One of the first personalities to be identified in Etruscan art, the Micali Painter (sixth century BC), is also one of the liveliest of ancient vase-painters, and the leading exponent of a black-figure style that owed more to native imagination than the influence of imported Athenian vases. He is named after Guiseppe Micali (1769-1844), who recognized the hoard of vases discussed in this book as being the work of one man. This book presents the first full stylistic study of the painter, together with a catalogue of his surviving work (some two hundred pieces) and an account of his development and influence within the course of archaic Etruscan painting. Much of the material is hitherto unpublished, and the illustrations have been chosen to furnish a full documentation of the Micali Painter's range and originality.

Nigel Spivey sets the formation of the classical style in its proper historical context. He explores the question of how Greek art was inextricably bound up with the social, religious, philosophical and political factors of the period and explains the art not only in terms of those who commissioned and created it, but also with reference to the archaeology of the places which hosted it.