Darius Painter

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
The Darius Vase in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. Darius vase Napoli Museum without background.jpg
The Darius Vase in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.

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 in Magna Graecia. His works were produced between 340 and 320 BC.

Contents

The Darius Painter's conventional name [1] is derived from his name vase, the "Darius Vase", which was discovered in 1851 near Canosa di Puglia and now on display at the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples (H3253). Many of his works, mostly volute kraters , amphorae and loutrophoroi , are of large dimensions. He most frequently depicted theatrical scenes, especially ones from the Classical tragedies by Euripides, [2] and mythological themes. A number of mythological motifs not represented in surviving literary texts are known exclusively from his vases. On other shapes, especially pelikes , he also painted as wedding scenes, erotes, women, and dionysiac motifs. In contrast to other contemporary painters, sepulchral scenes (naiskos vases) by him are rare; where such motifs occur, they are virtually always on the back of the vessel. Some of his paintings, like those on the Darius Vase itself, show historical subjects.

One of the most striking features of his work is the frequent use of inscriptions. He does not limit these to the normal practice of naming individual figures, but also uses them thematically (such as persai – Persians). To some extent these inscriptions can be seen as "titles". He also tends to use all available space on a vase for figural depictions, often arranged in two or three registers. Sometimes, the individual zones are structured by opulent ornamental friezes. The Darius Painter is considered the first painter to have fully exploited the possibilities of large-format vase painting. His drawing style is reputed to be especially good, particular as regards faces, which he often depicts in a three-quarter profile.

The Darius Painter worked in a large factory-like workshop, probably at Taras. It is possible that he was the owner or foreman of his workshop. Many vase-paintings are so close to his style, though not by his hand, that they are attributed to his workshop. He was the last important vase-painter in Apulia; Apulian vase painting rapidly declined in quality in the third century. Stylistically, he follows after the Varrese Painter and his group (e.g. the Painter of Copenhagen 4223), but outdoes their achievements. Contemporaries of his that did not simply produce mass wares include the Perrone Painter and the Phrixos Painter. His most important stylistic successor was the Underworld Painter. Arthur Dale Trendall, a key authority on South Italian vase painting, described the Darius Painter as the most important painter of mythological scenes within the total of the South Italian development.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-figure pottery</span> Style of painting on ancient Greek vases

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-figure pottery</span> Ancient Greek painted pottery style

Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euphronios</span> Greek vase painter and potter (c. 535 – after 470 BC)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Dale Trendall</span>

Arthur Dale Trendall, was a New Zealand art historian and classical archaeologist whose work on identifying the work of individual artists on Greek ceramic vessels at Apulia and other sites earned him international prizes and a papal knighthood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asteas</span>

Asteas was one of the more active ancient Greek vase painters in Magna Graecia, practicing the red-figure style. He managed a large workshop, in which above all hydriai and kraters were painted. He painted mostly mythological and theatrical scenes. He is one of the few vase painters of the Greek colonies whose name comes down to us.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Italian ancient Greek pottery</span>

South Italian is a designation for ancient Greek pottery fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC. The fact that Greek Southern Italy produced its own red-figure pottery as early as the end of the 5th century BC was first established by Adolf Furtwaengler in 1893. Prior to that this pottery had been first designated as "Etruscan" and then as "Attic." Archaeological proof that this pottery was actually being produced in South Italy first came in 1973 when a workshop and kilns with misfirings and broken wares was first excavated at Metaponto, proving that the Amykos Painter was located there rather than in Athens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sisyphus Painter</span>

The Sisyphus Painter was an Apulian red-figure vase painter. His works are dated to the last two decades of the fifth century and the very early fourth century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilioupersis Painter</span>

The Ilioupersis Painter was an Apulian vase painter. His works are dated to the second quarter of the 4th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore Painter</span>

