DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1066#0124
IX
MINOAN ART
NO province of art seems to have been neg-
lected by the Bronze Age inhabitants of
Crete. Their attainments were as varied as they
were successful. Painting, engraving, sculpture,
bas-relief, architecture, the carving of precious
stones, gold - chasing, moulding, inlaying, and
bronze repousse, all were attempted. It requires
some temerity, thus early in the organization and
arrangement of the mass of material from Minoan
sites, to attempt to construct a scheme of the
growth and development of prehistoric Cretan
art, and the writers present the following brief
sketch with considerable diffidence.
The Minoans at the opening of the Bronze Age
seem to have been in an inventive and experimental
mood. Perhaps their imaginations were fired by
the possibilities bronze put into their hands.
It is difficult for us to realize how great a step is
taken when a people emerges from the Stone Age
and learns the secret of casting metal into the
forms they require. This secret, Crete must have
learned from the south-east. For their pottery
the Early Minoans tried all manner of shapes and
techniques, foreign and domestic, old and new.
In seal-engraving two influences were already at
MINOAN ART
NO province of art seems to have been neg-
lected by the Bronze Age inhabitants of
Crete. Their attainments were as varied as they
were successful. Painting, engraving, sculpture,
bas-relief, architecture, the carving of precious
stones, gold - chasing, moulding, inlaying, and
bronze repousse, all were attempted. It requires
some temerity, thus early in the organization and
arrangement of the mass of material from Minoan
sites, to attempt to construct a scheme of the
growth and development of prehistoric Cretan
art, and the writers present the following brief
sketch with considerable diffidence.
The Minoans at the opening of the Bronze Age
seem to have been in an inventive and experimental
mood. Perhaps their imaginations were fired by
the possibilities bronze put into their hands.
It is difficult for us to realize how great a step is
taken when a people emerges from the Stone Age
and learns the secret of casting metal into the
forms they require. This secret, Crete must have
learned from the south-east. For their pottery
the Early Minoans tried all manner of shapes and
techniques, foreign and domestic, old and new.
In seal-engraving two influences were already at