#campaspe

[thefugitivesaint]

Marjorie Taylor (1904-1987), 'Cupid and my Campaspe Played', ''The Folio Golden Treasury'' by James Michie, 1988

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825) Apelles Painting Campaspe in the Presence of Alexander the Great, n.d. Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille Campaspe was a mistress of Alexander the Great and a prominent citizen of Larissa in Thessaly.

[classic-art-favourites]

Alexander the Great Giving Campaspe to Apelles by Charles Meynier, 1822.

[paintingsandhistory]

Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the Studio of Apelles

Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)

Date: ca. 1740

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The Getty Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Description

The painting depicts a scene based on a story recorded by Pliny the Elder. Having commissioned a portrait painting of his lover Campaspe from the gifted court painter Apelles, Alexander the Great became aware of the love the artist felt for his mistress and relinquished her to him.

The young artist is Alexander the Great's court painter, Apelles, whom ancient writers considered the greatest artist of their time. According to Pliny's Natural History of 77 A.D., Alexander commissioned Apelles to paint a portrait of his favorite concubine, Campaspe. The story illustrates art's transformative powers: Apelles fell in love with his sitter as he captured her beauty on canvas. Alexander so esteemed his painter that he presented Campaspe to Apelles as a reward for the portrait.

[digitalcyborgquestblog]

[justineportraits]

John William Godward Study of Campaspe

[egoschwank]

al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1060

first posted in facebook march 17, 2022

willem van haecht -- "apelles painting campaspe" (ca. 1630)

"campaspe was a supposed mistress of alexander the great ... according to tradition, she was painted by apelles, who had the reputation in antiquity for being the greatest of painters" ... wikipedia

"seeing the beauty of the nude portrait, alexander saw that the artist appreciated campaspe (and loved her) more than he. and so alexander kept the portrait, but presented campaspe to apelles" ... pliny the elder

"in the left foreground, van haecht depicted a story from classical antiquity. it shows apelles painting the portrait of campaspe, the lover of alexander the great. his patron thought the portrait was so beautiful that it could take campaspe’s place, and he presented his lover to apelles as a gift. alexander chose art above nature" ... caption from the mauritshuis

"well, campaspe was no hephaestion ... so in THIS particular case, that might be why alexander chose art above nature" ... al janik

[books0977]

Alexander presenting Campaspe to Apelles (1793). Gaetano Gandolfi (Italian, 1734-1802). Oil on canvas.

Gandolfi illustrates Pliny the Elder's tale of how Alexander offered his favourite concubine, Campaspe, to the painter Apelles after he had understood that the latter had fallen in love with her. Interestingly, Gandolfi has chosen to depict the painter in a deliberately anachronistic manner: with his assistant grinding paints beside him, we see Apelles in 18th century attire rather than in the Classical robes worn by the other figures.