The Goltyr Painter was an Attic vase painter of the black-figure style, active in the second quarter of the sixth century BC (circa 565–550 BCE). He is a prominent member of the so-called Tyrrhenian Group, a school of vase painters known for producing a specific type of neck amphora called the Tyrrhenian amphora.
The name "Goltyr" is a contraction of two words: "Goluchow" (the former collection in Poland where one of his key works was held) and "Tyrrhenian."
Style and Subject Matter
The Goltyr Painter is best known for his work on Tyrrhenian neck amphorae. He predominantly painted animals, often characterized by rather bulbous heads. A notable feature of his work is that animal and figural subjects are depicted on the same scale, a practice that changed with the following generation of artists, who established the primacy of the human figure.
Key Works
His name derives from an amphora (now in the Warsaw Archaeological Museum, inventory number 142445) depicting a komos (a festive procession). Examples of his work are held in major museum collections, including:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) – Terracotta neck-amphora, ca. 560 BC
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Two-handled jar (amphora), ca. 570–560 BC
- Chazen Museum of Art – Tyrrhenian neck amphora
- Louvre (Paris) – Amphora
- Saint Louis Art Museum – Vase in collection
Bibliography
- John Beazley: Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford, 1956, pp. 94–106.
- John Boardman: Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch, Mainz, 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0233-9, p. 41.
- Jeroen Kluiver: The Tyrrhenian Group of Black-figure Vases. From the Athenian Kerameikos to the Tombs of South Etruria, Amsterdam, 2003, ISBN 90-72067-10-X.
