The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Atalanta and Erotes

White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Atalanta and Erotes

500–490 BCE

attributed to Douris

(Greek, Attic, active c. 500–470 BCE)
Overall: 31.8 cm (12 1/2 in.)
Location: 102B Greek

Did You Know?

Eros, god of love, appears three times on this vase.

Description

Known as "white-ground" because of the white clay slip applied as a surface for figural decoration, vases of this type give some idea of the appearance of lost ancient large-scale wall paintings. Both remarkably well preserved and masterfully composed, the images cover the entire circumference of the vase. At the center, Atalanta, the virgin huntress renowned for both her speed and her opposition to marriage, races to the right while looking back at Eros, the winged god of love; both figures are named. This Eros, bounding forward, tries to crown her, while two additional Erotes (also named) further hem her in. Love will win.
  • 1966-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Mentioned & reproduced: p. 32-33
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    Carpenter, Thomas H., J. D. Beazley, Thomas Mannack, Melanie Mendonça, and Lucilla Burn. Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena. Oxford: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1989. p. 241
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 8 archive.org
    Carpenter, Thomas H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece: A Handbook. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. fig. 93
    Reeder, Ellen D. Pandora: Women in Classical Greece. Baltimore, Md: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery in association with Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1995. p. 71, fig. 19
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    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. p. 116, no. 11
    Barringer, Judith M. The Hunt in Ancient Greece: Judith M. Barringer. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. . Figs. 92-93, pp. 168-169
    Oakley, John Howard. Picturing Death in Classical Athens: The Evidence of the White Lekythoi. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. plate 4a
    Franklin, David. Director's Choice:The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2012. Mentioned & reproduced: pp. 12-13
    Franklin, David C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned & reproduced: pp. 34-35
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and David Franklin. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2012. pp. 12-13
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 81
    Williams, Dyfri. "Beyond the Berlin Painter: Toward a Workshop View." In The Berlin Painter and His World: Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C. J. Michael Padgett,J ed., 144-187. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, Connecticut: Distributed by Yale University Press, 2017. Reproduced: p. 171, fig. 17
    Hopper, Robin. Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose. 2017. p. 51
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    Carpenter, Thomas H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece. 2021. 87-88. Mentioned and reproduced; pp. 87-88, fig. 79.
  • The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-August 22, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Atalanta and Erotes|url=false|author=Douris|year=500–490 BCE|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.114