Chapter XVI: Book XXXV: An Account of Paintings and Colours (1)

CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE HONOUR ATTACHED TO PAINTING.

I have now given at considerable length an account of the nature of metals, which constitute our wealth, and of the substances that are derived from them; so connecting my various subjects, as, at the same time, to describe an immense number of medicinal compositions which they furnish, the mysteries[1787] thrown upon them by the druggists, and the tedious minutiæ of the arts of chasing,[1788] and statuary,[1789] and of dyeing.[1790] It remains for me to describe the various kinds of earths and stones; a still more extensive series of subjects, each of which has been treated of, by the Greeks more particularly, in a great number of volumes. For my own part, I propose to employ a due degree of brevity, at the same time omitting nothing that is necessary or that is a product of Nature.

I shall begin then with what still remains to be said with reference to painting, an art which was formerly illustrious, when it was held in esteem both by kings and peoples, and ennobling those whom it deigned to transmit to posterity. But at the present day, it is completely banished in favour of marble, and even gold. For not only are whole walls now covered with marble, but the marble itself is carved out or else marqueted so as to represent objects and animals of various kinds. No longer now are we satisfied with formal compartitions of marble, or with slabs extended like so many mountains in our chambers, but we must begin to paint the very stone itself! This art was invented in the reign of Claudius, but it was in the time of Nero that we discovered the method of inserting in marble spots that do not belong to it, and so varying its uniformity; and this, for the purpose of representing the marble of Numidia[1791] variegated with ovals, and that of Synnada[1792] veined with purple; just, in fact, as luxury might have willed that Nature should produce them. Such are our resources when the quarries fail us, and luxury ceases not to busy itself, in order that as much as possible may be lost whenever a conflagration happens.

CHAP. 2. (2.)—THE HONOUR ATTACHED TO PORTRAITS.

Correct portraits of individuals were formerly transmitted to future ages by painting; but this has now completely fallen into desuetude. Brazen shields are now set up, and silver faces, with only some obscure traces of the countenance;[1793] the very heads, too, of statues are changed,[1794] a thing that has given rise before now to many a current sarcastic line; so true it is that people prefer showing off the valuable material, to having a faithful likeness. And yet, at the same time, we tapestry the walls of our galleries with old pictures, and we prize the portraits of strangers; while as to those made in honour of ourselves, we esteem them only for the value of the material, for some heir to break up and melt, and so forestall the noose and slip-knot of the thief.[1795] Thus it is that we possess the portraits of no living individuals, and leave behind us the pictures of our wealth, not of our persons.

And yet the very same persons adorn the palæstra and the anointing-room[1796] with portraits of athletes, and both hang up in their chamber and carry about them a likeness of Epicurus.[1797] On the twentieth day of each moon they celebrate his birthday[1798] by a sacrifice, and keep his festival, known as the “Icas,”[1799] every month: and these too, people who wish to live without being known![1800] So it is, most assuredly, our indolence has lost sight of the arts, and since our minds are destitute of any characteristic features, those of our bodies are neglected also.

But on the contrary, in the days of our ancestors, it was these that were to be seen in their halls, and not statues made by foreign artists, or works in bronze or marble: portraits modelled in wax[1801] were arranged, each in its separate niche, to be always in readiness to accompany the funeral processions of the family;[1802] occasions on which every member of the family that had ever existed was always present. The pedigree, too, of the individual was traced in lines upon each of these coloured portraits. Their muniment-rooms,[1803] too, were filled with archives and memoirs, stating what each had done when holding the magistracy. On the outside, again, of their houses, and around the thresholds of their doors, were placed other statues of those mighty spirits, in the spoils of the enemy there affixed, memorials which a purchaser even was not allowed to displace; so that the very house continued to triumph even after it had changed its master. A powerful stimulus to emulation this, when the walls each day reproached an unwarlike owner for having thus intruded upon the triumphs of another! There is still extant an address by the orator Messala, full of indignation, in which he forbids that there should be inserted among the images of his family any of those of the stranger race of the Lævini.[1804] It was the same feeling, too, that extorted from old Messala those compilations of his “On the Families of Rome;” when, upon passing through the hall of Scipio Pomponianus,[1805] he observed that, in consequence of a testamentary adoption, the Salvittos[1806]—for that had been their surname—to the disgrace of the Africani, had surreptitiously contrived to assume the name of the Scipios. But the Messalas must pardon me if I remark, that to lay a claim, though an untruthful one, to the statues of illustrious men, shows some love for their virtues, and is much more honourable than to have such a character as to merit that no one should wish to claim them.

