Around 530 BC the red-figure style of painting — a reverse process of the black-figure style — was developed in Athens. In the latter, figures and ornamentation were drawn on the natural clay surface of a vase in glossy black pigment, while in the red-figure style the images and ornaments were outlined in black but the background outside the outline was filled in with black, leaving the figures red. Thus the drawing could be executed more freely, as the details (hair, folds of clothing) were not scraped out with a pointed instrument but applied with a fine brush.

The images on the present pelike, an early work by the Berlin Painter from around 500 BC, were executed in this new technique. They depict the revenge of Orestes, the main theme of the gloomy myth, which received its classical form in Aeschylus’ trilogy Oresteia (consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and Eumenides) in the mid-5th century BC. On the front, Orestes kills Aegisthus, the lover of his mother, Clytemnestra, with his sword. He is taking his revenge on Aegisthus and Clytemnestra for having murdered his father, Agamemnon, after his return from the Trojan War. On the left, Chrysothemis, the avenger’s sister, is taking flight. On the back, Clytemnestra is depicted as she attempts to come to her lovers aid with a hatchet, but she is held back by Agamemnon’s herald, Talthybius. Most likely a dramatic adaptation of the myth served as a model for this depiction. In the 2nd half of the 6th century BC, the genre of the tragedy gained importance. Although few literary themes are preserved from this time, we can assume that the legendary subject was dealt with in art and literature even before Aeschylus (cf. Ill. p. 24).