All of these early Polygnotan painters showed an originality that distinguished them from other members of the Niobid Painter's workshop, inventing compositions or choosing subjects not seen among the works of their teacher or his fellows. The stamnos by the Hector Painter in Munich showing Nike giving water to a bull (Munich 2412; Illustration 4; Illustration 5), [15] a late work by the painter which will be discussed further below, is an example.

Illustration 4

Illustration 5

Similarly, the Lykaon Painter has given us a unique representation of Odysseus and the shade of Elpenor, a scene from the Odyssey, on his pelike in Boston (Boston 34.79; no. 111; Illustration 6; Illustration 7; Illustration 8). [16]

Illustration 6

Illustration 7

Illustration 8

The Elpenor scene is one of the few Polygnotan compositions to show the variations of groundline that were characteristic of the famous wall painter Polygnotos, for whom our vase painter may well have been named. This treatment of landscape may have been transmitted to the Lykaon Painter through the vases of the Niobid Painter, who uses uneven groundlines on his name vase, and if so it provides further evidence for the direct association of the two painters and for an early chronological position for the Lykaon Painter within the Polygnotan Group.

The mature style of Polygnotos developed from its Early Classical sources to a more Classical form under the influence of the sculptures of the Parthenon, especially its Frieze (see the Parthenon Frieze). The influence is apparent in drapery style and details of pose, in the relative proportions of horses and men, and in a quiet calm that pervades even active narrative subjects. Vases such as the stamnos in Oxford by Polygnotos with the Dioskouroi (Oxford 1916.68)[17] owe an obvious debt to the horsemen of the Parthenon Frieze. Drapery on vases such as his amphora in London with the Mission of Triptolemos (London E 281)[18] clearly shows a development from that of his Duke University krater, and this can, in its increased complexity and fluidity, also be traced to the Parthenon. The classical restraint with which Kassandra faces her attacker on the krater by Polygnotos in the Getty Museum[19] reflects the Olympian calm of the Parthenonian procession. Other members of the Group of Polygnotos were even more profoundly affected by the Parthenon sculptures than was Polygnotos. The Peleus Painter, for example, whom Beazley saw as very close in style to the Hector Painter,[20] adopts the three-quarter view of figures and faces and the stately rhythms of the Parthenon Frieze in vases such as his name vase with the wedding procession of Peleus and Thetis in Ferrara (Ferrara, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Spina 2893 (T 617)).[21] The Kleophon Painter,[22] who was the leading member of the second generation of Polygnotan painters, was the painter most thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Parthenon sculpture, either inside the Polygnotan workshop or outside it. The procession to Apollo on his famous volute krater in Ferrara echoes the feeling of the Parthenon Frieze procession more closely than any other surviving vase, while the same painter's stamnoi in Munich (Munich 2415; Illustration 9) [23] and St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum 1148 (formerly 809 and St. 1428))[24] showing the departure of a warrior are the essence of classical idealism.

Illustration 9

15. ARV2, 1936, no. 5, 1679; CVA, Munich, Museum Antiker Kleinkunst 5 (Germany 20) pl. 247,2, pl. 249,3-4; Para., 443; Beazley Addenda 2, 318.

17. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1916.68; ARV2, 1028, no. 6; Beazley Addenda 2, 317; CVA, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1 (Great Britain 3) pls. 29, 1-2, and 30, 1-2; LIMC, III, 569, pl. 456, Dioskouroi no. 2.

18. ARV2, 1030, no. 36; Beazley Addenda 2, 317; CVA, London, British Museum 3 (Great Britain 4) pl. 16, 2.

20. On the Peleus and Hector Painters, see also Y. Korshak, "Der Peleusmaler und sein Gefährte, der Hektormaler," AntK 23 (1980) 124-36.

21. ARV2, 1038, no. 1, 1679; Para., 443; E.G. Pemberton, "The Name Vase of the Peleus Painter," JWalt (1977) 63-72, figs. 1-5; Beazley Addenda 2, 319; LIMC, II, 144, Aphrodite no. 1505, and 287, pl. 259, Apollo no. 245; LIMC V 323, Hermes no. 434.

23. ARV2, 1143, no. 2, 1684; CVA, Munich, Museum Antiker Kleinkunst 5 (Germany 20) 41, pl. 256, 1 and 257, 1-2, pl. 258, 1-3; Para., 455; Beazley Addenda 2, 334; LIMC, IV, 486, pl. 285, Hektor no. 27 (as Hektor, Andromache, Priam, and Hekabe; the figures are not inscribed).