There is a new invention too, which we must not omit to notice. Not only do we consecrate in our libraries, in gold or silver, or at all events, in bronze, those whose immortal spirits hold converse with us in those places, but we even go so far as to reproduce the ideal of features, all remembrance of which has ceased to exist; and our regrets give existence to likenesses that have not been transmitted to us, as in the case of Homer, for example.[1807] And indeed, it is my opinion, that nothing can be a greater proof of having achieved success in life, than a lasting desire on the part of one’s fellow-men, to know what one’s features were. This practice of grouping portraits was first introduced at Rome by Asinius Pollio, who was also the first to establish a public library, and so make the works of genius the property of the public. Whether the kings of Alexandria and of Pergamus, who had so energetically rivalled each other in forming libraries, had previously introduced this practice, I cannot so easily say.

That a strong passion for portraits formerly existed, is attested both by Atticus, the friend of Cicero, who wrote a work on this subject,[1808] and by M. Varro, who conceived the very liberal idea of inserting, by some means[1809] or other, in his numerous volumes, the portraits of seven hundred individuals; as he could not bear the idea that all traces of their features should be lost, or that the lapse of centuries should get the better of mankind. Thus was he the inventor of a benefit to his fellow-men, that might have been envied by the gods themselves; for not only did he confer upon them immortality, but he transmitted them, too, to all parts of the earth; so that everywhere it might be possible for them to be present, and for each to occupy his niche. This service, too, Varro conferred upon persons who were no members of his own family.

CHAP. 3. (3.)—WHEN SHIELDS WERE FIRST INVENTED WITH PORTRAITS UPON THEM; AND WHEN THEY WERE FIRST ERECTED IN PUBLIC.

So far as I can learn, Appius Claudius, who was consul with P. Servilius, in the year of the City, 259, was the first to dedicate shields[1810] in honour of his own family in a sacred or public place.[1811] For he placed representations of his ancestors in the Temple of Bellona, and desired that they might be erected in an elevated spot, so as to be seen, and the inscriptions reciting their honours read. A truly graceful device; more particularly when a multitude of children, represented by so many tiny figures, displays those germs, as it were, which are destined to continue the line: shields such as these, no one can look at without a feeling of pleasure and lively interest.

CHAP. 4.—WHEN THESE SHIELDS WERE FIRST PLACED IN PRIVATE HOUSES.

More recently, M. Æmilius, who was consul[1812] with Quintus Lutatius, not only erected these shields in the Æmilian Basilica,[1813] but in his own house as well; in doing which he followed a truly warlike example. For, in fact, these portraits were represented on bucklers, similar to those used in the Trojan War;[1814] and hence it is that these shields received their present name of “clypei,” and not, as the perverse subtleties of the grammarians will have it, from the word “cluo.”[1815] It was an abundant motive for valour, when upon each shield was represented the features of him who had borne it. The Carthaginians used to make both their bucklers and their portraits of gold, and to carry them with them in the camp: at all events, Marcius, the avenger of the Scipios[1816] in Spain, found one of this kind on capturing the camp of Hasdrubal, and it was this same buckler that remained suspended over the gate of the Capitoline Temple until the time when it was first burnt.[1817] Indeed, in the days of our ancestors, so assured was the safety of these shields, that it has been a subject of remark, that in the consulship of L. Manlius and Q. Fulvius, in the year of the City, 575, M. Aufidius, who had given security for the safety of the Capitol, informed the senate that the bucklers there which for some lustra[1818] had been assessed as copper, were in reality made of silver.

