The Marsyas' Painter was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

vase painter of 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 ...

style active in

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

between 370 and 340/330 BC. The Marsyas Painter is sometimes considered the best of the Attic red-figure painters of the late 4th-century Kerch Style. His conventional name is derived from the depiction of

Marsyas In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (; ) is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double oboe (''aulos'') that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of ...

on a ''

pelike A pelike () is a one-piece ceramic container similar to 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 stor ...

'', now on display at the Eremitage,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. So far, 23 works have been attributed to him. These include mostly larger vessels, such as '' lebetes gamikoi'', ''pelikes'', ''

hydria The hydria (; : hydriai) is a form of Greek pottery from between the Geometric art, late Geometric period (7th century BC) and the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC). The etymology of the word hydria was first noted when it was stamped on a ...

i'' and '' lekanes''. Recently, ten

Panathenaic amphorae Panathenaic amphorae were the amphorae, large ceramic vessels, that contained the olive oil given as a prize in the Panathenaic Games. Some were and high. This oil came from the sacred grove of Athena at Akademia. The amphorae which held it ...

have been identified as his work, substantially improving our knowledge of his development. He painted scenes from the life of women and other aspects of everyday life, as well as mythological themes. His figures are harmonic in spite of their monumentality; his drawing style exhibits great delicacy and skill. He is a master of spatial perspective, using

foreshortening Linear or point-projection perspective () is one of two types of 3D projection, graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, generally on a fla ...

and reduction to great effect. Textiles and garments are depicted in great detail and appear voluminous. "His vases typically were elaborately decorated with gilding, raised relief, and unusual colors such as white, pink, blue, and green." His masterpiece the St. Petersburg ''lebes gamikos'', was found at

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

. It depicts the ''epaúlia'', the celebration dedicated to a newly married wife. A ''pelike'' with

Peleus In Greek mythology, Peleus (; Ancient Greek: Πηλεύς ''Pēleus'') was a hero, king of Phthia, husband of Thetis and the father of their son Achilles. This myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC. Biogra ...

and

Thetis Thetis ( , or ; ) is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, and one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as a Nereid in Cl ...

by him (now at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

) shows one of the best nudes known from Greek vase painting; it may be viewed online. Recently, some scholars equate him with the Eleusinian Painter.

Bibliography

* John D. Beazley. ''Attic Red Figure Vase Painters''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963. * John Boardman. ''Rotfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Die klassische Zeit'', Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1991 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Vol 48), especially p. 199f. . *Stella Drougou. ''Marsyas-Maler'', in '' DNP'' 7 (1999), col. 956f.

References

External links

The Perseus Project - Works by the Marsyas Painter
at the St. Petersburg Hermitage 4th-century BC deaths Ancient Greek vase painters Anonymous artists of antiquity People from Attica Year of birth unknown {{Greece-artist-stub