PAINTING. 
211 
mate in the art, that he alone enriched it more than all 
his predecefl'ors had done; and compiled feveral books 
upon it, wherein he illuftrated its principles. It is agreed 
by all writers who fpeak of him, that in him the art of 
painting reached its acme. He himfelf indeed acknow¬ 
ledged, that he was furpaffed by feveral artifts in different 
branches of its pradtice; by Amphion in difpofition, by 
Afclepiodorus in proportion, &c. but that, in the combi¬ 
nation of the whole, he excelled them all. 
That Apelles was a mod powerful and agreeable painter, 
and that he muff have given a degree of tafte, of grace, 
of life, and effedt, to his figures, which had never till 
then been equalled in their union, is evident, fince it is 
the general unvarying opinion of all w'riters who have 
mentioned him ; and they are neither few nor weak. As 
many of his pictures were preferved at Rome in the time 
of Pliny, he had an opportunity of judging for himfelf; 
as far at lealt as their condition after fuch a lapfe of time 
(nearly 400 years) would allow him; but the tribute 
which he pays to the excellence of his mind, is, of courfe, 
(deduced from the reports of others. There appears in the 
latter no extravagant hyperbole which leads to difbeltef; 
and his generous conduit towards fo powerful a rival as 
Protogenes, Vvell deferves the honourable mention made 
of it. Being highly delighted with a picture of Jalyfus, 
painted by that artifl, he failed to Rhodes on purpofe to 
vilit him; where, finding him negledted and in poverty, he 
purchafed feme of his works, and declared that he in¬ 
tended to fell them as his own. Roufed to a recognition 
of the talents of their fellow-citizen by fuch powerful 
tellimony as that of Apelles, they raifed him from his 
bumble fituation to rank and fortune. The well-known 
ccnteft of thefe two friendly artifts, in the lines they drew 
as defignatory of themfelves, exhibiting that tafte and 
ikill which they knew none but themfelves poflefled, 
Hands upon well-founded teftimony as a faff. The tablet 
whereon they were drawn remained untouched, was taken 
to Rome, and was there feen by Pliny himfelf; who fpeaks 
of it, as having the appearance of a large blank furface; 
the extreme delicacy of the lines rendering them invifible, 
except on a dole infpedtion. They were drawn with dif¬ 
ferent colours, one upon, or rather within, the other. 
To judge from his account of it, it might be fuppofed 
that all the beauty lay in the extreme delicacy of the 
points which had been uled, and of the hands which had 
applied them ; but it is reafonable to fuppofe, that the 
firft diredticn of the line might have fome principle of 
beauty for its guide, by which, as well as by the neatnefs 
of its execution, Protogenes was inftantly moved to the 
declaration, that none but Apelles could have drawn it! 
Beloved, honoured, and employed, by Alexander, Apelles 
bad the happinefs of enjoying that fulnefs of renown to 
which he was fojuftly entitled. Alexander, the envy and 
admiration of the world, treated the painter with the fa¬ 
miliarity of a friend ; ordained that none other fiiould 
prefume to paint his likenefs; frequently vifited him ; and 
crowned his favours by a facrifice to friendthip of a moft 
uncommon nature among men : depriving himfelf of a 
beloved objedl, his favourite Campalpe, and giving her 
to gratify the aftedticn of one whom he fo much efteemed. 
The pictures produced by this exalted artift were nu¬ 
merous, and are mentioned pretty much at length by 
Pliny, lib. xxxv. cap. 10. But, perhaps the bed: comment 
upon his talents as a painter, will be found in the cha- 
rafter Mr. Fufeli has given of him. He places him in that 
rank where every thinking mind will be gratified to find 
him. “ The name,” he obferves, “ of Apelles in Pliny, 
is the fynonym of unrivalled and unattainable excel¬ 
lence; but the enumeration of his works points out the 
modification which we ought to apply to that fuperiority : 
it neither comprifes exclusive fublimity of invention, the 
moft acute diferimination of charadter, the wideft fphere 
of comprehenfion, the moft judicious and beft-balanced 
compofition, nor the deeped pathos of expreftion ; his 
great prerogative confided more in the unilon than the 
extent of his powers; he knew better what he could do, 
what ought to be done, at what point he could arrive, and 
what lay beyond his reach, than any other artift. Grace 
of conception, and refinement of tafte, were his elements, 
and went hand in hand with grace of execution, and tafte 
in finilh; powerful, and feldom poflefled fingly, irrefiftible 
when united.” That our readers may judge for them¬ 
felves of the propriety of thefe remarks, we will enume¬ 
rate, from Pliny, the pictures of which he fpeaks, and 
which, of courle, may be fuppofed to convey a very juft 
idea of the clafs of fubjedts generally chofen by Apelles. 
