Maker/Artist
Douris
Greek vase painter and potter, active ca. 500-475 BCE
One of the most prolific vase painters known, Douris worked as a vase painter and occasionally as a potter in Athens in the early 5th century BCE. He is known from almost forty signed vases, two of which he also potted. Altogether, almost three hundred vases have been attributed to him. Given that scholars estimate a less than 0.5% survival rate for Greek vases, Douris may have decorated about 78,000 vases in his career. Douris primarily decorated red-figure cups, but he also painted a few vessels of other forms and in other techniques, including white-ground. His scenes are about evenly divided between mythology and depictions of everyday life. He worked with a number of potters, including Kleophrades and Euphronios, but he seems to have had a regular collaboration with Python. Onesimos depicted a cup signed by Douris on one of his vases, and there is even an ancient forgery of Douris' signature. These unusual references attest to Douris's significant influence among contemporary vase painters.
