The Berlin Painter is the conventional name given to an Attic

Attica

Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

 Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 vase-painter who is widely regarded as a rival to the Kleophrades Painter

Kleophrades Painter

The Kleophrades Painter is the name given to the anonymous red-figure Athenian vase painter, who was active from approximately 510 – 470 BCE and whose work, considered amongst the finest of the red figure style, is identified by its stylistic traits....

, among the most talented vase painters of the early 5th century BCE (see Pottery of Ancient Greece

Pottery of Ancient Greece

As the result of its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...

).

The Berlin Painter along with the Kleophrades Painter was educated by a member of the Pioneer Group

Pioneer Group

The Pioneer Group were a number of red-figure vase painters working in Kerameikos or the potters' quarter of Athens around the beginning of the 5th century BCE. Characterized by John Boardman as perhaps the first conscious art movement in the western tradition, the group comprised the painters...

, who introduced red-figure painting.

Name artefact

The Berlin Painter was named by Sir John Beazley

John Beazley

Sir John Davidson Beazley was an English classical scholar.Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Beazley attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a close friend of the poet James Elroy Flecker. After graduating in 1907, Beazley was a student and tutor in Classics at Christ Church, and in 1925 he...

 for a large lidded amphora

Amphora

An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...

 in the Antikensammlung Berlin

Antikensammlung Berlin

The Antikensammlung Berlin is one of the most important collections of classical art in the world, now held in the Altes Museum and Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. It contains thousands of ancient archaeological artefacts from the ancient Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Cypriot civilizations...

 (the Berlin Painter's namepiece).

Side A: satyr and Hermes. Hermes strides to the right swinging his arms. He holds a large kantharos and a kerykeion (herald's wand) in his forward hand, and a small oinochoe in his hand which he swings behind him. He is dressed in a short tunic and chlamys, and wears a winged cap and winged boots. A satyr stands in front of him facing right, his head turned to the left. He is holding a barbiton (lyre) in one arm, his fingers splayed across the strings. In his other hand, held out behind him, he holds the end of a string attached to the lyre. He has a long beard and wears a wreath, and his right leg is shown in three-quarters view. A fawn stands between the two figures, its head gracefully turned up. The figures are carefully superimposed on one another, forming a unified contour isolated against the black background of the vase.

Side B: Satyr. A satyr stands to the right, holding a large kantharos and a lyre. The kantharos is raised to his lips, while he holds the lyre at his side, his fingers touching the stings. His long hair is tied at his neck and he wears a wreath. Above the scene is a carefully drawn band of ivy leaves and grape bunches; below, forming a groundline but not extending all the way around the vase, is a running spiral, a rare pattern ornament in Attic Red Figure vase paintings.

The vase is in good condition. Side A is well-preserved, but side B has suffered surface wear and discoloration.

Forms and repertoire

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

Red-figure pottery

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...

. Over a long career he trained many younger vase-painters, including, probably, the Achilles Painter

Achilles Painter

The Achilles Painter, was a vase-painter active ca. 470-420 BC. His name vase is an amphora in the Vatican museums depicting Achilles. Sir John Beazley attributed over 200 vases to his hand, the largest share being red-figure and white-ground lekythoi. In his middle phase , he decorates more open...

.

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 the popularity of that form.

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 themselves 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. 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 have been found across Italy. This may suggest that they were created for export to the Italian market. Many of his valued works were preserved as élite grave goods

Grave goods

Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...

 in the necropoli of Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia

Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...

, notably at Vulci, Nola

Nola

Nola is a city and comune of Campania, southern Italy, in the province of Naples, situated in the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines...

 and Locri

Locri

Locri is a town and comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. The name derives from the ancient Greek town Locris.-History:...

.

Sources

• 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.