- published: 07 Apr 2014
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Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. It developed in Athens around 530 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century BC. It replaced the previously dominant style of Black-figure vase painting within a few decades. Its modern name is based on the figural depictions in red colour 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 Southern Italy. The style was also adopted in other parts of Greece. Etruria became an important centre of production outside the Greek World.
Attic red-figure vases were exported throughout Greece and beyond. For a long time, they dominated the market for fine ceramics. Only few centres of pottery production could compete with Athens in terms of innovativeness, 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 centre, Southern Italy, more than 20,000 vases and fragments are preserved. Starting with the studies by John D. 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 mythology.
The Meidias Painter was an Athenian red-figure vase painter in Ancient Greece, active in the last quarter of the fifth century BCE (fl. c. 420 to c. 400). He is named after the potter whose signature is found on a large hydria of the Meidias Painter’s decoration (BM E 224), excavated from an Etruscan tomb. Eduard Gerhard first identified this inscription in 1839, and it was he who determined the scene on the vase was the rape of the daughters of Leukippos where previously it was thought to be the race of Hippomenes and Atalanta. The Meidias Painter’s work bears a close similarity to his older contemporaries the Kodros Painter, the Eretria Painter and Aison; these last two have both been suggested for his teacher. Indeed it has also been suggested that works ascribed to the Meidias Painter are in fact late works by Aison.John Beazley attributed 22 vases and fragments to the Meidias Painter with a further 2 possible ascriptions, certain attribution is complicated by the large number of followers the ornate style of the Meidias Painter engendered. His school includes 9 individually identifiable artists or groups; the total number of distinct vases Beazley gives to the Meidias Painter and his circle is 192. The latest catalogue raisonné list 36 vases by the Meidias Painter, 34 by named followers and 167 under the "manner of the Meidias Painter".
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Red-Figure Pottery in Ancient Greece
LaunchPad: Ancient Greek Vase Production and the Black-Figure Technique
RED-FIGURE POTTERY
Making Greek Vases
Meidias Painter Attic red-figure
Gerontaras Art Ceramic -Red figure pottery- museum replicas
Red Figure Vase Painting
Red figure pottery- (The Sarpedon krater or Euphronios krater )
0160 Red figure pottery of athletes in running footrace (replica)
0158 Red figure pottery of athletes in running footrace (museum photo)
0126 Victorious athlete & attendant on red figure pottery (replica)