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Red-figure pottery () is a style of ancient Greek pottery in which the background of the pottery is painted black while the figures and details are left in the natural red or orange color of the clay.
It developed in Athens around 520 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century AD. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure pottery within a few decades. Its modern name is based on the figural depictions in red color on a black background, in contrast to the preceding black-figure style with black figures on a red background. The most important areas of production, apart from Attica, were in Magna Graecia. The style was also adopted in other parts of Greece. Etruria became an important center of production outside the Ancient Greece.
Attic red-figure vases were exported throughout Greece and beyond. For a long time, they dominated the market for fine ceramics. Few centers of pottery production could compete with Athens in terms of innovation, quality and production capacity. Of the red-figure vases produced in Athens alone, more than 40,000 specimens and fragments survive today. From the second-most important production center, Southern Italy, more than 20,000 vases and fragments are preserved. Starting with the studies by John Beazley and Arthur Dale Trendall, the study of this style of art has made enormous progress. Some vases can be ascribed to individual artists or schools. The images provide evidence for the exploration of Greek cultural history, everyday life, iconography, and Greek mythology.
Detail in other colors, Including white or red, were applied at this point. The relief line was probably drawn with a bristle brush or a hair, dipped in thick paint. (The suggestion that a hollow needle could account for such features seems somewhat unlikely.) The application of relief outlines was necessary, as the rather liquid glossy clay would otherwise have turned out too dull. After the technique's initial phase of development, both alternatives were used, to differentiate gradations and details more clearly. The space between figures was filled with a glossy grey clay slip. Then, the vases underwent triple-phase firing, during which the glossy clay reached its characteristic black or black-brown color through redox, the reddish color by a final re-oxidation. Since this final oxidizing phase was fired using lower temperatures, the glazed parts of the vase did not re-oxidize from black to red: their finer surface was melted (sintered) in the reducing phase, and now protected from oxygen.
The new technique had the primary advantage of permitting a far better execution of internal detail. In black-figure vase painting such details had to be scratched into the painted surfaces, which was always less accurate than the direct application of detail with a brush. Red-figure depictions were generally more lively and realistic than the black-figure . They were also more clearly contrasted against the black backgrounds. It was now possible to depict humans not only in profile, but also in frontal, rear, or three-quarter perspectives. The red-figure technique also permitted the indication of a third dimension on the figures. However, it also had disadvantages. For example, the distinction of sex by using black slip for male skin and white paint for female skin was now impossible. The ongoing trend to depict heroes and deities naked and of youthful age also made it harder to distinguish the sexes through garments or hairstyles. In the initial phases, there were also miscalculations regarding the thickness of human figures.
In black-figure vase painting, the pre-drawn outlines were a part of the figure. In red-figure vases, the outline would, after firing, form part of the black background. This led to vases with very thin figures early on. A further problem was that the black background did not permit the depiction of space in any depth, so that spatial perspective was almost never attempted. Nonetheless, the advantages outnumbered the disadvantages. The depiction of muscles and other anatomical details clearly illustrates the development of the style.John Boardman: Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Archaic Period,1975, p. 15-16
and Athena. Amphora by the potter Andokides and the Andokides Painter, circa 530 BC. Paris: Louvre]] In the 5th century BC Attic fine pottery, now predominantly red-figure, maintained its dominance in the markets. Attic pottery was exported to Magna Graecia and even Etruria. The preference for Attic vases led to the development of local South Italian and Etruscan workshops or "schools", strongly influenced by Attic style, but producing exclusively for local markets.
New shapes include the psykter and the pelike. Large krater and amphorae became popular at this time. Although there is no indication that the painters understood themselves as a group in the way that modern scholarship does, there were some connections and mutual influences, perhaps in an atmosphere of friendly competition and encouragement. Thus a vase by Euthymides is inscribed "as Euphronios never would". More generally, the pioneer group tended to use inscriptions. The labelling of mythological figures or the addition of Kalos inscriptions are the rule rather than the exception.
Apart from the vase painters, some bowl painters also used the new style. These include Oltos and Epiktetos. Many of their works were bilingual, often using red-figure only on the interior of the bowl.
