The so-called Sappho Painter was a Greek vase painter in the late 6th century BC. As with other painters whose identity we do not know, he was given this name after one of his works, a hydria depicting the poet Sappho playing the lyre, now in the National Museum in Warsaw (Inv.142333).  

This is a two-part activity. In the first one, we will do some research on Greek pottery; the second one is a practice workshop.  
 
1- Look up information of pottery in ancient Greece online and answer the following questions:   

a) What was a hydria used for? What is its defining characteristic? 

b) Draw the outline of a hydria and five other Greek vase shapes, writing their name and their purpose.  

c) Explain the difference between the painting techniques in pottery: red-figure pottery, black-figure pottery and white-background pottery. 

d) You can see the red-figure technique on a hydria from 440-430 BC in the Archaeological Museum of Athens, which also depicts Sappho. Find a picture of the hydria online and describe how the poetess is depicted.  

e) Sappho Painter is also the author of several epinetrons. Do some research in this type of pottery and why it is part of the funerary objects found in the graves of some women. 

2- In some poster board, draw the outline of a hydria, as big as possible, and cut it out. 

-Paint the basis, the handle and the neck of one of the hydrias using a black marker. You can do some ribbing on the base and the neck if you wish. In the middle part, draw or trace the figure of Sappho playing the lyre and then retouch the lines with a thin brush or a black marker. Do not forget to write Sappho's name in Greek, capital letters, just as in the original. 
 
-Paint the other hydria entirely with wax crayons (Manley crayons) and use a pointed wooden stick (a skewer stick will do) to make incisions using the scratch technique, so that the orange at the bottom is visible. Place the sheet of paper with the drawing of Sappho in the middle and go over the lines with the wooden stick. The drawing will be slightly marked on the black. Remove the sheet of paper and go over the marked lines again so that the orange comes out.