Open daily. Always free.
Mixing Vessel (Bell Krater) with Theseus Pursuing Helen

Mixing Vessel (Bell Krater) with Theseus Pursuing Helen

Niobid Painter (follower of) (attributed to)

Side A shows the hero Theseus, who after his wife Phaedra killed herself, determined to wed a daughter of Zeus. Here he grabs the forearm of the young Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda, as she clings to the column of a temple. Her companion hurries to the left, perhaps to bring help, but reaches out and looks back to Helen. On side B a maid comes before a queen, with coronet and scepter, inside a palace, suggested with a Doric column. Another woman comes to listen.
Artist
Niobid Painter (follower of) (attributed to)
(Greek, Attic, active ca. 470-ca. 445 B.C.E.)
Title
Mixing Vessel (Bell Krater) with Theseus Pursuing Helen
Date
ca. 460-450 B.C.E.
Medium
Earthenware with red-figure decoration
Dimensions
14 x 17 in. overall
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Frank
Accession No.
69.31.1
Classification
Ceramics
Geography
Greece

Related

by February 1968, with Münzen und Medaillen A.G. (Basel, Switzerland); 17 February 1968, sold by André Emmerich Gallery, Inc. (New York, NY) on behalf of Münzen and Medaillen A.G. (Basel, Switzerland) to Arthur J. and Edith Fairchild Frank (Milwaukee, WI); 10 October 1969, gifted to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called the Chazen Museum of Art] [Last researched by Chazen staff 3 June 2022]

  • Cohen, Ada, ed. "Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy." Athens: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2007. p. 265, no. 13.8
  • "SchoolsMusuemsART (SMART) Project." Madison, WI: Madison Metropolitan School District, 2002.
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Ancient Etruscan and Greek Vases in the Elvehjem Museum of Art." University of Wisconsin Regents. Madison, Wis., 2000. p. 62, no. 41
  • University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. "The Classical World: Aegean Art." Art History Image Search, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Online. Mar 7, 2003. <http://facstaff.uww.edu/henigec/imagesearch/index.htm>;
  • Herbert, A. Cahn. "Art of the Ancients: Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans." New York: Andre Emmerich Gallery, 1968. p. 29
  • Elvehjem Art Center. "Bulletin 1970-1971." Madison: Elvehjem Art Center, 1971. p. 43

The Chazen Museum of Art welcomes comments or inquiries about works in our collection. Please allow two–three weeks for a response. Chazen staff is not able to provide valuations or authentications and such inquiries cannot be answered.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.