( fl c. 330–c. 320 BC). Vase painter, active in Apulia. He seems to have worked in close collaboration with a slightly older colleague, the Patera Painter, and was active in Tarentum or the area of Canosa. He is named for the scene on the neck of a volute krater (Switzerland, priv. col.) showing Ganymede carried off by Zeus in the guise of a swan (as was usual on Apulian vases) instead of an eagle. Presumably a representation of apotheosis (given the context and the elaborate floral setting of the scene), it may hold a message of funerary symbolism. Indeed most of the Ganymede Painter’s vases, including many volute kraters with mascarons on the handles and characteristically elaborate neck decoration, were evidently destined for funerary use. Among his subjects, scenes depicting grave shrines (naiskoi) predominate, for example the main scene on his name vase. The idea of death is also present in his few other representations of mythological subjects, as on another volute krater (Switzerland, priv. col.), with Amphiaraos Welcomed to the Underworld; on a hydria (U. Zurich, Archäol. Inst.), with Niobe Mourning at the Tomb of her Children; and a situla (Bloomington, IN, U. A. Mus.), with the Metamorphosis of Actaeon. On an amphora (Basle, Antikenmus., S 40), Orpheus himself appears in a grave shrine visiting a man holding a small papyrus roll (possibly the deceased as an Orphic initiate). Among beautiful tendrils and colourful flowers on the necks of the painter’s volute kraters there often appears a female head painted in white and golden-yellow, perhaps a goddess. These colours as well as a lively red are skilfully used for the modelling of secondary objects, for example offerings, such as cuirasses and shields, in the funerary scenes. Gradual transitions from white to golden-yellow often emphasize the highlights and shadows.

Part of the Vase painters family

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