The Athena Painter was an Atticblack-figure vase painter, active about 490 to 460 BC. His speciality were white-groundlekythoi painted in the black-figure style.
His pseudonym, for his real name is unknown, refers to his preference for Athena in his choice of subjects. He was one of the last generation of black figure technique painters.[1]
The Athena Painter, along with the Theseus Painter, continued the tradition of painting large standard lekythoi. His black-figure work was of high quality. Apart from lekythoi, he mainly painted oinochai. Some archaeologists identify him with the red-figureBowdoin Painter.[2] They may, however, simply have worked in the same workshop. His workshop was one of the production centres that developed the painting of white-ground lekythoi, which was to become especially important in the 5th century BC.
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 a multitude of 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 BCE, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BCE. 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.
A lekythos is a type of ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil, especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no pouring lip; the oinochoe is more like a modern jug. In the "shoulder" and "cylindrical" types which became the most common, especially the latter, the sides of the body are usually vertical by the shoulder, and there is then a sharp change of direction as the neck curves in; the base and lip are normally prominent and flared. However, there are a number of varieties, and the word seems to have been used even more widely in ancient times than by modern archeologists. They are normally in pottery, but there are also carved stone examples.
The Achilles Painter was a vase-painter active ca. 470–425 BC. His name vase is an amphora, Vatican 16571, in the Vatican museums depicting Achilles and dated 450–445 BC. An armed and armored Achilles gazes pensively to the right with one hand on his hip. The other hand holds a spear. On the opposite surface a woman performs libation.
Six's technique is the modern name for a technique used by Attic black-figure vase painters that involves laying on figures in white or red on a black surface and incising the details so that the black shows through. It was first described by the Dutch scholar Jan Six in 1888, and was given its English name by J. D. Beazley.
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 Providence Painter is the conventional name given to a painter of the Attic red-figure style. He was active around 470 BC.
The Phiale Painter, also known as Boston Phiale Painter, was a painter of the Attic red-figure style. He was active around 460 to 430 BC. The Phiale Painter is assumed to have been a pupil of the Achilles Painter. In contrast to his master, he liked to depict narrative scenes. He painted several large calyx kraters, often with two registers of figures; unlike his master, he seems to have preferred larger vessels in general. This is shown by his white-ground works, which are not well known, but more expressive than those of the Achilles Painter. Apart from a number of lekythoi, he painted two chalice kraters in white-ground technique, a rarity at the time. His themes may be partially influenced by contemporary theatre. His preferred name for kalos inscriptions is that of Euaion, son of Aeschylus.
The Pan Painter was an ancient Greek vase-painter of the Attic red-figure style, probably active c. 480 to 450 BC. 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'.
The Eretria Painter was an ancient Greek Attic red-figure vase painter. He worked in the final quarter of the 5th century BC. The Eretria Painter is assumed to have been a contemporary of the Shuvalov Painter; he is considered one of the most interesting painters of his time. Many of his best works are painted on oinochoai and belly lekythoi. His paintings often depict many figures, moving in groups across all available surfaces. He also painted such vessels as figure-shaped vases or head-shaped kantharoi. Even as the vase shapes he painted on are unusual, his themes are conventional: athletes, satyrs and maenads, and mythological scenes. There are also some careful studies of women. He also painted white-ground vases. A lekythos in New York shows a funeral scene, typical of white-ground painting: Achilles is mourning Patroclus; the nereids bring him new weapons. The Eretria Painter's drawing style influenced later artists, e.g. the Meidias Painter and his school.
The Reed Painter is an anonymous Greek vase painter of white-ground lekythoi, a type of vessel for containing oil often left as grave offerings. Works are attributed to either the "Reed Painter" or his atelier.
The C Painter was one of the most important Attic black-figure vase painters. His works date to circa 575–550 BC. His conventional name was allocated by the archaeologist John Beazley. The C stands for "Corinthianising", a reference to the strong influence of Corinthian vase painting on the artist. He was successor to the Comast Group and used the relatively old-fashioned range of vessel shapes preferred by that group, including lekanis, tripod kothon and skyphos. In contrast, he also painted quite innovative lekythoi with pronounced shoulders, although the more conservative Deinaeira type was still in use by some workshops at his time. The C Painter was the first Attic vase painter to paint cups without an offset lip, the Merrythought cup.
Pamphaios was an Attic potter active around the end of the 6th century BC. Pamphaios was the successor of Nikosthenes in that artist's workshop, and thus took over from one of the most influential and creative potters of antiquity. He probably took over the workshop before 510 BC and continued the tradition of his predecessor by producing typical shapes the latter had developed, such as the Nikosthenic amphora, the Nikosthenic pyxis or the Chalkidian style cup. At times, he developed these shapes further. Unlike Nikostehenes, Pamphaios favoured painters of the red-figure style, which was at the time replacing the previously dominant technique of black-figure vase painting. He also continued to employ many of the painters that had worked for Nikosthenes, such as Oltos, Epiktetos and the Nikosthenes Painter.
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.
The Daybreak Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC. His real name is not known.
The Lysippides Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. He was active around 530 to 510 BC. His conventional name comes from a kalos inscription on a vase in the British Museum attributed to him; his real name is not known.
The Edinburgh Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active around 500 BC. His speciality was white-ground lekythoi painted in the black-figure style.
The Beldam Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active from around 470 to before 450 BC.
Heracles and the Lion of Nemea is a lekythos which is held at the Louvre Museum, with the representation of the first of the labours of Hercules, the slaying of the Nemean lion. It is coming from Athens, dated around 500 – 450 BCE and it was bought for Louvre Museum at 1870. It was probably created from the shop of a Tanagran artist. According to Beazley and Haspels it is attributed to the Diosphos Painter.
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