Guess the Artist

Your clues this week are:

• The artist was Greek, lived in the Late Archaic period, and was important in the pioneer generation of Attic red-figure painters. It is worth noting that the artist was also one of the last great Attic black-figure painters.
• We think the artist's teachers must have been Euthymides (fl ca. 515-ca. 500 B.C.) and Euphronios (fl ca. 520-ca. 500 B.C.), while the Berlin Painter (fl ca. 500-ca. 460s B.C.) was a contemporary.
• Our artist had the same surname as did Berlin, above. But, then, so did quite a few other ancient Greek artists.

And


• This is an amphora, but not just any old storage container. It was a specific type of amphora given by the city of Athens to winners in the Panathenaic Games. These amphorae were always painted in the black-figure manner, always depicted Athena (seen here) opposite the sporting event on the flip side, and were filled with oil which, I hasten to add, was a prize in more ways than one. Now, the Panathenaic Games were not as important as the Olympic Games -- even though both were held every four years -- but you wouldn't want to say that out loud in ancient Athens. Or even today, possibly, seeing as the 2,500 year old, refurbished Panathenaic Stadium was used for several events in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Speaking of which, if given a choice would you rather have a gold(-plated) medal or a priceless terracotta artifact?

Please email me your guesses over the coming week. I'll post the winner and correct answer with next week's guessing game. Good luck!

Last Week's Answer:

The clues last week pointed straight to master carver Tilman Riemenschneider (German, ca. 1460-1531) and his lovely little Saint Jerome and the Lion, ca. 1495. There were many responses, some due to the "limewood" clue -- didn't we all hear about the Holy Blood Altarpiece in a survey class? -- and some sympathetic to Riemenschneider. As reader Glenn wrote, "Whether Riemenschneider's hands were broken or not he was none the less a broken man ..." Sad, but true. On a happier note, Victoria sent the first correct response, so my congratulations to you, Ms. C., and thanks to all who participated!