ATTRIBUTED TO THE WHITEFACE/FRIGNANO PAINTER, CIRCA 360-330 B.C.

According to Greek mythology, the Hesperides were considered either the daughters of Night and Erebus (Hesiod, Theogony, 215) or of Hesperis and Atlas (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.27.2). They were the guardians of a tree of golden apples, given by Gaia to Hera on the occasion of her marriage to Zeus. In addition to the Hesperides, Hera sent the serpent-like dragon Ladon to guard the apples. On the hydria presented here, Ladon is coiled around the tree, and feeds from a gold phiale held out by one of the sisters. In her other hand she holds an oinochoe by the handle. To the right, two of the other sisters converse, clasping each other’s arms. The sisters each wear a peplos, a sakkos, with two wearing an additional himation. All are bedecked in wreaths, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The tree is laden with apples, and flowering plants fill the field. The vase is richly ornamented, with a band of meander below the scene, berried laurel and ovolo on the neck, wave on the rim, and rays framing the handle roots, pointed on the two closest to the front. Around the horizontal handles and below the vertical handle is an array of elegant palmettes and tendrils.

The Whiteface and the Frignano Painters were originally considered by Trendall to be two separate artists, realizing only later that they are same (see Trendall, LCS, Suppl. III, p. 182). Most of the vases attributed to the Whiteface/Frignano Painter feature simple scenes of youths, women and Erotes; only rarely did he attempt more ambitious mythological subjects, as here, and on another hydria in Boston depicting Kadmos and the serpent (see Padgett, et al., op. cit., 85).