The latter vases form the transition to the second period. The shapes now become more varied, graceful, and slender. The figures are painted in black, and covered with a brilliant varnish; the _technique_ of the painting, however, does not differ from that of the first period. The outlines have been neatly incised and covered up with black paint; the details also of draperies and single parts of the body are done by incision, and sometimes painted over in white or dark red. The principle seems to be that of polychrome painting, also applied in sculpture. Single parts of the armor, embroideries, and patterns of dresses, hair, and beards of men, the manes of animals, etc., are indicated by means of dark red lines. This variety of color was required particularly for the draperies, which are stiff and clumsily attached to the body. The same stiffness is shown in the treatment of faces and other nude parts of the body, as also in the rendering of movements. The faces are always in profile, the nose and chin pointed and protruding, and the lips of the compressed mouth indicated only by a line. Shoulders, hips, thighs, and calves bulge out, the body being singularly pinched. The grouping is equally imperfect. The single figures of compositions are loosely connected by the general idea of the story. They have, as it were, a narrative character; an attempt at truth to nature is, however, undeniable. The subjects are taken partly from the twelve-gods cycle (like the frequently-occurring birth of Athene, Dionysian processions, etc.), or from Trojan and Theban myths; partly also from daily life, such as chases, wrestlings, sacrifices, symposia and the like. To this class belong most of those large Panathenaic prize-vases, which are of such importance for our knowledge of gymnastic competitions.