( fl c. 540–c. 520 BC). Greek vase painter. He is named after an Athenian Black-figure amphora (Boston, MA, Mus. F.A., 98.918) depicting a demure lady on a swing observed by two men on either side. The painting’s spirit and style typify the artist’s prime. Abandoning the solemn themes and meticulousness of his mentors, he preferred loose compositions of charming half-pious, half-sheepish yokels with large flat feet, slouching posture and drooping heads who ‘all look like geese’ (Beazley, 1931/2). These scenes are often unusual or humorous (e.g. men walking on stilts or naked and beset by bees); others, however, are more conventional (e.g. warriors preparing for battle or fighting, or Herakles or Athena with their adversaries), though even here the warriors’ sweet demeanour makes their warfare unconvincing. The artist’s earlier paintings were much closer to the mainstream tradition of such mid-6th-century BC masters as EXEKIAS (see above). They contain dense and intricate compositions, heavy with horses and muscular warriors, in which sombre men and women gather round departing chariots. Though they are often excellent technically, their appeal is evanescent; the artist’s fame derives from his later modest, colloquial style and quirky subjects. Though only a lesser painter, the Swing Painter was prolific, decorating over 150 extant pieces (e.g. in Paris, Louvre; Rome, Villa Giulia; St Petersburg, Hermitage; London, BM; Munich, Staatl. Antikensamml.).

Part of the Vase painters family

• Swing Painter
  • Greece, ancient, §V, 5(ii)(c): Black-figure pottery: Attic, c 560–c 520 BC