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MURAL DECORATION
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MURAL DECORATION , a See also:general See also:term for the See also:art of ornamenting See also:wall surfaces. There is scarcely one of the numerous branches of decorative art which has not at some See also:time or other been applied to this purpose.' For what may be called the See also:practical or furnishing point of view, see WALL-COVERINGS. Here the subject is treated rather as See also:part of the See also:history of art.
I. Reliefs sculptured in See also:Marble or See also: More rarely the ground was See also:left the natural tint of the stone or marble, and only the figures and hieroglyphs painted. In the See also:case of See also:sculpture in hard See also:basalt or See also:granite the See also:painting appears often to have been omitted altogether. The See also:absence of See also:perspective effects and the severe self-See also:restraint of the sculptors in the See also:matter of See also:composition show a sense of See also:artistic fitness in this kind of decoration. That the rigidity of these sculptured pictures did not arise from want of skill or observation of nature on the part of the artists is apparent when we examine their representations of birds and animals; the See also:special characteristics of each creature and See also:species were unerringly caught by the See also:ancient See also:Egyptian, and reproduced in stone or See also:colour, in a See also:half-symbolic way, suggesting those peculiarities of See also:form, plumage, or See also:movement which are the " differentia " of each, other ideas bearing less directly on the point being eliminated.
The subjects of these mural sculptures are endless; almost every possible incident in See also:man's life here or beyond the See also:grave is reproduced with the closest detail. The See also:tomb of Tih at Sakkarah (about 4500 B.C.) has some of the finest and earliest specimens of these mural sculptures, especially rich in illustra-
I See also See also:CERAMICS ; See also:MOSAIC ; PAINTING ; SCULPTURE ; See also:TAPESTRY ; TILES; also EGYPT; Art and See also:Archaeology; See also:GREEK ART.; See also:ROMAN ART;
&c.
2 During the earliest times—more than 4000 years before our era —there appear to have been exceptions to this rule.tions of the domestic life and occupations of the Egyptians. The latter tombs, as a rule, have sculptures depicting the religious See also:ritual and belief of the See also:people, and the temples combine these See also:hieratic subjects with the history of the reigns and See also:victor es of the Egyptian See also:kings.
The above remarks as to style and manner of See also:execution may be applied also to the wall-sculptures from the royal palaces of See also:Nineveh and See also:Babylon, the finest of which are shown by See also:inscriptions to date from the time of See also:Sennacherib to that of See also:Sardanapalus (from 705 to 625 B.C.). These are carved in low relief with almost See also:gem-like delicacy of detail on enormous slabs of See also: I). The arrangement of these reliefs. in long See also:horizontal bands, and their reserved conventional treatment are somewhat similar to those of ancient Egypt, but they show a closer See also:attention to anatomical truth and a greater love for dramatic effect than any of the Egyptian reliefs. As in the art of Egypt, birds and animals are treated with greater realism than human figures. A relief in the See also:British Museum, representing a lioness wounded by an arrow in her spine and dragging helplessly her paralysed See also:hind legs, affords an example of wonderful truth and pathos. Remarkable technical skill is shown in all these sculptures by the way in which the sculptors have obtained the utmost amount of effect with the smallest possible amount of relief, in this respect calling strongly to mind a similar peculiarity in the work of the Florentine See also:Donatello. The See also:palace at Mashita on the See also:hajj road in See also:Moab, built by the Sasanian See also:Chosroes II. (A.D. 614-627), is ornamented on the exterior with beautiful surface sculpture in stone. The designs are of See also:peculiar See also:interest as forming a See also:link between Assyrian and See also:Byzantine art, and they are not remotely connected with the decoration on Moslem buildings of comparatively See also:modern date.3 Especially in See also:Italy during the See also:middle ages a similar treatment 3 Among the Mashita carvings occurs that oldest and most widely spread of all forms of See also:Aryan ornament—the sacred See also:tree between tvo animals. The sculptured slab over the " See also:lion-See also:gate " at See also:Mycenae has the other See also:common variety of this See also:motive—the See also:fire-See also:altar between the beasts. These designs, occasionally varied by figuresof human worshippers instead of the beasts, survived long after their meaning had been forgotten; even down to the See also:present See also:day they frequently appear on carpets and other textiles of See also:Oriental manufactufe. of marble in low relief was frequently used for wall-decoration. The most notable example is the beautiful See also:series of reliefs on the See also:west front of See also:Orvieto See also:Cathedral, the work of Giovanni See also:Pisano and his pupils in the See also:early part of the 14th See also:century. These are small reliefs, illustrative of the Old and New Testaments, of graceful design and skilful execution. A growth of branching foliage serves to unite and See also:frame the tiers of subjects. Of a widely different class, but of considerable importance in the history of mural decoration, are the beautiful reliefs, sculptured in stone and marble, with which Moslem buildings in many parts of the See also:world are ornamented. These are mostly geometrical patterns of great intricacy, which See also:cover large surfaces, frequently broken up into panels by bands of more flowing ornament or Arabic inscriptions. The mosques of See also:Cairo, See also:India and See also:Persia, and the domestic Moslem buildings of See also:Spain are extremely rich in this method of decoration. In western See also:Europe, especially during the 15th century, stone panelled-work with rich See also:tracery formed a large part of the See also:scheme of decoration in all the more splendid buildings. Akin to this, though without actual relief, is the stone tracery—inlaid flush into rough See also:flint walls—which was a mode of ornament largely used for enriching the exteriors of churches in the counties of See also:Norfolk and See also:Suffolk. It is almost peculiar to that See also:district, and is an example of the skill and See also:taste with which the See also:medieval builders adapted their method of ornamentation to the materials in See also:hand. 2. Marble See also:Veneer.—Another widely used method of mural decoration has been the application of thin marble linings to wall-surfaces, the decorative effect being produced by the natural beauty of the marble itself and not by sculptured reliefs. One of the oldest buildings in the world, the so-called " See also:Temple of the See also:Sphinx " among the Giza pyramids, is built of great blocks of .granite, the inside .of the rooms being lined with slabs of semi-transparent See also:African See also:alabaster about 3 in. thick. In the 1st century thin veneers of richly coloured See also:marbles were largely used by the See also:Romans to decorate See also:brick and stone walls. See also:Pliny (H. N. See also:xxxvi. 