Berlin Painter

Dionysos holding a kantharos (drinking cup). Side A from an Attic red-figure amphora, ca. 490-480 BCE. Found in Vulci, Italy.

The Berlin Painter (active c. 490s-c. 460s BCE) is the conventional name given to an Attic Greek vase-painter who is widely regarded as a rival to the Kleophrades Painter among the most talented vase painters of the early 5th century BCE (see Pottery of Ancient Greece).The Berlin Painter along with the Kleophrades Painter were educated by a member of the [[Pioneer Group], who introduced red-figure painting. The Berlin Painter was named by Sir John Beazley for a large lidded amphora in the Antikensammlung Berlin (the Berlin Painter's namepiece).^[1] There are no painter signatures on any of the Berlin Painter's attributed works. The Berlin Painter began working in the Late Archaic style and helped develop the Classic style of Attic red-figure pottery. He produced a series of Panathenaic amphora, which are his only black- figure vases. The Panathenaic amphora featured a depiction of the event for which it was the prize, and on the opposite side Athena. The Athena on his Panathenaic amphora was always depicted with a gogenion, on her shield.Although it appears that the panathenaic shape is his favorite, the Berlin Painter utilized a variety of different shapes. He painted a number of Nolan Amphora, and was responsible for its popularity. ^[2] His painted figures are usually isolated or paired without framing devices against a glossy black ground, so integral to the forms of their superbly-made bodies that the wares are thought also to have been produced in his shop. The tall figures often start near the middle of the vase and continue over the shoulder, stopping at the neck. He pays close attention to the drapery of their clothing, and their facial features. Most notable is the eye, which is typically open,long, and with the pupil towards the inner eye. He is also known for his careful stopt key patterns,which border the bottom of his single figures, and are unique to the Berlin painter and his students. Over a long career he trained many younger vase-painters, including, probably, the Achilles Painter. The pattern features alternating meander boxes with alternating saltire squares. The Berlin Painter used dilute glaze to add red tones onto his vases. This is clear on the fawn's coat in his namepiece.Fawns, and Greek animals are popular themes in his work, which varied from mythological themes to athletes. His two most popular characters from mythology are Athena and Apollo. From the surviving vases, it is safe to assume that he was a major painter, there are over 400 vases and fragments attributed to him. The majority of his works were found across Italy. This may suggest that his works were created for export to the Italian market. Many of his valued works were preserved as elite grave goods in the necropoli of Magna Graecia, notably at Vulci, Nola and Locri.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Berlin Painter

• Artcyclopedia - Berlin Painter
• The Berlin Painter: Archaeology of the Corpus Present and former whereabouts of the vases attributed to the Berlin Painter.
• Perseus Project: "Thirty-three Vases whose Painter is 'Berlin Painter'"
• Antikenmuseum, Basel: Lidded Amphora
• Altes Museum, Berlin: Amphora attributed to the Berlin Painter
• Martin Robertson. The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 9780521338813 (ISBN 0521338816).
• Andrew J. Clark, Maya Elston, and Mary Louise Hart. Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques. Getty Museum Publications, 2002.
• Donna Carol Kurtz (editor). The Berlin Painter: Drawings by Sir John Beazley. Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology, 1983.