Hermonax

Hermonax (active between 470 and 440 BC in Athens) was a Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure style. At present, ten vases signed with the phrase "Hermonax has painted it" are known. They are mainly "stamnoi" and "pelikes" and a bowl. He also painted small-format neck amphorae, "loutrophoroi", "lekythoi", jugs and "hydriai".

He appears to have been a pupil of the Berlin Painter, but must, on stylistic grounds, have entered that workshop quite late. Hermonax adopted his master's tendency to paint large surfaces and his dryness. Hermonax' work shows no hint of any influence from the Berlin painters dynamic early works. Nevertheless, he managed to transform the habits he adopted into innovations. Hermonax began to pay little heed to the vessel surfaces. He pushed individual ornamentions, especially around the handles, more and more aside or omitted them entirely. On some vases he even used the handles to extend his figural compositions. In some cases he painted so many, partially overlapping, figures that the proportion of light red areas nearly repressed the black background. Only on his smaller vessels did he work without large groups of figures. His composition of figural groups on large vessels was fully innovative. So far, the depiction of mythological scenes had followed certain standards as regards the number of figures. Hermonax enriched the scenes by adding multiple additional figures that were not directly connected to the narrative action and thus extended it not in content but in size. One result was, that his works frequently have to accommodate figures that seem weakened in their expressive impact by extending beyond the traditional areas of painting and extending, for example, onto the handles. Many archaeologists therefore assume that Hermonax transferred pre-existing compositions onto his vases without previously asserting that they actually fitted the vessel's body.

A total of over 200 vases is attributed to Hermonax.

