Note 252 — Chapter V · EURIPIDES AND VASE PAINTING

We know of such an original, the famous painting of Timomachus. Pliny, Hist. Nat. 35. 136, says, Timomachus Byzantius Caesaris dictatoris aetate Aiacem et Medeam pinxit ... Timomachi aeque laudantur Orestes, Iphigenia in Tauris. Further than this we know nothing of the painter. That he was immensely popular follows from Pliny’s statement (loc. cit.) that Caesar paid 80 talents for this Aiax. In regard to the date of Timomachus we possess Pliny’s authority for Caesaris aetate. Robert defends this (Arch. Märchen, p. 132), while others seek to find an earlier date. Miss Sellers in The Elder Pliny’s Chapters on the History of Art, Jex-Blake and Sellers, p. 160 f., argues for the fourth century B.C. Vid. loc. cit. for the latest discussion of this painter’s date, as well as for references to the literature. Further reference may be made to Helbig, Untersuchungen, p. 147 ff., where especially the influence of Timomachus on the wall paintings is dwelt upon.