Madison 1976.31
Attic Red-Figure Kylix (Type II) The Penthesilea Painter ca.455 B.C. Lent by the Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Steimke Foundation gift in memory of W.H. Steimke (1976.31). The Vase: h. 14.3 cm; h. of foot 7.7 cm; w. 45.8 cm; d. of rim 37.1 cm; d. of foot 14.9 cm. Mended from many small fragments; missing pieces, some large, restored in plaster and painted. Certain fragments miscolored under different conditions of preservation; three fragments on the exterior are particularly dark: (Side A) one fragment containing the horse's head; another directly beneath this with the steed's foreparts and the upper torso and head (in three-quarter view) of a kneeling naked warrior; (Side B) a fragment with the lower shield and calf of the standing warrior (nearest handle A/B) and the groin and thighs of the warrior before him. Sections of the design which are lacking: (Interior) a section approximately 19.0 cm x 7.0 cm showing the hind end and testicles of the bull and lower portion of Theseus' right leg (the fragment, Louvre CP 11504/B, belongs here — see illustration) and portions of the meander border at 5, 6 and 9 o'clock, and fragment at 2 o'clock. Missing: (Side A) the entire upper half of the standing draped figure nearest handle B/A; the ear, neck, upper right arm, and knee of the mounted horseman; chest and part of flank of horse; top of head, portion of thigh, calf and top of shield of the kneeling warrior; upper section of the nude warrior who confronts the latter; the heads and upper bodies of the two draped warriors nearest handle A/B. Missing: (Side B) on the far left, right shoulder and lower left leg of the standing nude warrior; bottom of shield, back, top of buttocks of the standing warrior who opposes the latter and the helmet of the kneeling warrior between; the heads of the next two warriors; of the last pair, the mid-section of the striding draped warrior and the head of the draped warrior adjacent; much of the meander pattern beneath handle B/A. Foot: (interior) deep, hollow stem is reserved and, near the platform, is decorated with a broad and a thin stripe in vitreous black; the resting surface is reserved as is most of the remainder of the underside of the foot, except for a wide (2.0 cm) band of black glaze at the edge which continues onto the inner wall of the resting surface; (exterior) in two degrees; the side of the foot reserved; a fine-tooled line in reserve around the bottom of the upper stage. The insides of the handles are reserved as is the wall of the cup opposite. The drinking edge is black glaze with a fine line in reservation on either side. For the shape of the cup: Bloesch 1940, 106: Three-edge Class. Preliminary sketch marks are visible on the cup. In the upper right of the tondo, opposite the top of Theseus' club there is the design of what appears to be a Chalcidian helmet. This is the same helmet worn by some of the warriors depicted on the exterior, Side B; initially another subject may have been intended. There is a sketch of a rope around the bull's horn; this makes more understandable the position of Theseus' left hand. The painter may have intended to add the lines of the rope in applied red. There are also indications of a different position for the bull's front left leg and for either Theseus' left arm or the bull's back. Preliminary sketch on the exterior is plentiful: some lines show indecision about the placement of legs, others indicate the bodies under garments and strong marks for the horse's body indicate placement more to the left. Broad preliminary contour lines vary in thickness. Relief contour lines for Theseus except for the top of his head and the back of his hair, and for the bull everywhere except the forehead, belly near the right leg and croup (close to the tail). No relief contour for terrain. Relief contour on the exterior of the cup (Side A) is strong on the horse's muzzle and top of the head but not the mane; also for the torso of the fallen warrior. On Side A relief contour appears everywhere but not for the right leg of the nude warrior nearest handle B/A, not at all for the mounted horseman, not for the arms or legs of the first of the pair of draped figures nearest handle A/B, and for the companion at the handle, only the exterior of his right leg has relief contour. On Side B: no relief contour for the left side of the torso of the fallen figure, none for the right arm of the central draped figure who is thrusting his sword, nor for the lower part of both legs of the figure nearest handle B/A. Relief lines everywhere on the vase, in the tondo especially high for the hero's hands, ear, toes and the soles of the feet; for the bull's eye, hooves, muzzle and nostril. Relief lines everywhere on the exterior, notably for the horse's face, those of the fallen warrior, all hands and, on Side B, for visors of helmets and floral pattern on the crown of helmet, for facial features of warriors, for hands. Decoration: Interior: a youthful Theseus raises a club in his right hand to thwart the bull of Marathon (as preliminary sketch shows, in his left hand he was meant to hold a rope which passed around the bull's horn). Under his feet there is the suggestion of terrain, the plains of Marathon. Exterior Side A: battle. A draped warrior flees to the left as a mounted warrior, dressed in chlamys and traveling hat, moving to the right, aims a long spear at a fallen, kneeling nude figure. The head of the latter, facing right, is shown in fine three-quarter view, his mouth open and teeth exposed. Toward this disabled fellow a nude compatriot rushes to the left, presumably to protect the fallen man with his shield (device: snake). The battle is here between the "skins and the shirts"; the fifth and sixth figures both wear the mantle which is edged with a broad stripe; one warrior with sword drawn, pursues the standing nude opponent nearby. Side B: battle. The scene is arranged in three groups. Nearest handle A/B a nude warrior moves to the right, long spear in his right hand, shield with apron on his left. His head is protected by a Chalcidian-type helmet and he fights a pair of warriors, also nude, who face him. One opponent, brandishing a sword, his left side under a shield, has fallen to his knees. He and the mate standing behind, who has come to his aid, also wear the Chalcidian-type helmet; the latter's has a crest and above the visor a floral