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DOURIS
Diana Buitron-Oliver

6. Middle Period Part 3

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A cup in Malibu (Malibu 84.AE.569; Illustration 54; Illustration 55; Illustration 56; Illustration 57) and the cup with Eos and Memnon share the tongue pattern forming the line of the tondo exergue.
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Illustration 54		 Button
Illustration 55
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Illustration 56		 Button
Illustration 57
The figure style shows many similarities as well. In the Malibu tondo, a bearded man, perhaps Zeus, sits on a stool before an elaborate altar with a snake pediment and palmette acroterion. He holds a kylix straight out in front of him, a little too close to the youth, Ganymede, who has had to contract his own arm and holds his oinochoe awkwardly in order to pour into the cup. Zeus displays an eager impetuosity before which Ganymede retreats slightly, a subtlety of emotion effectively conveyed by Douris.

On the exterior, Zeus and Eos, both named, capture respectively, Ganymede and Tithonos (also named), in the presence of five dignified, fully dressed men with sceptres who raise their arms in surprise. The two men on the left of Eos are named: they are Pandion and Kekrops, legendary kings of Athens and eponymous heroes for whom two of Kleisthenes' ten tribes were named. On the analogy of these, one of the men on the other side might be Erechtheus.

Douris paints fewer satyrs and Dionysiac thiasoi than do his contemporaries, the Brygos Painter and Makron. His satyrs make their earliest appearance on the psykter in London (London E 768, see above) where they have become a vehicle for more exuberant and improbable poses than Douris seemed to have thought proper for the ordinary mortal komasts which are their model. A cup in Boston (Boston 00.499; no. 129; Illustration 58; Illustration 59; Illustration 60; Illustration 61) shows Dionysos in the tondo, with satyrs and maenads on the exterior.
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Illustration 58		 Button
Illustration 59
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Illustration 60		 Button
Illustration 61
The satyrs and maenads dance in harmony except for one hairy satyr, his face shown frontally, who leaps exuberantly, one leg kicked up behind at the knees in a pose similar to that of one of the satyrs on the London psykter. Perhaps this fellow has instigated a riot on the other side where the same satyr and his balding companion chase the now infuriated maenads. The maenads have pulled their chitons over their hands to make wing sleeves. This rendering is often seen in maenads by the Brygos and Briseis Painters as well, and may reflect the dance of a maenad chorus.[14]

The large number of cups placed in Douris' Middle Period show the artist moving from the remarkable degree of care and subtlety he bestowed on his Transitional vases, especially those depicting mythological subjects, to a rather freer, less detailed rendering especially evident in the genre scenes, which dominate the Middle Period output. The simplification of Douris' art might have come about because of his success and the consequent greater demand for his work. The Berlin School cup, the Malibu conversation cup and the Eos and Memnon cup show Douris at his best. In these cups, to a greater degree than any of his contemporaries, he reflects something of the early classical spirit of the period.

[14]On wing sleeves see ii p. 40; M.W. Edwards, "Representation of Maenads on Archaic Red-Figure Vases," JHS 80 (1960) 82-3; on the maenad chorus see T.B.L. Webster, The Greek Chorus (London, 1970) 17-18.

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