Ægean archæeology; an introduction to the archæeology of prehistoric Greece . * the picture is in twodimensions only. It is purely decorative, and friezesshewing human beings, animals, or buildings, weretreated in exactly the same way as dadoes of flowers,trees, or simple lines. Perspective was unknown, ofcourse, and the Minoan endeavoured to give the idea > Ath. Mitt., XXXVI, PL IX. There is an apparent exception to this in the cross-hatching of thebellies of the griffins in the Knossian Throne-room, but one doubtswhether this was intended to indicate relief. PAINTING AND SCULPTURE i8i of
Ægean archæeology; an introduction to the archæeology of prehistoric Greece . * the picture is in twodimensions only. It is purely decorative, and friezesshewing human beings, animals, or buildings, weretreated in exactly the same way as dadoes of flowers,trees, or simple lines. Perspective was unknown, ofcourse, and the Minoan endeavoured to give the idea > Ath. Mitt., XXXVI, PL IX. There is an apparent exception to this in the cross-hatching of thebellies of the griffins in the Knossian Throne-room, but one doubtswhether this was intended to indicate relief. PAINTING AND SCULPTURE i8i of space without it, with the result that his figures seemto be flying in the air. The Egyptian could not con-ceive of a figure without its feet on the ground, hecould not leave the ground to the imagination, so henever depicted his people in the air, as the Minoan rocky terraces and the clouds of Greece supplied aframe to the picture which soon became conventional,and is found on metal vases as well as in there is no background, properly speaking,. Fig. 64.—Painted stucco floor at Tiryns (Late Myc, 11). Scale c. -^j^. and the figures are painted on a sheet of blue or ofyellow ochre, which often changes arbitrarily.^ The first wall-decoration must have consisted ofsimple lines of colour on the surface of the plaster, leftwhite or painted red.^ This plain scheme was alwayspreserved in the best period for the stucco pavements,which at Knossos have simply a plain red line about afoot from the walls. On the walls, however, dadoesand friezes of conventional flowers and rosettes firstappeared, and then, probably in the Third MiddleMinoan period, friezes depicting human beings and * As in the Mycenaean fresco, Ath. Mitt., XXXVI, PI. X.^ That red was the first colour used is a very probable suggestionof Mr. Noel Heatons. l82 AEGEAN ARCHAEOLOGY other objects and scenes, religious processions, bull-leaping, and so forth. This may have been in imitationo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1915
