ROMAN PAINTERS

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Apud Romanos quoque honos mature huic arti contigit, siquidem cognomina ex ea Pictorum traxerunt Fabii clarissimae gentis, princepsque eius cognominis ipse aedem Salutis pinxit anno urbis conditae CCCCL, quae pictura duravit ad nostram memoriam aede ea Claudi principatu exusta. proxime celebrata est in foro boario aede Herculis Pacui poetae pictura. Enni sorore genitus hic fuit clarioremque artem eam Romae fecit gloria scaenae. postea non est spectata honestis manibus, nisi forte quis Turpilium equitem Romanum e Venetia nostrae aetatis velit referre, pulchris eius operibus hodieque Veronae exstantibus. laeva is manu pinxit, quod de nullo ante memoratur. parvis gloriabatur tabellis extinctus nuper in longa senecta Titedius Labeo praetorius, etiam proconsulatu provinciae Narbonensis functus, sed ea re inrisa etiam contumeliae erat. fuit et principum virorum non omittendum de pictura celebre consilium, cum Q. Pedius, nepos Q. Pedii consularis triumphalisque et a Caesare dictatore coheredis Augusto dati, natura mutus esset. in eo Messala orator, ex cuius familia pueri avia fuerat, picturam docendum censuit, idque etiam divus Augustus comprobavit; puer magni profectus in ea arte obiit. dignatio autem praecipua Romae increvit, ut existimo, a M'. Valerio Maximo Messala, qui princeps tabulam [picturam] proelii, quo Carthaginienses et Hieronem in Sicilia vicerat, proposuit in latere curiae Hostiliae anno ab urbe condita ccccxc. fecit hoc idem et L. Scipio tabulamque victoriae suae Asiaticae in Capitolio posuit, idque aegre tulisse fratrem Africanum tradunt, haut inmerito, quando filius eius illo proelio captus fuerat. non dissimilem offensionem et Aemiliani subiit L. Hostilius Mancinus, qui primus Carthaginem inruperat, situm eius oppugnationesque depictas proponendo in foro et ipse adsistens populo spectanti singula enarrando, qua comitate proximis comitiis consulatum adeptus est. habuit et scaena ludis Claudii Pulchri magnam admirationem picturae, cum ad tegularum similitudinem corvi decepti imagine advolarent.

Tabulis autem externis auctoritatem Romae publice fecit primus omnium L. Mummius, cui cognomen Achaici victoria dedit. namque cum in praeda vendenda rex Attalus $X$ |VI| emisset tabulam Aristidis, Liberum patrem, pretium miratus suspicatusque aliquid in ea virtutis, quod ipse nesciret, revocavit tabulam, Attalo multum querente, et in Cereris delubro posuit. quam primam arbitror picturam externam Romae publicatam, deinde video et in foro positas volgo. hinc enim ille Crassi oratoris lepos agentis sub Veteribus; cum testis compellatus instaret: dic ergo, Crasse, qualem me noris? talem, inquit, ostendens in tabula inficetissime Gallum exerentem linguam. in foro fruit et illa pastoris senis cum baculo, de qua Teutonorum legatus respondit interrogatus, quantine eum aestimaret, donari sibi nolle talem vivum verumque. sed praecipuam auctoritatem publice tabulis fecit Caesar dictator Aiace et Media ante Veneris Genetricis aedem dicatis, post eum M. Agrippa, vir rusticitati propior quam deliciis. exstat certe eius oratio magnifica et maximo civium digna de tabulis omnibus signisque publicandis, quod fieri satius fuisset quam in villarum exilia pelli. verum eadem illa torvitas tabulas duas Aiacis et Veneris mercata est a Cyzicenis HS |XI|. in thermarum quoque calidissima parte marmoribus incluserat parvas tabellas, paulo ante, cum reficerentur, sublatas. super omnes divus Augustus in foro suo celeberrima in parte posuit tabulas duas, quae Belli faciem pictam habent et Triumphum, item Castores ac Victoriam. posuit et quas dicemus sub artificum mentione in templo Caesaris patris. idem in curia quoque, quam in comitio consecrabat, duas tabulas inpressit parieti. Nemean sedentem supra leonem, palmigeram ipsam, adstante cum baculo sene, cuius supra caput tabella bigae dependet, Nicias scripsit se inussisse; tali enim usus est verbo. alterius tabulae admiratio est puberem filium seni patri similem esse aetatis salva differentia, supervolante aquila draconem complexa; Philochares hoc suum opus esse testatus est, inmensa, vel unam si tantum hanc tabulam aliquis aestimet, potentia artis, cum propter Philocharen ignobilissimos alioqui Glaucionem filiumque eius Aristippum senatus populi Romani tot saeculis spectet! posuit et Tiberius Caesar, minime comis imperator, in templo ipsius Augusti quas mox indicabimus. hactenus dictum sit de dignitate artis morientis.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Among the Romans, too, this art very soon rose into esteem, for it was from it that the Fabii, a most illustrious family, derived their surname of “Pictor;” indeed the first of the family who bore it, himself painted the Temple of Salus, in the year of the City, 450; a work which lasted to our own times, but was destroyed when the temple was burnt, in the reign of Claudius. Next in celebrity were the paintings of the poet Pacuvius, in the Temple of Hercules, situate in the Cattle Market: he was a son of the sister of Ennius, and the fame of the art was enhanced at Rome by the success of the artist on the stage. After this period, the art was no longer practised by men of rank; unless, indeed, we would make reference to Turpilius, in our own times, a native of Venetia, and of equestrian rank, several of whose beautiful works are still in existence at Verona. He painted, too, with his left hand, a thing never known to have been done by any one before.

