Lydos (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Λυδός, ''the Lydian'') was an Attic vase painter in the

black-figure style Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common bet ...

. Active between about 560 and 540 BC, he was the main representative of the '’’Lydos Group’’’. His signature, ό Λυδός, ho Lydos ("the Lydian)", inscribed on two vases, is informative regarding the cultural background of the artist. Either he immigrated to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

from the

Lydian empire Lydian may refer to: * Lydians, an ancient people of Anatolia * Lydian language, an ancient Anatolian language * Lydian alphabet ** Lydian (Unicode block) * Lydian (typeface), a decorative typeface * Lydian dominant scale or acoustic scale, a m ...

of King Kroisos, or he was born in Athens as the son of Lydian parents. In any case, he learned his trade in Athens.

Style

It is difficult to definitely recognise his work, since he was the centre and main artist of a highly productive Attic pottery workshop. For that reason, many vases are simply described as "in the style of Lydos". Several other individual artists within his circle can be identified, including the Painter of Vatican 309 and Painter of Louvre F 6. These works are quite homogeneous in style, but differ considerably in terms of quality. The style of Lydos strongly resembles that of older artists, such as the painters of Siana cups, of which he himself painted many. He was the last Attic painter to decorate large vases entirely with polychrome animal friezes in the

Corinthian style The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

. His human figures resemble the works of

Klitias Kleitias (Greek: Κλειτίας, sometimes rendered as Klitias) was an ancient Athenian vase painter of the black-figure style who flourished c. 570–560 BCE. Kleitias' most celebrated work today is the François Vase (c. 570 BCE), which bears ...

, and later painters, whose humans appear “wrapped” in cloth. Sometimes they have dotted garments, such as preferred by the

Amasis Painter The Amasis Painter (active around 550–510 BC in Athens) was an ancient Greek vase painter who worked in the black-figure technique. He owes his name to the signature of the potter Amasis ("Amasis made me"), who signed twelve works painted by t ...

. His figures exude a dignity nearly akin to those by

Exekias Exekias ( grc, Ἐξηκίας, ''Exēkías'') was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter who was active in Athens between roughly 545 BC and 530 BC. Exekias worked mainly in the black-figure technique, which involved the painting of scen ...

.Boardman: Schwarzfigurige Vasenmalerei, p. 58 The Lydos Group did not only paint large vases, but also known for miniature work. For example, they painted

Little-master cup Little-master cups are a type of Attic black-figure cups, produced around the middle and third quarter of the sixth century BC. Their name is based on their fine small-format decoration. Little-master cups are later in origin than Siana cups, bu ...

s and

eye-cup Eye-cup is the term describing a specific cup type in ancient Greek pottery, distinguished by pairs of eyes painted on the external surface. Description Classified as '' kylikes'' in terms of shape, eye-cups were especially widespread in Ath ...

s. Ascribed to Lydos himself is a

band cup Band cups are a form of ancient Greek Attic Little-master cups. The lip of a band cup is black and slightly concave. At the joint between vase body and foot, there is often a red ring. The external figural decoration is in the area of the handles ...

potted by

Nikosthenes Nikosthenes was a potter of Greek black- and red-figure pottery in the time window 550–510 BC. He signed as the potter on over 120 black-figure vases, but only nine red-figure. Most of his vases were painted by someone else, called Painter ...

. His early works show a tendency to use colour, which decreased throughout his career. Similarly, at an early stage he paid much attention to certain details, such as the hairy backs of cat-like animals, whereas later he concentrated more on gesture. His animal figures appear somewhat stiff, but are usually highly decorative. Lydos painted vases by a variety of potters, including

, Kolchos, Epitimos and Amasis. His workshop’s style can be described as out-of-date but was used well into the 520s BC. It is not clear why that is the case; perhaps the material was aimed at older or poorer customers. The last artist to resemble Lydos in style was the Ready Painter.

