Flourished Fifth Century B.C.E.
Painter

Animation and Emotion. Parrhasius was more famous for his meticulous outline drawing, rather than use of shade and color. Pliny says he was the first to give symmetry to painting and animation to faces. He painted an image of the Athenian people and was able to endow them with palpable emotional states. He was noted for depicting strong emotion in his rendering of suffering heroes such as Philoctetes, Telephus, and the Feigned Madness of Odysseus. For his painting of Prometheus in chains he is said to have tortured an old slave to death and used him as a model. One ancient account tells of a conversation between Parrhasius and Socrates where the philosopher points out the ability of painting to render not only physical appearances, but emotional and psychological states of the subject. Like many practicing artists, Parrhasius himself wrote...