painters.”—Wornum, Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art. Painting.] a process which does not admit of being applied to walls, but is in common use [Called “Inceramenta navium,” in Livy, B. xxviii. c. 45. See also Chapters and of this Book.] by way of ornament for ships of war, and, indeed, merchant-ships at the present day. As we go so far as to paint these vehicles of danger, no one can be surprised if we paint our funeral piles as well, or if we have our gladiators conveyed in handsome carriages to the scene of death, or, at all events, of carnage. When we only contemplate this extensive variety of colours, we cannot but admire the ingenuity displayed by the men of former days.

Chap. 32.—What Colours Were Used by the Ancients in Painting.

It was with four colours only, [Pliny here commits a mistake, which may have arisen from an imperfect recollection, as Sir. H. Davy has supposed, of a passage in Cicero (Brutus, c. 18), which, however, quite contradicts the statement of Pliny. “In painting, we admire in the works of Zeuxis, Polygnotus, Timanthes, and those who used four colours only, the figure and the lineaments; but in the works of Echion, Nicomachus, Protogenes, and Apelles, everything is perfect.” Indeed Pliny contradicts himself, for he speaks of two other colours used by the earliest painters, the testa trita, or ground earthenware, in Chapter of this Book; and “cinnabaris,” or vermilion, in B. xxxiii. c.. Also, in Chapter of this Book he speaks of Eretrian earth as having been used by Nicomachus, and in Chapter of ivory black as having been invented by Apelles.] that Apelles, [These painters will all be noticed in Chapter.] Echion, Melanthius, and Nicomachus, those most illustrous painters, executed their immortal works; melinum [See Chapter of this Book.] for the white, Attic sil [See B. xxxiii. c..] for the yellow, Pontic sinopis for the red, and atramentum for the black; [Blue is here excluded altogether, unless under the term “atramentum” we would include black and blue indicum, or in other words, Indian ink and indigo.] and yet a single picture of theirs has sold before now for the treasures of whole cities. But at the present day, when purple is employed for colouring walls even, and when India sends to us the slime [See Chapter of this Book.] of her rivers, and the corrupt blood of her dragons [In allusion to “Dragon’s blood.” See B. xxxiii. c..] and her elephants, there is no such thing as a picture of high quality produced. Everything, in fact, was superior at a time when the resources of art were so much fewer than they now are. Yes, so it is; and the reason is, as we have already stated, [In Chapter of this Book.] that it is the material, and not the efforts of genius, that is now the object of research.

Chap. 33.—At What Time Combats of Gladiators Were First Painted and Publicly Exhibited.

One folly, too, of this age of ours, in reference to painting, I must not omit. The Emperor Nero ordered a painting of himself to be executed upon canvass, of colossal proportions, one hundred and twenty feet in height; a thing till then unknown. [From the construction of the passage, it is difficult to say whether he means to say that such colossal figures were till then unknown in painting, or whether that the use of canvass in painting was till then unknown. If the latter is the meaning, it is not exactly correct, though it is probable that the introduction of canvass for this purpose was comparatively late; there being no mention of its being employed by the Greek painters of the best periods.] This picture was just completed when it was burnt by lightning, with the greater part of the gardens of Maius, in which it was exhibited.

A freedman of the same prince, on the occasion of his exhibiting a show of gladiators at Antium, had the public porticos hung, as everybody knows, with paintings, in which were represented genuine portraits of the gladiators and all the other assistants. Indeed, at this place, there has been a very prevailing taste for paintings for many ages past. C. Terentius Lucanus was the first who had combats of gladiators painted for public exhibition: in honour of his grandfather, who had adopted him, he provided thirty pairs of gladiators in the Forum, for three consecutive days, and exhibited a painting of their combats in the Grove of Diana. [See B. iii. c. 9, B. xiv. c. 3, and B. xvi. c. 91.]

Chap. 34. (8.)—The Age of Painting; with the Names of the More Celebrated Works and Artists, Four Hundred and Five in Number.

I shall now proceed to enumerate, as briefly as possible, the more eminent among the painters; it not being consistent with the plan of this work to go into any great lengths of detail. It must suffice therefore, in some cases, to name the artist in a cursory manner only, and with reference to the account given of others; with the exception, of course, of the more famous productions of the pictorial art, whether still in existence or now lost, all of which it will be only right to take some notice of. In this department, the ordinary exactness of the Greeks has been somewhat inconsistent, in placing the painters so many Olympiads after the statuaries and toreutic [“Torcutæ.” For the explanation of this term, see end of B..] artists, and the very first of them so late as the ninetieth Olympiad; seeing that Phidias himself is said to have been originally a painter, and that there was a shield at Athens which had been painted by him; in addition to which, it is universally agreed that in the eighty-third Olympiad, his brother Panænus [In reality he was cousin or nephew of Phidias, by the father’s side, though Pausanias, B. v. c. 11, falls into the same error as that committed by Pliny. He is mentioned likewise by Strabo and Æschines.] painted, at Elis, [See B. xxxvi. c..] the interior of the shield of Minerva, which had been executed by Colotes, [See B. xxxiv. c..] a disciple of Phidias and his assistant in the statue of the Olympian Jupiter. [See B. xxxiv. c..] And then besides, is it not equally admitted that Candaules, the last Lydian king of the race of the Heraclidæ, very generally known also by the name of Myrsilus, paid its weight in gold for a picture by the painter Bularchus, [See B. vii. c. 39.] which represented the battle fought by him with the Magnetes? so great was the estimation in which the art was already held. This circumstance must of necessity have happened about the period of our Romulus; for it was in the eighteenth Olympiad that Candaules perished, or, as some writers say, in the same year as the death of Romulus: a thing which clearly demonstrates that even at that early period the art had already become famous, and had arrived at a state of great perfection.

