attic early black-figure painters 39

CHAPTER THREE

ATTIC EARLY BLACKFIGURE PAINTERS

THE EARLIEST GENERATION OF Almost all the painters of the first black-figure BLACKFIGURE PAINTERS generation have been associated with a limited number of vessels of particular shapes. The The extant late seventh-century vases and frag- Painter of Berlin A34 (ABV 1; Para 1; Add2 1), ments indicate that the contemporary pottery for example, has been almost exclusively assigned production, which was almost exclusively to sat- kraters, in particular skyphos-kraters (Walter- isfy local needs, was limited and dependent upon Karydi, 1997: 390), which, apart from two exam- a few potters. The restricted production and dis- ples from Aigina (Aigina 69, 225), all come from tribution suggests that the same person under- the Kerameikos (Kerameikos 28-36. Tables 1, took the tasks of making and decorating the pots 5.1). His repertoire must have included some (Hünnekens, 1987: 105; cf. generally Hemelrijk, amphorae, as an amphora fragment from the 1991). Based on stylistic criteria, the work of a Agora (Athenian Agora 813) can be associated number of individual painters has been distin- with his style. A fragment of a neck-amphora guished. The evidence is too scanty to allow for (Athenian Agora 754), a support from the Athe- a detailed study of the painters’ careers, defining nian Agora (Athenian Agora 1381), and some their ‘early’ from their ‘late’ phases. Indeed skyphos-kraters, like the example from Vourvá according to Hünnekens (1987: 241), this is only (Vourvá 63), are decorated by a painter or paint- possible in the case of the Painter of Berlin A34 ers following his style. and the Nessos Painter. On the other hand, there The work of the contemporary Peiraieus is enough available to show that painters, such Painter, named after the monumental amphora as the Painter of Berlin A34 and the Nessos from Peiraieus (Peiraieus 800), is poorly known Painter, had a number of followers working in (ABV 2-3; Para 1; Add2 1). The riders’ amphora their manner. Although Hünnekens (1987: 105) from the Kerameikos is a well-preserved vase of disassociated the Khimaira Painter from the Nes- his (Kerameikos 636). An amphora fragment with sos Painter, he defined the products of a number a chariot from the Agora (Athenian Agora 815), of painters working in his manner, who formed along with a support from Aigina (Aigina 1418), part of the “workshop of the Khimaira Painter” and three fragments from the Kerameikos (Kera- (Hünnekens, 1987: 104-129). There exists the pos- meikos 1485-1487), two of which are from open sibility that the master and his students belonged vessels (skyphos-kraters?), were possibly pro- to the same workshop, even though their reper- duced by him too. Interestingly a fragment of an tory does not indicate conclusively that any open vessel, possibly a krater which has been con- organisation existed in the workshop’s shape- nected to him, was found at Histria (Histria 191). production. A well-defined circle of painters is Like the Painter of Berlin A34, he decorated a formed by the Lion, the Bellerephon, and the small variety of large shapes, almost all for funer- Pegasos Painters, whose amphorae are very close ary purposes. stylistically, and, therefore, would argue that they The Nessos Painter is the only one among his must have been working in the same workshop contemporaries who decorated a large number (Hünnekens, 1987: 183-184). of vessels in a variety of shapes. The majority of 40 chapter three his work is found within Attika, although some Mount Hymettos (Hymettos 841), and a lid frag- vases have been found on neighbouring Aigina ment of a skyphos-krater from the Agora (Athe- (ABV 4-6; Para 1-6; Add2 1; Karouzou, 1963: 123- nian Agora 3). The second can be assigned an 136; Moore & Philippides, 1986: 74-75) and three unpublished louterion (Vári 238) and a lekane amphora fragments, two of which are decorated from Vári (Vári 1149). by painters of his circle, come from sites in the Three more painters, identified by Karouzou Mediterranean far removed from Attika (Samos (1982; 1985), were active during the late seventh 646, Smyrna 805, Cerveteri 862). The skyphos- century. As noted above, the Lion, Bellerophon krater and the amphora dominate his shape- and Pegasos Painters, who were most probably repertory, but a number of loutrophoroi identi- working in the same workshop, have only neck- fied as his or by painters following his style, was amphorae attributed to them (Vári 786-795). All found at the sanctuary of the Nymphe (Sanctuary of the neck-amphorae have been found in asso- of the Nymphe 890-901). Finds dated to the late ciation with tumulus I at the North nekropolis seventh-century from this sanctuary are not of Vári. Their vessels are not made of the local numerous, and he is the only painter whose work buff clay and their concentration at this particu- has yet been identified among the discovered lar site cannot be taken as an indication that the fragments. painters were working in the area. The evidence The Nessos Painter seems to have been an in - is rather more suggestive of special commissions novative artist. It is possible that he was respon- addressed to these specific painters (Alexandri- sible for the introduction of the column-krater dou, 2008). and the lidless lekane into the Attic shape rep- Local clay was used for a number of objects, ertoire, since the earliest black-figured examples mostly miniature vessels, which were recovered have been identified as his. The originality of his from the same nekropolis. They were found in work is also seen on the monumental standed the sacrificial pyre covering a number of adult skyphos-kraters (Vári 57-59). These shapes were and child burials in the small enclosure and date found at the North nekropolis of Vári in asso- to the third quarter of the seventh century. A ciation with Tumulus I that covered the burial careful visual inspection of the vessels’ clay shows of a very important member of the local com- munity. Their special character indicates that the that its colour is reddish yellow (Munsell 7,5 YR painter was most probably working on a special 6/6) and has brown mica, as in the case of the commission for this particular funerary occasion. vessels by the locally working Anagyrous Painter. The painter’s skills are explicit in his vibrant, Moreover, their surface was covered with a whit- often monumental, iconographic scenes. The Nes- ish slip, a typical characteristic of the local vessels sos Painter shows a special preference for He - (For the local clay of Vári, cf. Kallipolitis, 1965: rakles and monstrous figures, such as the Gorgons, 115). The miniature standed lebes with attached but he also provides a glimpse into contemporary mourning figures on the rim Vári( 141) and the life with his representations of elaborate proces- miniature support (Vári 1410) are decorated with sion of women on loutrophoroi from the sanctu- floral and linear patterns of red-brownish paint ary of the Nymphe (Sanctuary of the Nymphe on the vessels’ whitish surface. Five similar sup- 892) and on one of his skyphos-kraters from Vári ports, which according to the unpublished report (Vári 59). of the excavator, were found at the same spot, His style was influential, and a number of were decorated in the same manner, followed in painters have been identified as working in it. In the case of the clay ekphora chariot with mourn- particular, the work of two of his associates can ing figures too (Athens, National Museum, be better defined. The style of the first is identi- 26747). The ceramic finds from this layer seem fied on a support from Eleusis (Eleusis 1417), an to belong to the same hand, while they clearly amphora from the peak sanctuary of Zeus on indicate the existence of a peripheral workshop