536 On the Art of Painting 



I have already obferved that Appelles is faid 

 to have been inferior to Melanthius in com- 

 pofition, and to Afclepiodorus in perfpeftivc; 

 the pafTage (which I think will bear no other 

 meaning) is as follov.'s:* Melanthio de difpofitione 

 cedehatj Afclepiodoro de meiifurisy hoc ejl quanta quid a 

 quo dijiare deberet. 



The fimilar expreffions of Zeuxis,f and Phl- 

 loftratusij: appear to me to require the fame 

 explanation. 



I conclude therefore, that the ancient paint- 

 ers, efpecially the firft rate of the artifts, and 

 thofe employed in painting fcenes for exhibitions 

 at public games, &c. muft have attended to 

 and pofTeffed confiderable knowledge of the 

 fcience of perfpe6live ; nor indeed could the eye 

 have been fo perpetually inured to the reprc- 



• Plin. XXXV. 35. 



•f Tsj fisysSa; tcv, Xo7ov km tw toiv ixtT^uv Wf 05 to oAov taoryjra 

 xcci ag/xoviav magnitudinis rationem et menfurarum totius 

 operis asqualitatem atque harmoniam. Lucian. Zeuxis. 



X " How pleafing, fays Philoftratus, is the art of the 

 *• painter : for having manned the walls with armed 

 " foldiers, he prefents fome entire, feme half figures : of 

 " fome we fee the breafts, now the helmets, and laft of all 

 " the fpears. This is proportion young man (wa^oyia 

 " Totrx u Trai) for the objeds muft thus fteal from the eye 

 *' as it follows the feveral groups through their proper 

 " gradations." ESy to a-ofia-fjt.a th 2,oy§x<pii, &c. Philoft. 

 lib. I. p. 768. Webb, 112. The paflage here quoted by Mr. 

 Webb is in the Menaecius. 



fentation 