Of Alexander the Great, and his father Philip, the por¬ 
traits he painted were very numerous; fome tingle, and 
fome accompanied by other figures. One, in the temple 
of Diana at Ephefus, of Alexander launching thunder, 
is highly extolled for its efledt, and the boldnefs of its re¬ 
lief; “ the hand which was raifed appearing to come for¬ 
ward, and the lightning to be out of the picture.” In 
another of the fame king, he was reprefented in a trium¬ 
phal chariot, near him the figure of War with his hands 
tied behind his back. This, and another Alexander, ac¬ 
companied by Caftor and Pollux, and a figure of Victory, 
were preferved by Auguftus in the forum. Many other 
portraits are mentioned ; viz. of Antiochus king of Syria; 
of Antigonus; Archelaus, with his wife and daughter; 
Abron, an effeminate debauchee ; Clytus on horfeback, 
armed, except his head, with an attendant delivering his 
helmet to him ; and of Megabyfus, a prieft of the temple 
of Diana at Ephefus, facrificing, in his pontifical vell;- 
ments. In fubjedts of fancy, are, a Diana furrounded by 
her nymphs, attending at a facrifice ; Neoptolemus, foil 
of Achilles, on horfeback, contending with Perfians; 
Hercules with his back towards the obferver, and his head 
turned round fo as to fliow his face; a horfe painted in 
competition with other painters, and faid to have excited 
living horfes to neigh; and, laftly, his renowned pidture 
of Venus rifing from the lea; which, being taken to 
Rome, was dedicated by Auguftus in the temple of Juliu3 
Caefar; and feveral Greek epigrams upon it are preferved 
in the Anthologia. So great was its perfedtion, that no 
artift could be found who would undertake to reftore the 
lower part of it, when by accident it had been injured; 
and of another of the fame fubjedl, begun for the inha¬ 
bitants of his native ifland, (Cos,) and of which he had 
only finifhed the head and breafts when he died. Pliny 
fays that no painter would fet his hand to complete it, 
through a fearful acknowledgment of this great mailer’s 
fuperiority. Other pidtures and defigns of his are men¬ 
tioned by different authors; but thefearefufficier.t to Ihow 
the general tendency of the fubjedts on which he em¬ 
ployed the extraordinary powers of imitation he was en¬ 
dowed with. The bare mention of them is fufficient to 
prove the critical acumen of our learned profeffor of 
painting; but, doubtlefs, they are fully capable of admit¬ 
ting, indeed they require, all that grace and tafte in con¬ 
ception and execution for which he w’as renowned, to 
compenfate for their want of pathos. 
What was omitted by Apelles, was fupplied by his con¬ 
temporary, Ariltides of Thebes. Unable to rival him in 
harmony and grace of colour and execution, and qualified 
by nature to difplay the influence of the paffions, Ariltides 
followed in the fteps of Timanthes. His was the power 
of imprefling form with foul, of fixing upon, and repre- 
fenting with effedt, thofe impaflioned adtions of the body, 
which are the refult of the more amiable or violent emo¬ 
tions of the mind. So effective was the earneftnefs of a 
fuppliant pourtrayed by him, that “ his voice feemed to 
efcape from the pidture ;” and not only was he capable of 
reprefenting the more fnnple emotions of the paffions, but 
their moft complex unions were alfo lubjedt to his fkill. 
An expreflion, in which are difcoverable maternal affec¬ 
tion, anxious for the benefit of its offspring, amidft the 
pangs of certain and approaching death, was produced in 
his pidture of a woman who had received a mortal wound 
upon her breaft, endeavouring to prevent her infant, eager 
