NICIAS, a celebrated painter of Athens, who flourished about 322 years before the Christian era. He was universally extolled for the great variety and noble choice of his subjects, the force and relief of his figures, his skill in the distribution of lights and shades, and his dexterity in representing all kinds of four-footed animals, a branch of the art in which he excelled all the masters of his time. His most celebrated piece was that of Tartarus, or Hell, as it is described by Homer. For this picture Ptolemy the son of Lagus offered him sixty talents, or L.11,250, which he refused, and generously presented it to his own country. He was also much esteemed by all his contemporaries for his excellent talent in sculpture.