This period saw a progressive decline in Attic vase painting. Because of the limitations imposed by the pot surface, the vase painter could no longer keep pace with the rapid advance toward naturalism in the major arts; the occasional attempts at perspective and depth of grouping simply detracted from the shape of the vessel (a mistake repeated in some painting on Italian maiolica in the late 16th century ce). Furthermore, in contrast with the earlier wares, much of the later Attic vase painting shows a saccharine sentimentality and triviality in both the choice of subject and its treatment. Distinguished exceptions ...(100 of 42409 words)