Underworld Painter
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The Underworld Painter was an ancient Greek Apulian vase painter whose works date to the second half of the 4th century BC.
The Underworld Painter is the successor of the Darius Painter, in whose workshop he began his career and where he worked with other influential craftsmen. This was a large factory-like workshop, probably at Taras. He most frequently depicted theatrical scenes, especially ones from the Classical tragedies by Euripides, and mythological themes.
Works
One of his works shows Hades and Persephone in her palace in the underworld. The compositions and the mythological content are close to those of the Darius Painter, and the influences can be seen in his depictions of robes and faces. Other subjects include Hades kidnapped Persephone, Eos kidnapped Cephalus, and Castor and Pollux abducting the daughters of Leucippus. In the first two vases he is quite free in his presentation, he distributed the figures on different levels and separates them by tendrils friezes. The third vase is another thematically appropriate image, which is unique in the vase painting is one of its kind: Castor and Pollux fight against the sons of Aphareus. His early work has influenced the later artists Painter of Louvre MNB 1148.
