Dionysos Ariadne Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1562

The Mastos Painter (''

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

'' 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 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 ...

mastos A ''mastos'' (Greek, μαστός, "breast"; plural ''mastoi'') is an ancient Greek drinking vessel shaped like a woman's breast. The type is also called a parabolic cup, and has parallel examples made of glass or silver. Examples are primarily ...

'' 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 the

Lysippides Painter The Lysippides Painter was an Attica, Attic vase painter in the black-figure vase painting, 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 ...

. The work for which he was named depicts

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

, two horse-legged

satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr (, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( ), and sileni (plural), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. ...

s or silens, and

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

as they "gaze admiringly" at

Ariadne In Greek mythology, Ariadne (; ; ) was a Cretan princess, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. There are variations of Ariadne's myth, but she is known for helping Theseus escape from the Minotaur and being abandoned by him on the island of N ...

holding the infant Oinopion, her child with Dionysus. This "gentle kind of narrative" is characteristic also of the

Antimenes Painter The Antimenes Painter was an Attica, Attic vase painter of the black-figure vase painting, black-figure style, active between circa 530 and 510 BC. The real name of the Antimenes Painter is not known; his current name is an archaeological con ...

, the mature work of the

Andokides Painter Andokides was an ancient Athenian vase painter, active from approximately 530 to 515 BC. 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 pain ...

, 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 signe ...

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 BCE and 490 BCE. His name translates as "newly acquired", which is most probably ...

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 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 ...

executed around 525 BC, he depicts an ivy-bearing Dionysus bringing his mother

Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...

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 underworld. ...

; the god looks back at her as she climbs into a

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

drawn by the magnificent pair of horses who dominate the scene. Hermes, wearing his characteristic ''

petasos A petasos () or petasus (Latin) 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's versions ha ...

'' 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 An ''aulos'' (plural ''auloi''; , plural ) or ''tibia'' (Latin) was a wind instrument in ancient Greece, often depicted in art and also attested by archaeology. Though the word ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or as " double flute", ...

, 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 A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbo ...

. 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 (; ) was an unarmed combat sport introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques but also others, such as kicking, holds, joint locks, and chokes on the ground, making it s ...

.Mark Golden, ''Sport and Society in Ancient Greece'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), identification of cover image
n.p.
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References

{{Greek vase painters Ancient Greek vase painters Anonymous artists of antiquity Year of birth unknown