Painter (5th century BC)
Polygnotus was one of the most renowned painters of Classical Greece, whose works adorned some of the most sacred temples of the Hellenic world, notably at Delphi and the Acropolis of Athens. He was the son of Aglaophon, who himself was a distinguished painter. Originally from the small island of Thasos, Polygnotus settled in Athens and befriended Cimon, son of Miltiades. Polygnotus painted the frescoes in the Stoa Poikile and the Theseum. As a result of his excellent artistry, he was granted an Athenian citizenship and became one of the most successful and respected painters in the history of Athens.
Polygnotus painted two paintings in the Temple of Athena Areia in Plataeae, the first depicting the death of the suitors of Penelope by Odysseus and the second depicting Adrastus’ attack against Thebes. Both served as an allegory to the destruction of Plataeae by the Persians, the defeat of the Persians and the re-establishment of Plataeae. The Lesche of the Cnidians (the club or meeting place of the peoples of Cnidus) was one of Polygnotus’ most remarkable masterpieces. It was an enormous fresco which portrayed scenes from the fall of Troy, the departure of the Achaeans from Troy as well as scenes from Homer’s Odyssey. As mentioned by Lucian, Plutarch and Pausanias, the painting was located in Delphi. Pliny also accounts a painting attributed to Polygnotus in Thespiae, which depicted the punishment of Salmoneus in Hades. Unfortunately, non of the paintings survive today.
Athens was the city Polygnotus was mostly associated with. He painted the fall of Troy in the Stoa Poikile in the ancient agora of the city with similar themes depicted in the Lesche of the Cnidians. In the Theseum, otherwise known as the temple of Hephaestus, Polygnotus painted the battle of Athenians with the Amazons and the Battle of the Lapiths with the Centaurs, two themes which play a crucial role as philosophical tools in the Greek Meditation (‘Ελληνικός Διαλογισμός). In the Anakeion Temple close to the Acropolis, Polygnotus, together with Mikon painted the marriages of the Dioscouri. Polygnotus’ works could not have been absent from the Acropolis itself, the most sacred monument in Athens. Next to the Propylaea (the gateway of Acropolis), was the Pinacotheke , the art gallery, where paintings of Polygnotus and Aglaophon were stored and exhibited.
Widely regarded as a pioneer of art, Polygnotus was admired as an excellent ethograph (άριστος ήθογράφος) because of his ability to illustrate the ethos of the characters he depicted in his paintings using their unique facial expressions, gestures and body movement, all of which enlightened their inner mood. He is said to have painted using only four colours and their derivatives, namely black, white, yellow and red. The influence of Homer, the eternal Teacher of all the Greeks, is strongly visible in Polygnotus’ paintings. Scenes from the Iliad such as the atrocities of the Achaeans during the desruction of Troy, the struggles of the heroes Achilleus and Diomedes, scenes from the Odyssey, such as Odysseus’ descent to Hades, the death of Penelope’s suitors by Odysseus and the meeting of Nausicaa and Odysseus in the land of the Phaeaces are all testaments of the importance Homer occupied in the arts as well as how spiritually cultivated Polygnotus was.
Sadly, we will never be able to admire Polygnotus’ paintings with our own eyes, as none of his works have survived. It is thanks to Pausanias and a handful of other historians who managed to write descriptions of the paintings they once saw and pass them on to the next generations. Reading these descriptions, one can only imagine how magnificent art in classical Greece could have been, perhaps transcending all that the mortal eye has even seen.
Bibliography:
- Theophaneidis, Vasilios D. Polygnotos. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Encyclopaedia of the Sun Publications. Athens, 2013. Print.
- Αρχαιογνώμων. 4 Μαΐου, 2015. Οι Πίνακες του Πολυγνώτου. Ellinondiktyo.blogspot.com. Web.
