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Lot Essay
On the body of this large hydria, a group of huntsmen prepare to depart. Three are on horseback, each dressed in a chlamys and petasos, holding two spears. The figure in the center turns back to converse with his companion, who additionally has a circular shield over his shoulders with a mask of a bearded satyr as the blazon. Between them a fourth hunter proceeds on foot, similarly clad and shouldering his spears. Three hounds follow along, two with their heads lowered, the one at the right alert, with its head turned back. Letters from pseudo-inscriptions run horizontally and vertically in the field. The scene is framed below by a lotus bud chain, and on each side by bands of ivy leaves.
On the shoulders at the center, a youthful nude Herakles wrestles the Nemean lion. The hero is down on one knee with his arms wrapped tightly around the lion’s neck. Seated to the left is his patron goddess Athena. She wears a peplos, aegis, and high-crested helmet. She holds a spear in her lowered left hand; a circular shield in profile leans against her knees, while Herakles’ club leans against her back. Standing to the right is his companion Iolaos, nude but for a chlamys draped over his raised right arm. A quiver, spear and garment are suspended above. The panel is framed above by a band of tongues.
The Leagros Group, to which a large number of late 6th century vases have been assigned, was contemporary with the red-figure Pioneers (Euphronios, Euthymides, Phintias and others), and produced in the same workshop or workshops (J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, p. 354). Beazley further divided the Group by identifying various hands within it, and this work has continued by others since the publication of Beazley’s Paralipomena in 1971. Moignard (op. cit.) considered the painter of the hydria presented here to be close to the Acheloos Painter, ascribing it to her “Hand A”. Conversely, Steinhart (op. cit.) identified two other Leagros Group hydriae that have very similar hunting scenes on their main panels, one in Geneva and one in Paris (see Beazley Archive Pottery Database nos. 302064 and 3018) and designated a new painter, who’s name combines the first letters of these two cities with Zimmerman: the GPZ Painter.
On the shoulders at the center, a youthful nude Herakles wrestles the Nemean lion. The hero is down on one knee with his arms wrapped tightly around the lion’s neck. Seated to the left is his patron goddess Athena. She wears a peplos, aegis, and high-crested helmet. She holds a spear in her lowered left hand; a circular shield in profile leans against her knees, while Herakles’ club leans against her back. Standing to the right is his companion Iolaos, nude but for a chlamys draped over his raised right arm. A quiver, spear and garment are suspended above. The panel is framed above by a band of tongues.
The Leagros Group, to which a large number of late 6th century vases have been assigned, was contemporary with the red-figure Pioneers (Euphronios, Euthymides, Phintias and others), and produced in the same workshop or workshops (J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, p. 354). Beazley further divided the Group by identifying various hands within it, and this work has continued by others since the publication of Beazley’s Paralipomena in 1971. Moignard (op. cit.) considered the painter of the hydria presented here to be close to the Acheloos Painter, ascribing it to her “Hand A”. Conversely, Steinhart (op. cit.) identified two other Leagros Group hydriae that have very similar hunting scenes on their main panels, one in Geneva and one in Paris (see Beazley Archive Pottery Database nos. 302064 and 3018) and designated a new painter, who’s name combines the first letters of these two cities with Zimmerman: the GPZ Painter.