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GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Frontispiece: THESEUS, ATHENA AND A.\H'HITRITE : KYLIX WITH THE
SlGNAl IRE OF THE POTTER EUPHRONIOS

From riirlK'ciuglei'-h'ei ill hold, (iriechische Vasi'iiiualerei.
FLA IE J

GREEK
VASE-PAINTING
by ERNST BUSCHOR

WITH CLX ILLUSTRATIONS

TRANSLATED BY G. C. RICHARDS

M.A., F.S.A., FELLOW OF ORIEL

COLLEGE OXFORD &f WITH A

PREFACE BY PERCY GARDNER

LITT.D., F.B.A., PROFESSOR OF

CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGY

IN THE UNIVERSITY

OF OXFORD

LONDON
CHATTO &f WINDUS

1921

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CONTENTS

Page

Preface ^jj

Chapter I. The Stone and Bronze Ages ]

,, II. The Geometric Style 18

,, III. The Seventh Century 29

IV. The Black-Figured Style 63

V. The Red-Figured Style in the

Archaic Period HI

VI. The Style of Polygnotos and Pheidias 133

VII. Late Offshoots I55

Index of Illustrations I5I

Index of Names I74

PREFACE

A HISTORY of Greek vase-painting has been for a long
time a desideratum of students of Greek art and
antiquity. Many years ago I planned such a work, but the
difficulty of the necessary illustration caused the plan to
break down. In the meantime an extensive literature has
grown up on the subject, mainly in German, but with con-
tributions from other countries. In his first chapter Dr.
Buschor has shewn how the result of excavation in Greece
and Italy has been to throw our starting-point further and
further back, until it lies in the Neolithic age. But it is not
only in regard to the earlier phases of Greek vase-painting
that research has brought light : the red-iigured vase-paint-
ing which is one of the most perfect fruits of Greek art in
the fifth century has been far more minutely and intensively
studied. The result has been to fix the outlines, and more
than the outlines, of the history of a fourth great branch of
Greek artistic activity ; the history of architecture, of sculp-
ture and of coinage having been already thoroughly
investigated. And this fourth branch is not merely vase-
painting ; but since the fresco and other paintings of the
great age of Greece have almost entirely perished, we mav
fairly say that it includes almost all that we can ever know of
the history of early Greek painting. Vase-paintings can but
feebly image the colouring of the great painters of Greece ;
but they can give us invaluable information as to the
principles of grouping and perspective adopted by them ;
they can reflect the extreme beauty of their figure-drawing ;
and they can shew us how they treated subjects from the
vast repertory of Greek mythology and poetry

PREFACE

Most of those who take up the study of Greek art are
strongly attracted by vases, the subjects of which are more
varied, and the treatment freer than is the case with sculp-
ture For mythology, religion, athletics, daily life, they
are first-hand authorities. Yet one may fairly say that,
until a few years ago, satisfactory study of them was
impossible. Vase-paintings, in consequence of the shape
of the vessels themselves, can very seldom be adequately
reproduced by photography. And the published drawmgs
of them, until about 1880, were quite untrustworthy ; partly
because the draughtsmen had insufficient sense of style,
partly because most of the vases in the great museums were
more or less restored, often in a most misleading way.

Thus merely to reproduce published engravings of the
vases was quite misleading. The truth about them could
only be known from a technical examination of the origmals
scattered through Europe. Yet one must say that in nearly
all our English classical books and dictionaries, old engrav-
ings are uncritically reproduced. It is a fouling of the
springs ; and however practically inevitable such a course
may often have been, the result is that the reader never
knows whether he is treading on firm ice or on a mere crust.
Anything more reckless and misleading than the procedure
of the publishers and editors of illustrated classical books
can scarcely be imagined. The errors resulting can only
be weeded out by slow degrees. , , ^ru

Since about 1880 things have slowly mended. Ihe
German Arch^ological Institute, and the French and
English Societies for the promotion of Hellenic Studies
have published really careful drawings of a multitude of
vases Mr. F. Anderson in England being one of the most
accurate and careful of the artists employed. In the last
few years the catalogues of vases in Berlin, Pans, Munich.
London and other places have given authoritative informa-

VUl

PREFACE

tion as to restorations. A fresh era in the knowledge of
technique and subject was begun by the magnificent
publication of Furtwangler and Reichhold, with its splendid
plates. At present the most authoritative works on early
red-figured vases are those of an Oxford man, Mr. J. D.
Beazley, and an American, Mr. J. C. Hoppin. Mr.
Beazley has been good enough carefully to revise the
present translation.

We have reached a stage at which, for all but specialists,
what was most needed was a general history of Greek vases
in all their periods, compiled by a trustworthy authority,
and so fully illustrated (no easy matter) as to enable a reader
to follow the text throughout. Thus would the whole sub-
ject be mapped out, and the approach to any particular
province be made easy. Such a book is that of Dr. Buschor.
His examples are carefully chosen ; his text shews full
mastery of the subject ; and it is very unlikely that his treat-
ment will be superseded for a long time to come. It is,
however, a book not adapted for a mere cursory reading,
but for careful consideration and study.

I may add a few words by way of introduction to the sub-
ject. We may divide the whole history of Greek pottery
into two sections, which are separated one from the other
by the line which divides primitive from mature Greece,
about the middle of the sixth century.

Before that time, before the age of Croesus and the rise of
the Persian Empire, the history of Greece is very
imperfectly known to us, through the traditions of the
temples and the old families, which are seldom wholly to
be trusted. Where history is uncertain it is of untold value
to have monuments and works of human manufacture to
supplement it. These provide a skeleton of fact with which
to compare legend and tradition. It is now generally
recognized that before writings in the form of inscriptions

PREFACE

and coins come into general use, pottery furnishes the most
continuous and most trustworthy material for the dating of
sites, indications of commercial intercourse, the movements
of peoples. In recent years the study of prehistoric Greece
has made immense strides, primarily owing to the excava-
tions of Schliemann, Evans and other investigators. The
subject seems to fascinate the younger generation of
archaeologists ; and the pottery found in the graves of the
early inhabitants of Greece and Asia Minor has been
worked at with great minuteness and to much result. It
has revealed to us the outlines of the early history of Crete,
the Troad, Laconia, Thessaly, and a number of other dis-
tricts. Constant comparison with the results of finds in
Egypt which can be dated from inscriptions has revealed in
a measure the state of the civilization of the ^gean in
century beyond century, back to Neolithic times.

When Greek civilization became fully established, in the
sixth century, when inscriptions and coins begin to give us
far more exact information than that which can be derived
from pottery, the interest attaching to the latter does not
cease, but it changes in character. We no longer go to it
to determine the outlines of the history of civilization. But
it has now become a thing precious in itself because of its
beauty, its close relation to the poetry, the religion and the
life of Greece. The elegant forms of Greek vases and the
charm of the designs painted on them have caused them to
be sought after by great museums and wealthy collectors.
The graves of Italy, Sicily, Hellas, have poured out a
constant supply of these works of art, some of them beyond
value. Classical archseologists have naturally given much
attention to them ; and of late years the assignment of
examples to noted masters, and the study of their technique
have been zealously prosecuted. They belong too wholly
to a civilization which has passed away to be readily under-

PREFACE

stood by ordinary visitors of museums ; but those who have
once been bitten with their charm find in them an occupa-
tion, a delight and a solace which are great helps in life.
Greece is the classical land of art in all its forms, and the
principles of art which were established by the successive
schools of art there can never be wholly neglected. If we
set aside the pottery of China and Japan, which is, in another
sphere, of unsurpassed beauty, the pottery of Greece is the
only perfectly developed and thoroughly consistent pottery
in the world ; and the noted productions of modern Europe
seem in comparison poor and half-civilized.

Dr. Buschor's general plan has compelled him to write
but in a summary way of the works of red-figured style,
which are incomparably the most beautiful. In fact, in such
small and rough illustrations as are possible in a handbook,
their quality could not be reproduced. For them the
reader must go on to other works, or visit the vase-rooms
of museums. A conspectus of successive styles and periods
was all that was possible. And I think that enough is here
accomplished to arouse the interest of those who love art
and have some sympathy with the Greek spirit.

The old supremacy of the Classics in education has
passed away, and in future they will have to hold their own
not by prescriptive right but in virtue of their intrinsic value,
on which more and more stress is being laid by those who
feel what their neglect in the modern world would mean.
It is time to strengthen their hold by shewing how they lie
at the very root of philosophy, literature and art. Our
successors will not be satisfied with drilling boys in Greek
and Latin grammar, but will have to insist on the place held
by ancient peoples, the Jews, the Greeks and the Romans,
in the evolution of all that is valuable and delightful in the
modern world. We have to widen the field of Classics, and
illustrate the literature from every point of view. And if

PREFACE

it be felt that the object of education is not merely to enable
boys and girls to earn a living, but to help them to lead a
worthy and happy life, then I have no fear that the Classics
will be permanently eclipsed.

Mr. Richards' work as a translator was very difficult. In
spite of kindred origin, the German mind in literary produc-
tion moves on different lines from the English. Not only
is the order of words in a sentence different, but the
sentences themselves are much more involved, and German
scientific writers aim at an exactness in the use of terms
which we seldom attempt. Mr. Richards' version is very
accurate ; but it must be allowed to be not always easy
reading. He preferred to retain as much as possible of the
meaning, even if it involved some stiffness in the text.
Students will thank him for this ; and if the general reader
finds that he has to give the text a closer attention than he is
used to give to books, he will in fact have his reward.

Dr. Buschor's work is a solid stone for the temple of
knowledge, and the main lines of the subject are now so
firmly fixed by induction, that they are not likely to suffer
very much change in the future.

P. Gardner.

X.U

CHAPTER I.
THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

STUDENTS of the history of Greek vases have been
gradually led backwards from a late period to earlier
and earlier stages of civilization by the course of circum-
stances. First of all graves were opened in Lower Italy ;
the first great collection of vases, formed by Sir William
Hamilton, British ambassador in Naples, and published in
1791-1803, contained chiefly the output of later Italian
manufactories. Next, from 1828 onwards, the doors of
Etruscan graves were unlocked, and their contents proved to
be the rich treasures of Greek red and black-figured vases,
procured in such numbers by the Etruscans of the 6th and
5th centuries. About twenty years later a bright light was
thrown on eastern Greek pottery of the 7th century by the
discovery of a cemetery in Rhodes. About 1870 the
* Geometric ' style became known and the Dipylon vases
at Athens were revealed. In the seventies and eighties
Schliemann's spade unearthed the Mycenean civilization,
and in the beginning of the present century we were intro-
duced to the culmination of this period in Crete. Finally
in quite recent times finds of vases of the Stone Age in Crete
and in North Greece have given us a view of vase-produc-
tion in the third millennium B.C. If therefore we wish to
retrace this long road, we must begin at a period, of
which the investigation has only just begun and which
presents most difficult problems.

The excavations in Northern Greece, i.e., in North

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Boeotia, Phocis and above all Thessaly, have introduced
us to a purely Neolithic civilization. Here alongside of the
two simpler prehistoric techniques, unornamented (mono-
chrome) and incised ware, was discovered, even in the
oldest strata, a richly developed painted style, with linear
ornaments painted either in red on vases with a white slip
or in white on vases made red by firing. The monochrome,
red or black vases are often brilliantly polished and of
excellent workmanship. In the later layers of the Stone
Age finds this civilization differs considerably according to
locality. One class of painted (and incised) vases is very
prominent : it was found chiefly at Dimini and Sesklo, and
shows quite a new principle of decoration (Fig. 1). It
combines curvilinear patterns, especially the spiral motive,
with rectilinear decoration (zig-zag, step pattern, chequers,
primitive maeander, etc.) ; the colouring varies, white on
red, black on white, brown on yellow. Side by side with
this style we find in other places the greatest variety of
painted and unpainted vases : even polychrome decoration
appears. In the early Bronze Age all this splendour
vanishes and gives place to the production of coarse
unpainted ware.

It appears that this Stone-Age Ceramic of North
Greece has no connection with the finds of South Greece,
and is rather to be traced to the North and the civilization
of the Danube valley.

The South presents us with a much more primitive
picture. The large layer of Stone Age finds, which came to
light in Crete, produced vases with incised geometrical
ornament, alongside of coarse undecorated pottery, but
curvilinear patterns of Thessalian type are completely
absent and painted vases are rare. The reason for a less
elaborate development of Neolithic civilization in Crete
seems to be that it gave place to the Bronze Age compara-

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THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

tively early : in Thessaly it seems to go down far into the
second millennium.

According to these early vase finds one has thus to
picture to oneself the beginnings of ceramic art. First, the
most essential household vessels are fashioned by hand out
of imperfectly cleansed clay, and burnt black in the open
fire, and before long the outer surface is also polished, prob-
ably with smooth stones. Rectilinear ornaments are
pressed or incised into the soft clay, and by degrees the
method of filling and indicating the incised lines by a white
substance is learned ; the clay is also treated plastically, for
instance channelled. Gradually the clay is made less
impure, is more cleanly polished and more evenly baked in
the oven, and by the actual firing has various colours, red,
black, grey, yellow and brown, imparted to it. Thus a ground
is also obtained for painting, on which the rectilinear
ornaments are imposed with colour. Greater solidity and
brighter colouring are obtained by covering the vase with a
slip, which moreover sets off the painting excellently. The
invention of the wrongly styled ' varnish,' a black colour
glaze which, though technically undeveloped, appears even
in North Greece of the Stone Age, is of the highest import-
ance for the whole history of Greek vase-painting. The
forms are primitive, little articulated, but already very
various : the decoration covers uniformly almost the
whole vase.

But the different techniques do not regularly succeed each
other ; inventions are not immediately communicated from
one locality to another ; primitive methods subsist along-
side of more advanced, nay even sometimes drive them out
again. This much is clear, that a section taken through
these contemporaneous prehistoric civilizations would pre-
sent a highly variegated aspect.

The Stone Age is succeeded by the Bronze Age, here

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

earlier and there later ; here more quickly, there more
slowly; i.e., metals are gradually introduced, and with
them new techniques and a new civilization. It is evident
that to the earlier Bronze Age belong a series of innovations
which are of decisive importance for the history of vases,
the invention of the potter's wheel, the perfection of the
so-called * varnish,' and the imitation of metal forms in
clay. In most places the potter's oven and the painting of
vases appear only in the early Bronze Age.

Into the early Bronze Age fall the finds from the earliest
layers at Troy. In the unalterable faith that he was dis-
covering the world of Homer, with the strong and weak
points of a dilettante, Heinrich Schliemann began. to dig at
Hissarlik, and in the excavations of 1871, 1878, 1890 and
1893 Dorpfeld and he investigated the rubbish hill, which
has become so famous, the nine superimposed settlements
of which represent as many successive civilizations down to
Roman times. The numerous ceramic finds of the five
lowest layers show the transition from rude hand-made and
ill-baked ware with impressed linear patterns to ever more
developed stages. The potter's wheel and oven finally
succeed in producing brilliant red, black, grey, brown vases
of the finest technique. The variety of shapes is very great,
some are already quite developed ; the imitation of metal
forms is to be traced here and there. A notable speciality
is found in the so-called Face-urns (Fig. 2), rude imitations
of the human form, produced by adding eyes, nose, mouth,
ears, nipples and navel ; and there are also other vase-types,
which are not repeated in Western Greece. Painting is
rare, the vases are either monochrome or adorned with
incised linear ornaments, which are often applied in the
manner of necklaces, or divide the vase vertically.

The Bronze Age civilization of the second city up to the
fifth, which, judging by the rich finds of metal utensils and

Fig. 3. ]{'(] FROA[ SVROS.

Fig. 4. jrr; i'ro^[ m^'cen.f:

FFATE III.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

gold ornaments, was by no means primitive, recurs in the
whole of N.W. Asia Minor and in Cyprus. Its last phase
cannot be separated in time from the western civilization
of the shaft graves (p. 7).

Parallel with Troy II-V and the mainland civilization of
Marina (below), on the islands of the Aegean is the so-called
Cycladic civilization. Its pottery, however, presents a
much more variegated picture : beside the primitive vases
there are vases incised and painted with rich, not exclusively
rectilinear, ornamentation : glazed (' varnished ') vases
also occur. The forms are very varied : bronze and stone
vessels often serve as models ; the structure of the vases and
the distribution of the ornamentation show unmistakeably
definite artistic intention. There is great difference between
various islands and a comprehensive view of the develop-
ment is not yet possible. Specimens like the beaked jug
from Syros (Fig. 3) are probably contemporary with the
early Minoan style of Crete (p. 7), but the pans with
engraved spirals, circles, ships and fish are later. On
Melos, which has quite a separate position of its own, the
influence of the Cretan ' Kamares ' civilization (p. 8) in
technique and decoration is obvious.

We return to the mainland and Central Greece. Hagia
Marina in Phocis is the chief place in which a pottery,
following on the Neolithic, has been found, hand-made with
a black or red glaze, with or without rectilinear ornaments
in white. This was called * Primitive varnish ware,' before
the Neolithic preceding stages had become known.
'Marina' ware superseded the Neolithic in Boeotia (Orcho-
menos) and Thessaly also ; similar vases have been found
in the western islands (Leukas) and in the Argolid (Tiryns).
It is also related to the Cycladic civilization, as is indicated
by the jug imitated from metal models, which is common
to both styles.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

The ' Marina ' layer is succeeded at Orchomenos by a
ware of a totally different kind, which probably spread from
this locality and is therefore called ' Minyan,' dark-grey
and grey or yellow vases, especially (a) drinking-cups, with
tall channelled foot, and (b) profiled two-handled cups
(Fig. 6), turned on the wheel, and in shape more plainly
even than the Marina ware dependent on metal models.
The wide extension of this already finely developed ware
combines a series of bronze-age sites into a chronological
unit, the so-called * Shaft grave ' stage (p. 7). In Northern
and Central Greece as well as in Leucas it follows on the
' Marina ' ware, in Attica and Aegina it takes the place of
the monochrome and incised ware, in the islands it super-
sedes the Cycladic pottery, in Troy it is parallel with the
ware of Asia Minor and Cyprus, in the Argolid the Marina
finds of Tiryns are followed by the shaft graves of Mycenae
with Minyan vases.

Almost everywhere along with the Minyan ware we find
vases not so finely constructed, generally hand-made, which
are neither burnt dark nor glazed, but show a decoration
applied in dull colour. This lustreless painting {Mattma-
lerei) in Central and Northern Greece, and also ir Attica
(white-ground ware of Aphidna, Eleusis), uses only geo-
metrical ornaments ; in the Argolid on red or light clay
vases linear patterns, wavy lines, running spirals or even
figured decorations {e.g. birds. Fig. 4) are painted in brown
colour. The decoration generally emphasises the shoulder ;
the lower part of the vase is unadorned and separated by
stripes from the upper.

The next stage is that Minyan ware and lustreless paint-
ing are almost everywhere driven out by Creto-Mycenean
* Varnish ' pottery. In many places this process did not
take place till the end of the Bronze Age, as in Thessaly,
Central Greece and Attica (Eleusis). It was apparently

Fig. 5. KAMARES VASE FROM KNOSSOS.

Fig, 6. KYLIX FROM MYCEN^.
PLATE IV.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

the lords of the Argolid who first and most freely opened
their gates to Cretan importation and influence ; in the
shaft graves of Mycenae, famous for their rich treasure of
gold, discovered by Schliemann in 1874 behind the Lion
Gate, the oldest Cretan import in the shape of vases of the
first late Minoan style (p. 10), appears beside Minyan and
lustreless ware (Figs. 4 and 6).

By the side of these local products, the ' Varnish ' vases
in the shaft graves appear like children of a strange and
sunnier world, representative of a quite different and
superior style of art. The idea that they came from Crete
has been confirmed by the excavations carried on since
1900, which in different parts of the island disclosed a com-
pact civilization of markedly un-Greek character, develop-
ing without a break from the third millennium to the end of
the second, which is in striking contrast to that of the
mainland. This civilization has been named Minoan after
the fabulous king Minos, the builder of the labyrinth, and it
has been divided into three epochs, of which the first two
precede the period of the shaft graves.

In the early Minoan period, following on the miserable
Stone Age (p. 2) the Cretans must have laid the foundation
of their riches, if an inference may be drawn from the stone
vases and goldsmith's work of Mochlos. The ceramic art
enters on two paths, which have a future before them. The
vases were hitherto unpainted and only incised. Now
either they are covered with brilliant black paint (Varnish*)
on which the old patterns are painted in tenacious white
colour, a technique which celebrated its triumph in the
subsequent period, or the vases are left in the colour of the
clay and painted with bands of * varnish * ; to this so-called
' Mycenean ' technique belongs the whole late period
(p. 10). There is a special group of flamed ware, the
patterns of which, like much that is Minoan, are far nearer

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

to modern applied art than to Greek. Even in the first half
of this period the kiln seems already to be known ; the
potter's wheel appears in the second, which is characterized
by the first appearance of curvilinear patterns, especially
the wave series and running spiral.

The Middle Minoan period, a pure and richly-
developed bronze civilization, is the height of polychromy :
the clay is finely cleansed, the black glaze is at its very best,
red in different shades occurs besides white. A transition
leads to the brilliant period of the Kamares style, named
after the first discoveries in the Kamares cave on Mt. Ida.
The * Mycenean technique ' occurs not infrequently along-
side of the polychrome ; but as it often edges the ornaments
with incised lines or puts white spots on them, it does not
reject the tendency to richer effect, which is a feature of the
age and is also expressed in the relief-like ornamentation of
many vases (Barbotine). The ornamentation is still very
fond of linear patterns, and also develops the spiral still
further, and lays the foundation of the numerous decorative
motives which characterize the later periods; living
creatures also (birds, fishes, quadrupeds) are repre-
sented in painting. The motive of drops falling from
the brush, which would be inconceivable in Greek
vase-painting proper, occurs already. There is a simul-
taneous use of decoration in bands, and without division ;
the emphasizing of the shoulder by ornamentation is found
in contrast with the lower part decorated, if at all, with
stripes (Figs. 3 and 4). The stock of forms increases, and
the imitation of metal-work is often unmistakeable.

In the Kamares style proper (Figs. 5 and 9) poly-
chromy (white, red, and dark yellow on black)
reaches its highest development, the greatest variety
of plastic decoration appears, the Mycenean tech-
nique (dark on light) is relegated to the background.

Fif^s. 7 & 8. FL'NXEI.A'ASES OF LATE MIXOAX I ST^I.K
l-'ROM I'AI.AIKASTRO AXI) PSEIRA.

Fig. y. K\M \Ri:s IMIllOS V\i()\\ IMIAIS I'OS.

n.Ari' \'.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

The shapes become continually more delicate, metal
vases are often directly copied ; cups, beaked jugs,
beaked saucers, and amphorae with handles at the
mouth are specially common. The list of ornaments is
much increased and can scarcely be described in few words.
By the side or in the place of geometrical motives, crosses,
zig-zags, groups of strokes, and richly developed circle, bow
and spiral motives, appear vegetable, leaves, branches,
rosettes, and most important of all, the continuous wavy
tendril. Even living beings appear occasionally.

The plant ornamentation of the Kamares vases is in a
peculiar relation to nature. Though nature is here for the
first time consistently imitated, the reproduction is not at all
'naturalisHc' but thoroughly and from the first severely
stylized. Not only does the colouring bear no relation to
the object represented, not only is the combination of vege-
table and geometric motives of purely decorative character,
but the natural object imitated is often barely recognizable.
The Kamares potter only aims at a pretty combination of
colour and line, not at representations. Nor is he con-
cerned with structural arrangement : division by bands
and emphasizing the lower part of the vase by leaves
pointing upward are uncommon. Usually the decoration
spreads freely over the field and is not subordinated to the
structure of the vessel. This undisputed predominance of
the ornamentation is in the sharpest contrast to the
procedure of Greek art proper.

The Kamares civilization, starting from Crete, exercised
influence over the islands of the Aegean : the importation
and imitation of its ware can be proved for Thera and
Melos. Isolated finds in Egypt are of importance, first
because they prove the relation of Crete to the Nile valley,
and secondly because they give a fixed date (XII Dynasty).
The technique did not disappear with the Middle Minoan

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Age, but was long maintained alongside of the new style.

The Kamares finds come mostly from the older palaces
of Phaistos and Knossos. The investigation of their ruins
has shown that these buildings were destroyed by fire and
soon afterwards replaced by still finer new edifices. The
vase finds in these later palaces show a complete break with
the old style. Polychromy is no longer the principal
attraction ; it is given only a secondary place : the new
style (Middle Minoan III and Late Minoan I, Figs. 7, 8,
10 and 11), which is no longer satisfied with gay ornamenta-
tion, but with fresh vigour essays the conquest of Nature and
her excellences, throws off the bands of the old technique,
and with bold freedom depicts the newly discovered world
in dark colour on light clay. In contrast to the Kamares
style, it did not arise on the vases themselves by the enrich-
ment of an ornamental style, but it is to be understood as the
reflection of higher techniques. Vase-painting gives only
a small extract from the rich array of subjects, which the
other lesser arts and the wall-painting of the period conjure
before our eyes. Of the wonderfully vivid representations
of men and animals, in which the Cretans wxre masters,
nothing is to be found on the vases. This is certainly not
an accident, but a sign of the purely decorative feeling of
these artists. They did not want to stylize the human or
animal body till it became decorative, to distort it for the
eye by placing it on a curved surface, and by combining
figures to upset the ease and flow of the decorative scheme.
Thus they entirely gave up all reproduction of them, and
are thus in marked contrast with Greek vase-painting, the
history of which may be regarded as a constant struggle to
represent mankind and animal creation. The Cretans
took to other objects instead, which could be represented
in the vigorous way they aimed at, and yet also filled the
field decoratively, without any loss to the picture from the

Fig. 10. .STIRRl"P-\ASE OF L.\IF .MIXOAX I STYI.K FRO>r OOIRXIA.

Fio. 11. AMIMIORA OF I..\'1F MIXOW I .STYI.K |.-R().\| 1NK1R.\.

PL.VTE VI.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

curve of the vessel. The vegetable world had entered the
decoration of vases in the Kamares period : now it does so
afresh, but in a totally different spirit. Grasses, branches,
ivy, crocuses, lilies as they grow and wave in nature,
surround the vases. But these people were specially
concerned with the sea, marine plants and live creatures.
Lotus flowers, sea-weeds and reeds wave in the water, the
cuttle-fish stretches out his feelers, the nautilus swims about,
starfish and snails, corals and sea-anemones surround the
living objects, and dolphins gambol around.

What impelled the Cretan vase-painters thus un-
weariedly to represent the marine world exclusively on
vases ? The explanation can only be sought in that supreme
law of the development of artistic style, the talent for inven-
tion in a few pioneer brains and the slowness in invention
of the many. The excellent idea of having the cool liquid
in the vases surrounded by this decorative play of marine
life, which filled the field and was so life-like, perhaps came
from a single gifted brain. The idea became popular, and
the common run of vase-painters created countless varia-
tions of the theme.

The excellent naturalism directly inspired by nature,
which it transfers with a bold brush to the vases, is limited
to a short creative period : immediately the schematic and
conventional assert themselves ; life disappears, but fixed
decorative formulae remain, and to them the future belongs.
Moreover, the stylized ornamentation never ceased to exist
alongside of the natural ; nay, often appears on the same vase
in conjunction with it, in the shape of wavy lines, spirals in
different combinations, continuous tendrils (which are also
treated naturally) or stylized plants. Thus two methods of
decoration are in contrast, one ' tectonic ' with arrange-
ment in bands, another, which freely scatters naturalistic
representations over the vase, a kind of ornament which

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

has made almost everyone who has spoken of it adduce the
parallel of Japanese art. The freely adorned vases are
also most characteristic of the art of the Cretans, and show
most plainly their gay and heedless manner, their free
decorative work, their direct relation to nature, foreign to
abstraction and idea : they set this art in contrast with the
contemporary old civilizations of the Nile and Euphrates as
well as with the Greek.

The naturalism of the first Late Minoan period has
narrower limits than has been usually estimated. Not only
is the stock of themes scanty (Fig. 11 is an exception) ; but
also the reproduction of nature is purely superficial, knows
nothing of perspective or shading, and stylizes the forms
into the style of decorative drawing : thus, for instance,
the marine world is represented without any indication of
water. Of course, this does not mean that such abstraction
from reality is not an advantage from the point of view of
decorative art. Often the vase-shapes show a cultivated
feeling for form in the way the body swells and contracts,
but appear simple and constrained when compared with the
fine lines of contour in the next period. Among new types
that emerge may be mentioned the ' stirrup vase ' (Fig. 10)
and the ' funnel vase ' (Figs. 7 and 8).

The superiority of these Cretan vases to all contem-
porary ceramic output showed itself in a vigorous export.
The Egyptian finds of this ware give as a date the XVIII
dynasty, approximately 1500 B.C., a date confirmed by
some Egyptian objects found in Crete. Cretan vases were
also exported in quantities to Melos and Thera : there the
native industry loses itself in imperfect imitations of this
imported ware. The Cretan civilization also enters the
Greek mainland, especially the Argolid. The shaft graves
of Mycenae (p. 7), from which the Late Minoan civiliza-
tion transplanted to the mainland has been named ' Myce-

Fio.. 12 \ 18. AMI'HOR.K OF THE PAI^ACE STYLE FROM KNOSSOS.

I'LATl': \II.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

nean,' are the oldest instance of this fact. The imported
vases of the six graves are distributed over the whole of the
first Late Minoan (early Mycenean) period, containing
late specimens of Kamares style and early specimens of the
Palace style : but the bulk of the * varnish ' vases found on
the mainland belong to the succeeding period.

The second Late Minoan period of vase production in
Crete, the so-called Palace style (Figs. 12 and 13) is not so
sharply divided from the first, as the latter is from the
Kamares style. Both phases are connected by several
transitional forms and run parallel for a time. An import-
ant difference is that the last traces of the Kamares
technique (the imposition of white, red and orange on a
black ground) disappear : there is simply painting in black
on light clay (Mycenean technique). The decoration
neglects the neck and foot of the vessel and emphasizes the
shoulder, particularly with the characteristic half-branches.
The animated reproductions of nature in the preceding
style are treated in a fanciful way ; they become fixed and
are changed into ornaments and patterns for filling ; the
significant unity of the design is interrupted by foreign
elements ; the marine and plant ornamentation now never
covers the whole vase but retires into a single band. In
short, the naturalistic style gives place to a tectonic style,
the representations are not the chief thing aimed at, which
is the filling of the space. Beside the ornaments produced
by the schematizing of living natural forms come new ones,
which often look like a borrowing of architectural forms ;
moreover, the juxtaposition and combination of the orna-
ments show the same spirit, and also the emphasis now laid
on the shape of the vase, in which the structure and the
swinging contour reach their highest form of elegance, as
can be seen most plainly in the amphorae.

This art had a wide influence outside Crete. To the

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

beginning of the period, the transition from the first to the
second Late Minoan style, belong many mainland finds,
especially from domed tombs, in Peloponnese (Vaphio,
Argos, Mycenae, Old Pylos), in Attica (Athens, Thorikos,
Spata), in Boeotia (Thebes, Orchomenos) and in Thessaly
(Volo). The finds continue during the period of the
developed Palace style. The majority of these 'varnish'
vases seem not to have been imported from Crete but made
by Cretan artizans in the country. The Mycenean local
princes, who from their lofty citadels controlled the sur-
rounding country, surrounded themselves more and more
with the splendour of this southern civilization, ordered
weapons, ornaments, precious vases from Crete, used them
in life, gave them to the dead in graves ; they also took into
their service foreign artists, and gave employment to Cretan
masons, painters and potters.

The islands too acquire Cretan vases : they were ex-
ported as far as Aegina, Melos, distant Cyprus, and the
sixth city of Troy.

About the end of the second Late Minoan period the
Cretan palaces of Phaistos, Knossos, and Hagia Triada are
destroyed, and with the destruction of these and other sites
the Palace style decays.

The pottery of the Late Mycenean (or third Late
Minoan) period (Figs. 14-17) is very inferior to that of the
Palace style. The technique is at first neat but afterwards
falls off : the smooth yellowish clay takes a green tinge, the
brilliant glaze colour, often burnt red, becomes a lustreless
black. The ornamentation consists of the last remains of
the naturalistic decoration, now become quite lifeless and
poor, with which are associated purely geometrical patterns
of the simplest kind, wavy lines, spirals, concentric circles.
Rectilinear patterns (groups of strokes, hatched triangles)
become ever more prominent. The decoration is gener-

U. LA'I'K M^'CKXK.W ClI' FROM RHODES.

Fli^. 15. I.A'I'K M^CKNK.W S 11 RRf I'-VASK FR()^r RHODES
rE.XTE \lll.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

ally very loose, emphasizes the shoulder band, and usually
puts on the lower half of the vase only a few stripes : vertical
division of the field into ' metopes ' is common.

But, on the other hand, figured representations are not
unusual on late Mycenean vases. Two classes can be
distinguished off-hand : — (a) animal representations, in
traditional ornamental style and very ' geometrical ' in
treatment, particularly birds with cross-hatched bodies,
certainly continuations of the old lustreless painting (cp.
Fig. 4 with Fig. 15) ; and {b) larger compositions taken over
from wall-painting, often provided with ornaments to fill
the field, like the chariot-race on the krater from Rhodes
(Fig. 17). The best-known example is the Warrior vase
from Mycenae representing the departure for the battle-
field.

Apart from these figured representations, one may say
that Cretan vase-painting, after its brilliant achievements in
the Kamares, shaft grave, and Palace styles, sinks down to
that primitive level from which it started : it becomes once
more a geometrical style.

The area over which we find this pottery is enormous,
being practically the whole Mediterranean basin, Crete,
Egypt, the Cyclades, the coast of Asia Minor (sixth city of
Troy) and its adjacent islands {e.g. Rhodes), Cyprus (where
the Mycenean supersedes an old and plentiful pottery akin
to that of Troy), Phoenicia, Italy, Sicily, and especially all
important sites of the Greek mainland. In many places,
where the * varnish ' painting did not enter earlier, it now
comes into contact with the old indigenous technique, with
the monochrome, incised and lustreless vases : many back-
ward settlements, like Olympia, seem to have had practi-
cally no acquaintance with the Mycenean style.

Here again the Egyptian finds give us a date : they last
from about the end of the 15th down into the 12th century.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

But since it is not conceivable that we should date the
Geometrical period, which followed the Mycenean, back
into the second millennium, the late Mycenean style must
have lasted at least four centuries ; the rate of develop-
ment, which in the time of great achievements had been
very rapid, must have become considerably slower.

To arrange the huge mass of late Mycenean vases in this
long development is impossible, until the material has been
sifted and worked through. But one thing already can be
said with certainty, that it was not merely exported from
Crete ; indeed it is more than questionable, whether Crete
played the leading part. In this period the native seat of
the brilliant Minoan civilization is no longer in the fore-
ground ; the centre of gravity has shifted to the mainland, in
particular the Argolid. Even in the period of the shaft
graves we see the Peloponnesians eagerly adopting Cretan
civilization ; in the following period the mainland vies with
Crete in the production of Mycenean vases, and finally must
have wrested the lead from the southern outpost. This
applies not merely to civilization but to political conditions.
A hypothesis, in favour of which there is much to be said,
connects the destruction of the Cretan palaces with the
invasion of conquering * Achaeans,' the name Homer
applies to the lords of the mainland. Just as the wall-
painting originally borrowed from Crete was still flourishing
on the mainland, when it had died out at home, so the late
Mycenean pottery must have been produced mainly in con-
tinental Greece, and the new style must have been formed
by the Peloponnesians. Thus we can explain the non-
Minoan elements, the strong geometrical influence on the
decoration, and the taking over of figured scenes from wall-
painting, which was rejected by the old Cretans.

So it was probably the * Achaeans * who spread the late
Mycenean pottery all over the Mediterranean. They had

i-iys. 1(5 \' 17. i.A'iK mv(:I':nk.\x \\si:s from riiodes.

PLATE IX.

THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES

become a seafaring nation on a great scale. Of their entry
into Crete we have just spoken, of their united campaigns
of conquest in Asia Minor, in which the Cretan king has the
Argive Agamemnon as his overlord, the Homeric poems
tell us, and of their colonizing expansion in the Mediter-
ranean the vase finds among other things give evidence, as
they justify conclusions about new localities of manufacture
(Troy, Rhodes, Cyprus, etc.).

In the beginning of the first millennium the scene is
totally altered. On the coast of Asia Minor and the islands
are settled Hellenic races, among which the Aeolians and
lonians are probably descendants of the emigrated
Achaeans, while the Dorians represent a new tribe come in
from the north, which subdued the Peloponnese and Crete
and extended to the south of the Aegean Sea.

These shiftings of population, the so-called Dorian
invasion, with which Greek historians begin the history of
their country, mark the end of the Bronze Age and of the
Mycenean civilization. Iron weapons, only sporadically
to be found in the late Mycenean age, take the place of
bronze ; the Mycenean vase style vanishes all along the
line, and gives way to a new style, the Geometric.

CHAPTER II.
THE GEOMETRIC STYLE

NOW for the first time the history of Greek vases proper
begins. In the pottery of the geometric style are
latent the forces, which we see afterwards expanding in con-
tact with the East, as well as the oldest beginnings that we
can trace of that brilliant continuous development, which
led to the proud heights of Klitias, Euphronios, Meidias.
Its producers may be unreservedly described as Greeks :
Hellas has come into being. However primitive the
civilization of this early Greece may have been, however
patriarchal is the picture which Homer, the great genius of
this period, gives us of this world, however much the works
of art described by him point to Mycenean reminiscences
and Phoenician importation, yet in the department of
ceramics the art of this time was thoroughly original and
highly developed, and it is from the vases that this early
phase gets its name.

We should like to have a glimpse of the origin of the
Geometric style, but its beginnings are shrouded in dark-
ness. It cannot be regarded as simply a descendant of the
pre-Mycenean Geometric pottery, which in outlying parts
continued throughout the Bronze Age ; for in its ' varnish *
technique, its forms and decoration, it is totally different
from those primitive vessels. As little is it a direct con-
tinuation of the Mycenean style, from which it took over
the technique of painting. However much towards the
end of its development the latter inclined to decoration in

THE GEOMETRIC STYLE

bands and the geometrizing of ornament, it was an outworn
poor style that arose out of schematizing of living forms, in
complete contrast with the clear concise Geometric style,
which consistently unfolds and exhausts its individuality.

Naturally the Mycenean style did not disappear
abruptly from the face of the earth, and there are transi-
tional forms, which cannot be nicely divided. They must
not be too highly estimated ; they are, it is true, at the
beginning of the new development, but do not influence it.
Thus the * Salamis ' vases, and their parallels from Athens,
Nauplia, and Assarlik in Southern Asia Minor, show this
transition, retaining in part Mycenean forms like the stirrup
vase, and Mycenean ornaments like the spiral, but being in
fact an insignificant ware, of bad workmanship and meagre
decoration. More interesting is the survival of Mycenean
traditions in Crete, the home of the Minoan style, and in the
Argolid, the chief seat of late Mycenean civilization :
certain vase-shapes, hatched triangles, concentric circles
and semi-circles on the shoulder are retained from the old
style.

From these and other Mycenean reminiscences the
unfolding of the new style cannot be explained any more
than by a revival of pre-Mycenean Geometric styles. We
must rather bring in, to explain the phenomenon, those
movements of peoples, the driving out of southern
Mycenean civilization by races advancing from the North,
and the new mixture of blood, which strengthened and
made dominant the northern European element. Though
the Dorians did not develop the style as conspicuously as
other tribes, there arose out of the ferment caused by their
appearance on the scene the new creative vigour, the
Greek element proper, which, out of the frozen traditions
of the mainland and the lifeless relics of Mycenean art
created a new style and a firm basis for a fine development.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

The Geometric style makes a virtue of the necessities of
rude beginnings ; out of the simple decorative material at
its disposal, it creates a rich system. Angular patterns,
rows of dots, strokes, ' fish-bones,' zig-zags, crosses, stars,
hooked crosses, triangles, rhombi, hook maeanders,
maeanders broken up in different ways, maeander systems,
chequers, net patterns are most common ; alongside of them
are circles and rosettes neatly made with the compass.
The wavy line, which like the snake edged with dots
perhaps comes from Mycenean polyps, takes a second
place ; all other free ornamentation is eschewed ; the place
of continuous spirals is taken by circles connected by
tangents. Thus the ornamentation appears to be steeped
in mathematics, and the same is the case with the representa-
tion of living beings. Man and animal alike appear in
stylized silhouettes, which bring the various parts of the
body into the simplest possible scheme, and set them off
sharply against one another. Thus the human breast
appears as an inverted triangle and is shown frontally, but
the legs and head are in profile. The head, which is only
emancipated from the silhouette style in the succeeding
period, already often has a space reserved in it to indicate
the eye. As a rule the human body is represented naked,
while towards the end of the period, the instances of cloth-
ing, especially of women, become more numerous. There
has been division of opinion as to whether this nudity
reproduces actual life. That is certainly not the case.
" This is the nudity of the primitive artist, of the abstract
linear style. It is not man as he actually is, but the concept
* man * which is to be rendered, and clothes are no part of
this concept." (Furtwangler). These oldest Greek repre-
sentations of man are not, properly speaking, reproductions
of nature, but a kind of mathematical formulae, which
gradually in the course of centuries of fresh observation of

Fig. 18 ATTIC GEOMETRIC AMPHORA (DITYLON CLASS)

Fig. 19.
(.FO.MI' IRIC AMI'llORA, PROH-VBLV A ITIC (I^LACK DIPVLON CLASS).

