Lena Rivera
Red-figure pottery, also known as red-figure vase painting, is an ancient Greek style of pottery invented in Athens around 520–530 BCE. It is characterised by figures and details painted in the natural red or orange colour of the clay, while the background is painted black. This style replaced the previously dominant black-figure pottery technique, which featured black figures on a red background. Red-figure pottery allowed for greater detail and more complex compositions, including frontal, back, and three-quarter views of figures, and provided a more realistic representation of the human form. The style flourished until the late 3rd century CE, with important production centres in Attica and Southern Italy.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Invented | c. 530 BCE in Athens |
| Inventor | Often attributed to the Andokides Painter |
| Style | Figures are painted red against a black background |
| Subjects | Portraits of gods and heroes, scenes from daily Athenian life, heroic and Dionysiac scenes |
| Details | Painted rather than incised, allowing for more flexibility and shading |
| Ornamentation | Narrative rather than decorative |
| Artistic Period | Divided into two periods: c. 530-480 BCE and c. 480-323 BCE |
| Important Artists | Oltos, Epictetus, Euphronius, Euthymides, Onesimos, Douris, the CA Painter, the Berlin Painter, the Kleophrades Painter, the Achilles Painter, the Providence Painter, the Pan Painter, the Eretria Painter, the Meidias Painter, the Meleager Painter |
| Number of Surviving Vases | 65,000 |
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What You'll Learn
Red-figure pottery is a Greek vase painting style
The invention of red-figure pottery is often attributed to the Andokides Painter, an artisan working around 530 BCE. This technique of vase painting was a lengthy process that began with the procurement of clay. Potters in ancient Athens used a process called levigation, where clay is mixed with water to remove impurities. Once the clay was prepared, the potter shaped the vessel on a wheel, and after drying, assembled and refined the piece. The vase painter then used charcoal to sketch the composition, outlining it with a strip of black slip to prevent the background colour from seeping into the decorative areas. Details were added using diluted slip, which, when fired, turned a brown or golden brown colour.
The subject matter of red-figure vases varied greatly, from portraits of gods and heroes to scenes of daily Athenian life. These paintings provide valuable archaeological, historical, and mythological insights. Notable artists of this style include Oltos, Epictetus, Euphronius, Euthymides, Onesimos, Douris, and the Berlin Painter. Red-figure pottery flourished until the late 4th century BCE, with the last recorded examples from around 320 BCE.
The style spread beyond Athens to other Greek regions, particularly Southern Italy, and was also adopted in Etruria, outside the Greek world. Red-figure vases were exported throughout Greece and beyond, with approximately 65,000 vases and fragments known to have survived. The study of Greek vase painting began in the Middle Ages, and these vases continue to provide valuable insights into ancient Greek culture and artistic techniques.
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It was invented in Athens around 530 B.C.E
Red-figure pottery, also known as red-figure vase painting, is a style of ancient Greek pottery that emerged in Athens around 530 B.C.E. It is characterised by figures and details painted in the natural red or orange colour of the clay, while the background is painted black. This style is the reverse of the previously dominant black-figure pottery, where figures were painted in glossy black pigment on an orange-red surface. The red-figure technique was invented by an artisan known as the Andokides Painter, who initially created vases with black-figure scenes on one side and red-figure scenes on the other. These vases, known as "bilingual vases", displayed significant advances in the red-figure style, but the figures still appeared somewhat stiff and rarely overlapped.
The development of red-figure pottery in Athens marked a shift from the Corinthian style that had dominated the market. Athens initially copied Corinthian vase painting but eventually rivalled and surpassed Corinth. Attic artists refined the red-figure style, achieving unprecedented quality and creativity. This innovation, along with Athens' production capacity, solidified its dominance in the Mediterranean world as the leading producer of fine pottery. The red-figure style allowed for more flexibility in rendering human forms, movements, and expressions, as well as shading and perspective. Details were painted rather than incised, and artists used thin lines of black paint (relief lines) to delineate draperies and musculature, resulting in more realistic representations.
The production of red-figure vases was a complex and lengthy process. It began with the procurement of clay, which was mixed with water to allow heavy impurities to settle. The shaped vessels were then painted with decorative figures in red-orange clay before the black background was applied. This technique, known as the three-phase firing technique, was shared by both red-figure and black-figure vase painting styles. The red-figure style flourished from the late 6th to the late 4th century BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century AD. During this period, it became the preferred style for important vases, replacing the black-figure style within a few decades.
The decline of Athenian pottery workshops in the late 5th century BCE led to the emergence of new centres of pottery production in South Italy and Sicily. South Italian vase painting, which continued the red-figure style, predominated for the rest of the 4th century BCE. Today, more than 40,000 specimens and fragments of red-figure vases from Athens survive, providing valuable insights into Greek cultural history, everyday life, iconography, and mythology.
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The style has red figures on a black background
The art term for red-figure painting is "red-figure pottery", a style of Greek vase painting that originated in Athens around 520–530 BCE. The style features red-orange figures painted against a black background. This technique is the reverse of the previously dominant black-figure pottery style, in which black figures were painted on a red background.
