CHAP. 39.—ARTISTS WHO HAVE PAINTED IN ENCAUSTICS OR WAX,
WITH EITHER THE CESTRUM OR THE PENCIL.
It is not agreed who was the inventor of the art of painting
in wax and in encaustic. [Note] Some think that it was a discovery
of the painter Aristides, [Note] and that it was afterwards brought to
perfection by Praxiteles: but there are encaustic paintings in
existence, of a somewhat prior date to them, those by Polygnotus, [Note]
for example, and by Nicanor and Arcesilaüs, [Note] natives
of Paros. Elasippus too, has inscribed upon a picture of his
at Ægina, the word ἐνέχαεν; [Note] a thing that he certainly could
not have done, if the art of encaustic painting had not been
then invented.
