Oltos
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Oltos was a Late Archaic
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
vase painter, active in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
from 525 BC to 500 BC. About 150 works by him are known. Two pieces, a cup in
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( Antikensammlung F 2264) and a cup in
Tarquinia Tarquinia (), formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscans, Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropolis, necropoleis, or cemeteries. Tarquinia was designated as a ...
(Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese RC 6848), are signed by him as painter.


Overview

Oltos is thought to have begun his career in the workshop of the potter Nikosthenes. Initially, he mainly painted bilingual vases or bowls with interior
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 ...
and exterior
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 ...
decoration. His black-figure style was influenced by Psiax and 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 ...
. No pure black-figure works by Oltos are yet known. His tondos usually depict a single figure. They are often full of tension, frequently with differential directions of gaze and movement. Later, he exclusively painted red-figure, influenced especially by 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 ...
as well as several members of the Pioneer Group, especially his former pupil Euphronios. His drawing style was spacious and elegant, but never reached the depth of detail of his most important contemporary masters. He had a distinctive tendency towards luxurious ornamentation and symmetric compositions. In the middle of his career he concentrated especially on the depiction of mythological scenes. Over time, he worked with several different potters. We know of at least six: Hischylos, most importantly Pamphaios, with whom he created the earliest known '' stamnos'', Tleson, Chelis, and finally Kachrylion, for whom he worked together with Euphronios, as well as Euxitheos. An innovation introduced by Oltos is found on 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 ...
at
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(
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E 258). Here, he depicts a single figure, with no frame or floor line.


Selected works

*
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, Staatliches Lindenau-Museum – bowl 224 *
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,
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Museum – fragment of a kylix AIA B1 *
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, Antikensammlung and Sammlung Ludwig – bowl BS 459 *
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, Antikensammlung – bowl F 2263 • bowl F 2264 • phiale F 2310 • bowl F 4220 • bowl F 4221 *
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, Museum of Fine Arts – kylix 13.83 • fragment of a kylix 08.31d • fragment 10.219 * Brunswick,
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– fragment of a kylix 1913.14 *
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,
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(David and Alfred Smart Gallery) – kylix 1967.115 * Fayetteville, The University Museum – kylix 56.25.15 *
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,
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– kylix E 41 • amphora E 258 • stamnos E 437 * Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum – kylix 86.AE.276 • kylix 86.AE.277 *
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, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum – kylix 1967.BS.II.11 *
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, Staatliche Antikensammlungen – bowl 25 93 • bowl 2618 *
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,
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– psykter 1989.281.69 *
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, Musée National du
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– fragment CA 3662 • amphora G 2 • amphora G 3 *
Tarquinia Tarquinia (), formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscans, Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropolis, necropoleis, or cemeteries. Tarquinia was designated as a ...
, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese – bowl RC 6848 *
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, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Vaticano – bowl 498 *
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, Museo Archeologico Nazionale – kylix (520-510 b.C)


Bibliography

* Joachim Harnecker: ''Oltos. Untersuchungen zu Themenwahl und Stil eines früh-rotfigurigen Schalenmalers'', Lang, Frankfurt a. M. u. a. 1992,


References


External links


MFA Boston Kylix FragmentsNY Met PsykterLouvre amphoraTarquinia, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese RC6848Louvre G-3Perseus site images
{{Authority control 6th-century BC deaths 6th-century BC Athenians Ancient Greek vase painters Archaic Athens Year of birth unknown