PLATE X.

THE GEOMETRIC STYLE

nature become richer, corporeal, living, spiritual. Animal
representation begins also in the same formulistic manner.
The choice is in contrast with the Minoan animal world :
there is complete absence of the Oriental animal world of
fancy ; we only see the Northern fauna ; horses, roes, goats,
storks, geese. The animals stand upright, graze, or rest
with neck turned round. The technique is always that of
the pure silhouette ; only the birds often, as in the pre-
Mycenean and late Mycenean styles (Figs. 4 and 15), show
hatched or cross-hatched inner drawing of the body.

These geometric ornaments and abstract silhouettes of
men and animals form the complete stock out of which the
artist of the period provides for the decoration of his vases.
With them he fills the bands into which he loves to divide
the vase (Fgi. 18) ; or at all events the shoulder or handle
band, constructively the most important, in which case he
covers the lower part of the vase with black (Fig. 19) or
with parallel rings (Fig. 23). The bands, the breadth of
which is varied, are filled in two ways. Either we have
continuous ornaments, and processions of animals, chorus
dancers, warriors, chariots and horses, which in this style
are essentially nothing but ornament ; or he divides the
bands, and particularly the handle bands (Fig. 19)
vertically into rectangular fields, metopes as they are called.
The metope naturally takes a different scheme of filling the
space from the band ; if the latter prefers a continuous
series, the former requires ornaments complete in them-
selves, like circles and rosettes, or in the case of figures, the
antithetical group, the heraldic opposition of two different
fields of figures, or of two figures in the same field. The
figures connected by compulsion of space are then more
closely united by a central motive, and there arise orna-
mental compositions not at all drawn from actual life, e.g.
two birds both holding in their beaks a fish or a snake, two

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

horses with crossed fore-legs, rearing towards each other,
tied to a tripod, or held by a man with a bridle, two roes
with raised fore-legs leaning against a tree. Band and
metope with their compulsory schematism no longer suffice
for the growing need of representation : in the large vases
the chief band is often made very high, or in the upper part
of the vase a rectangle adorned with ornament or figures is
left out from the surrounding black : thus arises the vase
with special field for subjects.

Legend, which in this period found its brilliant expres-
sion in the Epics of Homer and Hesiod, is still very much in
the background in these vase-paintings. Centaurs only
begin to be represented on late Geometric vases. Scenes
such as the embarkation on the bowl from Thebes (Fig. 21)
cannot be interpreted otherwise than mythically, as the
rape of Helen by Paris or of Ariadne by Theseus, since on
Geometric bronze fibula from Boeotia it is certain that
legendary scenes are intended. The battle scenes too, with
their duellists surrounded by spectators and their fights on
a large scale by land and sea, must be inspired by the Heroic
Saga. But far more numerous are the scenes of daily life,
which are connected with the sepulchral purpose of the
vases. We see the dead man lying on the bed of state,
covered with a big cloth ; men, women, and children, with
arms raised to their heads in token of grief, are standing, sit-
ting and kneeling around him ; we see the bier placed on the
hearse, and amid loud lamentation of the populace driven
to the cemetery, while, in honour of the deceased, chariot-
races and mimic battles are represented and dances are
performed to the sound of flutes and lyres.

As the human form is rendered without any feeling for
bodily shape, so all the representations are without any
spatial sense. Chariot floors and table surfaces are not
fore-shortened, the breast of the dead man lying on the bier

Fiu 20. IPlMiR HALF OF A DIPVLOX C.R WK-VASE.

Fig. 21. ' THE RAPE OF HELEN,' ON A HOWL FROM THEBES.

PLATE XL

THE GEOMETRIC STYLE

is represented in front view, the covering of the corpse is
visible in its complete extent, as if it hung down upon it ; in
the case of pairs of horses the off horse is simply moved
forward and represented smaller; masses of men are
rendered by files of similar figures ; figures to be thought of
as in the background, e.g. the hinder rows in the Helen
bowl (Fig. 21) are placed high up. The space, which con-
tains the figures, is an ideal tectonic space, the surface of the
vase to be adorned. Where the figures do not sufifice to fill
this space, the Geometric artist regards it as a gap in the
decoration of the vase and fills the void with dots, rows of
zig-zags, hooked crosses, rosettes with a central point, and
actually paints birds or fishes between the legs of horses or
between the chariot and the bier which rests upon it
(Fig. 20).

This even covering of the surface gives the vases of this
period a carpet-like appearance, and this textile impression
is strengthened by the geometry of the ornamentation, by
the angular stylization of the living beings, by the decora-
tive schemes and the division into bands. But on this
account to derive the whole style from the imitation of
works of the loom would be a mistake ; the stylistic limita-
tions of the style cannot be identified straight off with the
technical limitation of weaving. As in all primitive civiliza-
tions so in the formation of the Geometric vase style, simple
linear patterns may have been taken over from weaving
and plaiting : but this is not the case with circles and
rosettes, and anyhow such a consistent and systematic per-
fection as that of the Geometric vase style is inconceivable
as an imitation of a foreign technique.

Greek ceramic art never completely lost this * textile '
character, and never quite renounced the Geometric
school through which it passed, though by centuries of
labour it freed itself from the defects and crudities of that

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

school. Vase-figures long exhibit their origin out of the
ornamental silhouette ; the decorative schemes of arrange-
ment in rows and of antithetic groups are always breaking
out afresh ; the principle of using up the space is applied
superficially for some time and only gradually refined ; the
decoration in bands subsists for a long time beside the vases
with a pictorial field, and remains of it exist till late ; the
disinclination for deepening the field, based on a correct
structural feeling, goes through the whole history of Greek
vases and keeps the ornamental figure world of the vases
always at a distance from the much less constrained world
of free painting.

The Geometric vases have not merely a historical mean-
ing, but a value of their own. They are not a preliminary
stage, but something complete. In them Greek art in true
Greek fashion worked out a thought ; expressed itself for
the first time in a classical way, if the phrase may be used ;
out of a clumsy rustic style with poor ornamentation
developed vases of technical perfection, compact and clear
in form, consistently thought out in the decoration now
lavishly, now sparingly spread over them, in their austere
beauty true children of the Greek genius.

But this style did not put out everywhere equally fine
flowers. It was not, like the late Mycenean, an ' imperial '
style, but, from the first— and this is significant for Greek
art — differentiated and conditioned by locality ; each
region had its own manufacture of vases, and its own
Geometric style. Already the lead is taken by that place,
which later was to drive out of the field all competitors, viz.,
Athens. The Dipylon vases — the name usually given to
Attic Geometric vases from the fact that most of them were
found in the cemetery before the Dipylon Gate,— rise in
form, technique and decoration to the greatest perfection
and highest richness. In the magnificent amphora, as

THE GEOMETRIC STYLE

much as two metres in height, which are worthy of their
monumental use as tomb decoration, the Geometric style
perhaps reaches its culmination ; in the so-called black
Dipylon vases, often only sparingly decorated on the
shoulder or neck and otherwise covered black, we get
already an effect of colour which became popular much
later ; the stock of forms is ampler, the maeander more
developed, the delight in telling a story and in representing
a scene greater than in other Geometric styles. Beside the
Dipylon there is a second site in Attica, Eleusis, though not
80 important ; Boeotia too must be mentioned, the pottery
of which makes a provincial impression, and is dependent
in forms, patterns and subjects on Attica and the Aegean
islands, as also that of the neighbouring Eretria in Euboea.

The prototypes of the big Boeotian and Eretrian
amphorae with high stem and broad neck have been found
particularly in Delos and Rheneia, richly ornamented vases
* de luxe,' in which the painting is laid on a white slip. In
the same place, where the cult of Apollo had a great attrac-
tion, several other Geometric classes were also found,
among them the precursors of the art which flourished in
the 7th century and which is usually ascribed to the island
of Melos. On the Delian vases horses and human repre-
sentations occur, but generally in this class there is a
disinclination to represent figures. The same disinclination
and the frequent use of a light slip characterize the pottery
of the Dorian island of Thera, which developed a very
definite though sober and monotonous Geometric style that
seems to have obstinately persisted till well into the 7th
century. The rich finds of other classes bear witness to an
active trade with the mainland, other Cyclades, and the
Ionic East, the pottery of which has many points of contact
with the Cycladic. We know it from Miletus and other
places on the Asiatic coast, but above all from the island of

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Rhodes. The Rhodian Geometric vases are distinguished
from the Cycladic by the absence of the light slip, and seem
in spite of many points of contact never to have reached the
same level. An isolated vegetable ornament, the so-called
palm-tree, points to relations with Cyprus. Cross-
hatched rhombi and birds are very much in vogue ; they
appear also in loose arrangement on the ' Bird kylikes,'
which in post-Geometric times extended from Rhodes over
the Ionian region and so made their way to the Greek main-
land, Italy and Sicily.

The most important Peloponnesian manufactures are :
(1) that of Sparta, which now to some extent adopts the
white slip later predominant ; (2) that of Argos, which soon
discards its Mycenean reminiscences and develops on
parallel lines with the Attic ware without attaining to the
heights and richness of the Dipylon vases ; (3) above all, the
so-called Protocorinthian.

This Geometric style, which next to the Attic had the
greatest future before it, seems to be at home in the
Northern Argolid (p. 34). Its early Geometric beginnings
we do not know. It is akin to its Argive neighbour in many
points, in the scantiness of its stock of forms, in shapes like
the metallic krater with a stirrup-handle. Unfortunately
little has been left to us of the large-sized vases, kraters,
cauldrons, amphorte and jugs. The two-handled cup
(Fig. 23), the round box, the globular oil-flask, the deep
drinking-cup, the jug with flat bottom (Fig. 33) are the
favourite smaller shapes. The limitation of the decoration
to the upper margin, and the decoration of the rest with
parallel stripes is characteristic. This ware was more
exported than any other Geometric class ; it entered the
southern Argolid, went by way of Corinth and Eleusis to
Boeotia and Delphi, and was exported to Aegina and
Thera, Italy and Sicily. On Italian soil, in the Euboean

Fig. 22. RHODLAN GEOMETRIC JUG.

Eig-. 23. PROTOCORINTHIAN GEOMETRIC SKYPHOS.
PLATE XII.

THE GEOMETRIC STYLE

colony of Kyme, it certainly founded a branch factory,
which quickly took on a local character and exported in its
turn ; but in various other places also the style evoked local
imitations.

The Protocorinthian style owed its brilliant future both
to the Geometric foundation, and, as will appear, to the
strong influence of Cretan Art. In Crete, after the settle-
ment of the Dorians in the island, no definite Geometric
style was formed : the Mycenean traditions were too strong
and the relations with the East too close. After the purely
Geometric vases, among which wide-bellied amphorse
without a neck are common, there soon appear vases show-
ing Cyprian influence, particularly small jugs with concen-
tric circles on the body (precursors of Fig. 27) ; thus a
pitcher from Kavusi, which by an exception has figures on
it (a charioteer and mourning women in a metope-like
arrangement) is apparently, in shape as well as in the orna-
ment which consists of a row of * S's ' on their backs and the
un-Geometric drawing of its silhouettes, dependent on simi-
lar Cyprian models.

Crete with its loosely-rooted Geometric style took up
the new elements more freely than other localities, where at
first they are placed side by side with the native ones, like
the palm-tree on Rhodian vases, the Cyprian circles on
Attic and Protocorinthian jugs, the precursors of the
tongue pattern on Attic and Theran vases, the unsystematic
rays on Attic and Protocorinthian ware, the running spiral
probably borrowed from metal work on Protocorinthian
and Theran vases. Moreover, figured representations from
an alien world of ideas creep into the fixed Geometric
systems, as for instance the two lions devouring a man on a
Dipylon vase, the goddess flanked by two animals on a
Boeotian amphora, the fabulous creatures on Rhodian vases.

These foreign elements, which have their root in

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Oriental art, are the harbingers of a complete revolution,
and in them is heralded the end of the Geometric style. It
is obvious that a decorative style like the Geometric could
have no future : its possibilities were quickly exhausted,
even where the style was most richly developed. Its dis-
solution would have come, even if superior civilization with
richer methods of decoration had not been in close contact
of trade and intercourse with this early Greek world, and
exercised on it a persistent influence. The Cretans and
Eastern Greeks lived in the immediate neighbourhood of
Egypt and Asia, the islands and the mainland were united
to the East by active trade relations. In particular
Phoenician merchants, while the Geometric style was
flourishing, handed on to the Greeks the products of
Oriental art, as both the Epic and the finds testify. Nor
did the Greeks remain at home either, but had long
become a seafaring people ; Attic, Boeotian and Proto-
corinthian painters proudly place representations of ships
on Geometric vases ; the statistics of the finds of the various
Geometric wares show a constantly growing trade inter-
course. Colonisation too has already begun, and is ever
expanding ; according to the earliest vase finds Syracuse,
Kyme, and perhaps also Massilia and the Black Sea coast
received settlers, while their mother-cities still had
Geometric pottery. Since Syracuse was founded in the
second half of the 8th century and its oldest graves contain
late Geometric vases, we obtain an approximate date for
the end of the Geometric style.

The objects of Oriental Art, which were brought before
the eyes of the Greeks by this active intercourse, powerfully
stimulated their fancy. The crowd of decorative motives
from vegetation, the world of fantastic animals, and the
superiority of Oriental Art in the rendering of life, drew
Greek vase-painting out of Geometric uniformity and
pointed it to new paths.

Fig. 24. ATTIC GEOMETRIC KYLIX.

Figs. 25 & 26. CRETAN JLGS I\ THE FIRST ORIENTALKSEH STYLE.

PLATE XIII.

CHAPTER III.
THE SEVENTH CENTURY

AS the Oriental motives pour into the Greek world, a
new development begins, which in the details of its
course is still hard to grasp, the collision of the native
Geometric style with Oriental influence, the fusion of both
elements into a new unity, and the growth of the archaic
style. In contrast with the quiet and consistent unfolding
of Geometric style, the process to anyone who goes deep
into its details takes on the character of a restless fermenta-
tion, and an almost dramatic tension. It occupies, roughly
speaking, the 7th century. Without forgetting how arbi-
trary divisions in the history of Art must always be, let us
here treat as one the period from the end of the Geometric
style to the abandonment of filling ornament, the change in
technique of clay and colouring, and the formation of the
established body of black-figured types.

The smelting process took on a different character in
the different regions, according to the tenacity with which
the old style was retained, and the intensity of the contact
with the East. In most places there follows first a period of
hesitation and experimentalism, out of which finally the
new style is formed. Nowhere does the Oriental element
simply take the place of the Greek Geometric ; the acquisi-
tions of the old style, the fixed vase shapes, the principles of
decoration, and the technique, remain and are further
developed. Greek pottery was much too highly and richly
developed, too firmly rooted, to find it necessary to

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

imitate Oriental clay vases. The stimuli were of much
more general nature ; they are chiefly visible in the orna-
mentation and pictorial types, they are taken from metal
vases and richly embroidered materials, from costly
carpets, articles of jewellery, engraved gems, and other fine
things, which the foreign trader or the seafaring Greek
brought from the Near or Far East or saw with his own eyes
abroad. It became apparent to him, that the Geometric
style was really poverty-stricken and mathematical. The
feeling for finely-drawn line and vivid reproduction of life
awoke in view of the freer Art of the East ; the Greek made
the Oriental models his own and created out of them and
the mathematical element a new Art. Not all stimuli come
direct from the East ; perhaps only comparatively few, which
were then passed on, were constantly altered and took on
varied local colour. It looks as if the stream of Oriental
influence took two different routes, one by way of the Greek
East (Rhodes, Samos, Miletus) and another by way of
Crete, which evidently had a strong influence on the
Cyclades and Peloponnesus.

In Crete Phoenician metal objects have been found,
which were imported during the Geometric period, and the
Cretan Geometric pottery soon takes up motives of decora-
tion borrowed from the Oriental or Orientalizing metal
industry. The row of 'S's,' which plays a part in Geo-
metric bronzes, appears as we have seen on the Kavusi jug
(p. 27). Its climax is the cable pattern (guilloche), which is
obviously borrowed from Phoenician metal vessels (Fig. 26).
The tongue pattern (Figs. 25-27) which surrounds the lower
part and the shoulder of the vases, like the rays similarly
used (Figs. 31-35), goes back ultimately to Egyptian plant
calyces. The connection with bronze patterns is fully
proved by the dots often placed on the ornaments, by the
technique of adding white on black painted vases (Fig. 29)

Fig. 27. CRETAN MINIATURE JUG.

Fig. 28. THE FLIGHT FROM THE CAVE OF POLYPHEMUS,
FROM A JUG FROM ^GINA.

PLATE XIV.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

which aims at a metallic effect, and by the change of the
vase shapes. These often get a quite non-ceramic appear-
ance (Fig. 25), and in their rounding and contouring,
especially by the emphasis on the foot (Figs. 25 and 27),
they are in contrast with the Geometric forms. The
Praisos jug (Fig. 26) is obviously under Cypriot influence,
as is the delicate Berlin jug (Fig. 27), in which a previously
described class (p. 27) reaches its high water mark. The
Praisos pitcher (Fig. 25) to the Orientalizing patterns
enumerated already adds the hook spirals, which are
characteristic of the 7th century, and the Berlin jug adds
also the volute and the palmette. The plastic head which
crowns this little bottle, and is entirely inspired by the
Egypto-Phoenician ideas of form, inaugurates a new era in
the representation of man. We are now in the time when
Greek sculpture was born, in that notable period when
Greek art under the influence of Oriental art took to the
chisel, to enter on a century of development which ended
in giving shape to the loftiest and most delicate creations
that can move the spirit of man. It is noteworthy that
Greek tradition embodied the beginnings of this develop-
ment in a Cretan, Daedalus, and to a kinsman of this
ancestor of all Greek sculptors it traced back the invention
of the great art of painting, without the influence of which
we cannot conceive of vase-paintings henceforward.

The first period of the transitional style betrays little of
this influence. The reproduction of living beings is
dominated by the decorative figures of the East, especially
monsters and fabulous beings, which now make their entry
into Greek art, and exercise a powerful attraction not only
on plastic art, but on poetic and mythopoeic fancy. Thus
the Geometric silhouette is superseded. If even the pre-
ceding age had felt the need of leaving void a hole to
indicate the eye, now the head is completely rendered by

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

an outline and made lifelike by interior drawing (Fig. 30).
The next stage is that the whole body also is rendered in
contour. To make the transition plain, we show here a
vase-fragment, the Cretan origin of which is not established,
but which must be in close connection with Cretan art, the
Ram jug from Aegina (Fig. 28). The animal frieze, with
its hook spirals, dot rosettes, rhombi and triangles to fill
the space, is characteristic of older Oriental art ; the
drawing of the rams is far beyond Geometric technique ; in
the body too the silhouette is given up, and indication of the
hide is attempted. This animal frieze is no longer an end
in itself : by the men clinging to them the ornamental rams
become mythical rams, the rams of the Odyssey. The
fugitives are not very closely connected with their saviours,
and the giant must have been more than blind not to notice
them. But on the other hand the artist has drawn them
very clearly, has put both arms and both legs in view of the
spectator, and even, where a small detail would not other-
wise have shown well, made a small nick in the belly of the
ram. This shows how the artist of the period could with
difficulty do without a clear outline.

These attempts are perfected in the outlined figure of a
plate from Praisos, which is certainly Cretan (Fig. 29).
The childishly disproportioned structure has now become a
clear organism of genuine Greek stamp, full of excellent
observation of nature; the ornamentally constrained
picture becomes now a free version of a legend, which
however cannot be interpreted with certainty, till the white
object under the sea-monster has been explained. It is
most likely that we may see in it the foot of a female figure
filling the left half of the plate, perhaps Thetis, who escapes
from the attacks of Peleus by changing into a fish. The
interior incised lines in the body of the sea-monster are a
novelty, which the ceramic art has developed indepen-

Fig. 29. HERAKLES .AND SE/\-MO\STER (?) FROM A CRETAN PLATE.

Fig. 30. AR(iI\E KRATER WITH THE SIGNATURE OF ARI.STONOTHOS

SEVENTH CENTURY.

PLATE XV,

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

dently (p. 37). But on the other hand the advance in
drawing and the technical rendering of form, the outline of
Peleus, the light colour of the woman, the reddish brown
tint of the rider on the reverse, cannot be explained apart
from the influence of free painting, whose oldest stages are
stated to have been outlining with progressive drawing of
interior details, monochromy {i.e. outline drawing with a
filling of colour) and distinction of sex by colour. After an
interval of several centuries wall-painting must have sprung
up again and flourished in Crete, different to be sure in
essentials from the Minoan, rather influenced by the East
like the decorative art of the time. In spite of the tendency
to represent painting as ' invented ' in Greece, Greek
tradition reluctantly admits that this art was indigenous and
highly developed in Egypt long before.

The bloom of Cretan art seems not to have outlasted the
7th century. Finds give out, and tradition expressly testi-
fies to the migration of Cretan sculptors to the Argolid, a
district which also took over the inheritance of Cretan vase
painting.

Of the two chief centres of Argive Geometric vase
fabrication, one which is to be sought in the region
of Argos and Tiryns cannot be followed out very clearly.
The oldest Greek vase signed by an artist, the krater of the
potter Aristonothos with the blinding of Polyphemus (Fig.
30), seems from the shape of the vase to belong to this class.
The complicated shape of the circle of rays, the breaking
up of the head silhouette, the juxtaposition of the traditional
sea-fight with the legendary scene, are typical of the early
Orientalizing period ; certain parallels with the late
Mycenean Warrior vase (p. 15) perhaps justify the conclu-
sion, that remains of the old wall-painting had an influence
on the style. Like the Aristonothos vase, some stirrup-
handled kraters with metope decorations continue Argive

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Geometric traditions. These vases, however, are exclu-
sively found in the West (Syracuse) and were probably
made there ; they do not give faithful reflection of their
Argive prototypes. A krater with tall foot and ornamenta-
tion in bands, found at the Argive Heraion, representing
the rescue of Deianeira, with plentiful use of 'monochromy,'
is too isolated to make a picture of this Orientalizing pottery
possible.

It cannot have played a leading part, but must soon
have been put in the shade by its near neighbour and rival.
For that the so-called Protocorinthian fabrication is also at
home in the Argolid is proved by the fact that the chief
places, where the ware is found, are Argos and Aegina, and
that quantities of small and hardly exportable ware are
found at various places in the district. The alphabet of
the inscriptions agrees with this locality, and so does the
style, which leads up to the Corinthian, whence the name
has been given, as well as the fact that the great
trading-centre of Corinth looked after the sale of
the wares ; for the area in which they were sold
is identical with that of the Corinthian vases. On
account of these close relations with Corinth, the home of
the Protocorinthian vases has been sought with great proba-
bility in the neighbouring town of Sicyon, of which we are
told that it was the place to which Cretan artists migrated,
that it was the birthplace of Greek painting and seat of a
flourishing metal industry, so that we are able to
account for three ingredients of the new style. For the
Protocorinthian style of the 7th century gave the most deli-
cate development of Cretan ' Daedalic ' types, particularly
near its end ; fixed a clear style of figure representation and
an ample store of types, and developed its vase-shapes,
system of decoration and technique, under the influence of
metal patterns, more severely, precisely and richly than any

Fig. 31.

Fia- 32.

rROTOCORINTHIAN LEKVTHOI WITH B.\TTLE-SCENE AND
SLAUGHTER OF THE CENTAURS.

Fig. 33.

PROTOCORINTHIAN JUG OF POST-GEOMETRIC STYLE FROM ^GINA.
EARLY SEVENTH CENTURY.

PLATE XVI.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

other contemporary centre of fabrication. In it the vase
history of the post-Geometric century culminates.

Even in the Geometric period which preceded it (p. 26)
(the sparing ornamentation of which is in contrast
with the Dipylon pottery and its greater delight in
using the brush) metallic influence can be traced ;
the simple running spiral certainly comes from in-
cised bronzes. The delicate two-handled cups closely
connected with the Geometric style (Fig. 23), with
their well-cleansed clay, improved glaze colour baked black
to red, and the reduction of the walls almost to the thinness
of paper, can only have been produced in competition with
the metal industry ; and as a matter of fact delicate silver
vases of the same shape have been found along with the clay
copies of them in Etruscan graves. The lower part of the
cups is at first painted black, but soon it is surrounded
with the circle of rays, which according to the ideas of the
new period emphasizes and makes clear the tectonic
character of that part of the vase. This motive also
appears in the Geometric decoration of the flat-bottomed
jugs (Fig. 33), the unguent pots which show Cyprian
influence in their oldest globular shape, the kylikes, round
boxes and other shapes, though not always in the typical
place, and often also combined with other ornaments (Figs.
30 and 32). In spite of its Geometrical treatment and its
truly Greek close combination with the system of decora-
tion, it does not disown the impulse it owes to Oriental
patterns (p. 30). The Protocorinthian style also introduced
its doubling (Fig. 32), which still survives in the 6th century
(Fig. 98). The cable pattern, borrowed as has been shown
from Oriental metal-work, drives out the * S's ' and the
running spiral. As a handle ornament it gets a rich enlarge-
ment (Fig. 32), the fine stylization of which, no doubt, was
first produced in metal industry. Of the greatest import-

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

ance is the adoption of loops, volutes, running tendrils and
friezes of arcs, which in combination with the palmette
appear on the wall of the vase or as an upper stripe, and
from simple, often loosely stylized beginnings, expand with
the help of the lotus-flower into a fine loop and flower
ornament (' Rankengeschling '), as in Figs. 31, 32, 35.
That this ornamentation, in spite of its rigid stylization, was
felt by the Greeks to belong to the living vegetable world, is
shown e.g. by the volute-complex, behind which the hunter
(on the lowest stripe of Fig. 31) waits to catch the hare, as
well as behind the naturally drawn bush (on Fig. 36) ; this
shows that the ' volute tree ' (Fig. 34) flanked by two
sphinxes, is thought of as a real tree. On the other hand
the ornaments in the field are quite as meaningless as in the
older style : to those used by Geometric artists are now
added the hook spiral, and the rosette treated as a dotted
star, two ornaments we have seen already on the Ram jug
(Fig. 28) ; at first they are independent and can be used to
form friezes, later they become less and less prominent
(Figs. 32 and 34, cp. also Fig. 28). Two further decorative
motives lead us back into the region of metal-work, the
scale-pattern extending over the whole body of the vase
(Fig. 38), which so often occurs in incised metal-work, and
the tongue ornament, the typical decoration of bronze
vessels, which on clay vases as well often rises over the foot
in place of the kindred rays, but most commonly finishes
the shoulder where it meets the neck. Both motives have
already been met with in Crete, as applied on a black
ground. The black ground technique of the Praisos jug
(Fig. 26) is very popular with Protocorinthian artists, goes
alongside of the clay-ground vases for the whole period, and
supplies richly coloured examples decorated with figures
and ornaments of fine effect, particularly in combination
with a new technique, which appears in the advanced style,

Fig. 34. BELLEROPHON AND THE CHIM.\ER.\ FROM A PROTO-
CORINTHIAN LEKYTHOS.

Fig. 35. PROTOCORINTHIAN JUG, KNOWN AS THE CHIGI VASE.

PLATE XVH.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY
being specially typical of scale and tongue ornamentation
that of mcsion. It is perhaps idle to inquire into its inven-
tion : ,t IS more important to establish the fact, that it was
first consistently and systematically applied to the black-
ground vessels of the Protocorinthian artists, who were also
famed for metal-work, and gave a new stamp to the style at
a time when the East used simple brush technique almost
exclusively. The incised line is always combined with the
addition of coloured and particularly red details

The technical advance, which in some measure
replaced the influence of the rising art of painting by that
of metal-working, is shown more plainly in the figured
representations, particularly the friezes of animals, which
the vase-painters, inspired by Oriental metal ware and
embroideries, with ever greater zest employ on their vases
Bes.de the birds stags and roes, beside the dogs pursuing
liares, with which a lower stripe could be easily filled come
new animals, for which they are chiefly indebted to Oriemal
art bull, goat, bear, ram, wild-goat, lion and panther
sphinx, siren, griffin, and other hybrids. These creatures
appear m quite definite types, which admit of little variety •
It IS characteristic that the panther's head is drawn in front
view perhaps through an abbreviation of a heraldic double
panther; and this rule is devoutly observed through the
whole period of decoration with animal friezes. An indica
tion of this IS that the decorative animals never become pure
outlines like the human figures, but after a period of partial
silhouette (p. 31), return to the complete silhouette, as
satisfying better the requirements of decoration This
return became possible through the use of the incised line
by the help of which interior drawing could be added on a
black ground, and the effect of the figures was further
enhanced by the addition of details in red This is an
important innovation in the history of Greek vase-painting
* 37

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

The general effect of the vase is completely altered by the
decorative play of colour, which extends also to the orna-
mentation, and takes on that gay many-coloured aspect
which is so characteristic of the older archaic period, and
which is only dropped late in the 6th century. The new
colour system does not aim at realism ; it makes prominent
for decorative purposes single parts of the animal body,
especially the neck and belly.

The drawing of the human figure proceeds on other lines
than that of animals. In consequence of the new develop-
ment of the art of painting (p. 33), it makes a fresh start.
First we have the vase of Aristonothos (Fig. 30) ; the next
stage is represented by the Ram vase (Fig. 28) ; the desire
of distinguishing the lighter skin of women from that of men
leads to the tinting in brown of the male body. But in the
formation of the figure types certainly it was not only
painting that stood godmother, the metal worker's art must
also have asserted its influence ; the kinship with Cretan
and Argive flat bronze reliefs and metal engraved work is
too great, the sharp clear-cut types too much in the spirit of
bronze technique, for it to be possible to postulate an mde-
pendent development. To this corresponds the fact that
the outlines of the figures are accompanied by incised lines
on polychrome vases with black ground, on the finest of the
later lekythoi (oil-flasks) and on the Chigi ]ug (Fig. 35)^
This technique is repeated on the big two-handled cups with
finely stylised figured representations, which finally accom-
plish an important advance already foreshadowed by small
and hasty specimens : the dark silhouette with incised inte-
rior detail, prevalent in the style of the animal friezes, and
along with it certain details like the circular rendering of the
eye are taken over for the representation of male figures.

This adoption, which only takes place at the end of the
development, and makes the Protocorinthian style the

'/,

PLATE XVlll

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

starting point of black-figured vase painting, does not unite
heterogeneous elements. For man and decorative animal
are equivalent in their juxtaposition, and beside the free
mythological scenes there is a series of representations,
which seems to have grown straight out of the animal frieze.
The Centaur, the old Greek forest monster, joins the
animals ; winged demons in the remarkable scheme of
running with bent knee (pointing to the metope
treatment) are also placed amongst them ; kneeling
archers shoot arrows at them, hunters and combat-
ants pursue them, Bellerophon rides on Pegasus
against the Chimaera, Herakles fights against the
Centaurs. Purely human scenes, like the favourite Duel
(Fig. 43), are simply flanked by animals. The addition of
figures in rows and overlapping makes this simple combat
into a battle ; wounded fall, corpses are hotly fought over,
auxiliaries hurry up. The artist always in these cases gives
prominence to the finely decorated shields, the pride of
Argive metal industry. Like the rows of fighting men, the
other frieze-like compositions, the processions of riders and
chariot-races, the hunting scenes and chase of the hare,
thanks to charming observation of detail, make a direct
appeal which is strange for such early art. The bushes in
the hare-hunt of the Chigi jug (Fig. 36) show the awakening
of the landscape element, which to be sure is always a rarity
on vases and must have played a larger part in free painting.
Moreover, the varying colouring of the animals on the stripe
in question, which appears also on a frieze of riders (Fig. 31)
and continues in Corinthian painting, must come from the
same source, whereas the bold front view of the Sphinx head
(Fig. 37) like that of the panther head and the Corinthian
quadriga, was attempted for the first time in an ornamental
band. Hand in hand with the enlivening of the friezes
goes the suppression of field ornamentation : it is only

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

sparingly applied, limited to the animal friezes or entirely-
absent. At times a lizard (Fig. 34), a swan or a monkey-
comes into the figured scenes.

Of course this is all devoid of meaning ; for in spite of
all progress and freer treatment the style is merely con-
cerned with the decoration of a surface ; ' exigencies of
space ' are its supreme law. These control the type of the
human figure, for even where it is not essentially an orna-
mental scheme, like the runner with bent knee, it fills from
top to bottom the stripe assigned to it, extends its breast
frontally, and reaches out its arms, as if it were yearning for
a frame. And as the body avoids all perspective, so the
head in profile shows its most expressive part, the eye
surmounted by the brow, in full extent, and renders the long
hair falling down over the neck as smooth surface, and the
curly forehead hair as spiral. There is no rendering of folds
to show depth in the drapery, which now the artist in true
Greek fashion treats in an abstract way, unlike reality. The
human figure remains a type, a homogeneous constituent
part of the stripes, which are entirely designed for filling
space. It matters little, if between chariot-race and lion-
hunt on the Chigi jug (Fig. 37) a double Sphinx is inserted
as central motive, or Bellerophon lays the Chimaera low in
presence of two Sphinxes (Fig. 34) ; if close to the lion-
hunt in the same stripe, Hermes leads the three goddesses
before the fair Trojan shepherd, and if the names of the
personages are entered in the field with big letters as a kind
of ornamentation by way of filling : the incipient delight
in telling a story is taken at once into the service of filling
the field.

As the human figure still appears almost completely on
a par with the ornamental animal figure, so there is little
trace of any superior weight being attached to the scenic
representations in the decorative system. Where the

Fij;. 38. PROTOCORINTHIAN OR CORINTHIAN JUG.

Fig. 39. Fig. 40.

CORINTHIAN ALABASTRON AND ARYBALLOS.

PLATE XIX.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

painter employs them, it is true he puts at their disposal the
chief frieze and often one at the base in addition, but he
frames them with prominent stripes of ornament or animals,
and side by side with the narrative vases purely decorative
ones are still produced. The presence of several animal
friezes on a single vase (e.g. on jugs of the shape of Fig. 35)
is not uncommon ; like band ornamentation in general, it is
in contrast with the practice of the Geometric period (p. 25)
and is probably to be traced to a strong influence of Oriental
textile art. For the most severely shaped black vases,
which are nearest to the bronze models that we possess
(Fig. 38), do not always adopt this fundamentally non-
tectonic breaking up of the body of the vase.

The close connection of the shapes with metal-work has
been already proved in the case of the cups of early
Orientalizing style (Fig. 23), and goes through the whole
history of the fabric, and even where the models were not
immediately copied, gave the vase-shapes a clearness and
precision, with which the products of no other manufactory
can compete ; the Sicyonian-Corinthian school of repousse
work perhaps originated many metal vase-shapes, which
were afterwards used in various manufactories. Though
the Protocorinthian list of shapes is only known to a small
extent, an important change can be established. Beside
the jugs of primitive construction (cp. Fig. 33 with Fig. 54)
appear later more rounded vessels, the jug with * rotelle '
(Fig. 38) and the wineskin-shaped, the chief example of
which (Fig. 35) with its excellently decorated bands, some-
times black, sometimes in the ground of the clay, shows us
the style in a richer and more developed form than any
other vase of this fabric. In the same way the little ' leky-
thoi ' which are technically often quite exquisite, change
their appearance, exchange their old globular shape (Fig.
27) for a slimmer one with pronounced shoulder, which the

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

caprice of the potter often furnishes with plastic additions,
Argive transformations of Cretan * Daedalic ' types (Figs.
27 and 31). And as beside the * rotelle" jug, we have the
wineskin-shaped jug, so beside this sort of 'lekythos' there
is a wineskin-shaped variety with a rough tongue-pattern
on the neck (Fig. 39).

The ' lekythoi ' were the chief exported article, or at
least the most favoured grave-offering of the customers
abroad. But one cannot call it the favourite shape of
Protocorinthian workmanship : it must not be forgotten
that we have only an accidental selection of this ware, due
to the discovery of two native sanctuaries (the Argive
Heraion and the Temple of Aphrodite in Aegina), and
many graves in the Argolid, Attica, and Boeotia, in the
East (Thera, Rhodes, Asia Minor) and in the West (Sicily,
Italy, Carthage). Wherever this ware came it exercised
a stimulating influence, and in many places evoked local
copies (p. 52) ; more than other districts the West was
dominated by this Art. As the oldest Etruscan wall-paint-
ings, those of the Grotta Campana at Veii and the Tomba
del Leoni at Caere, are quite under the influence of
Sicyonian-Corinthian painting, so the class called into
existence a multitude of imitations in Sicily and Italy,
particularly at Kyme.

The extraordinarily wide currency of the ware denotes
not merely its superiority, but also that of the trade-centre
which exported it. This need not necessarily have been
identical with the place of manufacture. Many signs,
especially the occurrence of the vases in quantity in the
Corinthian colony of Syracuse, point to the fact that the
great trading city of Corinth took over the sale of the ware
and gradually replaced it by its own products. The vases
localized with certainty in Corinth by their alphabet give an
immediate continuation of the Protocorinthian, and one

Fig. 41. ANIMAL FRIEZE FROM AN EARLY CORINTHIAN JLG.

Fig. 42. ANIMAL FRIEZE FROM A CORINTHIAN JUG.
PLATE XX,

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

can only ask whether this manufacture simply transferred
its chief workshops to Corinth or whether Corinth in the
closest imitation of late Protocorinthian ware developed a
new style, which thanks to the commercial capacity of the
Corinthians could drive the older competitor out of the
field : its sphere of influence, as we saw, replaces the Proto-
corinthian, nay, encroaches still further on the Ionian region
(Samos, Naukratis, Pontus).

The Corinthian style did not long retain the metallic
clearness and precision of its predecessor, neither in its
shapes, which for the most part it takes over (Figs. 35, 38,
39, 43), nor in its decoration, which exhibits the final
triumph of the ornamental style. The dark ground tech-
nique becomes rarer ; the scaly fields continue for a time,
white rosettes painted on the black neck and edge are in
favour to the end ; the indispensable tongue ornament on
the shoulder gradually comes to be rendered by the brush.
The animal-frieze vases, which are quite in the forefront of
the interest, link on to the later Protocorinthian in decora-
tion and in the style of the figures, but soon alter the types
in the sense of a broader rendering of form, and the rosettes
in the field also show this change. On the common ware,
which was turned out along with the good, one gets as a
result coarse animals and filling patterns like mere blots ;
but even technically perfect vases show a strong inclination
to overfill the field, Which one might bring into causal
connexion with the Corinthian textile art famed in antiquity,
if the vase picture repudiated the brush technique more
than it does.

The composition shows the same intrusion of a strongly
decorative element. The heraldic scheme is more pro-
minent than ever. We owe to it the invention of a new
ornament, a combination of lotus-flower and palmettes
(Fig. 39), which like the old volute-tree (Fig. 34) is flanked

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

by two animals. In particular the wineskin-shaped and
globular unguent-pots (Figs. 39 and 40) (Alabastron and
Aryballos), the successors of the Protocorinthian unguent-
pots, are decorated with it ; but even in the stripes, which
have not got the ' palmette and lotus cross,' there are
groups of three animals at a time inspired by the heraldic
scheme (Fig. 41). The list of types grows : beside the
quadrupeds appear many birds (e.g. geese, swans, eagles,
cocks and owls,) fishes and serpents ; a motley series of
hybrids, bearded sphinxes, winged lions, winged panthers,
tritons and other fabulous creatures are side by side with
the favourite winged demons, sphinxes, sirens and griffins.
The place of the central ornament is often taken by purely
human beings, especially the runner with bent knee, and
the goddess of beasts (TroVwa e/)poou) which in the
Oriental patterns are flanked by animals; but also
non-ornamental figures, women, riders, grotesque dancers
(Figs. 40 and 43) are found in this place. Thus arises a co-
ordination of man and decorative animal similar to that of
Protocorinthian art ; anyone who has followed on the vases
this process, which is characteristic of the 7th century, is
not surprised, when in the archaic Corinthian pediment at
Corfu mythological scenes appear side by side with the
Gorgon flanked by panthers, and when in the representa-
tion of the central animal the myth begins to be active.

