Timanthes (painter)

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Timanthes ( Greek  Τιμάνϑης ) was a Greek painter born on the island of Kythnos who worked in the 2nd half of the 5th century BC. Was active.

Timanthes' origin of Kythnos is passed down by Quintilian , while Eustatios gives Sikyon as his place of birth and probably named it with the painter of the same name from the 3rd century BC. Confused.

Cicero counts him, along with Polygnotos and Zeuxis, to those painters who did not use more than four colors in their paintings.

Timanthes was a contemporary and competitor of the painters Zeuxis, Androkydes , Eupompus and Parrhasios . Competing on Samos with Parrhasios he created a painting of Aethiopis and the Little Iliad following Ajax and Odysseus in the dispute over the weapons of Achilles showed. Timanthes won with a large majority of the vote. Parrhasios is said to have responded on behalf of his painted hero Ajax by saying that it was "a shame to have been overcome for the second time by an unworthy opponent."

On the other hand, he created his painting, which is most frequently cited in ancient literature, in another victorious contest with the otherwise unknown Kolotes von Teos . The theme was the sacrifice of Iphigenia in Aulis . Above all, his ability, which is shown to advantage in the picture, his genius and the pain felt by those involved in the sacrifice was praised to varying degrees. For example, Menelaus , Iphigenia's uncle, was portrayed only in grief. After he had gone through all the degrees of sadness, the only thing left for him to do to portray Agamemnon , who was most involved , was to cover his face because he felt incapable of increasing the expression adequately.

An idea of ​​the much-vaunted picture can be found in a mural from the Casa del Poeta tragico in Pompeii , today in the National Museum in Naples , which depicts the sacrifice of Iphigenia following ancient tradition.

Other works in Ephesus mention the death of Palamedes , a sleeping Cyclops with satyrs , the latter a miniature on a tablet and the satyrs on it as big as a thumb.

According to Pliny, Timanthes was an artist in whose work there was always something more to be found in the brushwork than in the expression and whose execution, although of the highest quality, was always overtaken by his wealth of ideas. He is said to have created a masterpiece that summarized all his abilities, the painting of a hero that was in the Templum Pacis in Rome in Pliny’s time . In it he brought the art of contour drawing to the highest point of perfection. The formulation in Pliny is reminiscent of the work of the sculptor Polyklet , who at about the same time, in the later 5th century BC. BC had created his canon , he too - if carried out in the statuary - a version of all skills and their theoretical foundations translated into work. Pliny is not alone with his enthusiastic praise and Cicero already praised Timanthes' design and lines alongside those of Polygnots and des Zeuxis: formas et liniamenta laudamus .

Remarks

  1. ^ Qintilian, institutio oratoria 2, 13, 13.
  2. ↑ Eustatios, ad Homeri Iliadem 1343, 60.
  3. ↑ Cicero, Brutus 70.
  4. ↑ Pliny , Naturalis historia 35, 72.
  5. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 72; without naming the Timanthes also Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 12, 543.
  6. ↑ Qintilian, institutio oratoria 2, 13, 13; Cicero, orator 74; Virgil , Aetna 597 f .; Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 73; Valerius Maximus 8, 11 ext. 6; Eustatios, ad Homeri Iliadem 1343, 60.
  7. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 73.
  8. ^ Photios , Libraries 190 p. 146 b. 26; Johannes Tzetzes 8, 403.
  9. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 74.
  10. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 74.
  11. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 74.
  12. ↑ Cicero, Brutus 70.

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personal data
SURNAME Timanthes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek painter
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Kythnos, Greece
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC Chr.