Eirene

Who is Eirene?

Eirene or Irene was an ancient Greek artist described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century. She was the daughter of a painter, and created an image of a girl that was housed at Eleusis.

During the Renaissance, Boccaccio, a 14th-century humanist, included Eirene in De mulieribus claris. However, in this telling Boccaccio apparently conflated many of the women described by Pliny and attributed many more works to Eirene. Some other paintings he credits to Eirene are an older Calypso, the gladiator Theodorus, and a famous dancer called Alcisthenes.