( fl c. 420–c. 400 BC). Greek vase painter. He is named after the potter’s signature on a large Red-figure hydria (see GREECE, ANCIENT, fig. 114) and was one of the last great Athenian vase painters. His teacher was probably AISON (see above), but the style and subject-matter of his work suggest that he was also influenced by the older KODROS PAINTER and ERETRIA PAINTER. The Meidias Painter himself later attracted an important following, including Aristophanes, the Painter of the Carlsruhe Paris and the Painter of the Athens Wedding. Over 250 vases are attributed to the group. Some of these artists decorated large vases, especially hydriai, but most of them favoured smaller shapes, such as choes, pyxides, squat lekythoi and lekanides. The Meidian style and its iconography have a distinctive extravagance (Beazley) and evoke a sensual, leisured and luxurious world that is the visual counterpart to the poetry of the contemporary tragedian Agathon, represented in Plato’s Symposion as a master of the flowery phrase.

Part of the Vase painters family

• Meidias Painter
  • Etruscan, §I, 4(ii): Trade: Greek contacts
  • attributions
    • Vase painters, §II: Aison
  • collaboration
    • Vase painters, §II: Eretria Painter
  • works
    • Dress, §II, 2: Greek
    • Greece, ancient, §VI, 2(ii)(a): Wall and panel painting: Classical, 5th century BC