Polygnotos and His Group
Susan Matheson, Yale University

12. Scenes of Daily Life: Athletic

Like symposion scenes, scenes of athletes are less common in the Classical period and in this particular Group than they were among Archaic vase painters. Among the few surviving examples, fragments of a calyx krater by Polygnotos in Florence[64] show a complex athletic scene with both draped and nude figures, some standing, others seated, two wrestling. The figures are shown on groundlines at multiple levels, recalling the Niobid Painter and suggesting that Polygnotos's krater is an early work. The remaining athletic scenes by other Polygnotans are generally also fragmentary, making assessment of compositions and relative dating difficult.

64. Florence, Museo Archeologico Etrusco 13 B 10-13, 18-22, 24-25, 28-30, 32-34, 38-41, and 19 B 21; ARV2, 1030, no. 29; CVA, Florence 1 (Italy 8) pl. 13 and 19.