The non-ornamental human figures in the animal com-
positions are of course not invented for this purpose, but
borrowed from other contexts, scenes of human life, which
existed beside the decorative representations and followed
the lead of the Protocorinthian precursors. They are
certainly more intimately connected with the animal
figures. The male figure (p. 38) has finally discarded the
old outline drawing with brown filling for the animal-frieze
technique, black silhouette with incised interior details.

Fig. 43. CORINTHIAN SKYPHOS.

Fis- 44. ACHILIRS AND TROILOS : FROM THE LATE CORINTHIAN
FLASK BY TIMONIDAS.

PLATE XXI.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

But at the same time the memory of monochromy is not yet
quite extinct; the head silhouette is still by preference
painted red. When often instead of it the breast and thigh
are picked out in red, when in sphinx and siren contour
drawing is abandoned, the connection with the animal-
frieze style is complete, and the new intrusion of a strong
decorative element in this pottery is obvious.

^ Even the compositions of the figured scenes are under
this decorative spell, which, as in the Protocorinthian style,
is only broken through by a few gifted masters. The duel
flanked by sirens on the Boston cup (Fig. 43) is typical of
the older Corinthian style. The warriors and riders are
often arranged in processions, collected in big battle-
scenes ; the grotesque revellers and dancers with extended
posterior, prototypes of the satyrs, fill whole friezes with
their reckless antics; the girls take hands for the dance.
Special legendary scenes are, however, very rare, and when
vase-painters like Chares supply names to an ordinary series
of riders, this makes clear rather than removes the defect.

This defect to be sure is due to a great extent to the
accidental preservation of a series of vases, which are for
the most part careless decorative work intended for the
export trade, so that we may form erroneous ideas. . The
neighbourhood of Corinth itself has supplied some fine
specimens with a marked character of their own, which
bridge the gap between the Chigi vase and later Corinthian
vase-painting (Figs. 64-67), e.g. kylikes where, in the
interior field framed by tongue pattern ornament, are fine
Gorgon masks and human busts, and especially two works
signed by the painter Timonidas. The flask with the story
of Troilos (Fig. 44) shares with the Chigi vase the contrast
of colour important for Corinthian painting. The flesh of
the women is light as a set-ofT to that of the men, the chiton
of the man sets off his nude parts, the shield its bearer, the

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

front horse the hinder of the pair. The delight in the land-
scape element, the fine steeds, and big inscriptions, points
back to Protocorinthian style. But nothing is left of the
ornaments scattered about the field but a small palmette,
the composition has become looser, there is much less
tendency to cover the surface in the drawing of the figures :
the old scheme of the kneeling runner has its echo in the
Achilles lurking in ambush, but it is ingeniously adapted to
new use. Thus there is a much freer relation to space,
which gives the necessary foundation for the descriptive
style. The hunter too, whose outline Timonidas has put on
a clay votive tablet unconstrained by the silhouette tech-
nique or by the desire for contrast of colour (Fig. 45), is not
crowded by any filling ornaments ; the finely drawn youth in
the balance of his proportions and the rendering of detail
surpasses the wrestler of the Praisos plate (Fig. 29), and in
his broad massive appearance introduces a new rendering
of the body. And similarly the dog, coloured bright yellow
with appropriate detail, goes far beyond the animal frieze
style. One fancies that in this animal eagerly looking up
to his master one sees expressed something like feeling.

Like the pinax of Timonidas many other votive tablets
of the same find take one out of the stock vase scenes,
especially in the delight in landscape, the trees conceived
of in their special natures, the cross-section like genre
scenes from the workshop of the potter and metal-worker,
from mining and sea voyages. The vases, however, show
little of those progresses in colouring and spacing, which we
must assume in greater measure for the great art of painting.
The decisive step in the history of vase painting, which is
especially embodied for us by the painter Timonidas, con-
sists in the liberation of the field, in the transition from the
ornamental to the pictorial style, in the abandonment of
filling ornamentation, which only survives in vegetable

Fig. 45. HUNTER AND HOUND. PINAX FROM CORINTH,
SIGNED BY TIMONIDAS.

Fig. 46. FRIEZE OF AN EARLY PHALERON JUG.
PLATE XXII.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

motives suitable to the occasion and scattered birds,
serpents, lizards(Figs. 34 and 66), and in the triumph of
figure-subjects over friezes of ornament or animals, which
can best be followed in the kraters (Fig. 65). With this step,
which is completed in the beginning of the 6th century, we
are brought close to the black-figured style proper, which is
differentiated by some technical innovations.

But before we pass to that, we have still to follow the
transition here described through the other fabrics of the
7th century. We can rapidly pass over Sparta, which as
yet produces no ware fit for exportation. The course here
is similar to what went on in the Argolid. Beside many
specialities one seems to notice kinship with Ionian pottery
in the small bands of squares accompanied by dots and the
branches on the edge of the kylix, in the placing of similar
animals in rows. In what close relation earlier Spartan
civilization stood to Ionia, we learn from the history of
lyric poetry.

To the three stages, earlier Protocorinthian, later Proto-
corinthian, older Corinthian, answer the three groups in
Attica named respectively after Phaleron, the Nessos vase
and Vurva. The break-up of the most definite of all
Geometric styles seems to have taken place in spite of
vehement opposition. Details of the Oriental flora and
fauna are first assimilated to the old style, and taken unob-
trusively into the Geometric system of decoration. In the
group named after the finds at Phaleron the new style with
marked Phoenician imitations gets the upper hand. To the
unsystematic reproduction and application of the new orna-
ments, now arbitrarily scattered, now ranged in special
rows, and so added to the others, succeeds a severer choice,
stylization and arrangement ; the luxuriant vegetable
character of the decoration (Fig. 46), with which birds and
insects are often combined, only lasts for a time. The same

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

experimental hesitation prevails in the figure drawing,
which does not go straight from the Geometric silhouette to
contour drawing and monochromy, but very soon experi-
ments from time to time in the incised line and added white
paint, and in the later Phaleron stage is not sparing of details
in red, e.g., for the hair and dress. The progress in the
rendering of nature happily can still be followed to some
extent in big vases. It leads to a fixed type with a loose
outline with ankles, knee-pan, and elbow rendered like
ornaments : in the head the big eye in front view dominates
at the expense of the forehead, the skull is flat, the aquiline
nose is very prominent, the ear is like a volute. Similarly
in early Greek sculpture an ornamental conception of the
outline and the details of the body is expressed, and casts a
light on the conception of ornament as something living and
not yet felt to be an abstraction from reality.

The big Phaleron vases also give evidence ^s to the
grouping of the figures, which we have not been able to get
from the Protocorinthian vases that have been preserved.
Older specimens like the Berlin amphora from Hymettos
already fill the greater part of the vase surface with the
descriptive frieze, only surrounded by narrow lines of orna-
ments and animals, and in addition the neck of the amphora
is adorned with figured scenes. Even in Geometric times
Attic pottery had already given greater scope to the narra-
tive style than other manufactures : in the Phaleron vases it
creates an important system of decoration, which is con-
tinued in the group of which the Nessos vase is the chief
representative, and prevails to the exclusion of everything
else in the 6th century.

When the later Phaleron vases re-adopt the full silhouette
in animal drawing and extend the technique of incised detail
and additions in red to human outline figures, which they
often emphasize only to make them stand out from the

Figs. 47 & 48. HERAKLES AND THE CENTAUR NESSOS ; THE GORGONS
NECK AND BODY DESIGNS OF AN ATTIC AMPHORA.

PLATE XXIII.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

background, they prepare a step, which is completed in the
Nessos group, i.e., the taking over of the animal-frieze
technique into figure-painting, with which vase-painting
parts company again from the great art and returns to
decorative silhouette effect. In Attica, too, the circular
rendering of the eye is taken over for the male figure, the
flesh-tone of the face is retained for decorative effect,
women are distinguished by the old outline-drawing,
decorative female creatures and monsters do not escape
from the silhouette treatment (Fig. 48).

On vases of this technique the Orientalizing luxuriance
developed out of Geometric richness is entered by a new
spirit of severity and discipline, which one would be most
inclined to explain by strong influence of Protocorinthian
art. The field ornaments are similarly limited, and the
rosette with points has the chief place ; the lotus and
palmette pattern of the Nessos vase (Fig. 48), the cable and
the double rays of the Piraeus amphora (Fig. 49) are simple
borrowings, the lion-type on the vase just named is closely
connected with the Protocorinthian. One may ask whether
the types in spite of their Attic stamp do not partly come
from the Sicyonian-Corinthian school. The procession of
chariots in the Piraeus amphora is only in the line of old
tradition, but on the neck of the Nessos vase the Phaleron
type is replaced by another, which is certainly only an
extract from a larger composition, and the same artist makes
the sisters of Medusa furiously pursue a Perseus not repre-
sented at all, whom the Aegina bowl of kindred style and
the rather later cauldron in the Louvre show along with his
protectors Athena and Hermes. At any rate the vase-
painters had no hesitation in taking over the compositions
once created and cutting them up, enlarging or abbreviating
them according to their requirements, intensifying or
weakening them according to their talents. The same

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

lucky ' laziness of invention ' is shown in the rendering of
the individual figure. Old types of Oriental art are behind
the battle motive of Herakles, the flight of the Gorgons, and
the race of the Harpies on the Aegina bowl ; the unusual
front view points to the origin of the Gorgon type as an
ornament. But the Greek showed originality in animating
and enhancing these types. In spite of the harsh perspec-
tive it is arrestingly expressive when the Medusa collapses
in death, the sisters rush with the speed of lightning through
the air, Herakles kicks the back of the rough monster, and
the victim supplicates his tormentor by touching his beard :
we have an art with the joy of youth full of vigour and possi-
bilities of development displaying itself, the same early Attic
art, which next found plastic expression in the early sculp-
tures of the Acropolis. On the Nessos amphora the decora-
tive figures are of secondary importance . The mouth bears
the old goose frieze, the broad handles are adorned with
owls and swans : under the principal field a row of dolphins
gambol, but they are hardly to be conceived of as a
meaningless animal frieze, but are to be understood in a
* landscape ' sense ; the wild chase is by sea. On the other
vases of this group the animal frieze element is much
stronger, on some it entirely prevails, e.g., on big-bellied
amphorae with no angle dividing body from neck, and a
bason from Vurva, which both reduce the filling ornaments
very considerably. These vases lead over to a noticeably
miscellaneous class, the so-called Vurva style, which just
like the older Corinthian denotes a strengthening of the
decorative and is also to be regarded as a rival of Corinth.
The ornamentation is very limited, for filling there is
nothing but rosettes, which may also form independent
friezes : the decoration assumes quite similar forms to those
of the Corinthian fabric. But the Corinthian elements do
not entirely give its character to the Vurva style. Apart

Fig. 49. ATTIC AMPHORA.

Fig. 50. CYCLADIC (EUBOIC) AMPHORA.
PLATE XXIV.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

from the traditions of the brilliant Geometric period, which
remained longer operative in the very ceramic and non-
metallic Attic school than in the Argive-Corinthian, one
suspects also influences from Eastern Greece. According
to the evidence of vase finds, Athens was then in connection
with Naukratis. Thus one may refer the painting of white
on the figures, which is only occasionally employed at
Corinth, but on the Vurva vases often takes the place of
the red, to the influence of the East, which had long known
it, and explain in the same way many a similarity with the
East in the motley array of animals.

Beside the common ware, purely decorative, technically
trivial and poor, naturally the subject-vases went on, as at
Corinth. It is not only the * runners with bent knee
mingled with the animals, the draped men and riders, who
maintain the connection with the older figure-painting ; the
traditions of the Nessos vase and its parallels continued on
big and carefully executed vases. These vases are to Attic
pottery, what the works of Timonidas were to Corinthian ;
they give up filling ornament, individualize the world of
figures out of its ornamental constraint, give the subject-style
the spatial freedom, which it needs for its evolution. Just
as we could follow this transitional style in Corinth on a vase
and pinax of Timonidas, so it meets us in Attica at the same
time in vases with decoration in bands, necked amphorae,
kraters, and cauldrons, and in big-bellied amphorae with
special field for the subject, which take the place, in some
measure, of sepulchral votive 'pinakes,' and are
decorated with a female bust or a horse's head, placed on a
panel reserved in the black ground. This vase with special
field, which arose from the needs of representation, only
transitorily enters the service of animal decoration, and
then becomes the chief vehicle of the new style, whose
beginning we have reached with the last-named vases.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Attic pottery of the 7th century exercised great influence
upon its Boeotian and Eretrian neighbours, where an inde-
pendent artistic spirit never existed. One might describe
these dependent manufactories as provincial branches of
the Attic, had they not been influenced by other models as
well. The big Boeotian amphorae with tall broad neck, the
decoration of which consists chiefly of a pictorial frieze at
the level of the handles, divided vertically, are imitated
from vases of the islands (p. 25). The best known instance,
from Thebes, shows on one side the Oriental goddess
flanked by lions, on the other a flying bird and spiral
ornamentation. This metope decoration with flying birds
and Orientalizing volutes and palmettes called forth a
special Boeotian class, which some conservative workshops
went on producing with great tenacity to the end of the 6th
century. It excels in tall-stemmed kylikes with
white slip and colour accessories in red and yellow. Other
workshops, like those of Pyros and Mnasalkes, imitated the
Protocorinthian and Corinthian wares, quantities of which
were imported ; in the 6th century one enters an Attic
sphere of influence. Similarly Attic and island influences
are found side by side at the neighbouring Eretria in
Euboea.

The Cycladic manufactory, to which the Boeotian
and Eretrian imitations point, cannot yet be followed
beyond the early Orientalizing stage. On the amphorae
with white slip already described, to which class belongs the
Stockholm vase with the roebuck (Fig. 50), and on the
closely allied grifiin jug from Aegina (Fig. 51), severely
stylized flowers and tendrils enter the not very rich
Geometric ornament, the new cable meets the old meander
in the same frieze, rows of triangles are enclosed by spirals ;
in the metopes of the shoulder stripe appear, surrounded
by scanty filling ornaments, simple animal representations,

Fig. 51. CYCLADIC JUG WITH GRIFFIN'S HEAD FROM .^GINA.

PLATE XXV.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

generally birds, also feeding animals, heraldic or fighting
lions, pairs of panthers in heraldic scheme, in the charac-
teristic partial silhouette, which renders the head and parts
of the body in outline, but the skins with black or white
spots according to the technique. The Ram jug from
Aegina (Fig. 28), the exact attribution of which is uncertain,
is at any rate closely allied.

This charming class has been called Euboic, but no
Euboic find substantiates the name. It has hitherto come
to light only on the islands of the Aegean , especially Delos-
Rheneia, Thera and Melos. Delos also supplied the earlier
Geometric stages, but as the central meeting place of the
islanders, it received so many different elements that it
appears venturesome to rename the * Euboic ' * Delian '
ware, since a closely-allied pottery, which would have the
same right to this name, can be probably distinguished from
it. This class, which has a predilection for decoratively
applied horse-heads, and like the Protocorinthian, has the
habit of putting red and white stripes on parts of the vase
which are covered with black, at an early date supplied
figured representations without field ornaments ; it seems to
have been occasionally imitated in the Euboic colony of
Kyme, which otherwise is completely under Proto-
corinthian influ ice. The similarity of the animal repre-
sentations to Cretan metal work and of the fine griffin head
(Fig. 51) to those of bronze cauldrons from Olympia,
strengthens the above-mentioned relations of the Euboic-
Delian style to the Cretan and Argive.

Thera is not in question as the home of these vases. This
island had its own very important fabrication in Geometric
times, which like the Attic sticks obstinately for a long time
to the old style, and as long as it exists, never allows the new
elements, which often are strongly suggestive of metal
patterns, to get the upper hand. In Melos it has been

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

perhaps correct to localize an important manufactory of
which the products have been chiefly found in this island
and in the neutral sphere of Delos-Rheneia. The heavy
double spirals with gusset-like filling, which this style
prefers to the other Orientalizing ornaments, and which it
puts in to fill space, arranges in stripes, puts one on the top
of another as ' the volute-tree,' or quadruples as ' the
volute-cross,' give this pottery a peculiar stamp. The
style is most finely represented by the big weighty amphorae
which in shape and technique of the light ground for
painting on are akin to the above-mentioned Cycladic vases,
but are finely decorated on neck and body with representa-
tions, and also show the same feeling for rich decoration in
the luxuriant filling ornamentation. The Melian delight in
representation, like the Attic, gives us an insight into the
growth of the figured style. The rows of geese (Fig. 52),
the big sphinxes and panthers, the horses ranged heraldic-
ally on either side of a volute-cross, the favourite framed
horse-busts show the well-known partial silhouette ; and
the female busts, the confronted riders, the duellists flanked
by women, the gods facing each other or driving in chariots,
the ' Persian Artemis ' carrying a lion, the free legendary
scenes reflect in technique and drawing the same develop-
ment which we followed at Athens. We can assign to
about the date of later Phaleron vases a specimen like the
Apollo vase (Fig. 52), which colours light brown the male
body, and in the drawing of animals leads from the old
partial silhouette to the later technique. The fine
* Marriage of Herakles ' (Fig. 53) marks a great step in
advance, not only by the complete taking over of the black-
figured animal style, and the superposition of many details
in white on horses and patterns of garments, but above all
by the lively rendering of the paratactic composition and
the removal of all Geometric traces in the rendering of

PLATE XXVI,

Fig. 53. HERAKLES AND lOLE ( ?) : FROM A " MELIAN " .\.\IPHORA.

Fig. 54. EARLY RHODIAN JUG.
PLATE XXVn.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

bodies. The heraldic motives have given place to more
riatural ones ; the male type is not merely distinguished by
brown painting from the female. The shape of the vase is
more compact, the decoration more tectonic, the goose
frieze on the shoulder edge is replaced by the tongue
pattern, which also as garment edging drives out the old
zig-zag. But the filling ornaments are as copious as ever,
and the step, which the Nessos vase took in the technique of
the figures, has not yet been taken. Thus the * Melian '
vases take us lower down in the 7th century than the other
Cycladic products, but not yet to its close.

Perhaps new finds will bring the continuation of these
manufactories and build a bridge to the style of the 6th
century. If we get them, we may hope for a completion of
the picture here given, a clearing up of the relations of the
manufactories to one another and to the East and West, and
evidence as to their localization. For even the Melian
origin of the ' Melian ' vases is not certain : this manufac-
tory too, to judge by the chief locality of the finds, would
have to be moved to Delos, the little inconspicuous island,
where Leto bore her twins Apollo and Artemis, on which
the whole Ionic world gathered to celebrate its divine
fellow-citizens. We can trace something of this festal spirit
and devotional pride of the insular lonians in the Apollo
and Artemis of the Melian vase, of course in a humbler way
than in the magnificent hymn of the Ionian bard.

The technique of the white ground for painting and much
in the filling ornament and the animal-drawing unites these
insular vases with the artistic circle of S. W. Asia Minor and
the adjacent islands, through which obviously, as well as
through Crete, Oriental decorative motives principally
found their way into Greece. The impulses which guided
the weak Geometric style of this district into new paths can
with certainty be traced to metal work, especially

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Phoenician bowls, and to textile products. Miletus, the
head of East Ionic civilization, had a flourishing textile
industry in the 7th century, the decoration of which was
quite under the spell of the East. An attempt has been
made to fix at Miletus a manufactory, the extension of which
coincides exactly with the commercial sphere of this great
maritime town ; the coast of Asia Minor and the adjacent
islands, the colonies on the Black Sea and in the Delta are
the most important, a secondary part is played by the
Cyclades and the Italo-Sicilian area, but the Greek main-
land is unaffected. But since Miletus need not have done
more than distribute, just as Corinth did for the Proto-
corinthian ware, since closely allied and almost inseparable
wares were made in several places, and the bulk of these
vases were found in Rhodes, we may retain the traditional
name * Rhodian.'

The transition from the Geometric phase (p. 26) to the
developed style of animal decoration can be to some extent
followed. We see, for instance, the old shape of the
jug (Fig. 22) become metallically rounded, the cable
on the neck drive out the old zig-zags, and on the
shoulder two animals antithetically flank the central
metope (Fig. 54). The stiff division into metopes of
the shoulder stripe is next dropped, the animals and
fabulous beings of the East are placed heraldically one
on either side of a central vegetable motive, and under
this heraldic band, in obvious rivalry with textile work
adorned in bands, continuous friezes of animals in rows,
of dogs pursuing hares, of grazing wild goats and deer, of
running goats, which in spite of their decorative character
often testify to a very fresh observation of nature. Bands
of different ornament, cables, and continuous loops.
Geometric motives in metope-like arrangement, especially
the upright garland of lotus buds and flowers, are added to

Fig. 55. RHODI.W JIG

Fig. 56. I..\JE RHOUl.AN JUG.

Fig. 57. El PHORBOS PL.\TE FRO.M RHODES: MENEE.VOS .\ND
HECTOR FIGHTING OVER THE BODY OF EUPHORBOS.

PL.ATE XXVUI.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

the animal friezes : the last-named ornament generally
takes the place of the rays round the bottom of the vase.
With these decorative stripes the Rhodian style at the
height of its production likes to cover the whole surface of
its favourite jugs with * rotelle ' on the handles (Figs. 55
and 56), its necked amphorae, bowls and other vessels, and
in this way arrives at a delicate and rich carpet-like effect :
the equipoise between the animal silhouettes neatly placed
on the white ground, coloured red and white, and the
vigorous clear ornamentation, the showing of the ground
through in delicate details where colour is purposely
omitted, the well-distributed filling ornaments, into which
sometimes small birds with an absence of pedantry are
introduced, are all very satisfactory to the decorative
sense : the distinction of the shoulder stripe by the heraldic
element prevents the impression that the surface of the vase
is too uniformly cut up. The accumulation of animal
friezes, and the heraldic arrangement of Orientalizing
animals round a vegetable combination of ornaments, are
features which we have already found in Western art ; but
while these elements became prominent there at a time
when the incised full silhouette was in exclusive possession
of the field, when plant decoration took more abstract
shapes, and filling patterns were reduced to the rosette, the
culmination of the Rhodian animal-frieze vases falls in the
pictorial period, when the plant decoration is naturalistic
and filling ornamentation is abundant.

A uniform band decoration did not exclusively pre-
vail. A group of jugs, which by its more tense and profiled
shape and by a transition to the later floral ornamentation
shows itself to be progressive, and which gradually replaces
the cable of the neck by the broken so-called ' metope '
maeander (Fig. 56), leaves out of the black body of the vase
only a narrow stripe with the maeander reduced to pot-

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

hooks, and surrounds the bottom of the vase with long rays.
But beside this method the other certainly persists. Its
tenacious life is proved by vases like the Paris cauldron
(Fig. 58) and its parallels from Naukratis, which show the
archaic Rhodian band style alongside of the developed
incised animal style on the same vase. In these hybrids
which are essentially akin to the vases of Andokides (p. 115)
the old stylizing of the figures is giving way, the rich store of
filling motives is yielding to the prevalence of the rosette,
the vegetable ornamentation is exchanging its vigorous
plant-like appearance for thinner and more abstract shapes,
which however take on a freer swing and submit to richer
variations, the most important of which is the continuous
tendril. At the same time the old technique of painting
and leaving void spaces continues to be cultivated at a time,
when elsewhere and probably also in the East the black-
figured animal style has become the regular thing, and the
filling ornamentation combined with it has assumed the
blot-like shapes of the Corinthian and Vurva stage. Finally
the Rhodian style also adopts the new fashion.

Thus this style from an early date shows itself extremely
decorative and little inclined to actual representations.
We should know nothing of them, if the plates, a favourite
item in Rhodian fabrication, like their Phoenician metal
prototypes, did not exchange the old concentric decoration
of stripes for the division into two segments, the larger of
which is occasionally adorned with the human figure instead
of the usual animal or fabulous creature. The drawing of
the figures adopts the method already familiar. The place
of outline drawing of the men is taken by brown tinting,
e.g., in the heroes fighting in the well-known scheme on the
Euphorbos plate (Fig. 57), while the women retain the old
technique, e.g. the Gorgon on a plate in London, which is an
adaptation of the Oriental animal goddess, and quite

Fij;. 58. LATE RHODIAX ( AILDROX (LEBES)
PLATE XXL\.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

exceptionally fills the whole circular space (Fig. 59). Both
plates show early beginnings of incised work, the Gorgon
in the inner marking of the drapery. Hector's shield in the
drawing of the flying bird. The view that the incised
technique in figures is borrowed from Protocorinthian work
receives support in this shield with its Argive suggestion,
and in the Argive lettering, with which the excellent artist,
roughly contemporaneous with the Chigi jug (Figs. 35 and
36), has transformed a conventional composition into a
scene described in the 17th Book of the Iliad. The full
silhouette with inner detail incised appears only in speci-
mens, which from their degenerate filling ornaments are
plainly late products of the 7th century, e.g. a plate with a
running Perseus. That when this happens the eye retains
its oval shape, is characteristic of the Eastern Ionic school.
This transition to the black-figured style can be better
followed in a closely allied pottery, fixed by the contem-
porary inscriptions of dedicators to the Milesian colony of
Naukratis in the Delta. While the old filling motives are
coming to an end, and the vegetable stripe ornamentation
is being increased by the addition of continuous tendrils and
confronted lotus and palmette, and rows of circumscribed
palmettes, of bands of buds and rows of pomegranates, the
animal frieze adopts the incised full silhouette. The
human representations, often of a high order of excellence,
gradually asserting themselves beside the animal decora-
tion, show a reluctance in taking this step. The old brush
technique is still maintained in the specimens, which reserve
thin lines in the silhouette instead of incising them (Fig. 60) ;
and also the brown tinting of the male body (Fig. 61) seems
to continue in this area longer than elsewhere. These
conservative features are balanced by an innovation in
colouring, which like the change in plant ornamentation
denotes an important step to the style of the 6th century ;

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

even before the actual decay of filling ornamentation,
Naukratite painting (as in the Praisos plate, Fig. 29) begins
to paint in white the light flesh of women, e.g. the face of the
sphinx ; and the same colour is used in the Herakles sherd
(Fig. 61), on which the lion's skin still appears in the ground
of the clay, in order to contrast with the linen jerkin.

The delight in polychrome effect is very strongly
expressed on the interiors of the tall drinking cups
and other vases, which the Naukratite painter likes
to cover with a wash of black, and then to paint
over it plant decoration in red and white. Incision
enters also into their polychrome lotus decoration and
thus gives it an effect similar to that of an older class
of kylikes, big-bellied and necked amphorae, found
in Rhodes, which is decorated in the old style with
incised ornaments of red colour, and at a time when the
Rhodian style was still practising pure brush technique, was
already preparing for the later phase, a conclusion which
must also be drawn from the Paris cauldron for animal
representation. This black-ground polychromy, which
occurs only occasionally on Rhodian jugs in white and red
stripes, white rosettes and eyes (Fig. 55) , becomes so popular
and elaborate at Naukratis, that one is almost tempted to
think of a continuation of Protocorinthian influence, since
Naukratis was in close connection with Protocorinthian
Aegina.

Beside Naukratis itself Aegina was also the chief place
of export for this gaily coloured pottery, which unfortun-
ately has only reached us in precious fragments, and of
whose scenes of merry life drawn from legend, the revel and
the dance we should gladly know more. With the Rhodian
ware it also reaches Italy and Sicily ; the Acropolis of
Athens gives us, e.g. the fine Herakles sherd (Fig. 61), and
Boeotia in a grave of the early 6th century a late cup with

Fit;. 59. GOR(,OX PLATE FROM RHODES.

Fif^s. 60 & Gl. lUSIRIS; HERAKLES : NAUKRATITE SHERDS FROM
NAUKRATIS AND ATHENS.

PLATE XXX.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

heraldic cocks.

Beside the Rhodian ware Miletus seems also to have
been the export-centre of another allied fabric, that of the
vases called 'Fikellura,' from the name of the site in
Rhodes, where they were first found. Their home is now
generally sought in Samos because of the common ware
found in that island. The greater number of the vases
preserved, the prevalent form being the necked amphorae
with metope-maeander (Fig. 56), are contemporaneous
with the later phase of the Rhodian. This is proved by the
advanced ornamentation with the thinner simplified lotus
wreath, the rows of circumscribed palmettes, leaves (Fig.
63), pomegranates (Fig. 62), and crescents (Fig. 63) ; also
by the almost complete disappearance of the 'horror vacui'
so that the painter may reduce filling ornament to its lowest
dimensions, paint big surfaces with loose net and scale
patterns, and decorate the body of the vase with big con-
tinuous handle tendrils and an animal placed between them
or only with a human figure boldly inserted in the void
(Fig. 62). In the animals and fabulous beings, which add
to the Rhodian types the heron and the water-hen or the
fantastic man with the head of a hare, the partial silhouette
is now rare ; narrow lines left without colour, as at
Naukratis, take the place of incised lines, and in the same
technique are the purely human forms, which with their
receding foreheads, projecting noses and almond-shaped
eyes, with their coarse postures, are, like the Naukratis
vases, true offspring of the Ionic spirit.

The Altenburg amphora (Fig. 63) must be a late example.
The loin-cloths are painted red and framed with incised
lines, which this style so long resisted. A few dot rosettes,
reduced to their lowest dimensions, are all that is left of the
old filling ornamentation, a long-stemmed bud, such as the
early 6th century favours, projects into the field. Just as

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

the runner of the London vase in his vigorous but stiff
posture gives quite a new meaning to an old ornamental
scheme, so the movements of the Altenburg revellers, which
entirely fill the field, convince us of their intoxication. The
ornamental style has now in the East, as well as in the West,
become narrative and descriptive.

With these bibulous lonians, who to the sound of flutes
dance round their big mixing-bowl with cups and jugs, we
pass finally from the wide ramifications of 7th century vase
history to the developed archaic style.

lWM\\\\\UWil}l1IE

Fios. 62 &• 63. FIKELLLRA AMI'HOR.l-:
PLATE XXXI.

CHAPTER IV.
THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

ARCHAIC art, the wonderful offspring of the contact
of Greek civilization with the East, exercises its charm
to-day more than ever. We have ceased to ascribe a
unique saving grace to the classic period, the period of full
bloom, and to allow no independent value to the preceding
century except as an inevitable transitional phase. We
love these archaic works of sculpture and painting for their
own sake, not in spite of their crudities but just because of
their unpolished hidden vigour, because of the precious
combination of their essential features. The fetters of
space, and the strong tradition of an ornamental early
period give them a monumental effect, which has nothing
of mummified stiffness but is kept ever fresh and youthful by
an eminently progressive spirit and an energetic endeavour
to attain freedom. The archaic style ' with fresh boldness
goes beyond its Oriental patterns, is ever making fresh
experiments, and thus exhibits constant change and pro-
gress. It is always full of serious painstaking zeal, it is
always careful, takes honest trouble, is exactly methodical :
the language which it speaks always tells of inward cheerful-
ness and joy at the result of effort, the effect produced by
independent exertion. There is something touching in the
sight of archaic art with its child-like freshness, its pains-
taking zeal, its reverence for tradition, and yet its bold
progressiveness. What a contrast to Oriental and Egyptian
art, which are fast bound in tradition : in the one the

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

sweltering air of dull coercion, in the other the fresh atmos-
phere of freedom ' (Furtwangler).

The history leading up to the origin of this style has
become clear to us by quarrying in different localities. We
saw the vases lose their peculiarly carpet-like appearance,
the filling motives disappear, the bands of animals and
ornaments forfeit their independence and become a sub-
ordinate member in the tectonic construction, we saw the
world of figures win its way out of ornamental compulsion
to greater freedom and extend over the vase. The 6th
century, to the beginnings of which we pursued the history
of vases, knows only occasionally inserted rosettes, or
a lonely hud projecting into the field. Plant ornamenta-
tion becomes true Greek ornament, abstract, tectonic, and
when occasion demands, full of life with its swing. Animal
friezes retire to the foot or the shoulder, are often incident-
ally treated as mere decorative accessories or seized by
quite unheraldic liveliness. The principal interest is
devoted to depicting man, his doings and goings on. The
vase painter is now more anxious than ever to narrate and
depict ; he finds ever less satisfaction in ornamental com-
position. He is never tired of describing hunting and
warfare, wrestling and chariot-racing, the festal dance and
procession, but with greatest preference, remembering the
purpose of his vases, drinking and wild dancing. But also
the heroes of past ages, their bold exploits and strange
adventures, are his constant theme. The Homeric Epic,
the tales of Herakles the mighty, the bold Perseus and
Bellerophon, had evoked pictorial representations even in
the 7th century ; but now the full stream of the legendary
treasury pours into painting and gives an infinitely rich
material to the joy of narration.

What the vase-painter makes of this material is never
conceived in the historical or archaeological spirit, but

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

breathes entirely the air of his own time ; often only the
added names (which according to the new feeling for space
assume smaller dimensions) raise a genre scene into one
from myth. Moreover the Saga is only seldom re-shaped
by inventive brains. Types once invented pass on, go from
workshop to workshop, from one district to another, are
abbreviated (p. 49), expanded, conventionally repeated or
filled with new life. Types may also cross ; there arise
purely through art, contaminations of legend, which are
foreign to poetry. When a Corinthian painter unites the
Embassy to Achilles (Iliad IX) with the visit of Thetis, this
has as little to do with poetry, as when on Attic vases the
birth of Athena is coupled with the apotheosis of Herakles,
or the slaying of Troilos is transferred to Astyanax, or the
entombment of the dead Sarpedon to Memnon. But every-
thing strange need not be misunderstanding on the artist's
part. The vases supply us with a multitude of legendary
motives and variations, which we cannot find in literature,
and are the faithful reflex of the fluidity of Greek mythology,
which, devoid of canon and dogmatism, was in constant
flux.

Olympos too, is subject to these vicissitudes. Its gods
live a human life among men, the only difference being that
some representative scenes give them a stiffer and more
elaborate appearance than that of ordinary mortals. In
early times the divinity is chiefly betokened by inscriptions
and attributes. On the painting of the Corinthian Kleanthes
stood Poseidon with a fish in his hand beside Zeus in labour.
Late observers of this picture failed to understand this
external characterization of the sea-god, and saw an act of
brotherly sympathy with the god's pains in this holding up
of the tunny ; and thus a great deal beside must have
appeared strange to them, e.g. Apollo with the great lyre
still bearded in the 7th century (Fig. 52), Herakles without

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

lion-skin (Fig. 64), the unarmed Athena, who only at the
beginning of the 6th century, in contrast with the Chigi vase
(Fig. 37), the Aegina bowl and the Gorgon lebes (p. 49),
begins to express her bellicose nature by attributes, and
much besides.

The favourite god of the drinking vessels is the wine-god
with cup and vine. He makes Hephaistos drunk and leads
him back to Olympos to liberate Hera from the magic chair.
The big-bellied dancers and purely human creatures, who
form his escort on Corinthian vases, in the first third of the
century are superseded by the Ionic horse-men, the Satyrs,
who become ever more closely associated with Dionysos,
celebrate feasts with the Maenads, never despise the gifts of
their master, and make fair nymphs pay for it. The half-
bestial creature in whom ancient Greek fancy vigorously
incorporates man's pleasure in wine and women with all its
comic effects, is quite the patron of archaic vase-painting.

That all these representations were developed by vase-
painting alone is more than improbable. That the Bacchic
scenes of toping and dancing were created on the actual
vase, is most likely ; but one is often enough compelled to
assume other sources. The fight of Herakles with the lion,
for instance, in its oldest form is the borrowing of an
Oriental type, which is composed for a tall rectangle, and
is expanded by the vase-painters for their purposes by
filling figures^ * spectators.' The gifted artist, who gave
this heraldic type the more natural impress which was
regular in the older black-figured style, was perhaps a vase-
painter ; the creator of the later black-figured type was
certainly not, for his horizontal group is certainly a fine
invention but always has to be adapted artificially to the
vase surface. As with the wrestling of Herakles, so it is
with Theseus' struggle with the Minotaur. The same sort
of extension occurs on a favourite subject of older black-

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

figured style, the quadriga in front view, whose horses
heraldically turn their heads sideways, whose helmeted
warrior is in front view while the unhelmeted driver is in
profile. This type, certainly invented for a square, is also
known in bronze and stone relief, and the question, in what
technique it first appeared, will scarcely be answered in
favour of vase-painting. For a square, too, the finely com-
pact group of Herakles wrestling with Triton was first com-
posed, a theme common on Attic vases from the hydria of
Timagoras onwards ; the older wrestling scheme, super-
seded by this type, in its Herakles spread out before the
eyes of the observer and kneeling as he wrestles, still shows
strong affinity with the Orientalizing frieze compositions
(p. 46), and is for vase decoration much more typical than
the later invention, which on vses always has a 'borrowed '
effect. The dependence of vase-painting on other tech-
niques is finally evidenced by the so-called * couplings ' :
the best-known instance is the combination of the departure
of Amphiaraos with the Funeral-games of Pelias on a
Corinthian (Fig. 66), an Attic and an Ionic vase, a combina-
tion which is borrowed from an inlaid wooden chest of
Corinthian workmanship at Olympia ('the chest of Kyp-
selos') or a prototype from which both were derived.

After all this one will not hesitate to look for a strong
reflex of the great art of painting on the vases, alongside of
the special property of the vase-painter and typical orna-
mental figures equally common to all art, or to picture to
oneself wall-paintings or easel pictures, like the birth of
Athena by Kleanthes, after the fashion of the best vase-
paintings, which are least constrained by ornamental con-
siderations, or to reconstruct from the copies of vase-
painters compositions like the Destruction of Troy (Iliu-
persis), the Return of Hephaistos, the Reception of
Herakles into Olympos. One is particularly impelled this

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

way, when the vases give now shorter, now longer, extracts
from the same large composition ; thus we have a reflection
on some dozen vases of Exekias and his successors of the
fine representation of the heroes Aias and Achilles surprised
by the Trojans while deeply absorbed in a game of draughts,
and warned by Athena just in time (Fig. 96). One cannot
conceive of any difference of principle in perspective, in
the rendering of the body and the drapery, in the spiritual
content, between vase-painting and free painting ; they both
are children of one time. Nor did the vase-painter feel any
necessity to alter the composition of his patterns. Only as
he had to decorate framed bands, the law of isocephalism
was more binding for him than for the great art. Hence his
strong disinclination for "landscape," which we often meet
with in Corinthian and Ionian pinakes and wall-painting,
but on the vases never, or only in palpable caricature ; the
painter who on a hydria from Caere copied a seascape with
the Rape of Europa, was obliged to place beside the figure
what looks like a mole-hill but is intended for a moun-
tain.

This limitation of the possibilities of composition by
decorative considerations was of hardly any importance.
The wide gulf between free painting and vase picture was
conditioned in the first instance by technique. It was that
which gave its special effect to the black-figured style and
set its stamp upon it. We saw previously that vase-paint-
ing, when it took over the silhouette style from the decora-
tive animal frieze, increased its distance from free painting,
under whose spell it had been for a good part of the 7th
century, that with the incised technique it took over, e.g.
the circular drawing of the eye, and with the new colouring
entered decorative paths (pp 38, 44, 49). Free painting
drew with the brush on light ground, used black and white
very sparingly, more frequently red, blue, green, yellow

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

and brown ; placed these colours side by side in simple
harmonies, with very little gradation and shading, but also
sometimes, e.g. to represent fire, used the smooth brush;
rendered the men in reddish brown, women, children,
animals and objects in light colouring. With this free-
coloured effect the black-figured style was neither able nor
anxious to compete. Just like the Geometric, it is in its
own fashion again an ornamental style, which does not dis-
own its predominantly decorative character. The figure
silhouettes serve it as ornaments to fill a given space, which
are in a certain equipoise of colour in relation to the rest of
the decoration and the black painted parts of the vase ; the
incision stipulates a sharp delineation of types, the imposed
colour gives a parti-coloured effect. The coloured effect of
the vases is essentially defined by the clay, which now, in
the developed black-figured style, takes on a brilliant warm
red upper surface, and by the black glaze, which assumes
a metallic lustre. The darker colouring of the clay
deprives the lighter parts of their effects by contrast, and
compels the painters to replace the contour-drawing of
women, linen garments, etc., gradually by laying on white
colour, with which at first the contour is simply filled ; but
afterwards more commonly black underpainting is overlaid.
With the transition to white, clear silhouettes are also
obtained, which set off against the background more effec-
tively than the old contour figures.

