( fl c. 330–c. 310 BC). Vase painter, active in Apulia. He is named after a famous monumental volute krater found at Canosa (Munich, Staatl. Antikensamml., 3297), with a multi-figured composition showing Pluto and Persephone in their Palace surrounded by figures of the Underworld. This is among the most important of a group of late Apulian vases attributed to various painters that show Underworld scenes. What sets the Underworld Painter clearly apart and justifies his name is his individualistic treatment of the Underworld theme and his particular interest in the fate of Orpheus. For example, on a volute krater (Naples, Mus. Archeol. N., SA 709) he showed Orpheus not alone but standing with Eurydice before Hades, whereas other painters tended to neglect the love story. Another volute krater (Munich, Staatl. Antikensamml., 3296), the companion to his name-piece, bears an impressive representation of Medea Slaughtering One of her Children in the presence of the horrified ghost of her father and the demon Oistros, all the main figures being identified by inscriptions. Among the Underworld Painter’s most interesting vases are unique representations of mythological twins, as on the masterful volute krater (Geneva, Mus. A. & Hist.) depicting a Herdsman Returning Melanippe’s Babies, another scene in which the figures are identified by inscriptions. The vivid depiction of emotions expressed on the astonished faces of the family who had abandoned the babies almost equals that of the mature works of the DARIUS PAINTER. An outstanding earlier work on a tall lekythos (h. 950 mm; Richmond, VA, Mus. F.A., 80.162) represents multiple twins: the Dioskouroi Raping the Leukippidai (against the protest of their former bridegrooms who were also twins or at least brothers).

Part of the Vase painters family

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