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ARCH 301 Greek Vase Painting

Online sources for Greek painted pottery (particularly images)

The Beazley Archive (see below under print resources for Beazley's publications)

Excellent resource for background, pottery shapes, and thousands of images of painted pottery (despite the many broken links).

There is a brief overview of Techniques and Styles.

Pottery shapes: for names and examples of shapes of Greek painted pottery.

Simple database search

Easy way to search for the most famous painters, shapes, techniques, or vases in particular collections. Not all records have images.

Advanced database search

If you feel ambitious. This allows searches for more obscure painters

Also note: Corpus of Attic Vase Inscriptions Online. The numbers included here for inscriptions that appear on Attic vases are referenced by the Beazley archive.

Oxford Art Online

The article on "Vase Painters" contains biographies (with good bibliography) to the best-known vase painters. "Greece, ancient" has a chapter on "Pottery," with detailed discussions of the styles and periods of Greek pottery.  These articles are by well-known scholars. Note the "Images" tab.

Perseus Digital Library Vase Catalog

Search for painter, potter, ware, period. Use the "keyword" search to look for mythological scenes or characters. You can also browse by museum to try to find an image of a particular vase. Not all articles have associated images, but Perseus articles link to Beazley Archive images.

ARTstor

Hundreds of very high-quality images of Greek pottery.  Mostly museum-quality vases, i.e., complete vases rather than fragments.  But you can zoom in on the images in order to see the details of the painting.

Use keyword searching for best results. Try "Attic vase," "Attic ceramic," "Greek vase," "Greek ceramic," "black-figure," "red-figure," etc.  You can also search by names of painters: Douris, Berlin Painter, etc.

 

Finding books and articles

Tripod

Most books on Greek vase painting have the call number NK 4620 and following.

Check the ARCH 102 course reserve and folio and non-folio sections on the B level of Carpenter.

Or search by subject=Vase painting, Greek

Dyabola

Contains several databases, the most important of which is the "Realkatalog des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Rom," the most comprehensive database for classical archaeology.  To enter the site, click "with IP-Access" and then the English flag to the right of the database of your choice.  Help using DYABOLA.

Important print sources for images and iconography

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC).  In Carpenter Reference NX650.M9 L48.

Tripod Record for LIMC

This enormous image dictionary allows you to search for images of mythological characters and events in all media (sculpture, coins, vases, etc.).  An excellent source for browsing images of vases, since images of both complete vases and fragments are included.

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
Tripod Record for CVA (The CVA is located along the back wall of Carpenter to the right of the circulation desk, under the office windows). Out-of-print volumes of the CVA are available online.

Publication, with images, of ancient vases from museum collections worldwide.

ThesCRA

Tripod Record for ThesCRA

Like LIMC, on all known aspects of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman cults and rituals; with images.

Beazley: Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters (=ABV) and Attic Red-Figure Vase Painters, 2nd Edition (=ARV2)

Tripod Record for ABV

Tripod Record for ARV2

Citation guides

Chicago Manual of Style format for electronic resources

Documenting sources: MLA Style, English and other humanities

 

Getting human help

Jeremy Blatchley and Camilla MacKay are usually available Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

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