RED-FIGURE POTTERY

Red-figure painting was developed in Athens in around 530 BCE by reversing the technique used to decorate vases. The style peaked in the period between 500 and 480 BCE, when the artistry, theme, composition and technique of the figurative scenes were best executed; it was past its prime by the second quarter of the 5th century BCE.

Pottery in the red-figure style started to also be produced in the Greek colonies of southern Italy from the second half of the 5th century BCE. The first school of painting there was in Lucania (a krater made by the founder of the Lucanian school, the Pisticci Painter, is one of the best Greek vases in the Pilsen collection). The more decorative Apulian school of painting started to go in its own direction a short time later. (DB)