Fairbanks, Arthur: Greek art: the basis of later European art (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1933)

THE GREEK TRADITION: ITS CONTENT
in Greece, further developed by the Etruscans,
and passed on through Rome to the European
civilizations that have followed.
As for the processes of painting, one was
Greek in origin. The Greeks attributed to
Pamphilus of Sicyon the invention of encaustic
painting, in which melted wax applied with a
hot spatula was the vehicle for carrying the
colors. Two earlier methods of painting, fresco
painting (i.e., painting on a damp plaster
ground with water colors) and tempera paint-
ing on a gesso ground, were highly developed
by the Greeks and were passed on to the Roman
world in the manner in which they had been
used in Greece. We find no literary reference
to inventions or discoveries of new grounds or
vehicles, except hot wax, or colors for painting.
We do know, however, from vase paintings of
century after century that the Greeks went a
long distance in discovering the possibilities of
line drawing. The beauty and vigor of the out-
lines on vases of the best period, the use of
“ guiding lines ” to suggest the third dimension,
and the effects produced with extreme economy
of means, have made these simple scenes a
direct inspiration to later European artists.
But the achievement of the Greek painters
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