Chapter XIII
.).
(4) _The Cult of the Tomb_, this being by far the most common of the four classes (see Plate LV. and Fig. 19, p. 143).
The _Prothesis_ type is an old one, occurring not infrequently on black-figured vases, especially on the slim “prothesis-amphorae” which are sometimes found at Athens. M. Pottier reckons ten examples, to which may be added a fine specimen now in the British Museum (Plate LV., fig. 1). The _Depositio_ type is somewhat rare; it is occasionally found in B.F. vases,[1432] but is usually idealised, the body being carried by winged genii, to whom the names of Thanatos and Hypnos are usually given. The type, as has been pointed out elsewhere, is originally mythological, being derived from that of the burial of Memnon. Some half-dozen examples are known (see Chapters XIII., XV.). Of the Charon vases M. Pottier reckons twenty-one, which he classifies under three heads: (1) Charon on the left in a boat, which two or three persons enter. (2) Charon on the right in a boat; persons ready to enter. (3) The deceased is seated on a stele at which women make offerings; Charon approaches in his boat.[1433] The conception is essentially a pictorial one, and it may reasonably be inferred that it is a reflection of Polygnotos. The same subdued pathos and the same style of composition are characteristic of his paintings. Pausanias, in describing his _Nekyia_ in the Lesche at Delphi, says: “There is water, which seems intended for a river, evidently the Acheron, and reeds growing therein ... and there is a boat on the river, and the ferryman at the oar.”[1434]
In the vases representing the Cult of the Tomb (Plate LV. and Fig. 19), the normal type is that of two or three persons bringing offerings, wreaths, vases, etc., to a stele[1435] ornamented with coloured sashes, or engaged in conversation thereat; sometimes one sits on the steps of the stele. The persons with offerings are usually feminine; where men occur, they are either attired as warriors, or stand leaning on a spear or staff, conversing with the women. The correspondence of some of these compositions to the “type” of Orestes and Electra meeting at the tomb of Agamemnon has more than once been noticed, but it does not seem here to be a case of borrowing the heroic “type,” as in the Thanatos and Hypnos instance. Where such scenes can be identified on vases,[1436] they are all of late date and mostly of South Italian manufacture; and we may rather suppose that the contrary was the case, and that the lekythos “type” was idealised and borrowed for the Orestes scene. Moreover, the popularity of the latter subject is probably largely due to its treatment by the tragic poets.
Among other details of interest in these scenes may be noted the appearance of the εἴδωλα or ghosts of the deceased, represented as tiny hovering winged creatures. M. Pottier has noted eighteen instances, and the number has since then been greatly increased.[1437] The invariable youthfulness of the figures—which, it may be remarked, are always purely impersonal; and mere _types_ of mourners—is noteworthy as a characteristic of later fifth-century art, which tended to create ideals of youth and beauty.[1438] This, of course, is everywhere apparent in sculpture, as in the Parthenon frieze and the works of Polykleitos; and reminiscences of Pheidian youthful types may be suggested by some of the figures on the lekythi.[1439] In the figures of deities the same change was going on, as in the case of Hermes, and even the aged and grim figure of Charon is toned down on the funeral vases to a more humane conception. It has also been suggested that the choice of youthful figures is due to the thought that youth is the period when bereavement produces its simplest and most natural effects.
The influence of the sepulchral stelae of the fifth and fourth centuries soon begins to be apparent in the lekythi, especially in the scenes of tomb-offerings.[1440] Like the vases, the stelae always varied in merit, some being refined and artistic compositions, others poor and commonplace. The choice of subjects, indeed, differs in some degree, the subjects on the stelae relating chiefly to the previous life of the deceased, those of the vases to the actual death and burial. But there are many lekythi, the subjects on which are more like those of the stelae, not being strictly funerary.[1441] Thus we see the deceased as a warrior charging with a spear or on horseback, like the Dexileos of the Kerameikos; the young hunter pursuing a hare; the lady at her toilet with mirror or jewellery in hand, attended by her maidens, like the charming Hegeso (Plate XLIII.); or the warrior