6) speaks of this practice as being a new and degenerate invention in his time. Many examples exist at See also:Pompeii and in other Roman buildings. Numerous Byzantine churches, such as St Saviour's at See also:Constantinople, and St See also:George's, Thessalonica, have the See also:lower part of the See also:internal walls richly ornamented in this way. It was commonly used to form a dado, the upper part of the See also:building being covered with mosaic. The cathedral of See also:Monreale and other Siculo-See also:Norman buildings owe a great See also:deal of their splendour to these linings of richly variegated marbles. In most cases the See also:main surface is of See also:light-coloured marble or alabaster, inlaid bands of darker tint or coloured mosaic being used to See also:divide the surface into panels. The peculiar See also:Italian-See also:Gothic of See also:northern and central Italy during the 14th and i5th centuries, and at See also:Venice some centuries earlier, relied greatly for its effects on this treatment of marble. St See also:Mark's at Venice and the cathedral of See also:Florence are magnificent examples of this work used externally. Both inside and out most of the richest examples of Moslem See also:architecture owe much to this method of decoration; the mosques and palaces of India and Persia are in many cases completely lined with the most brilliant sorts of marble of contrasting tints. 3. Wall-Linings of Glazed Bricks or Tiles.—This is a very important class of decoration, and from its almost imperishable nature, its richness of colour, and its brilliance of surface is capable of producing a splendour of effect only rivalled by See also:glass mosaics. In the less important form—that of bricks modelled or stamped in relief with figures and inscriptions, and then coated with a brilliant colour in siliceous See also:enamel—it was largely used by the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians as well as by the later Sasanians of Persia. In the r 1th and 12th centuries the Moslems of Persia brought this art to great perfection, and used it on a large scale, chiefly, though not invariably, for internal walls. The main surfaces were covered by thick earthenware tiles, overlaid with a white enamel. These were not rectangular, but of various shapes, mostly some form of a See also:star, arranged so as to See also:fit closely together. Delicate and minute patterns were thenpainted on the tiles, after the first firing, in a See also:copper-like colour with strong metallic lustre, produced by the deoxidization of a metallic See also:salt in the See also:process of the second firing. Bands and friezes with Arabic inscriptions, modelled boldly in high relief, were used to break up the monotony of the surface. In these, as a rule, the projecting letters were painted See also:blue, and the flat ground enriched with very minute patterns in the lustre-colour. This See also:combination of bold relief and delicate painting produces great vigour and richness of effect, equally telling whether viewed in the See also:mass or closely examined See also:tile by tile. In the 15th century lustre-colours, though still largely employed for plates, vases and other vessels, especially in Spain, were little used for tiles; and another class of See also:ware, rich in the variety and brilliance of its colours, was extensively used by Moslem builders all over the See also:Mahommedan world. The most sumptuous sorts of tiles used for wall-coverings are those of the so-called " Rhodian " and Damascene wares, the work of See also:Persian potters at many places. Those made at See also:Rhodes are coarsely executed in comparison with the produce of the older See also:potteries at See also:Isfahan and See also:Damascus (see CERAMICS). These are rectangular tiles of earthenware, covered with a white " slip," and painted in brilliant colours with slight conventionalized representations of various See also:flowers, especially the See also:rose, the See also:hyacinth and the See also:carnation. The red used is applied in considerable See also:body, so as to stand out in slight relief. Another class of design is more geometrical, forming See also:regular repeats; but the most beautiful compositions are those in which the natural growth of trees and flowers is imitated, the branches and blossoms spreading over a large surface covered by hundreds of tiles without any repetition. One of the finest examples is the " See also:Mecca wall " in the See also:mosque of See also:Ibrahim Agha, Cairo; and other Egyptian mosques are adorned in the same way (fig. 2). Another variety, the special See also:production of Damascus, FtG. 2.—One of the Wall-tiles from the Mosque of Ibrahim Agha, Cairo. (to in. square.) has the design almost entirely executed in blue. It was about A.D. 1600, in the reign of Shah Abbas I., that this class of pottery was brought to greatest perfection, and it is in Persia that the most magnificent examples are found, dating from the 12th to the 17th centuries. The most remarkable examples for- beauty and extent are the mosque at See also:Tabriz, built by See also:Ali Khoja in the r 2th century, the ruined tomb of See also:Sultan Khodabend (A.D. 1303-1316) at Sultaniyas, the palace of Shah Abbas I. and the tomb of Abbas II. (d. A.D. 1666) at Isfahan, all of which buildings are covered almost entirely inside and out. • Another important class of wall-tiles are those manufactured by the See also:Spanish See also:Moors, called " azulejos," especially during the 14th century. These are in a very different style, being designed to suggest or imitate mosaic. They have intricate inter-lacing geometrical patterns marked out by lines in slight relief; brilliant enamel colours were then burned into the tile, the projecting lines forming boundaries for the See also:pigments. A rich effect is produced by this combination of relief and colour. They are mainly used for dadoes about 4 ft. high, often surmounted by a See also:band of tiles with painted inscriptions. The See also:Alhambra and Generalife Palaces at See also:Granada, begun ,in the 13th century, but mainly built and decorated by Yusuf I. and Mahommed V. (A.D. 1333-1391), and the Alcazar at See also:Seville have the most beautiful examples of these " azulejos." The latter building chiefly owes its decorations to Pedro the Cruel (A.D. 1364), who employed Moorish workmen for its tile-coverings and other ornaments. Many other buildings in See also:southern Spain are enriched in the same way, some as See also:late as the 16th century. Almost peculiar to Spain are a variety of wall-tile the work of Italians in the 16th and 17th centuries. These are effective, though rather coarsely painted, and have a rich yellow as the predominant colour. The Casa de Pilatos and See also:Isabel's See also:Chapel in the Alcazar Palace, both at Seville, have the best specimens of these, dating about the See also:year 1500. In other Western countries tiles have been used more for pavements than for wall-decoration. 4. Wall-Coverings of Hard See also:Stucco, frequently enriched with Reliefs.