Red Figures : Vase Painting at the Museo Ridola, Matera

The red-figure vases from the National Museum “Domenico Ridola” of Matera in Italy and the Rizzon Collection – rich in precious Apulian and Lucanian pieces – offer a unique opportunity to grasp Magna Graecia antiquity from an unusual perspective through the photographs by Luigi Spina. Text in English and Italian.

The red-figure vases from the National Museum “Domenico Ridola” in Matera and the Rizzon Collection – rich in precious Apulian and Lucanian pieces – offer a unique opportunity to grasp Magna Graecia antiquity from an unusual perspective through the photographs by Luigi Spina. Significant testimony to vase painting between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the museum's artifacts largely date back to the discoveries of Domenico Ridola (1841-1932) and form part of elaborate funerary assemblages, possessing great aesthetic and historical value through which everyday life is reflected in myths.

In the book, black is the protagonist: it enhances the red figures and brings out the keen eye of photographer Luigi Spina. Anatomical details, drapery, and decorative motifs emerge in all their strength without the filter of museum cases, while touches of white enrich the vases' bichrome palette.

Photographing a work of art means capturing its deep meaning to communicate it to the world. Far from the idea of a museum catalog, the volume is rather a figurative atlas of antiquity.

Text in English and Italian.

Luigi Spina, a photographer, has published several volumes with 5 Continents Editions, including The Buchner Boxes (2014), Hemba (2017), and Mythical Diary (2017), dedicated to the Farnese Collection. With the same publisher, he created the series Hidden Treasures: The Farnese Cup, The Alexander Mosaic, San Domenico by Niccolò dell'Arca, The Riace Bronzes (2022), and the large-scale photographic project Inside Pompeij (2023).