Butades (700–600 BCE)
Born 700 BCE, died 600 BCE.
Butades of Sicyon (Ancient Greek: Βουτάδης Boutades), sometimes mistakenly called Dibutades, was the reputed inventor of the art of modelling clay in relief. An accident first led him to practise, in conjunction with his daughter, at Corinth. The period at which he flourished is unknown, but has been estimated at 600 BC. The story, as recorded by Pliny the Elder, is that his daughter was smitten with love for a youth at Corinth where they lived. When he was due to go abroad, she drew the outline of his shadow on a wall thrown by the light of a lamp. It was upon this outline her father modelled a face of the youth in clay, which he baked along with the clay tiles which it was his trade to make. This model was preserved in the Nymphaeum in Corinth until Mummius sacked that city in 146 BC. Because of this occurrence with his daughter, Butades began a practice that is supported by a large body of existing evidence: he began to decorate the ends or edges of rain gutter roof tiles with masks of human faces, first in low relief (prostypa), then in high relief (ectypa). It was from these terra-cotta figures that the ornaments on the pediments of temples originated.
Text from the Wikipedia article Butades, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.