Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Greek Vase Painting


Around 530-520 bc a technical revolution in Athenian vase-painting occurred. The new technique was red-figure, and it would come to dominate Greek vase-painting over the next two centuries, covering the classical period of Greek drama. The scenes depicted on the vases of this period can be sometimes extremely important primary historical evidence as to how the Ancient Greeks staged their dramas.

Before 530 bc the dominant technique was black-figure. In the case of black-figure painting figures are seen as a  black silhouette depicted against the natural orange colour of the clay used in the vase. Details are created  by cutting through the black surface using a sharp engraving tool. Red-figure is the reversal of this technique: figures are left behind in the orange colour of the clay, whilst the background is coloured in black around them; details are added afterwards using a brush.

Red-figure was the more flexible, as different size brushes could be used, which when combined with different thicknesses in the glazing these generate different kinds of line, and look more natural than the lines created using the engraving tool. If the artists combined the two techniques on the same vase such vases are termed "bilingual".

The scenes depicted on the vases of this period can be sometimes extremely important primary evidence as to how the Ancient Greeks staged their dramas.

The Names of Some Shapes

Kylix = A shallow drinking cup with two handles
Amphora = A two-handled jar used for holding or storing liquids with a neck narrower than the body
Krater = A wide mouthed vessel used for mixing wine with water. 
Oinochoe = A single-handled jug typically taller than it is wide, used for pouring wine.
Hydria = A water carrying vessel  with three handles, two for carrying and one for pouring
Lekythos = A flask used for storing olive oil.

A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World p. 194- Pottery: David Sacks - Internet Archive

 Pronomos Vase




Beazley ARV 1336.1  Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli No. 3240H

Oliver Taplin; Rosie Wyles (2010). The Pronomos Vase and its Context. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-958259-4.

Mark Griffith (2015). Greek Satyr Play: Five Studies. The Pronomos Vase: California Classical Studies. pp. 135–. ISBN 978-1-939926-05-0.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Naples+3240&object=vase

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/3D02875A-C39F-47EC-B0C3-396D004855C7






Copenhagen Krater Vase Red-Figure





Bell Krater Vase Red-Figure
Decoration:
A: Theatrical, Dithyramb, Chorus, Draped Men Singing, and Youth Playing Pipes, Post With Ivy
B: Draped Satyr With Torch, Women (Maenads) With Thyrsos

References

The History of Greek Vases : potters, painters, and pictures: Boardman, John - Internet Archive

Greek Vase-Painting and the Origins of Visual Humour - Google Books
Greek vase-painting and the origins of visual humour : Mitchell, Alexandre G. - Internet Archive

Figures of Speech : men and maidens in ancient Greece: Ferrari, Gloria - Internet Archive

A catalogue of the Greek vases in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum - Internet Archive

Catalogue of the Greek vases in the Ashmolean Museum: Ashmolean Museum - Internet Archive

Shapes of Greek Vases: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) - Internet Archive

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
Search: Catalog+Greek+Vases+Metropolitan+Museum

Geometry of Greek vases; Attic vases in the Museum of Fine Arts analysed according to the principles of proportion discovered by Jay Hambidge : Caskey, Lacey D - Internet Archive

TRENDALL, A. D. (1959). PHLYAX VASES. Bulletin Supplement (University of London. Institute of Classical Studies), 8, i–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43768419

TRENDALL, A. D. (1967). PHLYAX VASES (Second edition, revised and enlarged). Bulletin Supplement (University of London. Institute of Classical Studies), 19, iii–116. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43768296

Dearden, C. W. (1995). POTS, TUMBLERS AND PHLYAX VASES. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, 66, 81–86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43767990




Three-phase firing - Wikipedia
Leonard Whibley. A Companion to Greek Studies (IV.5 Vase Painting). Cambridge University Press. pp. 333–47. ISBN 978-1-107-49754-2.
John Davidson Beazley (1951). The Development of Attic Black-figure. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05593-3.
Greek tragedy in the light of vase paintings : Huddilston, John Homer, 1869 - Internet Archive

A catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan vases in the British Museum Volume II : British Museum. Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities - Internet Archive

Explore the British Museum Collection

Oliver Taplin (28 January 1993). Comic Angels and Other Approaches to Greek Drama through Vase-Paintings. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-158865-5.
Comic Angels and Other Approaches to Greek Drama through Vase-Paintings Archive.org

Edith Hall (10 January 2013). Adventures with Iphigenia in Tauris: A Cultural History of Euripides' Black Sea Tragedy. Chapter 4; Pots and Plots - The Fourth-century popularity of Iphigenia in Tauris: OUP USA. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-0-19-539289-0.

Tom B. Rasmussen (26 July 1991). Looking at Greek Vases. Chapter 7: Farce and tragedy in South Italian vase-painting: Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–. ISBN 978-0-521-37679-2.

Robin Osborne (6 February 2018). The Transformation of Athens: Painted Pottery and the Creation of Classical Greece. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-17767-0.

John H. Oakley; Olga Palagia (1 May 2009). Athenian Potters and Painters Volume II. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78297-322-5.

John Oakley (31 August 2014). Athenian Potters and Painters Volume III. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78297-666-0.

Arthur Dale Trendall; Thomas Bertram Lonsdale Webster (1971). Illustrations of Greek drama. Phaidon. ISBN 978-0-7148-1492-6.

Martin Robertson (1992). The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-521-33881-3.

Mary Louise Hart (2010). The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-1-60606-037-7.

N. K. Rutter; Brian A. Sparkes (2000). Word and Image in Ancient Greece. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-1405-9.

Pat Easterling; Edith Hall (2002). Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession. Cambridge University Press. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-0-521-65140-0. 

Mary Louise Hart; J. Michael Walton; J. Paul Getty Museum (2010). The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-1-60606-037-7.


R. M. Cook (2013). Greek Painted Pottery. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63684-5.

CVA - Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

Dietrich Von Bothmer (1987). Greek Vase Painting. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-488-3.

Oliver Taplin (2007). Pots & Plays: Interactions Between Tragedy and Greek Vase-Painting of the Fourth Century B.C. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-0-89236-807-5. 

E. Buschor. Greek vase-painting. Рипол Классик. ISBN 978-5-87512-938-4.

Andrew J. Clark; Maya Elston; Mary Louise Hart (2002). Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-0-89236-599-9.






The Siracusa Tragedy-Vase: Oedipus and his Daughters? by Oliver Taplin

FROM PADDED DANCERS TO COMEDY
Author(s): Axel Seeberg
Source: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, No. 66, Stage Directions:
Essays in Ancient Drama in Honour of E. W. Handley (1995), pp. 1-12
Published by: Wiley
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43767984

CORINTHIAN KOMOS VASES
Author(s): Axel Seeberg
Source: Bulletin Supplement (University of London. Institute of Classical Studies), No. 27,
CORINTHIAN KOMOS VASES (1971), pp. iii, v, vii, ix-xi, xiii-xv, 1-11, 13-55, 57-107
Published by: Wiley
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43768428

Visual Language and Concepts of Cult on the "Lenaia Vases"
Sarah Peirce
Classical Antiquity
Vol. 17, No. 1 (Apr., 1998), pp. 59-95 (46 pages)
Published by: University of California Press
DOI: 10.2307/25011074
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25011074

Eric Csapo; Margaret C. Miller (2007). The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond: From Ritual to Drama. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-521-83682-1.
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