If, then, we are bound to admit this conclusion, it must be equally evident that the commencement of the art is of much earlier date, and that those artists who painted in monochrome, [Paintings with but one colour. “Monochromata,” as we shall see in Chapter, were painted at all times, and by the greatest masters. Those of Zeuxis corresponded with the Chiariscuri of the Italians, light and shade being introduced with the highest degree of artistic skill.] and whose dates have not been handed down to us, must have flourished at even an anterior period; Hygiænon, namely, Dinias, Charmadas, [These several artists are quite unknown, being mentioned by no other author.] Eumarus, of Athens, the first who distinguished the sexes [It is pretty clear, from vases of a very ancient date, that it is not the sexual distinction that is here alluded to. Eumarus, perhaps, may have been the first to give to each sex its characteristic style of design, in the compositions, draperies, attitudes, and complexions of the respective sexes. Wornum thinks that, probably, Eumarus, and certainly, Cimon, belonged to the class of ancient tetrachromists, or polychromists, painting in a variety of colours, without a due, or at least a partial, observance of the laws of light and shade. Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art. Painting.] in painting, and attempted to imitate every kind of figure; and Cimon [He is mentioned also by Ælian. Böttiger is of opinion that he flourished about the 80th Olympiad. It is probable, however, that he lived long before the age of Polygnotus; but some time after that of Eumarus. Wornum thinks that he was probably a contemporary of Solon, a century before Polygnotus.] of Cleonæ, who improved upon the inventions of Eumarus.

It was this Cimon, too, who first invented foreshortenings, [“Catagrapha.”] or in other words, oblique views of the figure, and who first learned to vary the features by representing them in the various attitudes of looking backwards, upwards, or downwards. It was he, too, who first marked the articulations of the limbs, indicated the veins, and gave the natural folds and sinuosities to drapery. Panænus, too, the brother of Phidias, even executed a painting [This picture was placed in the Pœcile at Athens, and is mentioned also by Pausanias, B. i. c. 15, and by Æschines, Ctesiph. s. 186.] of the battle fought by the Athenians with the Persians at Marathon: so common, indeed, had the employment of colours become, and to such a state of perfection had the art arrived, that he was able to represent, it is said, the portraits of the various generals who commanded at that battle, Miltiades, Callimachus, and Cynægirus, on the side of the Athenians, and, on that of the barbarians, Datis and Artaphernes.

Chap. 35. (9.)—The First Contest for Excellence in the Pictorial Art.

And not only this, but, during the time that Panænus flourished, there were contests in the pictorial art instituted at Corinth and Delphi. On the first occasion, Panænus himself entered the lists, at the Pythian Games, with Timagoras of Chalcis, by whom he was defeated; a circumstance which is recorded in some ancient lines by Timagoras himself, and an undoubted proof that the chroniclers are in error as to the date of the origin of painting. After these, and yet before the ninetieth Olympiad, there were other celebrated painters, Polygnotus of Thasos, [See B. vii. c. 57. (Vol. II. p. 233), where he is mentioned as an Athenian. It is not improbable that he became a citizen of Athens in the seventy-ninth Olympiad, B.C. 463, when Thasos was brought under the power of Athens, and, as Sillig suggests, at the solicitation of Cimon, the son of Miltiades. It is generally supposed that he flourished about the eightieth Olympiad.] for instance, who was the first to paint females in transparent drapery, and to represent the head covered with a parti-coloured head-dress. He, too, was the first to contribute many other improvements to the art of painting, opening the mouth, for example, showing the teeth, and throwing expression into the countenance, in place of the ancient rigidity of the features.

There is a picture by this artist in the Portico [Belonging to the Theatre of Pompey, in the Ninth Region of the City.] of Pompeius, before the Curia that was built by him; with reference to which, there is some doubt whether the man represented with a shield is in the act of ascending or descending. He also embellished the Temple [With scenes from the Trojan War, and the adventures of Ulysses.] at Delphi, and at Athens the Portico known as the Pœcile; [Or “Variegated;” from its various pictures.] at which last he worked gratuitously, in conjunction with Micon, [See B. xxxiii. c..] who received pay for his labours. Indeed Polygnotus was held in the higher esteem of the two; for the Amphictyons, [See B. vii. c. 37.] who form the general Council of Greece, decreed that he should have his lodging furnished him at the public expense.

There was also another Micon, distinguished from the first Micon by the surname of “the younger,” and whose daughter Timarete [She is again mentioned in Chapter.] also practised the art of painting.