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The Kleophrades Painter
Michael Padgett, Princeton University
14. Shapes: Amphorae (early examples) Part 2
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The komasts on the reverse of Würzburg L 507 continue the Pioneer tradition of representing nude figures in a variety of postures (Illustration 83),
but the Kleophrades Painter is generally less fond of such experiments than his teachers. The komasts on the reverse of another type A amphora, in the Vatican (ARV2, 182, 3), have something of the ponderous grace of Euthymides, while the various postures adopted by Theseus and his opponents on the kylix Paris, Cab. Méd. 536/647/535 (ARV2, 191, 104) anticipate Onesimos in the ingenuity of their contortions.
On the obverse of the Würzburg amphora (Illustration 84), a departing warrior reads the omens in the liver of a sacrificial victim, watched by his wife and child, and by a warrior in exotic oriental garb (Illustration 85). The obverse of the Vatican vase shows not a departure, but the arrival of Herakles in Olympus, where he his greeted by his patroness, Athena.
The painter's other amphora of type A, the fragmentary Würzburg L 508 (ARV2, 182, 5), is later than the others and has a different decorative scheme, with two pairs of unframed figures: Phoenix and Ajax, and Hektor and Priam (Illustration 86
and Illustration 87).
The two warriors are being separated at the conclusion of their dual, Ajax carrying the sword he received from Hektor (Illustration 88)
and Hektor holding the belt given by Ajax (Illustration 89).
The source is Hom. Il. 7.273-312, but the painter substitutes Phoenix and Priam for the heralds Talthybios and Idaios. The tension between the two antagonists is almost palpable, despite their being on opposite sides of the vase. As Beth Cohen has noted, such unity of decoration on an individual, two-sided vase was not the rule in Attic vase-painting of the period and is one of the innovations which sets the Kleophrades Painter apart from his contemporaries; examples can be found throughout his oeuvre, particularly on the neck-amphorae and those of Panathenaic shape, such as Boston 10.178; no. 16; (ARV2, 183, 9).[77]
77. See Beth Cohen, "From Action to Inscription: The Kleophrades Painter and Narrative Unity," AJA 87 (1983) 229-30.
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