The Baltimore Painter was an Apulian vase painter whose works date to the final quarter of the 4th century BC. He is considered the most important Late Apulian vase painter, and the last Apulian painter of importance. His conventional name is derived from a vase kept at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarporley Painter</span>

The Tarporley Painter was a Greek Apulian red-figure vase painter. His works date to the first quarter of the 4th century BC. The Tarporley Painter is his period's most important representative of the so-called "Plain Style". He is considered to have been the pupil and successor of the Sisyphus Painter, as indicated by his elegant fine-limbed figures and the solemn facial expressions of his woman and cloaked youths. He painted garments in a less balanced style then the Sisyphus Painter. His heads are often oval and lean forwards. The spaces between his figures are often filled with flowers, branches or vines. Over time, his drawing style becomes more fluid, but also less precise. He painted especially on bell kraters, on which he often depicted dionysiac themes and theatrical scenes. His work includes the first known phlyax vase, showing the punishment of a thief, accompanied by a metric verse inscription. Mythological scenes by him are rare. There appears to be an especially close relationship between the work of the Tarporley Painter and that of the Dolon Painter, perhaps they cooperated directly for some time. His succession is represented by three separate schools, each clearly influenced by him. The most important painter of the first is the Schiller Painter, of the second the Hoppin Painter and of the third the Painter of Karlsruhe B9 and the Dijon Painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varrese Painter</span> Ancient Greek vase painter

The Varrese Painter was an Apulian red-figure vase painter. His works are dated to the middle of the 4th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apulian vase painting</span>

Apulian vase painting was a regional style of South Italian vase painting from ancient Apulia in Magna Graecia. It comprises geometric pottery and red-figure pottery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etruscan vase painting</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicilian vase painting</span>

Sicilian vase painting was a regional style of South Italian red-figure vase painting fabricated in Magna Graecia. It was one of five South Italian regional styles. The vase painting of Sicily was especially closely connected with the Lucanian and Paestan styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campanian vase painting</span>

Campanian vase painting is one of the five regional styles of South Italian red-figure vase painting fabricated in Magna Graecia. It forms a close stylistic community with Apulian vase painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucanian vase painting</span>

Lucanian vase painting was substyle of South Italian red-figure vase painting fabricated in Magna Graecia, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paestan vase painting</span>

Paestan vase painting was a style of vase painting associated with Paestum, a Campanian city in Italy founded by Greek colonists of Magna Graecia. Paestan vase painting is one of five regional styles of South Italian red-figure vase painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underworld Painter</span>

The Underworld Painter was an ancient Greek Apulian vase painter whose works date to the second half of the 4th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painter of the Berlin Dancing Girl</span>

The Painter of the Berlin Dancing Girl was an Apulian red-figure vase painter, who was active between 430–410 BC. He was named after a calyx krater in the collection of the Antikensammlung Berlin, which depicts a girl dancing to the aulos played by a seated woman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darius Vase</span>

The Darius Vase is a famous vase painted by an anonymous Magna Graecia Apulian vase painter, commonly called the Darius Painter, the most eminent representative at the end of the "Ornate Style" in South Italian red-figure vase painting. The vase was produced between 340 and 320 BCE, probably in a large factory-like workshop in the Greek city of Taranto, Magna Graecia, well before the fall of Taranto to the Romans in 272 BCE. It is an important part of Apulian vase painting.

References

  1. Though many bear inscriptions, no vases in the group attributed to his workshop on the basis of their coherent style are signed.
  2. The depiction of Darius on his name-vase is possibly derived in its details from the Persae of Phrynikos, C. Anti concluded in 1952, and Schmidt 1960 follows him. However Oliver Taplin notes in Pots and Plays, 2007, p.235-7, the only strong indications of tragic reference are Darius himself and the old man in paidagogos outfit on the plinth inscribed ΠΕΡΣΑΙ, who might be performing the messenger role. Taplin speculates that the iconography of tragedy "could be assimilated into other contexts without danger of confusion", op. cit. p.237.

Sources