Epiktetos (vase painter)

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Palaestra scene on a plate, around 520/10 BC Chr.
Detail of a head of the palaestra scene
Scythian archer, turned back while running and pulling an arrow out of his quiver, bowl around 520/00 BC. Chr.

Epiktetos ( ancient Greek Ἐπίκτητος ) was an Attic vase painter of the early red-figure style . The most important red-figure bowl painter of the pioneering days, alongside Oltos, worked between around 520 and 490 BC. Chr.

At the beginning of his career, Epiktetos painted a chalice crater made by the potter Andokides , but then turned to smaller vessels such as bowls and plates. He worked for various potters, in addition to Andokides also for Hischylos and the Nikosthenes - Pamphaios workshop. He signed one plate as a painter and a potter, so he was probably both at times. This plate was a sacrificial gift that he offered on the Acropolis . He worked with the Euergides painter on a bowl . He was obviously aware of his artistry, and he signed almost half of the more than 100 works attributed to him.

His first works were bilingual eye cups . Here he was technically better than Oltos in his early work and, for example, did not show any outdated red palmette hearts . He also used the relief line . Epiktetos is considered a master of circular images ( tondi ). So it is not surprising that he often only decorated his bowls inside. He was very precise even with miniaturistic work. He used colors and ornaments very cautiously. He also showed a great balance in the lines and the detailed drawings. He showed heads and limbs well-proportioned. His figures are very convincing in their plasticity. John D. Beazley praises Epiktetos full-bodied: "You can't draw better, you can only draw differently". Even John Boardman joins the praise and refers to him as "the greatest artist of frührotfigurigen vase painting."

His motifs are interesting not least from a modern point of view. Although he rarely shows mythical scenes, which are not particularly original, his everyday depictions are all the more important. He shows citizens at play, at a symposium and in erotic scenes, from which he can gain some new aspects and motifs. He did important work on the development of the satyr into a figure that embodies animal masculinity. His round pictures no longer show the "knee runners" typical of the black-figure style ; he shows his figures kneeling, crouching or sitting. There are bowls on which the pose of the depicted figure is almost identical, but the plot varies greatly. A stooped and turning figure is shown once as a minotaur , a second time as a man masturbating in a chamber pot, a third time as a girl masturbating with a dildo.

The end of his career is difficult to grasp. One of his later works is on a bowl by the potter Python - here he seems to be stylistically influenced by Python's most important painter Douris - another for Pistoxenos . Apparently 'was quite recognized work Epiktetos, because it is found on a Pelike of Kleophrades Painter twice the signature egraphsen Epiktetos - Epiktetos painted it . The signature is now regarded as an ancient forgery, which should therefore beckon with the name of the well-known painter Epictetus.

literature

Web links

Commons : Epiktetos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ Quotations from Boardman: Red-figure vases from Athens. The archaic time , p. 67.
personal data
SURNAME Epictetus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek vase painter
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC Chr.