Common to all vases alike is the fondness for ornamental patterns, such as the egg-pattern, wave-pattern, maeander, palmettes, and wreaths of laurel, myrtle, or ivy; though even these are guided by certain rules, much as on the black-figured vases. On the large bell-shaped kraters the decoration almost invariably consists of a laurel-wreath round the lip, maeander below the designs, and palmette patterns under the handles; and every shape of vase has its characteristic decoration. The Campanian vases show the least tendency to formal ornament, and the Lucanian run to the opposite extreme. The column-handled kraters are almost alone in retaining the archaic scheme of decoration in panels with borders of ornament, to which they adhere throughout the R.F. period; but the panels are occasionally employed for hydriae or oinochoae. In most cases, however, the luxuriant palmette patterns under the handles form an adequate frame for the design with the maeander band below. A female head frequently occurs as a decorative motive, especially in the Apulian vases; either forming the main decoration, or placed under the handles, or adorning the neck, encircled with foliage. So too the figure of Eros is employed on the later Apulian vases purely as a decorative motive.
The shapes of the vases present a very great variety, as compared with the Athenian fabrics.[[1456]] The bell-shaped krater enjoyed a short vogue, and is only found in the earlier examples; but besides the column-handled type already mentioned, the calyx-krater (vaso a calice) and the volute-handled (a rotelle) form occur from time to time. Among the early Apulian vases a variety of the latter, with medallions (mascherone) in place of the volutes, frequently occurs; these are often of gigantic size, decorated with several rows of figures, and nearly all the finest existing specimens are of this form. It is also the usual type for the sepulchral vases (see below). The medallions are ornamented with Gorgons’ masks and other devices, coloured on a white slip. A peculiar local variety of the krater, with four handles, is found in Lucania only (see p. [172]).
Other vases for holding liquids are the situla, lebes, amphora, and hydria, forms which are more or less familiar. The amphora is slender, with more or less elliptical body; in Campania it is small and squat-shouldered, the body almost cylindrical, but in Apulia it is usually very tall and elegant (cf. Plate [XLV].). An occasional variant has a cylindrical flat-topped body, with elaborate handles in the form of scrolls; the so-called pelike is a more common type, but somewhat inelegant. The hydria is usually a degenerate version of the R.F. kalpis, but at Paestum the Attic type still obtains. A new form is that known as the lekane, a jar for holding sweetmeats; it has vertical handles and a cover of elaborate form, often surmounted by a small vase. Of similar type is the so-called lepaste, a circular covered dish on a high stem.
Among the smaller vases may be mentioned the oinochoë, of which there are one or two varieties, notably the graceful prochoos, with its high handle and foot, and the equally ungraceful epichysis, with its long beak-like mouth and pyxis-shaped body; both of these are confined to Apulia. The lekythos retains the bulbous body and low foot of the later R.F. period; the askos in various forms is fairly common. Two new varieties are a sort of alabastron without a handle but with flat base, and a jar with a handle over the mouth. Of drinking-cups the kantharos and rhyton are popular among the later Apulian wares; the kotyle is rare, and the kylix has almost entirely disappeared, its place being taken by a gigantic circular dish, elaborately decorated inside and out. These are obviously designed with a view to general effect, and seem to have been intended for hanging up against a wall.
In regard to the technique the general method is that of the later R.F. vases; but in the majority all idea of simplicity and refinement is lost, and the tendency to exaggeration and showiness is manifested both in drawing and colouring. Throughout there is a fondness for large masses of white, and this pigment is used not only for the flesh of women and of Eros, but for architectural details and other objects, such as temples, shrines, and lavers. Yellow is largely employed for details, especially for features or hair, and for picking out the ornamental patterns; purple, too, is not uncommon. Attempts at shading are occasionally found.[[1457]] Accessory colours are, however, seldom found on the reverses of the vases, which are always drawn and painted with the greatest carelessness.
