Identifier: storyofgreatestn02elli (find matches)
Title: The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916 Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis), 1870-1942
Subjects: World history
Publisher: New York : F.R. Niglutsch
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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tation as a teacher of the art of painting.He developed a number of famous artists, the greatest being Apelles, the mostfamous of all Grecian painters. Apelles added scientific accuracy to the graceand elegance of the Ionic school. He appears to have spent most of his life atthe court of Pella, where he was a favorite of Alexander, who, as has beenstated, gave him and Lysippus the exclusive privilege of painting his portrait.He was with Alexander on his eastern expedition, and afterward travelledthrough the western parts of Asia, the latter part of his life being spent at thecourt of King Ptolemy in Egypt. I wonder whether any reader of these pages is able to tell the origin of theexpression, Let the cobbler stick to his last. Here it is : Always anxious toimprove, Apelles used to exhibit his unfinished pictures in front of his houseand then concealing himself behind them, listen to the criticisms of those whostopped to view his work. One day a cobbler detected a fault in one of the *
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Greece—Painting and Architecture 267 shoes of a picture and pointed it out. Apelles was prompt to correct it. En-couraged by the success of his criticism, the cobbler ne.xt ventured to find faultwith the leg. At this the artist lost patience with his presumption, and utteredthe reproof which has been repeated so many times since. The greatest of Apelles portraits was that of Alexander wielding the thun-derbolt, and his most admired painting was the Aphrodite rising from theSea. The goddess is shown wringing her hair, with the drops forming a veilaround her. It was painted for the temple of /Esculapius at Cos. and after-ward placed by Augustus in the temple at Rome, which he dedicated to JuliusC?esar. Apelles was ranked by the ancients as the first of painters, and no onewas ever found competent to complete another figure of Aphrodite which heleft unfinished at his death. Regarding architecture of this period, there was probably no improvementin the style of public buildings and temp

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