design. The standing warrior wields a long spear and his shield has a snake emblem. A pair of combatants is next, one draped, one not. The nude man runs to the left, but has turned to parry the attack of the draped warrior who has his sword drawn. The chlamys or mantle has a broad stripe around the edge. The nude warrior's left is protected by a shield (device: tripod) which has an apron elaborately decorated with bosses and ranks of zigzags. The last pair, at handle B/A, again has a draped warrior battling one who is nude. The former wears a pilos, a cone-shaped helmet, the latter, as much as is preserved, carries a shield and, in his right hand, a long spear which, running under the handle and through the palmette, leads the viewer to the other side of the vase, to more battle (For palmettes, see Oberlin 67.61). Under each handle an arrangement of palmette fans back to back, with abutting scroll tendrils at the center of the configuration: under B/A the top fan has eleven petals, the bottom one, nine; under A/B only the top fan is well-preserved and it has ten petals. The tondo is surrounded by a border of meanders, running left, punctuated approximately at the cardinal points, by dotted (raised) cross-squares; the cross-square near the bull's head is juxtaposed, mistakenly, onto a meander design. A meander pattern of similar design borders the exterior pictures below, one dotted cross-square, approximately in the center, on each side. Light brown glaze (tondo): the glaze in raised droplets for the knobs on Theseus' club; sheath and hilt of sword (not raised). Side A: scabbard of fallen warrior, sword hilt of first draped warrior near handle A/B. Side B: three bosses in relief (two above the ear and one at the join of the visor to the helmet) on the Chalcidian-type helmets; four rows of five bosses each on the shield apron of the nude warrior in the central group (bosses in high relief) and on the shield above for the tripod emblem (in relief); for the snake emblem (in relief) and the crest on the helmet of the second standing nude warrior. Yellow dilute glaze: tondo: Theseus' rib cage, abdominal musculature, muscles of thighs, arms and neck, pubic hair; tassels on sword hilt; for the bull: strokes accentuating the rolls of flesh on the neck, the hairs inside the ear, wash on the forehead, tendons in the leg and chest; exterior: musculature of warriors as for Theseus. Dark brown dilute glaze: tondo: for hero's hair and detail of his breastbone; exterior: wash for the inside of shields, beards, zigzags on shield-aprons, hair. The attribution to the painter was made recently by Dietrich von Bothmer. The Penthesilea Painter was prolific (about 200 vases assigned), with the quality of his production occasionally superb, often competent, and sometimes disturbingly poor. The Elvehjem kylix is one of his best. Frequently the exterior of his cups is of lesser quality than the interior or tondo. His magnificent name-vase in Munich (Munich 2688: ARV2, 879, no. 1) has, on the exterior, a design of arming youths, drawn hastily. In quite remarkable style the interior depicts Achilles slaying the Amazon Queen, Penthesilea. The painter's artistry on the Madison cup is excellent, inside and out. This decorator worked in white-ground as well as red-figure and he also is versatile in the choice of shapes he decorates, among them: plaques, a bobbin (toy?), a kylix without a foot, one with a cover, and another with an especially deep bowl. Likewise, his art is as ready to portray touches of humor as it is the reality of terror. A bewildered Paris tries to evaluate the beauty of three goddesses, each of whom makes "different" eyes at him, on a charming white-ground pyxis in New York (New York 07.286.36: ARV2, 890, no. 173). A bull seems to envision his fate as sacrifice on the interior of a cup at Oxford (Oxford 1931.12: ARV2, 884, no. 73). His best work exhibits monumentality, expressiveness in the characterization of his figures and an uncommonly wide range of color — in the case of the Elvehjem kylix, through the use of glazes. These virtues were learned no doubt from familiarity with mural painting. The design in the tondo of the Madison cup was perhaps inspired by contemporary sculpture, the metope with Herakles and the Cretan bull from the temple of Zeus at Olympia. The sculptor of the metope and this decorator were faced with a dilemma: in a restricted space how does one design a hero of human scale proportionate to a beast, which, legend told, was of enormous size. Much like the pose of the Cretan bull at Olympia, the painter has lowered the bull's head, has exaggerated the rolls of flesh on the neck and compressed the powerful body. The viewer left to reconstruct the body fully extended would see the size worthy of the hero's special strength. Theseus was a hero of Athens, and like its hero, Athens had been terrorized by Persia on the plains of Marathon; Athens, like Theseus, had checked a threat and pestilence. As Louise Clark informally suggests, the bull may indeed be a fitting symbol for Persia; it is often depicted crowned at Persepolis. Coincidental to the victory over the Persians, the bones, allegedly of Theseus, were discovered on Skyros in 476 B.C. and piously moved home to Athens. The pictures on the exterior of the kylix may be stock, "the shirts against the skins." Mrs. Clark mentions informally that the nudity of one team may suggest an ambush. Pallas, Theseus' uncle, was anxious to secure the Athenian throne for his sons and in order to achieve this, Theseus was to be killed at ambush while sleeping. Laos, a herald, betrays the plot to Theseus who, feigning sleep, rises and defeats his enemies. The Madison vase seems later in the painter's career. The head in three-quarter view is similar to the head of the man attacking a boar, represented in the tondo of a kylix assigned to the Penthesilea Painter now at The Metropolitan Museum (New York 41.162.9: ARV2, 882, no. 39). Dietrich von Bothmer recognized that the fragment from the Louvre (Louvre CP 11504/B) belongs with this cup; the fragment came to the Louvre in 1868, from the collection of the Marchesa di Campana. There is a kylix by the Penthesilea Painter at The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago 1889.27, from Cervetri, ARV2, 884, no. 77) which has as the interior scene a young man paying off a prostitute, and on the exterior, youths and women.1(unpublished) W.G.M.