Chapter XV
., § 4).
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PLATE XXXIV
[Illustration:
PANATHENAIC AMPHORA (BRITISH MUSEUM). LATER TYPE (OBV. AND REV.). ]
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The black-figure method is preserved throughout, in spite of the development in drawing, that of the fourth-century vases being perfectly free. In the latter there is a lavish use of white and purple for details, especially on the figure of Athena; and Nike, when present at the contests, is usually painted white; but the tendency of later vases to neglect the reverse at the expense of the obverse in the matter of decoration is strongly manifested. The figure of Athena becomes greatly elongated, until her head is actually painted on the neck of the vase, and in all the vases after 336 B.C. she is turned to the right instead of the left. Two signatures of artists are found—Sikelos in the fifth century, Kittos in the fourth. There also exist some miniature fourth-century examples of these vases, the purpose of which is not obvious; on the reverse of one in the British Museum is represented a runner in the torch-race.[1243]
* * * * *
A peculiar local development of the black-figure style is to be seen in the vases found on the site of the temple of the Kabeiri, near Thebes, in Boeotia. From the style of the painting, which is free and careless, they can hardly be earlier than the fifth century, and may be later, the old style being preserved, as in the Panathenaic amphorae, for religious reasons. The site was excavated in 1887–88, and yielded a large number of vases and fragments, together with Attic R.F. and plain black glazed wares. Of the local fabrics the majority are of a Dionysiac character, or have reference, more or less direct, to the cult of the Kabeiri; many bear dedicatory inscriptions to the presiding deities, such as τῷ Καβίρῳ or τῷ παιδὶ καὶ τῷ Καβίρῳ, etc.
The material is a reddish-yellow clay of good quality, on which the designs are painted in a pigment varying from yellow-brown to the deep lustrous black of the best Attic vases. Occasionally details in white or purple are added; incised lines are used only for inner markings as a rule. The shapes are confined almost entirely to one, a large deep bowl with two small ring-handles, to which are attached projections for the support of the fingers; it comes nearest to the _pella_ described by Athenaeus (see p. 186). The decorative motives are simple—vine-wreaths, ivy-wreaths, myrtle and olive, and the wave-pattern; sometimes the reverse is only ornamented with a pattern of this kind.[1244]
[Illustration:
FIG. 98. VASE FROM TEMPLE OF KABEIRI: PARODY OF ACHILLES AND CHEIRON (BRIT. MUS. B 77). ]
The subjects are interesting from the fact that they are an early instance (in vase-paintings) of intentional caricatures or grotesques; this is shown not only in the manner of treating the themes selected, but in the rude character of the drawing. Among those drawn from myth and legend may be mentioned Odysseus with Kirke (two instances) and traversing the sea on a raft; Peleus bringing the young Achilles to Cheiron (Fig. 98); Kephalos hunting a fox; and Bellerophon slaying the Chimaera. A favourite subject is that of Pigmies in combat with cranes. But the most interesting is one which represents the deity Kabeiros (answering to Dionysos) with his son (Pais, _i.e._ Iacchos) at a banquet, accompanied by three symbolical figures—Mitos, Pratolaos, and Krateia. Another fragment shows a train of worshippers approaching the Kabeiros, in the manner of the Asklepios reliefs.[1245]
The transitional stage from black to red figures is illustrated by more than one class of vases. Those in which the two methods are united on one vase have been discussed elsewhere, in considering the characteristics of the artists who used both. But there is another class corresponding to neither method, and yet partaking of the character of both, in which the figures are painted in opaque red or white pigment laid directly on the surface of the vase, which is covered throughout with black varnish (Plate XXXV.). Inasmuch as the method of painting in colours is more suggestive of the B.F. vases, they are classed therewith in some collections, as in the British and Athens Museums; but since their appearance and style link them more closely with the R.F. period, they are found in others, as at Berlin, ranged with the latter class. In any case they form a distinct group, in which the earlier examples correspond more with the B.F., the later with the R.F., vases. They are undoubtedly of Athenian origin, but to what extent they affected the change from black to red figures is doubtful.
