584 On the An of Painting 



Of the Modes of Painting among the Anci- 

 ents. The paintings of the ancient artifts were 

 either moveable (tabula, tabulas pingere) or upon 

 the ceilings or compartments of buildings (parie- 

 tes, lacunaria, cameras pngere). 



Pliny fays that none of the artifts were eminent 

 except thofe who painted moveable piflures,* 

 but many of the great artifts among the an- 

 cients, neverthelefs, pajnted alfo upon walls, as 

 Pamphilus, Apelles, Polygnotus, Paufius, Ona- 

 fas, &c. 



The .pictures (tabula) were either on fir-wood,f 



propofito, neCcio an deftruxerit fe ; quonlam humilia qui- 

 detn fecutus, humilitatis tamen fummam adeptus eft glo- 

 riam. Tonftrinas, futrinafque pinxit, et afellos et obfo- 

 ria ac fimilia : ob hoc cognominatas Rhyparographus ; 

 in lis confummatas voluptatis, quippe eae pluris veniere 

 quammaximae multorum. Plin. ubifup. Thz piiiura minor 

 here, is evidently from the context, not the inferior ftyltt 

 but the/mailer kind of painting. 



• Sed nulla gloria artificum eft nifi eorum qui tabulas 

 pinxerc, &c. XXXV. 37. 



f Theophraftus (Hift. Plant, lib. III. cap. 10.) fpeak- 

 ing of the fir, fays, eI « ta twi' ^aypa^av •nivcutia TroiHiri. 

 And in another place (lib. V. cap. 8.) he fays of the fir, 

 that it is proper for painters' tablets, hm yof vpotTa; •jnyanaf 

 Tsj ypafs/AEvxi, 



larch. 



