Persephone Vase Painting Analysis

867 Words4 Pages

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an Attic red-figure krater dated to the middle of the 5th century BC depicts the moment of Demeter seeing her daughter, Persephone, who returns from the underworld every half year. This artifact stands 41 cm high, and 45.5 cm wide at its mouth and is credited to Mr. Fletcher Fund in 1928; its accession number is 28.57.23. The vase consists of two vase-paintings on each side. Side A depicts the story of Persephone, including Hermes, Hecate, Demeter, and Persephone herself from left to right (Figure 1), while side B consists of three characters. The ornaments at the lower edge of the vase painting and the band on the neck are painted with red pigment. A strip of decoration at the bottom is one of the variations of the stopped meander that is characterized by its broken checker squares (Clark, et al. 121-123). The corresponding decorations on the neck consisted of three bands. The upper and lower parts are two different variations of the cymation pattern (Clark, et al. 121-123). In the middle of the two bands, there is a layer of laurel leaves. In the vase painting, there are four characters distributed from left to right. The second of them is a male. On the far left of the vase painting, a female, whose height is …show more content…

Her body is facing the viewer, while she turns her head to the female, who is stepping forward from a rocky outcrop. She wears a peplos and has her hair pinned up. The image of her does not provide much useful information to affirm her identification. According to the myth, this female is likely to be Hecate because she later becomes the attendant of Persephone. Hecate is usually shown in triple form (Morford, 234), however, in this image, her characteristics as a deity of the moon (234) has been ignored. Hecate is positioned at the center of the painting leading Persephone from the underworld to the