The Polos Painter was a vase painter of the 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...

 black-figure

Black-figure pottery

Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic is one of the most modern styles for adorning antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BC...

 style. His works date to '’circa’’ 575 to 565 BC.

The Polos Painter is considered to have a distinctive personal style, while only being of mediocre artistic talent. Stylistically, he resembles the earlier Ragusa Group, which was strongly infleunced by Corinthian vase painting. He was very productive. Most of his vases were decorated with “degenerate animal friezes” (John Boardman

John Boardman

Jack Melton Boardman, commonly known as John Boardman, is an American former professor of physics at Brooklyn College.- Academic career :...

). His conventional name is based on the cross-hatched polos

Polos

Polos generally refers to a high cylindrical crown typically worn by mythological goddesses.Polos may also refer to:* The plural of polo* In music, the polos is one of the interlocking parts of Kotekan...

crowns worn by the women, animals and siren

Siren

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...

s he painted. More than 100 known vases and fragments are ascribed to him. His works were widely spread across the Greek world, presumably among less discerning customers; they have been found from Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 and Attica

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...

 via South Italy

South Italy

South Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. South Italy encompasses six of the country's 20 regions:*Abruzzo...

 to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, the Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

. He decorated all vase shapes then current; but preferred plates and lekanes.

Works (selection)

• Paris, Louvre

CA 3059 Lekanis

Cp 10501 Fragment of a belly amphora http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=12564

• Reading, Ure Museum

14.9.82 Fragment einer of a painted terracotta http://lkws1.rdg.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ure/uredb.cgi?rec=14.9.82

14.9.83 Fragment of a lekanis http://lkws1.rdg.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ure/uredb.cgi?rec=14.9.83

• San Francisco, Fine Arts Museums

1925.364 Skyphos http://search2.famsf.org:8080/mygallery/view.shtml?record=116042

Source of translation