Agatharchus

:"For the ancient historian who was sometimes called Agatharchus, see Agatharchides. For the Syracusan commander, see Agatharchus of Syracuse."Agatharchus (Ancient Greek: Ἀγάθαρχος) was a self-taught painter from Samos [Up through the 19th century, some scholars considered him to have been Athenian.] who lived in the 5th century BC. [cite book
last =Donaldson
first =John William
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =The Theatre of the Greeks
publisher =Pitt Press
date =1836
location =
pages =280
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=guoAA0UZm8wC&dq=agatharchus&lr=
doi =
id =
isbn = ] He is said by Vitruvius to have invented scene-painting, and to have painted a scene ("scenam fecit") for a tragedy which Aeschylus exhibited. [Vitruvius, "Praef. ad lib." vii] Hence some writers, such as Karl Woermann, have supposed that he introduced perspective and illusion into painting.

However, as this appears to contradict Aristotle's assertion that scene-painting was introduced by Sophocles, [Aristotle, "Poetics" 4. § i 6] some scholars understand Vitruvius to mean merely that Agatharchus con­structed a stage. [Compare Horace, "Epistula ad Pisones" 279: "et modicis instravit pulpita tignis"] But the context shows clearly that perspective painting must be meant, for Vitruvius goes on to say that Democritus and Anaxagoras, carrying out the principles laid down in a treatise written by Agatharchus,Citation
last = Arafat
first = Karim W.
author-link =
contribution = Agatharchus
editor-last = Hornblower
editor-first = Simon
title = Oxford Classical Dictionary
volume = 1
pages = 36
publisher =
place = Oxford
year = 1996
contribution-url = ] wrote on the same subject, showing how, in drawing, the lines ought to be made to correspond, according to a natural proportion, to the figure which would be traced out on an imaginary intervening plane by a pencil of rays proceeding from the eye, as a fixed point of sight, to the several points of the object viewed.

It was probably not till towards the end of Aeschylus's career that scene-painting was intro­duced, and not till the time of Sophocles that it was generally made use of; which may account for what Aristotle says.Citation
last = Mason
first = Charles Peter
author-link =
contribution = Agatharchus (2)
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 1
pages = 61-62
publisher =
place = Boston
year = 1867
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0070.html ]

Agatharchus was therefore the first painter known to have used graphical perspective on a large scale, although rare occurrences of perspective do appear in vase painting around the middle of the 6th century BC. He is also said to have led the way for later painters, such as Apollodorus. [cite book
last =Mahaffy
first =John Pentland
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander
publisher =Macmillan & Co.
date =1902
location =London
pages =476
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=WF4bAAAAMAAJ&dq=agatharchus&lr=
doi =
id =
isbn = ]

He was a con­temporary of Alcibiades and Zeuxis, and was often singled out for the ease and rapidity with which he finished his works. [Plutarch, "Pericles" 13] Plutarch and Andocides at greater length tell an anecdote of Alcibiades having inveigled Agatharchus to his house and kept him there for more than three months in strict durance, compelling him to paint it. [Plutarch, "Alcibiades" 16] The speech of Andocides above referred to seems to have been delivered after the destruction of Melos (416 BC) and before the expedition to Sicily (415 BC); so that from the above data the age of Agatharchus may be accu­rately fixed.

References

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*SmithDGRBM
*1911