Jena Painter

The Jena Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter, active in Athens around 400 BC. He mainly painted "kylikes" in the red-figure technique. His stylistic and chronological place was first determined by the British Classical archaeologist, John D. Beazley. Beazley chose the conventional name "Jena Painter" because a large proportion of the artist's surviving works were in the possession of Jena University. The majority of his 91 known vessels were discovered in the Kerameikos, the potters' quarter of ancient Athens, in 1892. Many of his vessels were exported, for example to Etruria and North Africa. The Jena Painter appears to have had two assistants whose work is described as style B and style C. The Jena Painter would paint the internal images of bowls, and the style B assistant their outsides. The work of the style C assistant is known only from, bowl "skyphoi" and footless bowls. In contrast to his assistants' rather casual drawings, the Jena Painter is distinguished by his fine and careful drawing style and the vividness of his compositions. The Q Painter and the Diomedes Painter worked in the same workshop as the Jena Painter.