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date: 04 November 2024

Apelleslocked

Apelleslocked

  • Karim Arafat

Extract

Apelles, painter, of Colophon, later of Ephesus (sometimes called Coan because of the Coan ‘Aphrodite’). He is mentioned more frequently, and generally considered better, than any other painter. *Pliny (1) the Elder dates him 332 bce (from the portrait of *Alexander (3) the Great). He was taught first by Ephorus of Ephesus, then by *Pamphilus (1) of Sicyon. When in the Sicyonian school, he helped *Melanthius (2) to paint the victorious chariot of the tyrant Aristratus. He painted portraits of *Philip (1) II, Alexander (who allowed no other artist to paint him), and their circle, and a self-portrait (probably the first). Anecdotes connect him with Alexander, *Ptolemy (1) I, and *Protogenes. He died in *Cos while copying his ‘Aphrodite’, probably early in the 3rd cent.About 30 works are recorded. He showed Alexander mounted and with a thunderbolt; also with the *Dioscuri and Victory; and in triumph with War personified as a bound captive.

Subjects

  • Greek Material Culture

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