The young men are not heroes of legend with their finely detailed features, they are given personality and character, but they could be any of the youthful soldiers in the Greek army. The other scene, of the anonymous youths preparing for war, is both more general and explicitly contemporary. The death of Sarpedon, a quasi-mythological story which would be familiar to anyone viewing the krater, is an episode involving specific historical and mythological figures. The scene of the anonymous Greek youths on the reverse shares this naturalistic style, using all the Pioneer Group's characteristic techniques of anatomical accuracy, natural poses, foreshortening, and spatial illusion.Īlso characteristic of the Pioneer Group is the narrative tension created both by pairing these two scenes on the same piece, and by painting them in a common style. This style is emblematic of the Pioneer Group of late Archaic painters, of whom Euphronios is considered the most accomplished. While the subject of Sarpedon's death might normally be depicted as a stylized tableau, the figures in this scene are painted in naturalistic poses and with schematic but accurate anatomy. In the scene of Sarpedon's death, the god Hermes directs the personifications of Sleep ( Hypnos) and Death ( Thanatos) to carry the fallen away to his homeland for burial. The reverse of the krater shows a contemporary scene of Athenian youths from the sixth century BC arming themselves before battle. An episode from the Trojan War is shown on the obverse this illustration depicts the death of Sarpedon, son of Zeus and Laodamia. Reverse side depicting Athenian youths arming themselves The style of the vase is red-figure pottery, in which figure outlines, details, and the background are painted with an opaque black slip while the figures themselves are left in the color of the unpainted terracotta ceramic clay. The Euphronios Krater stands 45.7 cm (18 inches) in height and has a diameter of 55.1 cm (21.7 inches). It is now in the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Cerveteri it as part of a strategy of returning stolen works of art to their place of origin. Illegally excavated from an Etruscan cemetery near Cerveteri, it was part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 1972 to 2008, until repatriated to Italy under an agreement negotiated in February 2006. Created around the year 515 BC, it is the only complete example of the surviving 27 vases painted by the renowned Euphronios and is considered one of the finest Ancient Greek vases in existence. The Euphronios Krater (or Sarpedon Krater) is an ancient Greek terra cotta calyx- krater, a bowl used for mixing wine with water. Front side depicting Sarpedon’s body carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death), while Hermes watches
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