The flourishing of Athens as a cultural centre is attested to by the great quantity and high quality of painted vases produced in Attica (the name given to Athens and its surrounding area) from the late seventh century until around 480 B.C., known as the Archaic period in Greek art. Archaic Greek vases tend to be smaller than the earlier geometric and orientalising vases, and many of these utilitarian vessels - kylixes, or drinking cups; amphorae, for storing oil or wine; kraters, for mixing wine and water; and so on - were exquisitely decorated, frequently with narrative scenes that are often mythological in sub­ject. In this period, decorative patterning now functions almost exclusively as a framing element. The human figure, whether mortal or immortal - unlike the hybrid forms of Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods, the immortal gods and goddesses of Greek mythology are entirely human in appearance - becomes the main theme of Greek vase painting. The same humanism inspired artists to start rejecting the composite depiction of the human body, that is, the combined frontal and profile views, and move toward a more realistic rendering of human form in three-dimensional space. In this new art, the musculature is often carefully delineated and figures foreshortened.

Exekias. Dionysus in His Boat. c.540 B.C.

Interior of an Attic black figured kylix. Diameter: 12″ (30cm). Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich

Dionysis relaxes in his boat after having frightened off a band of pirates by causing grape vines to spring up. The pirates, after jumping overboard in fear, are turned into dolphins. Suitably, this stroy about the god of wine decorates a kylix, or drinking cup

A detail from the inside of one kylix shows a depiction of Dionysus, the god of wine, reclining on his boat. The scene represents an episode from a Homeric hymn in which Dionysus, having been abducted by pirates, causes grape vines to sprout from his boat. The pirates jump overboard in fear and are turned into dolphins. The talented artist who painted this wonderful scene is actually known to us by name: Exekias (flourished c. 550-525 B.C.). Many Greek vase painters of the Archaic period signed their works - another example of Greek humanistic tendencies - and thus, for the first time, an artist’s oeuvre can be documented. An outstanding example of Exekias’ sensitivity can be seen in one of his amphorae; he created a simple composition consisting primarily of two figures, Achilles and Ajax, whose curved forms beautifully echo the amphora’s rounded contours.

Exekias. Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice. c.540-530 B.C.

Attic black figure amphora from Vulci. Height: 24″ (61cm). Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican

In the black-figure technique of Greek vase painting, figures were painted using slip which turned back when the vase was fired. The red background is the unslipped area of the ceramic surface. A stylus was used to scratch through the slipped surface to create details in red - the complex, delicate, deftly incised patterns on the cloaks worn by Achilles and Ajax in this image testify to Exekias’ genius. Although engaged in a game of dice (Achilles calls out “tesara” [four] and Ajax calls out “tri” [three]), both heroes sit poised for action, holding their spears at the ready. Many Greek vases owe their survival to the Etruscans in pre-Roman Itlay. The Etruscans were avid collectors of Greek vases. This vase comes from the Etruscan site of Vulci, roughly half way between Rome and Florence.

These vases by Exekias are two of the best examples of the black-figured style. In this technique, the figures are painted using a slip - clay mixed with water - that turns black when the vase is fired. The red background is the un-slipped area of the ceramic surface. Details of the black figures can be scratched through the slip surface with a stylus; white and reddish-purple glosses were often added over the black. The red figured technique leaves the un-slipped figures to be fired to the reddish colour of the clay, while the background is painted in with slip to fire black. The artist can then add detail simply by applying slip to the red figures with a thin paintbrush. Red-figured vases became more popular around the end of the sixth century B.C., perhaps because that technique better expressed the developing Greek interest in the physical and psychological natures of individual human beings.

[catch the next part in the "History of Western Paintings", Ancient Greece (Part Three), next Sunday. Subscribe to our RSS feed to make sure you don't miss out!]

A series of London auctions featuring paintings by Lucian Freud, Claude Monet and Joan Miro netted the biggest-ever sum for a week of art sales in Europe, auctioneers Christie’s said today.

The sales earned a total of £237 million ($561.41 million) and featured 23 new artist records.

Highlights included French Impressionist Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, which sold for £17.9 million ($42.4 million), the third-highest price for the artist at auction and the week’s most expensive painting at Christie’s.

Bruce Bernard by Briton Freud sold for nearly £7.9 million ($18.71 million) - a world record for any work by a living European artist - and Spaniard Miro’s Le Coq (The Cock) fetched £6.6 million ($15.63 million).

Tuesday’s Impressionist and modern art sale was the most lucrative of the week, with sales totalling over £121 million.

Christie’s European president, Jussi Pylkkanen, said the results highlighted “the ever-increasing number of new buyers entering the market”.

“There is great strength and depth in this marketplace and it promises to be another record year for the London art market,” he said.

Christie’s rivals Sotheby’s are also conducting high-budget art sales in London this week.

The auction house sold Monet’s Nympheas, part of his water lilies series, on Wednesday for £18.5 million ($43.82 million), the second-largest price tag ever for the sought-after artist.

Around 1100 B.C. invaders from northwest of the Balkan Mountains entered what is today the Greek mainland, the islands of the Aegean and Asia Minor, the western part of Turkey. These invaders mixed with the Bronze Age peoples already inhabiting these areas, forming the civilization of ancient Greece. Organized into city-states, the ancient Greeks shared a common language and religion, but had dif­ferent governing structures. Often there was fierce rivalry between city-states, although on occasion the Greeks would combine forces against the Persians, who were a constant threat to the Aegean until the fifth century b.c. Around the sixth century B.C. the city of Athens rose to political, economic and cultural prominence.

Krater. 750-735 B.C.

Dipylon Cemetery, Athens. Geometric Style. Height: approx. 40″ (101cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Some of the oldest surviving works of art created by the ancient Greeks are their ceramic vases. Many early vases served as monuments marking graves in cemeteries, thus explaining their large size and the funerary scenes often found adorning their exterior surfaces. One such vase from the Dipylon cemetery in Athens, dating to 750-735 B.C., is decorated in the “geometric” style. Unlike the more organic, curvilinear, free-floating designs seen on Minoan vases, geometric-style vases have more rectilinear and programmatic decoration, organized in bands. The torsos of the figures making up the funeral proces­sion in the second register from the top - the deceased himself can be seen laid out on his bier at the far right - consist of triangles, while their arms are composed of long, very thin rectangles. The humanity of these abstracted figures is subordinated to their role as decorative elements in the overall patterned design. The geometrically conceived human figures and patterns alternate and mix together on the surface of this vase, creating a two-dimensional rhythm.

Rhodian Oenochos (wine jar). Second half of the 7th century B.C.

Height: 13″ (32.5cm). Musee du Louvre, Paris

“Orientalising” vases such as the one illustrated here, so called because of the influence of works from the Near East and Egypt on the decoration, were produced in Greek pottery centers, such as Rhodes, in the seventh century B.C. The elegantly stylised deer and geese on this wine jar resemble animal forms in the art of the ancient Near East. The decorative plant forms at the base are very similar to the lotus buds found depicted in the ancient Egyptian art.

In the seventh century B.C., “orientalising” style vases were produced in several Greek pottery centres. As the name suggests, the decoration of these ceramic vessels was often influenced by motifs found in the art of the Near East and Egypt. Many of these vases were produced in Corinth, a major port which imported objects from the East. The orientalising style oenochos, or wine jar, from Rhodes, another centre of pottery production, is decorated with elegantly stylized deer and geese, resembling animals seen in many works from the ancient Near East. Interspersed between these animals are geometric design elements, while a plant motif resembling the lotus bud forms found in Egyptian painting and sculp­ture adorns the lowest register of the jar.

[catch the next part in the "History of Western Paintings", Ancient Greece (Part Two), next Sunday. Subscribe to our RSS feed to make sure you don't miss out!]