## parting from his spouse.
Regarding the funeral lekythi in their artistic aspect, we note, as M. Pottier points out, two main characteristics—restraint and uniformity of composition. The space for the decoration being limited to about two-thirds of the whole circumference, the figures are necessarily few in number, varying from one to three, but very rarely more. Emotion and pathos are produced by the simplest means. Murray instances the prothesis lekythos in the British Museum (Plate LV. fig. 1) as an example of deep pathos expressed in a simple, yet strong and rapid manner, and two others (D 70 = Plate LV. fig. 2, and D 71) as showing almost tragic emotion expressed only by a few outlines. Uniformity of composition is manifested in the repetition of types, often copied from familiar models, yet with an infinite variety of detail (as, for instance, in the form of the stelae) which does not affect the constancy of the main idea. In this respect they may be compared with the terracotta Tanagra figures, of which many are turned out from the same mould; yet by varying the pose of the head or position of the arms the artist was able to avoid the absolute identity of any two figures.
The lekythi can hardly be classified chronologically; we cannot say to what extent the rougher examples may be earlier, and _vice versa_; but even in the poorest examples skill and lightness of touch are always discernible. The classification given by M. Pottier,[1442] however, may serve as a general indication of chronological succession and development. He collects them under three heads, as follows:
(1) The paste is of a light red colour, the walls thin, and the white slip unpolished; the main design is first sketched, then painted, the outlines being usually in red. The ornaments are palmettes and maeander, in black and red, the subjects almost exclusively funerary. The slip and colours are delicate, the style fine, and the polychromy restrained.[1443]
(2) The paste is grey, the walls thicker; the white is sometimes polished, and the outlines black or brown. The ornaments are palmettes and maeander, with crosses or stars, in black only. The subjects are funerary or from daily life, with figures of deities; the style is still fine, but the polychromy is more varied.[1444]
(3) The clay is red and light, the white unpolished, the outlines yellow. The slip is not extended to the shoulder, on which is a tongue-pattern in black; the maeander is careless. The subjects are either funerary or from daily life, the style negligent; the designs are almost entirely monochrome.[1445]
§ 2. THE DECADENCE OF GREEK VASE-PAINTING
We have now reached the point at which the centre of ceramic industry is no longer to be found at Athens, but must be sought in distant colonies in various parts of the Mediterranean. The extinction of vase-painting as a decorative art at Athens was brought about as much by political events as by sheer artistic decadence at the end of the fifth century. It had until recent years been customary to assume that red-figured vases continued to be made at Athens through the greater part of the fourth century; but the evidence of excavations on many sites has been too decisive for the maintenance of such a view. That certain classes of ceramic products, such as the Panathenaic amphorae and the funeral lekythi, still continued to be made we have already seen; but these are only exceptions, and due entirely to their religious associations.
The evidence for the revised chronology has been summarised by Milchhoefer in a paper already referred to,[1446] in which he pointed out the importance of historical considerations. Even during the Peloponnesian War the manufacture and export of painted vases must have been much crippled, and the absence of the later Athenian wares from the tombs of Etruria clearly shows that commercial relations between the two countries had ceased.[1447] Similarly intercourse with Campania largely ceased after the Samnite invasion of 440 B.C., and relations with Sicily must have been entirely broken off after the outbreak of hostilities with Syracuse in 427.
Again, in the city of Rhodes, which was founded in B.C. 408, no Attic vases have been found, while all those from Kameiros must be earlier than that date.[1448] In Athens itself no R.F. vases of any importance have been found in fourth-century tombs, although some fragments of fine style are reported from the tomb of Dexileos, which is not earlier in date than 394 B.C.[1449] Hence the conclusion is irresistible that no good Attic R.F. vases can be assigned to the fourth century, which is only represented at Athens by the funeral lekythi, the Panathenaic amphorae, and a few isolated, generally inferior, R.F. specimens.
