Apulian vase painting
The Apulian vase painting was v 430-300. The leading form of Lower Italian vase painting . Of the estimated 20,000 surviving red-figure specimens , around half are attributed to Apulian vase production, the other half to the four other sub-Italian centers in Paestum , Campania , Lucania and Sicily .
The production center of the Apulian vases was located in the city of Taranto , the only large Greek settlement in Apulia . There are two styles, the plain and the ornate style . The first form largely dispenses with additional colors and was mainly used to decorate bell and column craters, as well as for smaller vessels. The decor here is rather simple and the picture compositions usually consist of one to four figures (as in the case of the Sisyphos painter or the Tarporley painter). The main focus is on mythical themes, but also women's heads, warriors in battle and farewell scenes and Dionysian Thiasos images. On the back, mostly young men were shown in coats. After the middle of the 4th century, some artists such as the Varrese painter approached the ornate style .
The artists of the ornate style prefer large vessels with large display surfaces such as volute craters , amphorae , loutrophores or hydration . Up to 20 people were shown, often in two or more zones of the vase body. The figures often made a weightless, light impression. Colors were seldom spared, mainly red, golden yellow and white colors were used. The vases were initially decorated quite simply, but the painters began around the middle of the 4th century BC. BC with applying lush plant and ornament decorations , especially in the neck zones and on the sides of the vases . From the same time perspective views, especially of buildings, especially “underworld palaces ”, so-called naiskoi , are shown. Since around 360 BC Chr. Grave scenes with offrants , gathered around a stylized grave building or around a column, are becoming more and more common. More important representatives of the time include the Iliupersis Painter , the Darius Painter and the Baltimore Painter . The underworld painter continued the workshop tradition of the Darius painter. The Dareios underworld workshop produced more than 2000 vases and thus at least every fifth known Apulian vase of the red-figure style.
Popular motifs from mythology are meetings of the gods and battles of the Amazons , Bellerophon and Herakles as well as incidents from the Trojan saga . In addition, rare legends are presented that otherwise found little expression in ancient art. Many scenes also have Dionysian or aphrodisiac motifs, which are directly related to the sepulchral culture and the cult of the dead. Images of the afterlife can often be grasped through vase painting motifs. The heads of women, which grow from calyxes or between tendrils, are also to be classified in this context. Sometimes the women's heads are also replaced by Pan , Hermes or Orientals. Since the second half of the fourth century, depictions of weddings, women and erotic scenes have increasingly come into fashion. Likewise, one encounters Apulian vases as well as other Lower Italian vases, but differently than with Attic vases on theater performances. There are depictions of both dramatic theater and farce ( phlyak vases ). But after 370 BC Everyday and sports scenes almost completely disappeared from the painters' repertoire.
The Apulian vase painters had a not inconsiderable influence on the other Lower Italian vase painters. It also seems that some artists have settled in other cities (such as Canosa ). In addition to the red-figure pottery was also black-glazed ware , which were decorated with painted decoration ( Gnathiavasen ) and polychrome vases ( Canosiner vases ) were prepared. The Lower Italian clay was less iron-rich than the Attic, which is why it did not match the strong red of the Attic vases. Before the fire, attempts were made to compensate for this by means of colored coatings of light-colored clay slip. At the same time, a smooth surface was achieved.
literature
- Margot Schmidt , Arthur D. Trendall , Alexander Cambitoglu : A group of Apulian grave vases in Basel (= publications of the Antikenmuseum Basel. Vol. 3, ZDB -ID 533354-4 ). Archäologischer Verlag et al., Basel 1976.
- Arthur Dale Trendall, Alexander Cambitoglou: The red-figured vases of Apulia. 2 volumes + 2 supplement volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1978-1992;
- Volume 1: Early and Middle Apulian. 1978, ISBN 0-19-813218-2 ;
- Volume 2: Late Apulian. 1982, ISBN 0-19-813219-0 ;
- Supplement 1 (= Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London. Supplementary Papers. Vol. 42, 60). 1983, ISBN 0-900587-45-8 ;
- Supplement 2, Part 1–3 (= Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London. Supplementary Papers. Vol. 60). 1991-1992, ISBN 900587-63-6 .
- Arthur Dale Trendall: red-figure vases from southern Italy and Sicily. A manual (= cultural history of the ancient world . Vol. 47). von Zabern, Mainz 1990 ISBN 3-8053-1111-7 , especially pp. 85-177.
- Rolf Hurschmann : Apulian vases. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 922 f ..
- Konrad Schauenburg : Studies on Lower Italian vase painting . 14 volumes. Ludwig, Kiel 1999–2010.
