071 the Colours used in Pa'mtlvg ly the AiKienls. 353 



by Pliny*, to have been discovered accidentally by means of a fire 

 that took ])'ace at the PircEUS at Athens. Some ceruse which 

 had been exposed to this fire was found converted into minium, 

 and the process was artiritially imitated: and he states that it 

 was first Used as a pigment by Niciasf. 



Several red earths used in painting are described by Theo- 

 phrastus, Vitriivius;]:, and Pliny. The Sinopian er.rth, the Ar- 

 meniaTi earth, and the African ochre, which had its red colour 

 produced by calcination. 



Cinnabar or vennilion was called by the Greeks xivvaisagi §, 

 and by the Romans ?rtfnz?/m. It is said by Theophrastusjl to 

 have been discovered by Callias, an Athenian, ninety years be- 

 fore Praxibulus, and in tlie 349th year of Rome, and was pre- 

 pared bv washlnsj the ores of quicksib'er. According to Pliny^i » 

 who (juotes Verrius, it \vas a colour held in great esteem in 

 Rome at the time of tiie Republic; on great festivals it was used 

 for painting the face of Jupiter Capitolinus, and lll:ev,-l3e for 

 colouring the body of the victor in the triumphal processions, 

 " sic Camillum trivimphasse"^'*." Pliny mentions that even in his 

 time vermilion was ahvays placed at triumphal feasts amongst 

 the precious ointments;" and that the first occupation of new 

 censors of the Capitol was to fill the place of vermilion-painter 

 to Jupiter, 



Vennilion was always a very dear colour amongst the Romans; 

 and we are informed by Plinyj that to prevent the price from be- 

 ing excessive it v.as fixed by the government. The circum- 

 stance of the chambers in the baths of Titus being covered with it, 

 affords pioof in favour of their being intended for imiperial use ; 

 and we are expressly informed by the author i have just quoted, 

 that the Laocoon, in his time, was hi the palace of Titus ft : and 

 the taste of the ancients in selecting a colour to give full effect 

 to their master-pieces of sculpture was similar to that of a late 

 celebrated English connoisseur. 



Pliny describes a second or inferior sort of vermilion formed 

 by calcining stone found in veins of lead. It is evident that 

 this sul)stancc was the same as our minium, and the Roman ce- 

 rusria usta, and the stones alluded toby Pliny nnist have been car- 

 bonate of lead : and he states di'^tinctly, that it is a substance 

 whicli becomes red only when burnt. 



* Lib XXXV. cap. CO. f Id- ''''•'■ 



J De Arrliitcctura, lib. vii. cnp. 7. § Dioscoridcs, lib. v. ccip. lOP, 



II Dp Lapid. Clip. 104. . . 



^ Lib. xxxiii. cap. 36. Nunc inter pipmoiita m-if^tuB auctoriti>ti% ^J. 

 /^iioiidatn apiid Ilomanos non solum niaxinjasjbcii ftiani sacra. * Ibul. 



t1 Lib. xxxvi. cap. 4. Sicut in Laocoon te, qui est in Titi Impcrat.'us 

 doinOt op'is oinniliiis et pir.uirs et statuaria; artis prirponcndum. 



Vol.45.No.205. Moy 161.".. Z iH. 0/ 