The new centres of vase-painting, from about 400 B.C. onwards, are three in number—the Crimea, the Cyrenaica in North Africa, and Southern Italy. Among the vases from the Crimea[1450] are some of the most magnificent that we possess, which in spite of their florid style and careless technique are really of considerable merit. They can, however, hardly be considered to rank more highly than the best of the products of Southern Italy, which we are now about to consider; in other words, they belong to a later stage of development than the “late fine” style of Attic R.F. vases, as represented by the Rhodian “pelike” with Peleus and Thetis in the British Museum, and the Gigantomachia vase from Melos in the Louvre. The fine krater with the contest of Athena and Poseidon at Petersburg (Plate L.) is clearly a reminiscence of the Parthenon pediment, and, allowing for the difference of style, cannot be earlier than the closing years of the fifth century. Again, there is the vase signed by Xenophantos,[1451] who, as we have seen, expressly calls himself an Athenian, and on this ground has been regarded as a resident in Panticapaeum (Kertch). The reliefs with which this vase is partly decorated are examples of a tendency which hardly came into existence before the fourth century; the subject also is more suggestive of local taste.
It may be an open question whether these vases were imported from Athens, but at least the vase of Xenophantos testifies to the existence of a local fabric at Panticapaeum, and it is not at all unlikely that the general upheaval brought about by the Peloponnesian War led to a dispersion of Athenian artists, and thus to the continuance of their art in other lands, but not in Athens itself. We shall see that this largely accounts for the origin of the fabrics of Southern Italy. In any case Panticapaeum was a place of considerable importance in the fourth century, being the chief place whence the Athenians obtained their supplies of grain, as we learn from the orations of Demosthenes, such as the _Contra Phormionem_.
With the Cyrenaica circumstances were no doubt little different. But the vases from this site, though similar to those of the Crimea, are mostly inferior, of small size, and often of very rough character. Like the former they exhibit a preference for polychromy and gilding. Similar fabrics are also found in the Greek islands, such as Karpathos and Telos, in the Troad, and elsewhere,[1452] but for the most part of a very inferior character.
In the tombs of Southern Italy many vases are found representing the same stage of development as those of the Crimea and Cyrenaica, varying from large kraters with fine if florid designs, often enhanced by a lavish use of white pigment, to inferior and almost worthless specimens. Inasmuch as these vases are not distinguished by any stylising tendencies such as enable us to classify the other fabrics of Southern Italy and assign them to particular districts, and on the other hand bear the same relation to the later R.F. vases of Athens as do those of the Eastern Mediterranean, it is evident either that all these fabrics were imported from Athens or that Athenian artists had been driven to settle in these respective regions. And since it is exceedingly unlikely that the exportation of pottery from Athens can have gone on to any extent in the fourth century, it seems, on the whole, most probable that the latter is the true version.
We may, then, establish a class of vases intermediate between the R.F. fabrics proper and the local Italian fabrics, which represents the manner in which Athenian artists carried on their traditions under new circumstances, and serves to explain how the new Italian schools came into being.[1453]
These vases are often characterised by a refinement of drawing and simplicity of conception which recall the earlier R.F. period, and in such cases accessory colours, elaborate draperies, and the filling-in of the field with miscellaneous objects are studiously avoided. Even the decorative patterns show considerable restraint. It is probable that some of these belong to the latter part of the fifth century, even if they are not actually imported from Athens. But there are others of a distinctly florid kind, in which we may trace the influence of Meidias and his school. The compositions are crowded with figures, often placed at different levels (without indication of ground-lines), and there is a general tendency to elaborate decoration, both by means of white pigment and by richly embroidered draperies. As examples may be cited two fine kraters in the British Museum, one with a scene from the lesser Mysteries at Agra (F 68), another with Thetis and the Nereids bearing the arms of Achilles (F 69). The bell-shaped krater is by far the most favourite form, although practically a new one in Greek ceramics; contrary to the usual rule, the reverse often has a definite subject, in which accessories are used, although the tendency had begun some time before the end of the fifth century to neglect the decoration of the reverse in kraters and other large vases.
