Kleophon Painter

The Kleophon Painter is the name given to an anonymous Athenian vase painter in the "red figure" style who flourished in the mid-to-late 5th century BCE. He is thus named because one of the works attributed to him bears an inscription in praise of a youth named "Kleophon". He appears to have been originally from the workshop of Polygnotos, and in turn to have taught the so-called "Dinos Painter". Three vases suggest a collaboration with the Achilles Painter, while a number of "black figure" works have also been attributed to him by some scholars.

The Kleophon Painter was known for his paintings of various Red Figure Attic vases during the fifth century BCE. The themes of his vases for the most part stick to a few specific genres, specifically, Greek mythology, domestic themes (including sacrifices and parades), and paintings of warriors. Of the vases that have been discovered, there are 104 domestic style vases, forty-three mythological vases, and twenty-four paintings about warriors. His vases can be found throughout the world. Even in the fifth century BCE he shipped vases as far as Italy and Spain according to the provenance that the vases have been found in. The majority of his vases are bigger vases, with only a few smaller ones. Most of his vases are kraters.

The Kleophon Painter had a pretty common style which makes his vases difficult to distinguish from other vases that were painted during the same time period. Many vases are classified as “in the manner of Kleophon P” or “compares to Kleophon P”. One painter that he was similar to was The Dinos Painter. The Dinos Painter also had a fairly general style which made him and Kleophon similar and hard to distinguish between. One of the ways to identify works by the Kleophon Painter is by the location of the vase combined with the attributes on the vase such as the theme, type of vase, patterns, and style of the characters on the vase, especially the eyes and chin. In the Kleophon Painter’s case, the eyes are usually a rounded off triangular shape and the chin is generally rounded off or even bulbous at times.

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