Parrhasius

Parrhasius of Ephesus was one of the most celebrated painters of ancient Greece, active between the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC. He was probably born in Ephesus, but he settled in Athens, where he was already living around 400 BC and became a citizen. He is usually considered a painter of the Ionian school, although some place him among the Attic artists as well. His importance lies in the fact that tradition ranks him among the leading painters of his time.

His eccentric habits and love of luxury were famous in antiquity: he was said to wear purple garments, a gold crown and a staff covered in gold. Ancient sources also record his rivalry with Zeuxis. In the best-known anecdote, Zeuxis painted grapes so realistic that birds came to peck at them. When he asked Parrhasius to draw back the curtain, he discovered that the curtain was in fact his rival's painting, so Parrhasius had deceived Zeuxis. He also competed with Timanthes of Sicyon in a painting of Odysseus and Ajax arguing over the arms of Achilles, and lost.

Among his works are designs for the shield of Phidias's Athena Promachos, executed in metal by Mys; a representation of Demos, the people of Athens personified; a self-portrait in which he appears dressed as Hermes, signed with a pseudonym to avoid charges of impiety; several scenes from the Homeric cycle; and a Theseus that decorated the Capitol in Rome. He also treated obscene subjects and mythological groups.

His skilled drawing of profiles is especially admired, and some of his drawings on panel and parchment were preserved and studied by later painters. He learned to make figures seem to stand out from the background and, according to Pliny, he worked on volume and relief, a problem that Scopas faced in sculpture. His legacy survives in the echo of his lost painting found on funerary lekythoi by the Achilles, Tumulus and Lament Painters.