View source for Pamphilus (painter)

{{Short description|Macedonian painter}}
{{Redir|Pamphilos|the skeleton found in the Antikythera wreck|Pamphilos (skeleton)}}
'''Pamphilus''' of [[Amphipolis]] ([[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]]: {{lang|grc|Πάμφιλος}}, fourth century BC) was a [[Macedon]]ian<ref>[[Suda]] s. v. [[Apelles]]; [[Macedon|Macedo]] natione, Plinius.</ref> painter and head of [[Sicyon]]ian school.  Under his influence painting became a regular part of Greek classical education,<ref name="HornblowerSpawforth2014">{{cite book|author1=Simon Hornblower|author2=Antony Spawforth|author3=Esther Eidinow|title=The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TkW_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT264|date=11 September 2014|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-101676-9|pages=264–}}</ref> and a number of his pupils went on to become well-known painters.

==Career==

Pamphilus was the disciple of [[Eupompus]], the founder of the [[Sicyon]]ian school of painting, and worked to establish this school.<ref name="SmithAnthon1843">{{cite book|author1=William Smith|author2=Charles Anthon|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=peJWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA710|year=1843|publisher=Harper & Brothers|pages=710–}}</ref>  Of his own works we have mostly scanty accounts; but he was well known and respected as a teacher of his style of art. Among those who paid price for his tuition were [[Melanthius]], [[Pausias]] and [[Apelles]]<ref name="Keuls1978">{{cite book|author=Eva C. Keuls|title=Plato and Greek Painting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYMeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA142|year=1978|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-05395-6|pages=142–}}</ref> the painter of [[Alexander the Great]].

According to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], Pamphilus was an educated man, both in literacy and mathematics.<ref name="Summers2007">{{cite book|author=David Summers|title=Vision, Reflection, and Desire in Western Painting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jkb7a2WkF48C&pg=PA37|year=2007|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0-8078-3110-6|pages=37–}}</ref>  He promoted the importance of education to the development of skilful painting.<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Graving, and of Those who Have Excell'd{{notatypo}} in Them. In Three Books, Etc. &#91;Translated from the French.&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uI9mAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA19|year=1699|pages=19–}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The prominence of Pamphilus' school of painting contributed to the acceptance of painting as important to the education of noble youth.<ref name="Anthon1842">{{cite book|author=Charles Anthon|title=A Classical Dictionary: Containing an Account of the Principal Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors, and Intended to Elucidate All the Important Points Connected with the Geography, History, Biography, Mythology, and Fine Arts of the Greeks and Romans Together with an Account of Coins, Weights, and Measures, with Tabular Values of the Same|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzEoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA965|year=1842|publisher=Harper|pages=965–}}</ref> His ideas about the incorporation of mathematical skills in painting were quoted centuries later as evidence that painting was a science.<ref name="Zilsel2013">{{cite book|author=P. Zilsel|title=The Social Origins of Modern Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTuSBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|date=7 March 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-011-4142-0|pages=53–}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
 
==Sources==
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060101153905/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2437.html The Ancient Library - Pamphilus]}} ([[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]])
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Pamphilus (painter)|display=Pamphilus, a Greek painter of the 4th century}}
* Kehayas Gounaris, Ioannis (2016). [https://www.academia.edu/42899693/%CE%A0%CE%AC%CE%BC%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%82_%E1%BD%81_%E1%BC%88%CE%BC%CF%86%CE%B9%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_-_Pamphilus_the_Amphipolitan Πάμφιλος ὁ Ἀμφιπολίτης - Pamphilus the Amphipolitan]. Σέρρες. ISBN 978-960-88423-8-0.

{{Ancient Greek painters}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pamphilus}}
[[Category:Ancient Greek painters]]
[[Category:Ancient Macedonian painters]]
[[Category:Sicyon]]
[[Category:4th-century BC Macedonians]]
[[Category:Ancient Macedonians in Greece proper]]
[[Category:Artists of ancient Amphipolis]]


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