9. The Great Ancient Greek Artist Zeuxis
Zeuxis (flourished 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek artist from Heraclea in Magna Graecia, near today’s Taranto, Italy. He was considered by contemporaries to be one of the greatest painters to have ever lived, and he was praised for popularizing a trend toward illusionism and pushing it to new levels. He was innovative and broke with tradition, and departed from the usual method of filling in shapes with color. Instead, he relied on clever manipulation of light and shadows to enhance the realism of his works.
Zeuxis often preferred to paint panels rather than the contemporary norm of wall paintings, and usually went for small compositions, often with just a single figure. None of his works survive today, but historical records describe his paintings as exceptionally realistic. As recounted by Roman writer Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, Zeuxis entered into a competition with a rival painter named Parhassius, to see who could create the most realistic painting. When Zeuxis unveiled his entry, the grapes that he painted were so life-like, so the story goes, that birds flew down to peck at them. Nonetheless, as seen below, Zeuxis was trumped that day.
