Amasis Painter

Who is Amasis Painter?

The Amasis Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of the black figure style. He owes his name to the fact that eight of the potter Amasis's manufactured marked work are painted by the same painter, who is therefore called the Amasis painter. Today some 90 works are attributed to this artisan.

In the earlier works attributed to Amasis, the previous artistic tradition is evident, employing excessively long figures with small heads and angular movements. Contrary to his predecessors he soon began to fill his work with life and tension. He loosened his figures up and created new composition forms. The trigger for this change was most likely around 540 BCE when imported red figure painting appeared with its new representation possibilities, which obviously inspired him to use richer ornamentation, transferring it, as far as possible, to his black figure painting. Contrary to some younger contemporaries, like the Andokides Painter, whom he perhaps influenced, he held to the black figure style and did not change over. Nevertheless he seems to have occasionally attempted the red figure style.

The name Amasis, a hellenized form of the Egyptian A-ahmes, has resulted in much scholarly debate. There are two suggestions: that he was an Athenian named after the king Amasis, or that he was an Egyptian or Naucratian immigrant to Athens. Those who support the former hypothesis argue that the potter and the painter are two different men. A further argument in support of his non-Athenian origin is the period in which he lived. Solon set out to see the world and came to the court of Amasis in Egypt; while there Solon encouraged craftsmen to settle in Athens by offering them Athenian citizenship.