Black-Figure Vase Painting

Greek Art

In this course, Professor Judy Barringer (University of Edinburgh) explores Greek art, focusing in particular on vase-painting and sculpture from the seventh to the early fifth century BC. We begin by thinking about black-figure pottery, focusing in particular on the François Vase, Exekias' Vatican Amphora, and the Dionysus Cup. After that, we turn to red-figure pottery and the works of the Andokides Painter, Euphronios, Euthymides, and the Berlin Painter. In the third and fourth modules, we consider free-standing sculpture, looking first at male figures (kouroi) and then at female figures (korai), including (in the third module) the New York Kouros, Sounion Kouros and Anavysos Kouros and (in the fourth) the Phrasikleia Kore and the Korai from the Athenian Acropolis. Finally, in the fifth module, we think about the development of architectural sculpture in the sixth century, focusing in particular on the sculptures from the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi as well as those from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.

Black-Figure Vase Painting

In this module, we think about the development of Greek vase painting from the earliest mythological scenes in the 7th century BC to the development of the black-figure style in Corinth in the 6th century BC, focusing in particular on three black-figure vases made in Attica in the 6th century BC: (i): Kleitias' François Vase; (ii): Exekias' Vatican amphora; and (iii) Exekias' Dionysus cup.