Arellius was a Roman painter active in the 1st century BC, mentioned by Pliny.
Life
Arellius was a painter of some celebrity, in Rome, a short time before the reign of Augustus. From the manner in which he is mentioned by Pliny, in Book 35 of his Natural History he must have possessed considerable ability. Pliny however reproaches him for his choice of models:
Arellius was in high esteem at Rome; and with fair reason, had he not profaned the art by a disgraceful piece of profanity; for, being always in love with some woman or other, it was his practice, in painting goddesses, to give them the features of his mistresses; hence it is, that there were always some figures of prostitutes to be seen in his pictures.
However, he never thought of making the same reproach against some of the greatest artists of Greece, who constantly availed themselves of the same practice.
References
- ^ Bryan,1886-9
- ^ In John Bostock's 1855 translation, from "Book XXXV. Of Painting and Colours". Pliny the Elder, The Natural History. Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bryan, Michael (1886). "Arellius". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). Vol. I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.
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