CHAP. 5.—THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ART OF PAINTING. MONOCHROME PAINTINGS. THE EARLIEST PAINTERS.

We have no certain knowledge as to the commencement of the art of painting, nor does this enquiry fall under our consideration. The Egyptians assert that it was invented among themselves, six thousand years before it passed into Greece; a vain boast, it is very evident.[1819] As to the Greeks, some say that it was invented at Sicyon, others at Corinth; but they all agree that it originated in tracing lines round the human shadow.[1820] The first stage of the art, they say, was this, the second stage being the employment of single colours; a process known as “monochromaton,”[1821] after it had become more complicated, and which is still in use at the present day. The invention of line-drawing has been assigned to Philocles, the Egyptian, or to Cleanthes[1822] of Corinth. The first who practised this line-drawing were Aridices, the Corinthian, and Telephanes, the Sicyonian, artists who, without making use of any colours, shaded the interior of the outline by drawing lines;[1823] hence, it was the custom with them to add to the picture the name of the person represented. Ecphantus, the Corinthian, was the first to employ colours upon these pictures, made, it is said, of broken earthenware, reduced to powder. We shall show on a future[1824] occasion, that it was a different artist of the same name, who, according to Cornelius Nepos, came to Italy with Demaratus, the father of the Roman king, Tarquinius Priscus, on his flight from Corinth to escape the violence of the tyrant Cypselus.

CHAP. 6.—THE ANTIQUITY OF PAINTING IN ITALY.

But already, in fact, had the art of painting been perfectly developed in Italy.[1825] At all events, there are extant in the temples at Ardea, at this day, paintings of greater antiquity than Rome itself; in which, in my opinion, nothing is more marvellous, than that they should have remained so long unprotected by a roof, and yet preserving their freshness.[1826] At Lanuvium, too, it is the same, where we see an Atalanta and a Helena, without drapery, close together, and painted by the same artist. They are both of the greatest beauty, the former being evidently the figure of a virgin, and they still remain uninjured, though the temple is in ruins. The Emperor Caius,[1827] inflamed with lustfulness, attempted to have them removed, but the nature of the plaster would not admit of it. There are in existence at Cære,[1828] some paintings of a still higher antiquity. Whoever carefully examines them, will be forced to admit that no art has arrived more speedily at perfection, seeing that it evidently was not in existence at the time of the Trojan War.[1829]

CHAP. 7. (4.)—ROMAN PAINTERS.

Among the Romans, too, this art very soon rose into esteem, for it was from it that the Fabii, a most illustrious family, derived their surname of “Pictor;” indeed the first of the family who bore it, himself painted the Temple of Salus,[1830] in the year of the City, 450; a work which lasted to our own times, but was destroyed when the temple was burnt, in the reign of Claudius. Next in celebrity were the paintings of the poet Pacuvius, in the Temple of Hercules, situate in the Cattle Market:[1831] he was a son of the sister of Ennius, and the fame of the art was enhanced at Rome by the success of the artist on the stage. After this period, the art was no longer practised by men of rank; unless, indeed, we would make reference to Turpilius, in our own times, a native of Venetia, and of equestrian rank, several of whose beautiful works are still in existence at Verona. He painted, too, with his left hand, a thing never known to have been done by any one before.[1832]