In its new home in Southern Italy this branch of Greek art had lighted on a very favourable soil. The great colonies such as Tarentum, Capua, Cumae, and Poseidonia, founded almost in the dawn of Greek history, were not only as completely Hellenic as Athens and Corinth, but in luxury and splendour even surpassed them at this period. Hence, art flourished in such towns far more readily than in the distant and comparatively barbarous regions of South Russia and North Africa. In the character of their productions we shall see the nature and condition of the inhabitants of Southern Italy reflected. The chief aim is splendour and general effect; and both the size and colouring of the vases indicate to some extent the luxury and magnificence in which the people lived.
It must not, however, be supposed that vase-painting was a new art introduced to this region by Athenians in the earlier part of the fourth century. In another chapter we shall speak of the early attempts at imitation of Greek vases on the part of the semi-barbarian natives of the peninsula, and reminiscences of these early attempts crop up from time to time under circumstances of greater development, as will be seen. Moreover, a constant stream of importations from Athens (small indeed as compared with that to Etruria, but still steady) had been finding its way to the Greek colonies of Southern Italy and Sicily; special fabrics were made for export to Nola, Gela, and other places; and thus the local artists had all along been undergoing an unconscious training which enabled them to take up the industry at the point where the Athenian artists left off.[1454]
The local fabrics of Southern Italy fall into three main classes, corresponding to the geographical divisions of Apulia, Lucania, and Campania, which three, with some modifications, include all that come under discussion in the present section. Before, however, entering upon the question of the criteria on which this classification is based, a few general considerations may be touched upon by way of preface.
The study of South Italy fabrics is to some extent a new one. At the beginning of the last century, when scarcely any vases had been found outside Italy, the majority of both public and private collections consisted of vases of this period. Of those now exhibited in the Fourth Vase Room of the British Museum, at least one-fifth are from the collections of Sir William Hamilton, Charles Towneley, and Richard Payne Knight; and in such publications as those of D'Hancarville, Tischbein, Inghirami, and Millin, a great majority of the plates are devoted to them. Hence their importance was much over-estimated; but, on the other hand, no attention was paid to questions of style or provenance, and they were only regarded as pretty pictures. Subsequently to the discoveries at Vulci, and the gradual growth of the scientific study of vase-painting, the later vases suffered greatly from neglect, as yielding less interest than the early fabrics and the products of the best Athenian artists, and even at the present day it is rare to find them made the subject of serious study. The only writer, in fact, who has attempted in recent years to apply to them the critical methods of modern archaeology is Signor G. Patroni of the Naples Museum, who has availed himself of the opportunities afforded by the extensive series under his care.[1455]
The vases from Southern Italy, which from their style may be regarded as undoubtedly local non-Attic fabrics, are all distinguished by certain common features. In all there is seen a perpetual striving after effect rather than beauty, manifested in the size and splendid appearance of the earlier Apulian products, in the largeness of style and bold drawing of Lucanian artists, especially the school of Paestum, and in the gaudy colouring of the Campanian vases. The later Apulian wares are chiefly remarkable for varied and exaggerated shapes.
Common to all vases alike is the fondness for ornamental patterns, such as the egg-pattern, wave-pattern, maeander, palmettes, and wreaths of laurel, myrtle, or ivy; though even these are guided by certain rules, much as on the black-figured vases. On the large bell-shaped kraters the decoration almost invariably consists of a laurel-wreath round the lip, maeander below the designs, and palmette patterns under the handles; and every shape of vase has its characteristic decoration. The Campanian vases show the least tendency to formal ornament, and the Lucanian run to the opposite extreme. The column-handled kraters are almost alone in retaining the archaic scheme of decoration in panels with borders of ornament, to which they adhere throughout the R.F. period; but the panels are occasionally employed for hydriae or oinochoae. In most cases, however, the luxuriant palmette patterns under the handles form an adequate frame for the design with the maeander band below. A female head frequently occurs as a decorative motive, especially in the Apulian vases; either forming the main decoration, or placed under the handles, or adorning the neck, encircled with foliage. So too the figure of Eros is employed on the later Apulian vases purely as a decorative motive.
