Python (vase painter)
Python ( ancient Greek Πύθων ) was an ancient Greek vase painter of the red-figure style from the Lower Italian Paestum . Besides his somewhat older workshop colleague Asteas , he is not only the only Paestan vase painter , but the only Lower Italian vase painter whose name has been handed down in inscriptions. The approximately 150 vases attributed to him were probably made between 350 and 325 BC. Painted.
plant
The name of the python was handed down on two vases. The older one is the so-called Alkmene Crater , now in the British Museum in London, the younger is the neck amphora with the birth of Helen , now in the National Archaeological Museum in Paestum . On the basis of stylistic comparisons, he was assigned about 150 more vases. In addition there are probably a large number of other vases, which, however, are difficult to attribute to a painter's hand due to the minimal decoration. Together with Asteas he was the dominant artistic personality in the Asteas Python workshop , the most important Paestan ceramics manufacturer. Richard Green calls Python - from a stylistic point of view - the "little brother" of Asteas, Arthur D. Trendall recognized a great stylistic influence of Asteas on the work of Python. The two painters are therefore not always easy to distinguish. The routine drawings of the Python usually seem a bit clumsy and clumsy. He shows artistic deficits especially in larger picture compositions and it is not uncommon for his pictures to appear overcrowded, stilted and some figures are downright misplaced. The figures often seem hectic. Nevertheless, there is an attractiveness that goes beyond that of Asteas, not least from the content of his pictures. His repertoire of legends often goes beyond the usual topics. The details are also often characterized by a great wealth of detail. He attached great importance to the garment drawing, the representation of furniture and other accessories as well as the landscape. That too can often reinforce the impression of overload. Opaque colors - white, red and yellow - are often used. Above all, he also identifies the main characters with inscriptions. The works previously attributed to the Altavilla painter are now considered works by Python.
The preferred vase shape of the python are neck amphora and bell craters . In addition, he also painted chalice krater , hydriai and bowls , plus a previously attributed belly lekythos . He generally decorated his bell crater with pictures with one or more often two figures. Often they are actors, often together with the god of the theater, Dionysus . Smaller bell craters usually only show one figure, then Dionysus, Eros or a figure from the Dionysian entourage, such as Pan . Of greater importance, however, are his larger picture compositions. He points to the London Alcmene Crater Alcmene , sitting on a throne at the stake, that of Antenor and Amphitryon is set on fire. Alkmene pleading for her life to a higher power, which is symbolized in a higher picture level on the left edge of the picture by Zeus , who has already thrown two lightning bolts and lets two rainy clouds follow. An arch in red and white appears over Alkmene, which is supposed to symbolize a rainbow . Python also shows other rather rare pictures: Helena's birth from an egg, Kadmos fighting the dragon, Archemoros ' death, Orestes in Delphi , the robbery of Ganymede and Oineus with Agrios . One can probably associate all the representations with scenes from the ancient classical tragedies , primarily with plays by Euripides . That connects Python with Asteas: Apparently the pieces by Euripides were a popular reservoir of motifs for the painters in the workshop. Scenes from comedies and, to a much lesser extent, the satyr game were also processed by Python. One of the comedy representations is a bell crater in the Vatican Museum , on which three young men are shown at a feast and a kottabos game . A drunken Papposil lies on the floor , on the right a musician provides entertainment. The scene can be identified as part of a comedy thanks to three theatrical masks hanging over the picture. Two further vases with depictions of comedies were among the very early finds of antique painted ceramics in southern Italy. They came into the first collection of William Hamilton and went down with the "Colossus". While it shows comedy actors more often, depictions from comedies are rare. In general, Python preferably shows the actors outside the theater, accompanied by their god Dionysus at Dionysian festivals. Since the vases were intended for graves, this theme fits very well as it alludes to a happy life after death. Another characteristic of his pictures are the people who often appear as busts behind the terrain lines.
On the back of the smaller vases, python often shows the usual coat youths . Python differs from Asteas especially in the depiction of the garments. Python boys' cloaks often show a V- or U-shaped fold in their garments on the chest, and he particularly emphasizes the dot-and-dash border on the edges of the garment. An exception in the work seems to be a bell crater in Berlin , the image of which cannot be assigned to the theater or its surroundings. It shows Odysseus tied to the mast of his boat and the sirens . It is also the only known bell crater whose image areas are not delimited by lateral palmettes . The smaller vases are mostly of poor quality, but there are qualitative exceptions, such as a phlyak scene with an actor carrying a torch in one hand and balancing a tray with food on his head. Next to his foot is a bird with a worm in its beak. The painter of the Boston Orestes is considered a direct pupil of the python. In addition, both exerted a great influence on the Caivano painter .
Beyond the two signatures and the vases assigned through stylistic comparisons and the reconstructed connections to the workshop and other painters, nothing is known today about the real personality and life of the python.
literature
- Arthur D. Trendall : Red-figure vases from southern Italy and Sicily. A handbook (= cultural history of the ancient world . Volume 47). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1111-7 , especially pp. 231-233.
- Rolf Hurschmann : Python [5]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , Sp. 672.
- Richard Green : Python (II). In: Rainer Vollkommer (editor): Künstlerlexikon der Antike . Over 3800 artists from three millennia. Nikol, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-937872-53-7 , p. 777.
Web links
Remarks
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | python |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | ancient Greek vase painter from Paestum in Lower Italy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr. |