Brygos Painter - Style and Artistry

Style and Artistry

Stylistically, the Brygos Painter is in a tradition with the early works by Onesimos. The influence of Onesimos is apparent in the Brygos Painter's use of twisting limbs and dramatic foreshortening, it is a possibility that Brygos was a pupil of Onesimos. Especially at the beginning of his career, he is bold and inventive. His drawing is not almost of the utmost precisions, but the postures of his figures and the expressiveness of their faces are outstanding. He is considered as the Archaic painter who had achieved the highest mastery of depicting body postures. He also is one of the first, and very few, painters who managed to paint a child to truly look like a child, and not like a small adult. Much of this suggests that he based his work on acute observation. Many of his figures also clearly display the effects of age. Typical motifs are symposium and palaistra scenes. Flat skulls, long noses and narrow eyes with rather high eyebrows ate characteristics of his style. His skill in painting the human mouth is remarkable: he can depict them as whistling, singing, playing the flute or clenching their lips with a high degree of anatomic accuracy. Stubbly beards or stubbly hair (on old men), as well as first signs of balding are also typical.

His mythical scenes are frequently original. Thus, he depicts the body of Ajax being covered by Tekmessa, the handing-over of the body of Hector and other scenes from the Trojan War. Dionysiac scenes are common as well. A famous bowl depicts satyrs attacking the goddesses Iris and Hera. While Iris attempts to flee, hera is protected by Heracles and Hermes. Dionysos is present, but apparently uninvolved. As on many of the Brygos Painter's vases, the figures are named by inscription; at times he even describes what they say or call. In spite of his frequent use of writing, kalos inscriptions by the Brygos Painter are rare.

The Brygos Painter was associated with a broader circle of artists who were influenced by him or even worked with him at the workshop of the potter Brygos. These include the Foundry Painter, the Briseis Painter, the Dokimasia Painter, the Painter of Louvre G 265 and the Painter of the Paris Gigantomachy.