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In archaeological scholarship, the term Mannerists describes a large group of Atticred-figure vase painters, stylistically linked by their affected painting style.
Attica, or the Attic peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west.
The group comprised more than 15 artists. They preferred to paint column kraters, hydriai and pelikes. They were active from about 480 BC until near the end of the 5th century BC. In their artwork, the figures seem elongated and have small heads, the garment folds are falling stiff, resembling stairs, and the images are framed with red-figure style ornamentations, such as detailed furniture and drapery. The range of motifs is also influenced by previous periods. Thus, Achilles and Ajax playing a boardgame, a popular black-figure motif introduced by Exekias, are depicted often. The figures gesticulate as if using a form of sign language, especially the hands often appear stiff and theatrical. Komos and symposion scenes are especially popular. Influenced by other contemporary painters, the second generation of mannerists favoured domestic scenes. Occasionally, they also depicted rare motifs, such as the madness of Salmoneus, of which they produced the only known painting.
A hydria is a type of water-carrying vessel in the metalwork and pottery of Ancient Greece. The hydria has three handles. Two horizontal handles on either side of the body of the pot were used for lifting and carrying the pot. The third handle, a vertical one, located in the center of the other two handles, was used when pouring water. If the third handle is missing, the type is called a kalpis. This water vessel can be found in both red- and black-figure technique. They often depicted scenes of Greek mythology that reflected moral and social obligations. As well as holding water hydriai could be used for holding ashes in burials and collecting ballots in elections.
A pelike is a one-piece ceramic container similar to an amphora.
In Greek mythology, Achilles or Achilleus was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad. His mother was the immortal Nereid Thetis, and his father, the mortal Peleus, was the king of the Myrmidons.
The Pan Painter was an ancient Greek vase-painter of the Attic red-figure style, probably active c. 480 to 450 BCE. John Beazley attributed over 150 vases to his hand in 1912:
"Cunning composition; rapid motion; quick deft draughtsmanship; strong and peculiar stylisation; a deliberate archaism, retaining old forms, but refining, refreshing, and galvanizing them; nothing noble or majestic, but grace, humour, vivacity, originality, and dramatic force: these are the qualities which mark the Boston krater, and which characterize the anonymous artist who, for the sake of convenience, may be called the 'master of the Boston Pan-vase', or, more briefly, 'the Pan-master'."
Bibliography
John H. Oakley: Manieristen, in Der Neue Pauly Vol. 7 (1999), Col. 816
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Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it, it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society. The shards of pots discarded or buried in the 1st millennium BC are still the best guide available to understand the customary life and mind of the ancient Greeks. There were several vessels produced locally for everyday and kitchen use, yet finer pottery from regions such as Attica was imported by other civilizations throughout the Mediterranean, such as the Etruscans in Italy. There were various specific regional varieties, such as the South Italian ancient Greek pottery.
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BC. Stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style.
Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.
Euphronios was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter, active in Athens in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC. As part of the so-called "Pioneer Group,", Euphronios was one of the most important artists of the red-figure technique. His works place him at the transition from Late Archaic to Early Classical art, and he is one of the first known artists in history to have signed his work.
Lydos was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. Active between about 560 and 540 BC, he was the main representative of the '’’Lydos Group’’’. His signature, ό Λυδός, ho Lydos, the Lydian, inscribed on two vases, is informative regarding the cultural background of the artist. Either he immigrated to Athens from the Lydian empire of King Kroisos, or he was born in Athens as the son of Lydian parents. In any case, he learned his trade in Athens.
Epiktetos was an Attic vase painter in the early red-figure style. Besides Oltos, he was the most important painter of the Pioneer Group. He was active between 520 BC and 490 BC. His name translates as "newly acquired" which is most probably a reference to his slave status.
White-ground technique is a style of white ancient Greek pottery and the painting in which figures appear on a white background. It developed in the region of Attica, dated to about 500 BC. It was especially associated with vases made for ritual and funerary use, if only because the painted surface was more fragile than in the other main techniques of black-figure and red-figure vase painting. Nevertheless, a wide range of subjects are depicted.
The Kerch style, also referred to as Kerch vases, is an archaeological term describing vases from the final phase of Attic red-figure pottery production. Their exact chronology remains problematic, but they are generally assumed to have been produced roughly between 375 and 330/20 BC. The style is characterized by slender mannered figures and a polychromatism given to it by the use of white paint and gilding.
The Penthesilea Painter was a Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure style. His true name is unknown. His conventional name is derived from his name vase, "bowl 2688" in Munich, the inside of which depicts the slaying of Penthesilea by Achilles. On the basis of that work, John Beazley attributed 177 known vases to the painter, about 100 of which only survive fragmentarily. Bowls, 149 in number, represent the bulk of his work. The rest is distributed among small shapes like skyphoi, kantharoi and bobbins.
The Darius Painter was an Apulian vase painter and the most eminent representative at the end of the "Ornate Style" in South Italian red-figure vase painting. His works were produced between 340 and 320 BC.
The Leagros Group was a group of Attic black-figure vase painters active during the last two decades of the 6th century BC. The name given to the group by modern scholars is a conventional one, derived from a series of name vases.
Boeotian vase painting was a regional style of ancient Greek vase painting. Since the Geometric period, and up to the 4th century BC, the region of Boeotia produced vases with ornamental and figural painted decoration, usually of lesser quality than the vase paintings from other areas.
A Caeretan hydria is a type of ancient Greek painted vase, belonging to the black-figure style.
Etruscan vase painting was produced from the 7th through the 4th centuries BC, and is a major element in Etruscan art. It was strongly influenced by Greek vase painting, and followed the main trends in style over the period. Besides being producers in their own right, the Etruscans were the main export market for Greek pottery outside Greece, and some Greek painters probably moved to Etruria, where richly decorated vases were a standard element of grave inventories.
Chalcidian pottery is an important style of black-figure Greek vase painting.
Gnathia vases are a type of pottery belonging to ancient Apulian vase painting of the 4th century BC.
Campanian vase painting is one of the five regional styles of South Italian red-figure vase painting. It forms a close stylistic community with Apulian vase painting.
Lucanian vase painting was substyle of South Italian red-figure vase painting, produced in Lucania between 450 and 325 BC. It was the oldest South Italian regional style. Together with Sicilian and Paestan vase painting, it formed a close stylistic community.
Paestan vase painting was a style of vase painting associated with Paestum, a Campanian city in Italy founded by Greek colonists. Paestan vase painting is one of five regional styles of South Italian red-figure vase painting.
