Red Figure Painting

Read pages 36-38 in White text

2. What are the most significant
differences between red and black
figure painting?
3. What was the chief innovation?
How was it used?
4. What other innovations were there?
5. What was most likely the inspiration
for red figure painting?
 The Andokides Painter
Read page 38 in white text
2. Why do experts think Andokides
invented red figure? How did he
‘experiment’?
3. What evidence is there that he was
pupil of Exekias?
4. What innovations are evident in his
vases?
 The Andokides Painter
• Worked c.530-515 BC
• First known practitioner of the Red-
Figure technique, though his early
works are Black-Figure
• Named after the four vases he
decorated which were signed by
Andokides
• Andokides must have been a pupil of
Exekias – similar style and similar
scenes on their vases
– same degree of skill and delicacy
– both use Ajax and Achilles scene
– same extravagant ornamented drapery
– same level of detail on faces
– both use layered black slip to simulate
depth and texture on, eg, human hair
• At least 14 amphorae and cups have been
attributed to him
• He is most famous for “Bi-lingual” vases –
black fig on one side and red fig on other
(often same scene)
• Andokides tried to break away from the
limitations of the technique of incising
through black to create lines – obviously
enjoyed freedom of using a brush
• Added lots of purple to accentuate
designs, and also used it as a wash to
change the base colour of the vase
• Nevertheless, his figures are still rigid in
pose and lack movement – shows his
background in Black-Figure painting
 The Pioneers
“The Pioneers” were a group of early
Red-Figure decorators, clearly marked
out from their predecessors.
Their earliest work comes only about a
decade after the invention of the Red-
Figure technique. The Pioneers seized
upon the early elements of the new
technique and refined it in detail and
composition, to achieve a supreme
quality of mood and narrative.
They painted cups and plates, but
preferred big vases – all varieties of
 The Pioneers’ Innovations
They experimented with several new
ways of decorating their vases.
There was a greater attempt to show
emotional realism in their
decorations.
- Pain, anguish and despair were now more
clearly visible.
- Muscles are more realistic – they are
clearly shown, they are rounded, and they
bulge realistically with the stress and
strain of the action
- New ways of depicting figures –
foreshortening, torsion
Euphronios
Calyx Krater
510-500 B.C

White text: p.39-41

Black text: p.39-41
• Shape: Calyx
Krater
• Function: mixing
wine and water
• Painter:
Euphronios
• Potter: unknown
• Technique: Red
figure
• Date: 510-500
B.C
Dimensions
Diameter of neck: 55cm

Height: 46cm
 Inscriptions
• Euphronios signed his own name as
painter
• All figures are also named. Names
are added in purple glaze
 Decoration Overview
• Red-Figure
technique
• Top band motif;
palmette band
• Lower band motif;
in line with the
handles - mirrored
lotus and
palmettes
• Motifs on foot;
stylised rays
• Centre band;
 Side A
Herakles wrestles Antaios
The Myth
• Herakles was the son of the god
Zeus and Alcmene of Thebes.
Zeus took the form of
Amphitryon, her husband.
Hermes held back the sun-god so
Zeus spent the length of three
normal nights with her.
Amphitryon tried to burn Alcmene
to death for her sin, but Zeus sent
a storm to put out the fire. He
told Amphitryon to care for his
son and ensure that he received a
good education in warfare,
archery and similar essential
training.
• Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus,
was determined to kill her
unfaithful husband’s offspring,
and shortly after Herakles’ birth
she sent two great serpents to
destroy him. Herakles, although
still a baby, strangled the snakes.
• As a young man Herakles killed a
lion with his bare hands. As a
trophy of his adventure, he wore
the skin of the lion as a cloak and
Hera, still relentless in her
hatred of Herakles, sent a
fit of madness upon him
during which he killed his
wife and children. In
horror and remorse at his
deed Herakles would
have slain himself, but he
was told by the oracle at
Delphi that he should
purge himself by
becoming the servant of
his cousin Eurystheus,
King of Mycenae.
Eurystheus, urged on by
Hera, devised as a
penance the 12 difficult
The 11th of the 12 Labours involved gathering the apples from the golden
apple tree given by Mother Earth to Hera as a wedding gift.
Herakles asked Atlas to fetch the apples for him, and offered to hold up
the heavens for him. Atlas liked his freedom and suggested he would
deliver the apples himself. Herakles agreed, but asked Atlas to take back
the heavens while he adjusted his lionskin shoulder pad. Atlas did so, and
Herakles picked up the apples and left.
• On his way home, Herakles crossed Libya, where he met
Antaios, the giant. Antaios killed strangers by wrestling
them to death.
• He was the son of Mother Earth and grew stronger whenever
he touched his mother.
• The only way to kill him was to lift him off the ground and kill
him in mid-air.
• Herakles lifted him up and squeezed him to death.
 See p.40 in Black text for wider view