—The Greeks and Romans possessed the See also:secret of making a hard kind of stucco, creamy in colour, and capable of receiving a See also:polish like that of marble; it would stand exposure to the See also:weather. Those of the early Greek temples which were built, not of marble, but of stone, such as the Doric temples at See also:Aegina, Phigaleia, See also:Paestum and See also:Agrigentum, were all entirely coated inside and out with this material, an admirable surface for the further polychromatic decoration with which all Greek buildings seem to have been ornamented. Another highly artistic use of stucco among the Greeks and Romans, for the interiors of buildings, consisted in covering the walls and vaults with a smooth coat, on which while still wet the outlines of figures, See also:groups and other ornaments were sketched with a point; more stucco was then applied in lumps and rapidly modelled into delicate relief before it had time to set. Some tombs in Magna Graecia of the 4th century B.c. are decorated in this way with figures of See also:nymphs, cupids, animals and wreaths, all of which are See also:models of See also:grace and elegance, and remarkable for the dexterous way in which a few rapid touches of the modelling See also:tool or thumb have produced a work of the highest artistic beauty (fig. 3). Roman specimens of this sort of decoration are common, See also:fine examples have been found in the See also:baths of See also:Titus and numerous tombs near See also:Rome, as well as in many of the houses of Pompeii. These are mostly executed with great skill and frequently with See also:good taste, though in some cases, especially at Pompeii, elaborate architectural compositions with awkward attempts at effects of violent perspective, modelled in slight relief on flat wall-surfaces, produce an unpleasing effect. Other Pompeian examples, where the surface is divided into flat panels, each containing a figure or See also:group, have great merit for their delicate richness, without offending against the canons of wall-decoration, one of the first conditions of which is that no See also:attempt should be made to disguise the fact of its being a solid wall and a flat surface. The Moslem architects of the middle ages made great use of stucco ornament both for See also:external and internal walls. The stucco is modelled in high or low relief in great variety of geometrical patterns, alternating with bands of more flowing ornament or long Arabic inscriptions. Many of their buildings, such as the mosque of Tulun at Cairo (A.D. 879), owe nearly all their beauty to this fine stucco work, the purely architectural See also:shell of the structure being often See also:simple and devoid of ornament. These stucco reliefs were, as a rule, further decorated with delicate painting in See also:gold and colours. The Moorish See also:tower at See also:Segovia in Spain is a good example of this class of ornament used externally. With the exception of a few bands of brick and the stone See also:quoins at the angles, the whole exterior of the tower is covered with a network of stucco reliefs in simple geometrical patterns. The Alhambra at Granada and the Alcazar at Seville have the richest examples of this work. The lower part of the walls is lined with marble or tiles to a height of about 4 ft. and above that in many cases the whole surface is encrusted with these reliefs, the varied surface of which, by producing endless gradations of See also:shadow, takes away any possible harshness from the brilliance of the gold and colours (fig. 4).
During the 16th century, and even earlier, stucco wall-reliefs were used with considerable skill and decorative effect in Italy, See also:England and other Western countries. Perhaps the most graceful
examples are the reliefs with which See also:Vasari in the 16th century encrusted pillars and other parts of the See also:court in the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio, built of plain stone by Michelozzo in 1454• Some are of flowing vines and other See also:plants winding spirally round the columns. The See also:English examples of this work are effectively designed, though coarser in execution. The outside of a half-timbered See also:house in the See also:market-See also:place at See also:Newark-upon-See also:Trent has high reliefs in stucco of canopied figures, dating from the end of the 15th century. The counties of See also:Essex and Suffolk are rich in examples of this work used externally; and many 16th-century houses in England have fine internal stucco decoration, especially See also:Hardwicke See also: This work is effective at a distance, as it requires a bold style of handling, in which the shadows are indicated by See also:cross-hatched lines more or less near together). Flowing arabesques mixed with See also:grotesque figures occur most frequently in sgraffito. In See also:recent years the sgraffito method has been revived; and the result of Mr See also:Moody's experiments may be seen on the See also:east wall of the Royal See also:College of See also:Science in See also:Exhibition Road, See also:London. 6. Stamped See also:Leather.—This was a magnificent and expensive form of wall-See also:hanging, chiefly used during the 16th and 17th centuries. Skins, generally of goats or calves, were well tanned and cut into rectangular shapes. They were then covered with silverleaf, which was varnished with a transparent yellow See also:lacquer making the See also:silver look like gold. The skins were then stamped or embossed with patterns in relief, formed by heavy pressure from See also:metal See also:dies, one in relief and the other sunk. The reliefs were then painted by hand in many colours, generally brilliant ' A good description of the process is given by Vasari, Tre arti del disegno, cap. See also:xxvi.in See also:tone. Italy and Spain (especially See also:Cordova) were important seats of this manufacture; and in the 17th century a large quantity was produced in See also:France. Fig. 5 gives a good example of Italian stamped leather of the 16th century. In England; chiefly at See also:Norwich, this manufacture was carried on in the 17th and 18th centuries. In durability and richness of effect stamped leather surpasses most other forms of movable wall-decoration. 7. Painted See also:Cloth.—Another form of wall-hanging, used most largely during the 15th and 16th centuries, and in a less extensive way a good deal earlier, is See also:canvas painted to imitate tapestry. English medieval inventories both of ecclesiastical and domestic goods frequently contain items such as these: " stayned cloths for hangings," "paynted cloths with stories and batailes," or " paynted cloths of beyond See also:sea work," or " of Flaunder's work." Many good artists working at See also:Ghent and See also:Bruges during the first half of the 15th century produced fine work of this class, as well as designs for real tapestry. Several of the great Italian artists devoted their skill in composition and invention to the painting of these wall-hangings. The most important existing example is the series of paintings of the See also:triumph of See also:Julius See also:Caesar executed by See also:Andrea See also:Mantegna (1485–1492) for Ludovico See also:Gonzaga, See also:duke of See also:Mantua, and now at See also:Hampton Court. These are usually, but wrongly, called " cartoons," as if they were designs meant to be executed in tapestry; this is not the case, as the paintings themselves were used as wall-hangings. They are nine in number and each compartment, 9 ft. square, was separated from the next by a See also:pilaster. They form a continuous procession, with life-sized figures, remarkable for their composition, drawing and delicate colouring—the latter unfortunately much disguised by " restoration." Like most of these painted wall-hangings, they are executed in See also:tempera, and rather thinly painted, so that the pigment might not crack off through the cloth falling slightly into folds. Another remarkable series of painted cloth hangings are those at See also:Reims Cathedral. In some cases dyes were used for this work. A MS. of the 15th century gives receipts for " painted cloth," showing that sometimes they were dyed in a manner similar to those See also:Indian stuffs which were afterwards printed, and are now called chintzes. These receipts are for real dyes, not for pigments, and among them is the earliest known description of the process called "setting" the See also:woad or See also:indigo vat, as well as a See also:receipt for removing or " discharging " the colour from a cloth already dyed. Another method employed was a. sort of " encaustic " process; the cloth was rubbed all over with See also:wax, and then painted in tempera; See also:heat was then applied so that the colours sank into the melting wax, and were thus firmly fixed upon the cloth. 