The drawing is entirely free, and in fact errs on the other side, becoming careless and faulty; the forms are soft, and the male figures often effeminate. An extreme facility of hand has indeed proved the ruin of the vase-painter. The love of the far-fetched betrays itself in variety of posture and elaborate foreshortening; and in the richly embroidered draperies and studied settings of some scenes the influence of the theatre is obviously to be traced. Frequent attempts are made at perspective, especially in buildings of which the insides are shown, but the attempts are seldom successful. As a rule the artist is content to indicate figures in the background by placing them on a higher level, or only showing the upper half of the figure. On many vases with mythological subjects, especially those of Apulia, a row of deities is thus represented, as if seated on the θεολογεῖον of the stage. Landscape is represented by rocks, stones, and flowers scattered about, trees and buildings; but in most cases the painter prefers the old system of merely giving a clue to the scene, representing the palaestra by jumping-weights or oil-flasks suspended, women’s apartments by sashes, toilet-boxes, or small windows, and so on.
The pictorial effect of the scenes on many vases naturally gives rise to the question to what extent the artists were indebted to the great painters of the fifth and fourth centuries. In some cases the paintings seem to be more naturally adapted for large canvases than for the limited surface of a vase; but more than this, in others the subjects actually lead our thoughts directly back to the works of great masters of which we have record. The influence of Polygnotos and his school has indeed died out, but the emotional tendencies of the fourth-century painters and their fondness for new and difficult subjects found a ready echo in the conceptions of the Apulian vase-painters. It may suffice to quote a few instances from the British Museum collection. Thus on one vase (F 479) we find a representation of the infant Herakles strangling the snakes, a theme selected by the great Zeuxis, and also to be seen in one of the paintings from the house of the Vettii at Pompeii. Or, again, the famous sacrifice of Iphigeneia and the death of Hippolytos, subjects which employed the brushes of Timanthes and Antiphilos respectively, are depicted in a truly pictorial manner on two kraters (F 160, F 279). In each case we are able to note a correspondence with the description of the pictures given by Pliny; in the last-named, also, with a picture described by Philostratos. Were more known of ancient pictures, it is possible that other examples would be readily found; but that some such influence was exerted can hardly be questioned.
Again, in the later vases with opaque designs on black grounds (see p. [488]), most of which are merely decorated with wreaths, festoons, or masks, we are at once reminded of the Pompeian wall-paintings, or rather of their predecessors in the Hellenistic Age, since the vases must be earlier than most of the pictures of Pompeii. There is a vase of late date in the British Museum (F 542) which, with its elaborate treatment of light and shade effects and its border of arabesques, not only in its subject (a young shepherd and his dog), but also in method, suggests a close connection with the Pompeian frescoes.[[1458]]
Another influence at work on the vases of the period besides that of the great painters was that of the stage, in which both tragedy and comedy play their part. The influence of tragedy as represented on the Greek stage is seen not only in the choice of subjects, but in the composition of the scenes and the costumes of the figures. This is especially the case with the large Apulian vases with mythological subjects. The architectural arrangements, with a temple, altar, or statue in the centre, the embroidered draperies and gorgeous tiaras worn by the principal personages, and the abundance of dramatic or even passionate action, can only be due to the influence of the stage. But it is only to Euripides that we can ascribe this influence. There appears to have been a great revival of his plays towards the end of the fourth century, especially in Magna Graecia, and the extent of the effect of this revival on the vase-paintings has been discussed by several writers. The tendency of the age to passion and pathos, seen in the Pergamene sculptures and other great works of art, as well as in the paintings of a Parrhasios or a Timanthes, would naturally find an echo in the subjects treated of by Euripides. Of the existing dramas, we find scenes drawn more or less directly from the Hecuba, the Hercules Furens, the Hippolytos, the two Iphigeneias, the Medeia, and the Phoenissae. Many others can be traced to the lost dramas, as for instance (to quote only from examples in the British Museum) the Alkmena, the Oineus, the Antigone, the Andromeda, the Oinomaos, and the Lykourgos.[[1459]]
It has been observed that on many vases of this period on which mythological subjects are represented, although the theme is essentially tragic, yet the treatment has a somewhat grotesque, not to say burlesque effect. A notable instance is the well-known vase of Assteas in Madrid, with Herakles destroying his children (Fig. [107]). This quasi-comic element, which appears to be quite unintentional, is often accompanied by considerable largeness of scale, exemplified in the size of the figures, the expression of the features, and the drawing generally. It may be that a certain element of exaggeration attended the revival of tragedy in Southern Italy,[[1460]] caused by unsuccessful attempts to retain the lofty manner and large style of the old productions. Hence too, perhaps, the fondness for burlesques of tragedies among the comic writers of the period, reflected in another class of vases.