DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0330
EARLIER WALL-PAINTINGS LIKE 'LADIES IN BLUE' 703
plaques, as already noted, was mostly of a beautifully polished white, like
the finest marble with dark veins and blotches (see Fig. 438).
The fragmentary remains of what appears to have been a threshold wings of
block of gypsum belonging to the Eastern entrance of the first section of the propy-
hall, which had been used in a later structure near by, throws an interesting laF.uni.
' ' & railed in.
light on the interior arrangement. Though much decomposed, it showed
borings clearly intended for the ends of upright bars, perhaps of bronze, and
indicating that the entrance had been blocked by a railing, in the same way
as the spaces between the piers and columns bordering the Central Court
of the Palace at Mallia. Very probably a similar railing had also closed the
Western entrance, as suggested in the Plan, Fig. 435, b, and the two bays of
the broad entrance hall were in this way secured from being mere passage-
ways. The position of the treasure cist within the Eastern bay would thus
have greatly gained in convenience.
With its wide architrave above and fine architectural reliefs, its red- its
veined ' mosaiko ' pavement and marbled dado, and the shrine that seems to stucco
have stood within its Eastern entrance bay, the earlier Propylaeum must decora-
1 » Hon as
have presented a varied and magnificent appearance. From a stucco frag- 'Ladies
ment found near the South end of its Eastern wall it would seem to have had
the same system of painted decoration above the dado as has been shown
to have existed in the contemporary entrance passage that preceded the
' Corridor of the Procession', and which stood in organic relation to it.
Although the colours had been obliterated on the face, this plaster fragment
shows the same flat slightly bevelled edge below for application to the
upper border of dado slabs that recurs on several fresco fragments from the
earlier Corridor.1 The subject of the painted designs there was, as has been
shown above, closely analogous to those from a hall on the East side of the
Palace, presenting groups of the ' Ladies in Blue '.
It would be easy, at a superficial glance at its existing remains, to set Later
down the later Propylaeum, built out of the surrounding debris after the ^°^'
great earthquake, as a work of the Decadence. The walls are somewhat narrower,
narrower, constructed almost entirely of rubble masonry, and its whole pro-
portions have shrunk. Massiveness was given up for economy of effort,
severity for lightness. In place of the deeply cut bands and friezes of stone-
work, implying months of artistic labour, there is ever)' indication that we
have now to do with painted stucco substitutes. Signs of haste we may Its walls
well recognize, but we should not be justified in regarding this or other "^hiy
parts of the restored Palace as affording proof of a falling off in the builder's
1 See above, p. 679 seqq.
plaques, as already noted, was mostly of a beautifully polished white, like
the finest marble with dark veins and blotches (see Fig. 438).
The fragmentary remains of what appears to have been a threshold wings of
block of gypsum belonging to the Eastern entrance of the first section of the propy-
hall, which had been used in a later structure near by, throws an interesting laF.uni.
' ' & railed in.
light on the interior arrangement. Though much decomposed, it showed
borings clearly intended for the ends of upright bars, perhaps of bronze, and
indicating that the entrance had been blocked by a railing, in the same way
as the spaces between the piers and columns bordering the Central Court
of the Palace at Mallia. Very probably a similar railing had also closed the
Western entrance, as suggested in the Plan, Fig. 435, b, and the two bays of
the broad entrance hall were in this way secured from being mere passage-
ways. The position of the treasure cist within the Eastern bay would thus
have greatly gained in convenience.
With its wide architrave above and fine architectural reliefs, its red- its
veined ' mosaiko ' pavement and marbled dado, and the shrine that seems to stucco
have stood within its Eastern entrance bay, the earlier Propylaeum must decora-
1 » Hon as
have presented a varied and magnificent appearance. From a stucco frag- 'Ladies
ment found near the South end of its Eastern wall it would seem to have had
the same system of painted decoration above the dado as has been shown
to have existed in the contemporary entrance passage that preceded the
' Corridor of the Procession', and which stood in organic relation to it.
Although the colours had been obliterated on the face, this plaster fragment
shows the same flat slightly bevelled edge below for application to the
upper border of dado slabs that recurs on several fresco fragments from the
earlier Corridor.1 The subject of the painted designs there was, as has been
shown above, closely analogous to those from a hall on the East side of the
Palace, presenting groups of the ' Ladies in Blue '.
It would be easy, at a superficial glance at its existing remains, to set Later
down the later Propylaeum, built out of the surrounding debris after the ^°^'
great earthquake, as a work of the Decadence. The walls are somewhat narrower,
narrower, constructed almost entirely of rubble masonry, and its whole pro-
portions have shrunk. Massiveness was given up for economy of effort,
severity for lightness. In place of the deeply cut bands and friezes of stone-
work, implying months of artistic labour, there is ever)' indication that we
have now to do with painted stucco substitutes. Signs of haste we may Its walls
well recognize, but we should not be justified in regarding this or other "^hiy
parts of the restored Palace as affording proof of a falling off in the builder's
1 See above, p. 679 seqq.