The Kleophrades Painter
Michael Padgett, Princeton University

5. Stylistic Characteristics Part 1

Although there is debate about the exact nature of the painter's style at the very beginning of his career, his hand soon becomes distinctive, remaining so over the years despite various changes in his drawing habits. As already mentioned, his figures tend to be large, big-boned, and full-blooded, but never lumpen or crude. One of his most distinctive habits is the occasional outlining of the lips with relief lines, often just the lower lip, but sometimes both (Illustration 6).

Illustration 6

Illustration 7

Illustration 8

Early figures have deeply hooked clavicles (Illustration 7; Illustration 8; Illustration 9), [22] but this eventually gave way to straight lines, sometimes with a semicircular dip at the join (Illustration 10 and Illustration 11). [23]

Illustration 9

Illustration 10

On early figures the earlobe is large and projects forward (Illustration 12), but it is smaller on later figures. Eyes are large and still frontal in outline, with the pupils well forward (Illustration 13), sometimes painted as a brown circle and dot; the eye is occasionally open at the inner corner, especially on later works.

Illustration 11

Illustration 12

Illustration 13

If the Sosias cup described above is indeed the work of the Kleophrades Painter, the profile eyes of the interior figures are extraordinary. Nostrils, when drawn, are hooked or S-shaped (Illustration 14 and Illustration 15).

Illustration 14

Illustration 15

22. Among numerous examples, cf. the satyrs on Harvard 1960.236 (ARV2, 185, 31), the athletes on Louvre G 48 (185, 33), and the Herakles on Athens, Agora P 7241 (ARV2, 189, 79).