NICOMACHUS , of

Thebes, Greek painter, of the early part of the 4th century, was a contemporary of the greatest painters of Greece; Vitruvius observes that if his fame was less than theirs, it was the fault of fortune rather than of demerit . Pliny (xxxv. ro8) gives a list of his works; among them a " Rape of Persephone," " Victory in a Quadriga," a group of Apollo and Artemis, and the " Mother of the Gods seated on a Lion." Pliny tells us that he was a very rapid worker and used but four colours (the last seems impossible) . Plutarch mentions his paintings as possessing the Homeric merit of ease and absence of effort .