8. Printed Hangings and Wall-Papers.—The See also:printing of various textiles with dye-colours and mordants is probably one of the most ancient arts. Pliny (H. N. See also:xxxv.) describes a See also:dyeing process employed by the ancient Egyptians, in which the See also:pattern was probably formed by printing from blocks. Various methods have been used for this work—See also:wood blocks in relief, engraved metal plates, See also:stencil plates and even hand-painting; frequently two or more of these methods have been employed for the same pattern. The use of printed stuffs is of great antiquity among the See also:Hindus and See also:Chinese, and was certainly practised in western Europe in the 13th century, and perhaps earlier. The See also:Victoria and See also:Albert Museum has 13th-century specimens of See also:block-printed See also:silk made in See also:Sicily, of beautiful design. Towards the end of the 14th century a great deal of block-printed See also:linen was made in See also:Flanders, and largely imported into England. Wall-papers did not come into common use in Europe till the 18th century, though they appear to have been used much earlier by the Chinese. A few rare examples exist in England which may be as early as the 16th century; these are imitations, generally in See also:flock, of the fine old Florentine and Genoese cut velvets, and hence the style of the design in no way shows the date of the wall-See also:paper, the same traditional patterns being reproduced for many years with little or no See also:change. Machinery enabling paper to be made in long strips was. not invented till
the end of the 18th century, and up to that time wall-papers were printed on small square pieces of hand-made paper, difficult to hang, disfigured by numerous See also:joints, and comparatively costly; on these accounts wall-papers were slow in superseding the older modes of mural decoration. A little work by See also:Jackson of See also:Battersea, printed in London in 1944, throws some light on the use of wall-papers at that time. He gives reduced copies of his designs, mostly taken from Italian pictures or See also:antique sculpture during his See also:residence in Venice. Instead of flowing patterns covering the wall, his designs are all pictures—landscapes, architectural scenes or statues—treated as panels, with plain paper or painting between. They are all printed in oil, with wooden blocks worked with a See also:rolling See also:press, apparently an invention of his own. They are all in the worst possible taste, and yet are offered as great improvements on the Chinese papers which he says were then in See also:fashion. Fig. 6 is a good English
In the 19th century in England, a great advance in the designing of wall-papers was made by See also:
See also:tiara Owing to the intimate connexion between the
BsYp
painting.. sculpture and painting of early times, the remarks
above as to subjects and treatment under the See also:head
of Egyptian wall-sculpture will to a great extent apply also to
the paintings. It is an important fact, which testifies to the
antiquity of Egyptian See also:civilization, that the earliest paintings,
dating more than 4000 years before our era, are also the cleverest
both in drawing and execution. In later times the See also:influence of
Egyptian art, especially in painting, was important even among
distant nations. In the 6th century B.C. Egyptian colonists, introduced by See also:Cambyses into See also:Persepolis, influenced the painting and sculpture of the great Persian See also:Empire and throughout the valley of the See also:Euphrates. In a lesser degree the art of Babylon and Nineveh had See also:felt considerable Egyptian influence several centuries earlier. The same influence affected the early art of the Greeks and the Etrurians, and it was not till the middle of the 5th century B.C. that the further development and perfecting of art in See also:Greece obliterated the old traces of Egyptian mannerism. After the See also:death of See also: of fine See also:lime, laid over the brick, stone or marble to form a smooth and slightly absorbent coat to receive the pigments, which were most brilliant in tone and of great variety of tint. Not employing See also:fresco, the Egyptian artists were not restricted to "See also:earth colours," but occasionally used purples, pinks and greens which would have been destroyed by fresh lime. The blue used is very beautiful, and is generally laid on in considerable body-it is frequently a " smalt " or deep-blue glass, coloured by copper See also:oxide, finely powdered. Red and yellow ochre, See also:carbon-black, and powdered See also:chalk-white are most largely used. Though in the paintings of animals and birds considerable realism is often seen (fig. 7), yet for human figures certain conventional colours are employed, e.g. white for See also:females' flesh, red for the See also:males, or black to indicate people of See also:negro See also:race. Heads are painted in See also:profile, and little or no shading is used. Considerable knowledge of See also:harmony is shown in the arrangement of the colours; and otherwise harsh combinations of tints are softened and brought into keeping by thin separating lines of white or *yellow. Though at first sight the general colouring, if seen in a museum, may appear crude, yet it should be remembered that the internal paintings were much softened by the dim light in Egyptian buildings, and those outside were subdued by contrast with the brilliant See also:sunshine under which they were always seen. The rock-cut sepulchres of the Etrurians See also:supply the only existing specimens of their mural painting; and, unlike the tombs of Egypt, only a small proportion appear to - have been decorated in this way. The actual dates Painting. Btnrscen of these paintings are very uncertain, but they range possibly from about the 8th century B.c. down to almost the See also:Christian era. The tombs which possess these paintings 'are
mostly square-shaped rooms, with slightly-arched or gabled See also:roofs, excavated in soft See also:sandstone or tufa hillsides. The earlier ones show Egyptian influence in drawing and in composition: they are broadly designed with flat unshaded tints, the faces in profile, except the eyes, which are See also:drawn as if seen in' front. Colours, as in Egypt, are used conventionally—male flesh red, white or See also:pale yellow for the females, black for demons. In one respect these paintings differ from those of the Egyptians; few colours are used—red, See also: Mantus, Charun and other infernal deities of the Rasena, hideous in aspect and armed with hammers, or See also:furies depicted as black-bearded demons winged and brandishing live See also:snakes, terrify or See also:torture shrinking human souls. Others, not the earliest in date, represent human sacrifices, such as those at the tomb of Patroclus—a class of subjects which, though Homeric, appears rarely to have been selected by Greek painters. The See also:constant import into Etruria of large quantities of fine Greek painted vases appears to have contributed to keep up the supremacy of Hellenic influence during many centuries, and by their artistic superiority to have prevented the development of a more