BOOK XXXW xLiv. 153-XLV. 156 



make as liandsome a face as possible. The same 

 artist also invented taking casts from statues, and 

 this method advanced to such an extent that no 

 figures or statues were made without a clay model. 

 This shows that the knowledge of modelHng in clay 

 was older than that of casting bronze. 



XLY. Most higlily praised modellers were DamnphUm 

 Damophilus and Gorgasus, who were also painters ; ^andTihen 

 thev had decorated the Shrine "■ of Ceres in the 

 Circus Maximus at Ilome with both kinds of their 

 art, and there is an inscription on the building in 

 Greek verse in which they indicated that the decora- 

 tions on the right hand side were the work of 

 Damophilus and those on the left were by Gorgasus. 

 \'arro states that before this shrine was built every- 

 thing in the temples was Tuscanic work * ; and that 

 when this shrine was undergoingrestoration,*^ the em- 

 bossed work of the walls was cut out and enclosed in 

 framed panels ; and that the figures also were taken 

 from the pediment and dispersed. Chalcosthenes «^ 

 also executed at Athens some works in unbaked clay, 

 at the place named the Ceramicus, Potters Quarter, 

 after his workshop. Marcus Varro records that 

 he knew at Rome an artist named Possis who made 

 fruit and grapes in such a way that nobody could 

 tell by sight from the real things. Varro also speaks 

 very highly of Arcesilaus, who was on terms of ArcesUam. 

 intimacy with Lucius Lucullus, and says that his '^- ^^'^^ 

 sketch-models of clay used to sell for more, 

 among artists themselves, than the finished works 

 of others ; and that this artist made the statue of 

 Venus Genetrix in Caesar's Forum and that it was 46 b.o. 

 erected before it was finished as there was a great 

 haste to dedicate it ; and that the same artist had 



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