Deepdene Painter (attributed to the)
Amphora with Athena Pouring Wine for Herakles, and a Woman Pouring Wine for Dionysoscirca 470-460 B.C.

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Ancient Greek red-figure ceramic amphora with black glaze, depicting two figures in terracotta orange exchanging a vessel, with palmette and meander border bands

Red-figure ceramic amphora with black glaze, two handles, and a pedestal base. Two draped figures face each other; one holds a thyrsus and kantharos, the other extends a small vessel. Greek key border at base, scrolling ornament at shoulder.

Red-figure ceramic amphora with two handles, black gloss ground. Two figures face each other: a winged male figure and an armored female figure holding a small vessel and spear. Decorative borders of palmette and meander patterns at shoulder and foot.

Red-figure ceramic amphora with black glaze, depicting two draped figures facing each other; one holds a tall staff with a flower, the other extends a small vessel. Bordered by a scroll frieze above and a meander pattern below.

Artist or Maker: Deepdene Painter (attributed to the)
Greece, Attica, active circa 475-450 B.C.
Title: Amphora with Athena Pouring Wine for Herakles, and a Woman Pouring Wine for Dionysos
Place Made: Greece, Attica
Date Made: circa 470-460 B.C.
Medium: Red-figure ceramic with a trace of added red
Dimensions: Height: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm); Diameter: 10 5/8 in. (27 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 50.8.21
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture: Greek and Roman
Curatorial Notes: This amphora is decorated in the red-figure style, where slip (liquified clay) that turned black during firing was applied to the background and outlines of figures, while the figures themselves were left in the natural red-orange color of the clay. The front of this vessel depicts Athena, goddess of wisdom, pouring wine for Herakles (Latin Hercules), the mythical hero who is best known for his strength and the Twelve Labors. Both figures are identifiable by the symbols they bear: Herakles wears a lion skin from his slaying of the Nemean Lion and rests his left hand on a club, his weapon of choice. Athena wears her aegis (a protective breastplate fringed by snakes) with a gorgoneion (an apotropaic emblem of the head of Medusa); the Attic-style helmet and spear allude to her role as the goddess of war. This scene may be a representation of the apotheosis of Herakles, with Athena welcoming the now-immortal hero to Olympus after his mortal death.

On the back side of the amphora, a maenad (a female follower of Dionysos) serves her god, filling his kantharos (cup) with wine from an oinochoe (pitcher), rendered frontally. The god carries his thyrsos, a giant fennel stalk topped with ivy leaves, in one hand, and a wreath crowns his long, curly hair. The handles are black with ivy leaves painted onto the side faces, and the neck of the vessel features a palmette-lotus band on the front and a band of slanted palmettes on the back.
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.
Clement, Paul A. "Geryon and Others in Los Angeles." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 24, no.1 (1955): 1-24.
Hope, Francis, and E.M.W. Tillyard. The Hope Vases: a Catalogue and a Discussion of the Hope Collection of Greek Vases. Cambridge: University Press, 1923.
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire des Vases Peints Grecs et Étrusques. Paris: E. Leroux, 1922.

Related Unframed

50 Works 50 Weeks: The Hope Athena

September 30, 2025
Alexander Schneider

Deepdene Painter (attributed to the)
Amphora with Athena Pouring Wine for Herakles, and a Woman Pouring Wine for Dionysoscirca 470-460 B.C.

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Artist or Maker: Deepdene Painter (attributed to the)
Greece, Attica, active circa 475-450 B.C.
Title: Amphora with Athena Pouring Wine for Herakles, and a Woman Pouring Wine for Dionysos
Place Made: Greece, Attica
Date Made: circa 470-460 B.C.
Medium: Red-figure ceramic with a trace of added red
Dimensions: Height: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm); Diameter: 10 5/8 in. (27 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 50.8.21
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture: Greek and Roman
Curatorial Notes: This amphora is decorated in the red-figure style, where slip (liquified clay) that turned black during firing was applied to the background and outlines of figures, while the figures themselves were left in the natural red-orange color of the clay. The front of this vessel depicts Athena, goddess of wisdom, pouring wine for Herakles (Latin Hercules), the mythical hero who is best known for his strength and the Twelve Labors. Both figures are identifiable by the symbols they bear: Herakles wears a lion skin from his slaying of the Nemean Lion and rests his left hand on a club, his weapon of choice. Athena wears her aegis (a protective breastplate fringed by snakes) with a gorgoneion (an apotropaic emblem of the head of Medusa); the Attic-style helmet and spear allude to her role as the goddess of war. This scene may be a representation of the apotheosis of Herakles, with Athena welcoming the now-immortal hero to Olympus after his mortal death.

On the back side of the amphora, a maenad (a female follower of Dionysos) serves her god, filling his kantharos (cup) with wine from an oinochoe (pitcher), rendered frontally. The god carries his thyrsos, a giant fennel stalk topped with ivy leaves, in one hand, and a wreath crowns his long, curly hair. The handles are black with ivy leaves painted onto the side faces, and the neck of the vessel features a palmette-lotus band on the front and a band of slanted palmettes on the back.
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.
Clement, Paul A. "Geryon and Others in Los Angeles." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 24, no.1 (1955): 1-24.
Hope, Francis, and E.M.W. Tillyard. The Hope Vases: a Catalogue and a Discussion of the Hope Collection of Greek Vases. Cambridge: University Press, 1923.
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire des Vases Peints Grecs et Étrusques. Paris: E. Leroux, 1922.

Related Unframed

50 Works 50 Weeks: The Hope Athena

September 30, 2025
Alexander Schneider