Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 1 of 3)Spooner, Shearjashub
History
Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 1 of 3)
Spooner, Shearjashub
Art -- Anecdotes; Artists -- Anecdotes
temple of Theseus, says that the stucco still bears the marks or stains
of the ancient paintings, in which he distinctly recognized the blue
sky, vestiges of bronze and gold colored armor, and blue, green, and red
draperies. What then becomes of the tetrachromes of Apelles, and the
monochromes of previous artists? for Mycon painted the Theseum near 200
years before the time of Apelles.
APELLES AND THE COBBLER.
It was customary with Apelles to expose to public view the works which
he had finished, and to hide himself behind the canvass, in order to
hear the remarks made by spectators. He once overheard himself blamed by
a shoemaker for a fault in the slippers of some figure; having too much
good sense to be offended with any objection, however trifling, which
came from a competent judge, he corrected the fault which the man had
noticed. On the following day, however, the shoemaker began to
animadvert upon the leg; on which Apelles, with some anger, looked out
from the canvass, and reproved him in these words, which are also become
a proverb, “_ne sutor ultra crepidam_”--“let the cobbler keep to his
last,” or “every man to his trade.”
APELLES’ FOAMING CHARGER.
In finishing a drawing of a horse, in the portraiture of which he much
excelled, a very remarkable circumstance is related of him. He had
painted a war horse returning from battle, and had succeeded to his
wishes in describing nearly every mark that could indicate a
high-mettled steed impatient of restraint; there was wanting nothing but
a foam of bloody hue issuing from the mouth. He again and again
endeavored to express this, but his attempts were unsuccessful. At last
in vexation, he threw against the mouth of the horse a sponge filled
with different colors, which produced the very effect desired by the
painter. A similar story is related of Protogenes, in painting his
picture of Jalysus and his Dog.
APELLES AND ALEXANDER.
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