The Achilles Painter was a vase-painter active ca. 470–425 BC. His name vase is an

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

, Vatican 16571, in the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

depicting

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

and dated 450–445 BC. An armed and armored Achilles gazes pensively to the right with one hand on his hip. The other hand holds a spear. On the opposite surface a woman performs libation. J. D. Beazley attributed over 200 vases to his hand, the largest share being

red-figure Red-figure pottery () is a style of Pottery of ancient Greece, ancient Greek pottery in which the background of the pottery is painted black while the figures and details are left in the natural red or orange color of the clay. It developed in A ...

and

white-ground White-ground technique is a style of white ancient Pottery of ancient Greece, Greek pottery and the Greek vase painting, painting in which figures appear on a white background. It developed in the region of Attica, dated to about 500 BC. It was ...

lekythoi A lekythos (; : lekythoi) is a type of ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil, especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no pouring lip; the oinochoe is ...

. In his middle phase (ca. 450–445 BC), he decorates more open forms. The Achilles Painter was a late pupil of the

Berlin Painter The Berlin Painter (active c. 490–460s BC) is the conventional name given to an Attic Greek vase painters who is widely regarded as among the most talented of his time. There are no painter signatures on any of the Berlin Painter's attributed ...

. The Phiale Painter became the Achilles Painter's most prominent student after he assumed the

's workshop. Almost a dozen other recognizable painters passed through the Achilles Painter's workshop as well. Notable painters include the Westreenen Painter, the Persephone Painter, the Clio Painter, Loeb Painter, and the Dwarf Painter. The Kleophon Painter, the Sabouroff Painter, and the Painter of Munich 2335 all spent time at the workshop as well.

Appraisal

Beazley describes him thus: :He is the great master of the white lekythos. His red-figure vases nearly always have a sober beauty, but few of them–like the pointed amphora in the Cabinet des Médailles–reach the height of his best white lekythoi, which are among the masterpieces of ancient drawing. In 1962,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

issued a stamp featuring the decoration of an Achilles Painter white-ground lekythos.Athens NM 1818.

Findspots

* Acropolis, Athens * Ceramicus, Athens * Capua, Italy * Pisticci, Italy * Taranto, Italy * Vulci, Italy * Selinis, Sicily * Enna, Sicily * Attica * Eretria * Euboea

References

External links

Works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
{{Authority control Year of birth unknown 5th-century BC deaths Ancient Greek vase painters Anonymous artists of antiquity 5th-century BC Greek people Funerary art

Appraisal

Findspots

References

Further reading

External links