Nicomachus of Thebes

Greek artist

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Flourished:: 4th century bc, Thebes, Boeotia [Greece]

Flourished:: c.400 BCE - c.301 BCE

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Nicomachus of Thebes (flourished 4th century bc, Thebes, Boeotia [Greece]) was a Greek painter known, according to Plutarch, for his facility, which Plutarch compared to that of Homer when composing verses.

Nicomachus’s work was overshadowed by that of his great contemporaries, such as Apelles and Protogenes; however, the 1st-century-bc Roman connoisseur, architect, and engineer Vitruvius in De architectura, Book III, counts Nicomachus among those whose lack of fame was the fault of fortune and not caused by lack of industry, talent, or study of his art. The 1st-century-ad Roman savant and writer Pliny the Elder gave a list of Nicomachus’s works, including Rape of Persephone (Proserpine), Victory in a Quadriga, a group of Apollo and Diana, and the Mother of the Gods Seated on a Lion. Pliny also said that he was a rapid worker and had the virtue of simplicity in using only four colours.

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