Titidius Labeo, a person of prætorian rank, who had been formerly proconsul of the province of Gallia Narbonensis, and who lately died at a very advanced age, used to pride himself upon the little pictures which he executed, but it only caused him to be ridiculed and sneered at. I must not omit, too, to mention a celebrated consultation upon the subject of painting, which was held by some persons of the highest rank. Q. Pedius,[1833] who had been honoured with the consulship and a triumph, and who had been named by the Dictator Cæsar as co-heir with Augustus, had a grandson, who being dumb from his birth, the orator Messala, to whose family his grandmother belonged, recommended that he should be brought up as a painter, a proposal which was also approved of by the late Emperor Augustus. He died, however, in his youth, after having made great progress in the art. But the high estimation in which painting came to be held at Rome, was principally due, in my opinion, to M. Valerius Maximus Messala, who, in the year of the City, 490, was the first to exhibit a painting to the public; a picture, namely, of the battle in which he had defeated the Carthaginians and Hiero in Sicily, upon one side of the Curia Hostilia.[1834] The same thing was done, too, by L. Scipio,[1835] who placed in the Capitol a painting of the victory which he had gained in Asia; but his brother Africanus, it is said, was offended at it, and not without reason, for his son had been taken prisoner in the battle.[1836] Lucius Hostilius Mancinus,[1837] too, who had been the first to enter Carthage at the final attack, gave a very similar offence to Æmilianus,[1838] by exposing in the Forum a painting of that city and the attack upon it, he himself standing near the picture, and describing to the spectators the various details of the siege; a piece of complaisance which secured him the consulship at the ensuing Comitia.

The stage, too, which was erected for the games celebrated by Claudius Pulcher,[1839] brought the art of painting into great admiration, it being observed that the ravens were so deceived by the resemblance, as to light upon the decorations which were painted in imitation of tiles.

CHAP. 8.—AT WHAT PERIOD FOREIGN PAINTINGS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED AT ROME.

The high estimation in which the paintings of foreigners were held at Rome commenced with Lucius Mummius, who, from his victories, acquired the surname of “Achaicus.” For upon the sale of the spoil on that occasion, King Attalus having purchased, at the price of six thousand denarii, a painting of Father Liber by Aristides,[1840] Mummius, feeling surprised at the price, and suspecting that there might be some merit in it of which he himself was unaware,[1841] in spite of the complaints of Attalus, broke off the bargain, and had the picture placed in the Temple of Ceres;[1842] the first instance, I conceive, of a foreign painting being publicly exhibited at Rome.

After this, I find, it became a common practice to exhibit foreign pictures in the Forum; for it was to this circumstance that we are indebted for a joke of the orator Crassus. While pleading below the Old Shops,[1843] he was interrupted by a witness who had been summoned, with the question, “Tell me then, Crassus, what do you take me to be?” “Very much like him,” answered he, pointing to the figure of a Gaul in a picture, thrusting out his tongue in a very unbecoming manner.[1844] It was in the Forum, too, that was placed the picture of the Old Shepherd leaning on his staff; respecting which, when the envoy of the Teutones was asked what he thought was the value of it, he made answer that he would rather not have the original even, at a gift.

CHAP. 9.—AT WHAT PERIOD PAINTING WAS FIRST HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM AT ROME, AND FROM WHAT CAUSES.

But it was the Dictator Cæsar that first brought the public exhibition of pictures into such high estimation, by consecrating an Ajax and a Medea[1845] before the Temple of Venus Genetrix.[1846] After him there was M. Agrippa, a man who was naturally more attached to rustic simplicity than to refinement. Still, however, we have a magnificent oration of his, and one well worthy of the greatest of our citizens, on the advantage of exhibiting in public all pictures and statues; a practice which would have been far preferable to sending them into banishment at our country-houses. Severe as he was in his tastes, he paid the people of Cyzicus twelve hundred thousand sesterces for two paintings, an Ajax and a Venus. He also ordered small paintings to be set in marble in the very hottest part of his Warm Baths;[1847] where they remained until they were removed a short time since, when the building was repaired.

CHAP. 10.—WHAT PICTURES THE EMPERORS HAVE EXHIBITED IN PUBLIC.

The late Emperor Augustus did more than all the others; for he placed in the most conspicuous part of his Forum, two pictures, representing War and Triumph.[1848] He also placed in the Temple of his father,[1849] Cæsar, a picture of the Castors,[1850] and one of Victory, in addition to those which we shall mention in our account of the works of the different artists.[1851] He also inserted two pictures in the wall of the Curia[1852] which he consecrated in the Comitium;[1853] one of which was a Nemea[1854] seated upon a lion, and bearing a palm in her hand. Close to her is an Old Man, standing with a staff, and above his head hangs the picture of a chariot with two horses. Nicias[1855] has written upon this picture that he “inburned”[1856] it, such being the word he has employed.

