Philea draws the portrait of her lover Ariston using shadow of his profile on wall

by Atelier Liesjes

Frederik Christiaan Bierweiler, after Jan Kamphuijsen, 1809.

Phila, daughter of Antipater, the regent of Macedonia, is celebrated by the ancient sources as one of the noblest and most virtuous women of the age in which she lived. Her abilities and judgment were so conspicuous even at a young age that her father, Antipater, often consulted her on political matters.

According to Antonius Diogenes, she was married to Balacrus (probably the satrap of Cappadocia by that name) as early as 332 BC. In 322 BC her father gave her in marriage to Craterus as a reward for his help to Antipater in the Lamian War. After Craterus' death a year later, she was again married to the young Demetrius Poliorcetes, the son of Antigonus.

The date of her marriage is believed to have taken place between 319 BC and 315, since the remains of her deceased husband were entrusted to her care in 315 BC by Ariston, the friend of Eumenes.

All in all, a sexy and sensual erotic picture with romance.

Frederik Christiaan Bierweiler was a painter, draughtsman, engraver (printmaker) (1783-09-30 in Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands; 1831/1851). He worked not only in Amsterdam, but also in Jever (Lower Saxony), Altenau (Westphalia) or Altona (Hamburg) and Bremen.