Polygnotos and His Group
Susan Matheson, Yale University

3. The Niobid Painter and the Group of Polygnotos Part 1

Polygnotos signed five vases. Beazley considered him to have been a pupil of the Niobid Painter,[8] and to have inherited a preference for large pots and epic combat subjects from his famous Early Classical teacher. Subjects such as the Amazonomachy, Centauromachy, and scenes from Trojan epic, popular with the Niobid Painter and his workshop, were taken over by Polygnotos,[9] as were more restrained subjects, including, for example, the departure of a warrior. Vases by Polygnotos such as his pelike in the Louvre with Apollo and Tityos (Louvre G 375)[10] and his calyx krater in Duke University (Durham 1964.27)[11] with the Mission of Triptolemos are close in style to the Niobid Painter and are therefore probably early works.

Some of the other members of the Group of Polygnotos appear to have learned directly from the Niobid Painter as well. The Hector Painter and the Lykaon Painter, for example, paint in a style that is still close to the Niobid Painter's work, and also to early work by Polygnotos, suggesting that these three trained side by side in the Niobid Painter's shop. The Hector and Lykaon Painters continue some of the Niobid Painter's subjects as well, among them the departure of a warrior. These rather typical Athenian family scenes were sometimes "heroized" by giving the figures names from Trojan epic, as on the Lykaon Painter's amphora in New York (New York 06.1021.116)[12] and the Hector Painter's name vase in the Vatican (Vatican City, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Vaticano 16570),[13] a practice followed as well by anonymous members of the group such as the painter of an amphora in Philadelphia (Philadelphia 30-44-4; Illustration 1; Illustration 2; Illustration 3) [14] where the warrior's father is named Priamos.

Illustration 1

Illustration 2

Illustration 3

8. On the Niobid Painter, see ARV2, 598-608, 1661; Para., 394-96; Beazley Addenda 2, 265-67; Webster 1935; M. Prange, Der Niobidenmaler und seine Werkstatt (Frankfurt 1989).

10. ARV2, 1032, no. 54; Beazley Addenda 2, 318; CVA, Paris, Musée du Louvre 6 (France 9) pl. 42, 1-4 and 6-8; LIMC, II, 311, Apollo no. 1073, and 628, pl. 523, Artemis no. 1009 (side B).

11. Para., 442; LIMC, IV, 874, Demeter no. 362.