See also:original and native school of art. Though we now know See also:Etruscan painting only from the tombs, yet Pliny mentions (H. N. xxxv. 3) that fine wall-paintings existed in his time, with colours yet fresh, on the walls of ruined temples at See also:Ardea and See also:Lanuvium, executed, he says, before the See also:founding of Rome. As before mentioned, the actual dates of the existing paintings are uncertain. It cannot therefore be asserted that any existing specimens are much older than. 600 B.C., though some, especially at See also:Veii, certainly appear to have the characteristics of more remote antiquity. The most important of these paintings have been discovered in the cemeteries of Veii, See also:Caere, See also:Tarquinii, Vulci, Cervetri and other Etruscan cities. Even in Egypt the use of colour does not appear to have been more universal than it was among the Greeks (see GREEK ART), who applied it freely to their marble statues and reliefs, the whole of their buildings inside and out, as well as for the decoration of flat wall-surfaces. They appear to have cared little for pure form, and not to have valued the delicate See also:ivory-like tint and beautiful texture of their fine Pentelic and Parian marbles, except as a ground for coloured ornament. A whole class of artists, called a See also:yakµarwv Nyiavarai, were occupied in colouring marble sculpture, and their services were very highly valued.' In some cases, probably for the See also:sake of ' This process, circumlitio, is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 4o). hiding the joints and getting a more absorbent surface, the marble, however pure and fine in texture, was covered with a thin skin of stucco made of mixed lime and powdered marble. An alabaster See also:sarcophagus, found in a tomb near Corneto, and now in the Etruscan museum at Florence, is decorated outside with beautiful purely Greek paintings, executed on a stucco skin as hard and smooth as the alabaster. The pictures represent combats of the Greeks and See also:Amazons. The colouring, though rather brilliant, is simply treated, and the figures are kept strictly to one See also:plane without any attempt at complicated perspective. Other valuable specimens of Greek art, found at See also:Herculaneum and now in the See also:Naples Museum, are some small paintings, one of girls playing with See also:dice, another of See also:Theseus and the See also:Minotaur. These are painted with See also:miniature-like delicacy on the See also:bare surface of marble slabs; they are almost monochromatic, and are of the highest beauty both in drawing and in gradations of shadow—quite unlike any of the Greek See also:vase-paintings. The first-mentioned painting is signed AAE„ANOPOE A@HNAIOE. It is probable that the strictly archaic paintings of the Greeks, such as those of See also:Polygnotus in the 5th century B.c., executed with few and simple colours, had much resemblance to those on vases, but Pliny is wrong when he asserts that, till the time of See also:Apelles (c. 350—310 B.C.), the Greek painters only used black, white, red and yellow.2 Judging from the peculiar way in which the Greeks and their imitators the Romans used the names of colours, it appears that they paid more attention to tones and relations of colour than to actual hues. Thus most Greek and Latin colour-names are now untranslatable. See also:Homer's " See also:wine-like sea " (oivo4s), See also:Sophocles's " wine-coloured See also:ivy " (ed. See also:Col.), and See also:Horace's " purpureus olor " probably refer less to what we should See also:call colour than to the See also:chromatic strength of the various See also:objects and their more or less strong See also:powers of reflecting light, either in See also:motion or when at See also:rest. Nor have we any word like See also:Virgil's " flavus," which could be applied both to a See also:lady's See also:hair and to the See also:leaf of an See also:olive-tree .3 During the best periods of Greek art the favourite classes of subjects were scenes from See also:poetry, especially Homer and See also:con-temporary history. The names rcvaKoBi1Krl and See also:area roudXrt were given to many public buildings from their walls being covered with paintings. Additional interest was given to the See also:historical subjects by the introduction of portraits; e.g. in the great picture of the See also:battle of See also:Marathon (490 B.C.), on the walls of the avid srotdd)i in See also:Athens, portraits were given of the Greek generals See also:Miltiades, See also:Callimachus, and others. This picture was painted about See also:forty years after the battle by Polygnotus and See also:Micon. One of the earliest pictures recorded by Pliny (xxxv. 8) represented a battle of the Magnesians (c. 756 B.C.); it was painted by Bularchus, a Lydian artist, and bought at a high See also:price by King Candaules. Many other important Greek historical paintings are mentioned by See also:Pausanias and earlier writers. The Pompeian mosaic of the defeat of the Persians by Alexander is probably a Romanized copy from some celebrated Greek painting; it obviously was not designed for mosaic work. Landscape painting appears to have been unknown among the Greeks, even as a background to figure-subjects. • The poems especially of Homer and Sophocles show that this was not through want of appreciation of the beauties of nature, but partly, probably, because the main See also:object of Greek painting was to tell some definite See also:story, and also from their just sense of artistic fitness, which prevented them from attempting in their mural decorations to disguise the flat solidity of the walls by delusive effects of aerial perspective and distance. It is interesting to See also:note that even in the time of Alexander the Great the somewhat archaic See also:works of the earlier painters were still appreciated. In particular See also:Aristotle praises Polygnotus, 2 Pliny's remarks on subjects such as this should be received with caution. He was neither a scientific archaeologist nor a practical artist. 8 So also a meaning unlike ours is attached to Greek technical words—by r6vos they meant, not " tone," but the gradations of light and shade, and by apply?) the relations of colour. See Pliny, H. N. xxxv. 5; and See also:Ruskin, Mod. Painters, pt. iv. cap. T3. Greek Painting. both for his See also:power of combining truth with idealization in his portraits and for his skill in depicting men's See also:mental characteristics; on this See also:account he calls him o iOoyp64 os. See also:Lucian too praises Polygnotus alike for his grace, drawing and colouring. Later painters, such as Zeuxis and Apelles, appear to have produced easel pictures more than mural paintings, and these, being easy to move, were mostly carried off to Rome by the early emperors. Hence Pausanias, who visited Greece in the time of See also:Hadrian, mentions but few works of the later artists. Owing to the lack of existing specimens of Greek painting it would be idle to attempt an account of their technical methods, but no doubt those employed by the Romans described below were derived with the rest of their art from the Greeks. Speaking of their stucco, Pliny refers its superiority over that made by the Romans to the fact that it was always made of lime at least three years old, and that it was well mixed and pounded in a See also:mortar before being laid on the wall; he is here speaking of the thick stucco in many coats, not of the thin skin mentioned above as being laid on marble. Greek mural painting, like their sculpture, was chiefly used to decorate temples and public buildings, and comparatively rarely either for tombs' or private buildings—at