A female supporter of Two female

Herakles’ gear, Herakles watches the supporters of
including bow fight Antaios also watch
and arrow, and
the trademark
club and lionskin
cloak
Herakles
Painted in full profile. Down on his right knee, with the left outstretched behind,
Herakles is driving forward – a very strong position. He holds Antaios in a vice-
like grip around the neck. His whole body shows the strain of the fight: his calves,
his thighs and his torso are all tense. His face, however, shows no strain. He is
working hard, but in control.
Antaios
Shown in frontal view – Antaios is on his side. Antaios’ legs are useless:
Herakles’ grip on his neck means Antaios cannot turn to get a stronger position.
His right arm lies useless on the ground and he tries to loosen Herakles’ grip with
his left hand. His neck is twisted and he cannot see. His mouth is open and his
teeth are bared in a grimace of pain, and his bushy eyebrows show a frown.
 Herakles and Antaios
Euphronios is clearly Greeks saw themselves
trying to emphasise the as civilised, and
barbarian nature of Euphronios reflects this:
Herakles’ opponent: • Herakles’ supporter has
• His supporters do not her hair neatly wrapped in
wear hairnets. Instead a hairnet (sakkos)
they both have one hand
• Herakles’ hair is neatly
on their heads, as if they
curled (extra glaze has
are tearing at their own
been used to create
hair.
impression of texture)
• Antaios’ hair is
• His beard is neatly
unkempt and shaggy, as
clipped
is his beard. Euphronios contrasts
• Even his eyebrows are
wilder than Herakles’ –
the two wrestlers in
though perhaps this the way he depicts
exaggerates his frown of
pain them.
 The composition is framed above by a

Composition palmette band, and below by a lotus and

palmette band.
BALANCED
SYMMETRICAL

The two central On either

figures, locked side of the
together, W-shape,
frozen, mid- Exekias
fight, form an places
inverted-V vertical
figures to
maintain
symmetry.
These two
figures form the
outer, vertical
lines in the W-
shape
Painting Technique
Red-Figure decoration:
- background painted with black slip
- figures left red
- detail then painted/syringed on in
dilute slip
 Darker slip colour
used to show detail

Red vase
colour left to
show through More dilute slip
colour used to
show finer muscle
detail

Background
painted with
black slip
This technique allows Euphronios
more flexibility and makes his painting
more realistic. His poses and the
detail shown in his musculature
suggest he spent time observing real
wrestlers.
 Innovations
This vase by Euphronios is the
first one to show an attempt at
showing 3 dimensions.
CRUCIAL POINT: IT IS THE FLEXIBILITY OF
THIS NEW TECHNIQUE WHICH ALLOWS
EUPHRONIOS TO MAKE THESE
INNOVATIONS.
DRAPERY
Euphronios uses dilute slip to show intricate
folds in the drapery of the figures he paints.
These folds suggest the light fabric of the
chitons, and bodies moving underneath. The
decoration is still two-dimensional, but
Euphronios is experimenting with the third
dimension.

FORESHORTENING -
Euphronios foreshortens the giant’s right leg,
as it bends underneath him. This distortion of
the shape is an attempt to show perspective,
and is the first known true attempt at the
technique.
SEE PAGE 40-41 (BLACK)