The Priam Painter was a vase painter in the black-figure technique, 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 ...

during the late 6th century BC. He is considered one of the more skilled, and more productive, painters of his time. Some scholars have such a high opinion of him that they draw a connection with 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 ...

of the Leagros Group. His range of subjects is rather limited, but his execution is highly detailed, imaginative and indicates great compositional skill. His most frequent motifs are

chariot race Chariot racing (, ''harmatodromía''; ) was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, ancient Greek, Roman Empire, Roman, and Byzantine Empire, Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from ...

s in the presence of

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 ...

and

Herakles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through Amphitr ...

, as well as scenes set at public fountains. These choices have been interpreted as indicating support of the Peisistratid dynasty – as that ruling family identified especially with Athena and had constructed a number of fountain houses in the city. According to that interpretation, the vases must have been produced shortly before the Peisistratids were driven from Athens in 510 BC. Stylistically, the Priam Painter is close to the Rycroft Painter.

Bibliography

John Beazley Sir John Davidson Beazley (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was professor of classical archaeology and art at the U ...

: ''Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters.'' Oxford 1956 * John Beazley: ''Paralipomena. Additions to Attic black-figure vase-painters and to Attic red-figure vase-painters''. Oxford 1971. * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch.'' Mainz 1977, , S. 123f. {{Authority control Ancient Greek vase painters