Summary Of Mixing Vessel With Theseus Pursuing Helen

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Charlotte Knihtila Art History 201 Prof. Dale 15 Apr. 2024 The History Behind the Visual Construction of Theseus Pursuing Helen What may come to mind when discussing Theseus are his Isthmian deeds: slaying the minotaur and the battle against the Amazons being two of the most prominent ones (mythica). In general, Theseus is regarded as an Ionian-Athenian hero whose legendary adventures have stood the test of time in the forms of vases, metopes, and friezes (oxford). However, Mixing Vessel with Theseus Pursuing Helen (ca. 460-450 BCE), located in the Chazen Museum of Art and attributed to a follower of the Niobid Painter, shows a different side of Theseus. Mixing Vessel with Theseus Pursuing Helen depicts three figures on the obverse and reverse …show more content…

Menelaos retrieving Helen from Troy was another popular Greek myth a bit before the 6th century BCE. In examples of the vases, (find examples of vases, state the composition in relation to Theseus and Helen, state elements that may have occurred, compare it to Neils and Clement’s theories). Now understanding how the composition of Mixing Vessel with Theseus Pursuing Helen follows its predecessors, by looking at other vases depicting Theseus pursuing Helen there are similarities and differences in certain ways things are depicted. (find examples of vases and compare/contrast) Guy Hedreen has an explanation which would explain these discontinuities during the time periods in which these vases and kraters were made. Hedreen explains that artists and the general public heard these myths through oral tradition or general conversation during the Archaic and Early Classical Periods. There may not have been many texts widely available at the time, so the only account artists could go off on was stories passed down through others …show more content…

She further explains that additions were to fill in gaps within Theseus’ life by adding onto his Isthmian deeds and elaborate his character as a person (neils). Due to these additions being fairly recent within the time range of vases depicting Theseus and Helen, visual representations of this could be different as well. In the end, these reasons would explain why certain details in the visual depiction Theseus abducting Helen are different across the wide amount of vases while still adhering to the visual canon of the three figures, as described by Clement before. To sum things up, I would argue that the visual depiction Mixing Vessel with Theseus Pursuing Helen referenced already existing visual narratives of pursuers and pursued, such as Menelaos pursuing Helen, and the visual discrepancies between other visual depictions of Theseus abducting Helen are due to the gradual changes to the narrative over time as a result of oral tradition (Clement: Hedreen). As Theseus’ character was being added onto during the 6th to 5th century BC, this could have also led to further discontinuities in the visual depiction

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