Too Beautiful to Picture: Zeuxis, Myth, and Mimesis

(Paperback)

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An intriguing look at imitation in Western art from antiquity to the present. Few tales of artistic triumph can rival the story of Zeuxis. As first reported by Cicero and Pliny, the painter Zeuxis set out to portray Helen of Troy, but when he realized that a single model could not match Helen's beauty, he combined the best features of five different models. A primer on mimesis in art making, the Zeuxis myth also illustrates ambivalence about the ability to rely on nature as a model for ideal form.