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308 ON THE PAINTING OF AN ANCIENT VASE, FROM THE GERMAN OF UHDEN. The vase, the painting of which is described in the fol- lowing memoir, was found in Magna Graecia. This painting M^as most probably, like those of many vases, a copy from some greater work, which, in the style of the composition and the figures, reminds one of the paintings of Polygnotus on the walls of the Lesche at Delphi, described by Pausanias (x. 25—31.) : as in them, so in the present instance, the names are annexed to the figures And for this we owe the artist many thanks. For with- out these names, to what explanations and conjectures would not his work have been subject ! and how likely would they all have been altogether to miss its real meaning ! so destitute are some of the figures of all attributes, while others are in- vested with attributes, entirely different from those usually attributed to them, which, though perhaps occasionally men- tioned in the writings of the ancients, are very seldom, and in part never found on ancient monuments. Considered merely in this respect the present painting is extremely valuable : and it is rendered still more interesting by its subject. For it exhibits one of the most ancient stories of Hercules, which, frequently as the deeds of this hero were the subject of such works, has never yet appeared in any monument hitherto dis- covered : so that this representation is new, and at present perfectly unique : and since it throws new light on one of the greatest masterpieces of the Attic drama, it unquestionably deserves peculiar attention. ^ The original of this memoir was read to the Academy of Berlin in November 1810. It was accompanied with a copy of the painting, which is engraved in the Transactions of the Academy : but the minuteness and fidelity of the description will enable the reader to dispense with this illustration. It is also given by Millingen Peintiires des Vases ^ T. 51. Tr,