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The Mastos Painter ('' fl.'' mid-6th century BC) was a painter of ancient Greek vases. He is named for a
The artistry has been characterized as "gently rounded" and allusive, elastic in its articulation. The female figure has also been identified as Ariadne.
The Mastos Painter also depicts a Panathenaic victory procession on what has been identified as a genuine prize amphora. The scene depicts the winning horse in a race, mounted by the nude boy-jockey holding a pair of branches. An elaborately clothed man stands in front of the horse, patting its muzzle and holding a wreath and branches. He may represent the owner, who would have been considered the victor. The man who stands beside the horse, holding its bridle, is perhaps the trainer. A third well-clad man holding branches stands behind the horse.
The Mastos Painter has also been credited with a black-figure vase depicting the
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{{Greek vase painters Ancient Greek vase painters Anonymous artists of antiquity
The Mastos Painter ('' fl.'' mid-6th century BC) was a painter of ancient Greek vases. He is named for a black-figure
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...
'' mastos'' used by the art historian John Boardman to illustrate the type, which is shaped like a woman's breast (Greek ''mastos'').
Works
The Mastos Painter belonged to the circle of theLysippides Painter
The Lysippides Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. He was active around 530 to 510 BC. His conventional name comes from a kalos inscription on a vase in the British Museum attributed to him; his real name is not known.
...
. The work for which he was named depicts Dionysus
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 Roma ...
, two horse-legged 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 or silens, and Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...
as they "gaze admiringly" at Ariadne
Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havi ...
holding the infant Oinopion, her child with Dionysus. This "gentle kind of narrative" is characteristic also of the Antimenes Painter, the mature work of the Andokides Painter
Andokides was an ancient Athenian vase painter, active from approximately 530 to 515 B.C. His work is unsigned and his true name unknown. He was identified as a unique artistic personality through stylistic traits found in common among several pai ...
, and Oltos
Oltos was a Late Archaic Greek vase painter, active in Athens from 525 BC to 500 BC. About 150 works by him are known. Two pieces, a cup in Berlin ( Antikensammlung F 2264) and a cup in Tarquinia (Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese RC 6848), are sign ...
and Epiktetos
Epiktetos was an Attic vase painter in the early red-figure style. Besides Oltos, he was the most important painter of the Pioneer Group. He was active between 520 BC and 490 BC. His name translates as "newly acquired", which is most probably a ...
around 515 BC.
Although the painter takes his name from his exemplary ''mastos'', he also produced work on other vase types. On a belly amphora executed around 525 BC, he depicts an ivy-bearing Dionysus bringing his mother Semele
Semele (; Ancient Greek: Σεμέλη ), in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.
Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from ...
from the underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...
; the god looks back at her as she climbs into a chariot drawn by the magnificent pair of horses who dominate the scene. Hermes, wearing his characteristic ''petasos
A ''petasos'' or petasus ( el, πέτασος) is a broad brimmed hat of Thessalian origin worn by ancient Greeks, Thracians and Etruscans, often in combination with the chlamys cape. It was made of wool felt, leather, straw or animal skin. Women ...
'' hat, carries branches of foliage as he accompanies the horses. Three bearded horse-tailed satyrs of varying size fill out the composition. The largest leaps in amazement on the chariot-shaft, looking back at the recovered Semele; another stands shoulder-height before the horses as he plays an aulos, the double-pipe wind instrument. A third, the smallest figure in the group, stoops beneath the horses, one hand extended toward their bellies and the other grasping his phallus. The artistry has been characterized as "gently rounded" and allusive, elastic in its articulation. The female figure has also been identified as Ariadne.
The Mastos Painter also depicts a Panathenaic victory procession on what has been identified as a genuine prize amphora. The scene depicts the winning horse in a race, mounted by the nude boy-jockey holding a pair of branches. An elaborately clothed man stands in front of the horse, patting its muzzle and holding a wreath and branches. He may represent the owner, who would have been considered the victor. The man who stands beside the horse, holding its bridle, is perhaps the trainer. A third well-clad man holding branches stands behind the horse.
The Mastos Painter has also been credited with a black-figure vase depicting the pankration
Pankration (; el, παγκράτιον) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC, which was an empty-hand submission sport with few rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques but also others, such as ...
.Mark Golden, ''Sport and Society in Ancient Greece'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), identification of cover imagen.p.
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References
{{Greek vase painters Ancient Greek vase painters Anonymous artists of antiquity