The practice of laying colours on the black varnish is, of course, one that was quite familiar to B.F. artists; the analogous procedure in the R.F. period was the laying of black pigment on the red glaze, as was necessarily done for details such as devices on shields. The transition was therefore easy in the case of a vase covered with black varnish, to painting the figures only in the opaque colours upon it, thereby enlarging the scope of the process. The incised lines in which the figure was necessarily sketched out before painting (and which frequently occur in this class) led the way to the process by which the R.F. artist engraved his design on the red clay _before_ covering the rest of the vase with varnish. In the case of female figures it is obvious that this method was already practised, especially in scenes in which they appeared entirely nude, and the whole figure was painted white over the black silhouette, the black becoming the real accessory where it was required for the hair, etc.[1246]
Dr. Six, who has studied this class, gives a list of about seventy examples,[1247] including one signed by Nikosthenes (Plate XXXV., fig. 2 = F 114 in the Louvre) which has a figure of a woman painted in white each side, the style, be it noted, being purely black-figured. In later specimens the object seems to have been to imitate the appearance of the R.F. vases, and to paint the figures in a similar but opaque red colour instead of white.[1248] Other examples again have figures only incised on the black, without any addition of colour.[1249] In some of the earlier ones the use of black as an accessory[1250] shows that the painter, so to speak, “thought” in the B.F. style, but used white for black and _vice versa_.
Most of the earlier examples have been found in Greece or Magna Graecia; they are usually of the lekythos form, which is always rare in Etruria. The later group chiefly consists of small bowls (_phialae_) of very negligent style, but some are of the typical R.F. forms, such as the “Nolan” amphora and the stamnos. A considerable number of fragments were found on the Acropolis of Athens, showing that even these late imitative specimens, in spite of their rude, careless execution, cannot be placed later than 480 B.C.
One of the most interesting examples is a fragment found on the Acropolis of Athens,[1251] with an owl within an olive-wreath; it had been dedicated to Athena by a potter whose name is now lost. There is also a good series in the British Museum (B 681–700), including a lekythos with Odysseus carried under the ram, painted in polychrome.
* * * * *
Before embarking upon the history of the red-figured vases it may be well to endeavour to see what light the vase-paintings up to this point throw on the literary traditions preserved for us, chiefly by Pliny, in regard to early painting. There is, perhaps, no subject which that writer has treated with greater vagueness; and we are forced to the conclusion that he really knew nothing about it, and did not comprehend the meaning of the earlier writers from whom he borrowed.[1252] Still, it may fairly be supposed that the names he mentions are those of real persons, even if his account of their achievements is vague or imaginary. There are also a few stray items of information given by Aristotle, Aelian, Strabo, and Athenagoras.
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PLATE XXXV
[Illustration:
VASES WITH OPAQUE DESIGNS ON BLACK GROUND. 1. BRIT. MUS.; 2. BY NIKOSTHENES, IN LOUVRE. ]
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Pliny[1253] begins by attributing to Corinth or Sikyon the discovery of the possibility of producing figures by outlining shadows, as in the story of Butades (p. 110). The next stage, he says, was to fill in the outlines with single colours, or monochrome. He next states that Philokles, an Egyptian,[1254] and Kleanthes of Corinth “invented linear painting,” and that they were followed by Aridikes of Corinth and Telephanes of Sikyon, who, still without using any colours, introduced inner markings and details,[1255] and inscribed names over their figures. Ekphantos of Corinth introduced the use of a red wash, employing a pigment made from pounded pottery (_testa trita_),[1256] which may represent the purple so lavishly employed on Corinthian vases. A later development was that of monochrome painting—_i.e._ the use of a single flat body-colour—introduced by Hygiainon, Deinias, and Charmadas.
Aristotle, on the other hand, speaks of Eucheiros of Corinth as the “inventor of painting.” The name reminds us of the tradition of Demaratos, who took with him from Corinth to Etruria a craftsman of that name. It is also interesting to note that the name is borne by an Athenian kylix-painter (see above, p. 384), the son of Ergotimos, who made the François vase. Possibly he may have been the grandson of the Corinthian artist.
Strabo (viii. 343) and Athenaeus (viii. 346 C) mention a picture by Kleanthes (see above) which represented the Birth of Athena,[1257] and can hardly have been later than the seventh century—a period to which such evidence as we have would allot the series of artists already named.
