Foundry Painter

The Erzgießerei Painter, also Foundry Painter, was a red-figure Attic vase painter of Spätarchaik, who was in the first third of the 5th century BC. He painted mainly drinking bowls. Some of his works he carried out in the white-ground style. The designation is a Notnamen.

The Erzgießerei painters worked alongside some other notable vase painters such as the Briseis Painter and the Dokimasia painters in the workshop one of the most important representatives of the late Archaic red-figure vase painting, the Brygos painter. He was less productive than his master, but he stood his artistic little after. In his repertoire and themes in his style, he stood in the tradition of Brygos painter, who obviously had a great influence on at his staff. His style but differs in certain details, so his work in the rating of John D. Beazley were assessed powerful and sometimes even brutal.

The figures are darker in construction, the faces usually sketchy. His characters are well- observed and often not shown without humor. Among them are clumsy lover, buxom courtesans, dismayed libertines. He also shows efforts to portray Körperbehaarungen and particularly emphasized muscles. As one of the few late Archaic vase painters he also tried to work with shades.

Especially the symposia images are directly related to the work of the Brygos painter, even if he brings his own perspectives, especially in details. His myths scenes are not rare original name. However, of particular importance are his images of everyday life. So there is a tray on which he shows a sculptor at work, overseen by the goddess Athena.

His most famous work is his Namenvase from the Collection of Classical Antiquities Berlin. Here he is on the outside of a Kylix a Bronzebildnerwerkstatt dar. This Erzgießerei Cup is one of the few testimonies to the ancient metalworking.