Meidias Painter

Eduard Gerhard first identified this inscription in 1839,[1] and it was he who determined the scene on the vase was the rape of the daughters of Leukippos where previously it was thought to be the race of Hippomenes and Atalanta.

His school includes 9 individually identifiable artists or groups;[3] the total number of distinct vases Beazley gives to the Meidias Painter and his circle is 192.

The favourite shapes of Meidias Painter and his followers were hydriai amongst the larger forms and squat lekythoi, choes and a variety of pyxides and lekanides preferred for smaller pieces.

His subject matter favours the mythological over the historical (the birth of Erichthonios is a recurring theme) and given that he worked at the height of the Peloponnesian War have the air of escapist fantasy.

It also took pride of place in d’Hancarville’s folio album Collection of Etruscan Greek, Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Honourable William Hamilton, vol.

Rape of the daughters of Leucippus by the Dioscuri , hydria by the Meidias Painter, British Museum
Squat lekythos; Cleveland Museum of Art
William Hamilton by Joshua Reynolds , 1777, National Portrait Gallery London , 680, depicting the Meidias Painter's name vase in the bottom right hand corner.