The original paintings of Ancient Greek and Roman masters are lost. What we know of them comes only from descriptions in classical texts, particularly by writers like Pliny the Elder.
This gallery uses image synthesis models, trained on surviving Fayum portraits and Pompeian frescoes, to visualize how these lost works might have looked based on their written descriptions and similar surviving works from the ancient world.
Of course, no tool can capture the genius of ancient masters. This site is simply a humble tribute to their vanished creations.
“Apollodorus of Athens (…) was the first to paint objects as they really appeared (…). Of this artist there is (…) a Priest in adoration…”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“…and an Ajax struck by lightning, a work to be seen at Pergamus at the present day (…).”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“Zeuxis (…) painted a Penelope, in which the peculiar character of that matron appears to be delineated to the very life.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“Zeuxis having painted a child carrying grapes, the birds came to peck at them, upon which (…) he expressed himself vexed with his work, and exclaimed— “I have surely painted the grapes better than the child, for if I had fully succeeded in the last, the birds would have been in fear of it”.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“Parrhasius (…) exhibited a curtain, drawn with such singular truthfulness, that Zeuxis (...) demanded that the curtain should be drawn aside to let the picture be seen. Upon finding his mistake, with a great degree of ingenuous candour he admitted that he had been surpassed, for that whereas he himself had only deceived the birds, Parrhasius had deceived him, an artist.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“By [Echion] we have some fine pictures; (…) an Old Woman bearing torches, and a new-made Bride, remarkable for the air of modesty with which she is portrayed.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“Apelles’ (…) Venus Rising from the Sea, known as the Venus Anadyomene, was consecrated by the late Emperor Augustus in the Temple of his father Cæsar (…). The lower part of the picture having become damaged, no one could be found to repair it; and thus did the very injury which the picture had sustained, redound to the glory of the artist. Time, however, and damp at last effaced the painting, and Nero, in his reign, had it replaced by a copy, painted by the hand of Dorotheus.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“[Apelles] also painted an Archeläus with his Wife and Daughter.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.
“There have been some female painters also (…). Iaia of Cyzicus, who always remained single, painted at Rome, in the youth of M. Varro, both with the brush, and with the graver, upon ivory, her subjects being female portraits mostly. At Naples, there is (…) a portrait of herself, taken by the aid of a mirror. (…) Her artistic skill was such, that her works sold at much higher prices than those of the most celebrated portrait-painters of her day.”
— Pliny the Elder, XXXV, 36.