To me, this is perhaps the most poignant scene in all of Greek vase painting – and there are thousands of incredible representations to choose from.
It is the interior of a large drinking cup, executed in the red-figure technique by one of the greats: the Brygos Painter (attributed) and now at the Getty. Lying supine on the pebbled beach is the body of the Homeric hero Ajax. A formidable warrior, he was larger than life in every sense of the word: fighting, loving, raging, and eventually in his immense, unconquerable despair.
After carrying the mortally wounded Achilles off of the battlefield, he fought for and lost the right for his friend’s famous armour – and his loss drove him mad. In the aftermath he planted a sword in the earth, and committed suicide by falling upon it. The terrible moment and its aftermath was dramatised by Sophocles in the mid-5th century B.C.
This representation is a few decades earlier, and I can’t think of anything more beautiful and terrible. The princess Tekmessa, Ajax’s lover and companion at Troy, rushes in from the right to cover the body of her beloved. Sophocles’ Tekmessa cries: ‘He must not be seen! I will cover his body, I will wrap him completely in my mantle. No one who loved him could bear to see the dark blood pouring from his nostrils and the raw wound in his breast.’
The artist has ratcheted up the emotional distress: her garments float in the wind, hair streaming. Ajax’s body even in death is impressive, too large to be contained within the circular tondo. His hair is frizzled and disheveled, outwardly displaying the temporary madness that eventually took his life.