One of the key features of this most successful Attic vase painting style is the mastery of perspective foreshortening, allowing a much more naturalistic depiction of figures and actions. Another characteristic is the drastic reduction of figures per vessel, of anatomic details, and of ornamental decorations. In contrast, the repertoire of depicted scenes was increased. For example, the myths surrounding Theseus became very popular at this time. New or modified vase shapes were frequently employed, including the Nolan amphora (see Typology of Greek Vase Shapes), lekythos, as well as bowls of the askos and dinos types. The specialisation into separate vase and bowl painters increased.
Other influences on High Classical vase painting include the newly erected Parthenon and its sculptural decoration. This is especially visible in the depiction of garments; the material now falls more naturally, and more folds are depicted, leading to an increased "depth" of the depiction. The overall compositions were simplified even more. Artists placed special emphasis on symmetry, harmony, and balance. The human figures had returned to their earlier slenderness; they often radiate a self-absorbed, divine serenity.
Important painters of this period, roughly 480 to 425 BC, include the Providence Painter, Hermonax, and the Achilles Painter, all following the tradition of the Berlin Painter. The Phiale Painter, probably a pupil of the Achilles Painter, is also important. New workshop traditions also developed. Notable examples include the so-called "mannerists", most famously among them the Pan Painter. Another tradition was begun by the Niobid Painter and continued by Polygnotos, the Kleophon Painter, and the Dinos Painter. The role of bowls decreased, although they were still produced in large numbers, e.g. by the workshop of the Penthesilea Painter.
The production of mainstream red-figure pottery ceased around 360 BC. The Rich and Simple styles both existed until that time. Late representatives include the Meleager Painter (Rich Style) and the Jena Painter (Simple Style).
The last Athenian vases with figural depictions were created around 320 BC at the latest. The style continued somewhat longer, but with non-figural decorations. The last recognised examples are by painters known as the YZ Group.
The status of painters in relation to that of potters remains somewhat unclear. The fact that, e.g., Euphronius was able to work as both painter and potter suggests that at least some of the painters were not slaves. On the other hand, some of the known names indicate that there were at least some former slaves and some perioikoi among the painters. Additionally, some of the names are not unique: for example, several painters signed as Polygnotos. This may represent attempts to profit from the name of that great painter. The same may be the case where painters bear otherwise famous names, like Aristophanes (vase painter). The careers of some vase painters are quite well known. Apart from painters with relatively short periods of activity (one or two decades), some can be traced for much longer. Examples include Douris, Makron, Hermonax and the Achilles Painter. The fact that several painters later became potters, and the relatively frequent cases where it is unclear whether some potters were also painters or vice versa, suggest a career structure, perhaps starting with an apprenticeship involving mainly painting, and leading up to being a potter.
This division of labor appears to have developed along with the introduction of red-figure painting, since many potter-painters are known from the black-figure period (including Exekias, Nearchos and perhaps the Amasis Painter). The increased demand for exports would have led to new structures of production, encouraging specialisation and division of labor, leading to a sometimes ambiguous distinction between painter and potter. As mentioned above, the painting of vessels was probably mainly the responsibility of younger assistants or apprentices. Some further conclusions regarding the organisational aspects of pottery production can be suggested. It appears that generally, several painters worked for one pottery workshop, as indicated by the fact that frequently, several roughly contemporary pots by the same potter are painted by various painters. For examples, pots made by Euphronios have been found to be painted by Onesimos, Douris, the Antiphon Painter, the Triptolemos Painter and the Pistoxenos Painter. Conversely, an individual painter could also change from one workshop to another. For example, the bowl painter Oltos worked for at least six different potters.