It must be borne in mind that the names of these early artists are those of draughtsmen, not of painters. Even in the time of Polygnotos drawing was the chief aim of all artists—as the red-figured vases amply testify—and painting, as we regard the art, only came into existence after the middle of the fifth century. The development from _liniarem_, or “outline-drawing,” to monochrome at first sight presents a difficulty, as it seems to be opposed to the evolution of vase-painting, which is from silhouette (as in the Dipylon ware) to outlines (as in the Ionic vases). But even if it is not always intelligible, we can still observe a distinct continuity in Pliny’s account.[1258]
After Ekphantos had introduced the filling-in of outlines with red washes, and Hygiainon and his _confrères_ had continued painting with a single colour,[1259] a step further was made by Eumaros of Athens, who distinguished the sexes and “introduced all kinds of new subjects.” Here we may clearly discern the introduction of white in the later Corinthian and early Attic wares for female figures, and the growth of mythological and genre subjects on the vases of the time.[1260] His innovations of technique and subject may therefore be fairly regarded as coincident with the great advance in vase-painting made at Athens under Peisistratos and reacting upon Corinth. It is interesting to note that the name of Eumaros occurs on a marble base found on the Acropolis at Athens; and if this can be the painter, his date would be fixed about 590–570 B.C.[1261]
In any case one thing is certain—that painting had not yet developed into anything like a high art. It was still purely decorative, and the few early paintings of which we hear, such as those of Bularchos (p. 361) and Kleanthes, were not beyond the level of the Clazomenae sarcophagi or the François vase in merit. We probably gain the best idea of painting which was not merely decorative from the Corinthian pinakes (p. 316) and the Acropolis warrior-tablet,[1262] especially as they are painted on the white slip or λεύκωμα, which we know to have been favoured by early Greek painters.[1263]
The relation of Pliny’s next artist, Kimon of Kleonae, and of his improvements to the work of the vase-painters, has been much discussed by writers on the red-figured vases; and they have not been by any means unanimous in their conclusions, either as to the nature of his “inventions” or as to the time at which their influence made itself felt. They are described by Pliny in the following words: “Cimon of Cleonae improved upon the inventions of Eumarus. He invented _catagrapha_—that is, oblique images—and varied positions of the features, looking back or up or down. He distinguished limbs from joints, emphasised the veins, and further reproduced folds and hollows in the drapery.”[1264]
The _crux_ of this passage is of course the word _catagrapha_, with Pliny’s Latin equivalent, _obliquas imagines_. At first sight it would seem that the Latin rendering of the word connected it with the rendering of the face in a new way, _i.e._ in three-quarter aspect instead of the old profile of the silhouettes. But this was not introduced into vase-painting until quite a late period[1265]; it is found, for instance, on the Meidias vase about 440 B.C., and is certainly not earlier than the time of Euphronios, whereas Kimon appears to have lived about 540–490 B.C.[1266] Moreover, there seems to be some antithesis between the _imagines_ and _voltus_—i.e. _varios formare voltus_ is not an explanation of the _imagines_—and, on the whole, it seems more natural to take the first word as a general term for figures. _Obliquas imagines_, then, would obviously imply some kind of perspective, which, when applied to the human figure, indicates foreshortening.
Now, this advance in drawing is first found in the earlier work of Euphronios, _i.e._ about 500–490 B.C., though traces of it are to be seen in the later work of the Epictetan cycle. It will be noted in the next chapter that Epiktetos and his contemporaries are still in the trammels of the old method. Many of these vases even exhibit traces of a _decadent_ style, with rough and carelessly drawn figures. As Hartwig has well pointed out, the real division of _style_ comes, not before Epiktetos, but between him and Euphronios. The Epictetan cycle is transitional, and a time of preparation, firstly in the change of technique, secondly in the evolution of cup-decoration, thirdly in the discovery of new motives and extending the scope of subjects. The new birth is seen in the form of increased naturalism, and is parallel to the development of sculpture under Pythagoras and Myron, who, like Kimon, “gave prominence to sinews and veins.” We may therefore sum up with Studniczka and Hartwig by saying that the reforms of Kimon, which first manifest themselves in Euphronios and his contemporaries about 500 B.C., imply a new theoretical knowledge of linear perspective, which in practice displays itself in a correct rendering of foreshortening.[1267] In minor details the same advance is at this time apparent, in the treatment of the eye, which now begins to be rendered with some approach to truth, and in the accurate and detailed rendering of muscles and anatomy, and of folds of drapery. These are precisely the points in which Pliny regards Kimon as having so greatly advanced his art, which, as Aelian tells us, he “helped out of leading-strings.”[1268]
The first painter in polychrome was Panaenos, who also introduced portraiture, but must still be regarded as a draughtsman only; and, finally, Polygnotos, by such innovations as giving expression to faces, and rendering transparent draperies, gave the first real advance to the art. So far Pliny on the beginnings of Greek painting; but its further developments, and more particularly the relation of Polygnotos to the fifth-century vase-paintings, must be more fully dealt with in a succeeding section.
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Footnote 1192:
_E.g._ B 130 in B.M.
Footnote 1193:
B.M. B 426.
Footnote 1194:
_E.g._ B 193–205 in B.M.
Footnote 1195:
_Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 76, fig. 139.
Footnote 1196:
As the Birth of Athena, _B.M. Vases_, ii. p. 11, and Fig. 113 ( Chapter XII .).
Footnote 1197:
Herakles and the Nemean Lion, _ibid._ p. 13; Fig. 125 ( Chapter XIV .) and Plate XXXII.
Footnote 1198:
Herakles and the Erymanthian Boar: see Fig. 126 ( Chapter XIV .).
Footnote 1199:
See also on this subject