Zeuks

Zeuks, the celebrated painter, was born at Héracléa, but whether that in Lucania or on the Euxine, is unknown. He is also styled of Ephesus, which means that he belonged to the Ionian school of painters. He flourished from c. 420 B.C. to near the end of the century, and was at Athens about the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. He excelled in the treatment of light and shade, in accuracy of imitation of natural objects, and in rendering types of sensuous beauty, especially of women. His most famous pictures were 'Zeus enthroned;' 'Helen,' his masterpiece, painted for the city of Croton: 'The Infant Hercules strangling the Serpents;' 'The Female Hippocentaur.' By the exercise of his art he attained to great riches and fame, and, like his rival Parrhasius, was exceedingly conscious of his pre-eminence. He repeatedly presented rather than sold pictures to cities that were anxious to possess them, because he thought no money-price could pay for them.