The advance in the preparation of the clay and glaze
colour came about on the Greek mainland. Tradition
makes the Sicyonian Butades invent the red colouring of the
clay at Corinth, and thus gives the correct indication. The
Chalcidian and Attic workshops helped the new technique
to prevail ; in the East it gradually gets the upper hand and
forces the Ionian manufactories to give up their favourite
white ground and adapt their technical freedom to the

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

growing strictness of the western system. Attica, which in
the 6th century opens a dangerous rivalry in Eastern and
Western markets and finally wins the day, brings the
process to perfection. With the refinement of incised
technique it puts an end to the parti-coloured method still
much affected by Corinthians and Chalkidians, it clears
away the big surfaces coloured red and white and all colour
in ornament and animal frieze, and helps the harmony of
clay and black to its purest and fullest effect.

With the disappearance of the old parti-coloured system
the vases are completely removed from the effect of free
painting. For that we may be grateful to fortune. For
this refinement of the black-figured style permitted the
sensitive feeling of Greek artists for decoration to satisfy the
delight of narrating and describing along with the orna-
mental traditions of the old style. They had no need, as
had the old Minoan vase-painters (p. 10), to shrink from
borrowing figured scenes. The recasting of types into the
decorative silhouette style made it possible for them to con-
jure on to the vases whatever touched their hearts and
delighted their eyes, and thus to transmit to us an infinite
variety of scenes, without which our knowledge of Greek
legend, Greek life and Greek art would have remained
terribly scanty.

Corinth must lead off the history of this new style. The
chief centre of commerce and industry in the Peloponnese,
the celebrated seat of a flourishing ceramic industry and of
an important school of painting, it not only took the decisive
step to the new technique, but even in its red-clay phase had
helped the designs to drive out animal decoration, and
composed, or at least introduced into vase-painting,
numerous types, which supply material to other workshops
for a long time. The quadriga in front view, which Chal-
cidian and Attic painters repeated so often and which kept

Fig-, 64. HERAKI.KS AM) KIRVTIOS ; HORSEMEN: l-RO.M A
("ORIN miAN KRATER.

l"i<:^. do. CORIN I III AN KRATER.

n..\ri-; nnnii.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

its decorative effect for almost a century, appears here for
the first time ; the triangular scheme of two wrestlers seizing
each other by the arms and pressing head against head,
which survived to the time of Nikosthenes, was taken by the
Amphiaraos krater (Fig. 66) from the above-mentioned
chest of Kypselos (p. 67) ; the nuptial procession of Peleus
and Thetis which we shall meet on the lebes of Sophilos
and the Francois-vase is prepared for in Corinthian vase-
painting ; and the battle-scenes, rider-friezes and chariot-
races, of which there was a beginning in the Protocorinthian
style, were most richly developed by the Corinthians, and
adopted by Chalkis and Athens often without any essential
improvement. Thus one may be sure, that a number of
other types, which are not represented in the selection that
accident has given us, started their victorious career from
Corinth, and that the lost great art of Corinth, the bronze
industry of which we have specimens and the richly-
adorned chest of Kypselos described by Pausanias supplied
to the vase-painters a number of mythological compositions,
which influenced other manufactories. Unfortunately the
greater part of this rich treasure is lost to us.
The loss is the more to be lamented, as what we have
shows us a fine inventive talent on the part of the Corinthian
artists and a magnificently free and easy conception of life
and legend. The Homeric poetry and the Epic inspired
by it, the lays of Peleus and Herakles, the ballad poetry now
becoming very fashionable, from which come e.g. the birth
of Athena and probably also the Return of Hephaistos to
Olympos, are reflected on these Corinthian vases in
inimitably vivid and drastic fashion ; and the vase-painter
also gives scenes from daily life, carouses, drunken men
who dance wildly with naked women, kitchen and wine-
press, riding and driving, marching out to battle, and the
wild mellay itself. It is particularly on the kraters (Figs.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

64-66) that we can trace how the accumulating material
gets space on the vases ; animal decoration, in which
heraldic cocks are very popular, retires ever more to the
reverse, under the handles, into the base stripe, and also
by preference is replaced by lines of galloping riders, who
form a lively decorative foil to the mythological principal
picture (Fig. 64). Meanwhile filling ornament disappears.
The flying bird over the rider (Fig. 65) renders the same
service as the rosette, nay a better ; it transplants the scene
out of a decorative space into an actual one, the open
country ; and the space-filling animals of the Amphiaraos
vase, which are traditional (p. 40), are not intended merely
any longer to enliven the vase surface but the wall of the
house, the floor and the air. Thus the liberation of the
field, for which Timonidas and his fellows paved the way, is
attained. With this goes hand in hand the liberation of
figure-drawing from ornamental constraint. The outspread-
ing of the figure in the surface, which is still strong in the
7th century, is toned down or ingeniously given a motive,
as with the kneeling warrior who fights backwards, and does
not disguise his connection with the old runner with bent
knee. The individualizing of men and animals carried
forward by Timonidas now once more makes big advances
in human figures, horses and dogs.

We will select two of the kraters to give us an idea of the
development of the style. One, a Paris vase (Fig. 64),
gives a special application to a fine banqueting scene, by
added names and the insertion of lole, as the visit paid by
Herakles to Eurytios, king of Oichalia. The fair daughter
of the house stands with some indifference between the guest
and her brother ; it is supposed to represent a legend, but is
really little more than a genre scene, as which it is hard to
beat. The lively conversation of the guests, the dogs tied
to the sofa-legs waiting and speculating on the chance of

X
<

o
w

PLATE XXXllI.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

bits falling from the table are masterly, and even the horses
in the supporting frieze, if out of proportion and inelegant,
are the more characteristic and living. The technique
follows old tradition ; the flesh of lole, tables and sofas, one
dog, shields on the reverse, appear in outline drawing. Such
contours, also found sometimes where men's bodies left
white set off those painted dark, unite to some extent, as
does the red colouring of the male countenance, the vase
in its effect with the great art.

On the other hand the Amphiaraos krater (Fig. 66),
which gives up red for male faces, and makes a point of
covering the outline figures with a layer of white, has
become more decorative and black-figured. Its pictures
are not equal in execution to the invention, but come from
excellent models (p. 67). Between the colonnade and fagade
of the house, which are in line like the tables in the Eurytios
vase, the hero, because of his oath, mounts his chariot to go
with open eyes to the death he forebodes ; his angry look is
directed to Eriphyle and the fatal necklace in her hand.
With raised hands the family takes leave, a maid-servant
gives the stirrup-cup to the charioteer. Foreboding evil,
the faithful Halimedes sits on the ground : his heart has
evidently bidden him to train up the boy Alkmaion to take
vengeance on his mother. The whole delight in narration,
which in the exaggerated rendering of the necklace strongly
emphasizes the previous history, is as genuinely archaic, as
the mythological individualizing of an old type 'The
warrior's departure.'

The Amphiaraos krater is more developed than the
Eurytios vase, not merely in technique. The painter of the
later vase, though not so gifted as his colleague, draws more
cleverly, and works with a set of types before him, as the
frieze of riders shows. The advance becomes plain in the
shape of the vase. The Eurytios krater encloses an almost
) 73

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

uniformly swelling cauldron between a lip ring which is very
low and a foot which spreads out in ample dimensions.
From this round-bellied archaic shape we pass to a later more
defined and elegant one in the Amphiaraos krater, which
has a higher neck, a steeper and much less swelling body,
with its lower part running to a point, till finally the outline
almost resembles an inverted triangle and from the handles
a rectangular or curved bridge has to be built leading to the
high rim (krater a colonnette). The tendency to develop-
ment, which we can read out of the vase shapes, may be
taken as a symbol of the history of style. For a Greek vase
was always something organic, as much so as a tree or
animal.

Unfortunately, besides the large kraters with their
numerous figures, which were favourite articles of export,
few vases are preserved. In the scene on the Eurytios
krater we get the lebes with stand, also the jug and drinking
cup (kylix), which exist in various extant specimens. The
kylix has an offset lip (as in Fig. 24), and often knobs on the
handles, the interior picture is framed by tongue pattern.
Beside the necked amphorae, which like the kraters seldom
have any other ornament than rays, shoulder tongues and
neck rosettes, the similarly decorated big-bellied amphorae
continue, which like their Attic parallels (p. 51) put human
busts or animal representations of old and new style into the
figure panel. The three-handled water pitcher (hydria) has
the type with vaulted shoulder common in the older black-
figured style, and adorns it with spirals and maeanders.
All these ornaments, to which may be added the double
lotus and palmette of the Eurytios krater and occasional net
and step patterns, partake of the solidity and variety of the
style.

Strangely enough, the phase of the Corinthian style here
described is for us the end of the fabric ; not one of these

Fio. U7. CORINTHIAN PLATE.

m. THE SLAYIN(i OF TVPHON RV ZEIS: (^HAI.KIDIAN IIYDRIA
PLATE XXXIV.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

vases can be dated below the first third of the 6th century.
Corinthian pottery has no share in the Eastern Herakles
with the lion-skin, the Amazons as Scythian w^omen, the
entry of the Satyrs, the rendering of folds, the painted
ground for white additions. One asks whether this brilliant
development could break off so abruptly, or if it is only
accident which has concealed from us its continuation.
Both are improbable. It looks rather as if, just as the Proto-
corinthian manufactory had its continuation in the Corin-
thian, so the Corinthian was carried on by the Chalkidian.
For the vases denoted by their inscriptions as Chalkidian
form, at all events according to the present state of our
knowledge, a group covering a few decades, which is in
succession of time to the later Corinthian vases, and is most
closely connected with them by a series of detailed agree-
ments. Not only do the vase shapes consistently carry on
Corinthian tendencies, but details of decoration like the
white neck rosettes filled with red, and the step pattern
(Figs. 68 and 69) continue ; the Corinthian animal friezes
with rosettes, the heraldic cocks, with the serpents, the
winged demon, the riders with the space-filling birds (Fig.
69), the wrestlers scheme, the grotesque dancers, the quad-
riga in front view are taken over ; nay, details of drawing,
like the warrior's head in front view, the round outline of
the edge of the short small chiton (Figs. 70 and 71), the
red spots on black clothes (Fig. 70), the sword sheath with
the St. Andrew crosses (Fig. 71), the devices on the shields
are not conceivable without their Corinthian predecessors ;
even the names of Corinthian grotesque dancers pass over
to the Chalkidian Satyrs.

Not a single Chalkidian vase has been found in Chalkis
itself, nor even in any part of the mother-country : all
specimens preserved come from the West. One might
therefore assume that the fabric had its seat, not in Chalkis

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

itself, but in one of its colonies, and thus the powerful Corin-
thian traditions in this pottery would be easily explained.
The West was dominated, as we saw, throughout the 7th
century by Corinthian exportation ; and the colonies of
Chalkis had always been provided by friendly Corinth with
clay vases. But the strong influence of the Chalkidian
manufactory on the Attic is in favour of Chalkis itself having
put an end to Corinthian production, or at any rate to Corin-
thian exportation. Why and how, cannot be stated : per-
haps the publication of the many unpublished specimens
will solve the riddle and clear up the close relation of the
Chalkidian ware to the group of the Phineus kylix (Fig. 74).
From every point of view the Chalkidian vases give us
a heightening of the Corinthian, a great advance in the
direction of a later period. Clay and black now attain their
highest perfection, the distribution of colour is most deli-
cately calculated ; no longer is there so much use made of
white surfaces (under which there is regularly a wash of
black) ; especially we see no more of the arbitrary colour-
contrast which did not shrink from white colouring of the
male. If the Corinthian style had already aimed at metallic
effect in the angular formation of the handles and the curv-
ing of the handle-bridges of the krater, the Chalkidian
heightens these tendencies almost to faithful copying of
metal vases, and consistently develops the vase shapes to
the highest, almost over-refined elegance ; the narrowing
of the lower part of the body leads to the insertion of a roll,
which the painter picks out in red from the black foot. Thus
arise novel vase-shapes ; the necked amphora (Fig. 69) is
elongated, its shoulder flattened, so that the body almost
assumes the shape of an egg ; the krater gets steep sides,
high neck, and outward-bent handle bridges ; out of the
older hydria with arched shoulder comes a later shape,
which, in a specimen at Munich (Fig. 68) exactly copies

THE BLACK-FIGURED STVLE

the addition of cast handles to a metal body ; and similarly
the other shapes develop, the kylix with knobs on the
handles, the two-handled cup, the jug.

The same endeavour after elasticity and elegance pre-
vails in the distribution of the ornament over the vase, which
was managed in a more masterly way at Chalkis than else-
where. Certainly the ornamentation is based almost
entirely on Corinthian foundations. The white dot-rosettes
filled with red on the black neck, the lotus and palmette on
the ground of the clay, tongues on the shoulder, and rays at
the foot, the step pattern under the chief frieze are of old
tradition but pass through a growing elaboration. As a
new motive of decoration comes in the chain of buds, which
we know from the East : as a rule it occurs beneath the
chief band (Fig. 69), or hangs over the figure-field in place
of the lotus and palmette. The Ionic pattern is not exactly
imitated in the process ; the swellings under the Chalkidian
buds suggest roses rather than lotus. Out of these buds,
palmettes, and the tendrils uniting them, is formed the fixed
ornament, which generally serves as central motive to
heraldic animals and often develops into a wonderfully rich
'complex of lively lines (Fig. 69). The proper place for this
ornament is the centre of the upper band, which recovers
its importance, now that the shoulder is set off more sharply
in hydriae and necked amphorae, and as secondary field
for decoration is, like the reverse of vases, usually deco-
rated in the first instance with animals. On the shoulder-
stripe the riders with the space-filling birds tend to drive out
the archaic scheme of decoration ; they flank the lotus and
palmette cross and in later specimens, where the horizontal
shoulder is no longer dominant in the general view, they
pass from heraldic constraint to parade order, and are also
occasionally replaced by cleverly disposed dancers. The
reverse of the vase also more and more shakes off animal

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

decoration and replaces it by ornamental compositions, as
by the heraldic quadriga or the heraldic riders. Friezes of
animals beneath the main scene (Fig. 68) become very
rare. However markedly the decoration of the vase
departs from the old style, yet in spite of that there is in
contrast with the Corinthian style a marked decorative
invasion to be traced. The vases that have nothing but
animal decoration are numerous, and the rosette often
asserts itself again.

This decorative invasion, which is connected with the
perfection of technique and marked talent of the Chalkidian
artizan, does not detract in any way from the figure scenes.
The latter preserve their old vigour and power of observa-
tion, some masters even raise it to a most intense elasticity,
and breathe into the old types a new and vivid life, which
in union with the fine technique and arrangement in space
makes these vases superior to most of the other black-
figured pottery. How Herakles on the London amphora
(Fig. 70) unmercifully deals the death-blow to the
three-bodied Geryon, or on the similar Munich vase (Fig.
71) to Kyknos, is brought before our eyes with unambiguous
matter-of-fact and verve.

The chest of Kypselos had already thus represented
Herakles' fight with Geryon, and the Chalkidian painter
rests here, as often and especially in his battle scenes, on
Corinthian types. But his rendering is anything but a
borrowing, and bears witness to fresh and vigorous concep-
tion. The ' Herakles and Kyknos ' is based on the old
fighting scheme, which represents a warrior with raised
right arm assailing an opponent who almost kneeling moves
to the right but looks round ; and so in effect only combines
the * duellist ' (p. 39) and the runner with bent knee. On
the Chalkidian picture the old * exigency of space ' type
is hardly any longer to be traced ; everything has become

Fig. 70.
HERAKLES AND GERVONEL'S : FROM A CHALKIDIAN AMPHORA.

Fig. 71. THE .SLAYING OF KYKNOS BY HERAKLES : FROM A
CHALKIDL\N AMPHORA.

P[-ATF XXX\I.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

expressive and characteristic. To be sure the contrast
between the body in front view and the legs in profile and
the spreading over the surface are still hardly toned down,
but the thrust dealt with the right arm, the clutch of the left,
the foot pressed against the back of the opponent's knee
are full of vigour, and the collapse of the bleeding son of
Ares, his prayer for mercy while he plucks the victor's
beard, the dimmed eye with its pathos, the composition and
the filling of the space are very artistic.

This heightening of characteristic touches does not
merely appear in battle scenes, but also the intimate touches
in many Corinthian subjects are carried on. Even the
Eurytios krater had succeeded in expressing the horror
which seizes Odysseus and Diomede at the sight of the
suicide of Aias. The feeling in this group is perhaps sur-
passed by an episode in a Chalkidian battle-scene ; where
the intent care, with which Sthenelos binds up the finger of
the wounded Diomede, reminds one of the later kylix of
Sosias (Fig. 114) ; and when a Paris amphora enlarges the
march out to battle by a domestic scene of arming, early
red-figured painting is again anticipated.

The combination of this fresh and direct observation of
nature with a marked decorative talent unites Chalkidian
with the Ionic art of the islands. On Chalkidian soil, where
a language with a strong Ionic element was spoken, a close
contact with eastern neighbours must be assumed. It is not
only the chain of buds on the vases that witnesses to this
contact. The Satyr, a hairy fat fellow, with marked horse-
ears and horse-tail, often with horse-hoofs, enters from the
East in a form, which meets us on the Phineus vase (Fig. 74).
And when the Chalkidian painter occasionally indicates the
outline of the female back, where previously the drapery
falling straight down entirely concealed it, when he
furnishes his Geryon with wings and often equips Herakles

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

with the lion's skin, in this, as in much besides, one cannot
fail to see Eastern influence. Whether the rendering of
folds, the beginnings of which appear on Chalkidian vases as
elsewhere, has the same origin, is doubtful.

The fabric in the Ionic islands which was in close reci-
procal relation with the Chalkidian, may be called the
* Phineus ' fabric after its chief product, till accident
betrays to us its home. From the remains of lettering on
the Phineus kylix, it can only be said, that it was produced
in a place where Ionic was spoken, which cannot have
been near to Asia Minor. The style, more Eastern than
Chalkidian, but different from East Ionic in much, e.g. the
circular drawing of the male eye, and closely akin to
Chalkidian, is probably of Cycladic origin. But a connec-
tion of this pottery with one of the old Cycladic manufac-
tories (p. 52) is impossible. As little as the Chalkidian has
it any previous history ; the few amphorae and kylikes that
remain belong exactly to the same short period of time, in
which the Chalkidian vases were produced.

The amphorae are rather earlier than the Phineus vase,
and often very like the decorative earlier Chalkidian speci-
mens. Chalkis seems to have supplied to them the w^estern
technique, the vase-shape, the foot-ring, and also to have
supplied the patterns in many specimens for animal and
rider decoration. But the less severe construction of the
vases, the irregular division of the fields for figures, the
preference for a dark covering of the ground above the
rays, the liberties in decoration, lead us to more Eastern
soil. The very chain of buds, luxuriant and hardly stylized,
which often covers the neck, shows the unpedantic and
concrete Ionic style, and the same playful carelessness
appears, when the painter is lavish with filling rosettes and
buds, when he inserts into a heraldic frieze of animals a
complex of creatures furiously biting each other, or puts

Fig. 72. IONIC EYE KYLIX.

Fig. 73.
HEAD OF ATHENA, BETWEEN THE EYES OF AN IONIC KYLIX.

PLATE XXXVII.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

between his favourite squatting sphinxes a fighting warrior,
a couple of dancers, or two running girls, when he composes
heraldically the heads of two processions of riders,
and makes a combatant the central motive of
heraldic riders, when he invents animal combina-
tions with a common head. So it is no wonder
if he makes into an effective motive of decoration
the apotropaic eyes popular in this phase of art, which
we know from Delian, Melian, and Rhodian vases of the
7th century (Fig. 57), if he often adds ears and nose, and
fills the centre with an arbitrarily chosen motive, a leaf or
a human figure. The eyes are found on the necks of
amphorae, but very often as outside decoration of the kylix,
which in perfected specimens shows alike the height and
the end of this manufacture.

The wonderfully living and swelling outline of these
delicate kylikes (Fig. 72) may be taken as a symbol of the
style of the figures, which is absolutely remote from abstract
dryness. It often enough adopts Corinthian-Chalkidian
types as models. The * Phineus ' painter did not invent of
himself the warrior with head in front view ; the slaying of
Troilos goes back to an old Corinthian type ; the pursuit of
the mounted Penthesileia introduces, it is true, a new
Eastern Amazon' type in place of the old one (which is also
used in this group), but is based on the composition of a
Corinthian battle picture. What the ' Phineus * painter
does with his models is always distinguished by individual
and genuinely Ionic life. On the group of amphorae a fine
vigorous figure style prevails, which on the kylikes has a
finer and at the same time more delicate development. The
charming Athena (Fig. 73), who now appears in armour,
and whose shield-edge the painter for decorative reasons
has doubled, the Scythian who like the mounted Amazon is
at home in East Greece, the skipping Silenus, the dog in

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

front view would not tell us much of this kylix-style. But
fortunately the painter of the Phineus kylix surrounded the
fine Silenus mask in the interior with a continuous frieze,
the lack of which a hundred contemporary vases could not
outweigh. The wall with the vine and the lion's head
plainly divides the frieze into two scenes : evidently a
magic well, which pours wine into the cup of the delighted
Satyr. A lion, a panther and two stags draw the chariot of
the Wine-god and his consort. On the legendary team a
Satyr is making mischief ; two of his colleagues are quite
diverted from their duty by the sight of three nymphs, who
are bathing at a spring in a wood. A lion's head as spout
pours into a basin the water with which they are laving
themselves ; their clothes they have already hung up. The
other picture shows the blind king Phineus, from whom the
Harpies have taken the food off the table, for which he is
vainly feeling ; the valiant sons of Boreas pursue the impu-
dent thieves through the air over the sea.

All is living, original and drastic in its concep-
tion, as perhaps was only possible for an Ionian.
The movements of the Satyrs and the nude maidens,
the animals and plant-life are caught from nature,
and this study betrays itself in various details.
The face of Phineus, still painted red like that of the Satyrs,
is drawn in front view, which we have hitherto only found
in the helmeted warrior's head, the collar-bone and chest
muscles are rendered, the eyes of the Boreads are already
much reduced in scale. Especially important is the treat-
ment of the drapery, not to mention the linen chiton of
Dionysos with its parallel lines indicating the material, or
the long red chitons of the women and the curved outline
of the shirts of the Boreads, or the garments of the Harpies
adorned with Ionic crosses and borders ; important innova-
tions appear in the himatia, that of Phineus is divided into

Fig. 74.

PHINEUS; DIONYSOS : FRIEZE ROUND THE INTERIOR OF AN IONIC.

EYE KYLIX.

From Furtivdngler-Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei.

PLATE XXXVIII.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

red and black stripes, those of Dionysos and the women
show rendering of folds. That the himation rather empha-
sizes than conceals the outline of the back, is a true Ionic
feature.

Beyond this stage, the ' Phineus ' fabric cannot be
traced. Generally the Cycladic pottery of this period is
hard to get hold of. We do not know whether there were
more factories on the islands, and some isolated but allied
specimens with more fully Ionic alphabet cannot yet be
localized. On the other hand, the ceramic history of the
Greek East offers at least some fixed points, though the
transition from the old style has not yet been cleared up.
We were able to accompany the Rhodian-Naukratite and
the ' Fikellura ' styles to the very threshold of the black-
figured, but here the thread seems to snap. Shallow bowls
found in Egypt and South Russia with bud decoration and
black-figured interior designs, which were imitated by the
Attic Vurva style, and amphorae with remains of the old
ornamentation and big isolated animal-silhouettes in the
field, perhaps represent the latest products of the Rhodian
style. The * Fikellura ' style finds its continuation in a
ware, which was certainly produced in Klazomenai,
perhaps also in several places at the same time, and has
come to light not only in the Ionian region and the colonies
in Egypt and the Black Sea, but also in Italy. The Klazo-
menian style has in common with its predecessor not only a
series of ornaments (tongues, rays, late Rhodian garlands,
continuous tendrils, rows of crescents, friezes of leaves,
* metope ' maeanders, buds in the field, scales over a sur-
face), but continues the old shape of amphora and has the
same preference for loose decoration : beside the vases
adorned in bands, on which the animal friezes are driven
out of the chief band, it is very fond of a field consisting of a
reserved panel or running all round, and of the decoration

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

of the neck by means of an ornament, an animal head or a
human head. In the field it likes to put instead of the
heraldic pair a single animal, a sphinx before a standing
man or upright branch, an isolated palmette and lotus cross,
which are in a measure constituent parts of heraldic
compositions, and shows the same freedom, going even
beyond that of the Phineus painter, when it makes isolated
figures, dancers, running girls, or men wearing mantles, the
central motive of its heraldic sphinxes or cocks, and when
it puts a runner with bent knee between two lions that turn
away from him (Fig. 75). The palmette and lotus-cross
and the animal types differ from Western types ; the selec-
tion, too, is characteristic of the East. There is a special
preference for the Siren : this bird-woman is used surpris-
ingly often heraldically, and in rows to make a frieze. The
female panther occurs as well as the male ; the grazing deer
is a Rhodian legacy. The ostriches show knowledge of
Africa, the winged horses and boars connection with Asiatic
art. The Klazomenian style is particularly strong in the
new formation of fantastic beings, to which the near
neighbourhood of the East gave the impulse. The sea-
horse and the Triton were invented somewhere in this area :
to the * Fikellura ' man with the head of a hare Klazo-
menai adds a being with a tail and a lion's head among
human revellers, among dancing men and women appears
suddenly the bearded monster with the horse's tail, the
Satyr (Fig. 75).

The stock of types varies considerably from that of the
West ; this is particularly clear in the scenes with human
figures. Beside the pictures of riders and battles, beside
the few preserved legendary scenes, among which the most
important are the battles of Amazons, who here in the East
have become mounted Scythian women, the prominent
place is taken by scenes of drinking and dancing in the

Fig. 75. SATYR AND MAENAD : KLAZOMENIAN VASE FROM KYME.

Fig 76. NECK-DESIGN OF AN IONIC AMPHORA.
PLATE XXXIX.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

manner of the Altenburg amphora (Fig. 63). The file
principle, so potent in the East Ionic animal frieze, strongly
asserts itself in the dancing maidens and the abandoned
revellers : the oblique inclination forward, which the
Klazomenian painter often gives the intoxicated, and which
is very successfully preserved on an early Milesian relief in
London, emphasizes at the same time the decorative
arrangement, and increases the expressiveness, just as the
eccentric movements of the dancers equally well fill the
space and mark the tone. For life, sensual and everyday
though often grotesque and brutal, is what these Ionian
masters give, even if they are only decorative artists or
artizans, whatever it may cost. So they succeed in nothing
so well as women, satyrs and animals. The maidens with
their receding foreheads, almond-shaped and often
obliquely set eyes, and the little mouth somewhat drawn in
below, and the well-marked back contour, have an attrac-
tiveness even on the most careless representations ; the
shaggy satyrs betray their equine nature not merely in ear,
tail and hoof ; the robust strong-maned horses, the female
panthers with swelling breasts, the fighting cocks forgetting
their heraldic duties, all show nature very close at hand.

The history of this style, which must approximately
extend over the first half of the 6th century, can be to some
extent followed. In the beginning comes the conflict of the
old Ionic and Western techniques, the transition from the
light slip to the reddish-yellow surface, and the tendencies
in ornamentation which still strongly remind one of
' Fikellura.* The silhouette style makes liberal use of
white. Not only with inherited aversion does it often
replace incision by delicate lines of paint, provide garments
with white crosses, animals with white spots and white belly-
stripe, and ornaments with white details : in its earlier
period it also extends the white surfaces, which it still places

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

on the ground of the clay at times, from women and linen
chitons to men, horses and dogs, and becomes as parallel
to the Corinthian style with this contrast of colouring as with
its wide-necked broad-bellied form of amphora.

The latest wares of the colony of Daphne (abandoned in
560 B.C.) show the transition to the rendering of folds of
drapery, which takes the place of the old parti-coloured
surfaces in the group of vases which took its rise about the
middle of the century. In this later group, to which a series
of * lebetes ' with topers, satyrs, centaurs, and battle scenes
is an obvious introductory link, and which culminates in two
amphorae at Munich (Figs. 76 and 78) and one in Castle
Ashby, there enters into the old style varied, free and easy,
broadly even laxly rendered, a peculiar severity and discip-
line. The three chief specimens, necked amphorae with
the continuous scene preferred by the East, are more
defined and elastic in shape, more finished in shape and
colour, more ornamental and elaborate in the rendering of
the figures, than was the case with the earlier style. The
conclusion which naturally suggests itself, that this new spirit
came from the West and the Chalkidian-Attic region, is
confirmed by the ornaments. Beside the Ionic looped and
plaited bands, leaf and bud friezes, and the continuous
tendrils (Fig. 76), come the double rays, the Western
palmette and lotus system ; and when the painter scatters
animals among the ornaments (Fig. 76), he follows old
Ionic tradition, but the hare and the hedgehog with the
ostrich riders of the Castle Ashby amphora are of Corin-
thian origin (Fig. 66). In the treatment of the figure, the
meeting of Eastern vigour and Western severity
makes as charming an effect as the genuinely Ionic
and very decorative composition ; the scene of a
Munich amphora arranged round a centre (Fig. 77)
with the cunning Hermes, who creeping up on

^ o

r-' <

? O

u: pi

PLATE XL.

PLATE XLI.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

tip-toe steals away the fair cow lo from the sleeping giant
Argos, and the picture of the Centaurs hunting on the
reverse (Fig. 78) are full of ornamental vigour and at the
same time full of fresh observation. The left hand of the
giant shows a new study of nature compared with the old-
fashioned right of Hermes and left of the front Centaur ; in
the giant the artist is struggling to represent the anatomy,
and the mantle of Hermes plainly falls in layers, in contrast
with the absence of folds in the chiton.

The new impetus, which even expressed itself in expor-
tation to Italy, could not save the Klazomenian manufac-
tory from the preponderance of its Attic rival ; it is at the
same time its end. Not that the East Ionic decorative
tendencies formed a blind alley ; the combination with
western technique ensured its continued life. But Asia
Minor, which at this time fell into the hands of the Persians,
was not a suitable soil for continued production. Athens
seized not only the exportation but the entire production.
The arrival at Athens of East Ionic artists is reflected not
merely in the names of the vase-painters. When on the
jug of Kolchos and the Attic vases, typical Eastern prin-
ciples of composition crop up, when Nikosthenes introduces
an East Ionic shape of amphora (Fig. 104), when the red-
figured technique coming into existence on Klazomenian
sarcophagi conquers the Attic workshops, when on early
red-figure kylikes the same decorative tendencies which
prevailed in the East assert themselves, there can be no
question of an extinction of East Ionic art, but only of a
re-birth in Athens, and a baptism with Attic spirit.

About on a level with the Castle Ashby group is another
East Ionic class, also only known through export to Italy,
the * Caeretan hydriae,' so-called from the place where
they were mostly found (amphorae and kraters being also
represented), which are usually attributed to South East

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Ionia. The developed vase-shapes, the completed black
figure technique, which has a wash under the white and uses
incision freely even for outlines, and the decoration, which
has got beyond the animal style, make their late origin
certain, and the agreement with Ephesian sculpture of
about 550 B.C., expressed in treatment of hair, converging
mantle folds and the graded edges of the drapery, clinches
the matter. When in spite of that these vases stick fast to
the system of contrast in colour, that agrees with an
expressed preference for gay decoration such as from the
days of the Naukratis vases South East Ionia loved. The
'Caeretan* painter actually enhances this'colour preference,
in that he varies the colour of the male body from black to
dark red, bright yellow and white and similarly alternates
the colour of hair and clothes. He gives the same motley
eflfect to the ornamentation, which shows plainly its descent
from the old Rhodian in its broad lotus and palmette system,
its rosettes, hook-crosses, and spiral-crosses ornamenting
the neck, and also reveals East Ionic freedom in natural
myrtle branches and ivy-tendrils, in bucrania with festoons
and in interspersed animals. The animal world too, with its
fallow deer, lions, griffins, winged horses, and winged bulls,
is characteristic of the East and the neighbourhood of Asia.
These animals have long ceased to play their heraldic part,
though on the reverse of the vase two may face each other
in symmetrical correspondence ; they are rather by choice
included in hunting scenes. The traditional tendency finds
a refuge, if anywhere, in the figure scenes. In heraldic
scenes of battle, in the horse-taming ' runner with bent
knee,' in Satyr and Nymph running to meet each other,
it asserts itself : but the living interest makes one forget the
ornamental scheme. Lively drastic description is the
strong point of the 'Caeretan' painter. His broadly treated
scenes of hunting, fighting, and wrestling, the fine delinea-

Fig. 79. HERAKLES SL.AYS BUSIRIS .XND HIS FOLLOWERS : FROM .'\
C^RETAN HYDRL\.

From Furtwd)igler-Rcich]wld, Griechische VascnwaJerei.

Fig. 80. SPARTAN KVl-lX.
PLATE XLIL

Fig. 81. HERAKLES BRINGS CERBERUS TO EURYSTHEUS
C/ERETAN HYDRIA.

PLATE XLIII.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

tions of Satyr life, of the Heraklean legend, of Hermes and
his theft of the kine, of the drunk and lame Hephaistos, of
Europa carried by the bull over the sea, leave nothing to be
desired in the way of original invention, healthy vigour, and
naive vividness, and in their aversion to the typical and
abstract they are diametrically opposed to Attic painting.
The stocky, strong man Herakles with the curly hair who
dispatches the inhospitable Pharaoh, Busiris, and his
cowardly throng (Fig. 79), or who with the hound of hell
frightens the Argive king into a wine jar (Fig. 81), are
cabinet pictures of vigorous humour. The local colouring
is also unmistakeable. The altar with volute profiles is an
East Ionic architectural shape, the knowledge of the
Egyptian and black races, of Egyptian priestly dress, of
monkeys, can only have been obtained in Africa ; the
origin of the Busiris legend is only conceivable in the
neighbourhood of the kingdom of the Pharaohs. Thus
though the Caeretan vases found a local continuation in
Etruria, because of this local colouring one cannot imagine
them made by Ionian colonists in Caere.

On the other hand one may assume origin on Etruscan
soil for another class of East Ionic style, only known from
Etruria, called * Pontic,' as having been wrongly localized
on the Black Sea. The Asiatic-Ionian origin of the style is
based on the vase shapes as on the choice, technique, types
and application of the ornamental and animal decoration ;
and also the figures, the lines of Tritons and Nereids, riders
and Scythians, heralds and Centaurs, and the legendary
scenes, which are often under ornamental influence (Figs.
82 and 83) in execution and application, point to the same
source. The 'Pontic' painters actually enrich our know-
ledge of East Ionic decorative motives by a series of com-
bined lotus, palmettes, volutes, maeanders, by net patterns,
leaf -friezes, etc., by a plentiful selection of animals, which

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

includes the marine Centaur, with the Asiatic man-bull, and
is fond of lines of guinea-fowls. But on the whole the class
is very provincial and cannot be regarded as a clear source
of evidence. It is questionable, whether obstinate persist-
ence in stripe decoration, only reluctantly giving way to the
picture field, would have been possible in the mother-
country well on in the 6th century. The style is visibly
departing further from its Greek starting point. Vases
which represent Lanuvian Juno (B.M. Cat. II. p. 66) or
Etruscan winged demons, show in subject what the style of
itself betrays.

Two classes with scanty decoration, fixed as East Greek
by many finds, can only be named for completeness sake ;
one, the 'Bucchero' ware long known in Etruria, which
perhaps originated in Aeolis and which owes its black lustre
not to glaze colour but to impregnation with charcoal and to
polishing ; the other, the ware with a great extension in
South Asia Minor and Italy, either unadorned, or only
decorated with stripes, which give important conclusions as
to the development of vase-shapes.

The East Greek manner took the place of the Corinthian
in Italy at the beginning of the 7th century. This revolu-
tion is less connected with importation than with the immi-
gration of Ionic artists. But even the new current is more
and more open to the influence of the ever-spreading Attic
importation, which in the East and West not merely
captures the market but also forces production under its
spell.

Before we pass to this victorious fabric, we must once
more return to Peloponnesus, to a fabric standing in isola-
tion and of marked peculiarity, the Spartan. Excavations
at Sparta show the transition to the black-figured style, such
as took place elsewhere about the end of the 7th century.
Corinth seems to have set the example for this transition ;

Figs 82 & 83 PARIS AND HIS HERD ; PRIAM AND HERMES LEAD HERA,
ATHENA AND APHRODITE BEFORE PARIS : FROM A PONTIC AMPHORA.

From Furtwdngler-ReichhoU, Griechische Vasenmalerei.

PLATE XLIV.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

at all events Corinthian elements, e.g. riders with birds for
space-filling in the black-figured style give this indication,
though the conservative retention of the white slip and the
inconsistent rendering of the male eye clearly distinguish it
from Corinthian. It becomes really tangible to us at the
period, when exportation properly begins, at a time which
already puts a black wash under imposed white and with
the shapes takes us further along into the 6th century. The
ware for exportation, which spread far over the mainland
to Naukratis and Samos as well as to Etruria, has given us
only a few big vases, finely decorative works, which are
very conservative in their adornment. The earliest of
them is a Paris * lebes ' with heraldically arranged animal-
frieze and a frieze of figures above it, in which pot-bellied
topers are placed between the Troilos story and a Centaur
battle ; two volute kraters and two hydriae, by their shapes,
cannot be much later. Broad tongues adorn shoulder and
foot, the rays are doubled, to Geometric zig-zag and
hooked bands are added upright arched friezes of lotus and
pomegranate, continuous branches, and the lotus and
palmette pattern ; the animal friezes have types of their
own and do not avoid the processional order not ordinarily
favoured in the West. Even the larger vases found in
actual Spartan sanctuaries are almost entirely decorative
and show little of the figure painting coming in so vigorously
in other manufactories.

A compensation for this is offered by the number of
kylikes preserved, which in the 6th century, as in East
Ionia, Corinth and Athens, so also in Sparta, gradually pass
into the high-stemmed shape with offset rim (Fig. 80). The
outsides of these kylikes are adorned only in a few earlier
specimens with antithetic or processional animal friezes,
otherwise only with the simple or net-like pomegranate
pattern, with lotus leaves and rays ; from the handles pro-

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

ceed palmettes on their sides. The figures are entirely
confined to the interior, which much more commonly than
in other manufactories, rises out of pure ornamentation or
animal decoration to free scenic representations. To be
sure this is often at the expense of the decorative effect.
Most scenes are anything but composed with a view to a
round space, and the segments under the line which marks
the level of the ground, often ver>^ clumsily filled with plant
and animal ornamentation, the rosettes, filling flowers, and
birds dispersed without meaning about the scene, are
always clumsy old-fashioned compromises between repre-
sentation and space-filling. The stock of figures, with
which the painter decorates his interiors, usually more or
less at random, is even in its rendering helpless and anti-
quated ; to make up it preserves its independence and ease,
its primitive solidity ; the strong warriors, riders and
hunters, the men carousing with women, the musicians and
drinkers, the girls bathing in the river, are in subject and
execution truly Spartan. Beside the pictures from daily
life comes mythology with pot-bellied dancers, who have
not yet, so far as we know, been superseded by Ionic Satyrs,
with Erotes crowning riders and drinkers, and various
legendary scenes.

None of these kylix-pictures breathes the Spartan spirit,
the spirit of the lyric poetry of Sparta, so well as the Berlin
vase with the carrying home of fallen warriors, which is
perhaps taken over from a continuous frieze without any
attempt to fit it into the circular field ; but even in this shape
has the effect upon us of a funeral march of Kallinos or
Tyrtaios (Fig. 84). But in humorous descriptiveness the
Arkesilas vase (Fig. 85) takes the palm. It is a genre scene,
but not this time from the life of a Spartan citizen, but a
travel reminiscence of a painter, who once in African
Gyrene looked on, while the silphion was weighed under

Fij^. 84. r^KTL RXIXd l'"R(>M HATTLK : FROM A SPARTAN KVI.IX

,7,-

PFATE XL\'. -JIpAIj ''''• jJ^'-

Fig. 85. .\RKES1L.\S OF CYRPINR \\ATrHIN(; THE LADING OF
.SILPHION: FRO.\r A SIWRTAN KVLIX.

