The invention of red-figure vase painting

Of the many kinds of vases Attic potters produced, some of the most popular of all were large vessels for wine and water that bore one or two picture fields with a clay-red background set against the completely black body of the vase, like tablets. This style of vessel became popular from the high Archaic period of the first half of the 6th century BCE onwards. The solid impression of these images on the body of the vase was amplified by the stripes on the handles and base, also in red. The figures rendered in black appeared like silhouettes against the red surface. They were, however, not reduced to mere outlines, details were added by way of scored lines and paints (cf. amphora by the potter and vase painter Exekias). The invention of red-figure vase painting changed the relationship between picture surface and vase, for now the picture’s background is the same colour as the dark body of the vase and the figures, left blank, were directly bound to the material of the vase. This development is accredited to the workshop of the potter Andokides whose name is also inscribed here at the foot of the vessel. The red-grounded framing elements surrounding each depiction correspond with the stripes on the handle and base while a continuous line running around the vessel’s belly lends structure to the overall composition. This overall system would later be given up entirely (cf. large wine container – amphora – by the Berlin Painter) as figure and support medium became intimately intertwined. While the clay-red figures refer directly to the material, the background on which the figures are placed matches the broad surface of the vase. Although this new technique did not bring great advantages in terms of spatial depth, it did mean that the internal details of the figure could now be rendered using various brushes instead of being scratched into the clay. This opened up new possibilities in depicting the human form. In Andokides’ workshop, the new red-figure painting technique was often juxtaposed with the old black-figured one on one and the same vase. In this object, however, the red-figure technique is already displayed on both sides, one of which depicts a scene from a wrestling school. In front we see Herakles and Apollo struggling for the Delphic tripod, which Herakles is attempting to steal after being refused by the oracle. Athena, in full panoply, stands beside her charge, Herakles, while Artemis stands on the side of her brother Apollo, who will ultimately gain the upper hand.