In the second picture the thing to be chiefly admired, is the resemblance that the youth bears to the old man his father, allowing, of course, for the difference in age; above them soars an eagle, which grasps a dragon in its talons. Philochares[1857] attests that he is the author of this work, an instance, if we only consider it, of the mighty power wielded by the pictorial art; for here, thanks to Philochares, the senate of the Roman people, age after age, has before its eyes Glaucion and his son Aristippus, persons who would otherwise have been altogether unknown. The Emperor Tiberius, too, a prince who was by no means very gracious, has exhibited in the temple dedicated by him, in his turn, to Augustus, several pictures which we shall describe hereafter.[1858]

CHAP. 11. (5.)—THE ART OF PAINTING.

Thus much then with reference to the dignity of this now expiring art. We have already[1859] stated with what single colours the earlier artists painted, when speaking of these pigments under the head of metals. The new modes of painting which were afterwards discovered, and are known as “neogrammatea,”[1860] the names of the artists, their different inventions, and the periods at which these inventions were adopted, will all be described when we come to enumerate the painters: for the present, however, the proposed plan of this work requires, that I should enlarge upon the nature of the several colours that are employed.

The art of painting at last became developed, in the invention of light and shade, the alternating contrast of the colours serving to heighten the effect of each. At a later period, again, lustre[1861] was added, a thing altogether different from light. The gradation between lustre and light on the one hand and shade on the other, was called “tonos;” while the blending of the various tints, and their passing into one another, was known as “harmoge.”[1862]

CHAP. 12. (6.)—PIGMENTS OTHER THAN THOSE OF A METALLIC ORIGIN. ARTIFICIAL COLOURS.

Colours are either[1863] sombre or florid, these qualities arising either from the nature, of the substances or their mode of combination. The florid colours are those which the employer supplies[1864] to the painter at his own expense; minium,[1865] namely, armenium, cinnabaris,[1866] chrysocolla,[1867] indicum, and purpurissum. The others are the sombre colours. Taking both kinds together, some are native colours, and others are artificial. Sinopis, rubrica, parætonium, melinum, eretria and orpiment, are native colours. The others are artificial, more particularly those described by us when speaking of metals; in addition to which there are, among the more common colours, ochra, usta or burnt ceruse, sandarach, sandyx, syricum, and atramentum.

CHAP. 13.—SINOPIS: ELEVEN REMEDIES.

Sinopis[1868] was discovered in Pontus; and hence its name, from the city of Sinope there. It is produced also in Egypt, the Balearic islands, and Africa; but the best is found in Lemnos and Cappadocia, being extracted from quarries there. That part is considered the best which has been found adhering to the rock. In the native mass, it has its own proper colour within, but is spotted on the exterior; the ancients made use of it for tone.[1869]

There are three kinds of sinopis, the red, the pale red, and the intermediate. The price of the best is twelve denarii per pound; it is used both for painting with the brush, and for colouring wood. The kind which comes from Africa sells at eight asses per pound; the name given to it is “cicerculum.”[1870] That[1871] which is of the deepest red is the most in use for colouring compartitions. The sinopis known as the dull[1872] kind, being of a very tawny complexion, sells also at the price of eight asses per pound; it is used principally for the lower[1873] parts of compartitions.

Used medicinally, sinopis is of a soothing nature, and is employed as an ingredient in plasters and emollient poultices. It admits of being easily used, whether in the form of a dry or of a liquid composition, for the cure of ulcers situate in the humid parts of the body, the mouth and the rectum, for instance. Used as an injection, it arrests looseness of the bowels, and, taken in doses of one denarius, it acts as a check upon female discharges. Applied in a burnt state, with wine in particular, it has a desiccative effect upon granulations of the eyelids.

CHAP. 14.—RUBRICA; LEMNIAN EARTH: FOUR REMEDIES.