Although from a modern perspective the vase painters are often considered artists, and their vases thus as works of art, this view is not consistent with that held in antiquity. Vase painters, like potters, were considered craftsmen, their produce considered trade goods.Boardman: Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period,1989, p. 234 The craftsmen must have had a reasonably high level of education, as a variety of inscriptions occur. On the one hand, the aforementioned Kalos inscriptions are common; on the other hand, inscriptions often label the depicted figures. That not every vase painter could write is shown by some examples of meaningless rows of random letters. The vases indicate a steady improvement of literacy from the 6th century BC onwards.Ingeborg Scheibler: Vasenmaler, in: DNP 12/I, col. 1148 Whether potters, and perhaps vase painters, belonged to the Attic elite has not been satisfactorily clarified so far. Do the frequent depictions of the symposium, a definite upper-class activity, reflect the painters' personal experience, their aspirations to attend such events, or simply the demands of the market?Boardman: Schwarzfigurige Vasenmalerei, p. 13; Martine Denoyelle: Euphronios. Vasenmaler und Töpfer, Berlin 1991, p. 17 A large proportion of the painted vases produced, such as psykter, krater, kalpis, stamnos, as well as kylikes and kantharos, were made and bought to be used at symposia.see Alfred Schäfer: Unterhaltung beim griechischen Symposion. Darbietungen, Spiele und Wettkämpfe von homerischer bis in spätklassische Zeit, von Zabern, Mainz 1997
Elaborately painted vases were good, but not the best, table wares available to a Greek. Metal vessels, especially from precious metals, were held in higher regard. Nonetheless, painted vases were not cheap products; the larger specimens, especially, were expensive. Around 500 BC, a large painted vase cost about one Ancient drachma, equivalent to the daily wage of a stonemason. It has been suggested that the painted vases represent an attempt to imitate metal vessels. It is normally assumed that the lower social classes tended to use simple undecorated coarse wares, massive quantities of which are found in excavations. Tablewares made of perishable materials, like wood, may have been even more widespread.Boardman: Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period,1989 p. 237. Nonetheless, multiple finds of red-figure vases, usually not of the highest quality, found in settlements, prove that such vessels were used in daily life. A large proportion of production was taken up by cult and grave vessels. In any case, it can be assumed that the production of high-quality pottery was a profitable business. For example, an expensive votive gift by the painter Euphronios was found on the Athenian Acropolis.Boardman: Athenian Black Figure Vases,1991, p. 12 There can be little doubt that the export of such pottery made an important contribution to the affluence of Athens. It is hardly surprising that many workshops appear to have aimed their production at export markets, for example by producing vessel shapes that were more popular in the target region than in Athens. The 4th century BC demise of Attic vase painting tellingly coincides with the very period when the Etruscans, probably the main western export market, came under increasing pressure from Magna Graecia and the Ancient Rome. A further reason for the end of the production of figurally decorated vases is a change in tastes at the start of the Hellenistic period. The main reason, however, should be seen in the increasingly unsuccessful progress of the Peloponnesian War, culminating in the devastating defeat of Athens in 404 BC. After this, Sparta controlled the western trade, albeit without having the economic strength to fully exploit it. The Attic potters had to find new markets; they did so in the Black Sea area. But Athens and its industries never fully recovered from the defeat. Some potters and painters had already relocated to Italy during the war, seeking better economic conditions. A key indicator for the export-oriented nature of Attic vase production is the nearly total absence of theatre scenes. Buyers from other cultural backgrounds, such as Etruscans or later customers in the Iberian Peninsula, would have found such depiction incomprehensible or uninteresting. In Southern Italian vase painting, which was mostly not aimed at export, such scenes are quite common.Boardman: Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period,1987, p. 222
By now, 21,000 South Italian vases and fragments are known. Of those, 11,000 are ascribed to Apulian workshops, 4,000 to Campanian, 2,000 to Paestan, 1,500 to Lucanian and 1,000 to Sicilian ones.Hurschmann: Unteritalische Vasenmalerei, in: DNP 12/1 (2002), col. 1010 and Trendall p. 9, with slightly differing numbers.
