ATTRIBUTED TO THE PAINTER OF LOUVRE F 6, CIRCA 560 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED HYDRIA
ATTRIBUTED TO THE PAINTER OF LOUVRE F 6, CIRCA 560 B.C.
The main panel with Theseus slaying the Minotaur, the monster kneeling on his lowered right knee, the hero lunging into him, stepping forward with his left leg onto the Minotaur's calf, clad in a pelt over a short dotted chiton, the sheath of his weapon slung behind his right shoulder, thrusting a sword into the monster's chest, blood flowing from the wound, twisting the monster's head back in his left hand, the struggle flanked by seven clad onlookers, two bearded men and a woman to the left, two bearded men and two women to the right, each holding a staff, a band of ivy on either side; the shoulder with a draped youth between seated sphinxes and panthers, the sphinxes with sickle-shaped upturned wings, the felines with their S-shaped tails above their flanks, alternating red and black tongues above; rays above the foot, bands of added red along the rim, inside the mouth, and on the exterior of the foot, additional details in added red throughout; traces of a dipinto on the underside of the foot
13¾ in. (34.9 cm.) high

Provenance

German Private Collection.
German Art Market.
with Charles Ede, London, 2001.

Lot Essay

One might expect the onlookers to represent other members of the Athenian youths and maidens sent for sacrifice to the Minotaur. However, the presence of beards on the men suggests that they are rather "simply part of the formal design." See no. 247 in Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece.

The Painter of Louvre F6 rarely depicts mythological subjects. His animals are very close to Lydos. For other hydriae by the painter with similar compositions on the shoulders see Beazley, Attic Black-figure Vase-painters, pp. 123-124, nos. 2, 8, 9 and 13.

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