Red-figure pottery was developed in Athens and remained the leading producer of such works, but the style eventually spread to other Greek regions, particularly Southern Italy. The subject matter of red-figure vases varied, from portraits of gods and heroes to scenes of daily Athenian life. These paintings provide valuable archaeological, historical, and mythological insights.
The creation of red-figure pottery began with the procurement of clay, which was then mixed with water so that heavy impurities could sink to the bottom. Once the clay reached a leather-hard state, it could be burnished—a process involving vigorous rubbing with a hard, smooth object to compact and smooth the clay surface. A light coating of red ochre was sometimes applied, and the vessel was re-burnished to enhance its natural red-orange colour.
After sketching the positions of the figures, potters would outline the sketch with a strip of black slip, which acted as a dam to prevent slip from entering the decorative areas. The background was then coated with black slip, and details were added using diluted slip, which would fire to a brown or golden brown colour. Relief lines, made from the same dilute slip, were used to outline figures and add details like individual locks of hair.
Red-figure pottery allowed for greater detail and more realistic representations than black-figure pottery. This was due to the ability to draw lines onto the figures rather than scraping them out, enabling the depiction of bodies in twisting and turning positions. Additionally, the red-figure style allowed for frontal, back, and three-quarter views, creating a third dimension.
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It replaced the previously dominant black-figure pottery style
Red-figure pottery, also known as erythrómorpha in Ancient Greek, is a style of Greek vase painting that emerged in Athens around 520–530 BCE. It replaced the previously dominant black-figure pottery style within a few decades. The artistic fashion of imitating ancient vases became known as all'etrusque, with England and France vying for superiority in terms of research and imitation of vases.
The black-figure style of pottery decoration was developed in Corinth in the 7th century BCE and quickly spread throughout the Greek world and beyond. Athens initially copied Corinthian pottery but eventually developed its own style, which came to rival Corinth. The black-figure style featured figures painted in glossy black pigment in silhouette against the orange-red surface of the vase, with details added through incisions.
Red-figure pottery is characterised by figures painted in the natural red or orange colour of the clay, with a black background. This style allowed for greater detail, as lines could be drawn onto the figures, creating a more realistic and detailed appearance. This technique also allowed for the depiction of bodies in twisting and turning positions, with overlapping figures and foreshortening, adding depth and a sense of perspective. The red-figure style was more flexible, allowing for the expression of movement and emotion in the figures.
Red-figure pottery was produced in several regions, with Athens being the leading producer in terms of both quality and quantity. Southern Italy was also an important centre of production, and the style was adopted in other parts of Greece. The last recorded examples of red-figure pottery date from around 320 BCE.
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The last recorded examples are from around 320 B.C.E
Red-figure pottery, also known as red-figure vase painting, is an ancient Greek style of pottery invented in Athens around 520–530 BCE. The style features a black-painted background with figures and details left in the natural red or orange colour of the clay. This technique is the reverse of the previously dominant black-figure style, in which figures were painted black and the background left red. The red-figure style was developed in Athens and became popular throughout Greece and beyond, with important production centres in Southern Italy and Etruria.
The invention of red-figure pottery is often attributed to an artisan referred to as the Andokides Painter. This artist was one of the early "bilingual" painters who worked in both red- and black-figure styles. Notable painters from the late Archaic period include the Berlin Painter, the Kleophrades Painter, and Douris, with the technique becoming more refined and widespread in the Mediterranean world. The red-figure style reached new heights of quality and creativity in the second third of the 6th century BCE.
The advantages of the red-figure technique included the ability to create more detailed and realistic figures, as well as greater flexibility in rendering human forms, movements, and expressions. This was due to the use of thin lines of black paint (relief lines) instead of incisions to create details. The style also allowed for overlapping figures and foreshortening, creating a sense of depth and perspective. Notable artists who mastered these innovations include Euphronius and his successors, with their works depicting scenes such as "Hercules wrestling Antaeus".
The last recorded examples of red-figure pottery are from around 320 BCE, marking the end of a flourishing period of this art form that lasted from the late 6th to the late 4th century BCE. During its heyday, red-figure pottery was valued for its decorative and narrative qualities, providing insights into various aspects of ancient Greek life, mythology, and social history. The decline of red-figure pottery in Attica around this time is associated with the rise of figured decoration, which reduced the vessel to a mere support for the painting.
After 350 BCE, the CA Painter, considered the outstanding artist of Campanian vase painting, worked in Cumae. The influence of Apulia is evident in Campanian vase painting from 330 BCE onwards, with common motifs including naiskos and grave scenes, Dionysiac scenes, and symposia. The quality of Campanian vase painting declined rapidly after the CA Painter, and it eventually ended around 300 BCE.
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Frequently asked questions
Red-figure pottery.
Red-figure pottery is a style of Greek vase painting invented in Athens around 530 BCE.
In red-figure pottery, the background of a vessel's surface is coated with a black slip, leaving the figures in the red or orange color of the base clay. Details on the figures are then added using black lines of slip.
In black-figure pottery, figures are painted in black pigment in silhouette on the red or orange surface of the vase. In red-figure pottery, the figures are left in the natural color of the clay, with the background painted black. This allows for more detailed and realistic scenes, as well as greater perspective.