PLATE XL\ I.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

the stern eye of Arkesilas, and stowed in the hold of a sailing
ship to be exported. The monkey too, which the painter
puts on the yard, he became acquainted with in Africa ; the
birds are not meaningless but fly round the ship ; only the
lizard is an external addition, and we already know it to be
Corinthian. The life-like picture, which before the deci-
sive excavations in Sparta was regarded as chief proof of
Cyrenaic origin for this pottery, confirms the result of
digging in the shape of the chair legs, which agree with
Spartan reliefs, and in the inscription, only possible in
Sparta. There is an approximate date given too ; for the
king, whose portrait we have, reigned about the middle of
the 6th century. With this it agrees that his mantle is
divided into black and red stripes, which, as we saw in the
Phineus kylix, comes before the rendering of folds.

This conservative style does not show the same keenness
as its contemporaries in rendering folds and developing the
knowledge of anatomy ; nor is the need felt for a long time
of freeing the field from filling ornaments or the base seg-
ment from animal decoration. The group of vases which
belongs to the second half of the century is especially
marked by the return of the white slip and of polychromy in
the ornamentation. It is only late that the Spartan painters
turn to the rendering of folds and richer body details, really
only in a time of decadence, which diminishes the foot, no
longer colours the ornament, and often avoids the base-
segment. The occasional use of pale red figures painted on
a black ground with incised details can only be explained as
a provincial imitation of Attic red-figured technique, with
the superiority of which Sparta cannot even remotely com-
pete. Similar vases without any figures show the last output
of the fabric.

The only fabric in which the black-figured style com-
pleted its life and exhausted its possibilities, the only one

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

which shows its living force through the archaic and classic
periods, is the Attic. Even at the end of the 7th century it
begins to vie with others. We already saw that Vurva
vases were exported to East Ionia ; the Gorgon lebes of the
Louvre comes from Italy. Etruria now becomes the chief
place where Attic and indeed all black-figured vases are
found. The fact that ware made to be exported to Etruria
first gave us the knowledge of Greek vase-painting, led
enquiries on false tracks for a long time in localizing the
fabrics, and even to-day the word 'vases' reminds us of the
decisive finds on Italian soil.

The Attic manufactory is, as we saw, proved not only
by the alphabet of their inscriptions but also by continuous
finds in Attica itself. To be sure, the inequality of produc-
tion in technique and style obtrudes itself on us here more
than elsewhere, and makes us take fabric in a wider sense,
as a complex of workshops, which turn out at the same time
good and rubbishy ware, traditional and progressive
painting, vases with light or dark-red clay. The Boeotian
workshops, without doing them injustice, we may class with
Attic workshops of the second class ; in the 6th century, in
so far as they do not go on turning out their old bird kylikes
(p. 52), they are only provincial offshoots of Attic industrial
art. The same is the case with Eretria.

The inequality of Attic ware has yet other reasonSi
More than other fabrics the Attic adopted foreign influ-
ences. Athens' central position between Corinth, Chalkis
and the Cyclades, its relations to East Ionia, led to a
penetration of old Attic art traditions with other elements
and to the formation of a new style : the rise of trade and
industry enticed alien painters to settle at Athens, since
foreign fabrics had more and more to give in to Athenian
superiority. Thus it is that Corinthian, Chalkidian,
' Phineus,* East Ionic, occasionally even Spartan fabrics

iMo. 86. \\EDDIN(; OF PELEIS : FRAGMENTS OF A CAULDRON BY

SOPHILOS.

Fig. 87. .\TTIC TRIPOD-VASE.
PLATE XLVIL

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

are reflected in the Attic pottery. These reflections give a
very varied air to Attic pottery, but on the other hand help
to a dating of its separate phases. After a period of Corin-
thian influence follows one with a strong Chalkidian element,
in the eye-kylikes the pattern of Thineus' ware is at work,
while relations to East Ionic art run along side by side.

The group, which one is inclined to make parallel with the
red-clay Corinthian, may be named the 'Sophilos' group
from the fragments of a 'lebes' found on the Acropolis (Fig.
86). In contrast with its immediate predecessor the
Sophilos vase vies in motley effect with Corinthian ware.
Ornament is richly painted ; himatia and borders are picked
out in colour, women and linen chitons have a white filling ;
in the red of the male face and the varied colouring of the
horses the system of contrasted colours is as plainly
exhibited as in the red colouring of the male breast or of the
whole male body on other contemporary vases. The
marriage of Peleus and Thetis is the subject, in a type
repeated on the Francois vase (Fig. 90), which we see
developed on Corinthian kraters, probably under the
influence of the chest of Kypselos. Who introduced into
the scene the Muse in front view playing on the syrinx, can-
not be stated ; the lower part of the body in profile is in
marked contrast with this bold front view ; that it is of orna-
mental origin, perhaps from a double Siren, might be
suggested without its being too venturesome.

The frieze is framed between a broad lotus and palmette
pattern and a stripe with large animals. Whether the filling
ornament has been omitted from the animal as well as from
the figured frieze, in which nothing but the big lettering
reminds us of the old requirement of filling the space, cannot
be ascertained from this specimen ; a second vase of the
same painter shows between the animals, which still suggest
the Vurva style, isolated large rosettes, and other vases of

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

this group make a palmette flower or bud with stalk project
into the field. These isolated echoes of the old filling
ornamentation, influenced by the East like the gradually
appearing friezes of buds and leaves (p. 83) disappear about
the middle of the century ; but the animal friezes them-
selves live on longer.

This survival of old decorative tendencies in a new shape
appears still more plainly in other vases of the "Sophilos"
period. The amphorae, which leave a " metope "
unpainted to carry their figures or make the figure field con-
tinuous, when they do not cover the whole body with
stripes, have like the Klazomenian on the neck a head, a
lotus and palmette cross, or a circle between zig-zags (the
amphora which Dionysos is dragging on the Francois vase
is of this type), and prefer still to decorate their stripes and
fields with heraldically arranged animals. The Ionic
liberties too, the meaningless compositions, are not infre-
quent, just as beside many Corinthian echoes in the friezes
of animals and riders, Ionic patterns often assert themselves
in the drawing and colouring of the animals, and in the shape
and decoration of the vases. The kraters and hydriae
which are parallel with the Corinthian, give the same
impression. Of the smaller vases we may select two hasty
compositions, which cannot compare with the fine work of
Sophilos, but in their way help to enlarge our Idea of the
period. The Munich tripod-vase (Fig. 87) in the stripe on
the rim shows alongside of the old animal composition two
wrestlers of the Corinthian scheme and a horse race from
the same source, the succession of which is interrupted by a
fallen horse just as the animal friezes of contemporary
vases contain fighting animal groups ; and a kantharos of
Boeotian manufacture and shape (Fig. 88) over the animal
frieze introduces the wild dancers, who as at Corinth,
Chalkis and in East Ionia prepare the way for the Satyrs.

Fig.

BCEOTIAN KANTHAROS.

Fig. 89. ARRIVAL OF THESEUS' SHIP AT DELOS : DETAIL OF THE
FRANCOIS VASE, FIG. 90.

From FiirtwdiigJer-RcichhoJd, GriechiscJic Vasennialerei.
PLATE XLVIII.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

Just as we followed the process in late Corinthian and
Chalkidian workmanship, so in Athens the broad, massive
archaic black-figured style in the shape of the vase and the
rendering of the figures passes into more and more elegant
compression and precision ; Sophilos is followed by Klitias.
The Florence vase ' made ' by the potter Ergotimos,
* painted ' by Klitias and named after its finder Francois
(Figs. 89 and 90), even in the boldly rising outline of the
body shows the spirit of a new age, and goes beyond the
round-bellied shape of the Gorgon ' lebes ' as much as the
late Corinthian kraters surpass the Eurytios vase (Fig. 64).
Ergotimos holds the mean between the old round-bellied
vase shapes and the more elegant ones of the Chalkidian
best period (p. 77), just as Klitias does between the figured
style of Sophilos and that of Amasis (p. 105) ; and as
Ergotimos does his best in delicately moulding the shape
and gives the vase a showy appearance with his elongated
handle volutes, so in the figured decoration covering the
whole surface and in the incredibly delicate execution of all
details Klitias presents a refinement of the black-figured
style which in its way cannot be surpassed. Potter and
painter here take a step, which secures for Attic pottery the
paramount position for all time.

The treatment of the procession of the Olym-
pians in honour of the newly-wedded sea-goddess
on the principal frieze is particularly rich. We
have seen that Klitias here utilized an old type. The repre-
sentative solemnity required by the subject gives an archaic
stamp to this frieze ; in particular the richly adorned festal
clothes with patterns that it almost requires a microscope to
see, which bear witness to uncanny patience and accuracy
on the part of the painter, heighten the stiffly venerable
impression. But when compared with Sophilos, Klitias
shows a considerable advance in the rendering of nature.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

For that we must not lay stress on the head of Dionysos in
front view, for the god's mask-like appearance passed from
cult into vase-painting ; but we may point to the
diminished heaviness of the figures, the smaller size of the
eye, the division of the himatia into stripes, which here and
there converge like folds, and the reduction in size of the
inscriptions. The other friezes exhibit Klitias as a master
of the delineation of life and movement : the arrival of the
ship of Theseus at Delos (Fig. 89), the hunt of Meleager,
the battle with the Centaurs, the chariot-race, the return of
Hephaistos, the adventure of Troilos, and the delightful
frieze on the foot with the battle of dwarfs and cranes ; even
the heraldic animal frieze is seized by the same liveliness, for
between the heraldic sphinxes and griffins the animals, now
treated in quite an elegant and concise way, are attacking
each other. How much of these scenes is due to the inven-
tiveness of Klitias and his direct observation of nature
cannot be made out. He has not got the rough freshness
and naturalism of the Ionic painters, but instead a marked
feeling for clear and speaking types ; and generally speak-
ing, discipline and the gift of abstraction seem to have been
more characteristic of the Athenians than of the lonians,
who set more carelessly to work. Perhaps Klitias got from
eastern masters the interruption of the heraldry in the
animal frieze by fighting groups ; and at any rate the Satyrs
who accompany the drunken Hephaistos come from the
East into Attic pottery.

In the technique of the figures, the old style is worthily
putting forth its last efiforts ; the white is still put direct on
the clay, the man's face is coloured red, black horse alter-
nates with white. But with the perfection of the clay and
the black used in painting, and the minute detail of incised
lines, a new feeling for colour is brought in, which leads
away from the old motley effect ; the masters of the

Fii;. 00.
KRATKR BY KLITIAS AND KRCOTIMOS: "THE FRANCOIS VASE.

From Fiirtiudiiglcr-RciclihoJd, (i riccliisclie Wiseiniialcrci.

FL.VrE XI.IX.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

Frangois vase themselves in their later works go over to the
new system, which paints a ground for the white and gives
up red in the male body, a system which, perhaps, other less
thorough artists had already set going.

The chariot-race for a prize on the neck of the Francois
vase introduces us to an old and popular contest, which
according to tradition Pisistratus replaced by other games,
when in 566 B.C. he reformed the Panathenaea. At the
same time he must have erected a new image of Athena on
the Acropolis, which, in opposition to the old conception,
(p. 66) still followed by the Francois vase, represented the
goddess in full armour. For on the prize vases, which were
given to the victors full of precious oil and labelled * one of
the prizes from the city of Athens ' (twv 'AOrtPTjOev
ciexcov), Athena always appears as a fighting warrior,
just as the poet Stesichoros and paintings of the time of
Sophilos had made her leap from the head of Zeus. The
oldest of these Panathenaic amphorae (an idea of their
shape is given by Fig. 101, a later specimen of about 520
B.C.) shows on the obverse the new type of Athena in the
making, and on the reverse the chariot-race which was now
becoming infrequent. Since this vase adheres closely to
the Sophilos group in style and especially in the animal
decoration of the neck, but on the other hand already has a
painted ground for white, it will not be possible to move the
Francois vase and the transition to the later technique away
from the sixties of the 6th century.

The group of kraters, lebetes, hydriae, amphorae and
other vases, which immediately adheres to the Francois
vase, usually, in so far as it is not interrupted by marked
individualities, is described by the antiquated name Tyrrh-
enian,' derived from the finds in Etruria. The conserva-
tive and often mechanical character of these vases does not
conceal the progressive elements. The vases assume the

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

more slender egg-shaped form known to us from Chalkis,
the old neck ornament of the amphorae (p. 96) is replaced
by lotus and palmette. White colour is regularly placed on
black ground ; Herakles is often equipped with the lion's
skin ; Athena with at any rate helmet and spear ; in place
of the old-fashioned burlesque dancers and naked women
come Satyrs and Maenads. But of improvements in
observation of nature this second-class group has hardly any
to show. It lives on the achievements of great masters, on
Corinthian traditions, and eastern influences. The frieze
amphorae, which continue alongside of the amphorae with
picture field, vie with the Frangois vase in the accumulation
of figured friezes ; only in the lower stripe they economize
in figure scenes by using lines of lotus and palmettes and
animals. Thus their general appearance is still very like
the Vurva vases, the Gorgon lebes and many vases of the
Sophilos period. The traditions of the 7th century end in
this mechanical group ; the great masters of the second
third of the century bring, perhaps from Chalkis, new vase
types and new kinds of decoration.

The transition may first be followed in the Kylix, which
happily can be traced in its development by many signed
specimens. The firm of Ergotimos produces a cup with
knobbed handles and no set-off for the rim, the interior
picture of which is framed by tongue pattern , thus a kylix
of the type known to us from Corinth and Chalkis ; on the
outside the Satyr is still loosely connected with drinkers of
the old type, and has thus not yet been associated with
Dionysos and the Maenads. This type of kylix shews
marked Chalkidian influence, especially in later specimens
like that of Boston (Fig. 92), on which Circe (painted white
over black) hands to the companions of Odysseus the fatal
potion and so brings about her own abrupt end. Series of
branches and buds, probably also the dog in front view (p 81)

100

Fif?. 91. ' LITTLE MASTER ' KYLIX.

Kij4. 92. ATTIC KYLIX WITH KNOB-HANDLE.S.
PLATE L.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

and much in the style of the figures come from the neigh-
bouring fabric. This Chalkidian influence is to be traced
on a second type of kyUx belonging to this period, that with
off-set rim, (not the one in Circe's hand), which for a time
carelessly draws its figures over the junction, but finally
makes a clean cut between handle frieze and rim ornament :
the rim is e.g. decorated with a branch or painted black, the
handle frieze bears figures or the artist's signature in neat
letters between the palmettes proceeding from the handles.
The masters of the Frangois vase themselves took this step
forward ; in Naukratis and the interior of Asia Minor signed
specimens have been found, speaking documents of the
popularity of the fine Attic ware in the East, which help to
explain the alteration of the Ionic style (p. 86).

The workshop of Ergotimos passed to his son Eucheiros
(B.M. Cat. ii., p. 221), who, like the sons of Nearchos,
Ergoteles and Tleson (B.M. Cat. ii., p. 222) is found among
the so-called * little masters,' the makers of dedicated
high-stemmed cups, who, with special pride, and probably
also for decorative reasons, put their names on their pro-
ducts. More than twenty makers' names, among them
those of Exekias, Pamphaios, Charitaios, Hischylos, and
Nikosthenes, have been handed down to us on these vases,
an important piece of evidence for the vigour of Attic
production in the generation after Klitias and Ergotimos.
These masters preserve the division between handle and rim
stripes, even when the rim is not marked off from the body.
As with Klitias, the handle stripe bears the master's inscrip-
tion or a drinking motto ; in this case the representation,
consisting of neat miniature figures or a female head drawn
in fine outline, moves into the upper stripe (Fig. 91). Side
by side with that, the painting of the rim black and decora-
tion of the handle stripe with figures are very common. In
the figures decorative tendencies, betokening intention

101

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

rather than convention, assert themselves. The interior
picture often consists of the Gorgon's mask, or a figure to fill
the space to fit the circle ; the outside often bears meaning-
less compositions (heraldic animals, winged creatures,
runners, riders, men wrapped in cloaks), out of which
develop scenes of hunting and pursuit, chariot-races, and
cock-fights ; but also mythological scenes and vigorous
battle pictures with many figures occur. When such scenes
are still flanked by heraldic animals, in this case primitive
traditions are consciously retained.

On the Munich kylix (Fig. 91) the painter in the inscrip-
tion praises the beauty of Kalistanthe. More commonly
fair boys are praised, a practice which continues on vases
for a century, the explanation being supplied by the erotic
scenes represented from the later time of Klitias. Those
celebrated are seldom to be regarded as the favourites of
the vase-painters themselves, but generally sons of the best
society, for whom there was a furore. This worship of
beauty is of use to the historian, for many of the Kaloi are
great persons with established dates, and anyhow the com-
mon love-name puts all vases which bear it into a short
period of time ; for the bloom of beauty lasts not more than
a decade.

If the kylikes of the * little masters ' last to the
beginning of the red-figured style (p. 109), the eye-cups go
a good bit beyond this limit. The type must have been
brought to Athens from the * Phineus ' manufactory (p. 80)
in the later period of the * little masters ' ; and perhaps
the Ionian Amasis, who has left a fine specimen
with a figure holding a branch between the eyes,
had much to do with this naturalization. Certainly
the Attic artists never rival the swelling shapes and
vigorous life of their prototypes. With this type
the outside begins again to be treated as a decorative unit

102

Fig. 93. DIONY-SOS : INTERIOR OF AN EYE KYLIX BY EXEKIAS.

PLATE LI.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

without division, an arrangement of which the red-figured
style makes almost exclusive use. The interior is generally
not more richly decorated than by the ' little masters.'
When Exekias on one vase adorns the whole interior surface
with a wonderful idyll, the giver of the vine in a sailing boat
with dolphins leaping round him, this is quite an exception
(Fig. 93) : that the ground is painted brick-red, is quite

unique.

The names Ergotimos and Klitias, Exekias and Amasis,
Charitaios, Pamphaios and Nikosthenes show that the
manufacture of kylikes was by no means a separate
speciality, and that it may be simply due to accident if
certain firms producing larger vases do not recur among
the * little masters.'

The larger masterpieces naturally show the progress of
the style much more plainly than the conservative Tyr-
rhenian ware and the kylikes. We noticed above, that
single specimens, which stand out markedly from the ordi-
nary ware of the period, attach themselves to the Frangois
vase. The master of a fine lebes from the Acropolis show-
ing Ionic influence, who occasionally still colours the male
face red, probably emigrated from the East like his contem-
poraries Kolchos and Lydos. Like Klitias, the masters
prefer to cover garments with rich patterns rather than to
render folds : they relieve the monotony of white chitons
by vertical strokes, and divide the surfaces of cloaks into
stripes. This division does not yet attain any effect of
depth. But when Nearchos, the father of two " little
masters ' (pp. 101 and 112), divides the short male chiton
also by wavy lines into black and red stripes, he has already
in his mind the rendering of folds, and Kolchos grades the
ends of cloaks with clear folds. This emancipation from
the old superficiality, which in the period of the * little
masters ' leads to the emergence of the * fold ' style in the

103

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

works of Amasis and Exekias, must now be exhibited in a
selection of amphorae and hydriae in connection with the
change of vase-shapes and decoration.

We begin with the big-bellied amphora, which at the
end of the 7th century we saw reserve a square field and
decorate it with horses' or women's heads, and which in the
period of Sophilos begins to put an upper border of orna-
ment on its figure-field, which is often adorned with animals.
Fine specimens of the Klitias period, which banish the
animal ornament into a lower frieze or give it up altogether,
show an obvious change in shape, in that the handles,
instead of standing off like ears, are drawn up perpendicu-
larly, while the body of the vase is to some degree tightened.
Vases like that of Taleides with the slaying of the Minotaur,
or like the unsigned Iliupersis vase in Berlin (Fig. 94) with
the gay alternate palmette pattern and the old heavy foot of
the Francois vase, belong to this class. On both vases
standing figures form an extension of an animated central
group, but the Iliupersis master makes a better whole of his
triptych than Taleides, who merely juxtaposes the heroes'
conflict and the spectators : alongside of the furious Neop-
tolemos, who has already laid one Trojan low and is on the
point of despatching the aged king and his grandson with
one blow, Menelaos threatens his faithless wife, whom he
has won back, while on the other side Priam's entreaties are
supported by wife and daughter : a picture rich in content,
of true archaic vividness and talkativeness, excellently
drawn and composed. It is not only the way in which
white is used that takes one beyond the Frangois vase ; the
rosette ornamentation of the garments is quite typical of the
following period (Fig. 92) ; the wavy striping of the short
chiton and the simple grading of the cloak reminds us of
Nearchos and Kolchos, and whether Klitias could have
characterized a dying man as well as our master is at least

104

PLATE LII.

PLATE LI 1 1.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

questionable.

The current of Chalkidian influence, which sets in
vigorously about this time, seizes also the body amphora.
The arched foot becomes more plate-like, a clay-ring unites
it with the end of the body, which is more taper ; the
Chalkidian wreath of buds (Fig. 71) for a time commonly
takes the place of the palmette and lotus band, which
becomes scantier and more monotonous, and as at Chalkis,
a figure frieze (Fig. 95) may occupy this space. The type
belongs to the earlier * little master ' period. From
Exekias, who was himself in his off-hours a * little master,'
comes a specimen in the Louvre with the praise of the fair
Stesias, a youthful work of this worthy successor of Klitias,
on which Chalkidian patterns are very finely worked out,
without the slightest attempt at the rendering of folds.

The unsigned Wiirzburg amphora of Amasis (Fig. 95),
like all the vases of this master peculiar in shape and of
perfect technique, is more progressive and probably some-
what later than the Stesias amphora of Exekias : the cloak
of Dionysos on the obverse is laid in three folds ; on the
reverse the shaggy satyrs, stylized in a quite un-Attic way,
who to the sound of the flute are gathering, pressing, and
distributing into jars the beloved gift of the god, show the
same connection with the * Phineus ' factory as the
eye kylix (p. 102). The technical perfection and the fine
decorative effect of Amasis' vases are only surpassed by a
wonderful contemporary group, which is usually called the
* affected ' class, because it consciously sacrifices the living
representation of the figure world to the ornamental general
effect.

The over-elegant works of Exekias, the ' affected
vases, the minute 'little master' kylikes represent the last
refinement of the silhouette style, its last trump-card. The
future belonged not to the masters of the adorned surface,

105

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

but to the delineators of the surface in movement. In the
last phase of the body amphora prior to the red-figured
style, in which the band-like handles and the narrower neck
are drawn higher and the stiff palmette pattern becomes
canonical, Exekias in his riper development passes over to
rich rendering of folds ; on the harmonious amphora in
Rome, which no longer praises Stesias but Onetorides (Fig.
96) he exhibits in the cloaks of the players the last possibili-
ties of his subtle technique with an almost incredible devo-
tion to detail, but even these fine clothes have their edges
overlapping, and on the reverse of the vase, besides foldless
patterned clothes, appear cloaks richly animated with folds.
The amphora must be of the same period as the eye kylix
(Fig. 93) ; not only the feeling as a whole but the dark-red
chitons in layers on the outside point to the late activity of
the master.

The necked amphorae complete our idea of the
two great masters. The old heavy shapes with the
arched foot take up Chalkidian influences and go through
the same processes of change, which we know from Chalkis.
The old-fashioned decoration with animal stripes is retained
by the Tyrrhenian vases, that with continuous pictorial field
by the 'affected' group for a time, till the later Chalkidian
type conquers the whole field (Fig. 69). Amasis seems not
merely to have introduced it into Athens but also to have
created the pretty variation with the flat shoulder with a
rectangular turn and the wide handles running out below
into tendrils : for these continuous tendrils are old property
of his eastern home. The handle ornament separates off
the pictures on the two sides and liberates the figures from
the constraints of a frieze. The Paris amphora with Diony-
sos and the interesting group of embracing Maenads (Fig.
98) is closely connected with the Wiirzburg amphora
(Fig. 95) not only by the double rays, which Amasis loves,

106

9G. ACHILLES AND AL\S rLAVIXC, AT DRALCHTS: FROM AN
AMPHORA BY EXEKL^S.

Fig. 97. ATTIC NECKED AMPHORA WITH SATYR-MASK.
PLATE LIV.

Fio. 98.
NECKED AMPHORA WITH THE SIC.XATLRE OF THE POTTER AMASIS.

Fig. 99. DETAIL FROM THE INTERIOR OF A CAULDRON BY EXEKIAS.

PLATE LV.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

by the grouping, which in the other vase is transferred
without change to satyrs, by the beginning of himation folds,
but also by many details of the very individual style. The
aversion to white colour is interesting. On both vases the
linen chiton of the god is left black ; the Paris
maenads are rendered in outline only : it is but
seldom that the reaction against the old parti-coloured
scheme goes so far. Parallels are provided by the Athena
of Kolchos' jug and the girl-busts of the ' little masters
(Fig. 91). Both the other amphorae of Amasis are more
advanced. The shape of the vase is slimmer, the decora-
tion simpler, the relation of figures to space freer. The
bodies are no longer the thick-set broad-thighed type of
the older style : the eye plays no longer so prominent a
part. The short chiton is not merely laid in black and
red layers but even provided with a quite naturally waving
border : the artist thus far surpasses the standard of Exekias
and even of early red-figured masters. He need not on
that account be put very late, for the simple Ionic masters
of the Caeretan hydriae, perhaps his countrymen,
made this border before him. This lonism is in
favour of Amasis, who signs only as potter, having him-
self painted all his vases, and having played the pioneer not
only in vase shapes and decoration but also in figure style.
Exekias (in whose works the unity of the whole is often
expressly emphasized by the inscription * made and
painted me ') does not attack the problem of folds so boldly.
Even on the two fine necked amphorae, which praise the
favourite of his later period, as a good Athenian he lays the
drapery in neatly-ironed layers.

The slender Munich necked amphora (Fig. 97) goes still
further beyond the Chalkidian models (Fig. 69). The neck
ornament connects it with the late works of Exekias, the eye
decoration with the kylix type of the same time, and even

107

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

the space-filling vine-tendrils, which perhaps Amasis intro-
duced from the ' Phineus ' factory into Attic painting, are
a favourite motive in later times. The satyr mask, like the
Dionysos mask, probably passed from cult into decorative
painting ; if Klitias represents Dionysos, and Amasis the
satyr, with head in front view, the influence of these masks
is not to be mistaken.

We have not yet named the most productive amphora
painter. Nikosthenes supplied some fine examples of the
method of Amasis, some of which like the Exekias lebes
(Fig. 99) on the body of the vase help the fine black colour to
exclusive possession ; besides a quantity of notably metallic
amphorae with band handles, the production of
which in quantities seems to be his speciality, though other
masters adopted and modified the shape (Fig. 104). The
often very hasty and conservative decoration of these vases
cannot come from one painter. Nikosthenes, of whom
almost a hundred signed vases are extant (kraters,
' Amasis ' and * Nikosthenes ' amphorae, * little master '
kylikes, eye kylikes, neatly painted jugs with white ground,
and red-figured vases) must have employed a series of
painters. The only one who gives his name, Epiktetos, we
shall hear of later.

The hydria too, which often shows its use in pretty foun-
tain scenes (Fig. 106), alters its form. As in Chalkis (p. 76)
the egg-shaped type of the Klitias period, shown e.g. on the
Troilos frieze of the Frangois vase, gradually gives way to
the later type with picture field and horizontal, separately
adorned shoulder. Timagoras, a contemporary of Exekias,
still prefers a broad-bellied shape and does not form handle
and foot as elegantly as Pamphaios. His Paris vase with
the later type of the contest with Triton (p. 67), on which
he still paints the monster's face red for colour contrast, is
very important for chronology by a declaration of love for

108

PLATE LVI.

THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE

Andokides, a young colleague and later chief master of the
early red-figured style. If Timagoras is the predecessor of
Andokides, Pamphaios is his rival. His slim London
hydria with the slightly bent up handles, on which the vine
of Dionysos overgrows the whole picture, and the dark-red
striping of the cloak assumes pure fold-character, falls into
the red-figured period, which after the second third of the
century begins to compete with the old technique, and to
which Pamphaios himself opens his workshop. The new
style did not abruptly drive out the old : from the time of
its predominance perhaps more black-figured vases are pre-
served than from the preceding period. In the leading
studios for a time both techniques were practised side by
side, often by the same painters. The balance inclined
quickly to the side of the style which painted the back-
ground and not the figure, and after the transitional time of
Andokides and Pamphaios only inferior talents experiment
in the old silhouette style. But though driven out of the
leading position, this old style was still busy and productive
at least to the beginning of the 5th century : especially
necked amphorae and hydriae, which the new style did not
zealously affect, keep the tradition.

At this later date the shapes become elongated, the lotus
and palmette ornament loses colour, sweep and consistency.
The hydriae bend their handles more steeply upwards : the
row of palmettes enclosed by tendrils is preferred as fram-
ing ornament. The figures move more freely in the space,
and are also more hastily drawn ; in particular the rendering
of folds becomes regular. The red stripes, which
are painted quite meaninglessly between the folds, no
longer remind us that they once indicated sewed parts of
garments ; white rosettes and red spots serve as surface
patterns, a red stroke as border. On the fine hydria in
Berlin (Fig. 100) probably of Euphronios' time, which, it is

109

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

true, is quite unlike its class, the old round formation of the
eye actually approximates to the natural oval.

The links with the red-figured style, especially
common love names like Hipparchos, Pedieus, and Lea-
gros, help us to date this style. Thus the circum-
scribed row of palmettes seems to appear in the early
Leagros period (p. 114) ; the Berlin vase is thus moved to
the end of the century, like a group of pelikai with charming
genre scenes and a series of other vases of red-figured
shape (p. 119).

In the new century the black-figured production gradu-
ally dies away. Apart from the Panathenaic amphorae
(p. 99) and other vases, which for ritual reasons remain
conservative, only trifling small ware keeps up the old style.
The prize vases can be followed as votive offerings on the
Acropolis, and in exported specimens down into the 4th
century, where they are dated to the year by archons'
names (one of 313 B.C. has been found) ; even in late times
they do not give up the old type of Athena, but elongate it
to agree with the slender proportions of the vase, and com-
bine other later features with the old picture.

In Boeotia black-figured painting, alongside of primitive
attempts to imitate Attic red-figured vases, continued as
long in the burlesque parodies of myth of the so-called
Kabirion ' vases ; black painting on a light ground is
found in the early Hellenistic ' Hadra vases ' made at
Alexandria, and similar late phenomena occur in various
localities. These late black-figured vases show real pro-
gress in nothing but the development of a loose freely
moving vegetable ornamentation : but this progress de-
pended on pure brush-technique, not on the old incised
style.

110

Fig. 101. ATTIC VASE, LATE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE.

Fig. 102. PANATHENAIC AMPHORA.
PLATE LVII.

CHAPTER V.

THE RED-FIGURED STYLE IN THE ARCHAIC

PERIOD

HOW the sudden change of technique took place,how the
idea suggested itself, that instead of painting silhouettes
on the ground of the clay, figures drawn in outline should
be left free to contrast with the black background, is not
yet explained. The inversion of the colour system is not
new. From Ionic, Corinthian, Attic, and Boeotian work-
shops we know of light painting on a dark ground, and a
plate from Thera has light figures in added paint and a
black background. But this is entirely different from the
red-figured style, which uses the ground of the clay for its
figures. Only late Klazomenian sarcophagi can be re-
garded as its earlier stages, and it is quite possible that the
new technique was naturalized in Athens by East Ionic
painters.

At any rate the idea fell on fruitful soil. The archaic
mixture of colour was long worn out, the simplification of
colour-effect, by increasing limitation to the two values,
clay and glaze, was in full swing, and the effect of big glazed
surfaces had been tried in the body-amphorae and in
vessels completely covered with black colour (p. 108). But
more than all else the revolution in figure-drawing which
was now setting in strong in the great art was striving for
expression in vase painting. A successor of the Athenian
Eumares, Kimon of Kleonai, according to Pliny, invented
oblique views and foreshortening, rescued the body from
archaic stiffness, furnished limbs with joints, for the first

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

time rendered veins, and represented folds and swellings
of drapery ; he must belong to the last third of the century ;
for his predecessor is father of the sculptor Antenor, who
worked, it is true, for the old potter Nearchos (p. 103) but
also for the young Athenian Republic (510 B.C.) Though
Pliny, after the fashion of ancient historians, is too fond of
asserting ' inventions,' this much is clear, that after
Eumares there was a breach with tradition in Athenian
painting, and that here, for the first time in the history of
the world, bonds were once for all burst, which hitherto had
hardly been touched. Naturally the vase-painters could
not be left behind ; but since the old silhouette incised style
was quite unsuited for the new liberties of drawing, but on
the other hand outline drawing on light ground ran counter
to the decorative purposes of the vases which used sil-
houettes, the idea of inverting the colour-scheme must have
been received with enthusiasm among the vase-painters.

The new invention unites the enhanced freedom of
movement of the draughtsman with a decorative effect
which is not inferior to that of the old style. The warm red
inner surface of the figures, which the painter can animate
by the brilliant sweeping * relief lines,' splendidly contrasts
with the wonderful black lustre of the ground. The new style
too is a silhouette style, and uses the ornamental effect of
the figures. But it contains quite different possibilities, and
of itself moves away from the types of the old style and
towards an individual treatment of the figures. The con-
trast between the black silhouette of the man and the white-
filled figure of the woman falls away, also the circular shape
of the man's eye connected with the incised style, the gay
dresses, and much besides. The red-figured style enters
into the characteristic working out of the human body and
its parts, the study of drapery folds and the rendering of
movement in a living way. But growing naturalism is in

112

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

true Greek fashion contemporaneous with adherence to
types ; formula once invented are retained and repeated
by different masters, until new discoveries by bolder spirits
outdo them and put them in the shade. In the archaic red-
figured style this vigorous struggle between formula and
bold observation of nature offers an exciting spectacle.
Step by step the ground is won from the archaic style, till
after a struggle of about fifty years, about the time of the
Persian wars, a free rendering of nature is attained, which
then lays the foundation for the formation of a new and
higher series of types, for the style of Polygnotos and
Phidias.

This period may be regarded as the culminating point
of vase-painting altogether, if emphasis is laid on the
intensity of the line, and on the intimate relation between
artist and technique. In it artistic craft had its greatest
triumphs and created the most perfect synthesis between
ornamental types and delightful naturalism. Potters and
painters were never again so conscious of their perform-
ances as in this period, never again felt themselves so much
as rival individualities. Certainly the old black-figured
masters, Timonidas, Klitias, Exekias and Amasis, cannot be
denied personal expression. But the red-figured conquerors
of nature, each of whom in his own way breaks through the
old system of type, produce a far more differentiated effect.
It is also a result of the fresh current, which now enters vase-
painting, that we can more than ever follow the develop-
ment of these individualities. The signatures, which are
preserved in such number from no other period, give an
insight, not merely into the manifold production, but also
into the growth of personalities and their struggle for ever
new possibilities.

Among the signatures we must distinguish between
potters and painters. We must never assume that the

113

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

* maker * is responsible for the adornment of his vases ; it
looks rather as if the painters had lived pretty independently
and been employed first by one and then by another pro-
prietor of a workshop. What it means, that now the potter
signs, now the painter, sometimes both together, and that
many strong personalities do not sign at all, cannot be made
out in the present state of our knowledge.

The love-names help to fix the chronology of the vases
still more than in the black-figured style. We saw that
Andokides was kalos, when Timagoras' workshop was in
full swing. When he is a full-blown painter, the ' Epik-
tetan ' kylikes and an Oxford plate celebrate the youths
Stesagoras, Hipparchos and Miltiades. If Miltiades is the
victor of Marathon, Stesagoras his brother, and Hipparchos
the archon of 496 B.C., their ephebic years and these vases
must be fixed about 520 B.C. Memnon's youth must fall
about the same time ; for one of the many kylikes with his
name, like a lekythos signed by Gales, shows the bard
Anakreon, who was entertained by the Pisistratidae, 522-
514 B.C. The painters Phintias and Euthymides praise the
youth Megakles ; now on a votive pinax from the Acropolis
this name was replaced later by another, and it is a plausible
guess to connect this erasure with the banishment of a
Megakles in 486 B.C., who about twenty-five years before
might have deserved these praises. The youthful beauty of
Leagros is in the time of the vase-painter Euphronios, and
anyhow earlier than the destruction of Miletos, in which a
Leagros vase was shattered : the Leagros who fell in battle
as Strategos 465 B.C., must have been an ephebus in
the last decade of the 6th century. His son Glaukon, who
was Strategos in 440 B.C., dates the vases which celebrate
him with his father's name a generation later, so about
470 B.C. The only established fact from finds does not
contradict the * Leagros ' chronology ; in the tumulus of

114

'/^. '-z.

C .

Z Qi

O :5

u =

PLATE LVIII.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

Marathon (490 B.C.) the latest offering was a sherd of the
kylix type with simple maeander (c.p. Fig. 115) which
appears in the later ' Leagros ' period. The Acropolis
finds, which are prior to the Persian conflagration (480
B.C.), have not yet been sorted and sifted.

According to this chronology the red-figured style must
have made its entry into Athens about fifty years before the
Persian War, with which it is customary to close the archaic
period of Greek art, i.e., about 530 B.C.

We saw above, that the workshops of Pamphaios and
Nikosthenes open their doors to it : neither master breaks
abruptly with the old style, which often asserts itself together
with the new on the same vase. This contrast of the two
styles is made clear by no one more obviously than the
potter Andokides on his fine amphorae, which are directly
in line of succession with Exekias ; never is the essence of
both styles so plain as when on such a vase the same subject
is treated by the same painter's hand in the old and in the
new technique. The unsigned, but certainly Andokidean
Munich amphora (Fig. 103) is not one of these instances in
spite of the similarity of the subject ; its black-figured
Herakles scene is certainly by a different hand from its red-
figured, in which the same delicate and original artist as on
most of the signed works (the * Andokides ' painter)
expresses himself. If this painter is identical with the
potter, Andokides was not merely in shape and decoration
of his vases but also as draughtsman a pupil and successor of
Exekias. He has inherited the feeling for elegant detailed
drawing and for richly ornamented garments. In the
Herakles scene we see the same joy in a harmonious picture
as in the sea-voyage of Exekias (Fig. 93) and the game of
draughts (Fig. 96), which he actually copied ; and the same
intense absorption in the subject makes all other works of
Andokides charming. In much the drawing reminds us of

115

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

the teacher, particularly the flat layers of drapery, which
already resolve the chitons into rich folds and end in the
border more naturally, but do not attain the life-like waving
of the late works of Amasis. The filling of the space with
vine branches also is more in accord with the old technique
than the new. But the more advanced pupil is shown not
merely by the renewed study of the body, which appears in
the drawing of hand and foot, in pointed elbow and knee,
and in Herakles' leg shown through the drapery, but also
by the more compact composition and the individual treat-
ment of the heads.

The entirely red-figured vases by Andokides are not
necessarily older than the black-figured : the latest vase
signed by him (in Madrid) still combines both techniques.
It must have been decorated by a third artist less archaic in
feeling, who also worked for the potter firm of Menon. The
Menon painter adds to the Andokidean framing patterns
the row of circumscribed palmettes, though not yet in their
final shape, and approximates in style to the young Euph-
ronios and his rival Euthymides. The ornament of the
Madrid vase does not seem to have been devised as border
pattern. It must be derived from the tendril-composition,
which on red-figured vases takes the place of the
Amasis ornament (Fig. 98) and is in great favour as
handle-ornament for kylikes. On the fine amphora in
Paris, which the transitional master Pamphaios made after
the patterns of Nikosthenes, and Oltos probably painted
with scenes of hetairai and satyrs (Fig. 104), it appears as
handle decoration together with an equally novel calyx and
leaf ornament, which adorns the shoulder. The free
decorative method of composition, which can be traced
back through Amasis (p. 105) and Klazomenai to the Fikel-
lura style (p. 61) is exactly in the manner of the red-figured
style, which not only shakes off the frieze constraint but

116

Fi^*. 104. HETAIRA; SATYR AND MAENAD: AMPHORA WITH THE
SIGNATURE OF THE POTTER PAMPHAIOS.

PLATE LIX.

Fiy. 105.
THE ARMING OF HECTOR: FROM AN AMPHORA BY EUTHYxMIDES.

From Fiirtzudngler-Rciclilwld, Griecliische Vaseninalerei.

Fig. 106. FOUNTAIN : FROM A RED-FIGLRED HYDRIA BY HYPSIS.

PLATE LX.

s I

pi !^

PLATE LXXIII.

