Aphrodite Painter (Paestum)

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The Aphrodite Painter was a Paestan - red-figure vase painter . After Asteas and Python he was not only the most important representative of the Asteas Python workshop , but also of Paestan vase painting as a whole.

The Aphrodite painter , together with his colleague, the painter of the Boston Orestes , marked the later stage of the Asteas Python workshop. After a number of vases were found in grave 13 of the necropolis of Contrada Licinella , which were assigned to the Aphrodite Painter, the history of Lower Italian , particularly Paestan, vase painting had to be partially rewritten. They showed that the later ApulianThe influence on Paestan vase painting was to be set much earlier than previously assumed. It is no longer clear today whether the vase painter immigrated from Apulia, received his training there or for what other reasons, but it is clear that he first learned the Apulian regional style of Lower Italian vase painting. Possibly he belonged to the Apulian traveling potters, of whom the middle of the 4th century BC. BC probably several settled in Paestum. After a number of later vases by Asteas and a hydria by the Aphrodite painter were found in Gaudo's grave in 1972/2, it seems likely that both of them were found in the period between 340 and 330 BC. Worked together in the Asteas Python workshop. In large parts he adapts to the style of the workshop very quickly, but retains some Apulian details of his working method permanently. In this he differs from the other Apulian vase painters in Paestum, who did not adapt too quickly to the Paestan regional style and continued to work in an Apulian manner . He also introduces the high-necked oinochoe to Paestum.

Name vase from grave 69 in Lucinella: Aphrodite between two erotes (right); Hermes stands in front of a seated woman with a box in her hand (left) Name vase from grave 69 in Lucinella: Aphrodite between two erotes (right); Hermes stands in front of a seated woman with a box in her hand (left)
Name vase from grave 69 in Lucinella: Aphrodite between two erotes (right); Hermes stands in front of a seated woman with a box in her hand (left)

The adaptation shows itself in such a way that he begins to frame his pictures, to paint the vessel shapes customary in Paestum such as the neck amphora or the Lebes-Gamikos variant with a multi-level lid, to paint heads under the handles of the hydrians and to cover up customary clothing and jewelry patterns take over. These decorative patterns include fruit-bearing ivy on the mouths, the decoration with the so-called Asteas flower as well as checkerboard and dot-line borders. According to Arthur D. Trendall , the name vase decorated by the Aphrodite painter , a slender neck amphora with knitted handles, is the most important vase so far found in Paestum with a particularly rich ornamentation with ornaments. Even if the vase painter continued to be comparatively generous with his ornaments and thus continued to be close to Apulian vase painting, this one vase was not repeated in this way. Maybe it did not correspond to the regional taste.

The style of the Aphrodite painter can be recognized, among other things, by his design of the faces. He draws long, straight noses, rather thick lips and uses three lines to indicate the eyebrows and upper lids. Male figures have two small lines next to the knees. The hair is long and curled in a spiral shape. He gives his figures very generous pieces of jewelry and very often draws ribbons on the arms or lower legs with opaque white. In addition, he often decorates his figures' clothing with large white dots. On a calyx crater it shows Orestes in Delphi , unusual in the composition is the presence of Elektra , who should not be present here. His workshop colleague, the painter of Orestes in Boston , also shows Orestes and Elektra on three vases at their father's grave, which speaks for a certain popularity of this topic in the workshop at that time.

Most of the works are owned by the National Archaeological Museum in Paestum .

literature

Web links

Commons : Aphrodite Painter  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ National Archaeological Museum Paestum, inventory number 20303
  2. ↑ Artworks: Amphora of the Painter of Aphrodite - Artist: | Artsupp. Retrieved May 18, 2020 .
  3. ↑ collection Zewadski in Tampa
  4. ↑ Lyndsay Coe: A Sophoclean slip: Mistaken identity and tragic allusion on the Exeter pelike. In: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies , Volume 56/1, 2013, pp. 67-88, especially p. 69
personal data
SURNAME Aphrodite painter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aphrodite painter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek vase painter of the red-figure style
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.