Echion ( grc, Έχίων), also known as Aetion (Ἀετίων), was a celebrated
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
painter spoken of by
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
, who gives a description of one of his pictures, representing the marriage of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
and
Roxana
Roxana (c. 340 BC – 310 BC, grc, Ῥωξάνη; Old Iranian: ''*Raṷxšnā-'' "shining, radiant, brilliant"; sometimes Roxanne, Roxanna, Rukhsana, Roxandra and Roxane) was a Sogdian or a Bactrian princess whom Alexander the Great married a ...
.
This painting excited such admiration when exhibited at the
ancient Olympic Games
The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; la, Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. ...
, that Proxenidas, one of the judges, gave the artist his daughter in marriage.
Echion seems to have excelled particularly in the art of mixing and laying on his colors. It has commonly been supposed that he lived in the time of Alexander the Great; but the words of Lucian show clearly that he must have lived about the time of
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
and the
Antonines.
Aloys Hirt
Aloys HirtThe frequently-used form Aloys Ludwig Hirt is demonstrably incorrect. (27 June 1759 – 29 June 1837) was a German History of art, art historian and Archaeology, archaeologist of Ancient Greek architecture, Ancient Greek and Ancient Roma ...
supposes that the name of the painter of Alexander's marriage, whom Lucian praises so highly, as Aetion, is a corruption of Echion.
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
drew on Lucian's
ekphrasis
The word ekphrasis, or ecphrasis, comes from the Greek for the written description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical or literary exercise, often used in the adjectival form ekphrastic. It is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal descrip ...
in his ''
Mars and Venus'' (, now
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
), borrowing the amoretti playing with Alexander's armour during the ceremony, two carrying his lance and one who has crawled inside his breastplate.
See also
*
List of ancient Greeks
This an alphabetical list of ancient Greeks. These include ethnic Greeks from Greece and the Mediterranean world up to about 200 AD.
A
*Abronychus – Athenian commander and diplomat
*Acacius of Caesarea – bishop of Caesarea
* Acesias – phy ...
*
List of painters
Lists of painters cover painters and are organized by name, nationality, gender, location, school and collection.
General
* List of painters by name
* Lists of painters by nationality
* ''Women Painters of the World'', 1905 book
By location ...
References
Sources
*
Ancient Greek painters
Painters of Alexander the Great
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
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