Volume 1

A biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers. From the revival of the art under Cimabue, and the alledged discovery of engraving by Finiguerra, to the present time : with the ciphers, monograms, and marks, used by each engraver, and an ample list of their principal works, together with two indexes, alphabetical and chronological, to which is prefixed, an introduction, containing a brief account of the painters of antiquity / by Michael Bryan.

  • Bryan, Michael, 1757-1821.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers. From the revival of the art under Cimabue, and the alledged discovery of engraving by Finiguerra, to the present time : with the ciphers, monograms, and marks, used by each engraver, and an ample list of their principal works, together with two indexes, alphabetical and chronological, to which is prefixed, an introduction, containing a brief account of the painters of antiquity / by Michael Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    more persevering: assiduity than Apelles. He never permitted a day to pass without practising some branch of his art; hence originated the maxim, Nulla dies sine linea. His extraordinary talents, and the polished accomplishments of his mind, secured him the patronage and esteem of Alexander the Great, whose portrait he drew several times, and received from that conqueror the exclusive privilege of painting his likeness. Among others, was a portrait of Alexander holding a thunderbolt, which was placed in the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, and was so admirably executed, that Plutarch reports that it used to be said there were two Alexanders, one invincible, the son of Philip; the other inimitable, the work of Apelles. One of his most admired productions was a picture of Venus rising from the sea, called Venus Anadyomene, which Ovid has celebrated in his verses: Si Venerem Cois nunquam pinxisset Apelles, Mersa sub ccquoreis ilia lateret aquis. Pliny asserts, that Alexander permitted his favourite mistress, the beautiful Campaspe, to sit. to him for his Venus, and that the painter becoming ena- moured of his model, the conqueror resigned her to his arms*. We are told by .Elian, in his Various History, that having painted a portrait of Alexander on horseback, which was not so much admired by the monarch as it deserved, a horse happened to be brought, which neighed at the sight of the horse in the picture, upon which Apelles is said to have addressed Alexander as follows; “ Sire, it is plain that your horse is a better judge of painting than your Ma- jesty.” Bayle thinks this too rude and unmannerly to be ascribed to a painter who is represented as a man of an easy, complaisant, and polite behaviour. He must either have been a court buffoon, or a person of such odd eccentric humour, as has been sometimes met with among the most eminent artists. It is, however, certain, that he frequently indulged in raillery. One of his disciples having shown him a picture of Helen which he had loaded with gold, “ Young man,” said the painter, “ not being able to make thy Helen beautiful, thou hast resolved to make her rich.” One of the chief excellencies of Apelles in portrait-painting was to give so perfect a resemblance of the person represented, that the physiognomists were able to form a judgment as easily from his pictures as if they had seen the originals. This readiness and dexterity in taking a likeness Avas of singular utility to Apelles, in extricating him from a very perilous dilemma into which he was thrown, at the court of Ptolemy. When that prince reigned in Egypt, Apelles, who had not the good fortune to be in favour with Ptolemy, was driven by a storm into the port of Alexandria, where his enemies suborned a * Other writers pretend thatPhryne served him as a model for his Venus.