PLATE LXXIV.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

Of the other painters of this period, we must content
ourselves with naming three, the Berlin master, Makron,
and the Bronze-Foundry master. The ' master of the
Berlin amphora ' even surpasses Duris in elegance, and is
fond of introducing his slim elastic figures in ' Nolan ' style,
i.e. isolated on a dark background.

Makron, who painted almost all the vases on which
Hieron's signature as potter is found, studied by choice in
the Palaestra, where boys performed gymnastics and were
addressed by older men. A Berlin kylix (Fig. 123), like
several works of his hand, introduces us to Bacchic revelry,
an excited chorus of drunken and vigorously gesticulating
maenads, whose bodies are not concealed by the rustling
pomp of folds : the ' kolpos ' or fold of the chiton drawn
up through the belt, which Brygos also is fond of, is more
transparent than the upper and lower parts of the compli-
cated garment. These figures in which all is life, movement
and expression, should be compared with those of the
Andokides painter or even those of Euphronios, in order to
realize, how in these few decades the liberation from archaic
stiffness and adherence to type was almost tempestuously
accomplished.

We take leave of the archaic styles with the charming
picture of an anonymous painter, the * master of
the bronze foundry,' who on a Berlin kylix (Fig. 125) trans-
plants us into the interior of the workshop of a sculptor in
bronze. A workman is poking the oven, another is
handling the bellows, the assistant looks on, the master is
working at a statue, not yet fully put together : so intimate
is the contact with life in this scene. Everything interested
the vase-painters of this time equally ; they have spread out
before us human life, got their material from every quarter,
and wherever they laid hold of it, it was interesting. How
closely they came to grips with their subject, how they tried

131

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

to be clear, and to give a lively picture of what they saw,
and how under their hands the object at once changed into
the artistic type, the human body into the clearly defined
study of the nude, the garment into a thing of decorative
life, and an assemblage of human beings into an ornamental
figure composition !

132

Fio. 121. SCHOOL-SCENE: FROM A KYLIX BY DLRIS.

Fiy. 123. BRONZE-FOUNDRY: FROM A KYLIX WLFH THE
NAME " OF DIOGENES.

LO\-E-

PLATE LXXV

Fig. 126. CENTAUROMACY : FROM A RED-FIGURED KVLIX.

PLATE LXXVI.

RED-FIGURED STYLE—ARCHAIC PERIOD

even the pictorial field : on the amphora, which the same
painter executed for the potter Euxitheos, he discards the
old frame, which now only separates black from black, and
his example is followed sooner or later by other artists.

It is true that the painter Euthymides, the contemporary
of the young Euphronios and gifted continuer of Andokides'
body amphorae, keeps the frame on his vases, which are
now purely red-figured. But he not only helps the later
palmette ornament to triumph over the old bands of zig-zags
and buds (Fig. 105) but enhances the unity of effect by
beginning to leave the ornament in the colour of the clay
and to shape it in red-figured manner, as was the case
straight away with the handle decoration (Fig. 104). Almost
as a rule he puts in his field three standing figures of large
dimensions, in which he demonstrates to the eye his progress
in observation of nature. Under the garments bodies begin
to move, and their anatomy male and female is studied by
the artists of this period with tireless zeal.

The fruits of this study appear on the Munich Priam vase
(Fig. 105), in the drawing of hands, in the differentiated
pose of the legs, in the bold front view of the foot, still more
on the reverse in the bendings and turnings of three naked
drunken men with full indication of muscles. Certainly the
limitations of his eye for perspective appear, when the
further from sight of the two chest muscles comes under the
nearer one, when the woman's breast is turned outwards,
when the transition of the breast seen in front view to the
legs in profile is not made clear, and the head of the man
walking to the right and looking round in archaic fashion
is still turned in profile to the left ; the artist, it is true,
breaks through the old scheme of the figure in one place,
but his avoidance of lines shewing depth is so strong that he
prefers to put those parts of the body, of whose front and
back he is conscious, simply one beside the other. But it is

117

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

just the contrast between the bold attempt at progress on
the painter's part and the perspective constraint, the feeling
of conflict, if you like, that gives their charm to the vase-
paintings of this period.

Though the bodies are no longer as previously packed
into the garments, and drapery is rather subordinate to the
treatment of the body, studies in drapery also have been
very fruitful. The contrast between the heavy woollen
himation, and the more delicate crinkles of the linen chiton
is plainly marked. The depths of the folds in the cloak,
according as they are close together or more freely distri-
buted, are given in gradation by thicker or thinner lines
of colour ; the chiton folds join in separate masses and run
out in the expressive so-called swallow-tail borders, which
divide the outline of the drapery much more rhythmically
than the layered borders of the ' Andokides ' painter.

Chalkidian painters had already rendered scenes of
arming. But those of Euthymides mark a great psycho-
logical advance. The paternal anxiety of the bald-pated
old man and the nervousness of the mother's pet making his
first debut are finely expressed. The feeling for everyday
life, in an age which suddenly recognized in common things
a world of artistic problems, was keener than ever. What
cared Euthymides about his subject "Hector's departure" ?
He drew a scene from his neighbour's door and added
heroic names.

His best work the master left unsigned, the Munich
amphora, on which Theseus under protest from Helen (note
the thumb) with gay impudence carries off Korone (Fig.
107). The head of the ravisher, which gets its increased
liveliness not merely from the shifting of the pupil from the
centre inwards, may serve as example of the newly-
conquered possibilities of expression, and the extract from
the picture may give an idea of the charm of archaic art.

118

Fig. 107. THIi R.\PE OF KORONE BY THESEUS; FROM AN AMPHOR.'\

BY ELTHYMIDES.

HIS. DRIXKEX .SATYR: FRO.M .\N .\RCHAIC RED-FIT, L'REI) KYIJX.

PL.VTE LXI.

Firt. 109. RHVTOX WITH RED-FKiLRED DFCORAIIOX ON THE NECK.

PLATE LXH.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

The Bonn hydria of Euthymides with the praise of
Megakles shows a quite new type of vase ; in contrast to the
offset black-figured shape, it unites neck and body in an
elegant curve, so that the old-fashioned division of the
decoration into two or three parts disappears. The same
fair youth is praised by his gifted colleague Phintias, whom
we see from his beginnings in the workshop of Deiniades
expanding more and more brilliantly, on a London hydria
of the old shape ; but the gracefully moving boys, who in
the picture while drawing water are addressed by an older
man, already carry water-pots of both types in their hands,
and Phintias himself occasionally adopted the later shape ;
as does the painter Hypsis with the pretty well-house scene
(Fig. 106), on which again both vase-shapes are repre-
sented ; for the girl, who is just putting the cushion on her
head, has placed a pitcher of the old type under the lion's
head spout from which the water is pouring, while her com-
panion is lifting a hydria of the new shape already well-filled
from the satyr's mouth. The intensive study of the female
form is seen in Oltos' picture of a hetaira (Fig. 104) and
in many other vase-paintings of the period, and even when
they represent girls clothed, the painters are unwilling to
sacrifice their newly-won knowledge to external probability,
and even under the drapery help the charm of the body out-
line to assert itself, as Hypsis does on his well-scene
(Fig. 106).

Like the Bonn hydria, the works of Euthymides witness
to the emergence of new vase-types, the Turin psykter and
the unsigned Vienna pelike. An idea may be obtained of
the psykter (which is regarded as a cooling vessel) by the
later example in Rome (Fig. 104) in which the narrower
cylindrical lower part is however missing. The pelike is a
kind of small wineskin-shaped amphora. Even the tran-
sitional artist Pamphaios gave Oltos a stamnos (cp. Fig. 146)

119

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

to paint, and the early red-figured artist Smikros painted
one. The calyx-krater, a kind of enlarged cup with low-set
handles, seems to appear in the Leagros period (Fig. 113).
The remarkable vases in the shape of a head (Figs. 101, 109)
in a smaller form served for the reception of unguents and
oil even in Protocorinthian and early Ionic styles, but seem
only at this time to become popular as bumpers in the ser-
vice of the drinker, and the pretty heads of negroes and girls
with the love-names Epilykos and Leagros form the begin-
ning of the development, which culminates in Sotades
(p. 142).

The other drinking vessels, the kantharos, which is
brandished by Duris' satyrs (Fig. 122), the skyphos, from
which Euphronios' hetairai are drinking (Fig, 112) are only
continuations and refinements of old shapes (Figs. 88, 43).
The favourite drinking utensil is naturally the kylix, which
even for the " little master " period in fabrication and
exportation is at the head of the vases, and now not only
receives its finest finish, but also through the abundance of
specimens preserved and the richness of inscriptions
renders the most valuable service to the historian.

On the Andokides amphora (Fig. 103), the psykters of
Euphronios (Fig. 112), and Duris (Fig. 122), the shape with
offset rim appears. This late specimen of the old type must
have been more popular than the extant painted examples
lead one to suppose, but was certainly far less usual than the
shape with a single curve, which the red-figured style took
over with the eye kylikes and in the most delicate way
simplified and animated.

The history of these kylikes, like that of the big-bellied
amphorae, begins with examples of mixed technique.
Andokides actually extended his principle of the black-
figured and red-figured halves of the vase to kylikes : but
happily this procedure was extremely rare. In the early

120

Fig. 110. DRLXKEX LYRE-rL.WER : FROM \ KYLIX BY SKYTHES.

PLATE LXIII.

Fii^. III. FIA'TE-PLAVER AND DAXCINd GIRL: FROM A KYLIX BY

EPIKTETOS.

From Furfivdiiglei'-RciclilioJd, Griechisdie ]'aseiiina}crei.
PLATE LXIV.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

kylikes the mixture of technique is rather to be found in the
fact, that in the interior the black-figured picture, which
with its circle in the colour of the clay contrasted so decora-
tively with the black-covered edge, was still retained, while
outside between the eyes, and gradually also in their place,
figures were inserted in the colour of the ground. This
procedure is e.g. connected with the names of the potters
Nikosthenes, Pamphaios, Hischylos and Chelis, and with
the painters' names Epiktetos and Psiax, and with the
love-name Memnon. When Skythes paints the outside
in black-figured technique and the inside in red-figured of
a kylix (unsigned) dedicated to Epilykos, this is, like the
procedure of Andokides, an exception, and a conscious
divergence from the traditional relation. The transition to
purely red-figured technique compels the artists to separate
the interior from the black surroundings. Up to the
Leagros period this separation is effected by a narrow ring
in the ground of the clay, which they leave uncovered by
black paint : on the kylikes the eye -decoration is gradually
dropped. If one takes the signatures of the masters of this
group together with those of the transitional kylikes and the
contemporary big vases, the number of the painters' names
comes to about a dozen, while the potters are far more
numerous ; and thus in view of the mere accident of
preservation and the anonymity of other palpable artistic
personalities one can form an idea of the vigorous life, which
then reigned in the Kerameikos, the quarter of Athens
where the potters lived.

It is interesting to follow the process by which the early
red-figured kylikes from very decorative beginnings rise tc
even greater freedom and objectivity. Even the insertion
of the figure between the eyes, which comes from the Ionic
'Phineus' fabric, is meaningless and a mere decorative
scheme ; and also, when he gives up the decoration with

121

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

eyes, the painter likes to put one or three figures as central
motive between the broad ornaments of the handles. Even
the exterior pictures with numerous figures, which occur in
the late period of the potter Pamphaios and in the full
activity of the painter Oltos, are by no means free from
decorative schematism ; arrangement in a row and heraldry
still play a part, and occasionally, as in the ' little master '
style, winged horses or sirens take the centre of the repre-
sentation. Even the old Ionic scheme of the horse-holding
runner revives on a kylix of this group.

The interior too at first is still under strong decorative
constraint.

Quite in contrast to the early Attic kylikes of the Klitias
period and to the Spartan, which often take no regard to the
space in the representation, the figure always adapts itself to
the circular form, extends its masses to fit the space, often
presses head and feet against the edge, and gives the interior
a decorative and very animated appearance, to some extent
comparable to a rotating wheel. One imagines the painters
had studied and sketched the bending, crouching, running,
twisting, and turning of handsome youths often only to get
motives for their interior scenes. Skythes, the master of
fine black-figured votive tablets on the Acropolis, who liked
to dedicate his kylikes to his young colleague the painter
Epilykos, in the interior of the kylix at Rome (Fig. 110)
goes beyond this stage, and fills the space more loosely with
the lyre held at right angles and the freely arranged knotted
stick of his singing boy ; and Epiktetos, who painted his
wonderfully subtle figures in a long working life for various
potters, Nikosthenes, Hischylos, Pamphaios, Python and
Pistoxenos, in the late Python kylix in London (Fig. Ill),
under the influence of later masters, goes over to the two
figure picture. One can see from their bodies that they are
prior to the time of Euphronios and Euthymides. In his

122

PLATE LXV.

PLATE LXXX\T.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

vigorous lyre-player, whom we may identify with his
favourite Epilykos, Skythes does almost too much in the
rendering of the chest-muscles and makes the abdominal
muscles seen in front view, and rendered in thinned varnish,
press against them in an impossible way ; Epiktetos, who is
for a while disinclined for interior drawing, turns the breasts
of his dancing women outwards, and in their space-filling
movement reminds of old types. But the master of a
Munich eye kylix has side-views of shields, and draws a
kneeling leg in back view, so that the sole is visible and the
calf almost disappears. Back views of the human body are
given also in kylikes from the workshop of Kachrylion,
which takes us over into the Leagros period just like the
works of Phintias and Oltos, whom we already know. For
Phintias soon outdoes the theft of the tripod of his early
Deiniades kylix on a fine amphora at Corneto, and Oltos,
the painter of the Pamphaios amphora and most of the
Memnon kylikes, passes from the praise of Memnon to that
of Leagros on the fine kylikes from Euxitheos' workshop.

The Leagros period might be described as the culminat-
ing point of the dramatic tension prevailing in the older
red-figured style. In it Phintias breaks the archaic fetters
of his youth, Euthymides creates his decisive works, and we
see the development of the great master Euphronios, whom
Euthymides boasts to have beaten on the Priam amphora
(Fig. 105). All the three vases, which bear the signature of
Euphronios as painter, praise the fair Leagros, i.e. the
Munich Geryon kylix, which appeared in Kachrylion's
workshop, which, like the Leagros kylikes of Oltos, has
under the exterior scenes a band of circumscribed palmettes
in the colour of the ground, the Petrograd psykter with the
hetairai (Fig. 112) and the Paris calyx-krater with Herakles
and Antaios (Fig. 113).

The harmonious indoors scene of the psykter in its quite

123

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

neat and sure drawing of the nude sets the finishing touch
to the studies of Epiktetos (Fig. Ill), Oltos (Fig. 104), and
their contemporaries, and does the subject more justice than
many pictures more advanced in perspective. The leg of
the thirsty Palaisto disappearing in the background recurs
m the Antaios scene, where the painter fully exhibits his
anatomical knowledge, and shows as little regard for the
concealing skin as other painters do for female drapery •
the mner drawing is not even as usual put on in thinner
colour. The composition of the scene is not very flexible.
The struggle of the muscular but quite civilized Herakles
with the rugged giant (whose right hand is a masterpiece of
drawing) is the true theme, while the horrified women, who
are almost old-fashioned in their drawing, serve like club
quiver and lion's skin, only as filling for the triangular
wrestling scheme, which was probably borrowed. A band
of palmettes, and another of palmette and lotus in the red-
figured style, vigorously frame the bold picture. The
reverse of the Antaios krater shows the artist well on the
way to represent correctly the course of the abdominal
muscles from the chest to the pudenda, and thus to give a
convincing expression to the old distortion of the body.
Unfortunately we cannot further follow Euphronios on this
path in the light of signed vases, for the ten kylikes with his
name, which fill the gap between the youth of Leagros and
that of his son Glaukon, were only signed by him as potter
and some of them were demonstrably handed over to others
to paint. That a progressive artist like Euphronios in this
whole period never again took brush in hand, is more
than improbable, and among the unsigned vases of the
succeeding period his more mature works must be repre-
sented.

The kylix made in the workshop of Sosias (Fig. 114) has
been variously ascribed to Euphronios and to the painter

124

Fig. 114. .\(^H1I.LES .\ND P.ATROKI.OS : FROM A KYLIX WITH THE
SIGN.VILRE OF THE POTTER SOSIAS.

PLATE LXVH.

PLATE LXVIII.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

Peithinos : the remarkable work of art must rather belong to
an unknown third person (the * Sosias ' painter). The com-
position filling the space suggests the old style, especially
the pressing of the foot against the rim : but the boldly fore-
shortened right leg of Patroklos with the foot viewed from
above, known also to Euthymides and to Phintias in his
maturity, the full development of the bunches of drapery
and the swallow-tail edges, and above all the extremely bold
attempt to open the corner of the eye, lead us into the
critical phase of the archaic red-figured painting, the
Leagros period. Only an intense study of the model could
lead this master so far from the beaten track ; that with the
added names of Achilles and Patroklos he came into con-
flict with the Iliad, mattered little to him. Furthermore on
the Sosias vase a technical innovation comes seriously into
play, which is gradually adopted by Euphronios (Fig. 112),
Euthymides (Fig. 107), Phintias and Hypsis (Fig. 106) ; the
outline of the hair is no longer separated from the black
ground by the old hard incised line, but by a narrow line of
the colour of the ground. Within the kylikes, which praise
the fair Leagros, a change takes place in the framing of the
interior picture ; in place of the ring in the colour of the
clay, of which occasionally they attempt to increase the
effect by doubling, comes the maeander in different varie-
ties, first simple and continuous (Frontispiece and Figs. 108,
115, 126), then ever more frequently in broken up shape
(Fig. 116). The new frame comes e.g. on the London
kylix, which by the hare-hunt gives such a natural motive
for the space-filling movements of the running Leagros
(Fig. 115). The Leagros of the kylix agrees so exactly
with that of the Antaios krater, that one may ascribe this
advance to Euphronios ; for theiine of the ground giving
the hair outline and the organic connection of chest and
belly are beyond the stage of the krater in question.

125

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

A further step forward on the part of the same master
may probably be seen in the Boston kylix, which praises
both Leagros and Athenodotos (Fig. 108). Never perhaps
was the inmost nature of the satyr so fully caught as in this
fine example : he is squatting on the emptied pointed
amphora and positively breathing out an aroma of wine and
wantonness. His lifelike picture goes far beyond the
Antaios krater, and a closely connected Athenodotos kylix
in Athens actually carries this vivacity into the same sub-
ject, the wrestle of Herakles and Antaios.

If Euphronios thus surpassed himself one may believe
him also responsible for the next step, the ' Panaitios
stage, to which it is a very short distance from the Atheno-
dotos kylikes. To the transition, that is about the end of
the 6th century, belongs the Paris Theseus kylix, signed by
Euphronios as potter but without love-name. The boldly
drawn exterior seems to form the bridge to the style of the
* Panaitios ' master, that vigorous painter, perhaps identi-
cal with the later Euphronios, from whose hand comes the
London Panaitios kylix with the signature of Euphronios as
potter. The rich and ornamental interior (Frontispiece) is
in a certain contrast with the exterior scenes, and is so
closely connected with the early works of Duris, that we
may enquire, whether Euphronios did not entrust the
decoration of the interior to a talented pupil with a great
tendency to elaboration. But perhaps this contrast is due
only to the representative seriousness of the subject. Young
Theseus, in order to receive his rightful position as son of
Poseidon, has gone down to the bottom of the sea, and in
the presence of Athena is greeted by Amphitrite.

The time of Panaitios and that of Chairestratos, which
partly coincides with it, remove many hard features of the
Leagros stage. The turnings of bodies lose all violence :
in the frontal stand of both feet, and in the oblique view of

126

Fif,^ 116. AFTER THE BANQUET : FROM A KYLIX WITH THE
SKiNATLRE OF THE POTTER BRYGOS.

PLATE LXIX.

Fig. 117. A M.AENAD IN FRENZY : FROM AN ARCHAIC
RED-FIGURED POINTED AMPHORA.

PLATE I.,XX.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

the head, new possibilities are indicated. The pupil is now
always in the inner corner of the eye, though the bold
experiment of the ' Sosias ' painter is not generally
adopted. Above all a new current enters the drapery.
The divisions of the chiton with patterns of folds gives way
to a more natural and uniform distribution : the play of
folds at the edges of the cloaks is generally emphasized by
a thick pair of lines. These tendencies become complete
in the later Chairestratos and the Hippodamas period, with
which we get down to about 480 B.C.

The masters of this later date deal now quite freely and
easily with the achievements of their predecessors : the old
rude vigour gives way to ornamental elegance or swinging
liveliness. The relation of figures to space also alters : the
forms move more freely, are less confined by space, and are
surrounded with air. Thus the free decoration of the Oltos
amphora (Fig. 104) asserts itself once more. The small
so-called ' Nolan ' necked amphorae, and the popular
amphorae of Panathenaic shape, only reserve one figure or
group in the black surface. The fine and elegant effect of
this 'Nolan' decoration often attacks other types of vases,
to which is now added the bell-krater (cp. Fig. 123 centre).

Of these later masters, the one who keeps most the
massiveness and dignity of the older style is the ' Kleo-
phrades ' painter, who grew up in the Leagros period and
has furnished one of his works with the potter's signature of
Kleophrades, son of Amasis. As an example of his style
let us take the Munich pointed amphora belonging about to
the Panaitios period : the passionate frenzy of frantic
Maenads has never been more perfectly caught than in the
back-tossed head of the rushing waver of the thyrsos (Fig.
117). The 'Kleophrades' painter was a pupil of Euthy-
mides : but for a number of his contemporaries it can be
shown that they won their spurs in the celebrated studio of

127

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Euphronios. It is true that we only have evidence in an
inscription of activity in the service of Euphronios for one
painter denoted by name, and malicious accident has
deprived us of all but the last four letters of his name.
Onesimos, as his name is usually restored, combines in
simple composition on his kylix riders and boys leading
horses, and thus is the predecessor of the 'Horse' master.
On the other hand the master of the Troilos kylix in
Perugia, which Euphronios also signed as potter (the
' Perugia ' master) inherited more of the fire and dramatic
vigour of the 'Panaitios' master. His Munich Centaur
kylix is worthy of the great teacher, and the interior (Fig.
126) is equally perfect as filling the space and as rendering
animated life. The shield in profile view, which shows
indication of shading, the Centaur's head, and especially
the grandiose foreshortening of the horse-body, point
beyond the Panaitios period.

To this group must have belonged the ' Brygos' painter,
who in earlier works, e.g., in the clearly and vigorously
composed Iliupersis in Paris (Figs 118 and 119), is still
strongly inspired by the achievements of the Perugia
master, and later develops the fiery vigour of his youthful
period in ever more delicate and elegant shapes. He is
fond of shaded shields, hairy bodies and cloaks adorned
with spots. Perhaps the finest work of his maturity is the
interior of the Wurzburg kylix (Fig. 116), on which a young
Athenian, supported by the hands of a girl, relieves himself
of the wine he has imbibed too freely. The picture not only
in its free adaptation to space and in the sure hand with
which the movement of body and drapery is rendered, but
especially in the fine animation of the expression, is a
worthy last note of archaic art. The unsigned Vienna
skyphos of the Brygos painter (Fig. 120) must be placed
between the Paris and Wurzburg kylikes. It also gives a

128

Figs. 118 & 119. THE SACK OF TROY : FROM .\ KYLIX WITH THE
SIGN.ATURE OF THE POTTER BRYGOS.

From Furtwdngler-Keichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei.

PL.\TE LXXI.

Fie. 120. SKYPHOS WITH THE RANSOMING OF HECTOR.

Fif,^ 121. THESELS DESERTS THE SLEEPING .\RIADNE {?)
EXTERIOR OF A KYLIX.

FROM THE

PL.VTE LXXII.

RED-FIGURED STYLE— ARCHAIC PERIOD

fine picture full of life : Achilles has placed under the table
the dead body of Hector, which he daily drags round the
walls of Troy, is reclining at his meal, and talking to his
charming cup-bearer, as if he did not hear the appeal of the
old Priam for his son's corpse and did not see the presents
brought in by the attendants. The clear dramatic disposi-
tion is as much in the manner of the master as the free pose
of the cup-bearer with weight on one leg, and the delicate
psychological animation of the countenances. The kylix
in Corneto (F'ig. 121), the outside of which has been inter-
preted as the secret departure of Theseus from the sleeping
Ariadne, is at least closely related to the works of the
Brygos ' painter. In the workshop of Euphronios the
youthful Duris must also have been a pupil. For his earliest
work, the Vienna kylix, with an arming scene, painted for
the potter Python, is quite under the influence of the
Panaitios master, and can only be recognized as the work of
a painter of another tendency by the greater elegance and
slimness of the figures, and the more schematic composition.
In the kylikes with the names of Panaitios and Chaires-
tratos, it can still be traced to some extent, how out of the
docile imitator of the Panaitios master comes the real Duris,
the routine draughtsman, who puts down his elegant figures
with almost academic objectivity and who cares more for the
uniform decorative effect of his neat silhouettes than for
complicated compositions of life. The pair of Berlin
kylikes, perhaps made by Kleophrades, and the kantharos,
on which Duris signs as potter and painter, show as plainly
as possible this gradual realization of independence, and
also pass more and more, though not finally, from the
artificial fold packets of the chiton to a uniform system of
wavy lines. How entirely Duris altered his style even
during the Chairestratos period, is shown e.g. by the Vienna
kylix, painted for Python with the contest for the Arms of

129

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Achilles, which not merely in its more elegant shape, but
also in drawing and the relation of the figures to the space,
is widely distant from the arming scene on a kylix of the
same workshop. The fine Eos kylix in the Louvre, which
Duris painted for the potter Kalliades and dedicated to
Hermogenes, the London Theseus kylix, and probably also
the fine London psykter with the love-name Aristagoras
(Fig. 122) belong to this period. The satyrs of this psykter,
who instead of joining in procession play all kinds of un-
profitable tricks behind the back of the leader of the chorus,
need only be compared with their fellows on the Boston
kylix, and one can recognize at once the routine hand and
slighter artistic endowment of the master, but also the more
elegant and easy draughtsmanship of the later time.

In the later period of the artist (about 480 B.C.) we must
put along with their congeners the kylikes with the love-
name Hippodamas, the finest of which is the Berlin
school vase (Fig. 124). In the drapery of the teachers and
pupils, who are here assembled in the class-room, nothing
of archaic stiffness remains. If even the Leagros period
had made the cloak folds come to a natural end, they now
bend round their ends and pave the way for the " drapery
eyes," which in the next period so naturally characterize
the packings in the material.

The great development, which is evidenced for Duris
by his many signatures, suggests considerations. We ask
whether other masters too did not fundamentally change,
and whether e.g. Euphronios did not develop out of the
' Leagros ' stage to that of the ' Panaitios ' master and the
Perugia painter, and on his later works include the
painter's signature in that of the potter's firm, i.e. whether
works like the Munich Centauromachy (Fig. 126) do not
represent a late phase of this gifted painter, who can be
proved to have lived into the ' Glaukon ' period.

130

CHAPTER VI.
THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

IN the studio of Euphronios the so-called ' Horse
master ' painted a kylix now in Berlin with the praise of
the fair Glaukon. The outside is decorated in the usual
red-figured technique with lively scenes of riders and
stables, the inside (a youth and a girl) is rendered in outline,
with coloured interior lines and surfaces, on the ground
covered with a white slip. The progress in the rendering
of bodies and drapery is unmistakeable ; the oblique view
of the female breast is almost correctly caught, the material
of the cloaks is packed in lost folds with bent-round end.
But even the whole conception of the figures goes far beyond
the archaic art of the pre-Persian time : the proportions
and faces have a touch of greatness, beside which all preced-
ing art seems narrow and embarrassed. The simplification
of the profile and the severe long lower part of the face
essentially determine one's impression of the heads. A new
period is announcing itself : a time of progressive
naturalism and at the same time a period of noble greatness
of style and exalted types. The statements of the ancients
as to the great painting of this age, of Polygnotos and his
company, lay stress on these qualities ; not only the pro-
gress, which relieves the rendering of body and garment of
the old stiffness, but the great Ethos of these paintings is
praised. So with good reason we call the vase painting of
the post-Persian generation Polygnotan, even if at the
beginning of this epoch the influence of the great art is not
felt so much as at its culmination.

133

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

The name of Glaukon, which we have met with on the
Euphronios kylix of Berlin, recurs on a series of vases,
almost always in the two-line arrangement, which comes
now into vogue, and often in combination with his father
Leagros' name. Lekythoi, or slender oil-flasks, which now
become the regular offering for graves, and when so em-
ployed invariably use the white-ground technique of the
Berlin kylix, afford several examples of this favourite's
name, which has become the hinge of vase-chronology.
On a Bonn fragment (Fig. 128), which in the older style
has a domestic scene, not one taken from the cemetery, and
paints the flesh in white, a woman is sitting in an arm-chair
and putting on a golden necklace, which the handmaid in
front of her has offered in a box. The face of this woman
signifies a new world : the archaic types are discarded, the
old traditions replaced by a quite individual almost portrait-
like conception. The eye, which has hardly any traces of
the old full-view and puts the pupil entirely into the open
inner corner, gives the face a very natural and living effect,
it is really looking : and the hair hanging out from the cap
in confusion, the profile not dominated by any canon of
beauty, and the drawing of the hands, show the painter
penetrated by the same effort after truth. It is perhaps an
idle question, what period inaugurates the history of Greek
portraiture, since each innovation taken from the model
individualizes the traditional type ; but it is just the vase-
paintings of the post-Persian, Kimonian age, which went
further than the later ones in thus individualizing. The
woman of the Glaukon lekythos, the old woman on a sky-
phos in Schwerin from the workshop of Pistoxenos (Fig. 127)
and on a loutrophoros in Athens, the head of a warrior from
a krater in New York (Fig. 130) may be taken as symptoms
of a very personal portraiture in the age of Kimon. The effort
to get rid of the traditional ideal types led a series of these

134

Fig. 127. OLD WOMAN : FROM .V SKYPHOS WITH
THE SIGN.ATL RE OF THE POTTER PISTOXENOS.

ig. 128. DETAIL OF A FRAGMENTARY WHITE-GROUND LEKYTHOS.

PLATE LXXVII.

Fig. 12;). APHRODITE ON A GOOSE: FROM A KYLIX \\1TH W lUTE-
(.ROl \l) INTERIOR. HEARIXr, THE " 1.0\E-NAME " OF CLAIKON.

Fig. 130. WARRIOR : FROM A RED-FIGURED KRATER.
PLATE LXXVTII.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

masters to recast even the divine figures with a strikingly in-
dividual, coarse and almost common effect. The master of
the Boston 'Eos' kylix, a successor of Makron in Hieron's
studio, makes his undistinguished goddess of the morning
be carried off by a spindly street-lad ; the Demeter, who on
a Munich hydria attends the departure of Triptolemos,
betrays little of the sacred beauty of the motherly goddess ;
and other vase-paintings have almost the effect of conscious
caricatures of ideal types.

The new possibilities of 'Physiognomy' in differentiat-
ing character by the facial type, however, brought the
expression of divine nature to its fullest expansion, and
helped not merely to make men more human but also gods
more divine. A London white-ground kylix from Rhodes
(Fig. 129) is connected with the Bonn lekythos and the
Berlin kylix of Euphronios by the common name of
Glaukon. The goddess of love, riding through the air on
her sacred bird, the goose, is of more than earthly beauty :
her hands, not only the one with the flower but the un-
occupied left hand, speak the same expressive language as
her face and whole form. The effect of this picture is com-
parable to that of a song. Now for the first time the inner
kinship of the art of words with that of pictures presses itself
on the observer of works of art. No one will think of com-
paring the Geometric style with the Homeric Epic in value
of expression, or the ornamental style of the 7th century
with contemporary Lyric poetry, though one may see a
reflection of Anacreontic and ballad feeling in the art of the
later 6th century. But the weight of the Aeschylean pathos
is as little to be mistaken in works of graphic and plastic art
as the Sophoclean glow and pure beauty of line.

The more delicate animation, which this period could
bestow on its forms, of itself pointed away from archaic
loquacity and pleasure in narration. The genre scene is

135

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

certainly as old as the historical, and we have seen that
there was no difference of principle. The nearer the red-
figured style came, the more representations of feeling were
combined with representations of action, and towards the
end of the archaic style they are no longer rarities. With the
new liberation of the style, especially with the enlivening
of the eye, a different sort of inward feeling asserts itself.
Figures devoid of action, occupied with themselves or con-
templating another figure, are themes which the painters of
lekythoi in particular were never tired of inventing ; and in
later times, when the cemetery scenes replaced the domestic
ones on these vases, and the privacy of the indoor scenes
was transferred to the visit to the grave, the harmony of soul
between the visitor and the dead, whose living likeness fancy
could not separate from the grave, often found an unspeak-
ably intimate expression (p. 145).

The quantity of pictures of * pure existence ' does much
to determine the altered aspect presented by post-Persian
vase-painting. On the slim * Nolan ' amphorae and those
with twisted handles, on the calyx-kraters and the bell-
kraters often decorated on the mouth with a branch, on the
* stamnoi ' and other vases, which are decorated like the
'Nolan,' the slender restful figures heighten the impres-
sion of quiet elegance. Thus the grandeur of the new style
at the same time gets a marked decorative value, a value
not without danger for the living rendering of reality.
Greatness is not every man's affair, and the painters, who
only took over externally the big forms and the lofty simpli-
city, and could not fill them with a life of their own, can only
rank as decorative artists and should by the same right be
called 'affected' as the refined masters of the Amasis period
(p. 106) . Even talented painters consciously gave up to deco-
rative effect the reverses of their vases, which they adorn
with quickly drawn motionless figures wrapped in cloaks.

136

Fij;. 1.31. THE DEATH OF AKT.MOX : FROM A RED-FKiLRED KRATER.

From Fiirtivciiii^h'r-Reiclihohl , Gricchisclu' ]'asciti>iah'i-ci.

PLATE LXXIX.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

The three Glaukon representations we have met with
till now are pure pictures of * existence.' The * horse '
master dedicated to the same boy Glaukon a second kylix,
the fragments of which, found on the Acropolis, represent
the death of Orpheus at the hands of the Thracian women.
The scheme, if one may speak of such, is in so far old, as the
victor moving to the right attacks an opponent in kneeling
position also moving to the right and looking round ; but an
infinite nobility is poured over the old type, and the fight
is carried through with dramatic weight, though in the faces
of the fighters the inward excitement is not reflected, as on
later works of the same hand. Yet, as on the Aphrodite
kylix (Fig. 129) the living expression of the eye is already
strengthened by the line of the upper lid.

In place of the very fragmentary Orpheus kylix,
the fight in a contemporary picture may show the
progress, which scenes of dramatic movement attain
in Polygnotan times. The slaying of Aktaion by
the divine huntress Artemis was brought to great
eflect by the Pan master, so called from the reverse
of the same Boston bell-krater (Fig, 131). In the stiff
folds of the cloak of Artemis this vigorous and original
painter betrays his descent from the archaic style, which
can be plainly followed in his works, always full as they are
of dramatic life. Otherwise there is little archaic in this
picture. The long lower part of the face, which lends the
heads their severity, the folds running themselves out, which
assert themselves even in the chiton, the surely drawn fore-
shortened foot of Artemis, the lower legs of Aktaion dis-
appearing in the background, show the progressive master ;
the suggestive effect of the composition, and the urgent
language of the gestures are quite in the spirit of the noble
new style.

With the Centaur psykter in Rome (Fig. 132) we get

137

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

perhaps beyond the bloom of Glaukon's beauty, and what
reminds us of old times in the grotesque movement of the
battle scene is probably only individual failings of the
master, which he outweighs by many innovations. The
three-quarters view of the face, the fore-shortening of the
shield, the motive of the falling man seen from behind, are
significant of the struggle with perspective ; the bestial lust
for battle speaks out of the eyes of the attackers as does the
penetrating pain of the wounded ; and the pathos of the
gestures is at least post-archaic. The impression of this vase
is remarkably determined by the experiments in colouring,
which the master undertakes with help of thinned colour :
the helmets, greaves, and hides he has made dark in con-
trast with the human skin, he has given an effect of light to
the material of the hair of head and beard, and rounded the
horses' bodies by shading.

These novelties of the somewhat crude and quaint
master are only intelligible as reflection of a great painting,
which struggled with problems of expression and light, as is
expressly testified for the art of the great Polygnotos and his
contemporaries. Naturally at no time were vase-painters
entirely uninfluenced by the achievements of the great art.
But just now in the sixties of the 5th century, this borrowing
made itself felt more than ever, and enticed the vase-
painters often beyond the limits of their branch of art. This
comes not only from the overpowering impression of the
great personalities among the painters of this period, but
especially from the fact, that wall-painting now struck out
new bold paths, on which vase-painting could follow it less
than ever.

Among the vase-pictures, which very strongly echo
these new strains, are the later works of the 'horse' master.
The interior of the Penthesileia kylix (Fig. 134) only
enclosed by a delicate branch, the master did not paint as in

138

Fig. 132. BATTLE WITH CENTAURS: RED-FKilRED PSYKTER.

Fig. 133.

TOP-PLAYER- FROM A WHTrE-GROUND KYLIX WITH THE

SIGNATURE OF THE POTTER HEGESIBULOS.

PLATE LXXX.

Fig. 134. .\CHILLE.S KILL.S I'EXTHKSILEIA : INTERIOR OF A RED-
FIGURED KYLIX.

From Furtwdiigler-Rcichliold, Grivchischc Vaseniualerei.
PLA'IE LXXXI.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

the kylikes of Berlin and Athens on white ground, but he
heightens the red-figured technique by the application of
thinned black glaze, by dull red and light grey surfaces,
with brown and white additions, and by applications of
gold. The four figures which are forced into this circle
almost burst the frame, not merely by the disproportion of
their tall forms, but still more by their inner greatness and
passion. In the midst of the battle-field, where the sword
rages, and the ground lies full of corpses, Achilles has over-
taken the Amazon queen, and furious with rage, plunges his
sword in her heart : however much her hands and eyes
plead for mercy, it is too late.

The features of Penthesileia betray more of inner life
than those of Orpheus : and on a second Munich kylix, on
which Apollo in presence of Ge slays her son Tityos, the
master has gone a step further in physiognomy. The three
faces are as convincingly graduated in expression as for
example those on the beautiful * Lament for the dead,' by
a contemporary master, in Athens.

On the big interior of his kylikes (Fig. 134) the * horse '
master could give freer play to his genius than on the
exteriors, which, as in the kylikes of Berlin and Athens, he
adorned with pretty scenes from the stable. The contrast
between the great round pictures with their fine technique,
and the lightly sketched exteriors, is so great, that some
have thought of two artists working in the same studio, who
divided the work, so that the * horse ' master would be
different from the Penthesileia master ; but the white-ground
exterior of the Orpheus kylix seems to build the bridge. It
is certainly characteristic that the exteriors of kylikes
in this period no longer tempted talented painters
to such lively compositions, as in the days of the
Brygos and Perugia painters, and that even in the
lifetime of the great Euphronios the paratactic decorative

139

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

style most consistently prepared by Duris laid hold of these
exteriors. The new style required big surfaces, and the
most faithful reflexions of wall-painting are to be found on
large vases.

The most famous of these great Polygnotan vases is the
Paris calyx-krater from Orvieto (Fig. 135), the figures of
which, apart from Athena and Herakles, have not yet been
certainly identified. From the expectant attitude of the
figures it has been suggested that the picture
represents the start of the Argonauts, or the
preparation of the Attic heroes for the battle
of Marathon. The great mythological scene is at
any rate in the manner of the new period, which no longer
has the preference of the ancients for the crisis of action
but rather depicts preparation and after-effect, reflection
on the deed accomplished and rest from action. That a
Polygnotan wall-painting preceded the vase-painting in this
psychologically refined conception, may be regarded as
proved. For the figures not only appear in all sorts of bold
foreshortenings, front and side views, not only surprise us
by an abundance of motives, which are quite beyond pre-
vious vase-painting, but also show a series of peculiarities,
which are expressly described as innovations of the great
fresco-painter. When the figures of the krater open their
mouths and show their teeth, when the stationary interior
folds, the so-called drapery eyes have shadows painted in
them, this can only be explained as imitation of the great
painters, and similarly the gnashing of teeth and the shading
of the horses' bellies on the Centaur psykter. The Argo-
nautic krater shows this dependence very strongly in its
composition. Great painting had not only graduated the
parts of the body in deep spatial layers, but transferred this
novel deepening to the arrangement of its groups, distri-
buting the actors over hilly country, which either elevated

140

n.Aii-: i.xxx

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

the figures of the background or often partly concealed
them. It is clear that an art, which characterized the
rounding of shields and bodies and the recesses of drapery
by the distribution of light and shade, also gave actuality and
effect of depth to the landscape by shading, though in
primitive fashion, and a series of ' Polygnotan ' vases
proves the fact, by making flowers, bushes and plants spring
out of the ground. It is true the painter of the Argonaut
krater does not go so far, but he shows more strikingly than
any other vase-painter the landscape of Polygnotan paint-
ings, which, not forgetting the surface effect of vase-decora-
tion, he does not shade but only indicates in outline by the
incising tool. That in other ways, too, he altered his
pattern to suit the technique of vase-painting, is proved by
the freedom in the use of colour and perspective, which on
other specimens of this period burst the barriers of vase-
painting.

