Cleanthes
an ancient painter of Corinth, mentioned among the inventors of that art by Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 35.5) and Athenagoras. (
Legat. pro Christ. 100.17).
A picture by him representing the birth of Minerva was seen in the temple of Diana near the Alpheus. (
Strab. viii. p.343b.;
Athen. 8.346c.)
This work was not, as Gerhard (
Auserles. Vasenbilder, i. p. 12) says, confounding our artist with Ctesilochus (
Plin. Nat. 35.40), in a ludicrous style, but rather in the severe style of ancient art.
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