The Judgment of Paris: Two Unpublished Vases in the Graeco-Etruscan Museum at Florence

Extract

My object in the following paper is two-fold; first, to comment on two hitherto unpublished vases relating to the myth of the Judgment of Paris; secondly, to discuss the typography of the myth generally, and in particular to offer some suggestions as to the origin of its early art form.

First as to the unpublished vases. Both the amphora and the pinax are now in the Graeco-Etruscan Museum at Florence. The drawings and photographs were executed under the kind supervision of the Director of the Museum, Sig. Milani; he was however unable to tell me where the vases were found: they are manifestly both of Attic work. It is fortunate that they both are now in the same Museum, as they present certain well-marked analogies in treatment, evident at the most cursory glance.

A detailed description of the two vases is superfluous, as accurate reproductions lie before the reader, but I would call attention to one or two points. The amphora (Plate LXX. and Fig. 1) I should class as belonging to very early black-figured manner—before the regular B. F. Attic style is fully established—with reminiscences of the so-called ‘Chalcidian’ and of the ‘Corinthian’ styles. We note especially the curiously cut cloaks of the women, which appear frequently on Corinthian vases, of which there are numerous examples in the Louvre; and we note also the rosettes on the animal frieze and the very ‘Chalcidian’ horror vacui, e.g. the little owl between the feet of Hermes.