Some persons have wished to make out that sinopis is nothing else but a kind of rubrica[1874] of second-rate quality, looking upon earth of Lemnos as a rubrics of the highest quality. This last approaches very nearly to minium,[1875] 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.[1876]

CHAP. 16.—OCHRA: REMEDIES DERIVED FROM RUBRICA.

It is from rubrica also, that ochra[1877] is prepared, the rubrica being burnt[1878] 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,[1879] and two pounds of Greek melinum,[1880] well mixed and triturated together for twelve successive days, produce “leucophoron,”[1881] a cement used for applying gold-leaf to wood.

CHAP. 18.—PARÆTONIUM.

Parætonium[1882] is so called from the place[1883] of that name in Egypt. It is sea-foam,[1884] 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[1885] 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.[1886] 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;[1887] 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[1888] 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,[1889] as already stated.

CHAP. 20.—USTA.

Usta[1890] was accidentally discovered at a fire in the Piræus, some ceruse having been burnt in the jars there. Nicias, the artist above-mentioned,[1891] 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,[1892] and quenching it with vinegar. Without the use of usta shadows cannot be made.[1893]

CHAP. 21.—ERETRIA.

Eretria takes its name from the territory[1894] which produces it. Nicomachus[1895] 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[1896] 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,[1897] in the Red Sea; but neither of them are imported to us from that place. The mode of preparing sandarach we have described[1898] 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;[1899] although I perceive that Virgil, in the following line,[1900] has taken sandyx to be a plant—

“Sandyx itself shall clothe the feeding lambs.”

The price of sandyx[1901] 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[1902] stated. It is prepared from a combination of sinopis with sandyx.

CHAP. 25.—ATRAMENTUM.

Atramentum,[1903] 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[1904] 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,[1905] 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.[1906] Polygnotus and Micon, the most celebrated painters of Athens, made their black from grape-husks, and called it “tryginon.”[1907] 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.[1908] 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;[1909] 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,[1910] owing to their dearness are furnished by the employer, purpurissum holds the highest rank. For the purpose of preparing it, argentaria or silver chalk[1911] is dyed along with purple[1912] 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,[1913] and that it is made to absorb the colouring liquid of madder. The worst purpurissum is that of Lanuvium.[1914]

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[1915] beneath, and purpurissum, with egg,[1916] upon it.

CHAP. 27.—INDICUM.

Next in esteem to this is indicum,[1917] a production of India, being a slime[1918] 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[1919] 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[1920] earth, or anularian[1921] 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.[1922] This also is a mineral, which admits of being dyed, like chrysocolla,[1923] 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,”[1924] 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[1925] white;” being used for giving a brilliant whiteness to the figures of females.[1926] This, too, is prepared from a kind of chalk, combined with the glassy paste which the lower classes wear in their rings:[1927] 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,[1928] and refuse to adhere to a wet surface, are purpurissum, indicum, cæruleum,[1929] melinum, orpiment, appianum, and ceruse. Wax, too, is stained with all these colouring substances for encaustic painting;[1930] a process which does not admit of being applied to walls, but is in common use[1931] 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,[1932] that Apelles,[1933] Echion, Melanthius, and Nicomachus, those most illustrous painters, executed their immortal works; melinum[1934] for the white, Attic sil[1935] for the yellow, Pontic sinopis for the red, and atramentum for the black;[1936] 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[1937] of her rivers, and the corrupt blood of her dragons[1938] 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,[1939] 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.[1940] 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.[1941]

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[1942] 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[1943] painted, at Elis,[1944] the interior of the shield of Minerva, which had been executed by Colotes,[1945] a disciple of Phidias and his assistant in the statue of the Olympian Jupiter.[1946] 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,[1947] 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,[1948] and whose dates have not been handed down to us, must have flourished at even an anterior period; Hygiænon, namely, Dinias, Charmadas,[1949] Eumarus, of Athens, the first who distinguished the sexes[1950] in painting, and attempted to imitate every kind of figure; and Cimon[1951] of Cleonæ, who improved upon the inventions of Eumarus.

