Who's Who Ancient Greece: The Arts

Zevxis or Zevxippos (2nd half of 5th century BC)

Painting

Knowledge of this painter is only from texts of the period, which give the name of a city called Iraklea as his birthplace, but do not specify which of the nearly ten cities with this name is meant.

It is known that he was invited to Pella by the King of Macedonia to adorn the royal palace with his work, and according to legend, when he was invited by the city of Kroton to portray the divine Eleni (Helen), he insisted on seeing all of the young women of the city nude in order to select the most beautiful one for his model.

The works of this artists were lost, though written of by ancient historians, among them Lucian. Zevxis was considered exceptional due to his unusual and original techniques, such as his monchromata ex abo (monochromes in white), which provided him with a white background on which to paint figures; he was regarded highly also for his use of color. Aristophanes mentions his work titled 'Eros crowned with Flowers' in his work 'Acharnians'. Lucian desribes the painting, 'A Centaur Family'; Pliny described Zevxis' painting of ripe fruit on a vine, in which the fruit was painted so realistically that a flock of birds gathered around it and began pecking at it.