( fl c. 330–c. 310 BC). Vase painter, active in Apulia. He may have worked near Canosa, where many of his vases have been found, though there is some connection with the UNDERWORLD PAINTER, who was probably from Tarentum. He is named after a monumental volute krater in Baltimore, MD (Walters A.G., 48.86), possibly depicting Hermes and Persephone in the Underworld. There are many other mythological subjects in his unusually large oeuvre, though they lack the originality of his near contemporary, the DARIUS PAINTER, probably also from Tarentum. A characteristic example of the Baltimore Painter’s slightly coarse but vivid style is provided by another volute krater (Ruvo di Puglia, Mus. Jatta, 424), with an agitated representation of the Death of the Children of Niobe. In addition to large numbers of minor vases mostly decorated with a single painted female head, his workshop produced many volute kraters with scenes at grave shrines. The figures in the shrines, representing the deceased and members of their family, are sometimes painted with various colours (red, orange–yellow and white). In his multi-figured compositions the painter often depicted objects of various types scattered all over the ground, the most characteristic being a hydria with one visible M-shaped handle. The Baltimore Painter was not a meticulous draughtsman: his lines tend to be thick, but his rapid brush movements add a touch of character. The early works of his successor, the White Saccos Painter, are extremely close to those of the Baltimore Painter.

Part of the Vase painters family

• Baltimore Painter
  • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(ii)(b): South Italian Red-figure potterty: Apulian