DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0076
452 'HOUSE OF FRESCOES': TREATMENT OF ROCKS
Rocks
descend-
ing from
above
across
frame.
Later
conven-
tionaliza-
tions of
descend-
ing rocks.
was taken over at Mycenae 1 and elsewhere in Mainland Greece. Throughout
we see the same decorative device—originating, it may be supposed, in a
very ancient acquaintance with intarsia work—of depicting the face of the
stone as if cut in section, which is also so characteristic of Minoan painted
borders. Many of the rocks here present the appearance of brilliantly
veined agate or of artificially coloured onyx, sliced and polished.
The white edging of veins and coloured patches visible in the rock-
work has already been noted in the case of ceramic imitations of stone-ware,
going back, some of them, to the first Middle Minoan Period,2 and is itself
a natural feature, due to chemical action, in the markings of rocks like
breccia. The attempt of the potters of the early part of the Middle Minoan
Age to copy the brilliant veining of the stone vessels, so much in vogue in
the preceding epoch, seems to have directly reacted on the pictorial methods
of those who somewhat later on attempted to reproduce rocky landscapes
on the walls. We already see this in ' Saffron-gatherer' Fresco.
A striking feature is the manner in which, in this and other cases, the
rocks are made to descend from above, and even, as here, are drawn across
part of the actual frame of the panel. This method of the old Cretan
artists may certainly be described as born of the soil itself and due to the
constant need, in this rugged landscape, of depicting mountain glens. This
way of showing in inverted fashion the farther boundary of a rocky valley,
well known in the minor Arts from the time of the discovery of the Vapheio
Cups, is now seen to depend on a traditional school of Minoan painting.
The Vapheio examples may be taken, indeed, as an indication that this
method was adopted in the larger prototypes of that composition in painted
stucco relief, of the existence of which we have evidence in the remains
found in the North Entrance passage of the Palace at Knossos, not to
speak of the more fragmentary relics of such subjects going well back to
within the limits of M. M. II. In painting on the flat we have also an early
specimen of this in the ' Saffron-gatherer ' Fresco/1
Often the rock outlines have become rounded off and conventionalized,
such as we see them above the figure of the Cup-bearer in the Processional
Series, and, still farther removed from the original form, in the Partridge
Frieze. Stylized versions also appear in contemporary engrailed metal-
work, as, for instance, above the lion hunt on the Mycenae dagger,4 which
1 Compare, for instance, B. S.A., xxiv, PI. X,
fresco fragments from the ' Ramp House '.
2 P. of M., i, pp. 177, 178 and compare the
'birds' nest' breccia lid, Fig. 127, a, and the
polychrome imitations b and c.
3 Ibid., i, p. 265.
4 Ibid., p. 715, Fig. 538.
Rocks
descend-
ing from
above
across
frame.
Later
conven-
tionaliza-
tions of
descend-
ing rocks.
was taken over at Mycenae 1 and elsewhere in Mainland Greece. Throughout
we see the same decorative device—originating, it may be supposed, in a
very ancient acquaintance with intarsia work—of depicting the face of the
stone as if cut in section, which is also so characteristic of Minoan painted
borders. Many of the rocks here present the appearance of brilliantly
veined agate or of artificially coloured onyx, sliced and polished.
The white edging of veins and coloured patches visible in the rock-
work has already been noted in the case of ceramic imitations of stone-ware,
going back, some of them, to the first Middle Minoan Period,2 and is itself
a natural feature, due to chemical action, in the markings of rocks like
breccia. The attempt of the potters of the early part of the Middle Minoan
Age to copy the brilliant veining of the stone vessels, so much in vogue in
the preceding epoch, seems to have directly reacted on the pictorial methods
of those who somewhat later on attempted to reproduce rocky landscapes
on the walls. We already see this in ' Saffron-gatherer' Fresco.
A striking feature is the manner in which, in this and other cases, the
rocks are made to descend from above, and even, as here, are drawn across
part of the actual frame of the panel. This method of the old Cretan
artists may certainly be described as born of the soil itself and due to the
constant need, in this rugged landscape, of depicting mountain glens. This
way of showing in inverted fashion the farther boundary of a rocky valley,
well known in the minor Arts from the time of the discovery of the Vapheio
Cups, is now seen to depend on a traditional school of Minoan painting.
The Vapheio examples may be taken, indeed, as an indication that this
method was adopted in the larger prototypes of that composition in painted
stucco relief, of the existence of which we have evidence in the remains
found in the North Entrance passage of the Palace at Knossos, not to
speak of the more fragmentary relics of such subjects going well back to
within the limits of M. M. II. In painting on the flat we have also an early
specimen of this in the ' Saffron-gatherer ' Fresco/1
Often the rock outlines have become rounded off and conventionalized,
such as we see them above the figure of the Cup-bearer in the Processional
Series, and, still farther removed from the original form, in the Partridge
Frieze. Stylized versions also appear in contemporary engrailed metal-
work, as, for instance, above the lion hunt on the Mycenae dagger,4 which
1 Compare, for instance, B. S.A., xxiv, PI. X,
fresco fragments from the ' Ramp House '.
2 P. of M., i, pp. 177, 178 and compare the
'birds' nest' breccia lid, Fig. 127, a, and the
polychrome imitations b and c.
3 Ibid., i, p. 265.
4 Ibid., p. 715, Fig. 538.