DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0577
M. M. Ill: MINOAN FRESCO: WALL PAINTINGS, ETC. 535
of elaborate decorative designs the parts of the surface that they occupy were
habitually divided up into small squares by lines arranged horizontally and
vertically in reference to the pattern. A good example of this procedure
will be seen in the patterns of the sleeves in the fresco given below
representing the ' Ladies in Blue '.x These guiding lines were only drawn
in the places where they were actually required and were not continuous over
the whole field.
Owing to the wet process we also constantly find the pigments interfused
with the stucco coating to an appreciable extent beneath the surface. The
upper washes of colour have also a tendency to penetrate the lower and even at
times to enter the stucco below. The durability of the colours is marvellous,
and pieces of the painted stucco that have been exposed to the elements
for over ten years since the excavation are to-day even brighter than when
they were exhumed. That the colours were so exceptionally fixed seems to
stand in relation to the abnormally thick stucco coating on which they were
laid, the lime solution, or calcium hydrate, that supplied the fixing material
finding its way to the surface from a greater collecting area.
All the analyses and microscopic observations carried out by Mr. Heaton
lead to the conclusion that the plaster was essentially composed of pure Pure
caustic lime, without the admixture of inert material such as the Lfme'C
marble dust used at Pompeii or in mediaeval frescoes.2 But how this
magnificent lime plaster was prepared by the Minoan craftsmen ' remains A Lost
a matter of conjecture. The traditions of their craft have vanished with ArL
them.'3
The depth of the stucco coating itself afforded special facilities for the 'Artistic
fresco painters, since the plaster surface remained longer moist, but rapid hand' of
execution was still a prime necessity. Thus in the more detailed work, such ^Iimature
1 J _ rrescoes.
as the ' Miniature Frescoes ' with their crowded groups like Fig. 384 above,
1 See below, p. 545, Fig. 397.
■ The Mural Paintings of Knossos, R. Society
of Arts Journ , 1910, pp. 5, 6.
3 It is, as Mr. Heaton points out, ' contrary
to the unanimous opinion of those who have
had practical experience of plaster that pure
lime could produce the magnificent stucco that
we have before us.' J. A. Schneider-Franken
(At/z. Mitth., xxxviii, 1913, p. 187 seqq.) has
suggested that the colours were simply fixed
by mixing lime water (' Kalchmilch ') with the
pigments. But Mr. Heaton, who had himself
examined this possibility, informs me that it
is inconsistent with the actual phenomena.
Colours laid on either a moist or dry stucco
surface by this process are neatly superposed
on one another, and a section shows clean flat
layers. But the pigments of the Minoan frescoes
were constantly interfused and also often
spread beneath the wet stucco surface. Mr.
Heaton admits the possibility that lime-water
may have been mixed with the colours, but
this at most would have been a supplementary
device.
of elaborate decorative designs the parts of the surface that they occupy were
habitually divided up into small squares by lines arranged horizontally and
vertically in reference to the pattern. A good example of this procedure
will be seen in the patterns of the sleeves in the fresco given below
representing the ' Ladies in Blue '.x These guiding lines were only drawn
in the places where they were actually required and were not continuous over
the whole field.
Owing to the wet process we also constantly find the pigments interfused
with the stucco coating to an appreciable extent beneath the surface. The
upper washes of colour have also a tendency to penetrate the lower and even at
times to enter the stucco below. The durability of the colours is marvellous,
and pieces of the painted stucco that have been exposed to the elements
for over ten years since the excavation are to-day even brighter than when
they were exhumed. That the colours were so exceptionally fixed seems to
stand in relation to the abnormally thick stucco coating on which they were
laid, the lime solution, or calcium hydrate, that supplied the fixing material
finding its way to the surface from a greater collecting area.
All the analyses and microscopic observations carried out by Mr. Heaton
lead to the conclusion that the plaster was essentially composed of pure Pure
caustic lime, without the admixture of inert material such as the Lfme'C
marble dust used at Pompeii or in mediaeval frescoes.2 But how this
magnificent lime plaster was prepared by the Minoan craftsmen ' remains A Lost
a matter of conjecture. The traditions of their craft have vanished with ArL
them.'3
The depth of the stucco coating itself afforded special facilities for the 'Artistic
fresco painters, since the plaster surface remained longer moist, but rapid hand' of
execution was still a prime necessity. Thus in the more detailed work, such ^Iimature
1 J _ rrescoes.
as the ' Miniature Frescoes ' with their crowded groups like Fig. 384 above,
1 See below, p. 545, Fig. 397.
■ The Mural Paintings of Knossos, R. Society
of Arts Journ , 1910, pp. 5, 6.
3 It is, as Mr. Heaton points out, ' contrary
to the unanimous opinion of those who have
had practical experience of plaster that pure
lime could produce the magnificent stucco that
we have before us.' J. A. Schneider-Franken
(At/z. Mitth., xxxviii, 1913, p. 187 seqq.) has
suggested that the colours were simply fixed
by mixing lime water (' Kalchmilch ') with the
pigments. But Mr. Heaton, who had himself
examined this possibility, informs me that it
is inconsistent with the actual phenomena.
Colours laid on either a moist or dry stucco
surface by this process are neatly superposed
on one another, and a section shows clean flat
layers. But the pigments of the Minoan frescoes
were constantly interfused and also often
spread beneath the wet stucco surface. Mr.
Heaton admits the possibility that lime-water
may have been mixed with the colours, but
this at most would have been a supplementary
device.