The shapes of the vases present a very great variety, as compared with the Athenian fabrics.[1456] The bell-shaped krater enjoyed a short vogue, and is only found in the earlier examples; but besides the column-handled type already mentioned, the calyx-krater (_vaso a calice_) and the volute-handled (_a rotelle_) form occur from time to time. Among the early Apulian vases a variety of the latter, with medallions (_mascherone_) in place of the volutes, frequently occurs; these are often of gigantic size, decorated with several rows of figures, and nearly all the finest existing specimens are of this form. It is also the usual type for the sepulchral vases (see below). The medallions are ornamented with Gorgons’ masks and other devices, coloured on a white slip. A peculiar local variety of the krater, with four handles, is found in Lucania only (see p. 172).
Other vases for holding liquids are the situla, lebes, amphora, and hydria, forms which are more or less familiar. The amphora is slender, with more or less elliptical body; in Campania it is small and squat-shouldered, the body almost cylindrical, but in Apulia it is usually very tall and elegant (cf. Plate XLV.). An occasional variant has a cylindrical flat-topped body, with elaborate handles in the form of scrolls; the so-called _pelike_ is a more common type, but somewhat inelegant. The hydria is usually a degenerate version of the R.F. _kalpis_, but at Paestum the Attic type still obtains. A new form is that known as the _lekane_, a jar for holding sweetmeats; it has vertical handles and a cover of elaborate form, often surmounted by a small vase. Of similar type is the so-called _lepaste_, a circular covered dish on a high stem.
Among the smaller vases may be mentioned the oinochoë, of which there are one or two varieties, notably the graceful _prochoos_, with its high handle and foot, and the equally ungraceful _epichysis_, with its long beak-like mouth and pyxis-shaped body; both of these are confined to Apulia. The lekythos retains the bulbous body and low foot of the later R.F. period; the askos in various forms is fairly common. Two new varieties are a sort of alabastron without a handle but with flat base, and a jar with a handle over the mouth. Of drinking-cups the kantharos and rhyton are popular among the later Apulian wares; the kotyle is rare, and the kylix has almost entirely disappeared, its place being taken by a gigantic circular dish, elaborately decorated inside and out. These are obviously designed with a view to general effect, and seem to have been intended for hanging up against a wall.
In regard to the technique the general method is that of the later R.F. vases; but in the majority all idea of simplicity and refinement is lost, and the tendency to exaggeration and showiness is manifested both in drawing and colouring. Throughout there is a fondness for large masses of white, and this pigment is used not only for the flesh of women and of Eros, but for architectural details and other objects, such as temples, shrines, and lavers. Yellow is largely employed for details, especially for features or hair, and for picking out the ornamental patterns; purple, too, is not uncommon. Attempts at shading are occasionally found.[1457] Accessory colours are, however, seldom found on the reverses of the vases, which are always drawn and painted with the greatest carelessness.
The drawing is entirely free, and in fact errs on the other side, becoming careless and faulty; the forms are soft, and the male figures often effeminate. An extreme facility of hand has indeed proved the ruin of the vase-painter. The love of the far-fetched betrays itself in variety of posture and elaborate foreshortening; and in the richly embroidered draperies and studied settings of some scenes the influence of the theatre is obviously to be traced. Frequent attempts are made at perspective, especially in buildings of which the insides are shown, but the attempts are seldom successful. As a rule the artist is content to indicate figures in the background by placing them on a higher level, or only showing the upper half of the figure. On many vases with mythological subjects, especially those of Apulia, a row of deities is thus represented, as if seated on the θεολογεῖον of the stage. Landscape is represented by rocks, stones, and flowers scattered about, trees and buildings; but in most cases the painter prefers the old system of merely giving a clue to the scene, representing the palaestra by jumping-weights or oil-flasks suspended, women’s apartments by sashes, toilet-boxes, or small windows, and so on.