least in the days of their early republican simplicity. A large number of Roman mural paintings (see also ROMAN ART) now exist, of which many were discovered in the private houses and baths of Pompeii, nearly all dating Roman Painting. between A.D. 63, when the See also:city was ruined by an See also:earthquake, and A.D. 79, when it was buried by See also:Vesuvius. A See also:catalogue of these and similar paintings from Herculaneum and See also:Stabiae, compiled by See also:Professor Helbig, comprises 1966 specimens. The excavations in the baths of Titus and other ancient buildings in Rome, made in the early part of the 16th century, excited the keenest interest and admiration among the painters of that time, and largely influenced the later art of the See also:Renaissance. These paintings, especially the " grotesques " or fanciful patterns of See also:scroll-work and pilasters mixed with semi-realistic foliage and figures of boys, animals and birds, designed with great freedom of See also:touch and inventive power, seem to have fascinated See also:Raphael during his later See also:period, and many of his pupils and contemporaries. The " loggie " of the Vatican and of the Farnesina palace are full of carefully studied 16th-century reproductions of these highly decorative paintings. The excavations in Rome have brought to light some mural paintings of the 1st century A.D., perhaps See also:superior in execution even to the best of the Pompeian series (see See also:Plate). The range of subjects found in Roman mural paintings is large —See also:mythology, religious ceremonies, genre, still life and even landscape (the latter generally on a small scale, and treated in an artificial and purely decorative way), and lastly history. Pliny mentions several large and important historical paintings, such as those with which See also:Valerius See also:Maximus Messala decorated the walls of the See also:Curia Hostilia, to commemorate his own victory over See also:Hiero II. and the Carthaginians in Sicily in the 3rd century B.C. The earliest Roman painting recorded by Pliny was by See also:Fabius, surnamed Pictor, on the walls of the temple of See also:Salus, executed about 300 B.C. (H. N. xxxv. 4). Pliny (xxxv. 1) laments the fact that the wealthy Romans of his time preferred the costly splendours of marble and See also:porphyry wall-linings to the more artistic decoration of paintings by good artists. Historical painting seems then to have gone out of fashion; among the numerous specimens now existing few from Pompeii represent historical subjects; one has the See also:scene of See also:Massinissa and Sophonisba. before Scipio, and another of a See also:riot between the people of Pompeii and Nocera, which happened 59 A.D. Mythological scenes, chiefly from Greek See also:sources, occur most frequently: the myths of See also:Eros and See also:Dionysus are especial favourites. Only five or six relate to purely Roman mythology. 1 One instance only of a tomb-painting is mentioned by Pausanias (vii. 22). Some fine specimens have been discovered in the See also:Crimea, but not of a very early date; see Stephani, Comlte rendu, &c., (St See also:Petersburg, 1878), &c. We have See also:reason to think that some at least of the Pompeian pictures are copies, probably at third or See also:fourth hand, from celebrated Greek originals. The frequently repeated subjects of See also:Medea meditating the See also:murder of her See also:children and Iphigenia at the See also:shrine of the Tauric See also:Artemis suggest that the motive and composition were taken from the originals of these subjects by See also:Timanthes. Those of Io and See also:Argus, the finest example of which is in the See also:Palatine " See also:villa of Livia " and of See also:Andromeda and See also:Perseus, often repeated on Pompeian walls, may be from the originals by See also:Nicias. In many cases these mural paintings are of high artistic merit, though they are probably not the work of the most distinguished painters of the time, but rather of a humbler class of decorators, who reproduced, without much original invention, stock designs out of some pattern-See also:book. They are, however, all remarkable for the rapid skill and extreme verve " and freedom of hand with which the designs are, as it were, flung on to the walls with few but effective touches. Though in some cases the motive and composition are superior to the execution, yet many of the paintings are remarkable both for their realistic truth and technical skill. The great painting of See also:Ceres from Pompeii, now in the Naples Museum, is a work of the highest merit. In the usual scheme of decoration the broad wall-surfaces are broken up into a series of panels by pilasters, columns, or other architectural forms. Some of the panels contain pictures with figure-subjects; others have conventional ornament, or hanging festoons of See also:fruit and flowers. The lower part of the wall is painted one plain colour, forming a dado; the upper part some-times has a well-designed frieze of flowing ornaments. In the better class of painted walls the whole is kept flat in treatment, and is See also:free from too great subdivision, but in many cases great want of taste is shown by the introduction of violent effects of architectural perspective, and the space is broken up by complicated schemes of design, studded with pictures in varying scales which have little relation to their surroundings. The colouring is on the whole pleasant and harmonious—unlike the usual chromo-lithographic copies. Black, yellow, or a rich deep red are the favourite colours for the main ground of the walls, the pictures in the panels being treated separately, each with its own background. An interesting series of early Christian mural paintings exists in various catacombs, especially those of Rome and Naples. They are of value both as an important link in the Early history of art and also as throwing light on the Christian mental See also:state of the early Christians, which was dis- Painting in tinctly influenced by the older faith. Thus in the it-'y. earlier paintings of about the 4th century we find See also:Christ represented as a beardless youth, beautiful as the artist could make him, with a lingering tradition of Greek idealization, in no degree like the " Man of Sorrows " of medieval painters, but rather a kind of See also:genius of See also:Christianity in whose See also:fair outward form the See also:peace and purity of the new faith were visibly symbolized, just as certain distinct attributes were typified in the persons of the gods of ancient Greece. The favourite early subject, " Christ the Good Shepherd " (fig. 8), is represented as See also:Orpheus playing on his See also:lyre to a circle of beasts, the See also:pagan origin of the picture being shown by the Phrygian cap and by the presence of lions, panthers and other incongruous animals among the listening See also:sheep. In other cases Christ is depicted See also:standing with a sheep See also:borne on His shoulders like See also:Hermes Criophoros or Hermes Psychopompos—favourite Greek subjects, especially the former, a statue of which Pausanias (ix. 22) mentions as existing at Tanagra in See also:Boeotia. Here again the pagan origin of the type is shown by the presence in the See also:catacomb paintings of the See also:pan-pipes and pedum, special attributes of Hermes, but quite See also:foreign to the notion of Christ. Though in a degraded form, a good deal survives in some of these paintings, especially in the earlier ones, of the old classical grace of composition and beauty of drawing, notably in the above-mentioned representations where old models were copied without any See