nd varies
from cream to yellow, and the figures are painted in black and purple.

Both in Ionia and at Corinth during the early part of the 6th century
the same tendencies are seen to be at work, tending to a unification of
styles under the growing influence of Athens. In Ionia (see above)
figure subjects become more common, and the technique approaches
gradually nearer to the black-figure method. Similarly at Corinth the
ground ornaments diminish and disappear, the friezes of animals are
restricted to the borders of the designs, and human figures are
introduced, first singly, then in friezes or groups, and finally engaged
in some definite action such as combats or hunting scenes. In the last
stages Greek myths and legends are freely employed. A new development,
traditionally associated with the painter Eumarus of Athens, was the
distinguishing of female figures by the use of white for flesh tints. A
somewhat similar development was in progress at Athens, though
represented by comparatively few vases. Here the adoption of Corinthian
and Ionian technical improvements evolved by the middle of the 6th
century the fully developed black-figure style which by degrees
supplanted or assimilated all other schools.

II. _Black-figured Vases_.--At the head of this new development stands
the famous Francois vase at Florence, found at Chiusi in 1844 (Plate I.
fig. 53). Its shape is that of a _krater_ or mixing-bowl, and it bears
the signatures of its maker and decorator in the form "Ergotimos made
me, Klitias painted me." It might be described as a Greek mythology in
miniature, with its numerous subjects and groups of figures all from
legendary sources such as the stories of Peleus, Theseus and Meleager,
or the return of Hephaestus to heaven. All the figures have their names
inscribed.

The general technique of the black-figured vases has already been
described. It may be noted as a chronological guide that the use of
purple for details is much commoner in the earlier vases, white in the
later, but towards the end of the century when the new fashion of red
figures was gaining ground, both colours were almost entirely dropped.
The drawing of the figures is, as might be expected, somewhat stiff and
conventional, though it advanced considerably in freedom before the
style went out of fashion. Many vases, otherwise carefully and
delicately executed, are marred by an excess of mannerism and
affectation, as in the works of the artists