The name of a distinguished Greek painter in the time of Alexander the Great; sometimes used connotatively for a master artist.
c. 1630. Drumm. of Hawth., Wks., 1711, 2/1. Gold-smith of all the stars, with silver bright Who moon enamels, Apelles of the flow’rs.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 227. That none besides … an Apelles shou’d draw their picture.
