Assignment 01
Part 1:
Using no more than 250 words, write a description of the object depicted in Figures 1 and 2
The Red Figure Caylx-Krater is 45.72cm in height, with handles on either side indicating that the object is intended for holding; therefore the object could be used for drinking from or perhaps pouring from. The object is black with terracotta decoration; it is decorated around the top with a pattern that continues all the way around. There is also a repeating pattern of small squares of crosses and swirls, which is situated towards the lower part of the object, between the handles on both sides.
In figure 1 between the two patterns is the largest part of the object; it had been decorated with a man in the centre who is
Although in modern day this object is seen as rare, beautiful and worth large sums of money. In the days in which this object was used for its intended purpose, it may have actually been a low cost item. “...large-scale examples would have been reasonably low-cost.” (Hughes and Perkins, 2012 Approaches, pg 171)
The owner of this object ‘Sir William Hamilton’ sold the vase to the British Museum in 1772. He acquired the vase whilst living in Italy and believed that Homers poetry was the beginning to transform art. ‘he believed that the sublime quality of Homer's poetry had transformed the visual arts from their primitive origins to the beautiful naturalism displayed here.’ (British Museum, red-figured calyx-krater) He hoped that by selling the piece to the British Museum, it would inspire future art.
It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that this ‘Red Figure Calyx-Krater’ was identified as being the ‘Apotheosis of homer’ which is said to have been the poet Homer becoming a god, but is regarded as fanciful and in recent modern times, it has been seen that the images portray a contest or show. ‘D'Hancarville's interpretation of the subject as the Apotheosis of Homer must now be regarded as fanciful.’ (British Museum, red-figured calyx-krater)
After many years of the Red Figure Calyx-Krater’s creation, in the afterlife of its purposed use, it became inspiration for artist John Flaxman Junior, who used