Berlin Painter

The Berlin Painter along with his apparent rival the Kleophrades Painter was educated by a member of the Pioneer Group, who introduced red-figure painting. The Berlin Painter began working in the Late Archaic style and helped develop the Classic style. Over a long career he trained many younger vase-painters, including, probably, the Achilles Painter.

The majority of his works have been found across Italy. This may suggest that they were created for export to the Italian market. Many of his valued works were preserved as élite grave goods in the necropoleis of Magna Graecia and Etruria, notably at Vulci, Nola and Locri.

In 2017, Princeton University did a showcase, The Berlin Painter and his World. A book was also published, the first to focus on The Berlin Painter since John Beazley's Der Berliner Maler.

Forms and repertoire

Red figure vase-painting was invented around 530 BC. Before then black-figure vases were popular. The earliest works attributed to the Berlin Painter occur around 505 BC, attesting to his being educated by the red-figure Pioneer Group.

The Berlin Painter utilized a variety of different shapes. His most popular shape is the amphora. He produced a series of Panathenaic amphora, which are his only black-figure vases. He painted a number of Nolan amphora, and was responsible for the popularity of that form. He also painted on water jars (hydriai), large wine bowls (kraters), or smaller shapes such as jugs (oinochoai) and oil bottles (lekythoi).

His two most popular characters from mythology are Athena and Apollo. Fawns and Greek animals are also popular themes in his work, which varied from mythological themes to athletes. One "masterpiece" is a hydra in the Vatican. Apollo is seated on a large tripod with wings, with which he flies over the sea escorted by two dolphins in the act of diving.

On several of his vases, painted red figures are isolated or paired without framing devices against a glossy black ground. So integral to the forms of their superbly-made bodies; it is thought the wares themselves were also produced in his shop. The tall figures often start near the middle of the vase and continue over the shoulder, stopping at the neck. He pays close attention to the drapery of their clothing, and their facial features. Most notable is the eye, which is typically open, long, and with the pupil towards the inner eye.

The Berlin Painter used dilute glaze to add red tones onto his vases. This is clear on the fawn's coat in his namepiece. He is also known for his careful key patterns, which border the bottom of his single figures, and are unique to the Berlin painter and his students. The pattern features alternating meander boxes with alternating saltire squares.