Nulla dies sine pictura: painting as teaching material in Ancient Greece

Teaching painting as a educational discipline in Western culture occurred first in the north of the Peloponnese, in the cities of Sicyon and Corinth. This is a rarity in the pedagogical and educational context in Greek culture. Painting, from the teaching of the painters of Sicyon, was considered a matter belonging to the group of liberal teachings, which allowed students intergal arts education and aesthetics. This new social situation of painting was of great importance in the cultural sphere of Greece in the V-IV centuries B.C. As we read in the written testimonies of Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and Pliny the Elder, educational and teaching panorama in Greek culture changed from the fourth century B.C. thanks to the theoretical contributions of sicyonian teachers. The main objective of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the origin, development and acceptance of painting as a scientific discipline able to transmit knowledge on aesthetic education of ancient Greece.