DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0202
182
PRINCIPLES OP GREEK ART
CHAP.
aid of the other; they may be compared to longitude and lati-
tude in geography. If we know only the longitude or only the
latitude of a place, we may try in vain to fix it. In the same
way historic record and the examination of monuments apart
lead to very vague knowledge. Their combination leads to
exact knowledge.
The only systematic account of the early history of Greek
painting which we possess is that given by Pliny in the 35th
book of his Natural History.1 Pliny tells us, among other
things, that the Egyptians claimed the invention of painting;
but that according to the Greeks it was invented at Sicyon or
Corinth. First there came outline drawings, then inner mark-
ings within such outlines, then washes of colour, one colour
only being used for a while. One of the earliest colours used
was a red made from pounded potsherds. Pliny also gives
the names of a few of the painters who made great progress
in the art, telling us that Eumares of Athens first distinguished
male from female figures, and Cimon • of Cleonae " invented
catagrapha, that is, figures out of the straight, and ways of
representing faces looking back, up, or down; he also made
the joints of the body clear, emphasized veins, worked out
folds and doublings in garments." Polygnotus of Thasos,
Pliny adds, "first represented women in transparent dress,
decked their heads with many coloured kerchiefs, and made
great innovations in the art of painting, if it was he who showed
how to open the mouth, to show the teeth, to supersede archaic
stiffness in the face."
It does not do to attach too much importance to statements
of Pliny, who is a most careless and inexact author. But he
usually writes after reading Greek writers who are more trust-
worthy than himself. And it is likely that a safe basis for a
history of early painting in Greece existed in the scientific
1 Especially sections 15, 10, 56, 58.
PRINCIPLES OP GREEK ART
CHAP.
aid of the other; they may be compared to longitude and lati-
tude in geography. If we know only the longitude or only the
latitude of a place, we may try in vain to fix it. In the same
way historic record and the examination of monuments apart
lead to very vague knowledge. Their combination leads to
exact knowledge.
The only systematic account of the early history of Greek
painting which we possess is that given by Pliny in the 35th
book of his Natural History.1 Pliny tells us, among other
things, that the Egyptians claimed the invention of painting;
but that according to the Greeks it was invented at Sicyon or
Corinth. First there came outline drawings, then inner mark-
ings within such outlines, then washes of colour, one colour
only being used for a while. One of the earliest colours used
was a red made from pounded potsherds. Pliny also gives
the names of a few of the painters who made great progress
in the art, telling us that Eumares of Athens first distinguished
male from female figures, and Cimon • of Cleonae " invented
catagrapha, that is, figures out of the straight, and ways of
representing faces looking back, up, or down; he also made
the joints of the body clear, emphasized veins, worked out
folds and doublings in garments." Polygnotus of Thasos,
Pliny adds, "first represented women in transparent dress,
decked their heads with many coloured kerchiefs, and made
great innovations in the art of painting, if it was he who showed
how to open the mouth, to show the teeth, to supersede archaic
stiffness in the face."
It does not do to attach too much importance to statements
of Pliny, who is a most careless and inexact author. But he
usually writes after reading Greek writers who are more trust-
worthy than himself. And it is likely that a safe basis for a
history of early painting in Greece existed in the scientific
1 Especially sections 15, 10, 56, 58.