also:adaptation to their new meaning. Those of the 5th and 6th centuries follow the classical lines, though in a rapidly deteriorating style, until the introduction of a foreign—the Byzantine—See also:element, which created a fresh starting-point on different lines. The old See also:naturalism and survival of classical freedom of drawing is replaced by stiff, conventionally hieratic types, superior in dignity and strength to the feeble compositions produced by the degradation into which the native art of Rome had fallen. The designs of this second period of Christian art are similar to those of the mosaics, such as many at See also:Ravenna, and also to the magnificently illuminated See also:MSS. For some centuries there was little change or development in this Byzantine style of art, so that it is impossible in most cases to be sure from internal See also:evidence of the date of any painting. This to some extent applies also to the works of the earlier or pagan school, though, roughly speaking, it may be said that the least meritorious pictures are the latest in date. These catacomb paintings range over a long space of time; some may possibly be of the 1st or .2nd century, e.g. those in the See also:cemetery of Domitilla, Rome; others are as late as the 9th century, e.g. some full-length figures of St See also:Cornelius and St See also:Cyprian in the catacomb of St Callixtus, under which earlier paintings may be traced. In execution they somewhat resemble the Etruscan tomb-paintings; the walls of the catacomb passages and chambers, excavated in soft tufa, are covered with a thin skin of white stucco, and on that the mural and See also:ceiling paintings are simply executed in earth colours. The favourite subjects of the earliest paintings are scenes from the Old Testament which were supposed to typify events in the life of Christ, such as the See also:sacrifice of See also:Isaac (Christ's death), See also:Jonah and the See also:whale (the Resurrection), See also:Moses striking the rock, or pointing to the See also:manna (Christ the See also:water of life, and the See also:Eucharist), and many others. The later paintings deal more with later subjects, either events in Christ's life or figures of See also:saints and the miracles they performed. A fine series of these exists in the lower See also: The useless See also:prohibition was becoming obsolete when, towards the end of the 4th century, the learned See also:Paulinus, See also:bishop of See also:Nola, ordered the two basilicas which he had built at See also:Fondi and Nola to be adorned with wall-paintings of sacred subjects, with the special object, as he says, of instructing and refining the ignorant and drunken people. These painted histories were in fact the books of the unlearned, and we can now hardly realize their value as the chief mode of religious teaching in ages when none but the See also:clergy could read or write. During the middle ages, just as long before among the ancient Greeks, coloured decoration was used in the widest possible manner not only for the adornment of flat walls, English but also for the enrichment of sculpture and all the Mural fittings and architectural features of buildings, Painting• whether the material to be painted was See also:plaster, stone, marble or wood. It was only the See also:damp and frosts of northern climates that to some extent limited the external use of colour to the less exposed parts of the outsides of buildings. The varying tints and texture of smoothly worked stone appear to have given no See also:pleasure to the medieval See also:eye; and in the rare cases in which the poverty of some See also:country church prevented its walls from being adorned with painted ornaments or pictures the whole surface of the stonework inside, mouldings and See also:carving as well as flat wall-spaces, was covered with a thin coat of whitewash. Internal rough stonework was invariably concealed by stucco, forming a smooth ground for possible future paintings. Unhappily a great proportion of mural paintings have been destroyed, though many in a more or less mutilated state still exist in England. It is difficult (and doubly so since the so-called " restoration " of most old buildings) to realize the splendour of effect once possessed by every important medieval church. From the tiled See also:floor to the roof all was one mass of gold and colour. The brilliance of the mural paintings and richly coloured sculpture and mouldings was in harmony with the splendour of the See also:oak-work—screens, stalls, and roofs—all decorated with See also:gilding and painting, while the light, passing through stained glass, softened and helped to combine the whole into one mass of decorative effect. Colour was boldly applied everywhere, and thus the patchy effect was avoided which is so often the result of the modern timid and partial use of painted ornament. Even the figure-sculpture was painted in a strong and realistic manner, sometimes by a wax encaustic process, probably the same as the circumlitio of classical times. In the accounts for expenses in decorating Orvieto cathedral wax is a frequent See also:item among the materials used for painting. In one place it is mentioned that wax was supplied to Andrea Pisano (in 1345) for the decoration of the beautiful reliefs in white marble on the lower part of the west front. From the 11th to the 16th century the lower part of the walls, generally 6 to 8 ft. from the floor, was painted with a dadothe favourite patterns till the 13th century being either a sort of sham See also:masonry with a See also:flower in each rectangular space (fig. 9), or a conventional representation of a See also:curtain with regular folds stiffly treated. Above this dado ranges of pictures with figure-subjects were painted in tiers one above the other, each picture frequently surrounded by a painted frame with See also:arch and gable of architectural design. Painted bands of See also:chevron or other geometrical ornament till the 13th century, and flowing ornament afterwards, usually divide the tiers of pic- tures horizontally and form the See also:top and bottom boundaries of the dado. In the case of a church, the end walls usually have figures to a larger scale. On the east wall of the See also:nave over the See also:chancel arch there was generally a large painting of the " See also:Doom " or Last Judgment. One of the commonest subjects is a colossal figure of St Chris- topher (fig. 1o) usually on the nave wall opposite the See also:principal entrance—selected because the sight of a picture of this See also:saint was supposed to bring good See also:luck for the rest of the day. Figures were also often painted on the jambs of the windows and on the piers and See also:soffit of the See also:arches, especially that opening into the chancel. The little Norman church at Kempley in See also:Gloucestershire (date about Iwo) has perhaps the best-preserved specimen of the complete early decoration of a chancel.' The See also:north and See also:south walls are occupied by figures of the twelve apostles in architectural niches, six on each See also:side. The east wall had single figures of saints at the sides of the central window, and the stone See also:barrel vault is covered with a representation of St See also: To return to the 13th century, the culminating period of English art in painting and sculpture, much was owed, to See also: 14 is a specimen of 15th-century English decorative painting, copied from a 14th-century Sicilian silk See also:damask. Diapers, powderings with flowers, sacred monograms and sprays of blossom were frequently used to ornament large surfaces in a simple way. Many of these are extremely beautiful (fig. IS).
