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Apelles (flourished 4th century BC) was a renowned
painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, to
whom we owe much of our knowledge of this artist
(N.H. 35.36.79-97 and passim) rated him first of
all who preceded him and who came after. He dated
Apelles to the 112th Olympiad (332-329 BC),
possibly because he had produced a portrait of
Alexander the Great.

== Biography ==
Probably born at Colophon in Ionia, he first
studied under Ephorus of Ephesus, then became a
student to Pamphilus (painter)|Pamphilus at Sicyon
(N.H. 35.36.75). He executed a number of paintings
for Philip II of Macedon|Phillip II and the young
Alexander the Great to the advancement of his
reputation.

His skill at drawing the human face is the point
of a story connecting him with Ptolemy I. This
onetime general of Alexander disliked Apelles
while they both were in Alexander's retinue, and
many years later, while travelling by sea a storm
forced Apelles to land in Ptolemy's Egyptian
kingdom. Ptolemy's jester was suborned by Apelles'
rivals to convey to the artist an invitation to
dine with Ptolemy. Apelles's unexpected arrival
enraged the king. Ptolemy demanded to know who had
given Apelles the invitation, and with a piece of
charcoal from the fireplace Apelles drew a
likeness on the wall -- which Ptolemy recognized
as his jester in the first strokes of the sketch.

Apelles was a contemporary of Protogenes, whose
reputation he advocated. Apelles travelled to
Protogenes' home on Rhodes make the acquaintance
of this painter he had heard so much about.
Arriving at Protogenes's studio, he encountered an
old woman who told him that Protogenes was out and
asked for his name so she could report who had
enquired after him. Observing in the studio a
panel Protogenes had prepared for a painting,
Apelles walked over to the easel, and taking up a
brush told the servant to tell Protogenes "this
came from me," and drew in color an extrememly
fine line across the panel. When Protogenes
returned, and the old woman explained what had
taken place, he examined the line and pronounced
that only Apelles could have done so perfect of
work; Protogenes then dipped a brush into another
color and drew a still finer line above the first
one, and asked his servant to show this to the
visitor should he return. When Apelles returned,
and was shown Protogenes' response, ashamed that
he might be bettered, he drew in a third color an
even finer line between the first two, leaving no
room for another display of craftsmanship. On
seeing this, Protogenes admitted defeat, and went
out to seek Apelles and meet him face-to-face.

Pliny claims that this very painting had been part
of the collection of Julius Caesar, but was
destroyed when Caesar's mansion on the Palatine
Hill burned down. (It is unknown if this story was
the inspiration for a similar exchange between the
alien Klaatu and the scientist in the movie "The
Day the Earth Stood Still".) 

While sketching one of Alexander the Great's
concubines, Campaspe, Apelles fell in love with
her. As a mark of appreciation for the great
painter's work, Alexander presented her to him.

Apelles is said to have been working on a painting
of Aphrodite of Kos when he died, and the painting
was left unfinished for no one could be found with
skill enough to complete it.

== Works ==
Pliny states that Apelles made a number of useful
innovations to the art of painting, but his
recipie for a black varnish -- that both protected
and enhanced the colors in his paintings, and
created an effect that Pliny praises to no end --
Apelles kept secret and was lost with his death.

His paintings (none of which survive) include:
*Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, one of the many
he did of both Alexander and his father Philip;
*Aphrodite Anadyomene ("Aphrodite Rising from the
Sea"), showing the goddess rising from the sea
(not the painting he was working on when he died,
but an earlier painting), for which Pliny relates
the tradition he used a former mistress of
Alexander, Campaspe, as his model for Aphrodite; 
*A portrait of Antigonus I Monophthalmus on
horseback, in a three-quarters view which artfully
concealed the subject's blind eye;
*A portrait of Artemis surrounded by a group of
maidens offering a sacrifice, based on Odyssey
6.102ff;
*Sacrifice in Cos, described in the Mimes (4.59)
of Herodas.

A number of his paintings were taken to Rome
(including Aphrodite Anadyomene and placed there
on public display; two compositions that included
a portrait of Alexander -- Castor and Pollux with
Victory and Alexander the Great, and The Figure of
War with his Hands Tied Behind Him Following the
Triumphal Chariot of Alexander -- the Emperor
Claudius later had Alexander's face replaced with
that of his grandfather Augustus.

== Legacy ==
Pliny connects a number of sayings to Apelles,
which may come from Apelles' lost treatise on the
art of painting. One comes from Apelles' judgement
on Protogenes, that Protogenes knew when his
painting was finished: quod manum de tabula scirat
-- "He knew when to take the hand from the
picture." Another refers to his practice of
exhibiting his works in the front of his shop,
then hiding near by to hear the comments of
passers-by. When a cobbler commented on his
mistakes in painting a shoe, Apelles made the
corrections that very night; the next morning the
cobbler noticed the changes, and proud of his
effect on the artist's work began to criticize how
Apelles portrayed the leg -- whereupon Apelles
emerged from his hiding-place to state: Ne sutor
ultra crepidam -- "Let the shoemaker venture no
further." The last saying Pliny attributes to
Apelles refers to the painter's diligence at
practicing his art every day: Nulla dies sine
linea -- "Not a day without a line drawn."

Such was Apelles' fame that several Renaissance
painters modelled themselves on him. Raffaello
Santi|Raphael may have portrayed himself as
Apelles in the Raphael Rooms|School of Athens and
Sandro Botticelli based two paintings -- The birth
of Venus and Calumny of Apelles -- on his works.