Apulian vase painting had a formative influence on the traditions of the other South Italian production centres. It is assumed that individual Apulian artists settled in other Italian cities and contributed their skills there. Apart from red-figure, Apulia also produced black-varnished vases with painted decor (Gnathia vases) and polychrome vases (Canosa vases).Hurschmann in: DNP 1 (1996), col. 923
Before the immigration of Sicilian potters in the second quarter of the 4th century BC, when several workshops were established in Campania, only the Owl-Pillar Group of the second half of the 5th century is known. Campanian vase painting is subdivided in three main groups:
The first group is represented by the Kassandra Painter from Capua, still under Sicilian influence. He was followed by the workshop of the Parrish Painter and that of the Laghetto Painter and the Caivano Painter. Their work is characterised by a preference for satyr figures with thyrsos, depictions of heads (normally below the handles of hydriai), decorative borders of garments, and the frequent use of additional white, red and yellow. The Laghetto and Caivano Painters appear to have moved to Paestum later.Hurschmann: Kampanische Vasenmalerei, in: DNP 6 (1998), col. 227f
The AV Group also had its workshop in Capua. Of particular importance is the Whiteface-Frignano Painter, one of the first in this group. His typical characteristic is the use of additional white paint to depict the faces of women. This group favoured domestic scenes, women and warriors. Multiple figures are rare, usually there is only one figure each on the front and back of the vase, sometimes only the head. Garments are usually drawn casually.Hurschmann: Kampanische Vasenmalerei, in: DNP 6 (1998), col. 228
After 350 BC, the CA Painter and his successors worked in Cumae. The CA painter is considered as the outstanding artist of his group, or even of Campanian vase painting as a whole. From 330 onwards, a strong Apulian influence is visible. The most common motifs are naiskos and grave scenes, dionysiac scenes and symposia. Depictions of bejewelled female heads are also common. The CA painter was polychrome but tended to use much white for architecture and female figures. His successors were not fully able to maintain his quality, leading to a rapid demise, terminating with the end of Campanian vase painting around 300 BC.
The typical Sicilian style only developed around 340 BC. Three groups of workshops can be distinguished. The first, known as the Lentini-Manfria Group, was active in Syracusae and Gela, a second, making Centuripe Ware around Mount Etna, and a third on Lipari. The most typical feature of Sicilian vase painting is the use of additional colours, especially white. In the early phase, large vessels like chalice kraters and hydriai were painted, but smaller vessels like flasks, lekanes, lekythoi and skyphoid pyxides are more typical. The most common motifs are scenes from female life, eros, female heads and phlyax scenes. Mythological scenes are rare. Like in all other areas, vase painting disappears from Sicily around 300 BC.
Only Etruria, one of the main export markets for Attic vases, developed its own schools and workshops, eventually exporting its own products. The adoption of red-figure painting, imitating Athenian vases, occurred only after 490 BC, half a century after the style had been developed. Because of the technique used, the earliest examples are known as pseudo-red-figure vase paintings. The true red-figure technique was introduced much later, near the end of the 5th century BC. Several painters, workshops and production centres are known for both styles. Their products were not only used locally, but also exported to Malta, Carthage, Ancient Rome and Liguria.
In Etruria, the pseudo-red-figure style was not just a phenomenon of the earliest phases, as it had been in Attica. Especially during the 4th century, some workshops specialised in this technique, although true red-figure painting was widespread among Etruscan workshops at the same time. Notable workshops include the Sokra Group and the Phantom Group. The Sokra Group, somewhat older, preferred bowls with interior decoration of Greek mythical themes, but also some Etruscan motifs. The phantom Group mainly painted cloaked figures combined with vegetal or palmette ornamentation. The workshops of both groups are suspected to have been in Caere, Falerii and Tarquinia. The Phantom Group produced until the early 3rd century BC. Like elsewhere, the changing tastes of the customers eventually led to the end of this style.Huberta Heres – Max Kunze (Hrsg.): Die Welt der Etrusker, Archäologische Denkmäler aus Museen der sozialistischen Länder. Exhibition catalogue Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR – Altes Museum vom 04. Oktober bis 30. Dezember 1988. Berlin 1988, p. 245-249