Subjects of Medieval Wall-Paintings.—In churches and domestic buildings alike the usual subjects represented on the walls were specially selected for their moral and religious teaching, either
stories from the See also:Bible and Apocrypha, or from the lives of saints, or, lastly, symbolical representations setting forth some important theological truth, such as figures of virtues and vices, or the Scala humane salvationis, showing the perils and temptations of the human soul in its struggle to See also:escape See also:hell and gain See also:paradise—a rude foreshadowing of the great scheme worked out with such perfection by See also:Dante in his Commedia. A fine example of this subject exists on the walls of Chaldon church, See also:Surrey?. In the selection of saints for paintings in England,
those of English origin are naturally most frequently represented, and different districts had certain See also:local favourites. St See also: Before their time it seems to have been the See also:custom to dry wall-paintings laboriously by the use of charcoal braziers, if they were In a position ; where the See also:sun could not shine upon them. This is ' See Collections of Surrey Archaeol. See also:Soc. vol. v. pt. ii. (1871). specially recorded in the valuable series of accounts for the expenses of wall-paintings in the royal palace of Westminster during the reign of Henry III., printed in Vetusta monumenta, vol. vi. (1842). All the materials used, including charcoal to dry the paintings and the See also:wages paid to the artists, are given. The materials mentioned are plumbum See also:album et rubeum, viridus, vermilio, synople, ocre, azura, aurum, argentum, collis, oleum, vernix. Two foreign painters were employed—See also:Peter of Spain and William of Florence—at sixpence a day, but the English painters seem tobeing broken up by some such delicate reliefs as that shown in fig. 16, so its effect was never dazzling, (W. Mo.; J. H. M.) Mural painting in England See also:fell into disuse in the 16th century, until attempts to revive it were made in the 19th century. For domestic purposes wood panelling, stamped leather, and tapestry were chiefly used as wall-coverings. In the reign of Henry VIII., probably in part through See also:Holbein's influence, a rather coarse tempera wall-painting, See also:German in style, appears to have been common.l A good example of See also:arabesque painting of this period in black and white, rudely though boldly drawn and Holbeinesque in character, was discovered in 1881 behind the panelling in one of the canons' houses at Westminster. Other examples _exist at Haddon Hall (Derbyshire) and elsewhere. Many efforts have been made in England to revive fresco painting. The Houses of See also:Parliament See also:bear See also:witness to this, the principal works there being those of William See also:Dyce and See also:Daniel See also:Maclise. That of G. F. See also:Watts, whose ease] work also is generally distinguished by its mural feeling, is full of serious purpose and dignity of conception. " Buono fresco " (the painting in tempera upon a freshly laid ground of plaster while wet), "spirit fresco " or See also:Gambier-See also:Parry method (the painting with a spirit medium upon a specially prepared plaster or canvas ground 2), and "water-glass " painting (wherein the method is similar to water-colour painting on a prepared plastered wall, the painting when finished being covered with a chemical See also:solution which hardens and protects the surface), have all been tried. Other processes are also in the experimental See also:stage, such as that known as Reim's, which has been successfully tried by Mrs See also:Merritt in a series of mural paintings in a church at Chilworth. Unless, however, some means can be found of enabling the actual painted wall to resist the natural dampness of the English See also:climate, it does not seem likely that true fresco painting can ever be naturalized in Great See also:Britain. Of two of the few modern artists entrusted with important mural work in England, See also:Ford Madox Brown and See also:Frederick J. See also:Shields, the former distinguished especially for his fine series of mural paintings in the See also:Manchester See also:town-hall, in the later paintings there adopted the modern method of painting the design upon canvas in flat oil colour, using a wax medium, and afterwards affixing the canvas to the wall by means of white See also:lead. This is a usual method with modern decorators. Mr Shields has painted the panels of his scheme of mural decoration in the chapel of the See also:Ascension at Bayswater, London, also upon canvas in See also:oils, and has adopted the method of fixing them to slabs of See also:slate facing the wall so as to avoid the See also:risk of damp from the wall itself. Friezes and frieze panels or ceilings in private houses are usually painted upon canvas in oil and affixed to the wall or inserted upon their strainers, like pictures in a frame. (See also:Walter See also:Crane has used fibrous plaster panels, painting in See also:ordinary oil colours with See also:turpentine as a medium, as in Redcross Hall.) Recently there has been a revival of tempera painting, and a group of painters are producing works on See also:panel and canvas painted in tempera or fresco secco, with yolk of See also:egg as a medium, according to the practice of the early Italian painters and the directions of Cennino Cennini. A pure luminous quality of colour is produced, valuable in mural decoration and also durable, especially under varnish. (W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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