Attic goblet Krater of the Painter of the Boston Phiale
Attic goblet Krater of the Painter of the Boston Phiale
With regard to the technique of painting on a white background in this vase by the Painter of the Boston Phiale, a pupil of the Achilles Painter, a pictorial style emerges that is difficult to express solely through the red-figure technique. The master confers a particular spiritual elevation to the figures of this mythological picture: Hermes, with petasos and winged sandals, delivers the baby Dionysius wrapped in a cloth to Papposilenus seated on a rock with a thyrsus on the left; behind Hermes and the aged Silenus there are two Nymphs who will raise the little god. On the other side three Muses are represented - one seated on a rock in the act of playing the barbiton, the other at the sides, one of whom has a lyre - in accordance with the predilection for the world of theatre, music and dance regularly expressed by the painter. It is believed that the main theme in reality describes a theatrical representation, possibly from a lost satirical drama by Sophocles.