ATTRIBUTED TO THE TYDEUS PAINTER, CIRCA 570-560 B.C.

The Tydeus Painter was one the last great painters who worked in Corinth. He takes his name from the amphora in the Louvre depicting Tydeus slaying Ismene. In addition to amphorai, he also painted oinochai, lekythoi, amphoriskoi and kraters. His best vases, like the name-vase, depict narrative subjects, but he also painted combats, riders and padded dancers. Combinations of white-bodied sphinxes, sirens, swans and cocks are common on his B-sides, or, as singletons on both sides of his less ambitious vases.

On the amphora presented here, one side features a siren while the other has a cock. Both sides have one or two rosettes in the field, with his characteristic colorful net-pattern framing the top of the panel, and a double row of rays above the foot. For the Tydeus Painter, see pp. 269-272 and 393-394 in D.A. Amyx, Corinthian Vase-Painting of the Archaic Period.