Page:Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, 1887, vol 1.djvu/63

Rh ÆSCULAPIUS, OFFERING TO, Pierre Guérin, Louvre; canvas, H. 9 ft. 10 in. × 8 ft 8 in. An old man, convalescent, supported by his two sons, offers thanks before the altar of Æsculapius for his restoration to health; his daughter, on her knees, shows joy at seeing the serpent eat of the fruit placed upon the altar. Salon, 1795.—Réveil, iii. 155.

AËTION (Eëtion), painter and sculptor, time of Alexander the Great (?), classed by Pliny among greatest Greek artists. Most famous works, Marriage of Ninus and Semiramis and Marriage of Alexander and Roxana. The latter excited such admiration, when exhibited at the Olympic games, that Proxenidas, one of the judges, gave him his daughter in marriage. Raphael reproduced it in a drawing (Louvre) from Lucian's minute description (Herod. 4; Imag. 7), which Razzi (Il Sodoma) also followed in his fresco in the Farnesina. Müller places Aëtion in the age of Hadrian and the Antonines.—Müller (Welcker), 211, N. 1; Pliny, xxxv. 32. 36; Cicero, Brut., 18.

AFRA, ST., MARTYRDOM OF, Paolo Veronese, S. Afra, Brescia; canvas, signed. The saint about to suffer martyrdom, with angels flying down with palms and garlands; at foot of scaffold lie the severed heads of SS. Faustinus and Jovitus, that in front being a portrait of Veronese. Damaged by restoring.—Ridolfi, Marav., ii. 39.

AGACHE, ALFRED PIERRE, born at Lille, contemporary. Figure and portrait painter, pupil of Pluchart and Colas. Medal: 3d class, 1885. Works: Fillette (1881); The Fates (1882); Study (1883); Decorative Figure (1884); Fortuna (1885).

AGAR, JACQUES D', born in Paris in 1642, died in Copenhagen, Nov. 16, 1715. French school; a famous portrait painter of his day, pupil of Vouet. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1682), being a Protestant he was forced to leave France; went to Denmark and became court painter to Christian V., whose portrait he painted, as well as that of the queen, and of himself (1693), now in the Uftizi, Florence. After 1699, he went to England and painted many portraits.—Meyer, Künst Lex., i. 114.

Martyrdom of St. Agatha, S. del Piombo, Pal. Pitti.

AGASSE, JACQUES LAURENT, born in Geneva, Switzerland, died in London in 1846. Animal and landscape painter; studied for some time in Paris, went to London about 1800 and exhibited pictures for several years at the Royal Academy. Some of them, including six landscapes, were engraved. Works: Portrait of a Horse (1801); Rustic Repast; Rice Ground; Market Day; Fishmonger's Shop (1842).

AGATHA, ST., MARTYRDOM OF, Sebastian del Piombo, Pitti, Florence; wood, H. 4 ft. 3 in. × 5 ft. 6 in.; signed, dated 1520. The saint, stripped to the waist, with two executioners about to apply their pincers to her breasts, at the order of Quinziano, Prefect of Sicily, who tortured her because she would not give up her faith;