Chap. 36.] AETISTS WHO PAINTED WITH THE PENCIL. 265 



which, it is asserted, is the fact, that in decorating the Propy- 

 laeuni^^ of the Temple of Minerva, situate in one of the most 

 celebrated spots in Athens, where he has painted the fine pic- 

 ture^^ of Paralus and Hammonias, known by some as the 

 Nausicaa, he has added in the side pieces of the picture, by 

 painters called *'parerga," several small ships of war ;^' wish- 

 ing thereby to show in what department that skill had first 

 manifested itself which had thus reached the citadel of Athens, 

 the scene of his glory. Of all his compositions, however, the 

 palm has beeii awarded to his lalysus,^ now at Eome, con- 

 secisated in thr>'»Temple of Peace there. So long as he was at 

 work upon it, he lived, it is said, upon nothing but soaked 

 lupines ; by which means he at once appeased both hunger and 

 thirst, and avoided all risk of blunting his perception by too 

 delicate a diet. In order to protect this picture against the efi'ects 

 of ill-usage and old age, he painted it over four times,^ so that 

 when an upper coat might fail, there would be an under one to 

 succeed it. There is in this picture the figure of a dog, 

 which was completed in a very remarkable manner, inasmuch 

 as accident had an equal share with design in the execution of 

 it. The painter was of opinion that he had not given the 

 proper expression to the foam at the mouth of the animal, 

 panting for breath, as it was represented; while, with all 

 other parts of the picture, a thing extremely difficult with him, 

 he was perfectly satisfied. The thing that displeased him was, 

 the evident traces of art in the execution of it, touches which 

 did not admit of any diminution, and yet had all the appear- 

 ance of being too laboured, the effect produced being far re- 

 moved from his conception of the reality : the foam, in fact, 



97 Or Vestibule. 



9^ Supposed by Sillig to have been an allegorical painting representing 

 two of the sacred ships of the Athenians ; but to have been mistaken in 

 later times for a picture of Ulysses and Nausicaa, a subject taken from 

 the Odyssey, B, vi. 1. 16, et seq. As to Paralus, said to have been the first 

 builder of long ships, or ships of war, see B. vii. c. 57. 



99 Or '« long ships." 



1 Son of Cercaphus and Cydippe or Lysippe, and grandson of Apollo. 

 He is said to have been the founder of the town of lalysus, mentioned in 

 B. v. c. 36. 



- " These four times most probably were, the dead colouring, a first 

 and a second painting, and lastly, scumbling with glazing." — Wornum, 

 Smith's Diet. Antiq. Art. Faintiny, 