The pictorial effect of the scenes on many vases naturally gives rise to the question to what extent the artists were indebted to the great painters of the fifth and fourth centuries. In some cases the paintings seem to be more naturally adapted for large canvases than for the limited surface of a vase; but more than this, in others the subjects actually lead our thoughts directly back to the works of great masters of which we have record. The influence of Polygnotos and his school has indeed died out, but the emotional tendencies of the fourth-century painters and their fondness for new and difficult subjects found a ready echo in the conceptions of the Apulian vase-painters. It may suffice to quote a few instances from the British Museum collection. Thus on one vase (F 479) we find a representation of the infant Herakles strangling the snakes, a theme selected by the great Zeuxis, and also to be seen in one of the paintings from the house of the Vettii at Pompeii. Or, again, the famous sacrifice of Iphigeneia and the death of Hippolytos, subjects which employed the brushes of Timanthes and Antiphilos respectively, are depicted in a truly pictorial manner on two kraters (F 160, F 279). In each case we are able to note a correspondence with the description of the pictures given by Pliny; in the last-named, also, with a picture described by Philostratos. Were more known of ancient pictures, it is possible that other examples would be readily found; but that some such influence was exerted can hardly be questioned.
Again, in the later vases with opaque designs on black grounds (see p. 488), most of which are merely decorated with wreaths, festoons, or masks, we are at once reminded of the Pompeian wall-paintings, or rather of their predecessors in the Hellenistic Age, since the vases must be earlier than most of the pictures of Pompeii. There is a vase of late date in the British Museum (F 542) which, with its elaborate treatment of light and shade effects and its border of arabesques, not only in its subject (a young shepherd and his dog), but also in method, suggests a close connection with the Pompeian frescoes.[1458]
Another influence at work on the vases of the period besides that of the great painters was that of the stage, in which both tragedy and comedy play their part. The influence of tragedy as represented on the Greek stage is seen not only in the choice of subjects, but in the composition of the scenes and the costumes of the figures. This is especially the case with the large Apulian vases with mythological subjects. The architectural arrangements, with a temple, altar, or statue in the centre, the embroidered draperies and gorgeous tiaras worn by the principal personages, and the abundance of dramatic or even passionate action, can only be due to the influence of the stage. But it is only to Euripides that we can ascribe this influence. There appears to have been a great revival of his plays towards the end of the fourth century, especially in Magna Graecia, and the extent of the effect of this revival on the vase-paintings has been discussed by several writers. The tendency of the age to passion and pathos, seen in the Pergamene sculptures and other great works of art, as well as in the paintings of a Parrhasios or a Timanthes, would naturally find an echo in the subjects treated of by Euripides. Of the existing dramas, we find scenes drawn more or less directly from the _Hecuba_, the _Hercules Furens_, the _Hippolytos_, the two _Iphigeneias_, the _Medeia_, and the _Phoenissae_. Many others can be traced to the lost dramas, as for instance (to quote only from examples in the British Museum) the _Alkmena_, the _Oineus_, the _Antigone_, the _Andromeda_, the _Oinomaos_, and the _Lykourgos_.[1459]
It has been observed that on many vases of this period on which mythological subjects are represented, although the theme is essentially tragic, yet the treatment has a somewhat grotesque, not to say burlesque effect. A notable instance is the well-known vase of Assteas in Madrid, with Herakles destroying his children (Fig. 107). This quasi-comic element, which appears to be quite unintentional, is often accompanied by considerable largeness of scale, exemplified in the size of the figures, the expression of the features, and the drawing generally. It may be that a certain element of exaggeration attended the revival of tragedy in Southern Italy,[1460] caused by unsuccessful attempts to retain the lofty manner and large style of the old productions. Hence too, perhaps, the fondness for burlesques of tragedies among the comic writers of the period, reflected in another class of vases.
In the vases with comic subjects it is not necessary to have recourse to the Attic Comedy, New, Middle, or Old, to account for their introduction; an explanation lies nearer at hand. It is true that the costumes worn by the actors are closely related to those of the Old Comedy,[1461] and that one or two subjects may possibly be traced to the _Frogs_ of Aristophanes (see