The Amasis Painter was an ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 vase painter of the black figure style. He owes his name to the fact that eight of the potter Amasis's manufactured marked work ("Amasis made me") are painted by the same painter, who is therefore called the Amasis painter. Today some 90 works are attributed to this artisan.

In the earlier works attributed to Amasis, the previous artistic tradition is evident, employing excessively long figures with small heads and angular movements. Contrary to his predecessors he soon began to fill his work with life and tension. He loosened his figures up and created new composition forms. The trigger for this change was most likely around 540 BCE when imported red figure painting appeared with its new representation possibilities, which obviously inspired him to use richer ornamentation, transferring it, as far as possible, to his black figure painting. Contrary to some younger contemporaries, like the Andokides Painter

Andokides Painter

The Andokides painter was an ancient Athenian vase painter who was active from 530 to approximately 515 BCE. His work is unsigned; he is named after Andokides, the potter for whom he worked. He is believed to be the inventor of the red figure style of vase painting.-Beginnings of his art:The...

, whom he perhaps influenced, he held to the black figure style and did not change over. Nevertheless he seems to have occasionally attempted the red figure style.

The name Amasis, a hellenized form of the Egyptian A-ahmes, has resulted in much scholarly debate. There are two suggestions: that he was an Athenian named after the king Amasis, or that he was an Egyptian or Naucratian

Naucratis

Naucratis or Naukratis, , loosely translated as " power over ships" , was a city of Ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, 45 mi SE of the open sea and the later capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, Alexandria...

 immigrant to Athens. Those who support the former hypothesis argue that the potter and the painter are two different men. A further argument in support of his non-Athenian origin is the period in which he lived. Solon

Solon

Solon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens...

 set out to see the world and came to the court of Amasis

Amasis II

Amasis II or Ahmose II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt, the successor of Apries at Sais. He was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest.-Life:...

 in Egypt (Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

 I,30-46); while there Solon encouraged craftsmen to settle in Athens by offering them Athenian citizenship.

Selected works

• Athens, Acropolis Museum
  Acropolis Museum
  The Old Acropolis Museum was an archaeological museum located in Athens, Greece on the archeological site of Acropolis. It is built in a niche at the eastern edge of the rock and most of it lies beneath the level of the hilltop, making it largely invisible. It was considered one of the major...
  
  

Pinax 2510

• Berlin, Antikensammlung

Bauchamphora F 1688 • Amphora F 1691 • Fragment einer Bauchamphora F 1692

• Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum

Amphora 71.82

• Boston, Museum of Arts

Halsamphora 18026 • Amphora 01.8026 • Amphora 01.8027 • Kylix 10.651

• London, The British Museum

Olpe B 52 • Olpe B 471

• Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum

Schale 79.AE.197

• München, Staatliche Antikensammlung

Bauchamphora 1383 • Amphora 8763

• New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bauchamphora 06.1021.69 • Amphora 56.171.10

• Paris, Musée National du Louvre

Schalen-Skyphos A 479 • Amphora F 25 • Amphora F 26 • Oinochoe F 30 • Amphora F 36 • Schale F 75

• Würzburg, Martin von Wagner Museum

Amphora L 265