Aristophanes (vase painter)

Depiction of gigantomachy on the inside of a kylix. Antikensammlung Berlin

Aristophanes (Greek: Ἀριστοφάνης; active between 430 and 400 BC in Athens) was an ancient Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure style. Three pieces signed by him are known. Two of them are bowls made by the potter Erginos, now in Berlin (Antikensammlung Berlin) and Boston (Museum of Fine Arts), the third is the fragment of a krater in Agrigento (Museo Archeologico Regionale). A number of further works are attributed to him. Aristophanes strove to make his figures appear as lively as possible. His paintings are characterised by carefully drawn separate lines. In some cases, the drawing of garment folds or women's hair leads to a somewhat artificial impression. First academic consideration of non-convex polygons is credited to the designs present in one of his kraters.

Selected works

• Agrigento, Museo Archeologico Regionale

fragment of a bell krater

• Berlin, Antikensammlung

loutrophoros F 2373 • bowl 2531 • lekythos F 2706

• Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

bowl 00.344 • bowl 00.345

• St. Petersburg, Eremitage

bowl

Sources

• Carl Robert. Aristophanes (16). In: DNP, Vol. 1, 4. fasc., col. 1005.
• Künstlerlexikon der Antike I (2001) 92-93 Aristophanes (G. Bröker).