King Priam supplicating Achilles

Supplication - to humbly petition, beg, or beseech.

This week, I will cover 4 vase paintings that feature supplication. Two featuring Achilles/Priam, and two featuring Nessos/Herakles. All very different in style.


On Wednesday and Thursday I will present two vase fragments that depict King Priam supplicating Achilles, asking him to return his son Hector's body to him.



The Story

A translation of The Iliad by Ian Johnston: http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad24.htm

Selected quotes to flesh out the story behind these fragments:


[Achilles]'d see Dawn’s approach across the sea and beaches,
then he’d harness his fast horses to their chariot,
tie on Hector and drag him behind, driving
three times around the tomb of Menoetius’ dead son.
Then in his hut he’d rest again, leaving Hector
stretched out, face down in the dust. But Apollo,
feeling pity for Hector, though he was dead,
guarded his skin from any lacerations,
covering his whole body with the golden aegis,
so as Achilles dragged him, he did not tear his skin.
Still Achilles kept dishonouring godlike Hector.

..........

Priam then climbed from his chariot to the ground.
He left Idaios there to tend the mules and horses.
The old man went directly in the hut
where Achilles, dear to Zeus, usually sat.
He found Achilles there, with only two companions,
sitting some distance from him—warrior Automedon
and Alcimus, offshoot of the war god Ares—
busy attending him. He’d just completed dinner.
He’d had food and drink, but the table was still there.
The men did not see great Priam as he entered.
He came up to Achilles, then with his fingers
clasped his knees and kissed his hands, those dreadful hands,
man-killers, which had slain so many of his sons.
Just as sheer folly grips a man who in his own land
kills someone, then runs off to a land of strangers,
to the home of some rich man, so those who see him
are seized with wonder—that’s how Achilles then
looked on godlike Priam in astonishment.
The others were amazed. They gazed at one another.
Then Priam made his plea, entreating:

“Godlike Achilles, remember your own father, who’s as old as me, on the painful threshold of old age. It may well be that those who live around him are harassing him, and no one’s thereto save him from ruin and destruction. But when he hears you’re still alive, his heart feels joy, for every day he hopes he’ll see his dear son come back home from Troy. But I’m completely doomed to misery, for I fathered the best sons in spacious Troy, yet I say now not one of them remains. I had fifty when Achaea’s sons arrived— nineteen born from the same mother’s womb, others the women of the palace bore me. Angry Ares drained the life of most of them. But I had one left, guardian of our city, protector of its people. You’ve just killed him, as he was fighting for his native country. I mean Hector. For his sake I’ve come here, to Achaea’s ships, to win him back from you.

And I’ve brought a ransom beyond counting. So Achilles, show deference to the god and pity for myself, remembering your own father. Of the two old men, I’m more pitiful, because I have endured what no living mortal on this earth has borne— I’ve lifted up to my own lips and kissed the hands of the man who killed my son.”

Priam finished. His words roused in Achilles a desire to weep for his own father. Taking Priam’s hand, he gently moved him back. So the two men there both remembered warriors who’d been slaughtered. Priam, lying at Achilles’ feet, wept aloud for man-killing Hector, and Achilles also wept for his own father and once more for Patroclus. The sound of their lamenting filled the house.

I'm not gone, I swear!

I've been working HARD on the online catalog for MCHS lately because they've printed the website address in the newsletter and it's... not done yet. And I haven't had much dinero for going into NYC and getting more photos.

BUT...

I went in today and took pictures of 4 pieces having to do with supplication.

AND...

Right before my camera's battery died, I realized that there are a TON of things on the symposium and the gymnasium. So when I go back in a week, I'll load up on photos so I can go a couple of weeks before going back into NYC.

Art File: Two Schoolgirls

Two Schoolgirls

Met # 06.1021.167

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

Greek, Attic, red-figure

Circa 460-450 BC

Attributed to the Painter of Bologna [417]

Interior: Two schoolgirls (shown)

Exterior: Women conversing

Met’s plaque:

“The representation in the tondo provides interesting evidence of the education of women in the mid-fifth century B.C. The girl on the left carries a pair of writing tablets and a stylus. Where she and her companion are going is not indicated. Although there apparently were some schools, those who could afford it were probably tutored at home. The girl with the tablets is obviously reluctant, but why we cannot know. The scene on the exterior may have some connection as the paraphernalia suspended in the background includes another set of tablets, torchholders, and an alabastron (perfume vase) in addition to wreaths and slippers.”

