Arellius

For other persons with the same name, see Arellia (gens).

Arellius was a Roman painter active in the 1st century BC, mentioned by Pliny.

Life

Arellius was a painter of some celebrity, in Rome, a short time before the reign of Augustus. From the manner in which he is mentioned by Pliny,^[1] in Book 35 of his Natural History^[2] he must have possessed considerable ability. Pliny however reproaches him for his choice of models:^[1]

Arellius was in high esteem at Rome; and with fair reason, had he not profaned the art by a disgraceful piece of profanity; for, being always in love with some woman or other, it was his practice, in painting goddesses, to give them the features of his mistresses; hence it is, that there were always some figures of prostitutes to be seen in his pictures.^[2]

However, he never thought of making the same reproach against some of the greatest artists of Greece, who constantly availed themselves of the same practice.^[1]