Athenian Black Figure Vases [antikvár]

PR EFACE Something like twenty thousand Athenian black figure vases have been discovered, and many more reach the light of day each year from excavations, controlled and ilHcit, or from the shelves of dealers and old collections. Of comparable works surviving from antiquity only Athens' red figure vases are more numerous and diverse in shape and subject. The black figure vases present the earliest major corpus of mythological scenes in Greek art, and are the earliest series of works so plentiful and so closely studied that the relationships and identity of artists and studios can be worked out. They have therefore claimed an important part in any study of Greek art or myth, and are conspicuous in museums and collections of Classical art. Nevertheless, publications of the major collections have never also given a comprehensive account of the history of the subject, while monographs on vase painting have never been so fully illustrated that students have not been obliged to turn to many other books for pictures, and there is no systematic account of the subject-matter of the scenes painted on vases. This handbook hopes to remedy these shortcomings — to give a history of the art full and detailed enough for connoisseur and student, supported by pictures numerous enough to demonstrate the quality of the work of the finest artists as well as the appearance of the work by less competent painters, and to add an account of the subsidiary decoration and the figure scenes, since these often have more to convey to the museum visitor or student than simple considerations of style, shape and date. If this has meant that parts of the book are more ' archaeological' than 'art historical' I hope this will prove to general advantage, but it has seemed best to omit from this volume any detailed consideration of the techniques of potting and painting except in so far as they affect the history of the style. The account of the styles of Athenian black figure painting is based on Sir John Beazley's brilliant work in distinguishing painters and groups. This he had expounded in articles and books, and in his Development of Athenian Black Figure (1951) he gives an account of the subject which is more profound than that offered here, but less complete, less fully illustrated and different in its aim, being based on a scries of lectures. Other chapters rely in varying degrees on the articles and books of other scholars, but, throughout, the need to