On Paris & Oenone engraving: Correction

We found out the other day (after spending time on it with a magnifying glass) that the artist IS identified on the Paris and Oenone engraving!

The original painter: Angelica Kauffman
The engraver: Francesco Bartolozzi


We found that this engraving dates back to the late 18th century, so there is no way that the Binyon 1906 play was a factor in its creation. BUT since the 1906 play is based on Quintus Smyrnaeus’s Posthomerica, book X.259-489 (4^th century C.E.), the story of what happened between Paris and Oenone after Ovid's letter by Oenone still stands.

Just wanted to clarify that.


Just in case you're interested:

Info on Angelica Kauffman: Biography Base
Info on Francesco Bartolozzi: Art of the Print

Art File: Woman and Servant

Woman and Servant

Met Museum # 54.11.7

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Greek, Attic, white-ground

Circa 440 BC

Attributed to the Achilles Painter

From the Met’s plaque:

"The setting here is the interior of a house, probably the women’s quarters as indicated by the stool and the oinochoe (jug) on the wall. The lady hands a bundle of garments to her maid. The women’s clothing was originally painted. The color is gone, however, and one now sees the contours that the artist sketched in for reference."

Art File: Thracian Woman

Thracian Woman

Met #: 96.9.37
Greek, Attic, Red-figure
Kylix (drinking cup)
Circa 480-470 BC
Attributed to the Brygos Painter


From the Met's Label:

"The large piece of patterned cloth used as a shield identifies the figure as Thracian. She hastens forward holding a spear in her right hand. The characterization suggests that she is an excerpt from a larger scene depicting the death of Orpheus, the irresistible musician. After losing his wife, Eurydice, Orpheus became a recluse. Thus spurned, the enraged women of Thrace killed him. In one version, they tore him to pieces."


Brygos Painter (from the Getty Museum):

"Active:about 490 B.C. - 470 B.C. Athens
vase-painter
Greek

Working in Athens in the early 400s B.C., the Brygos Painter was a prolific decorator of red-figure cups. Over two hundred vases have been attributed to him, including a limited number of shapes other than cups and some vessels in the white-ground technique.

Having learned his craft from Onesimos, the Brygos Painter was himself quite influential and was the center of a large circle of painters. The Brygos Painter painted both genre and mythological scenes, being especially fond of depictions of symposia, athletes, and Achilles.

His treatments of mythological scenes were often innovative, and he was also rather stylistically experimental. He had a greater interest in spatial effects and setting than did his contemporaries. By using dilute glaze washes to show three-dimensionality, his painting technique comes close to shading.

As with most Greek vase-painters, the real name of the Brygos Painter is unknown, and he is identified only by the stylistic traits of his work. He is named after the potter Brygos, with whom he worked. Some scholars think the painter and potter may be one and the same person."

Art File: Woman At The Laver

Woman At The Laver

Met #: 1986.322.1
Greek, Attic, Red-figure
Kylix (drinking cup)
Circa 500 BC
Attributed to Douris
Interior: Woman washing clothes
Exterior: Athletes (not shown)


From the Met's label:

"The interior presents a lovely picture of a young woman at a laver. By her feet stands a bail amphora in which water was carried. She has her hair in a sakkos (snood) and wears a chiton that shows off the painter's skill in drawing and handling dilute glaze.

The skyphos (deep drinking cup) and wineskin on the wall subtly introduce the symposium at which this [kylix] was used and in which the youths on the exterior would soon participate."


Biography of Douris (from the Getty Museum):

"Active:500 B.C. - 460 B.C. Athens
vase-painter; potter
Greek

One of the most prolific vase-painters known, Douris worked as a vase-painter and occasionally as a potter in Athens in the early 400s B.C. He is known from almost forty signed vases, two of which he also potted. Altogether, almost three hundred vases have been attributed to him. Given that scholars estimate a less than 0.5% survival rate for Greek vases, Douris may have decorated about 78,000 vases in his career.

Douris primarily decorated red-figure cups, but he also painted a few vessels of other forms and in other techniques, including white-ground. His scenes are about evenly divided between mythology and depictions of everyday life.

He worked with a number of potters, including Kleophrades and Euphronios, but he seems to have had a regular collaboration with Python. Onesimos depicted a cup signed by Douris on one of his vases, and there is even an ancient forgery of Douris's signature. These unusual references attest to Douris's significant influence among contemporary vase-painters."