Hermonax was a Greek vase painter working in the red-figure style. He painted between c. 470 and 440 BC in Athens. Ten vases signed with the phrase "Hermonax has painted it" survive, mainly stamnoi and lekythoi. He is generally a painter of large pots, though some cups survive.
Background
Forming the beginning of the 'early classic' generation of vase-painters, Hermonax was a pupil of the Berlin Painter and a contemporary of the Providence Painter. Sir John Beazley attributed just over 150 vases to his hand. His work has been found all over the ancient Greek world from Marseille to Southern Russia.
Hermonax entered the Berlin Painter's workshop towards its end. As a pupil of the Berlin Painter Hermonax adopted the practice of painting large figural scenes on large vessels. His meander patterns, unlike those of his master, can be careless, as with the Providence Painter. A characteristic of his style is his depiction of the eyes with a concave bottom and a convex top.
The largest share of Hermonax' surviving work depicts Dionysiac themes.
Appraisal
As Beazley states, "Sound and able as Hermonax's work generally is, he only once shows himself a remarkable artist, and that is not on any of his signed vases, but on the Munich stamnos...with the Birth of Erichthonios - Hauser has pointed out what was modern in that vase when it was painted; how the painter rejects the old-fashioned agreements of figure, face, and dress, and turns to a new kind of simplicity and truthfulness: new in his day, and fresh still, because the artist put his own thought, his own feeling into his shapes, and that keeps them alive and green."
As the 'brother' of the Providence Painter, he is seen as less technically proficient.
Bibliography
- Hanns E. Langenfass: Hermonax. Untersuchungen zur Chronologie. Mnchen, Univ., Diss. 1972.
- John H. Oakley: Athamas, Ino, Hermes, and the Infant Dionysos. A Hydria by Hermonax. Antike Kunst 25 (1982), p.44-47.
- Cornelia Isler-Kernyi: Hermonax in Zrich, 1. Ein Puzzle mit Hermonaxscherben. Antike Kunst 26 (1983), p.127-135.
- Cornelia Isler-Kernyi: Hermonax in Zrich, 2. Die Halsamphora Haniel. Antike Kunst 27 (1984), p.54-57.
- Cornelia Isler-Kernyi: Hermonax in Zrich, 3. Der Schalenmaler. Antike Kunst 27 (1984), p.154-165.
- Cornelia Isler-Kernyi: Hieron und Hermonax. In: Ancient Greek and related pottery. Proceedings of the international vase symposium, Amsterdam 1215 April 1984 (Amsterdam 1984), p.164.
- Cornelia Isler-Kernyi: Hermonax e i suoi temi dionisiaci. In: Images et socits en Grce ancienne. L'iconographie comme mthode d'analyse. Actes du Colloque international, Lausanne 8-11 fvrier 1984 (Lausanne 1987), p.169-175.
External links
- Works by Hermonax in the Louvre
- Vases by Hermonax at Perseus