Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical AthensSusan B. Matheson has written the first detailed analysis of Polygnotos, a major vase painter of classical Athens whose workshop flourished for fifty years, from the the golden age of Pericles to the end of the fifth century. Inspired by the monumental art of Pheidias and other sculptors who defined fifth-century classical style, Polygnotos and his workshop reflected this style as it emerged from the sculptures of the Parthenon. Matheson provides the first comprehensive chronology for Polygnotos's own works, and then analyzes the distinctive, evolving Polygnotan style first isolated by Sir John Beazley, comparing this style to that of contemporary Athenian workshops and demonstrating its seminal influence on the later vase painting of southern Italy. She then surveys Polygnotan iconography to show its relation to contemporary vase painting and sculpture, emphasizing both its originality and its continuity with Athenian iconographic traditions. The more than 600 pieces discussed here, 171 of which are illustrated, reflect the diverse religious, historical, and intellectual trends in Periclean Athens. Some vases bear innovative representations of myths from the dramas of Sophocles and Aeschylus, while others portray the religious sacrifices and rituals of Athenian civic life. Perhaps the most arresting, though, reveal the private life of Athens--drunken revelers at symposia, women conversing together, a somber young man departing for war. The diverse subjects represented by the Polygnotan group of vase painters, comprehensively analyzed and extensively illustrated, offer an enlightening glimpse into Athenian life for students and scholars alike, leading to a broader understanding of art, religion, and society in classical Greece. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
P 48 St Petersburg State Hermitage Museum 5 192 37 | 5 |
689 | 10 |
Syracuse Museo Archeologico Regionale 23507 | 22 |
P 49 South Hadley Massachusetts Mount Holyoke College Art Museum | 27 |
BS II 4 | 37 |
P 63 Ferrara Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Spina 3058 | 38 |
P 5 Oxford Ashmolean Museum 1916 68 | 40 |
P 38 Vienna University 505 and drawing after Kenner Achilleis des Aischylos fig 1 | 79 |
Polygnotos drapery | 80 |
The Group of Polygnotos | 81 |
COG 2 London British Museum E 170 | 95 |
H 1 Vatican City Museo Gregoriano Etrusco 16570 | 101 |
EP 7 Brussels Musées Royaux dArt et dHistoire Cinquantenaire | 107 |
PE 15 London British Museum E 273 | 113 |
CHR 39 Laon Musée de Laon 37 1019 | 122 |
Parthenon frieze north XLI London British Museum | 41 |
P 41 London British Museum E 281 42 | 42 |
P 7 Florence Museo Archeologico Etrusco 75748 44 | 44 |
Parthenon frieze east IV London British Museum | 46 |
P 20 Malibu California The J Paul Getty Museum 79 AE 198 | 47 |
P 8 London British Museum 1839 214 68 E 455 | 48 |
P 9 London British Museum E 456 | 49 |
P 10 Gotha Schlossmuseum 51 | 51 |
P 2 London British Museum 1898 716 5 52 | 52 |
Parthenon frieze south XLI London British Museum | 54 |
P 29 Bologna Museo Civico Archeologico 16428 Pell 308 | 55 |
P 14 London British Museum E 454 | 56 |
P 17 Paris Musée du Louvre C 9682 | 57 |
P 60 New York Metropolitan Museum of Art 45 11 1 | 59 |
P 21 Adria Museo Civico Bc 104 | 60 |
P 26 Erlangen FriedrichAlexander Universität I 711 and 1061 | 61 |
P 22 New York Metropolitan Museum of Art 21 88 73 | 62 |
P 43 London British Museum E 272 | 63 |
P 44 Berlin Antikensammlungen 2353 | 65 |
P 23 Ferrara Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Spina 3089 T 411 | 67 |
P 13 Athens National Archaeological Museum 18063 | 68 |
P 19 Bologna Museo Civico Archeologico 16557 Pell 275 69 | 69 |
P 19 Bologna Museo Civico Archeologico 16557 Pell 275 | 71 |
P 56 Toronto Royal Ontario Museum 929 22 3 635 | 72 |
P 35 Bologna Museo Civico Archeologico 17358 Pell 288 bis 73 | 73 |
P 65 Athens National Archaeological Museum 14983 | 75 |
P 66 Princeton New Jersey Princeton University Art Museum 8659ad | 76 |
P 64 Edinburgh Royal Scottish Museum 1877 29 | 77 |
P 20 Malibu California The J Paul Getty Museum 79 AE 198 neck | 78 |
CUR 6 San Antonio Texas San Antonio Museum of Art 86 134 77 | 129 |
120 | 135 |
125 | 141 |
KL 30 Boston Museum of Fine Arts 95 25 | 147 |
PGU 26 Eleusis Archaeological Museum 636 | 162 |
PGU 154 Syracuse Museo Archeologico Regionale 9317 | 169 |
PGU 23 Boston Museum of Fine Arts 95 21 | 175 |
Shapes | 176 |
Gods | 186 |
P 7 Florence Museo Archeologico Etrusco 75748 | 194 |
P 36 Centre Island New York private collection | 211 |
Heroes | 215 |
PGU 5 Naples Museo Archeologico Nazionale 81535 | 218 |
PEM 15 Athens Agora P 12641 225 | 225 |
Amazons Giants and Centaurs | 234 |
P 34 Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Cabinet des Médailles 421 | 237 |
Trojan and Theban Epic | 248 |
PGU 186 Malibu California The J Paul Getty Museum 81 AE 183B | 250 |
PGU 138 Oxford Ashmolean Museum 1920 59 | 257 |
Tragedies and Satyr Plays | 259 |
PGU 178 Oxford Ashmolean Museum G 291 V 530 | 267 |
Everyday Life | 269 |
Abbreviations | 303 |
Notes | 311 |
Catalogue | 345 |
Appendices to Catalogue | 487 |
| 525 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Achilles Addenda 317 Aktaion Amazonomachy Amazons amphora Aphrodite Apollo appears Archaeological Museum Archeologico di Spina ARV² Ashmolean Museum Athenian Athens Attic Stamnos Beazley Bell krater fragment Boardman Bologna Bothmer British Museum calyx krater calyx krater fragment centaur Christie Painter collection ARV2 Curti Painter Dinos Painter Dionysos Dioskouroi double-register Early Classical Etrusco Ferrara figures Gigantomachy Greek Group of Polygnotos Gualandi Hector Painter Hephaistos Herakles hydria Hydria kalpis Inscriptions kalpis Kleophon Painter Komos LIMC London Lykaon Painter maenads Meidias Musée du Louvre Museo Archeologico Nazionale Museo Archeologico Regionale Museo Nazionale Archeologico Museum of Art name vase Naples Neck amphora Nike Niobid Painter Oxford Paralipomena Peleus Peleus Painter pelike Phiale Painter Philippaki Photograph Plate Polygnotan Polygnotan Group Polygnotan vases Polygnotos Polygnotos's Pres Preserved showing stamnos Syracuse Theseus Three youths Tomb Triptolemos unnamed hand vase painting volute krater warrior woman women youths H