APELLES, who was the contemporary of Alexander the Great, and his favourite, nearly a hundred years later than Zeuxis, was the most popular of all the painters of antiquity. He was a native, probably, of Colophon in Asia Minor; and he seems, like Zeuxis, to have studied first at Ephesus, and to have belonged to the Ionian school of painting. He afterwards passed into Greece proper, where he studied composition in a more scientific school. The greater part of his life was passed in the service and at the court of Philip of Macedon, and then of Alexander. For them he painted an immense number of pictures, and also their portraits, Alexander allowing no one else to paint him. He probably accompanied Alexander into Asia. Whilst painting the portrait of Campaspe, Alexander's favourite concubine, Apelles fell in love with her; and, according to the story, the king surrendered her to the painter. She is said to have been his model for the Venus Rising from the Sea -- his most celebrated picture. After the death of Alexander, 323 B.C., Apelles seems to have travelled over Western Asia, and ultimately reached Egypt, where he was honourably received by Ptolemy.

Apelles was especially famed for his skill as a portrait painter. He painted an immense number of portraits of Alexander, and of his generals. He is also celebrated for the immense industry and perfection with which he elaborated the technical part of his work, and for the colouring. He is said to have invented a process of glazing which gave tone and mellowness to his works. They were mainly on panel, easel pictures of single figures, small groups, with great care given to all the accessories. His most famous work, the Venus Rising from the Sea, represented the goddess wringing her hair, the drops of water forming a transparent veil round her form. It was afterwards placed by Augustus in the demple dedicated to Julius Caesar at Rome. In his mastery over portrait painting, in the harmony of his colouring, in his skill in the nude, and in his prevailing characteristic of grace and charm with perfection of technical execution, he may be well called the Titian of the ancient world.

Find more articles on Greek painting

Purchase books about Greek art