Greece to Paris, 530 BCE–1890

Euphronios

Krater with Heracles Wrestling Antaeus

about 515–510 BCE

Red-figure terracotta, 18 in. high. Louvre, Paris

Euphronios (Athenian painter, 6th–5th century BCE). Look at the two wrestlers: they are drawn with a brush, in thin lines on the reddish clay, and the black is the background.

Look at

• Muscles, ribs and knees are laid out as fine dark lines on the clay, drawn rather than scratched.
• The two bodies cross as diagonals, Heracles pushing from the left, Antaeus flattened under him.
• Antaeus's hair is a rough fringe and Heracles's is a cap of tiny raised dots, so the two heads read differently at a glance.
• The women at either side rise upright in long dress folds, arms out, and frame the struggle between them.

• Heracles kneels and strangles Antaeus; three women flee. Heracles's club, quiver and lion skin are drawn at the left.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC0