Euthymides

Belly Amphora

White text: p.43-44

Black text: p.45-48
Euthymides
Euthymides means “Good spirit”. He was a
contemporary of Euphronios, and another
member of the Pioneer group.

He and Euphronios were friends and rivals, it

seems. He may have been slightly younger, but
he was not an imitator. He was as good as
Euphronios at composition, and his style of
decoration is subtly different.
• He used dilute glaze more to show anatomical
details,
• he made more inscriptions,
• his figures are heavier than Euphronios’,
• his figures rarely have eyelashes or loose ringlets,
and have simpler ears, long flat feet, and rubbery
fingers.

Euthymides signed only 6 vases, but he seems to

have preferred belly amphorae.
• Shape: Belly Amphora
• Function: Storage of
wine, oil or honey
• Painter: Euthymides
• Potter: Unknown
• Technique: Red-Figure
• Date: c.510-500 BC
Dimensions
Diameter of neck: 29.7cm

Height: 60cm
Inscriptions
• All the figures on the
vase are named
• Euthymides signs
himself seven times,
including three times
as “Euthymides, son
of Pollias the
sculptor”
• He also named several
contemporaries on the
vase, including Megakles,
who was, apparently,
“beautiful”.
• Finally, Euthymides also
adds “As never
Euphronios”, a sign of a
friendly rivalry.
Side A
The Myth
Hector, son of King Priam of Troy, was the
greatest of the Trojan warriors. He led the
Trojans in the Trojan War, since Priam was too
old to fight.
Hector killed Patroclus, and Achilles met
Hector in a crucial scene in “The Iliad”.
Achilles killed Hector before dragging his body
from the back of his chariot around Patroclus’
tomb, every day for 12 days. With Hector’s
death, the fall of Troy was close at hand.
The mood of this frieze is sombre, as Hector says goodbye to his parents
Priam, an aged figure
with a bald head and a
stubbly beard, is
wrapped up in a cloak.
He leans on a knobbled
stick with his left hand,
and seems to be
gesturing to Hector with
his right.
The Trojan hero,
Hector, is in the
centre of the
frieze, preparing
himself for the
battle with
Achilles. He is
putting on his
leather corselet. His shield is
shown leaning
up against his
mother

He already wears
his metal greaves
Queen Hecuba stands at the
right of the frieze, holding
Hector’s spear.

She holds Hector’s helmet

ready above his head
Drapery
There is a mixture of stiff, unrealistic-looking
drapery, and loose, flowing folds in light cloth.

The loose
The stiff folds in
folds at Hecuba’s
the back chiton and
of Priam’s himation.
cloak.
Pose
Hector’s pose still looks
unrealistic and awkward, but
Euthymides is experimenting
with foreshortening, and
mixing frontal with profile
figures.

Hector’s body is painted in frontal

view. This means his left foot has
to be foreshortened.

However, his head and his right

leg are shown in profile.
Composition

This palmette decorative band runs around the

top of the frieze, but is interrupted by Hector’s
raised helmet. This shows Euthymides’ skill in
composition.
Side B
Komachos

Teles

Euedemos

The mood of this frieze is happy, as 3 drunken revellers return from the symposium
Drapery
The drapery on these figures is purely
decorative. The folds of the cloth hang loose, in
zigzag folds.
Pose
Komarchos stands in
profile with ¾ torso

Euedemos has profile

right leg, ¾ buttocks,
profile shoulders and face – Teles is frontal with a
not a stationary position face in profile
Composition
The main friezes are
bordered on all sides:

Handles are
decorated with ivy
leaves Enclosed red-figure
palmettes

Euedemos’ walking Linked black-figure

stick interrupts the pomegranates
upper border

Stylised black-
figure buds

Ray bands around

the base
Both sides of the vase show 3
figures, a composition typical for
Euthymides.
This provides a balance on both
friezes, but also allows him to
contrast different poses on either
side.
The borders of
the frieze
follow the
contours of the
shoulder of the
vase, and line
up with the
handles.
Painting Technique
REALISM
This is a Red-Figure vase, so details are painted
on, not incised. This allows the artist to show
more complex poses and a more realistic scene
is possible.
Euthymides uses dilute slip to show the muscle
groups. He even uses dark slip for major
muscles, and lighter slip for small ones. The
accuracy shown here suggests he actually
observed live models. This was new!
Limitations to Realism
• No overlapping
• There is no attempt at background, just black
glaze.
• The figures stand on a single groundline, giving
no depth.
• Red figure is far more capable of giving an
illusion of volume and depth than the flat
silhouette of black figure, yet Euthymides does
not exploit this.