Oltos
Oltos was a Late Archaic Greek vase painter, active in Athens. From the time between 525 BC and 500 BC, about 150 works by him are known. Two pieces, "bowl F 2264" (Berlin, Antikensammlung) and "bowl RC 6848" (Tarquinia (Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese), are signed by him.
Oltos began his career in the workshop of the potter Nikosthenes. Initially, he mainly painted bilingual vases or bowls with interior black-figure and exterior red-figure decoration. His black-figure style was influenced by Psiax and the Antimenes Painter. No pure black-figure works by Oltos are known so far. His tondos usually depict a single figure. They are often full of tension, frequently with differential directions of gaze and movement. Later, he exclusively engaged in red-figure painting, influenced especially by the Andokides Painter as well as several members of the Pioneer Group, especially his former pupil Euphronios.
His drawing style was spacious and elegant, but never reached the depth of detail of his most important contemporary masters. He had a distinctive tendency towards luxurious ornamentation and symmetric compositions. In the middle of his career he concentrated especially on the depiction of mythological scenes. Over time, he worked with several different potters. We know of at least six: Hischylos, most importantly Pamphaios, with whom he created the earliest known stamnos, Tleson, Chelis, and finally Kachrylion, for whom he worked together with Euphronios, as well as Euxitheos.
An innovation introduced by Oltos is found on an amphora at London (British Museum E 259). Here, he depicts a single figure, with no frame or floor line.
Selected Works
Altenburg, Staatliches Lindenau-Museum – bowl 224
Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Museum – fragment of a kylix AIA B1
Basel, Antikensammlung and Sammlung Ludwig – bowl BS 459
Berlin, Antikensammlung – bowl F 2263 • bowl F 2264 • phiale F 2310 • bowl F 4220 • bowl F 4221
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts – kylix 13.83 • fragment of a kylix 08.31d • fragment 10.219
Bowdoin, Bowdoin College Museum of Art – fragment of a kylix 1913.14
Chicago, University of Chicago (David and Alfred Smart Gallery) – kylix 1967.115
Fayetteville, The University Museum – kylix 56.25.15
London, The British Museum – kylix E 41 • amphora E 258 • stamnos E 437
Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum – kylix 86.AE.276 • kylix 86.AE.277
Mount Holyoke, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum – kylix 1967.BS.II.11
Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen – bowl 25 93 • bowl 2618
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art – psykter 1989.281.69
Paris, Musée National du Louvre – fragment CA 3662 • amphora G 2 • amphora G 3
Tarquinia, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese – bowl RC 6848
Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Vaticano – bowl 498
Translation
The word "Oltos" occurs as such in the following languages: English, German, Turkish.
Translation in Hungarian: Oltosz.
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