It was this Cimon, too, who first invented foreshortenings,[1952] 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[1953] 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,[1954] 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[1955] 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[1956] at Delphi, and at Athens the Portico known as the Pœcile;[1957] at which last he worked gratuitously, in conjunction with Micon,[1958] who received pay for his labours. Indeed Polygnotus was held in the higher esteem of the two; for the Amphictyons,[1959] 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[1960] also practised the art of painting.

CHAP. 36.—ARTISTS WHO PAINTED WITH THE PENCIL.

In the ninetieth Olympiad lived Aglaophon,[1961] Cephisodorus, Erillus, and Evenor, the father of Parrhasius, one of the greatest of painters, and of whom we shall have to speak when we come to the period at which he flourished. All these were artists of note, but not sufficiently so to detain us by any further details, in our haste to arrive at the luminaries of the art; first among whom shone Apollodorus of Athens, in the ninety-third Olympiad. He was the first to paint objects as they really appeared; the first too, we may justly say, to confer glory[1962] by the aid of the pencil.[1963] Of this artist there is a Priest in Adoration, and an Ajax struck by Lightning, a work to be seen at Pergamus at the present day: before him, there is no painting of any artist now to be seen which has the power of rivetting the eye.

The gates of art being now thrown open by Apollodorus, Zeuxis of Heraclea[1964] entered upon the scene, in the fourth year of the ninety-fifth Olympiad, destined to lead the pencil—for it is of the pencil that we are still speaking—a pencil for which there was nothing too arduous, to a very high pitch of glory. By some writers he is erroneously placed in the eighty-ninth Olympiad, a date that must of necessity be reserved for Demophilus of Himera and Neseus of Thasos, of one of whom, it is uncertain which, Zeuxis was the pupil. It was in reference to him that Apollodorus, above-mentioned, wrote a verse to the effect, that Zeuxis had stolen the art from others and had taken it all to himself.[1965] Zeuxis also acquired such a vast amount of wealth, that, in a spirit of ostentation, he went so far as to parade himself at Olympia with his name embroidered on the checked pattern of his garments in letters of gold. At a later period, he came to the determination to give away his works, there being no price high enough to pay for them, he said. Thus, for instance, he gave an Alcmena to the people of Agrigentum, and a Pan to Archelaüs.[1966] He also painted a Penelope, in which the peculiar character of that matron appears to be delineated to the very life; and a figure of an athlete, with which he was so highly pleased, that he wrote beneath it the line which has since become so famous, to the effect that it would be easier to find fault with him than to imitate him.[1967] His Jupiter seated on the throne, with the other Deities standing around him, is a magnificent production: the same, too, with his Infant Hercules strangling the Dragons, in presence of Amphitryon and his mother Alcmena, who is struck with horror. Still, however, Zeuxis is generally censured for making the heads and articulations of his figures out of proportion. And yet, so scrupulously careful was he, that on one occasion, when he was about to execute a painting for the people of Agrigentum,[1968] to be consecrated in the Temple of the Lacinian Juno there, he had the young maidens of the place stripped for examination, and selected five of them, in order to adopt in his picture the most commendable points in the form of each. He also painted some monochromes in white.[1969]

The contemporaries and rivals of Zeuxis were Timanthes, Androcydes, Eupompus, and Parrhasius. (10.) This last, it is said, entered into a pictorial contest with Zeuxis, who represented some grapes, painted so naturally that the birds flew towards the spot where the picture was exhibited. Parrhasius, on the other hand, exhibited a curtain, drawn with such singular truthfulness, that Zeuxis, elated with the judgment which had been passed upon his work by the birds, haughtily demanded that the curtain should be drawn aside to let the picture be seen. Upon finding his mistake, with a great degree of ingenuous candour he admitted that he had been surpassed, for that whereas he himself had only deceived the birds, Parrhasius had deceived him, an artist.

