Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the Studio of Apelles

A boyish artist gazes longingly at the regal woman whose portrait he is painting. The young artist is Apelles, Alexander the Great’s court painter, whom ancient writers considered the greatest artist of their time; according to Pliny’s Natural History, Alexander commissioned Apelles to paint a portrait of his favourite concubine, Campaspe, and the artist fell in love with his sitter as he captured her beauty on canvas. Alexander so esteemed his painter that he presented Campaspe to Apelles as a reward, and the tale — a favourite of Renaissance and Baroque painters — celebrates the power and nobility of painting. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted this episode at least three times; for this, the third rendering, he adopted a classicizing style in which antique architectural elements and relief sculpture evoke the ancient setting. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.