Themes

Lydos frequently painted mythological scenes and newly introduced several specific motifs of that genre to Attic vase painting. The quality of his paintings varies. He often painted so-called “penguin women”, wearing a cloak held together by the chest, probably by a kind of sash, and terminating in a tail-like feature at the back. His men often ere a '' himation'', painted in diagonal stripes, so that they appear as if bandaged. An ''

oinochoe An oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe ( grc, οἰνοχόη; from grc, οἶνος ''oînos'', "wine" and grc, χέω ''khéō'', "I pour," sense "wine-pourer"; plural ''oinochoai''; New Latin ''oenochoë,'' plural ''oenochoae,'' English plura ...

'', the vessel itself made by the potter Kolchos ( Berlin, Antikensammlung F 1732) depicts mannerist figures.Boardman: Schwarzfigurige Vasenmalerei, p. 59

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

(supporting

Herakles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

, who is fighting

Kyknos :''The butterfly genus ''Cycnus'' is now synonymized with '' Panthiades. In Greek mythology, multiple characters were known as Cycnus (Ancient Greek: Κύκνος) or Cygnus. The literal meaning of the name is "swan", and accordingly most of them en ...

) is rendered as a silhouette figure in the style of the Amasis Painter, while the figures of Ares and

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

(who joins the fighting) represent an attempt to utilise the new three-dimensional drawing style, developed around 540 BC. Lydos’s

palmette The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has a far-reaching history, originating in ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art o ...

s, placed on neck and handles of the vessel are stylistically transitional: they can be seen as a late form of the earlier black-figure style, but also as the beginning of the decorative styles that were to flourish in red-figure vase painting. His best works also include several plates decorated with flying or running figures. One of his plates is decorated with a

gorgoneion In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion ( Greek: Γοργόνειον) was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon head, used by the Olympian deities Athena and Zeus: both are said to have worn the gorgoneion as a protective pendant,. and o ...

covering the entire surface.

Works

Works ascribed to Lydos can be found on all types of vase shape then produced in the Athenian potters’ quarter, including a series of grave '' pinakes''. One of his two signed vases is a ''

dinos In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the ''dinos'' (plural ''dinoi'') is a mixing bowl or cauldron. ''Dinos'' means "drinking cup," but in modern typology is used (wrongly) for the same shape as a '' lebes'', that is, a bowl with a spherica ...

'', preserved only in fragments and found on the

Athenian Acropolis The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

. In style it resembles the works of the

Painter of Acropolis 606 The Painter of Acropolis 606 (sometimes Painter of Athens 606) was a black-figure vase painter, active around 570–560 BC. His name vase is a ''dinos'' discovered on the Athenian Acropolis and now on display in the National Museum at Athens (inv ...

and

Nearchos Nearchus or Nearchos ( el, Νέαρχος; – 300 BC) was one of the Greeks, Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus river, Indus River, through t ...

. The main frieze depicts a very carefully designed

Gigantomachy In Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Greek: Γίγαντες, ''Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Giganto ...

. Subsidiary friezes show a procession a hunt and various animals. Especially striking aspects of the work are a number of details and the colouring. Lydos painted a wasp as a shield emblazonment and dangerous-looking knives in the procession scene. These martial aspects are balanced by the high-quality animal friezes. Another well-known work by him is a

column krater A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, krat ...

, now in the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

.Inventory 31.11.11 It is nearly as large as the

François Vase François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

, but is decorated only with a single frieze, so that the figures reach a height of nearly 25 cm. The painter focused not so much on the depicted narrative (return of

Hephaistos Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter Burk ...

), but on the gestures of the figures

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

and Hephaistos, and even more so of the accompanying

satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exa ...

s and

maenad In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...

s. He omitted circumstantial detail, as used e.g. by Klitias, and failed to present the satyrs genitals as the

would have. Instead, his satyrs are depicted as “gentlemen”. Some particular works are as follows. *Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum
Amphora 86.AE.60
*New York, Metropolitan Museum

*Paris, Louvre
five vases

References

Bibliography

John Beazley Sir John Davidson Beazley, (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the Un ...

: ''Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters'', Oxford 1956, p. 107-120. * Michael A. Tiverios: ''Ο Λυδός και το έργο του. Συμβολή στην έρευνα της αττικής μελανόμορφης αγγειογραφίας'', Athen 1976 * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', Mainz 1977, , p. 57-59. * Bettina Kreuzer: ''Lydos'', in: Künstlerlexikon der Antike Vol. 2, 2004, p. 23-24.

External links