Both encouraged and warned by such examples, one
must look through the vase-painting of this period for other
traces of Polygnotan painting, especially on vases which
agree in subject with the wall-paintings of which we have
accounts, and not only in the freedom named, but also in
the inferiority of the execution to the conception, show of
what spirit they are the offspring. One can never expect
copies. The very fact that exact replicas never occur
among the Polygnotan types, shows that the vase-painters
dealt with the borrowed property according to their own
individuality and for their definite purpose. So the two
cases we have selected must be judged individually. The
* Penthesileia ' master was probably stimulated to his
treatment of the theme by a big Amazon painting ; but the
clever painter not merely translated this impulse into his
own brilliant technique and adapted it to his circular field,
but also extended over it his personal great feeling, and

141

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

translated the picture into his personal style, so that it has
the effect of a natural continuation of his earlier works.
The ' Argonaut ' master had no concern with this great
'Ethos' or the delicate polychrome technique. He bor-
rowed more superficially, took an extract from the big scene
of his model in his strong relief-lines, and emphasized the
individual characteristics rather than the dash of the
original. In realism, his bearded hero holding a spear
is not inferior to the contemporary warrior of the New York
krater (Fig. 130). Great painting went on tempestuously
developing, and in the next age burst its fetters of colour
and space in a manner which could not but deter even the
boldest vase-painter from imitation, if he were not to shake
off every sane regard for the preservation of his surface-
effect. So reflexions of wall-painting on vases become
rarer, and the ' Polygnotan ' vases remain an episode.

Naturally there were many vase-painters who did not
enter this dangerous ground : nay, the majority did not do
so. With many the avoidance of a big surface went so far
that they divided the outside of a calyx-krater or big ' ary-
ballos ' into two friezes and filled them with small figures
in defiance of constructive considerations. Out of the
series of these ' little masters,' who beside the big-figure
painters continued the traditions of the elegant style, let us
mention e.g. the painter who decorated the box signed by
the potter Megakles (Figs. 136-7) with charming scenes from
women's apartments, and the lid with five comic hares ; or
the author of the girl plying the top on a white-ground kylix
of the potter Hegesibulos (Fig. 133), a potter who was active
as early as the'Leagros period ; and especially Sotades, from
whose workshop came not only plastic vases in the shapes of
horses, sphinxes, knuckle-bones, crocodiles devouring
negroes, etc., but also white-ground kylikes of most elegant
shape, whose exquisite interiors, like the friezes of those

142

Figs. 136 & 137.

LID AND SIDE OF A PYXIS WITH THE SIGNATURE OF THE POTTER

MEGAKLES.

Fig. 138. MAEN.VDS: FROM A RED-FIGURED POINTED AMPHORA.

PLATE LXXXIII.

Fig. 13<J. I'OLVNEIKES OFFERS ERIPHYLE THE NECKEACE : FROM A
RED-FKiLL'RED PELIKE.

From Fiirtu'diii^lci-Rcicliliold, Griechische I'uscunmlcrei.

Fig. 140.
ORPHErS AMONr, THE THRACIANS : FROM A RED-FICrRED KRATER.

PLATE LXXXIV.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

drinking vessels, lead us to the beginning of the age of
Pheidias.

This transition is also accompanied by some painters'
signatures, which become rarer, the more the individual
performances of vase-painters are cast in the shade by the
great art. The signatures do not present us with the first
artists of the time. Hermonax is somewhat smooth and
tedious, and Polygnotos, the namesake of the great painter,
to judge from the mixed nature of his unoriginal style, must
have lived by borrowing. His pelike from Gela is a Polyg-
notan vase with an Amazon scene ; on the London stamnos,
to be dated about the middle of the century, advanced and
old-fashioned types are combined in an unpleasing fashion.

Anonymous masters better represent the transition from
Polygnotos to Pheidias. The master of a krater with a
dancing scene in Rome (the 'Villa Giulia' master), is not dis-
tinguished for temperament and progressiveness,but is rather
a correct and academic individual ; but the neatly drawn
scenes of his krater and stamnoi, in the noble bearing of the
figures and the manner in which they gaze at each other,
betray the approach of a new ideal of man. Much more
talented is the master, who on a pointed amphora at Paris
combined the wonderful group of two Maenads (Fig. 138)
with a scene of Bacchic revelry, as Amasis did almost a
century before (Fig. 98). The two girls are of truly royal
dignity, like each other in this, but subtly distinguished in
expression. The three-quarter view of the head is almost
devoid of harshness, and only the ladle-shaped under lip
connects her with the Polygnotan female heads.

How even the drapery becomes a vehicle of expression
and every fold breathes the greatness of the whole picture,
may become clearer if we look at the 'Eriphyle' of a pelike
at Lecce (Fig. 139), with which we also pass the middle of
the century. This picture must be compared to the

143

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Corinthian Amphiaraos krater (Fig. 66) to see, how in the
interval of 120-130 years the soul of art has changed. The
later master represents not the dramatic culmination of the
story but the psychological climax, when Polyneikes offers
to the wife of Amphiaraos the seductive necklace, for which
she will send her husband to death. As often on vases of
this period, two figures stand calmly facing one another, but
they are here united by most delicate psychology ; Eriphyle,
simply attired in plain peplos, is full of an inner life which
circulates through her body to the finger-tips. This har-
monious union of a monumental type with intimate feeling
is at the beginning of the most Greek period of Greek art-
history , the most human period of the history of mankind,
the age of Pheidias.

If we name the following decades of the history of vase-
painting after Pheidias, we do not mean that he was in very
close relations with the art of the vase-painters. But the
artist, who in the Parthenon frieze introduced that incon-
ceivable nobility of form, who in the West side of the frieze
developed the play of lines to new greatness, to heighten it
in the pediment to a great outburst of passion, impressed
this age so much with his nature that one cannot imagine the
vase-paintings as unaffected by this powerful influence.

Never was Greek art so much an art of expression as at
this period. As if in response to the search for a word to
describe this new expression, the beautiful musical pictures
of the time present themselves. Since the Geometric style
art had continually represented musical performers, but it
was reserved for the age of Pheidias to give pictorial expres-
sion to the effect of musical sounds on men. The krater from
Gela (Fig. 140) belongs to the early Periclean age ; the sure
touch in the rendering of a twist of the body and its rounded
form is now a matter of course even in the hasty execution
of a second-rate draughtsman ; the head type gets the

141

Fit!. 141. .MUSIC: REDFIC.LRED NECKED AMPHORA.
PLATE LXXXV.

Fii^-. 142. SLKKP AND DEATH (WRRV Ol 1 A WARRIOR TO lURIAL
WHI rK-(;ROL XD ITLKVTHOS.

PLATE LXXX\ I.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

square outline, the shortened jaw, the long drawn nose,
which are characteristic of the age of Pheidias ; the repeti-
tion of the epithet katos shows that the custom of inscribing
a love-name is dying out. About contemporary is the
London amphora with twisted handles (Fig. 141) with the
Muses Melusa and Terpsichore and the bard Musaios.
Orpheus among the Thracians and Terpsichore in a reverie
with the harp are purely pictures of lyric feeling.

As if music had tamed them, the vase-pictures of the
Periclean age change their nature. All crudities have
gone : the too bold foreshortenings and the realistic details
taken from great paintings are less obvious : nothing any
longer disturbs the free play of the lines. The conception
of men rises to its highest possible point. The figures on
the Munich stamnos (Fig. 146) are not merely masterpieces
of fully developed drawing but also ideal types of pure free
humanity. Movements are often merely motives of beauty :
the fold style combines a new naturalism with the most
monumental effect.

This new spirit also animates the finest of the white-
ground lekythoi, whose proper history begins in the
Glaukon period (p. 134) and cannot be traced far beyond
the 5th century. In their first period they had preferred
to render domestic scenes, representations from the female
apartments. But the purpose of these grave vases continu-
ally asserts itself more and more. The ferryman of the
dead appears, to take goodly men into his bark ; the brothers
Sleep and Death dispose of the corpse (Fig. 142) ; Hermes,
the conductor of souls, waits to be followed ; the dead man
laments for his life. But the domestic scenes have given
place to the walk to the grave ; and the visit to the tomb-
stone, beside which the dead man stands or sits as if alive,
becomes the typical subject of the lekythoi. The special
technique of these vases produces an effect often very

145

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

different from the red-figured style, esnecially since the white
filling of the outlines (p. 134) is dropped. The employment
of glaze-colour in the rendering of outlines, and the transi-
tion to brush-painting, with which from the first surfaces
had been covered in different varieties of colour, lead after-
wards to an unusual individualization of the line. One
cannot say that this technique approximates the lekythoi to
the effect of wall-painting as much as it severs it from
red-figured vase-painting. Only a few exceptional late
specimens in their pictures operating freely with light and
shade burst the bounds of vase-decoration, and show
clearly with what good sense the vase-painters renounced
competition with the great art, which now victoriously
solves the problems of full perspective, of giving the effect
of depth in space, with the gradation of dimensions, and the
contrasts of light and dark.

In a Boston lekythos (Figs. 143 and 144) we have an
* existence' picture in the manner of the new period (p.
136). The dead warrior stands in Polygnotan attitude, with
bent arm resting on his hip (cp Fig. 135, last to left), beside
his altar-shaped tomb, and looks over it to the girl, who
without perceiving him approaches with funeral offerings.
One notices in the treatment of the nude, that he is the pro-
duct of an age which already had the perspective sense : so
vividly do the few lines of his contour, his muscles, and his
knee-pan, give the suggestion of a rounded body ; and also
the drawing of the female nude, which accident has freed
from the drapery added in perishable dull paint, in its very
realistic outline goes beyond anything previous. Since the
Circe and Phineus kylikes, and the numerous black-figured
and red-figured pictures of bathing, dancing, and drinking
hetairai, art had busied itself with the naked bodies of
women as much as of men : and where nudity could not be
represented, it indicated the outlines of the body through

146

Figs. 143 & 144. YOUTH AND .MAIDEN ON A \VHITE-( .ROl ND LEKYTHOS.

Fig. 145. WOMAN SEATED AT A r,RA\'ESTONE : FROM A WHITE-
GROUND LEKYTHOS.

PLATE LXXXVII.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

the cover of the drapery (p. 119). For Polygnotos we have
the express tradition of women with transparent garments,
and on the Argonaut krater even Athena's grand forms are
indicated ; the great liberator of wall-painting must also
have been a pioneer in the drawing of the female body. The
new style here too brings perfection and fills the form of
women with its noble greatness and simplicity. That it too,
in contrast with the 4th century, eschews all that is typically
feminine, soft and unformed, is a proof how strong was the
ideal of male beauty.

A London lekythos (Fig. 142) also represents a dead
soldier at the grave . The winged brothers Sleep and Death
with tender hand dispose of his corpse, as they do with the
dead Sarpedon in the Iliad : and the lekythos-painter took
his type also from the Sarpedon pictures ; the young
warrior who had fallen far from his country, should on the
vase have the same boon of burial in his native soil, as was
granted by Zeus to the Lycian king. The fine type was
then divested of its proper meaning and received a more
general signification. The London vase, which uses lustre-
less colours for the outlines of its figures also, must be
somewhat later than the Boston vase, although the new
technique, that is pure brush technique, went on for a
time beside the old. Though stylistic estimates now become
difficult, one fancies in the wonderful vigour of the drawing,
and in the stronger individuality of the hair, that one is
nearer to the period of the Parthenon pediments than in the
somewhat more austere Boston group. Where the way led
may be shown by the woman sitting on the steps of a tomb
on a lekythos in Athens (Fig. 145), which not only by
the strongly plastic suggestion of the outline goes beyond
the Pheidian period proper, but also in the grandiose
heightening of the simple motive shows itself as one of the
works, which take up and cast in new moulds the pathos of

147

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

the Parthenon pediments. Every line in the very indi-
vidual drawing of the woman, who is supporting her left
hand and lifting her garment with her right, while her feet
are unruly in submitting to the sitting posture, is animated
by passionate unrest.

Though the age of Pheidias liked pictures of feeling with
quiet figures like the music-scenes, the Munich stamnos and
the lekythoi, it did not exhaust itself in them. Beside the
vases with large figures, there are others, which continue to
cultivate the elegant style and prepare the way for a class
which flourishes in the last decades of the century. Little
jugs with nursery scenes, pomade boxes with pictures of
female life, globular unguent pots with lekythos-like mouth
are the principal vehicles of this style, and the "Eretria "
master is a typical representative. On great and small
vases we find scenes of animated motion, passionate scenes
of conflict, which on their side too, share in the nobility of
the style of the age. The brutal vigour and hardness of old
motives seems broken, softened, often almost takes a turn
to elegance. The order of the large compositions with its
arrangement of the figures over one another and indication
of the broken ground by lines closely follows the Polygnotan
system. But while the Polygnotan depth in space was pro-
duced by a naturalistic tendency, which soon led to com-
plete freedom in the great art, it is continued by the vase-
painters as a mere principle of distribution and space-filling,
i.e., it receives a decorative character.

One of the finest pictures of movement from this period
decorates a stamnos at Naples (Fig. 147) : women who are
sacrificing before a tree-trunk dressed out as Dionysos and
dancing to the tambourine. The exact dating of this pic-
ture, like the whole chronology of the late and post-Pheidian
vases, is a matter of dispute : but this much is certain, that
it cannot be understood except as a near echo of the art of

148

■'f <' (^- frvW f W V u-rrmyi m \j ^i ^.Ni:«.

Fig. UG. RED-FICLRED STA.MNOS.

Fig. 147. OFFERINGS AT THE IMAGE OF DIONYSOS : FRO.M A RED-
FIGURED STAMXOS.

PLATE LXXXVIII.

PLATE LXXXIX.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

the Parthenon pediments. Into the noble line-drawing of
the middle style of Pheidias has come a new passionate
movement, which draws the contour in more violent curves,
dissolves the hair in strong waves, throws the drapery into
great folds, and enlivens the clinging parts with restlessly
curving inner folds. The upper garment of Dionysos is
given rich effect by long border zig-zags, interspersed stars
and an embroidered wreath, the expression of his eyes is
strengthened by emphasis on the upper lid. Details added
in white and liberal use of thinned black heighten the
coloured effect. This new style with its marked enhance-
ment of the lines is the later style of Pheidias, a reflection of
the last and highest development of the Parthenon master,
which pointed Attic art into new paths, and lived its life
out and died in the school of Pheidias.

The amphora with twisted handles at Arezzo (Fig. 148)
must be in close connection with the last phase of the
Pheidian style and cannot be far removed from the Naples
stamnos. Its shape enriches the type of the Terpischore
vase in London (Fig. 141) by sharper profiling of the mouth
and foot, but does not yet draw the lower part into the dull
curve, which robs the amphorae and bell-kraters of the end
of the century of strong and taut effect. Similarly the
scene, the wild career of Pelops and Hippodameia over the
sea, heightens the tendencies of Pheidian art without
succumbing to the palsy which can be felt in the style of
Meidias. The divine horses, the gift of Poseidon, emit
sparks of the fire of the steeds on the pediments ; the
majestically animated attitude of Hippodameia reminds
cne of the Athenian lekythos (Fig. 145) ; in Pelops every
line is full of passion and bold movement. Here too the
draperies are rich and elaborate, the restless billowing of
the folds is more marked than on the Naples stamnos, and
the flowing chiton folds, which cling close to the body, pre-

149

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

pare for the exaggeration dear to post-Pheidian sculpture
and painting. Not only does the drawing of individual
forms show a plastic conception of space, but the whole
scene is inconceivable without a contemporary big painting
with considerable landscape capacities : from the tree-clad
hilly coast the chariot rushes out upon the deep sea.

In fiery impetus only one of the vase-paintings of this
period can compare with the Pelops vase, the somewhat
later Naples fragment of a Gigantomachia (Figs. 149-151).
An invention of truly Titanic force, which is also echoed on
other later vases, must be the basis of this picture, and even
the unusual division (unsuited to vases) by an arch points to
a model from another branch of art. In a rocky landscape
the fight for existence of the gods and the sons of the earth-
goddess takes place in the early morning, when Helios is
rising on the vault of heaven and Selene is sinking down into
ocean, as on the east pediment of the Parthenon. The bold
movements, the twistings and bendings of the combatants,
the 'lost* profile, the swellings and packings of the skin and
muscles are rendered with sure touch. The plastic effect
of the middle line of chest and abdomen is increased by
doubling, and horizontal folds bring out the lower part of
the forehead, the locks of hair and tips of hide flutter as if
they were alive ; the breasts of the earth-goddess are
modelled out of the drapery as if bare, the eyes are deep-
set, the underlips project.

That the rendering of the female body was now not less
accomplished than that of the male, beside the lekythos in
Athens, a picture of a different order may show. On an
Oxford jug appears in the spaciousness favoured by these
vases an old theme. Satyr and Nymph (Fig. 154). One can
scarcely realize the nobility of Pheidian conception more
fully than by comparing this scene with the Phineus kylix
(Fig. 74) and its congeners. What early ages had repre-

150

PLATE XCI.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

sented with drastic humour, is here refined and given a
soul : even the Satyrs and Centaurs, the rugged monsters of
the woods and mountains, are tamed by the new spirit which
will not any longer endure brutality and obscenity.

The sleeping nymph Tragodia is not only correctly
observed in her foreshortening, in movement and distribu-
tion of the weight of the body, she is also the vehicle of a
wonderful feeling. The picture, which immediately pre-
pares for the works of the Meidias painter and the
' Pronomos ' master, and beside tlhe great ptyle of the
Pelops and Giant vases shows us the continuance of the
refined and elegant style, cannot have been produced long
after Pheidias' death.

The time of the School of Pheidias, of whose best works
we have been introduced to a selection, gives us again a few
artists' names. The painter Aison gives us a Madrid kylix
with the exploits of Theseus, which must be about contem-
porary with the Giant vase. On the Theseus of the interior
the hair is dissolved into lively curls, which stand out dark
on a lighter ground, and the plastic swelling of the belly goes
to the utmost limit of what is possible ; in his protectress
Athena we see already the contrast between the leg that
bears the weight and is covered by hanging folds, and the
free leg, which is closely covered by the drapery ; which is
exaggerated by Aristophanes, whom the potter Erginos
employed, just as is the hair with light under-painting, and
the chiton clinging as if moist and blowing back. Aison,
who began his activity even in Pheidian days, draws more
elegantly than his younger colleague, but neither master
initiated a new development of kylix painting. The great-
ness of both lay in exploiting as artizans accessible types.

With the works of Aristophanes we probably go further
from the time of Pheidias than with the Naples fragment :
the works of the * Meidias ' painter take us to the time of ^

151

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

the Nike balustrade, i.e., the two last decades of the 5th
century. They too are an echo of the art of the Parthenon
pediments, but in travelling along the road this echo has lost
its vogour. On the unsigned Adonis hydria in Florence
(Fig. 152) all the figures exuberate in lazy grace and fine
motives of beauty. Particularly the groups, Adonis in the lap
of Aphrodite, and Hygieia with Paidia, remind us of the
Parthenon, the wonderful melting forms of the 'Fates' and
other pediment figures. But what there was born of passion,
is here become fashion, and is playfully treated. The
excitement of the faces with wide nostrils, the bowing and
bending of bodies conscious of their beauty, the supporting
of arms and play of fingers, the whole extent of the care-
lessly united society on the wavy hill-lines (p. 141) in spite
of all its grace has something of the formula about it. The
style of the drapery is certainly an indication of the weaken-
ing of earlier vigour. The many and over elegant broken-
up foids, which cling unnaturally close to breast and free
leg, the curling of the cloak folds, and the independent
movement of the tips, is a long way off the Parthenon pedi-
ments, which inaugurate this enhancement of style, but
without loss of vigour and by a kind of natural evolution.
The effort for fine effect, which is expressed in
the rich patterning, is in noticeable contrast to the
restlessness of the drapery. A certain inclination to
pomp is characteristic of the post-Pheidian stvle. The
raised gilt details of the clay, which we know already on the
white ground lekythoi (Fig. 134), the box of Megakles (Fig.
137) and the works of the Eretria master (p. 148), are now
in hiijh honour, and are plentifully employed on the Adonis
vase.

The Meidias painter also produced a series of similar
pure pictures of * existence ' on hydriae, e.g., the fair
Phaon, the singer * Thamyris,* Paris with the goddesses,

152

PLATE XCII.

THE STYLE OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS

the Eleusinian deities, and decorated other vases also in this
manner. These scenes, on which the figures move less
vigorously than the lines, are more successfully rendered
than the pathos of the scene of abduction on the London
hydria signed by the potter Meidias. He was no bold pro-
gressive artist ; his technically exquisite and very delicately
drawn pictures recast in new shapes the new phenomena of
art : in him the series of masters of the type of the
' Sotades ' painter and the Eretria master comes to an end.

His contemporary, who may after the chief figure of the
Satyric play vase at Naples be called the 'Pronomos' master,
likes figures of ' existence ' in pretty poses, but he draws
them with more spirit and does more justice to the vehement
style of his time. On the Naples vase, a showy volute-
krater with rich profiling, he puts on the obverse the
cast of an Attic theatrical performance in two almost
equal rows one above the other, and thus starts a principle
of composition which was taken up by the vase-painting of
Lower Italy (Fig. 158). Liberal use is made of thinned
colour, the centre of the scene is denoted by a white figure,
the luxuriantly ornamented dresses contuse the general
impression. In respect of shape and decoration one may
speak of a decay of the finer tectonic sense, which reminds
us surprisingly of the vases of Lower Italy. The per-
spective side-view of the footstool and of the tripod column
are liberties taken by the great art, which generally Attic
vase-painters consciously avoid so as to keep to the surface
treatment.

The tripod-column, which transplants us into the
Theatre of Athens, as the Athena of the Panathenaic vases
to the Acropolis, recurs after Polygnotan times often in the
midst of mythological scenes, and brings the vases, which
show it, anyhow in relation to dramatic exhibitions.

It has been proposed to recognise the effect of the stage

153

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

on vase-painting, e.g. in the increased pomp of the dresses.
This effect might at the most have taken place indirectly ;
for that the vase-painters often took as their patterns votive
paintings of victorious Choregi, is more than probable.
And in general one may draw conclusions as to the great art
from many a fine invention, which is seen on vase-paintings
at second-hand, e.g. from the Bacchic scenes on the reverse
of the * Pronomos ' vase. This conclusion is certainly also
justified in view of the Talos vase (Fig. 153) which trans-
forms the mighty echoes of the late Pheidian art into the
pompous, as the Meidias vases into the ornamental-elegant.
The vase-shape is closely allied to that of the * Pronomos ' :
the central figure in white, so popular in this period, recurs,
and in its spatial effect is enhanced by shaded modelling far
above the proportions of the other figures, which show
plainly the conscious restraint of the vase-painters. Though
the 'Talos' master altered the composition of his pattern
to suit his vase, he must have preserved with tolerable faith-
fulness the grandiose invention of the centre group ; the
passionate impetus, which fills the whole scene and catches
even the cloaked figures of the reverse, is here most con-
vincing.

With this fine masterpiece, which almost exaggerates the
element of show, not separated by more than two decades
from the Parthenon pediment, we close the history of the
vases that show the style of Pheidias. Nay, one may regard
the proper history of Greek vase-painting as closed with
these post-Pheidian vases. Not merely does the potter
make his vases untectonic by excessive profiling and
elaborate extension, but the painter too, interrupts the unity
of the vase-surface with the white-painted and plastically
modelled central figure ; thus in a sense the silhouette style
is declared bankrupt.

154

MfflMPlg)pi^B8Jfp/pfgfBfg/gJHMSlgl51

Fig. 154. SATYR .\XD SLEEPING .M.\EX.\D : FROM A RED-FIGURED JUG.

Fig. 155. WOMEN .\T THE RATH: FROM A LATE ATTIC PELIKE.

From Fiirtu'diiglcr-Hi'ichliolil , (iiiecliisclie \'ascninalc'rci.

PLATE XCIII.

CHAPTER VII.
LATE OFFSHOOTS

WE should unnaturally shift the centre of gravity in our
narrative if we treated the late period of Greek vase-
painting with anything like the same fulness as its develop-
ment from the Geometric to Meidias. The fully developed
and often almost playfully treated vase-shapes give no
longer any really tectonic ground for the silhouette style,
which had exhausted the qualities compatible with its
inward nature : the elegance of the vases feels the pictorial
decoration to be a burden, as does the style of the figures
feel the tectonic compulsion. Even in the last third of the
5th century examples are multiplied of the transition to free
brush technique. The Pelops amphora (Fig. 148) adorns
its black neck with a sphinx added in white, the Talos vase
(Fig. 153) and with it a multitude of other vases seek to fix
the impression by a white central figure, to which the others
rendered in ordinary technique are only a pale foil. In
the course of the 4th century this foil too, was dropped, and
black glazed vases of elegant shape were decorated only
with figures or ornaments loosely added in white. The
brush technique, both the black of Boeotian vases (p. 110)
and the white of Attic and Lower Italian, made a new
development in ornamentation, which culminates in spiral
tendrils and branches with depth of space, in combination
of figures and foliage of plastic effect. Besides these freely
decorated vases the red-figured long continue. But the
centre of gravity of the manufacture lies no longer in
Athens. Even in the time of Pheidias the Attic school sent
n branch to Lower Italy, which took root in the Periclean

155

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

colonies of Lucania, extended to various places in Lucania
Campania, Apulia, and Southern Etruria, and soon grew up
as a strong plant. In this production, which in the 4th
century completely supplanted Attic importation, few really
origmal artists took part, who all seem to belong to the early
period, and perhaps were emigrated Athenians ; the master
of the Pans 'Tiresias' krater is one of them. From the
early group, in which good Attic tradition is strongly felt
we select two bell-kraters. The full, and rather empty
heads, the very general conception of the divine types leave
us no doubt as to the Italian origin of the Paris ' Orestes '
vase found in Lucania (Fig. 156), while the wonderful group
of the sleeping Erinyes, Klytemnestra urging them to
vengeance, and the purified Orestes, show us not only a fine
model but a clever hand. From the drawing and shape of
the vase it may very well belong to the end of the 5th
century, like the closely analogous London krater (Fig
157) This vase with much humour introduces to us one of
the favourite Italian farces (the Phlyakes) and begins a long
^ries of similar representations from different workshops
Thus e.^. the painter Assteas painted two Phlyax vases, one
of which in comic parody gives the violation by Aias of
Kassandra, while the other is a serious theatrical scene
which with its detailed rendering of the stage clearly
denionstrates the influence of the drama on vase-painting

The activity of this painter, who from the stiflf variety of
the style and the localities of the finds must be localized in
South Campania, belongs to a later phase, which does not
concern us. For the more these Italo-Greek vases in shape
decoration and representation develop local peculiarities
and depart from their purely Attic starting point, the less do
they belong to our survey, which excludes provincial
varieties. Out of the mass of Lower Italian vases of the 4th
century, which in shape partly run parallel with the Attic

156

Ki..-. 15(5. ORESTES AND THE FURIES: FROM A LUCANIAN BELL-KRATER.

Fig. 157. COMEDY SCENE : LOWER-n'ALIAN BELL-KRATER.
PLATE XCIV.

Fig. 158. .ACHILLES .AND THERSITES : .\PULL\N VOLUTE-KR.\TER.

PL.\TE XCV.

LATE OFFSHOOTS

partly develop noticeably baroque and locally limited
peculiarities, which in their chiefly sepulchral representa-
tions, influenced by Orphic-Dionysiac cults, often fall into
coarseness, stiffness, or efteminate insipidity, let us take only
one example. The Boston volute krater, IJ metres high
(Fig. 158) belongs to a group of Apulian grand vases, which
elongate the shape of the Talos vase (Fig. 153) and add rich
ornament in white colour. On the reverse bearers of
offerings above one another in the favourite borrowed
motives (sitting, standing, running, leaning on a pillar,
drawing up one foot) surround a white-painted Heroon with
the dead man : the obverse combines a similar building
with a mythological scene, the slaying of Thersites by
Achilles, and thus gives a mythical prototype to the dead
man, for whose grave the vase is designed. The liberal use
of white paint, the * black ground ' ornamentation of the
neck and foot with branches and tendrils are progressive
elements, which lead the way for Hellenistic products like
the Apulian Gnathia vases ; in the increased pathos of the
faces is traced, though provincially coarsened, the stronger
weight given to sentiment in the 4th century ; and the per-
spective rendering of the building operating with light and
shade, which often extends to the ornament, points to a
period, which had won complete freedom in space, and
certainly could distribute figures over the landscape more
naturally than the vase-painter, who filled the tall space
with them only in a superficially decorative way.

Sentiment and light, the great achievements of 4th
century art, were the ruin of the decorative silhouette style,
whose figure world can admit of pathos, as little as the
bursting of its vase sides by perspective views corresponds
to its surface decoration. Even in Athens, where out of the
successors of the Meidias, Pronomos and Talos styles an
after-bloom developed (Figs. 155 and 159), which from the

157

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

rich exports in the Black Sea is usually called the Kerch
style, the new tendencies of art were fatal to the red-figured
style. To be sure this was in a different direction to Lower
Italy. The figure world of the elegant Attic vases, which in
the new naturalness of motives and drapery, in the strong
emphasis on female forms, is far removed from the types of
Pheidias, betrays little of the enhanced pathos of the great
painting, which one would have to deduce from the sculp-
ture of Skopas and Praxiteles, even if it were not expressly
witnessed to by literary tradition. From the same finer
decorative sense the Attic masters made no use of the full
perspective of their time, and interrupted the vase-surface
neither by buildings or ornaments drawn in perspective nor
by composition in several planes, but following the old
manner simply arranged above and beside each other on
the surface their generally large and restful figures. As in
the post-Pheidian style they like to pick out single figures by
white colour, and do not despise gilded additions, nay, they
even often heighten the decorative effect of colour by the
application of light blue, green and rose, occasionally also
by figures in relief and painted (as Xenophantos did m his
aryballos with hunting Persians, meant for Eastern
customers, in signing which he emphasizes his Athenian
citizenship). The varying shades of the colour scale give
one an inkling of the new problems of light, which were
certainly struggling for expression not only in sculpture ; in
the drawing of the figures, rendered in strong relief strokes,
nothing of this is observed. Thus the ' Kerch ' masters
ensure to their vases a finer general aspect than the Southern
Italians, just as their commonest figures are distinguished
from the Italian by a certain nobility ; but they are far
behind the huge advances of the great art, which now in its
methods of expression attained the heights perhaps of
Titian and Tintoretto, and have an arriere effect, listless and

158

F\a. 159. LATE ATTIC KALYX-KRATER.

Eig. 160. HELLENISTIC CUP.
PLATE XCVI.

LATE OFFSHOOTS

dull. Just as the new style could express itself better by
the applied than by the reserved ornamentation, which in
spite of new formations has a stiff and lifeless effect, so too
the red-figured style, which as is proved by finds at Alex-
andria, continued to exist down into the early Hellenistic
age, was no longer the congenial vehicle of the expression
of its age ; and it was only seldom that notable personalities
attempted to practise it.

Rightly recognising that the days of the draughtsman
and his decorative figure style were past and gone, the
ceramic workshops of the late 4th century, and the
Hellenistic, which appeared in several spots of the now
decentralized Greek world, more and more gave up the
red-figured technique. The great increase of the means of
colouring, which is to be assumed for the late painting, the
complete suppression of formal tendencies in favour of
impressionism did not permit the silhouette style even a
subsidiary place. The future belonged to free brush tech-
nique, that which painted in black, and that which had a
black ground (pp. 110 and 157).

The figured world, the representations, no longer play
any part ; the Hellenistic painters prefer to put on their
elegant, often playfully treated vases tendrils, festoons,
hanging branches and fillets, wreathes and masks in loose
arrangement. With these products of the mere craftsman,
which are often of fascinating effect (cp. Fig. 160), but often
in shape and decoration cause one to miss the delicate taste
of earlier times, ends the history of Greek vase-painting ;
by pottery with relief ornament (already heralded by the
completely black channelled vases of the 4th century and
works like the aryballos of Xenophantos), which
now gains ground more and more, painted pottery is com-
pletely driven off the field.

159

NOTE

Thanks are due to Messrs. F. Bruckmann, of Munich, for permission to
reproduce several drawing's from Furtwang-ler-Reichhold, Griechische

Vasenmalerei.

160

INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate I. Interior of a kylix signed by Euphronios as potter : from
Caere- Paris, Louvre, G 104. Diameter 0,39. From Furtwdngler-
Reichhold 5. Frontispiece

CHAPTER I. : THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES :—

PI. H. Fig. 1. Bowl from Sesklo : Athens. Height
0,20. Dark painting on lemon-col-
oured ground. From Tsountas,
Dimini and Sesklo (Greek), pi. 22
Fig. 2. Face-urn from Troy H.-V. : Berlin.
Height 0,30. From British School
yellowish clay. From H. Schlie-
mann's Sammlung Trofanischer
Altertumer, Hubert Schmidt, No.
1,080 and 1.084 ^'^^ f^*^^ P^S^ ^

PL HI. Fig. 3. Beaked jug from Syros : Athens,
Nicole 123. Height 0,i6. Light-
brown painting on yellow ground.
From Ephemeris Arch. 1899, pi. 10.
No'. 8
Fig. 4. Beaked jug from the sixth shaft-
grave at Mycenae : Athens, Nicole
i8q. Height 0,30. Turned on the
wheel, polished, lustreless brown
(and red) painting. From Furtwan-
gler and Loschcke, Mykenische
Tongefdsse, pi. IX. No. 44. ^

PI. IV. Fig. 5. Vase of Kamares style from the
palace of Knossos : Candia. Height,
0,22. Painting white, orange and
carmine-red on black glaze. From
British School Annual IX, p. 120.
Fig. 6. Unpainted kylix with yellow
smoothed surface, from the fourth
shaft-grave at Mycenae : Athens,
Nicole 164. Diameter 0,i2. From
Furtwangler and Loschcke, Myken-
ische Tongefdsse, pi. V. No. 22
PI. V. Fig. 7. Funnel-vase of late Minoan I. from
a house at Palaikastro : Candia.
Height 0,10. Turned on the wheel,
Annual IX, p. 311, fig. 10
Fig. 8. Funnel-vase of late Minoan I. from
house on the island of Pseira :
Candia. From Seager, Excavations
on the island of Pseira, p. 25, tig. 8

161

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Fig^. 9. Vase (Pithos) of Kamares style from
Phaistos : Candia. Height 0,50
Red and white painting- on black
g-laze. From Monumenti Antichi
XIV, pi. XXXV b To face page 8

PI. VI. Fig. 10. Stirrup-vase of late Minoan I., from
a house at Goumia : Candia. Height
0,20. From H. Boyd Hawes,
Goumia, pi. H

Fig. II. Amphora of late Minoan I., from a
house on Pseira. With many de-
tails overpainted in white. From
Seager op. cit., pi, VII. lo

PI. VII. Fig. 12. Amphora of Palace style from a
grave of Knossos. From Archceo-
logia, 1905, pi. CI

Fig. 13. Amphora of Palace style from a
grave of Knossos. From Archceo-
logia, 1905, pi. C. 12

PI. VIII. Fig. 14. Late Mycenean Cup from lalysos
(Rhodes) : London. Height 0,20.
Dark-brown glaze-colour on yellow
ground, details in white. Frocn
Furtwangler-Loschcke, M y k e n i s-
che Vasen, pi. VIII, 49

Fig. 15. Late Mycenean stirrup-vase from
lalysos (Rhodes) : London. Height
0,23. Yellowish-red glaze-colour on
yellow ground. The tentacles of
the cuttle-fish from a peculiar orna-
ment on the reverse, a bird by the
side of it. From Furtwangler-
Loschcke, Mykenische Vasen, pi.
IV., 24 14

PI. IX. Fig. 16. Late Mycenean vase with ribbed
handles from lalysos (Rhodes) :
London. Height 0,34. Dark-
brown glaze-colour (in parts burnt
red) on yellow ground. From Furt-
wangler-Loschcke, Mykenische
Vasen, pi. VI., 32

Fig. 17. Late Mycenean vase with ribbed
handles from Rhodes : Munich 47.
Height 0,45. Brown, partly red,

162

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

g-Iaze-colour on yellow g^round. Biga
with driver and companion. Mun-
chener Vasensammlung I., p. 6,
fig-. 7 To face page i6

CHAPTER II. : THE GEOMETRIC STYLE :—

PI. X. Fig. i8. Attic Geometric Amphora (Dipylon
class) : Munich 1,250. Height 0,50.
From photo.

Fig. 19. Geometric Amphora, said to come
from Melos, probably Attic (Black
Dipylon) : Munich. Height 0,73.
Miinchener Jahrbuch, 1909, II., p.
202, fig. I 20

PI. XI. Fig. 20. Upper half of a Dipylon grave-vase :
Athens, Collignon-Couve 2 1 4.
Height 1,23. From Monumenti dell'
Istituto IX., pi. 40, I

Fig. 21. Frieze from the upper half of a bowl
^ from Thebes, of which the rest is

only decorated with stripes : London.
From Journal of Hellenic Studies,
1899, pi. 8 22

PL XII. Fig. 22. Rhodian Geometric jug, said to
come from Crete : Munich 455.
Height 0,22. Miinchener Vasen-
sammlung I., p. 44, fig. 57

Fig. 23. Protocorinthinian Geometric cup
(skyphos) from Greece : Munich.
Height 0,i2. Miinchener Jahrbuch,
1913, I., p. 78 26

PL XIII. Fig. 24. Attic Geometric kylix from Athens :
Munich. Diameter 0,i8. Miinchener
Jahrbuch, 191 3, I., p. 78.

CHAPTER III. : THE SEVENTH CENTURY :—

Fig. 25. Cretan hydria from Praisos : Candia.

Height 0,30. From British School

Annual, IX., pi. 9c
Fig. 26. Cretan jug from Praisos : Candia.

Height 0,33. White on glaze. From

B.S.A. IX., pL 9d 28

PL XIV. Fig. 27. Cretan miniature jug with female

head: Berlin 307. Height 0,io.

From Athenische Mitteilungen,

T897, pi. 6

163

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Fig. 28.

PI. XV. Fig. 29.

Fig. 30.

PI. XVI. Fig. 31.

Fig. 32.

Fig-- 33-

PI. XVII. Fig. 34.

PI. XVIII. Figs. 357.

PI. XIX. Fig. 38.

F'e- 39-

Fig. 40.

PI. XX. Fig. 41.

Fragment of a jug from Aegina :
Athens. Nicole 848. Diameter
ca. 0,25. Athenische Mitteilungen,
1897, pi. VIII. To face page 30

Fragment of a plate from a grave
at Praisos : Candia. Original dia-
meter ca. 0,35. Wrestle with a sea
monster. From B.S.A. X., pi. III.

Krater of Aristonothos : Rome,
Palazzo dei Conservatori. Height
0,36. From Melanges d' Archeolo-
gie et d' histoire, 191 1, pi. I. 32

Protocorinthian lekythos : London,
B.M. Height 0,07. From Journal
of Hellenic Studies, XL, pi. I., 2

Protocorinthian lekythos, said to
come from Corinth : Berlin 336.
Height 0,06. From Archdologische
Zeitung, 1883, I.

Protocorinthian jug of post-Geome-
tric style from Aegina : Munich
225a. Height 0'i8. Miinchener
Vasensammlung I., p. 11, fig. 17 34

Protocorinthian lekythos, said to
come from Thebes : Boston. Height
0,07. From American Journal of
Archceology, 1900, pi. IV. 36

Protocorinthian jug, from the neigh-
bourhood of Rome : Rome, Villa di
Papa Giulio. Height 0,26. From
Antike Denkmdler II., pis. 44 and 45 38
Protocorinthian or Corinthian jug :
Munich 234. Height 0,44. From
photo.

