Polygnotus of Thasos
-0500–-050 · Greek painter of the second half of the 5th century BC
Polygnotus of Thasos was a Greek painter active in the second half of the 5th century BC, and ancient tradition regarded him as the first great painter of antiquity. Born on the island of Thasos, he came to be closely associated with Athens, which granted him citizenship. His significance lies in the way that, according to classical writers, he gave painting a narrative and moral dimension it had not had before, although none of his works survive and we know them only through descriptions.
He was active roughly between 475 and 447 BC, in the time of Cimon. For the Athenians he painted the fall of Troy and the abduction of the daughters of Leucippus in the Anakeion, as well as the Battle of Marathon in the Stoa Poikile, the famous colonnade of Athens. Other works of his were kept in the entrance hall of the Acropolis. His most important commission, however, was the series of frescoes in the Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi, showing Odysseus's visit to Hades and the sack of Troy. We know a good deal about them thanks to the figure-by-figure description left by the traveller Pausanias, and French excavations at Delphi have recovered the building's foundations.
According to these sources, his palette was simple, with only a handful of colours, and his figures were arranged in two or three overlapping rows, almost on a single plane, much like the sculptured reliefs of his day. What was admired was the beauty of his drawing, the noble character of his figures and the grace of women dressed in transparent veils. He is also credited with a treatment of faces that softened the stiffness inherited from Egyptian art, and with an interest in expressing the ethos and pathos of his figures. His contemporary, and perhaps teacher, Phidias shared the same classical sensibility.
His legacy lies mainly in the idea that painting could narrate complex scenes and convey emotion, something later painters would develop with more advanced techniques. He should not be confused with another painter of pottery who bore the same name.
Works (1)
Painted by Polygnotus around 450 BC, this work depicts the Battle of Marathon, as its title indicates. It is associated with the Stoa Poikile, the colonnade listed as its setting. Without reference texts, the composition, technique and commission cannot be stated with certainty, so the reading of the scene should be approached cautiously.
Curiosities
A donkey and a hare
Ancient sources praised his naturalistic realism, and among the works attributed to him were a donkey and a hare painted with great fidelity. These animals, alongside the figures in transparent veils, were cited as examples of his ability to observe nature closely. They are among the few concrete references we have to his more everyday subjects, unusual in a painting devoted mostly to heroes and mythological episodes.
A recognisable woman
Among his portraits of living people, one figure was identified in antiquity as Elpinice, sister of Cimon, the Athenian statesman for whom he worked. Including a recognisable person in a public scene was unusual for the period. The identification came down through literary tradition, so today we know it only from what ancient texts report.
Echoes of Tarquinia
Some scholars compare Polygnotus's palette with that used by his contemporaries in the frescoes of the tombs at Tarquinia, in Etruria. Ancient sources already noted that his works used only four colours. The comparison suggests that, despite the fame of his drawing, the chromatic resources of Greek painting of the period were quite limited.