Attic Influences, Italiote Experiences. The Beginnings of Red-figure Pottery Production in Sicily

The complexity of the phenomena that ruled the “beginnings” of the irst red-igure workshops in Sicily – at the end of the ifth century BCE – is well demonstrated by the varied and heterogeneous stylistic language that characterizes the output by Sicilian ateliers. A distributive and stylistic analysis shows how every workshop operating in Sicily over the last decades of the fifth century was born and developed in an independent and autonomous way, presenting features aimed at satisfying local – sub-regional – markets. The workshop of the Himera Painter constitutes one of the most emblematic case because of its clear influence derived by the early South Italian traditions. On the other hand, the contemporary workshop of the Chequer Painter, due to stylistic and formal features, is one of the most “distant” Sicilian productive tradition from the “Italiote experiences”. For those reasons, the comparison between these workshops should highlight, in a paradigmatic way, the richness and complexity of early Sicilian red-igure productions.