Corinthian alabastron, from Greece :
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 30.
Height 0,20. From Catalogue,
pi. IV.

Corinthian aryballos, from Greece :
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 36.
Height 0,20. From Catalogue,
pi. IV. 40

Animal frieze from an early Corin-
thian jug: Munich 228. Miinch.
Vasens. I., p. 12, fig. 18

164

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Fig. 42.

PI. XXI. Fig. 43.

Fig-. 44.

PI. XXII. Fig. 45.

Fig. 46.

PI. XXIII. Figs. 47-8

PI. XXIV. Fig. 49.

Fig. 50-

PI. XXV. Fig. 51.

PI. XXVI. Fig. 52.

PI. XXVII. Fig. 53.

Fi&- 54-

Animal frieze from a Corinthian jug
of wine-skin shape : Munich 246.
Miinch. Vasens. I., p. 16, fig. 24

To face page 42

Corinthian skyphos, from Samos :
Boston. Height 0,o8. From photo.
Scene from the late Corinthian flask
of Timonidas, from Kleonai (Pelo-
ponnese) : Athens, CoUignon-Couve
620. Height of vase 0,14. From
Athenische Mitteilungen, 1905, pi.
VIII. 44

Pinax (votive-tablet), from Corinth,
signed by Timonidas : Berlin 846.
Height 0,22. From Antike Denk-
mdler I., pi. 8, 13

Frieze of an early Phaleron jug, from
Analatos (Attica) : Athens, Collig-
non-Couve 468. From Jahrbuch,
1887, pi. 3 46

Neck and body designs of an early
Attic Amphora, from Athens :
Athens, CoUignon-Couve 657.
Height 1,22. From Antike Denk-
mdler I., pi. 57 4^

Early Attic Amphora, from Piraeus :
Athens, CoUignon-Couve 65 1 . Height
1,10. From Ephemeris, 1897, pi. 5
Cycladic (Euboic) Amphora : Stock-
holm. Height 0,59. From Jahr-
buch, 1897, pi. 7 50
Jug with griffin's head, from Aegina :
London, B.M., A 547. From photo. 52
Chief design on a " Melian " am-
phora, from Melos : Athens, Collig-
non-Couve 475. Height of amphora
0,95. From Conze, Melische Tonge-
fdsse, pi. IV. 54
Herakles and lole (?) on a "Melian"
amphora, said to come from Crete :
Athens, CoUignon-Couve 477. From
Ephemeris, 1894, pi. 13
Early Rhodian jug, from Rhodes :
Hague, Scheurleer Collection.
Height 0,22. From photo. 55

165

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

PL XXVIII. Fig. 55.

Fig:- 56-

Fig:- 57-

PI. XXIX. Fig. 58.

PI. XXX. Fig. 59.

Fig. 60.

Fig. 61.

PI. XXXI. Fig. 62.

Fig. 63.

Rhodian jug : Munich 449. Height
0,33. Miinch Vasens. I, p. 42,

fig- 54

Late Rhodian jug, from Rhodes :
Munich 450. Height 0,33. Miinch
Jahrb, 191 1, II, p. 200
Euphorbos plate, from Rhodes :
London, B.M. Diameter 0,38. From
Photo To face page 56

Late Rhodian cauldron (lebes),
from Italy : Paris, Louvre. Height
0,35. From photo. 58

Gorgon plate, from Rhodes : Lon-
don, B.M. From J.H.S., 1885,

Pl- 59-

Sherd from Naukratis : Oxford.
(Busiris' head painted red on white
slip, details by leaving the parts un-
painted). From J.H.S., 1905, pi.
VL, I.

Naukratite sherd found on the
Acropolis of Athens : Athens, Acro-
polis 450a. Yellow, red and white
painting on bright ground. From
Akropolisvasen I., pi. 24 60

Amphora, from Rhodes (Fikellura) :
London, B.M., A 131 1. Height 0,34.
From Miinchener Archdol : Studien,
p. 300, fig. 24.

Amphora (Fikellura) : Altenburg.
Height 0,31. From Bohlau, Nek-
ropolen, p. 56 62

CHAPTER IV. : THE BLACK-FIGURED STYLE :—
PI. XXXII. Fig. 64.

Fig. 65.

PI. XXXIII. Fig. 66.

PI. XXXIV. Fig. 67.

Two friezes of a Corinthian krater,
from Caere : Paris, Louvre E. 635.
Height 0,46. After photo.
Corinthian krater, from Corinth :
Munich 344. Height 0,31. Miinch
Jahrb, 191 1, II., p. 290, fig. i.
Frieze of a Corinthian krater, from
Caere : Berlin 1655. Height 0,46.
From Monumenti X, pi. 4, 5
Corinthian plate : Munich 346a.
Diameter 0,28. Miinch Vasens.
I-, P- 31. %• 46

166

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Fig. 68.

PI. XXXV. F\g. 69.

PI. XXXVI. Fig. 70.

Fig. 71.

PI. XXXVII. Fig. 72.

Fig. 73-

PI. XXXVIII. Fig. 74.

PL XXXIX. Fig. 75.

Fig. 76.

Pis. XL.-I, Figs. 77-8

PI. XLII. Fig. 79.

Fig. 80.

PI. XLIII. Fig. 81.

XLIV. Figs. 82-3

Chalkidian hydria, from Italy :
Munich 596. Height 0,46. From
photo. To face page 74

Chalkidian amphora,, from Vulci :
Wiirzburg. Height 0,41. From
photo. To face page 74

Chalkidian amphora, from Caere :
London, B.M., B 155. Height 0,45.
From photo.

Scene from Chalkidian amphora of
Italian provenance : Munich 592.
Milnch. Vasens. I., p. 65, fig. 75 78

Ionic eye kylix, from Italy : Munich
589. Height 0,10. From photo.
Head of Athena, from Ionic eye
kylix : Munich 590. Milnch. Vasens.
I., p. 64, fig. 74. 80

Phineus kylix, from Vulci : Wiirz-
burg. Diameter 0,39. From
Furtwdngler-Reichhold 41 82

Ionic b.f. fragments, from Kyme
(Asia Minor) : London, B.M. From
photo.

Neck design of an Ionic b.f. Am-
phora, from Italy : Munich 586.
Milnch. Vasens. I., p. 62, fig. 73 84

Obverse and reverse of an Ionic b.-f.
Amphora, from Italy : Munich 585.
From Milnch. Vasens. I., p. 59,
figs. 69 and 70. 86 & 87

Chief design on a Caeretan hydria :
Vienna, Museum fiir Kunst und In-
dustrie 217. From Furtwdngler-
Reichhold 51

Spartan kylix, from Italy : Munich
382. Height 0,15. From Milnch.
Vasens. I., p. 34, fig& 48 88

Caeretan hydria, from Caere : Paris,
Louvre E 701. Height 0,43. From
photo. 89

Obverse and reverse of a Pontic am-
phora, from Italy : Munich 837.
Height of vase 0,33. From Furt-
wdngler-Reichhold 21 9c

167

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

PL XLV. Fig-. 84.

PI. XLVI. Fig. 85.

PI. XLVII. Fig. 86.

Fig. 87.

PI. XLVIII. Fig. 88.

Fig. 89.

PI. XLIX. Fig. 90.

PI. L. Fig. 91.

Fig. 92.

PI. LI. Fig. 93.

PL LII. Fig. 94.

PL LIII. Fig. 95.

PL LIV. Fig. 96.

Spartan kylix, from Cometo : Berlin.
From Jahrbuch d. D. Instatus 1901,
pi. III. To face page 92

Spartan kylix (Arkesilas), from
Vulci : Paris, Cabinet des M6dailles
189. Diameter 0,29. From Monu-
menti I., pi. 47 A 93

Fragments of a cauldron (lebes) by
Sophilos : Athens, Acropolis. Graf
587. Height of the frieze 0,09.
From Graf, Akropolisvasen, pi. 26
Attic tripod vase, from Athens :
Munich. Height 0,i2. From
Milnch. Jahrb, 191 1, H., p. 291,

fig-- 5- 94

Boeotian b.-f. kantharos : Munich
419. Height 0,19= From Miinch.
Vasens. I., p. 40, fig. 52
Detail of the Frangois vase. From
Furtwdngler-Reichhold, 13 96

Francois vase, from Chiusi : Flor-
ence, Museo archeologico. Height

FuHwdngler-Reich-

kylix, from Vulci :
36. Height 0,15.

0,66. From
hold, pi. 3, 10
' Little Master
Munich, Jahn
From photo.

Attic b.-f. kylix with knob handles :
Boston. From photo.

Interior of an eye kylix of Exekias,
from Vulci : Munich, Jahn 339. Dia-
meter 0,30. From Gerhard, Auser-
lesene Vasenbilder I., pi. 49
Scene from an Attic b.-f. Amphora,
from Vulci : Berlin 1685. Height
of vase 0*49. From Gerhard, Etrns-
kische und Kampanische Vasen-
bilder, pi. 21

Scene from an Attic b.-f. Amphora,
probably from Vulci : Wiirzburg,
Urlichs 331. From photo.
Amphora of Exekias, from
Rome, Museo Gregoriano,
1220. Height of vase 0,8o.
photo.

168

Vulci :

Helbig

From

104

105

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Fig. 97. Attic b.-f. necked Amphora, from
Italy : Munich. Height 0,40. From
photo. To face page 106

PI. LV. Fig. 98. Necked Amphora of Amasis : Paris
Cabinet des Medailles 222. Height
0,33. From photo.
Fig. 99. Detail from interior of a cauldron of
Exekias, from Caere : formerly Cas-
tellani Collection, Rome. From
Wiener Vorlegehldtter, 1888, pi. 5,
3 b 107

Pi. LVI. Fig. 100. Chief scene on a late b.-f. hydria,
from Vulci : Berlin, 1897. Height
of vase 0,44. From Gerhard, Aiiser-
lesene Vasenbilder IV., pi. 249-50 108

PI. LVII. Fig. loi. Attic vase in shape of negro's head
with late b.-f. decoration of neck :
Boston. From photo.
Fig. 102. Panathenaic Amphora, from Vulci :
Munich, Jahn 655. Height 0,62.
From photo. i ^o

CHAPTER V. : THE RED-FIGURED STYLE IN THE ARCHAIC
PERIOD :—
PI. LVIII. Fig. 103. Scene on an Amphora in the style of
the Andokides painter, from Vulci :
Munich, Jahn 388. Height 0,535.
From Furtwdngler-Reichhold 4 114

PI. LIX. Fig. 104. Amphora of the potter Pamphaios
(Nikosthenes' shape), from Etruria :
Paris, Louvre G 2. Height 0,38.
From photo. ^^^

PI. LX. Fig. 105. Scene on an Amphora of Euthy-
mides, from Vulci : Munich, Jahn
378. Height 0,60. From Furt-
wdngler-Reichhold 14.
Fig. 106. Shoulder scene on a hydria of Hyp-
sis, from Vulci : Rome, Torlonia
Collection. From Antike Denk-
mdler II., pi. 8 _ "7

PI. LXI. Fig. 107. Detail of Amphora of Euthymides,
from Vulci : Munich, Jahn 410.
From photo.
Fig. 108. Detail from interior of an archaic
r.-f. kylix, from Orvieto : Boston.
.From photo. ^^"

169

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

PI. LXII. Fig. 109.

PL LXIII. Fig. no.

PI. LXIV. Fig. III.

PI. LXV. Fig. 112.

PI. LXVI. Fig. 113.

PI. LXVII. Fig. 114.

PI. LXVIII. Fig. 115.

PI. LXIX. Fig. 116.

PI. LXX. Fig. 117.

PL LXXI. Figs. 1 18-9

PL LXXIL Fig. 120.

Fig. 121.

PL LXXin. Fig. 122.

PL LXXIV. Fig. 123.

120

121

Rhyton (in shape of a horse's head)
with r.-f, decoration of neck :
Boston. From photo. To face page 119
Interior of a kylix by Skythes, from
Caere : Rome, Villa di Papa Giulio.
Diameter of interior 0,io. From
Monuments Plot XX., pi. 7
Interior of a kylix by Epiktetos,
from Vulci. London, B.M., E. 38.
From Furtwdngler-Reichhold 73, i
Part of the design on the psykter of
Euphronios, from Caere. Petrograd,
Hermitage, 1670. From Furt-
wdngler-Reichhold 63
Obverse of a kalyx-krater of Eu-
phronios, from Caere. Paris, Louvre
G 103. Height of krater 0,46.
From Furtwdngler-Reichhold 92
Kylix signed by the potter Sosias,
from Vulci : Berlin 2278. Diameter
0*32. From photo.
Interior of a r.-f. kylix, from Caere :
formerly Branteghem Collection,
now London, B.M., E 46. From
Hartwig, Griechische Meisterscha-
len, pi. VIII.

Interior of a kylix of Brygos, from
Vulci : W^iirzburg, Urlichs (1872)
346. From photo.
Detail of an archaic r.-f. pointed am-
phora, from Vulci : Munich, Jahn
408. From Photo.
Exteriors of a kylix of Brygos :
Paris, Louvre. From Furtwdngler-
Reichhold 25

R.-f. skyphos, from Italy : Vienna,
Museum fiir Kunst und Industrie
328. From photo.
Exterior of a kylix, from Corneto :
Corneto. From Monumenti XL,
pi. 20

Scene on a psykter of Duris, from
Caere: London, B.M., E. 768.
Height of vase 0,29. From Furt-
wdngler-Reichhold 48
Kylix of Hieron, from Vulci : Berlin
2290. Diameter 0,33. From photo.

170

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

PI. LXXV.

Fig-.
Fig-.

124.

125.

PI. LXXVI. F\g. 126.

Kylix of Duris, from Caere : Berlin
2285. Diameter 0,28. From photo.
R.-f. kylix, from Vulci : Berlin 2294.
Diameter 6,30. From photo.

To face page 132

Interior of a r.-f. kylix, from Vulci :
Munich, Jahn 368. Diameter 0,305.
From Furtwdngler-Reichhold 86. 133

CHAPTER VI. :

THE STYLE
PI. LXXVII. Fig.

Fig.

PL LXXVIII. Fig. 129

OF POLYGNOTOS AND PHEIDIAS.

127. Figure on a skyphos of Pistoxenos,

Fig.
PI. LXXIX. Fig.

PI. LXXX. Fig.

Fig.

PI. LXXXI. Fig.

PI. LXXXII. Fig.

PI. LXXXIII. Figs.

from Caere : Schwerin. From
Jahrbuch des D. Instituts 1912, pi. 6
Detail of a fragmentary white-
ground lekythos, from Attica : Bonn.
From J.H.S. 1896, pi. 4
Kylix with white-ground interior,
from Rhodes: London, B.M. D 2.
Diameter 0,24. From photo.
Detail of a r.-f. krater : New York.
From photo.

Obverse of a r.-f. krater, from
Sicily (?) : Boston. Height of vase
0,36. From Furtwdngler-Reichhold

Fragmentary r.-f. psykter, from
Falerii : Rome, Villa di Papa Giulio.
From photo.

Interior of a kylix, of the potter
Hegesibulos : Brussels : Munch.
Jahrb. 1913, II., p. 89
Interior of a r.-f. kylix, from Etru-
ria : Munich, Jahn 370. Diameter
0,425. From Furtwdngler-Reich-
hold 5

Obverse of a r.-f. kylix-krater, from
Orvieto : Paris, Louvre G 341.
Height of vase 0,55. From Furt-
wdngler-Reichhold 108
136-7. Design on lid and sides of a pyxis
of Megakles : Bibliothfeque Royale,
Brussels. Height 0,063. Diameter
0,085. From Frohner, Coll. Barre,
pi. VII.

171

130

131

132

133

134

135

134

135

136

138

139

140

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

PI. LXXXIV. Fig

Fig,

139-

140.

PI. LXXXV. Fig-. 141

PI. LXXXVI. Fig. 142

PI. LXXXVII. Figs. 143-4

Fig- 145-

PI. LXXXVIII. Fig. 146

Fig.
PL LXXXIX. Fig.

PI. XC. Figs,
PI. XCI. Fig.

147.

148.

152.

PI. XCII. Fig. 153

143

144

145

Fig. 138. Detail of a r.-f. pointed amphora :
Paris, Cabinet des Medailles 357.
From Furtwdngler-Reichhold, pi.
77,1 To face page 142

Scene on a r.-f. pelike, from Rugge
(Apulia) : Lecce. From Furtwdngler-
Reichhold 66

Scene on a r.-f. krater, from Gela :
Berlin. Height of vase 0,50. From
^o Berliner Winckelmannspro-
gramm (i8go)

R.-f. Amphora, from Vulci : Lon-
don, B.M., E 271. Height 0,57.
From photo.

White-ground lekythos, from Attica :
London, D 58. Height ca. 0,48.
From photo.

Youth and maiden on a white-ground
lekythos, from Attica : Boston 8440.
Height of vase, 0,40. From photo.
Detail of a white-ground lekythos :
Athens, Collignon-Couve 1822. From
Furtwiingler-Riezler, W eiss griindige
Lekythen, pi. 93

R.-f. stamnos, from Vulci : Munich,
Jahn 382. Height 0,445. From
photo.

Scene on a r.-f. stamnos, from Cam-
pania : Naples, Heydemann 2419.
From photo.

Scene on a r.-f. Amphora, from
neighbourhood of Arezzo : Arezzo.
Height of vase 0,54. From Furt-
wdngler-Reichhold, pi. 67
149-51. Three details of a fragmentary r.-f.
vase : Naples. From three photos,
in the Munich Vase Collection
Scene on a r.-f. hydria, from Popu-
lonia : Florence. Height of vase
0,46. From Milani, Monumenti
scelti, pi. 4

R.-f. volute amphora, from Ruvo :
Ruvo, Jatta Collection 1501. Height
of frieze 0,35. From Furtwdngler-
Reichhold 38.

172

146

148

149

150

151

152

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

PI. XCIII. Fig-. 154. Scene on a r.-f. jugf : Oxford. Heig-ht
of vase 0,21. From J.H.S. 1905,
pi. I.

CHAPTER VII. : LATE OFFSHOOTS :—

Fig. 155-

PI. XCIV. Fig. 156.
Fig. 157-

PI. XCV. Fig. 158.
PI. XCVI. Fig. 159.

Fig. 160.

Scene on a late Attic pelike, from
Kerch (Crimea) : Petrograd, Herm-
itage 1795. Height 0,38. From
Furtwdngler-Reichhold 87,2.

To face page 154
Lucanian bell-krater, from the
Basilicata : Paris, Louvre. Height
0,53. From photo.
Lower Italian bell-krater vi^ith
comedy scene (Phlyax vase), from
Apulia. London, B.M., F. 151.
Height of vase 0,39. From photo. 156
Apulian volute amphora, from Bari :
Boston. Height 1,25. From photo. 157
Late Attic kalyx-krater, from
Greece : Munich. Height 0,41. From
Munch. Jahrh, 191 3, I., p. 79
Hellenistic cup with designs painted
in white : Munich. Height 0,09.
From Miinch. Jahrh, 1909, II. p.
204, fig. 8 158

173

INDEX OF NAMES

The names of painters and potters are printed in italics. All are
Athenian, unless it is otherwise stated.

ACHAEANS, i6.
Achilles, 46, 65, 68, 125, 128,

129, i39> 157-
Acropolis (of Athens), 99, 103,

no, 114, 115, 122, 137, 153.
Acropolis sculptures, 50.
Adonis, 152.
^g-ean Sea, 17.
^g-ina, 6, 14, 26, 32, 42, 49, 50,

52, 53, 60.
^olians, 17.
^olis, 90.
Africa, 89, 92.
Aias, 68, 79, 156.
Aison, 151.
Aktaion, 137.
Alabastron, 44.
Alexandria, no, 159.
Alkmaion, y;^.

Altenburg-, amphora at, 61, 84.
Amasis, 97, 102, 103, 105, 106,

107, 108, 113, 116, 127, 136,

143-
Amazons, 75, 81, 84, 139, 141.
Amphiaraos, 67, 71, 72, '^s, 143,

144.
Amphitrite, 126.
Amphora, 24, 49, 52, 54, etc. ;

(big-bellied), 50, 74, 104;

(necked), 51, 74; (pointed),

126, 127; (Nolan), 127, 136;

(with twisted handles), 149;

(Panathenaic), 99, no, 127,

153-
Anakreon, 114, 135.
Andokides, 58, 108, 109, 114, 115,

117, 1 18, 120, 121.
* Andokides ' painter, 115, 131.
Antaios, 123, 124, 125, 126.
Antenor (sculptor), 112, 131.
Aphidna (Attica), 6.
Aphrodite, Temple of, 42.
Aphrodite, 135, 137, 152.
Apollo, 25, 54, 55, 65, 139.
Apulia, 156.

Apulian vases, 157.

Arezzo, amphora at, 149.

Arg-ive alphabet, 59.

Argolid, The, 5, 6, 7, 12, 19, 26,

33, 42-

Argonaut Master, The, 140-2.

Arg-onauts, The, 140, 147.

Argos (giant), 86.

Argos (town), 14, 26, 33.

Ariadne, 22, 129.

Aristagoras (kalos), 130.

Aristonothos (? Aristonoos, per-
haps Argive), 33, 38.

Aristophanes, 151.

Arkesilas, king, 92.

Artemis, 55, 137.^

Artemis the Persian, 54.

Aryballos, 44, 142, 158.

Asia Minor, 5, 6, 15, 17, 19, 42,
55, 80, 87, 191.

Assarlik, 19.

Assteas (Campanian painter),
156.

Astyanax, 65.

Athena, 49, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 81,
99, 100, 106, no, 126, 147,

153-
Athenodotos (kalos), 126.
Athens, 19, 51, 96, 99, 106, in,

121, 157.
Athens, Vases in, 139, 147, 149,
Attica, 6, 25, 42, 51.

"DARBOTINE, 8.

Beaked jug, 5.
Bellerophon, 39, 40, 64.
Berlin amphora, Master of the,

/3i-
Berlin, Vases in, 92, 104, 109,

130, 131, i33> 134, 135, 139-
Black Sea, 28, 56, 89, 158.
Boeotia (Boeotians), 2, 22, 26, 42,

52, 60, 94, 96, no, 155.
Bonn, Vases in, 119, 134, 135.
Boreas, 82.

174

INDEX OF NAMES

Boreas, Sons of, 82.

Boston, Vases in, 45, 100, 126,

130. 135. 137, 146- 147. 157-
Bowl (Schiissel), 22, 66.
Bronze Age, 2, 3, 4.
Bronze-foundry Master, 131.
Brygos painter, 128, 129, 131,

139-
Bucchero ware, 90.
Busiris (Pharaoh), 89.
Butades (Sicyonian), 6g.

CABLE PATTERN (Guil-
loche), 30, 35.
Caere, 42, 68.

Caeretan hydriae, 87-9, 107.
Campania, 156.
Carthag-e, 42.

Castle Ashby, Amphora at, 86, 87.
Centaurs, 22, 39, 86, 89, 98, 128,

140, 150.
Centauromachy, 91, 130.
Chairestratos (kalos), 126, 127,

129.
Chalkidian style, 69, 70, 75-80,

94, 96, 97, 100, 104, 105, 106,

107, 118.
Chalkis, 71. 75. 7^, 77, 80, 94, 96,

99, 100, 105, 106, 108.
Chares (Corinthian painter), 45.
Charitaios, loi, 103.
Chelis, 121.

Chigri jug-, 38, 40, 45, 59, 66.
Chimaera, The, 39, 40.
Circe, 100, 146.
Corfu, 44.
Corinth, 26, 34, 42, 50, 56, 69, 70,

90, 94, 100.
Corinthian style, 43, 50, 70-75,

90, 94, 96.
Corneto, Vases in, 123, 129.
Cretans, 10, 12, 34.
Crete, i, 2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19,

27, 33, 55-
Cyclades, 15, 25, 94.
Cycladic (pottery, etc. ), 5, 6, 25,

52, 54, 80.

Cyprus, 5, 6, 14, 15, 17, 26.
Cyrene, 92.

<"pv AEDALIC ' TYPES, 34.
_l_y Daedalus, 31.
Daphne, 86.
Deianeira, 34.
Deiniades, 119, 123.
Delian (or Euboic) ware, 53, 81.
Delos, 25, 54, 55, 98.
Delphi, 26.
Delta, The, 56, 59.
Demeter, 135.
Dimini, 2.
Diomede, 79.
Dionysos, 66, 82, 96, 97, 100, 106,

108, 148, 149.
Dipylon (Athens), i, 24, 27, 35.
Dorpfeld (Wilhelm), 4.
Dorians, The, 17, 19.
Duris, 120, 126, 129, 130, 131,

139-

EGYPT, 9, 15,83.
Egyptian, 89.
Eleusis, 6, 25, 26.
Eos, 130, 135.
Ephesian sculpture, 88.
Epiktetos, 108, 114, 121, 122,

123, 124.
Epilykos (kalos), 120-3.
Eretria, 25, 52, 94.
Eretria master, The, 148, 152,

.'53-
Erginos, 151.

Ergoteles, loi.

Ergotimos, 97, 100, loi, 103.

Eriphyle, 73, 143, 144.

Ethos, 133, 142.

Etruria, 90, 91, 94, 99, 156.

Etruscan, i, 35, 90.

Euboea, 25, 52.

Euboic (or Delian) ware, 53.

Eiicheiros, loi.

Eumares, iii, 112.

Euphorbos plate, 58.

Euphrates, The, 12.

175

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Euphronios, i8, 109, 114, 116,

117, 120, 122-9, 131, 133.

134. 135, 139-
Europa, 68, 88.
Eurytios, 72, 79, 97.
Euthymides, 114, 11 6-9, 122, 123,

125, 127.
Euxitheos, 117, 123.
Exekias, 68, loi, 102, 103, 105,

107, 108, 113, 115.

FACE URNS, 4.
' Fates,' The, 152.
Fibulae, 22.
Fikellura (Samian) ware, 60-2, 83,

116.
Flamed ware, 7.
Florence, Vase in, 97.
Francois vase, 71, 95, 96, 97-9,

100, loi, 103, 104, 108.
Funnel vase, 12.
Furtwang-ler, Adolf, 20, 64.

GALES, 114.
Ge, 139.
Gela, 143, 144.

Geometric style, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 22-8, 29, 31, 41, 54, 56,

69. 135, 144-
Geryon, y8, 79.

Gig-antomachia, 150.
Glaukon, son of Leag-ros (kalos),
114, 124, 130, 133, 134, 135,

^37, 138, 145-
Gnathia vases, 157.
Gorgon, 44, 50, 58, loi.
Gorg-on lebes, 49, 66, 97, 100.
Griffin head jug, 53.

HADRA VASES, no.
Halimedes, 73.
Hamilton, Sir William, i.
Harpies, 50, 82.
Head, Vases in shape of, 120, 142

(Figs. loi, 109).
Hector, 59, 118, 129.
Hegesibulos, 142.
Helen, 22, 23, 118.

Helios, 150.

Hellenistic painting, 159.

Hephaistos, 66, 67, 71, 88, 98.

Herakles, 39, 50, 54, 60, 64, 65,
66, 67, 71, 72, 75, 79, 89, 99,
115, 116, 123, 124, 126.

Hermes, 40, 49, 86, 88, 145.

Hermogenes (kalos), 130.

Hermonax, 143.

Heroon, 157.

Hesiod, 22.

Hetairai, 116, 119, 120, 123, 146.

Hieron, 131, 135.

Hipparchos (kalos), 109, 114.

Hippodamas (kalos), 127, 130.

Hippodameia, 149.

Hischylos, loi, 121, 122.

Hissarlik (Troy), 4.

Homer, 16, 22.

Homeric poems, 17, 71, 135 (see
Iliad and Odyssey).

Horse master, 128, 133, 137, 138,

139-
Hydria, 67, 74, 108, 109, 119.
Hygieia, 152.
Hymettos, 48.
Hymn (Homeric), 55.
Hypsis, 119, 125.

T DA, Mt., 8.

1 Iliad, The, 59, 65, 125, 147.

Iliupersis, 67, 104, 128.

lo, 86.

lole, 72, 73.

Ionia, 47, 94.

lonians, 17, 62.

Ionic art, 25, 55-62, 79-89, 120.

Isocephalism, Law of, 68.

Italy, 15, 26, 42, 60, 90.

APANESE ART, 12.

Jug with rotelle, 41-3, 57;
wine- skin-shaped, 41.

KABIRION, no.
Kachrylion, 123.
Kalistanthe (kale), 102.

176

INDEX OF NAMES

Kalliades, 130.

Kallinos, 92.

Kaloi, 102, 114.

Kamares style, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13.

Kantharos, 96, 120, 129.

Kassandra, 156.

Kavusi, 27, 30.

Kerameikos, 121.

Kerch style, 158.

Kimon (statesman), 134.

Kimon of Kleonai, iii.

Klazomenai, 83, 84, 87, 116.

Klazomenian sarcophag-i, 87, 11 1.

Klazomenian style, 83, 84.

Kleanthes (Corinthian painter),

65, 67.
' Kleophrades ' painter, 127.
Kleophrades, son of Amasis, 127.

129.
Klitias, 18, 97, 98, loi, 103, 104,

108, 113.
Klytemnestra, 156.
Knossos, 10, 14.
Kolchos, 87, 103, 104, 107.
Korone, 118.
Krater, 15, 33, 34, 71, 72, 73, (a

colonnette) 74, , (calyx) 123,

136, 140, 142, (bell) 127, 136,

149. 156, (volute) 157.
Kyknos, 78.
Kylix (bird), 26, 52, 94, (eye) 81,

(with offset rim) 91.
Kyme (Italy), 27, 28, 42, 53.
Kypselos, Chest of, 67, 71, 78, 95.

LANUVIAN JUNO, 90.
Leagfros, father of Glaukon
(kalos) ,109, 114, 115, 120,
121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127,

130, 134, 142-
Lebes (cauldron) 49, (bronze) 53,

57, 66, 71, (with stand) 74,

86, 91, 95, 108.
Lecce, Pelike at, 143.
Leto, 55.
Leukas, 5, 6.
Lion Gate, The, 7.

Little Masters, loi, 102, 105.
London, Vases in, 58, 61, 78, 108,
119, 122, 125, 126, 130, 135,

143. 145. 147. 149, 156.
Lotus, 1 1.

Loutrophoros in Athens, 134.
Louvre (see Paris).
Lower Italy, Vases of, 153, 155,

158.
Lucania, 156.
Lydos (the Lydian), 103.

TV yr ADRID, VASES IN, 116,

Maenads, 66, 100, 106, 127, 131,

143-
Makron, 131, 135.
Marathon, 114, 115, 140.
Marina (Hagia), 5, 6.
Massilia, 28.
Mattmalerei (lustreless painting),

6.
Medusa, 49, 50.

Megakles (Alkmaeonid), 114, 119.
Megakles (potter), 142, 152,
Meidias, 18, 149, 151, 157.
Meleag-er, 98.
' Melian ' vases, 53-5, 81.
Melos, 5, 9, 12, 14, 25, 53.
Melusa, 145.

Memnon (epic hero), 65.
Memnon (kalos), 114, 121, 123.
Menelaos, 104.
Menon, painter, 116.
Metallic effect in vase shapes, 76,
Metope maeander, 57, 61.
Metopes, 21.

Miletus, 25, 30, 55, 56, 114.
Minoan style (i). Early, 5, 7,;

(2), Middle, 8, 9; (3), Late,

10, 12, 13, 14.
Minos, 7.

Minotaur, 66, 104.
Minyan ware, 6.
Mnasalkes (Theban), 52.
Mochlos (Crete), 7.
Monochromy, 33, 44, 48.

177

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Munich, Vases in, 76, 78, 86, 96,
102, 107, 115, 117, 118, 123,
127, 128, 130, 13s, 138, 139,
- 145, 148.
Musaios, 145.
Muse, 95, 145.
Mycenae, 6, 7, 12, 14.
Mycenean, i, 7, 8, 13, 14 — 19
(late).

NAPLES, I.
Naples, Vases in, 148, 150,

1.53;

Naturalistic style, 11, 13.
Naukratis, 43, 51, 58, 59, 60, 61,

83, 88, 91, loi.
Nauplia, 19.

Nearchos, loi, 103, 104, 112.
Neolithic, 2, 5,
Neoptolemos, 104.
Nereids, 89.

Nessos vase, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51.
New York, Vase in, 134, 142.
Nike balustrade, 151.
Nikosthenes, 8y, loi, 103, 108,

1 15, 1 16, 121, 122.
Nile, The, 9, 12.
Nolan style, 131.
Nudity, 20,
Nymph, 82, 150.

ODYSSEUS, 79, 100.
Odyssey, 32.
Oichalia, ^2.
Oltos, 116, 119, 122, 123, 124,

127.
Olympia, 15, 53, 67.
Olympos, 65, 66, 67, 71.
Onesimos {?), 128.
Onetorides (kalos), 106.
Orchomenos (Boeotia), 5, 6, 14.
Orestes, 156.

Oriental art, 29-32, 35, 27-
Orpheus, 137, 139.
Orvieto., Calyx-Krater from, 140.
Oxford, Vases in, 114, 150.

178

PAIDIA, 152.
Palace style (second late
Minoan), 13, 14.
Palaisto, 124.
Pamphaios, loi, 103, 108, 109,

115, 116, 121, 122, 123.
' Pan ' Master, The, 137.
Panaitios (kalos), 126, 127.

' Panaitios ' Master, The, Fron-
tispiece, 126, 128, 129, 130.

Panathenaea, The, 99.

Panathenaic amphorae (see
Amphora).

Paris (of Troy), 22, 40, 152.

Paris , Vases in : (i) Louvre, 49,
58, 72, 79, 91, 94, 105, 108,

116, 123, 126, 128, 130, 140,
156; (2) Cabinet des M6-
dailles, 92, 106, 143.

Parthenon, 144, 147, 148, 150,

151-
Patroklos, 125.
Pausanias (Descriptio Graeciae),

Pedieus (kalos), 109.

Pegasus, 39.

Peithinos, 124.

Peleus, 32, 33, 71, 95.

Pelias, 67.

Pelike, no, 119, 143.

Peloponnese, 17, 90.

Pelops, 149, 150, 155.

Penthesileia, 81, 138.

Penthesileia Master, The, 139,

141.
Periclean ag-e, 144.
Perseus, 49, 59, 64.
Perugia Master, The, 128, 130,

139-
Petrograd, Psykter in, 123.
Phaistos, 10, 14.
Phaleron style, 47, 48, 49, 54.
Phaon, 152.
Pheidias, 113, 142, 143, 144, 148,

151, 154-
' Phineus ' style, 80-3, 102, 105,
107, 121.

INDEX OF NAMES

Phineus kylix, 76, 79, 80, 81, 93,

146, 150.
Phintias, 114, 119, 123, 125.
Phlyakes, 156.
Phocis, 2, 5.
Phoenicia, 15.
Phoenician metal work, 30, 47,

55. 58.
Physiognomy, 135, 139.
Pinax (votive tablet), 46, 51, 114.
Piraeus amphora, 49.
Pisistratidae, 114.
Pisistratus, 99.
Pistoxenos, 122, 134.
Plate (Teller), 32, 58.
Pliny, III, 112.
Polychromy, 8, 10, 60, 93 (see

Kamares, Naukratis.)
Polygnotan vases, 140, 141.
Polygnotos, 123, 133, 138, 143,

146.
Polygnotos (vase painter), 143.
Polyneikes, 144.
Polyphemus, 33.
' Pontic ' vases, 89, 90.
Pontus, 43.
Poseidon, 65, 126.
Praisos, 31, 32, 36, 46, 59.
Praxiteles, 158.
Priam, 104, 117, 123.
' Pronomos ' Master, The, 151,

153.. 154;
Protocorinthian, 26, 27, 34, 36,

37, 38, 41. 42, 43. 44. 47. 49,
53, 56, 59, 71, 75, 120.

Psiax, 121.

Psykter, 119, 120, 123, 130, 137,
140.

Pylos, 14.

Pyros (Theban), 52.

Python, 122, 129.

RAM JUG, 32, 53.
Rankeng-eschlingf, 36.
Rays, Circle of, 35.
Red-fig;"ured style, 87, 102, 109,
1 1 1-3.

179

Rheneia, 25, 54.

Rhodes, i, 15, 17, 26, 30, 42, 61,

135-
Rhodian ware, 56-9, 81.
Rome, Vases in, 105, 122.
Rotelle, 41, 57.
Russia, South, 83, 158.

SAMOS (see Fikellura), 30, 43,
61, 91.
Sarcophagi (see Klazomenai).
Sarpedon, 65, 147.
Satyrs, 45, 66, 75, 79, 82, 84, 88,

92, 96, 98, 100, 107, 116, 119,

120, 126, 130, 150.
Schliemann, Heinrich, 4, 7.
Schwerin, Vase in, 134.
Scythians, 75, 81, 84, 89.
Selene, 150.
Sesklo, 2.

Shaft graves (Mycenae), 6, 7, 12.
Sicily, 15, 26, 42, 60.
Sicyon, 34 (see Butades).
Sicyonian-Corinthian metal work,

41.
Silenus, 81.
Silhouette, 31, 32, 37.
Silphion, 92.
Sirens, 45, 95.
Skopas, 158.
Skyphos (two-handled cup), 35,

38, 45, 120, 128, 134.
Skythes (the Scythian), 121, 122,

123.
Sleep and Death, 145, 147.
Smikros, 120.

Sophilos, 71, 95, 96, 97, 99, 104.
Sosias kylix, 79, 124, 125.
* Sosias ' painter^ 125, 127.
Sotades, 120, 142, 153.
Sparta, 26, 47, 90.
Spartan ware, 90-3, 122.
Spata, 14.
Sphinx, 39, 40, 45.
Stamno'S, 119, 136, 143, 145, 148.
Stesagoras (kalos), 114.

GREEK VASE-PAINTING

Stasias (kalos), 105.
Stesichoros, 99.
Sthenelos, 79.
Stirrup-vase, 12, 19.
Stockholm, Vase in, 52.
Stone Age, i, 2, 3, 7.
Stylized ornament, 11.
Syracuse, 28, 34, 42.

TALEIDES, 104.
Talos vase, 154, 155, 157.
Tectonic style, 11, 13 .
Terpsichore, 145, 149.
Textile influence, 23.
Thamyris, 152.
Thera, 9, 12, 25, 26, 2^, 42, 53,

III.
Thebes, 14, 22.
Thersites, 157.
Theseus, 22, 66, 98, 118, 126, 129,

130, 151-
Thessaly, 2, 3, 5, 6.
Thetis, 32, 65, 71, 95, 97.
Thorikos (Attica), 14.
Thracian women, 137.
Timagoras, 67, 108.
Timonidas (Corinthian), 45, 46,

51. 72, 113-
Tintoretto, 158.
Tiresias, 156.
Tiryns, 5, 33.
Titian, 158.
Tityos, 139.
Tleson, loi.
Tragodia, 151.
Triada Hagia (Crete), 14.
Tripod vase, 96.
Triptolemos, 135.
Triton, 67, 89, 108.

Troilos, 45, 65, 81, 91, 98, 108.

Troy, 4, 5, 6, 17, 129.

Turin, Psykter in, 1 19.

' Tyrrhenian' vases, 99, 100, 103,

106.
Tyrtaios, 92.

VAPHIO, 14.
Vase shapes (see Alabastron,
Amphora, Aryballos, Beaked
jug-, Bowl, Face urn. Funnel-
vase, Head, Hydria, Jug,
Kantharos, Krater, Kylix,
Lebes, Loutrophoros,
Pelike, Plate, Psykter, Sky-
phos, Stamnos, Stirrup vase,
Tripod vase).

Veii, 42.

Vienna, Vases in, 119, 128, 129.

Villa Giulia Master, The, 143.

Volo, 14.

Vurvd vases, 47, 50, 51, 83, 93,
95, 100.

WALL PAINTING (see
Butades, Eumares, Kimon
of Kleonai, Kleanthes, Poly-
gnotos), 16, 31, 33, 67, 68,
138, 158.
Warrior vase (from Mycenae),

15, 33-
Wiirzburg, Vases in (82), 105,
106, 128.

XENOPHANTOS, THE
ATHENIAN, 158.

EUS, 65, 147.

Printed by Herbert Reiach, Ltd., 24 Floral St., CoventGarden, London, W.C.2.

PRINTEOIN USA.

ARTH

3 5002 00247 1253

Buschor, Ernst
Greek vase-painting.

Art NK 4645 . B8713 1921
Buschor, Ernst, 1886-1961.
Greek vase-painting

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