There is a story, too, that at a later period, Zeuxis having painted a child carrying grapes, the birds came to peck at them; upon which, with a similar degree of candour, he expressed himself vexed with his work, and exclaimed—“I have surely painted the grapes better than the child, for if I had fully succeeded in the last, the birds would have been in fear of it.” Zeuxis executed some figures also in clay,[1970] the only works of art that were left behind at Ambracia, when Fulvius Nobilior[1971] transported the Muses from that city to Rome. There is at Rome a Helena by Zeuxis, in the Porticos of Philippus,[1972] and a Marsyas Bound, in the Temple of Concord[1973] there.

Parrhasius of Ephesus also contributed greatly to the progress of painting, being the first to give symmetry to his figures, the first to give play and expression to the features, elegance to the hair, and gracefulness to the mouth: indeed, for contour, it is universally admitted by artists that he bore away the palm. This, in painting, is the very highest point of skill. To paint substantial bodies and the interior of objects is a great thing, no doubt, but at the same time it is a point in which many have excelled: but to make the extreme outline of the figure, to give the finishing touches to the painting in rounding off the contour, this is a point of success in the art which is but rarely attained. For the extreme outline, to be properly executed, requires to be nicely rounded, and so to terminate as to prove the existence of something more behind it, and thereby disclose that which it also serves to hide.

Such is the merit conceded to Parrhasius by Antigonus[1974] and Xenocrates,[1975] who have written on the art of painting; and in this as well as in other points, not only do they admit his excellence, but enlarge upon it in terms of the highest commendation. There are many pen sketches by him still in existence, both upon panel and on parchment, from the study of which, even artists, it is said, may greatly profit.

Notwithstanding these points of excellence, however, Parrhasius seems comparatively inferior to himself in giving the proper expression to the middle of the body. In his allegorical picture of the People of Athens, he has displayed singular ingenuity in the treatment of his subject; for in representing it, he had to depict it as at once fickle, choleric, unjust, and versatile; while, again, he had equally to show its attributes of implacability[1976] and clemency, compassionateness and pride, loftiness and humility, fierceness and timidity—and all these at once. He painted a Theseus also, which was formerly in the Capitol at Rome, a Naval Commander[1977] wearing a cuirass, and, in one picture, now at Rhodes, figures of Meleager, Hercules, and Perseus. This last painting, though it has been thrice struck by lightning, has escaped being effaced, a circumstance which tends to augment the admiration which it naturally excites. He painted an Archigallus[1978] also, a picture which the Emperor Tiberius greatly admired. According to Deculo,[1979] that prince had it shut up in his chamber, the price at which it was valued being six hundred thousand sesterces.

Parrhasius also painted a Thracian Nurse, with an Infant in her arms, a Philiscus,[1980] a Father Liber[1981] attended by Virtue, Two Children, in which we see pourtrayed the careless simplicity of childhood, and a Priest attended by a Boy, with a censer and chaplet. There are also two most noble pictures by him; one of which represents a Runner[1982] contending for the prize, completely armed, so naturally depicted that he has all the appearance of sweating. In the other we see the Runner taking off his armour, and can fancy that we hear him panting aloud for breath. His Æneas, Castor, and Pollux, all represented in the same picture, are highly praised; his Telephus also, and his Achilles, Agamemnon, and Ulysses.

Parrhasius was a most prolific artist, but at the same time there was no one who enjoyed the glory conferred upon him by his talent with greater insolence and arrogance. It was in this spirit, that he went so far as to assume certain surnames, and to call himself “Habrodiætus;”[1983] while in some other verses he declared himself to be the “prince of painters,” and asserted that in him the art had arrived at perfection. But above all things, it was a boast with him that he had sprung from the lineage of Apollo, and that he had painted his Hercules, a picture now at Lindos, just as he had often seen him in his sleep. It was in this spirit, too, that upon being defeated by Timanthes, at Samos, by a great majority of votes, the subject of the picture being Ajax and the Award of the Arms,[1984] he declared, in the name of his hero, that he felt himself quite disgraced on thus seeing himself a second time defeated by an unworthy opponent. He painted also some smaller pictures of an immodest nature, indulging his leisure in such prurient fancies as these.[1985]