Achilles and Ajax playing dice vase PDF

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just a little amount of notes from this one vase...

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Achilles and Ajax playing dice

Artist Exekias – signed as painter and potter Date c540-530BC Original location Vulci, Etruria Current location The Vatican Museums, Vatican city Function (Wine) storage Form Belly amphora, 61.1cm – instead of previous dinos / krater – presents a sizeable panel for decoration with a more gentle curve – allows for a bigger scene but detail has not been compromised Subject matter Achilles (on left) is identifiable by retrograde label and taller height created by Ajax leaning forward and Achilles’ helmet (best fighter), Ajax (son of Telamon) is identifiable by label, both armed for battle. Writing shows Achilles saying “four” and Ajax “three” – Achilles has won (because he is better fighter). Exekias integrates form with psychology to convey the impression that Achilles will win the game; Achilles' helmet and tall crest indicate his dominance. Other side of pot shows Dioskouroi Castor (with a horse) and Polydeuces (with a dog) returning home to parents Tandareus and Leda with a slave boy, who is drawn much smaller than the others with a head too small for body. Material – advantages, disadvantages Damaged / re-constructed / copy Technique Intricate engravings on cloaks but less than successful swirls on tunics on thighs and Achilles’ arm. High quality potting produces smooth surface – enables Exekias to “show off his skills with incision to great effect” – Mitropoulos and Snook. Spotlighting technique innovative. Stylistic features and development Floral/ivy patterns, ray band, predominantly black – effective, easy. Reserved use of colour enhances effect of red paint for hair and plumes of helmet. The stylized frontal eye persists from Aegean, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian art, but the shoulders are rendered more naturally in side view.

Composition Central focus is game balanced by hunched position of two men, who have same posture, stretched out arms, downward gaze, and their spears – audience share same central focus as Ajax and Achilles (game), emphasis on board game emphasises the heroes’ concentration. Curve of warriors’ backs echoes curve of vase. Spears point up to where handles join neck, shields beneath vase handles continue their descending lines. Context No scene in literature where Achilles and Ajax play a dice game – Exekias was a soldier and was probably drawing on personal experience on what soldier do to occupy themselves before battle. Achilles and Ajax were in the Iliad. Themes Achilles, Trojan War Usefulness – classical world It makes the Greek heroes of the Trojan War permanent heroes in Greek Mythology Comparison Black figure Lekythos of Achilles and Ajax playing dice in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from c500BC also shows Achilles as winner, Athene is depicted between the pair to foreshadow how Ajax would slaughter the herds sacred to Athene after Odysseus cheats him of the dead Achilles’ armour, resulting in Ajax’s suicide, composition of vase is not as impressive – composition of scene is not integrated with / complementary to structure of vase. Professional opinion/quote “One of the most refined pieces from the black figure style”, the game represents “the seemingly endless waiting and boredom that would intersperse the violence and battles” – Mitropoulos and Snook. “Exekias took care to adjust the elements of his drawing to the shape of the vessel he was decorating” - Woodford. Osborne says how it’s ironic that Achilles was winning game but Ajax had to rescue his body from battlefield: “Excellence of draughtsmanship and brushwork, crispness and control of detail, balance and power of composition are all apparent”. Perspectives and interpretations Achilles and Ajax were equal and opposite in many ways whilst alive, they were the only heroes confident enough to position their ships on the extreme ends of the Greek line – Homer described them as symmetrically facing each other just as they are across the gaming board. Board game can be viewed as a representation/microcosm/metaphor for personal rivalry between Achilles and Ajax. Other later vase paintings of the same subject suggest that Achilles and Ajax are neglecting their duties and irresponsibly play at a board game while the Trojans enter the Greek camp. Board game - a game of chance – can be understood as metaphor for fate - both Ajax and Achilles die at Troy – presents idea that you cannot control your own fate. Achilles grasps onto his spears loosely because he is winning the game, whereas Ajax’s demeanour is tense because he is losing, Achilles’ facial features, especially that of his eyebrows, show that he is relaxed because Exekias only included a single line, Ajax’s brow has two lines that illustrate the tension in his body. Also, a subtle detail is the position of Ajax’s heel, which is picked up slightly to show the tension in his calf muscles (metaphor for the war). It depicts the impermanence of human life and how men should take the time, even in a moment of relaxation from a battle, to enjoy the smaller things with friends....