DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4761#0007
INTRODUCTION.
The vases catalogued in this volume are mostly of the red-figured class. The
exceptions are principally those which have the design laid in various colours on
a prepared white ground. Apparently the centre of fabrication of both classes
was Athens ; the period they cover was that in which vase painting most
flourished, from about 520 to 400 B.C.
The term "red-figured" applies to those vases on which the design
stands out in the natural colour of the clay against a black glaze which covers
the remaining surface of the vase. The technical process then was practically
an inversion of the preceding method with black figures, the colour which
had hitherto been used for the design now becoming the background. On
the black figures inner details of drawing had been rendered by the addition of
purple and white, or by the laborious use of a graving tool ; in the new style
these details are indicated by brush lines, in which every refinement of tone
can be attained, from deepest black to brightest yellow. The advantages thus
offered, as against the uncompromising engraved line of the former method,
contributed more than anything else to the success of the new style ; but the
method was not immediately perfected ; there was an interval, during which
the traditions of the black-figured style played a considerable part before
being finally discarded.
Briefly stated, the process in the red-figured style is as follows : on the vase
of red clay, which has been baked sufficiently to set but not to harden it, the
artist sketches his design with a fine point, correcting and re-correcting until the
outline meets his approval ; this outline is then laid in with a brush charged
with black varnish, to the width of about -i- inch around it; this marks the limit
up to and upon which the varnish of the background is to go ; then the artist
fills in his details ; first the more prominent features, such as eyes, mouth, articu-
lation and drapery, with strong lines of black ; then (in the best period) the finer
details of anatomy, &c, with delicate lines or washes of a brown colour, usually
formed by thinning out the black pigment used for the main outlines.
This new method opened a path for the freer exercise of the imagination.
We can trace in the vases catalogued in this volume the stages of a richer
artistic conception, an increased power of expression, and the shaking off of
restrictions which had fettered the former style, till the red figure stands out
against the black, unencumbered with anything which might distract the eye
from following the purity of its outline.
Greek ceramography coincided in date with the new impulse given
to painting at Athens by Polygnotos, Micon, and Panaenos. A minor art
VOL. in. B
The vases catalogued in this volume are mostly of the red-figured class. The
exceptions are principally those which have the design laid in various colours on
a prepared white ground. Apparently the centre of fabrication of both classes
was Athens ; the period they cover was that in which vase painting most
flourished, from about 520 to 400 B.C.
The term "red-figured" applies to those vases on which the design
stands out in the natural colour of the clay against a black glaze which covers
the remaining surface of the vase. The technical process then was practically
an inversion of the preceding method with black figures, the colour which
had hitherto been used for the design now becoming the background. On
the black figures inner details of drawing had been rendered by the addition of
purple and white, or by the laborious use of a graving tool ; in the new style
these details are indicated by brush lines, in which every refinement of tone
can be attained, from deepest black to brightest yellow. The advantages thus
offered, as against the uncompromising engraved line of the former method,
contributed more than anything else to the success of the new style ; but the
method was not immediately perfected ; there was an interval, during which
the traditions of the black-figured style played a considerable part before
being finally discarded.
Briefly stated, the process in the red-figured style is as follows : on the vase
of red clay, which has been baked sufficiently to set but not to harden it, the
artist sketches his design with a fine point, correcting and re-correcting until the
outline meets his approval ; this outline is then laid in with a brush charged
with black varnish, to the width of about -i- inch around it; this marks the limit
up to and upon which the varnish of the background is to go ; then the artist
fills in his details ; first the more prominent features, such as eyes, mouth, articu-
lation and drapery, with strong lines of black ; then (in the best period) the finer
details of anatomy, &c, with delicate lines or washes of a brown colour, usually
formed by thinning out the black pigment used for the main outlines.
This new method opened a path for the freer exercise of the imagination.
We can trace in the vases catalogued in this volume the stages of a richer
artistic conception, an increased power of expression, and the shaking off of
restrictions which had fettered the former style, till the red figure stands out
against the black, unencumbered with anything which might distract the eye
from following the purity of its outline.
Greek ceramography coincided in date with the new impulse given
to painting at Athens by Polygnotos, Micon, and Panaenos. A minor art
VOL. in. B