Editing Polygnotus

{{Short description|5th-century BC Greek painter}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Polygnotos från Thasus, verksam omkr. 450 f Kr, målare - Nationalmuseum - 31856.tif|thumb|Portrait of Polygnotos in the [[Nationalmuseum Stockholm]]]]
'''Polygnotus''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ɒ|l|ɪ|ɡ|ˈ|n|oʊ|t|ə|s}}; {{langx|el|Πολύγνωτος}} ''Polygnotos'') was an [[ancient Greek]] painter from the middle of the 5th century BC.  
==Life==
He was the son and pupil of [[Aglaophon]].<ref name="collier">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bieber |first=Margarete |authorlink=Margarete Bieber |editor=William D. Halsey |encyclopedia=Collier's Encyclopedia |title=Polygnotus |year=1976 |publisher=Macmillan Educational Corporation |volume=19 |page=222 }}</ref> He was a native of [[Thasos]] but was adopted by the Athenians and admitted to their citizenship.
[[File:Reconstruction of Nekyia by Polygnotus.JPG|thumb|350px|right|Reconstruction of Nekyia by Polygnotus 1892]]
[[File:Reconstruction of Iliupersis by Polygnotus.JPG|thumb|350px|right|Reconstruction of Iliupersis by Polygnotus 1893]]
[[File:Reconstruction of the battle of Marathon by Polygnotos.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Reconstruction of Marathon by Polygnotus 1895]]

During the time of [[Cimon]], Polygnotus painted for the Athenians a picture of the taking of [[Troy]] on the walls of the [[Stoa poikile|Stoa Poikile]] and another of the marriage of the daughters of [[Leucippus]] in the [[Anacaeum]]. [[Plutarch]] mentions historians and the poet [[Melanthius]] attest that Polygnotus did not paint for money but rather out of a charitable feeling towards the Athenian people. In the hall at the entrance to the [[Acropolis, Athens|Acropolis]], other works of his were preserved.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.athenswalk.net/_/Athens_Walk_4th_route.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725194421/http://www.athenswalk.net/_/Athens_Walk_4th_route.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=July 25, 2013|title=Photo guide of Polygnotus street near Archea Agora in Athens|website=www.athenswalk.net|accessdate=October 22, 2024}}</ref> The most important of his paintings were his frescoes in the [[Lesche of the Knidians]], a building erected at [[Delphi]] by the people of [[Cnidus]]. The subjects of these were the visit to [[Hades]] by [[Odysseus]] and the taking of Troy.

The traveller [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] recorded a careful description of these paintings, figure by figure.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.25 10.25–31].</ref> The foundations of the building have been recovered in the course of the French excavations at Delphi. Some archaeologists have tried reconstructing the paintings from this evidence rather than their colours. The figures were detached and rarely overlapping, ranged in two or three rows one above another, and the further were not smaller nor dimmer than the nearer. Therefore, it seems that the paintings of this time were executed on almost precisely the same plan as contemporary sculptural reliefs.

Polygnotus employed only a few simple colours.<ref name="collier" /> Technically, his art was primitive. His excellence lay in the beauty of his drawing of individual figures, especially in his art's "ethical" and ideal character. A contemporary and teacher of [[Phidias]], Polygnotus had the same grand manner. Almost childlike simplicity, sentiment at once noble and gentle, and extreme grace and charm of execution marked his works, in contrast to the more animated, complicated and technically superior paintings of later ages.

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece''. W. H. S. Jones (translator). [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918).
*{{1911|wstitle = Polygnotus|volume=22 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
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{{Authority control}}
{{Ancient Greek painters}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek painters]]
[[Category:Artists of ancient Thasos]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Greek people]]
[[Category:Metics in Classical Athens]]
[[Category:5th-century BC painters]]