Chap. 32.] COLOCKS USED BY THE ANCIENTS IN PAINTING. 2-J5 



being applied to walls, but is in common use 77 by way of orna- 

 ment for ships of war, and, indeed, merchant-ships at the present 

 day. As we go so far as to paint these vehicles of danger, no 

 one can be surprised if we paint our funeral piles as well, or 

 if we have our gladiators conveyed in handsome carriages to 

 the scene of death, or, at all events, of carnage. When we 

 only contemplate this extensive variety of colours, we cannot 

 but admire the ingenuity displayed by the men of former 

 days. 



CUAP, 32. WHAT COLOURS WKKE USED BY TUB ANCIENTS IN 



TAINTING. 



It was witli four colours only, 78 that Apelles, 79 Echion, 

 Melanthius, and Nicomachus, those most illustrous painters, 

 executed their immortal works ; melinurn so for the white, Attic 

 fiil sl for the yellow, Politic sinopis for the red, and atramentum 

 for the black f' and yet a single picture of theirs has sold before 

 now for the treasures of whole cities. But at the present day, 

 when purple is employed fur colouring walls even, and when 

 India sends to us the slime s3 of her rivers, and the corrupt blood 

 of her dragons* 4 and her elephants, there is no such thing as a 

 picture of high quality produced. Everything, in fact, was su- 

 perior. at a time when the resources of art were so much fewer 

 than they now arc. Yes, so it is ; and the reason is, as we 



" Called " Inceranu-nta navium," in Livy, B. xxviii. c. 45. Bee also 

 Chapters 3D and 4 1 of this Book. 



" s Pliny hero commits a mistake, which may have arisen from an imper- 

 fect recollection, ns Sir. II. Davy has hupposed, of a passage in Cicero 

 (I'ruius, c. 18), which, hoxvercr, quite contradicts the statement of "Pliny. 

 ' In painting, we admin* in the works of Z<-iixia, Pulyguotus, Timanthes 

 and those who used //?/r colours only, the figure and the lineaments; but 

 in tho works of Kchion, Nieomachus, Protngem-s, and Apelles, cvtrytfiiny 

 is perfect." Indeed Pliny contradicts himM-lf, lor he speaks of two others 

 colours used hy the earliest painters, the ttsta trita, or ground earthenware, 

 in Chapter ij of this Hook; and " cinnabaris," or vermilion, in B. xxxiii. 

 c. 36. Also, in Chapter 21 of this Book he speaks of Kretrian earth as 

 having heen used hy Nicomachus, and in Chapter 25 of ivory black as 

 having been invented by Apellt-s. 



r> These painters will all be noticed in Chapter 3G. 



* See Chapter 10 of this Book, 81 See B. xxxiii. c. 56. 



83 Blue is here excluded altogether, unless under the terra ' atramen- 

 tum" we would include black and blue indicum, or in other words, Indian 

 ink anil indigo. ^ See Chapter 27 of tins Hook. 



1)1 In allusion to M Dragon's blood." See B. xxxiii. c. 38. 



