![[Apelles. (370-306 BC)] Ink Wash Portrait, 1726](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Ink_wash_portrait_of_Apelles_Pictor_Athen_23304.jpg?v=1722190738)
[Apelles. (370-306 BC)]. Ink Wash Portrait, 1726.
Ink wash portrait of Apelles, signed "J.R." and dated 17[2?]6 lower left in an unknown hand, after the etching by Jacob von Sandrart, Nuremberg, 1675. On laid paper without watermark. In very fine condition. 7.6 x 9.2 inches; 19 x 23 cm.
A fine 18th century portrait of the renowned painter of ancient Greece, modeled on the portrait by Sandrart (1606-1688), artist and printmaker from Frankfurt who travelled widely in Italy and settled in Nuremberg in 1674.
Pliny the Elder, to whom much of modern scholars' knowledge of Apelles is owed (Naturalis Historia 35.36.79–97 and passim), rated him superior to preceding and subsequent artists. He dated Apelles to the 112th Olympiad (332–329 BC), possibly because he had produced a portrait of Alexander the Great. Our portrait shows a Latin text about him, describing him as the "Prince of ancient painters," stating that he lived 334 years before Christ, and praising his inventive skills and great expertise in his work. It attributes to Appeles the proverbs "Ne sutor ultra crepidam" (translated "Let the cobbler not go beyond the shoe") and "Nulla dies sine linea," meaning "Not a day without a line."
[Apelles. (370-306 BC)]. Ink Wash Portrait, 1726.
Ink wash portrait of Apelles, signed "J.R." and dated 17[2?]6 lower left in an unknown hand, after the etching by Jacob von Sandrart, Nuremberg, 1675. On laid paper without watermark. In very fine condition. 7.6 x 9.2 inches; 19 x 23 cm.
A fine 18th century portrait of the renowned painter of ancient Greece, modeled on the portrait by Sandrart (1606-1688), artist and printmaker from Frankfurt who travelled widely in Italy and settled in Nuremberg in 1674.
Pliny the Elder, to whom much of modern scholars' knowledge of Apelles is owed (Naturalis Historia 35.36.79–97 and passim), rated him superior to preceding and subsequent artists. He dated Apelles to the 112th Olympiad (332–329 BC), possibly because he had produced a portrait of Alexander the Great. Our portrait shows a Latin text about him, describing him as the "Prince of ancient painters," stating that he lived 334 years before Christ, and praising his inventive skills and great expertise in his work. It attributes to Appeles the proverbs "Ne sutor ultra crepidam" (translated "Let the cobbler not go beyond the shoe") and "Nulla dies sine linea," meaning "Not a day without a line."