An Epigram and a Treasury

Κίμων ἔγραψε τὴν θύραν τὴν δεξιάν, τὴν δ’ ἐξιόντων δεξιὰν Διονύσιος. Cimon painted the door to the right, and the right door as one goes out, Dionysius. ( Anth. Pal. 9.758) Denys Page correctly classified this epigram, which comes from a series of Simonidea in the ninth book of the Palatine Anthology , as a signature epigram. The Cimon mentioned in the first line of the epigram is regularly identified as Cimon of Cleonae, a late sixth-century B.C. painter commended by Pliny ( HN 35.34) and Aelian ( VH 8.8) for his technique and, possibly, use of perspective. The identity of Dionysius from line 2 is disputed: from little that we know of a painter named Dionysius of Colophon who may have been a younger contemporary of Cimon, it is difficult to reach any conclusion. What connects the two artists is that they were both famed for their portrayal of humans and that they may have entered in a sort of a competition with each other

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Colophon · Identity (music · Literature · Ninth · Painting · Treasury · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History

• Classical Art and the Cultures of Greece and Rome

  John Onians•Classical art and the cultures of…•1999

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