elected works

*Adria, Museo Civico:fragments of a bowl B 34 • fragments of a bowl B 296 • fragments of a bowl B 785
*Agrigento, Museo Archeologico Regionale:lekythos
*Altenburg, Staatliches Lindenau-Museum:amphora 289 • oinochoe 297
*Ancona, Museo Archeologico Nazionale:two fragments of different bowls
*Argos, Archaeological Museum:bell krater C 909
*Athens, Agora Museum:fragment of a loutrophoros P 15018 • hydria P 25101 • fragment of a stamnos P 25357 • fragment P 25357 A • fragment of a krater P 30017 • fragment of a bell krater P 30019 • fragment of a bowl CP 11948 • fragment of a lekythos P 30065 • fragment of a hydria P 30134 • fragments of a pelike P 8959
*Athens, Acropolis Museum:fragmente of several loutrophoroi
*Athens, National Archaeological Museum:fragment 2.692 • lekythos 1632
*Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery:amphora 48.55
*Barcelona, Museo Arqueologico:lekythos 581 • fragment of a bowl 4233.6
*Basel, Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig:pelike BS 483 • oinochoe KA 430
*Berne, Historical Museum:pelike 26454
*Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico:oinochoe 344
*Boston, Museum of Fine Arts:stamnos 01.8031
*Boulogne, Musée Communal:amphora 125
*Bristol, City Museum:hydria H 4631
*Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts:pelike A 1579 • hydria A 3098
*Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr College:fragment of a bowl P 199 • fragment of a bowl P 209 • fragment of a bowl P 989
*Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University, Arthur M. Sackler Museum:fragment of a bowl 1995.18.42
*Catania, Museo Civico:hydria 706
*Chicago, University of Chicago:pelike 171
*Christchurch, University of Canterbury:amphora
*Cologne, Cologne University:amphora 308
*Columbia, Missouri, Museum of Art & Archeology:amphora 83.187
*Corinth, Archaeological Museum:fragment of a krater C 66.40
*Dresden, Albertinum:fragment of a bowl
*Ferrara, Museo Nazionale di Spina:oinochoe 2461 • oinochoe B 31.5.1958 • lekanis T0 • oinochoe T 216 CVP • oinochoe T 607 • oinochoe T 897
*Florence, Museo Archeologico Etrusco:fragment of a stamnos 14B5 • fragment 14B53 • stamnos 3995 • fragment of a stamnos PD 421
*Gela, Museo Archeologico :lekythos N 115
*Glasgow, Museum & Art Gallery:pelike 1883.32A
*Gotha, Schlossmuseum:amphora 50
*Göttingen, Georg-August-Universität:fragment of a bowl H 74
*Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum:lekythos 1930.184
*Heidelberg, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität:fragment of a stamnos 170 • pelike 171 • fragment of a lekythos 172 • fragment of a bowl 173
*Innsbruck, University:fragment of a bowl II.12.66 • fragment of a bowl II.12.67
*Istanbul, Archaeology Museum:kfragment A 33.2322 • fragment of a bowl A 33.2350
*Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum:fragment of a bowl 69.35C • two fragments of a bowl 86.360 A-B • fragment of a bowl 69.35 C
*Kassel, Museum Schloß Wilhelmshöhe:amphora T 696
*London, British Museum:amphora E 312 • pelike E 371 • pelike P 374 • stamnos E 445
*London, Victoria & Albert Museum:hydria 4816.1858
*Los Angeles, County Museum of Art:pelike A 5933.50.41
*Madrid, Museo Arqueológico Nacional:amphora 11098 • amphora L 172
*Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg Universität:fragment of a pelike (?) 144
*Manchester, City Art Gallery & Museum:pelike III.I.41
*Mannheim, Reiss-Museum:stamnos 59
*Marseilles, Musee Borely:stamnos 1630 • pelike 3592 • pelike 7023
*Melfi, Museo Nazionale del Melfese:amphora "(loan)"
*Metaponto, Museo Civico:amphora 20113
*Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts:fragment of a bowl RS 470
*Moscow, Pushkin Museum:amphora 601 • amphora 1071
*Munich, Glyptothek and Antikensammlung:stamnos 2413 • lekythos 2477 • lekythos 2478
*Münster, Archaeological Museum of Münster University:lekythos 668
*Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale:amphora 81481 • amphora H 3385 • pelike SP 2028
*Naples, Palazzo di San Nicandro (Museo Mustilli):pelike
*New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art:lekythos 26.60.77 • lekythos 41.162.19 • bowl 1972.70.2 • fragment of a bowl 1972.257 • fragment of a bowl 1973.175.4A-B
*Norwich, Castle Museum:amphora 36.96
*Orvieto, Museo Civico (Collezione Faina):bowl 43 • lekythos 66 A
*Oxford, Ashmolean Museum:amphora 1966.500
*Paestum, Museo Archeologico Nazionale:oinochoe 57799
*Palermo, Collezione Collisani:amphora R 33
*Palermo, Museo Archeologico Regionale:lekythos 1445 • lekythos V 672
*Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Cabinet des Médailles:lekythos 489
*Paris, Musée National du Louvre:pelike CP 10765 • fragment of a pelike CP 10766 • bowl CP 10955 • fragment of a pelike CP 11060 • fragment CP 11061 • fragment of a pelike CP 11064 • fragment of a stamnos CP 11065 • fragment of a stamnos CP 11067 • fragment CP 11068 • fragment of a bowl CP 11944 • fragment of a bowl CP 11945 • fragment of a bowl CP 11946 • fragment of a bowl CP 11947 • fragment of a bowl CP 11948 • fragment of a bowl CP 11949 • fragment of a bowl CP 11950 • fragment of a bowl CP 11951 • fragment of a bowl CP 11952 • fragment of a bowl CP 11953 • fragment of a bowl CP 11954 • bowl G 268 • stamnos G 336 • pelike G 374 • amphora G 376 • stamnos 413 • stamnos G 416 • pelike G 546 • oinochoe G 573
*Rhodes, Archaeological Museum:hydria 12884
*Rome, Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia:stamnos 5241 • pelike (Beazley Nr. 33) • pelike 50459
*Samothrace, Archaeological Museum:fragment of a bell krater
*St. Louis, St. Louis Art Museum:amphora WU 3271 [http://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collections/artwork.asp?artist=0000ZL]
*San Simeon, Hearst Corporation:amphora 12359
*St. Petersburg, Eremitage:amphora 696 • pelike 727 • stamnos 804 • stamnos 2070 • stamnos 4121 • fragment of a stamnos NB 6463 • amphora ST 1461 • amphora 1672 • amphora ST 1692 • stamnos ST 1694
*Sarajevo, Zemaljski muzej Bosne i Hercegovine:fragment of a hydria 31 • loutrophoros 389 • fragment of a loutrophoros 425 • fragment of a loutrophoros 426
*Stockholm, Medelhavsmuseum:bowl G2334
*Syracuse, Archaeological Museum:lekythos 24552
*Tampa, Tampa Museum of Art :kylix 86.89
*Trieste, Museo Storia ed Arte:stamnos S 424
*Tübingen, Eberhard-Karls-Universität :fragment of a bowl E 43 • fragment of a loutrophoros E 90 • fragment of a loutrophoros E 99 • fragment of a pelike S101583
*Vatican City, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Vaticano:stamnos 16526
*Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe:amphora
*Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum:pelike 336 • pelike 1095 • pelike IV 3728
*Vienna, Vienna University:fragment of a bowl 503.50 • fragment
*Wiesbaden, Landesamt:amphora
*Würzburg, Martin von Wagner Museum:amphora L 504 [http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/P13.9.html]
*Zurich, Zurich University:fragment of a stamnos 3550 • bowl L 95

Bibliography

* Hanns E. Langenfass: "Hermonax. Untersuchungen zur Chronologie". München, 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-Kerényi: Hermonax in Zürich, 1. Ein Puzzle mit Hermonaxscherben. "Antike Kunst" 26 (1983), p. 127-135.
* Cornelia Isler-Kerényi: Hermonax in Zürich, 2. Die Halsamphora Haniel. "Antike Kunst" 27 (1984), p. 54-57.
* Cornelia Isler-Kerényi: Hermonax in Zürich, 3. Der Schalenmaler. "Antike Kunst" 27 (1984), p. 154-165.
* Cornelia Isler-Kerényi: Hieron und Hermonax. In: "Ancient Greek and related pottery. Proceedings of the international vase symposium, Amsterdam 12 - 15 April 1984" (Amsterdam 1984), p. 164.
* Cornelia Isler-Kerényi: Hermonax e i suoi temi dionisiaci. In: "Images et sociétés en Grèce ancienne. L'iconographie comme méthode d'analyse. Actes du Colloque international, Lausanne 8-11 février 1984" (Lausanne 1987), p. 169-175.

External links

* [http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=rs_display_res&langue=fr&critere=Hermonax&operator=AND&nbToDisplay=20 Works by Hermonax in the Loure]
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?lang=en&full=0&alts=1&group=typecat&lookup=Hermonax Vases by Hermonax at Perseus]

ource of translation