During the 2nd half of the 4th century BC, mythological themes disappeared from the repertoire of Etruscan painters. They were replaced by female heads and scenes of up to two figures. Instead of figural depictions, ornaments and floral motifs covered the vessel bodies. Large figural compositions, like that on a krater by the Den Haag Funnel Group Painter were only produced exceptionally. The originally large-scale production at Falerii lost its dominant role to the production centre at Caere, which had probably been founded by Falerian painters and cannot be said to represent a distinct tradition. The standard repertoire of the Caere workshops included simply painted oinochoai, lekythoi and drinking bowls of the Torcop Group, and plates of the Genucuilia Group. The switch to the production of black glaze vases near the end of the 4th century, probably as a reaction to changing tastes of the time, spelt the end of Etruscan red-figure vase painting.Huberta Heres – Max Kunze (Hrsg.): Die Welt der Etrusker, Archäologische Denkmäler aus Museen der sozialistischen Länder. Exhibition catalogue Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR – Altes Museum vom 04. Oktober bis 30. Dezember 1988. Berlin 1988, p. 249-263
Since the period of Classicism, ceramic vessels were collected more frequently. For example, Sir William Hamilton and Giuseppe Valletta had vase collections. Vases found in Italy were relatively affordable, so that even private individuals could assemble important collections. Vases were a popular souvenir for young Northwestern Europeans to bring home from the Grand Tour. In the diaries of his voyage to Italy, Goethe refers to the temptation of buying ancient vases. Those who could not afford originals had the option of acquiring copies or prints. There were even manufactory specialised in imitating ancient pottery. The best known is Wedgwood ware, although it employed techniques entirely unrelated to those used in antiquity, using ancient motifs merely as a thematic inspiration.Sabine Naumer: Vasen/Vasenmalerei, in DNP 15/3, col. 949-950
Since the 1760s, archaeological research also began to focus on vase paintings. The vases were appreciated as source material for all aspects of ancient life, especially for iconography and Greek mythology studies. Vase painting was now treated as a substitute for the almost entirely lost oeuvre of Greek monumental painting. Around this time, the widespread view that all painted vases were Etruscan works became untenable. Nonetheless, the artistic fashion of that time to imitate ancient vases came to be called all'etrusque. England and France tried to outdo each other in terms of both research and imitation of vases. The German aesthetic writers Johann Heinrich Müntz and Johann Joachim Winckelmann studied vase paintings. Winckelmann especially praised the Umrißlinienstil ("outline style", i.e. red-figure painting). Vase ornaments were compiled and disseminated in England through Pattern books.Sabine Naumer: Vasen/Vasenmalerei, in DNP 15/3, col. 951-954 Vase paintings even had an influence on the development of modern painting. The linear style influenced artists such as Edward Burne-Jones, Gustave Moreau or Gustav Klimt. Around 1840, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller painted a Still Life with Silver Vessels and Red-Figure Bell Krater. Henri Matisse produced a similar painting ( Intérieur au vase étrusque). Their aesthetic influence extends into the present. For example, the well-known curved shape of the Coca-Cola bottle is inspired by Greek vases.Sabine Naumer: Vasen/Vasenmalerei, in DNP 15/3, col. 954
The scientific study of Attic vase paintings was advanced especially by John Beazley. Beazley began to study the vases from about 1910 onwards, inspired by the methodology that the art historian Giovanni Morelli had developed for the study of paintings. He assumed that each painter produced individual works that can always be unmistakably ascribed. To do so, particular details, such as faces, fingers, arms, legs, knees, garment folds and so on, were compared. Beazley examined 65,000 vases and fragments (of which 20,000 were black-figure). In the course of six decades of study, he was able to ascribe 17,000 of them to individual artists. Where their names remained unknown, he developed a system of conventional names. Beazley also united and combined individual painters into groups, workshops, schools and styles. No other archaeologist has ever had as formative an influence on a whole subdiscipline as had Beazley on the study of Greek vase painting. A large proportion of his analysis is still considered valid today. Beazley first published his conclusions on red-figure vase painting in 1925 and 1942. His initial studies only considered material from before the 4th century BC. For a new edition of his work published in 1963, he also incorporated that later period, making use of the work of other scholars, such as Karl Schefold, who had especially studied the Kerch Style vases. Famous scholars who continued the study of Attic red-figure after Beazley include John Boardman, Erika Simon and Dietrich von Bothmer.John Boardman: Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, p. 7f.
For the study of South Italian case painting, Arthur Dale Trendall's work has a similar significance to that of Beazley for Attica. Most post-Beazley scholars can be said to follow Beazley's tradition and use his methodology. The study of Greek vases is ongoing, not least because of the constant addition of new material from archaeological excavations, illicit excavations and unknown private collections.
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