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Timomachos
( fl ?1st century BC). Greek painter. He came from Byzantium, and Pliny (XXXV.136) stated that he was a contemporary of Julius Caesar (reg 49–44 BC). Many scholars follow Pliny, but some suggest a date in the Classical Greek period (480–323 BC). The most celebrated picture by Timomachos was a Medea painted in encaustic. Its fame rested in the characterization, which combined jealous wrath and sorrowful pity. Medea’s children were depicted playing, unaware that she stood near them holding a sword, intending to murder them. The picture was the last painted by Timomachos before his death. The artist also painted Ajax in his Madness. Cicero (II.iv.60.135) knew that the Ajax and the Medea were owned by the people of Kyzikos (Lat. Cyzicus). Pliny (XXXV.i.136; cf. XXXV.26) said that Julius Caesar paid 80 talents for them and hung them in the Temple of Venus Genetrix in Rome. A painting by Timomachos of Orestes and Iphigeneia among the Taurians may be reflected in Pompeian wall paintings, as may his Medea. Other paintings attributed to him were: a famous Gorgon; Lekythion, a master of gymnastics; an Assembly of Notable Men; a conversation piece of Two Men in Cloaks. None of his works survives.
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