The Berlin Painter

Of all the vase painters of ancient Athens, there is one who continues to captivate all those who witness their works, not only for their splendor and skill, but also for their mystery. The identity of the artist dubbed the Berlin Painter is something we may never know. Although over 200 pieces have been identified as being painted by this individual, none of them hold the name of the artist. This is highly unusual, since by the time of the early 5th century BCE, the period when the Berlin Painter’s vases are dated, both master potters and painters would commonly place their names on their favored works.

The Berlin Painter and His World: Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C. edited by J. Michael Padgett, Curator of Ancient Art at the Princeton University Art Museum, and published by the Museum in 2017 on the occasion of exhibitions of the same name at the Princeton University Art Museum and the Toledo Museum of Art, is the definitive work on this ancient Greek artist, and includes an updated catalogue raisonné, With contributions by several leading scholars, the work seeks to rebuild the ancient city of Athens though the ceramic remains by artists such as the Berlin Painter.  

The highly decorated pottery of ancient Athens allows us to see the wide spread of influences this culture had on both the Mediterranean world and Central Europe. While beloved by those in the Hellenic world, others imported the pottery, as luxury items and elaborate symbols of wealth. The Etruscans from the Italian peninsula regularly furnished their tombs with kraters, wine mixing vessels, and the Celts of modern-day France and Germany would regularly feast using the Athenian pottery. Though lacking the fast-traveling methods available today, the broad distance where Athenian pottery can be found demonstrates that the cultures of the Mediterranean and Europe were closely connected.

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– LauraJean, Special Collections Classics Intern.

Greek Decorative Art in The Grammar of Ornament

This week we present the chromolithographic plates from the Greek section of Owen Jones’s classic work The Grammar of Ornament, published by Bernard Quaritch in London in 1868 with chromolithographs by Day & Son. The Grammar of Ornament was first published in 1856 and ours is the third English-language edition. The book features 120 chromolithographic plates of design examples from across time, geography, and culture. Jones, an architect, designer, and color theorist primarily interested in the use of color in ornamental design (“form without colour is like a body without a soul”) was an early proponent of the use of chromolithography.

While Jones, a pioneer in the use of chromolithography in books, praised Greek ornament for its “perfection of pure form to a point which has never since been reached,” his main critique was that “Greek ornament was wanting, however, in one of the great charms which should always accompany ornament, – viz. Symbolism. It was meaningless, purely decorative, never representative, and can hardly be said to be constructive… . The ornament was no part of the construction, as with the Egyptian: it could be removed, and the structure remained unchanged. On the Corinthian capital the ornament is applied, not constructed: it is not so on the Egyptian capital; there we feel the whole capital is the ornament, – to remove any portion of it would destroy it.”

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Decorative Art Styles from Antiquity

This week we present more ancient pottery styles from the first volume of Antiquités étrusques, grecques et romaines gravées by Pierre-François Hugues, known as Baron d'Hancarville, with hand-colored engravings by François-Anne David. This is the second edition which is entirely in French. It was printed in a set of five volumes by Baron d'Hancarville in Paris from 1785-1788. The first edition was published in Naples from 1766-67 under the title Antiqués étrusques, grecques et romaines, tirés du cabinet du chevalier William Hamilton, and it is in both French and English. A digitized version can be found in the Internet Archive here.

The work was collaboration between Pierre-François Hugues, an amateur art dealer and historian, and Sir William Hamilton, a British diplomat and antiquarian who collected Greek vases and other antiquities while living in Naples. William Hamilton’s collection served as the foundation of Antiquités étrusques, grecques et romaines gravées, and he later sold his collection to the British Museum. The books inspired Josiah Wedgwood and other pottery manufacturers, and was a part of larger Neoclassical movement.

View more designs from this volume.

View more posts about decorative arts and pattern books.

–Sarah, Special Collections Senior Graduate Intern

Decorative Art Styles from Antiquity

This week we present more ancient pottery styles from the first volume of Antiquités étrusques, grecques et romaines gravées by Pierre-François Hugues, known as Baron d'Hancarville, with hand-colored engravings by François-Anne David. This is the second edition which is entirely in French. It was printed in a set of five volumes by Baron d'Hancarville in Paris from 1785-1788. The first edition was published in Naples from 1766-67 under the title Antiqués étrusques, grecques et romaines, tirés du cabinet du chevalier William Hamilton, and it is in both French and English. A digitized version can be found in the Internet Archive here.

The work was collaboration between Pierre-François Hugues, an amateur art dealer and historian, and Sir William Hamilton, a British diplomat and antiquarian who collected Greek vases and other antiquities while living in Naples. William Hamilton’s collection served as the foundation of Antiquités étrusques, grecques et romaines gravées, and he later sold his collection to the British Museum. The books inspired Josiah Wedgwood and other pottery manufacturers, and was a part of larger Neoclassical movement.

View more designs from this volume.

View more posts about decorative arts and pattern books.

–Sarah, Special Collections Graduate Intern

Decorative Art Styles from Antiquity

Today we present ancient pottery styles from the first volume of Antiquités étrusques, grecques et romaines gravées by Pierre-François Hugues, known as Baron’ d'Hancarville, with hand-colored engravings by François-Anne David. This is the second edition which is entirely in French. It was printed in a set of five volumes by L'auteur in Paris from 1785-1788. The first edition was published in Naples from 1766-67 under the title Antiqués étrusques, grecques et romaines, tirés du cabinet du chevalier William Hamilton, and it is in both French and English. A digitized version can be found in the Internet Archive here.

The work was collaboration between Pierre-François Hugues, an amateur art dealer and historian, and Sir William Hamilton, a British diplomat and antiquarian who collected Greek vases and other antiquities while living in Naples. William Hamilton’s collection served as the foundation of Antiquités étrusques, grecques et romaines gravées, and he later sold his collection to the British Museum. The books inspired Josiah Wedgwood and other pottery manufacturers, and was a part of larger Neoclassical movement.

View more posts about decorative arts and pattern books. 

–Sarah, Special Collections Graduate Intern

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