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PROTOGENES

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 476 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PROTOGENES , a See also:

Greek painter, See also:born in Caunus, on the See also:coast of See also:Caria, but See also:resident in See also:Rhodes during the latter See also:half of the 4th See also:century B.C. He was celebrated for the See also:minute and laborious finish which he bestowed on his pictures, both in See also:drawing and in See also:colour. See also:Apelles, his See also:great See also:rival, See also:standing astonished in presence of one of these See also:works, could only See also:console himself bysaying that it was wanting in See also:charm. On one picture, the " Ialysus," he spent seven years; on another, the " Satyr," he worked continuously during the See also:siege of Rhodes by See also:Demetrius Poliorcetes (305–304 B.C.) notwithstanding that the See also:garden in which he painted was in the See also:middle of the enemy's See also:camp. Demetrius, unsolicited, took See also:measures for his safety; more than that, when told that the " Ialysus just mentioned was in a See also:part of the See also:town exposed to See also:assault, Demetrius changed his See also:plan of operations. Ialysus was a See also:local See also:hero,the founder of the town of the same name in the See also:island of Rhodes, and probably he was represented as a See also:huntsman. This picture was still in Rhodes in the See also:time of See also:Cicero, but was afterwards removed to. See also:Rome, where it perished in the burning of the See also:Temple of See also:Peace. The picture painted during the siege of Rhodes consisted of a satyr leaning idly against a See also:pillar on which was a figure of a See also:partridge, so See also:life-like that See also:ordinary spectators saw nothing but it. Enraged on this See also:account, the painter wiped out the partridge. The " Satyr " must have been one of his last works. He would then be about seventy years of See also:age, and had enjoyed for about twenty years a reputation next only to that of Apelles, his friend and benefactor.

Both were finished colourists so far as the See also:

fresco-See also:painting of their See also:day permitted, and both were laborious in the practice of drawing, doubtless with the view to obtaining bold effects of See also:perspective as well as fineness of outline. It was an See also:illustration of this practice when Apelles, finding in the See also:house of Protogenes a large See also:panel ready prepared for a picture, See also:drew upon it with a See also:brush a very See also:fine See also:line which he said would tell sufficiently who had called. Protogenes on his return See also:home took a brush with a different colour and drew a still finer line along that of Apelles dividing it in two. Apelles called again; and, thus challenged, drew with a third colour another line within that of Protogenes, who then admitted himself surpassed. This panel was seen by See also:Pliny (N.H. See also:xxxv. 83) in Rome, where it was much admired, and where it perished by See also:fire. In the See also:gallery of the See also:Propylaea at See also:Athens was to be seen a panel by Protogenes. The subject consisted of two figures representing personifications of the coast of See also:Attica, See also:Paralus and Hammonias. For the See also:council chamber at Athens he painted figures of the Thesmothetae, but in what See also:form or See also:character is not known. Probably these works were executed in Athens, and it may have been then that he met See also:Aristotle, who recommended him to take for subjects the deeds of See also:Alexander the Great. In his " Alexander and See also:Pan " he may have followed that See also:advice in the idealizing spirit to which he was accustomed. To this spirit must be traced also his " Cydippe " and " Tlepolemus," legendary personages of Rhodes.

Among his portraits are mentioned those of the See also:

mother of Aristotle, Philiscus the tragic poet, and See also:King Antigonus. But Protogenes. was also a sculptor to some extent, and made several See also:bronze statues of athletes, armed figures, huntsmen and persons in the See also:act of offering sacrifices.

End of Article: PROTOGENES

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