Epiktetos

Last updated
Palaistra scene on a plate, about 520/10 BC. Louvre. Palaestra scene Louvre G7.jpg
Palaistra scene on a plate, about 520/10 BC. Louvre.

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. [1]

Contents

Career

At the beginning of his career, Epiktetos painted a chalice krater made by the potter Andokides, but later he turned to smaller vessels, such as cups and plates. Throughout his long career, he worked for a variety of potters, including Andokides, Hischylos and the Nikosthenes-Pamphaios workshop. Since he signed one plate as painter and potter, he may have carried out both functions at least for some of the time. That plate was a votive offering, dedicated on the Athenian Acropolis. On one kylix, he collaborated with the Euergides Painter. He appears to have been aware of his talent, as he signed more than half of the works ascribed to him.

His first vases were bilingual eye-cups. The eight bilingual cups were painted using two techniques: the black-figure technique on the interior, largely focusing on animal designs in circular formations, and the red-figure painting technique on the exterior, showcasing designs of palmettes, eyes, and occasionally figures. [2] Already at this stage, he was technically superior to the early works of Oltos, and omitted out-of-date features such as palmette-hearts. He also used the relief-line technique. Epiktetos was considered a master of the tondo (circular image inside a cup). Often his vases were only painted on the inside. His miniature drawings were delicate and precise. His use of colour and ornament was careful and controlled. His lines and details were very balanced, with heads and limbs well-proportioned. His use of perspective on figures was very convincing. John Beazley praised Epiktetos: "it is not possible to draw better, only to draw differently". John Boardman also lauded him as the "greatest draughtsman in early red-figure vase painting". [3]

He preferred scenes of daily life and revelry to mythological scenes.He rarely depicted mythological scenes, which usually lacked originality. In contrast, his everyday scenes demonstrated his skills and his innovative ideas. He showed Athenian citizens at play, at the symposion and in erotic scenes, where he develops new aspects and motifs. He played an important role in the development of the satyr as a figure expressing beast like masculinity. His tondi ceased to depict the kneeling runner characteristic of black-figure vase painting; instead his figures squat, kneel or were seated. In some cases, the postures of figures depicted on his vases were nearly identical, even if their actions varied greatly. For example, a bent and twisted figure was in one case the Minotaur, in another a man masturbating into a pot and, in a third, a girl pleasuring herself with a dildo.

The end of his career remains unclear. One of his last works was on a cup by the potter Python – here he appeared stylistically influenced by Python's main painter, Douris – another on a vase by Pistoxenos. Epiktetos's work must have been greatly appreciated at the time, as indicated by a pelike by the Kleophrades Painter which was twice falsely signed Epiktetos egraphsen (Epiktetos painted it). The signature was a forgery, suggesting that the vessel was considered more marketable if considered to be by Epiktetos.

Bibliography

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">Lydos</span> 6th-century BC Greek vase painter

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 ", 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psiax</span> Late 6th-century BC Attic vase painter

Psiax was an Attic vase painter of the transitional period between the black-figure and red-figure styles. His works date to circa 525 to 505 BC and comprise about 60 surviving vases, two of which bear his signature. Initially he was allocated the name "Menon Painter" by John Beazley. Only later was it realised that the artist was identical with the painters signing as "Psiax".

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

The Pioneer Group is a term used by scholars for a number of vase painters working in potters' quarter of Kerameikos in ancient Athens around the beginning of the 5th century BC, around the time of the emergence of red-figure vase painting, which soon displaced the previously dominant black-figure style.

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

The Brygos Painter was an ancient Greek Attic red-figure vase painter of the Late Archaic period. Together with Onesimos, Douris and Makron, he is among the most important cup painters of his time. He was active in the first third of the 5th century BCE, especially in the 480s and 470s BCE. He was a prolific artist to whom over two hundred vases have been attributed, but he is perhaps best known for the Brygos Cup, a red-figure kylix in the Louvre which depicts the "iliupersis" or sack of Troy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Providence Painter</span> Unidentified ancient Greek vase painter

The Providence Painter is the conventional name given to a painter of the Attic red-figure style. He was active around 470 BC.

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

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. His conventional name is based on the fact that a painted phiale, a vase shape rarely equipped with figural depictions, is known from him.

The YZ Group is an assumed group of ancient Greek Attic vase painters of the red-figure style.

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

The Shuvalov Painter was an Attic vase painter of the red-figure style, active between 440 and 410 BC, i.e. in the High Classical period.

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

The Foundry Painter was an ancient Greek Attic red-figure vase painter of the Late Archaic period. His real name is unknown; the conventional name is derived from his most famous work, the Berlin Foundry Cup.

The Ptoon Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of black-figure style active in Athens in the middle third of the 6th century BC. His real name is unknown. The Ptoon Painter predominantly painted ovoid neck amphorae, spherical '’hydriai’’, and Siana cups. His most distinguishing features are figural palmettes and striking black-and-red patterns on the wings of birds. Along with the Camtar Painter, he was one of the last painters to paint animal friezes. His work is considered of mediocre quality. He often used dotted rosettes for the backgrounds, a feature generally out of use at the time of his activity. The late date of his works is attested by certain details of his plant motifs and figures, which resemble the work of Lydos. His most famous work is the Hearst Hydria, on display in New York City.

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

Eye-cup is the term describing a specific cup type in ancient Greek pottery, distinguished by pairs of eyes painted on the external surface.

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

A Siana cup is a type of Attic cup decorated in the black-figure technique. They are named after one of their find locations, the Necropolis of the ancient city of Siana on Rhodes. During the second quarter of the 6th century BC, Siana cups were the predominant cup shape in Athens. The shape remained popular later and was still being produced in large quantities during the era of the Little-master cups.

The Xenokles Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style, active around the middle of the 6th century BC. His real name is unknown. His conventional name is based on the fact that he often painted vases made by the potter Xenokles, with whom he may be identical. In artistic terms, he did not reach the talent of comparable painters, such as the Tleson Painter. Characteristic of his work is his habit of cramming lip cups with figures, comparable to the normal decoration of Siana cups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamphaios</span> Greek Attic potter active between 510 and 480 BC

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.

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

The Rycroft Painter was an Attic late black-figure vase painter, active in the final decade of the sixth century BC. His real name is not known.

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

Skythes was an Attic black-figure and red-figure vase painter active between about 520 and 505 BC.

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

Bilingual vase painting is a special form of ancient Greek vase painting. The term, derived from linguistics, is essentially a metaphorical one; it describes vases that are painted both in the black-figure and in the red-figure techniques. It also describes the transitional period when black-figure was being gradually replaced in dominance by red-figure, basically the last quarter of the 6th and the very beginning of the 5th century BC. Their appearance may be due to the initial uncertainty of the market for the new red-figure style, although that style subsequently became dominant rather fast.

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

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.

References

  1. The Getty Museum - Biography of Epiktetos
  2. Hill, Dorothy Kent (1938). "Epiktetos and His Circular Designs". The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery. 1: 24–32 via JSTOR.
  3. Boardman: Rotfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Die archaische Zeit, p. 67.