DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0091
THE "NVALL-PATNTINGS.
71
rocky wall, clothed with sponges and striped sea-eggs.1 But it is not the
mechanical repetition of a stoncil-pattern; the draughtsman knew how to
vary Ins dcsign in details without interruptrng the rhythmic movement that
ran from end to end of it. The general effect of the delicate colouring and
lifelike drawing is singularly like that of Japanese paintings of birds and
fish.
Four colours were used—black, for the bordei' and outlines: light-blue, a
favourite eolour of the Minoan painter, for the heads, backs, and part of the
wings of the hsh, and for the spray or bubbles round about them : yellow for
bheir bellies and part of their wings, for bands alternating with light-blue on
the sea-eggs among the rocks, and for certain massos sprinkled with black
points which can hardly be other than sponges. Nothing remains of a fourth
colour, which once covered the rocks and part of the wings, except a differ-
ence in the texturc of the surface, recognisable even in the Plate, which
betrays the presence of a faded pigment; it is Hkely to have been red, since
red is regularly used in pictures of this period. We have to imagine the
outline of the rocks, now faint and uncertain, filled in with a deep tint which
would heighten the contrast bctween their grotesque forms and the graceful
lines of the living bodies beside them. A water-colour sketch made by Miss
Hogarth sonn after the discovery shows that the blue was then somewhat
brighter than it is now.
The sann- eolour-seheme, clear tints of blue, yellow, and red with black
outlines on a white ground, appears on many of the wall-paintings atCnossos,
and in particular on a small series associated with the Phylakopi group bythe
introduction of human figures drawn in outline. In point of subjecta parallel
is furnished by the great picture of swimming hsh dcscribcd by Mr. Evans in
B.S.A, Xo. viii. p. 58, which though on a larger scale, and portraying not
flving-fish but dolphins and a variety of other kinds, is similar in style and
technique, and makes the same use of'azure wreaths and coils of dotted
spray ' to indicate the sea. So strong is the rcsemblance that we maysafely
claim the Flving-fish Frieze as a product of Cretan art. I have already re-
ferred to the fact that the edges of the plaster on which it is painted have a
smooth Hat surface, as though the picture had been enclosed in a wooden
frame, not painted on an existing wall. The same holds good of the other
marine piece found with it (see 55 2). It is not impossible that framed
plaster panels, ready-painted, were exported from Cnossos to neighbouring
towns.
Flying-tish of the species Exoccetus cvolans, called by the modern Greeks
■^eXt^oi'öyp-apa on aecount of their swallow-like skimming night, are often
seen in the Mediterranean. The Mycenaean painter has rendered their
general form and colouring (which is " bluish along the back, lighter on the
sides and beneath ") with remarkable accuracy. One is tempted to believe
that he drew his inspiration direct from nature and was notmerely repeating
1 It is uncertain what the objects which I
have called " Bea-eggs" were metint to repre-
Bent. Red stii))es appear on some of them in
the larger marine painting (Fig. (in belöw).
71
rocky wall, clothed with sponges and striped sea-eggs.1 But it is not the
mechanical repetition of a stoncil-pattern; the draughtsman knew how to
vary Ins dcsign in details without interruptrng the rhythmic movement that
ran from end to end of it. The general effect of the delicate colouring and
lifelike drawing is singularly like that of Japanese paintings of birds and
fish.
Four colours were used—black, for the bordei' and outlines: light-blue, a
favourite eolour of the Minoan painter, for the heads, backs, and part of the
wings of the hsh, and for the spray or bubbles round about them : yellow for
bheir bellies and part of their wings, for bands alternating with light-blue on
the sea-eggs among the rocks, and for certain massos sprinkled with black
points which can hardly be other than sponges. Nothing remains of a fourth
colour, which once covered the rocks and part of the wings, except a differ-
ence in the texturc of the surface, recognisable even in the Plate, which
betrays the presence of a faded pigment; it is Hkely to have been red, since
red is regularly used in pictures of this period. We have to imagine the
outline of the rocks, now faint and uncertain, filled in with a deep tint which
would heighten the contrast bctween their grotesque forms and the graceful
lines of the living bodies beside them. A water-colour sketch made by Miss
Hogarth sonn after the discovery shows that the blue was then somewhat
brighter than it is now.
The sann- eolour-seheme, clear tints of blue, yellow, and red with black
outlines on a white ground, appears on many of the wall-paintings atCnossos,
and in particular on a small series associated with the Phylakopi group bythe
introduction of human figures drawn in outline. In point of subjecta parallel
is furnished by the great picture of swimming hsh dcscribcd by Mr. Evans in
B.S.A, Xo. viii. p. 58, which though on a larger scale, and portraying not
flving-fish but dolphins and a variety of other kinds, is similar in style and
technique, and makes the same use of'azure wreaths and coils of dotted
spray ' to indicate the sea. So strong is the rcsemblance that we maysafely
claim the Flving-fish Frieze as a product of Cretan art. I have already re-
ferred to the fact that the edges of the plaster on which it is painted have a
smooth Hat surface, as though the picture had been enclosed in a wooden
frame, not painted on an existing wall. The same holds good of the other
marine piece found with it (see 55 2). It is not impossible that framed
plaster panels, ready-painted, were exported from Cnossos to neighbouring
towns.
Flying-tish of the species Exoccetus cvolans, called by the modern Greeks
■^eXt^oi'öyp-apa on aecount of their swallow-like skimming night, are often
seen in the Mediterranean. The Mycenaean painter has rendered their
general form and colouring (which is " bluish along the back, lighter on the
sides and beneath ") with remarkable accuracy. One is tempted to believe
that he drew his inspiration direct from nature and was notmerely repeating
1 It is uncertain what the objects which I
have called " Bea-eggs" were metint to repre-
Bent. Red stii))es appear on some of them in
the larger marine painting (Fig. (in belöw).