Baltimore, Hopkins 9286
Bell Krater by Hoppin Painter
ca. 380-350 B.C.
9286. Robinson Collection. "Tarentum." Ht, 34.8 cm; diam rim, 38 cm;
diam foot, 19 cm. Intact.
Side A
Three figures run in left profile. In front is bearded nude male with
pail in left hand, torch in uplifted right hand, and cloak over shoulders. In
center is woman dressed in chiton with overfold, her right hand uplifted, her
left hand holding a tympanum. Behind her is nude youth carrying jug in right
hand. His mantle is flung over the left arm and hand, in which he holds a spear.
Relief contour for some details. Band of wave pattern above figures.
Side B
Bearded youth with short, curly hair stands in right profile and
addresses two youths who turn toward him. All figures are enveloped in long
mantles to ankles. Youth in center holds staff in right hand; in field behind
his head is reserved disc.
Figures on both sides stand on narrow reserved band above band of
leftward meander that terminates below handles in dotted cross-square, from
which rises a scroll motif. Above pictures is leftward laurel band between
reserved bands. Zone of tongues around roots of handles.
This krater is one of eleven vases attributed to the Hoppin Painter,
who with five colleagues formed the Hoppin Group, painting in the Plain Apulian
style.
1 The workshop was located in Tarentum and was active between about 380
and 350 B.C. The Hoppin Painter was probably trained by artists of the school of
the Tarporley Painter (400-380 B.C.), a disciple of the Sisyphos Painter, who
originated both the Plain and the Ornate Styles.
The Hoppin Painter worked mostly on bell kraters, although he also
painted one pelike and one calyx krater. His vases are recognized by their tall,
slim figures with flying drapery, the wrapped heads of the women, and the youths
with white fillets and himatia draped over their arms.
2 The three figures on the reverse of our vase also appear on vases by the
artist in Lecce
3 and Cambridge.
4 The style of the Hoppin Painter is especially close to that of the Lecce
Painter,
5 who was active at about the same time, the second quarter of the fourth
century.
Bibliography
FR, 252, no. 4;
CVA, USA fasc. 7, Robinson fasc. 3, 27, pl.
XIX;
Trendall 1938, 26 n.
41;
Cambitoglou & Trendall
1961, 56, no. 2.