Titidius Labeo, a person of prætorian rank, who had been formerly proconsul of the province of Gallia Narbonensis, and who lately died at a very advanced age, used to pride himself upon the little pictures which he executed, but it only caused him to be ridiculed and sneered at. I must not omit, too, to mention a celebrated consultation upon the subject of painting, which was held by some persons of the highest rank. Q. Pedius, who had been honoured with the consulship and a triumph, and who had been named by the Dictator Cæsar as co-heir with Augustus, had a grandson, who being dumb from his birth, the orator Messala, to whose family his grandmother belonged, recommended that he should be brought up as a painter, a proposal which was also approved of by the late Emperor Augustus. He died, however, in his youth, after having made great progress in the art. But the high estimation in which painting came to be held at Rome, was principally due, in my opinion, to M. Valerius Maximus Messala, who, in the year of the City, 490, was the first to exhibit a painting to the public; a picture, namely, of the battle in which he had defeated the Carthaginians and Hiero in Sicily, upon one side of the Curia Hostilia. The same thing was done, too, by L. Scipio, who placed in the Capitol a painting of the victory which he had gained in Asia; but his brother Africanus, it is said, was offended at it, and not without reason, for his son had been taken prisoner in the battle. Lucius Hostilius Mancinus, too, who had been the first to enter Carthage at the final attack, gave a very similar offence to Æmilianus, by exposing in the Forum a painting of that city and the attack upon it, he himself standing near the picture, and describing to the spectators the various details of the siege; a piece of complaisance which secured him the consulship at the ensuing Comitia.

The stage, too, which was erected for the games celebrated by Claudius Pulcher, brought the art of painting into great admiration, it being observed that the ravens were so deceived by the resemblance, as to light upon the decorations which were painted in imitation of tiles.

The high estimation in which the paintings of foreigners were held at Rome commenced with Lucius Mummius, who, from his victories, acquired the surname of “Achaicus.” For upon the sale of the spoil on that occasion, King Attalus having purchased, at the price of six thousand denarii, a painting of Father Liber by Aristides, Mummius, feeling surprised at the price, and suspecting that there might be some merit in it of which he himself was unaware, in spite of the complaints of Attalus, broke off the bargain, and had the picture placed in the Temple of Ceres; the first instance, I conceive, of a foreign painting being publicly exhibited at Rome.

After this, I find, it became a common practice to exhibit foreign pictures in the Forum; for it was to this circumstance that we are indebted for a joke of the orator Crassus. While pleading below the Old Shops, he was interrupted by a witness who had been summoned, with the question, “Tell me then, Crassus, what do you take me to be?” “Very much like him,” answered he, pointing to the figure of a Gaul in a picture, thrusting out his tongue in a very unbecoming manner. It was in the Forum, too, that was placed the picture of the Old Shepherd leaning on his staff; respecting which, when the envoy of the Teutones was asked what he thought was the value of it, he made answer that he would rather not have the original even, at a gift.

But it was the Dictator Cæsar that first brought the public exhibition of pictures into such high estimation, by consecrating an Ajax and a Medea before the Temple of Venus Genetrix. After him there was M. Agrippa, a man who was naturally more attached to rustic simplicity than to refinement. Still, however, we have a magnificent oration of his, and one well worthy of the greatest of our citizens, on the advantage of exhibiting in public all pictures and statues; a practice which would have been far preferable to sending them into banishment at our country-houses. Severe as he was in his tastes, he paid the people of Cyzicus twelve hundred thousand sesterces for two paintings, an Ajax and a Venus. He also ordered small paintings to be set in marble in the very hottest part of his Warm Baths; where they remained until they were removed a short time since, when the building was repaired.

The late Emperor Augustus did more than all the others; for he placed in the most conspicuous part of his Forum, two pictures, representing War and Triumph. He also placed in the Temple of his father, Cæsar, a picture of the Castors, and one of Victory, in addition to those which we shall mention in our account of the works of the different artists. He also inserted two pictures in the wall of the Curia which he consecrated in the Comitium; one of which was a Nemea seated upon a lion, and bearing a palm in her hand. Close to her is an Old Man, standing with a staff, and above his head hangs the picture of a chariot with two horses. Nicias has written upon this picture that he “inburned” it, such being the word he has employed.

In the second picture the thing to be chiefly admired, is the resemblance that the youth bears to the old man his father, allowing, of course, for the difference in age; above them soars an eagle, which grasps a dragon in its talons. Philochares attests that he is the author of this work, an instance, if we only consider it, of the mighty power wielded by the pictorial art; for here, thanks to Philochares, the senate of the Roman people, age after age, has before its eyes Glaucion and his son Aristippus, persons who would otherwise have been altogether unknown. The Emperor Tiberius, too, a prince who was by no means very gracious, has exhibited in the temple dedicated by him, in his turn, to Augustus, several pictures which we shall describe hereafter.