Campanian vase painting is one of the five regional styles of South Italian

South Italian

South Italian is a designation for ancient Greek pottery fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC. The fact that Greek Southern Italy produced its own red figure pottery as early as the end of the 5th century BC. was first established by Adolf Furtwaengler in 1893...

 red-figure vase painting. It forms a close stylistic community with Apulian vase painting

Apulian vase painting

Apulian vase painting was the leading South Italian vase painting tradition between 430 and 300 BC. Of the circa 20,000 surviving specimens of Italian red-figure vases, about half are from Apulian production, while the rest are from the four other centres of production, Paestum, Campania, Lucania...

.

Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

 produced red-figure vases in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The sand-coloured to light brown clay (lighter than other South Italian clays) of Campania was covered with a slip

Slip (ceramics)

A slip is a suspension in water of clay and/or other materials used in the production of ceramic ware. Deflocculant, such as sodium silicate, can be added to the slip to disperse the raw material particles...

  that developed a pink or red tint after firing, creating an appearance very similar to that of Attic vases. The popular white or bright paints wer visually especially striking on this. Women are usually by the use of white paint to depict their skin. The Campanian painters preferred smaller vessel types, but also hydriai and bell kraters. The most popular shape is the bow-handled amphora. Many typical Apulian vessel shapes, like volute kraters, column kraters, loutrophoroi

Loutrophoros

A loutrophoros is a distinctive type of Greek pottery vessel characterized by an elongated neck with two handles. The loutrophoros was used to hold water during marriage and funeral rituals, and was placed in the tombs of the unmarried...

, rhyta

Rhyton

A rhyton is a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony such as libation. Rhytons were very common in ancient Persia, where they were called takuk...

and nestoris amphorae are absent, pelike

Pelike

A pelike is a one-piece ceramic container similar to an amphora.It has two open handles that are vertical on their lateral aspects and even at the side with the edge of the belly, a narrow neck, a flanged mouth, and a sagging, almost spherical belly....

s are rare. The repertoire of motifs is limited. Subjects include youths, women, thiasos scenes, birds and animals, and often native Samnite

Samnite

Samnite is an adjective meaning "having to do with ancient Samnium."Samnite can also mean* Samnites, the people of ancient Samnium* Samnite , a gladiator who fought with the equipment and in the manner of a Samnite soldier...

 warriors. The backs often show cloaked youths. Mythological scenes and depictions related to burial rites play a subsidiary role. Naiskos

Naiskos

The naiskos is a small temple in Classical order with columns or pillars and pediment. Often applied as an artificial motif, it is not rare in ancient art...

scenes, ornamental elements and polychromy are adopted after 340 BC under Lucanian influence. The bell-shaped flowers used as ornaments are very different from the ornaments used in other South Italian styles. At 4,000 known vases, the Campanian style is the second most common in the region (after Apulian).

Before the immigration of Sicilian potters in the second quarter of the 4th century BC, when several workshops were established in Campania, only the Owl-Pillar Workshop of the second half of the 5th century is known. It imitated Attic red-figure products. Campanian vase painting is subdivided into three main groups:

The first group is represented by the Kassandra Painter

Kassandra Painter

The Kassandra Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style.A contemporary of the Heidelberg Painter, he decorated Siana cups with tall feet and rims. The vessels painted by him are of medium size. He is considered one of the first producers of Little-master cups...

 from Capua

Capua

Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...

, still under Sicilian influence, especially by the Chessboard Painter. He was followed by the workshop of the Parrish Painter and that of the Laghetto Painter and the Caivano Painter, who were influenced by Paestan vase painting

Paestan vase painting

Paestan vase painting was a style of vase painting associated with Paestum, a Campanian city in Italy founded by Greek colonists. Paestan vase painting is one of five regional styles of South Italian red-figure vase painting.-Development:...

. Large vases by these workshops usually bore mythological motifs. Their work is characterised by a preference for satyr

Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....

 figures with thyrsos, depictions of heads (normally below the handles of hydriai), decorative borders of garments, and the frequent use of additional white, red and yellow. The Laghetto and Caivano Painters appear to have moved to Paestum

Paestum

Paestum is the classical Roman name of a major Graeco-Roman city in the Campania region of Italy. It is located in the north of Cilento, near the coast about 85 km SE of Naples in the province of Salerno, and belongs to the commune of Capaccio, officially also named...

 later. The last representative of this manufacture was the Ixion Painter.

The AV Group and the Capua Painter also had their workshop in Capua. Tjis manufacture, too, appears to have been founded by emigrants from Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

. Of particular importance is the Whiteface-Frignano Painter, one of the first in this group. His typical characteristic is the use of additional white paint to depict the faces of women. This group favoured domestic scenes, women and warriors. Multiple figures are rare, usually there is only one figure each on the front and back of the vase, sometimes only the head. Garments are usually drawn casually.

The workshop in Cumae

Cumae

Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...

 was founded very late. After 350 BC, its founder, the CA Painter and his collaborators and successors worked there. The CA Painter is considered as the outstanding artist of his group, or even of Campanian vase painting as a whole. From 330 onwards, a strong Apulian influence is visible. The most common motifs are naiskos and grave scenes, dionysiac scenes and symposia. Depictions of bejewelled female heads are also common. The CA painter was polychrome but tended to use much white for architecture and female figures. His successors, the CB Painter and CC Painter were not fully able to maintain his quality, leading to a rapid demise, terminating with the end of Campanian vase painting around 300 BC.