The
most famous Greek vase and certainly one of the most well-known and widely
studied “minor” works of classical antiquity, the François Vase is presented
here to the public in a precise but clear and straght-forward text intended for
both students and scholars, but also for the casual, non-specialist admirer.
Discovered in two different excavation campaigns, in 1844 and 1845, in the
Etruscan city of Camars or Clevsie-, present-day
Chiusi (Siena), by Alessandro François, War Commissioner of the Granduke
Leopold II of Habsburg-Lorraine, the krater (a symposium vase for mixing water
and wine) is one of the undisputed masterpieces of ancient Greek pottery.
Thanks to its 270 figures and 131 inscriptions, that include the signatures of
the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias who produced it in Athens around
565 BC, the large krater with volute handles also constitutes a sort of summa of Greek religious
thought, a mythology manual of the ancient Greeks, and, in particular, of the
Athenians in the final years of Solon’s leadership, so much so as to sometimes
be referred to as the Bible of archeology, the Encyclopedia or Anthology of
Greek mythology, and which we can also easily consider Rex Vasorum, King of Vases!
Il più famoso vaso greco e certamente una delle opere
“minori” più note e maggiormente studiate dell’antichità classica, il Vaso
François, viene presentato al pubblico con un testo preciso ma chiaro e
agevole, destinato agli studenti così come agli studiosi, ma che si rivolge
anche ai semplici estimatori e ai non specialisti. Rinvenuto in due distinte
campagne di scavo, nel 1844 e 1845, nella città etrusca di Camars o Clevsie-, l’odierna Chiusi (Siena), da Alessandro François, commissario di guerra
del Granduca Leopoldo II di Asburgo-Lorena, il cratere è uno dei capolavori
indiscussi dell’antica arte vascolare greca. Grazie alle sue duecentosettanta
figure e centotrentuno iscrizioni, che includono le doppie firme del vasaio
Ergotimos e del pittore Kleitias che lo produssero ad Atene intorno al 565
a.C., il grande cratere con anse a voluta costituisce anche una sorta di summa del pensiero religioso, di manuale della mitologia degli antichi Greci, e
in particolare degli Ateniesi degli ultimi anni del governo di Solone, tanto da
essere definito a volte la Bibbia dell’archeologia, l’Enciclopedia o
l’Antologia della mitologia greca, e che possiamo ben considerare il Rex
Vasorum, il Re dei Vasi!
Translation by Andrew J. Clark, photos by Fernando Guerrini.
Discovered in two different excavation campaigns, in 1844 and 1845, in the Etruscan city of Camars or Clevsie-, present-day Chiusi (Siena), by Alessandro François, War Commissioner of the Granduke Leopold II of Habsburg-Lorraine, the krater (a symposium vase for mixing water and wine) is one of the undisputed masterpieces of ancient Greek pottery. Thanks to its 270 figures and 131 inscriptions, that include the signatures of the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias who produced it in Athens around 565 BC, the large krater with volute handles also constitutes a sort of summa of Greek religious thought, a mythology manual of the ancient Greeks, and, in particular, of the Athenians in the final years of Solon’s leadership, so much so as to sometimes be referred to as the Bible of archeology, the Encyclopedia or Anthology of Greek mythology, and which we can also easily consider Rex Vasorum, King of Vases!
Translation by Andrew J. Clark, photos by Fernando Guerrini.
Polistampa, 2018
Pagine: 64
Caratteristiche: ill. col., br.
Formato: 21,5x23,5
ISBN: 978-88-596-1862-1
Settore:
