A much greater painter than he was Polygnotus of Thasos, the contemporary of Phidias, who came to Athens about the year 463 B.C.,—­one of the greatest geniuses of any age, and one of the most magnanimous, who had the good fortune to live in an age of exceeding intellectual activity.  He painted on panels, which were afterward let into the walls, being employed on the public buildings of Athens, and on the great temple of Delphi, the hall of which he painted gratuitously.  He also decorated the Propylaea, which was erected under the superintendence of Phidias.  The pictures of Polygnotus had nothing of that elaborate grouping, aided by the powers of perspective, so much admired in modern art.  His greatness lay in statuesque painting, which he brought nearly to perfection by ideal expression, accurate drawing, and improved coloring.  He used but few colors, and softened the rigidity of his predecessors by making the mouth of beauty smile.  He gave great expression to the face and figure, and his pictures were models of excellence for the beauty of the eyebrows, the blush upon the cheeks, and the gracefulness of the draperies.  He strove, like Phidias, to express character in repose.  He imitated the personages and the subjects of the old mythology, and treated them in an epic spirit, his subjects being almost invariably taken from Homer and the Epic cycle.

Among the works of Polygnotus, as mentioned by Pliny, are his paintings in the Temple at Delphi, in the Propylaea of the Acropolis, in the Temple of Theseus, and in the Temple of the Dioscuri at Athens.  He painted in a truly religious spirit, and upon symmetrical principles, with great grandeur and freedom, resembling Michael Angelo more than any other modern artist.

The use of oil was unknown to the ancients.  The artists painted upon wood, clay, plaster, stone, parchment, but not upon canvas, which was not used till the time of Nero.  They painted upon tablets or panels, and not upon the walls,—­the panels being afterward framed and encased in the walls.  The stylus, or cestrum, used in drawing and for spreading the wax colors was pointed on one end and flat on the other, and generally made of metal.  Wax was prepared by purifying and bleaching, and then mixed with colors.  When painting was practised in watercolors, glue was used with the white of an egg or with gums; but wax and resins were also worked with water, with certain preparations.  This latter mode was called encaustic, and was, according to Plutarch, the most durable of all methods.  It was not generally adopted till the time of Alexander the Great.  Wax was a most essential ingredient, since it prevented the colors from cracking.  Encaustic painting was practised both with the cestrum and the pencil, and the colors were also burned in.