Kleophon Painter - Themes - Greek Mythology

Greek Mythology

The second most common theme in the Kleophon Painter’s works is Greek Mythology. He is especially fond of painting the return of Hephaistos and he also paints Dionysus quite often. Hephaistos was the god of metalworking. The myth states that he was cast out of Olympia by Zeus after he stood up against him in defense of his mother. He would end up on earth and is said to have made armor for Achilles that was so bright and obviously god-made that the Trojans fled instantly at the sight of it. Those who did not were mercilessly slain. Kleophon paints the return of Hephaistos quite a few times on Pelikes, Skyphoi and Kraters. He also paints themes involving Dionysus quite often. Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest and wine. He is usually painted by the Kleophon Painter with his Maenads. Maenads were the female followers of Dionysus. They were known for getting extremely drunk and losing all inhibitions, often engaging in uncontrolled sexual behavior as well as hunting down wild animals and killing them. Dionysus and the Maenads were usually painted on Kraters by the Kleophon Painter. This is likely because of the fact that Kraters were used for making wine.

While the themes of Dionysus and Hephaistos are common in the Kleophon Painter’s works, one of the best examples of the mythological theme is a painting of Eos and Kephalos. This vase comes from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is an Attic Red Figure Vase dating from 430 to 420 BCE. The Painter is Kleophon by Beazly. The painting is black from the top of the neck down to the middle of the neck with a tongue pattern interrupting the black and red in the middle of the neck. Below the tongue pattern is a three flower pattern wrapped around the neck of the Lekythos. The flower pattern extends from the tongue pattern at the thinnest part of the neck down to the top of the shoulder. It has one handle (black with red on the inside) that extends the length of the neck ending at the shoulder. Wrapped around the shoulder is a red meander pattern interrupted by a saltire pattern every fourth box. Underneath the shoulder is where the main decoration is located. It is a picture of the Titan Eos with her lover, Kephalos. Eos is, in Greek Mythology, the goddess of the dawn. Kephalos was her lover, she can be seen in other vase paintings holding Kephalos who is sometimes painted in the nude. In this painting, both figures are clothed. Eos is identified by her wings and flowing robes. Eos’ eyes are triangular and directed toward Kephalos. Kephalos’ eyes are slightly more circular but still triangular in appearance and face back toward Eos. Eos has many folds on her clothing which are rounded off at the bottom whereas Kleophon has almost no folds in his clothing.

The vase is symmetric all the way around the neck and top of the shoulder. The only discrepancy is that the handle is located right between side A and B. The vase changes from a symmetrical vase with nothing but patterns to a scene of Eos and Kleophon underneath the shoulder. On side A, Eos can be seen reaching out toward Kleophon. She is wearing long robes and has wings that are folded behind her. Side B shows Kleophon with an aggressive looking stance facing Eos. He is wearing a hat and has shorter robes. He is wearing calf-high boots with heels that are a slightly darker red than the rest of his body.

The lekythos depicting Eos and Kephalos does an excellent job of showing the common trends in the style of painting in a majority of the Kleophon Painter’s works. The meander pattern interrupted every fourth block is a good indicator that this is a Kleophon painting. Most of his works include a meander pattern as well as a tongue pattern. The meander pattern is almost always interrupted every fourth block. The next thing to look at is the eyes on the figures in the painting. They usually come to a point furthest from the nose and may or may not be slightly rounded out. The background is very plain as it is with most of the Kleophon Painter’s vases and this vase is fairly large. The Kleophon Painter worked almost exclusively on larger vases. He did most of his work on Kraters which are large enough to make wine in.