The Athena Painter was an
Attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
black-figure
Black-figure pottery painting (also known as black-figure style or black-figure ceramic; ) is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th a ...
vase painter, active about 490 to 460 BC. His speciality was
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 ...
'' painted in the black-figure style.
His pseudonym, for his real name is unknown, refers to his preference for
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 regarde ...
in his choice of subjects. He was one of the last generation of
black figure technique painters.
The Athena Painter, along with the
Theseus Painter
The Theseus Painter was a decorator of vases in the black-figure style, active in Attica c. 515 to 475 BCE. Later published as He was the leading producer of larger Heron Class skyphoi.
Life and work
The true name of the Theseus Painter and t ...
, continued the tradition of painting large standard ''lekythoi''. His black-figure work was of high quality. Apart from ''lekythoi'', he mainly painted ''
oinochai''. Some archaeologists identify him with the
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 ...
Bowdoin Painter.
[Haspels, 1936. ''Attic Black-figured Lekythoi''. (Cambridge University Press), pp. 157–60.] They may, however, simply have worked in the same workshop. His workshop was one of the production centres that developed the painting of white-ground ''lekythoi'', which was to become especially important in the 5th century BC.
See also
*
List of Greek vase painters
The following is a list of ancient Greek vase painters who have been identified either by name or by style. Because of the research of academics like John Davidson Beazley, Arthur Dale Trendall, Robert Manuel Cook, Darrell A. Amyx and Conrad ...
References and sources
;References
;Sources
*
Beazley, J. D. (1956). ''Attic Black-figure Vase-painters'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press), pp. 522–524, 533, 704.
*
Boardman, J. (1974). ''Athenian Black Figure Vases'' (London: Thames & Hudson), p. 113f, 147–149, figs. 250–255.
*
John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', Mainz 1977 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Vol. 1) , p. 160.
Krannert Art Museum: White ground ''lekythos'' with the battle of Kaineus and the Centaurs*
C. H. Emilie Haspels: ''Attic black-figured lekythoi'', Paris 1936, p. 41–165. 254–262
* Matthias Steinhart: ''Apollon auf dem Schwan. Eine neue Lekythos des Athenamalers'', In: Archäologischer Anzeiger (1993) p. 201–212.
*
Thomas Mannack
Thomas Mannack (born in 1958) is a German classical archaeologist.
Mannack obtained his doctorate in 1992 with at the University of Kiel. The thema of his dissertation was ''Beazleys spätere und späteste Manieristen''. The thesis was later p ...
: ''Haspels addenda: additional references to
C. H. E. Haspels
Caroline Henriette Emilie Haspels (15 September 1894, Deventer, Colmschate – 25 December 1980, Capelle aan den IJssel) was a Dutch Classical antiquity, classical archaeologist.
Life
Emilie Haspels was the daughter of George Frans Haspels. Her ...
Attic black-figured Lekythoi''. Oxford 2006. , p.
External links
Vases by the Athena Painter in Perseus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athena Painter
Ancient Greek vase painters