DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0275
XV
VASES: ARTISTIC TRADITION
255
of all periods — certain dialectic peculiarities, if I may so term
them, on the analogy of language.
One of the commonest phenomena of vase-painting is what
is called contamination, the influence exerted by one recognized
scheme upon another, the transference of persons or circum-
stances from surroundings in which they have a meaning to a
connection in which they are out of place. That this should
commonly take place is the surest of proofs that the painters
of vases thought in schemes and figures as well as in event or
myth. Contamination, as is natural, is far more prominent in
vases which are mere handiwork than in such as have real
meaning, and were executed with thought. Also in schemes
made up of closely similar elements, for example, Hermes lead-
ing three nymphs and Hermes leading the goddesses to the
judgment of Paris, it is very natural that these two should
be, as often happens, somewhat mixed up.1 But contamination
occurs under a variety of other circumstances. Though it may
be most readily traced in vase-paintings, it is also prevalent in
other parts of the Greek fancy world. Myths also are con-
stantly contaminated, one borrowing event and circumstance
from another. Religious usages are also very liable to con-
tamination. It will be well to give a few examples of vase
contamination.
I have already observed that when two heroes are represented
as contending in arms, and the two mothers standing on either
side behind them, we usually regard the scene as the battle
between Achilles and Memnon, in the presence of their mothers,
Thetis and Eos. On a fine vase, probably painted by Euphro-
nius (Fig. 89) ,2 we find a beautiful scene, where the body of a
dead hero is carried to its burial by two winged figures, a black-
haired daemon, who is doubtless Death, and a red-haired com-
1 The judgment of Paris ia reserved for more detailed treatment in chapter
XVIII.
2 Klein, Euphronios, p. 272.
VASES: ARTISTIC TRADITION
255
of all periods — certain dialectic peculiarities, if I may so term
them, on the analogy of language.
One of the commonest phenomena of vase-painting is what
is called contamination, the influence exerted by one recognized
scheme upon another, the transference of persons or circum-
stances from surroundings in which they have a meaning to a
connection in which they are out of place. That this should
commonly take place is the surest of proofs that the painters
of vases thought in schemes and figures as well as in event or
myth. Contamination, as is natural, is far more prominent in
vases which are mere handiwork than in such as have real
meaning, and were executed with thought. Also in schemes
made up of closely similar elements, for example, Hermes lead-
ing three nymphs and Hermes leading the goddesses to the
judgment of Paris, it is very natural that these two should
be, as often happens, somewhat mixed up.1 But contamination
occurs under a variety of other circumstances. Though it may
be most readily traced in vase-paintings, it is also prevalent in
other parts of the Greek fancy world. Myths also are con-
stantly contaminated, one borrowing event and circumstance
from another. Religious usages are also very liable to con-
tamination. It will be well to give a few examples of vase
contamination.
I have already observed that when two heroes are represented
as contending in arms, and the two mothers standing on either
side behind them, we usually regard the scene as the battle
between Achilles and Memnon, in the presence of their mothers,
Thetis and Eos. On a fine vase, probably painted by Euphro-
nius (Fig. 89) ,2 we find a beautiful scene, where the body of a
dead hero is carried to its burial by two winged figures, a black-
haired daemon, who is doubtless Death, and a red-haired com-
1 The judgment of Paris ia reserved for more detailed treatment in chapter
XVIII.
2 Klein, Euphronios, p. 272.