THE EVOLUTION OF PAINTING. 



By FORREST P. RUNDELL. 



PAIXTING has been defined as " the art of representing on 

 a flat surface, by means of lines and color, objects as they 

 appear in nature that is to say, in such a manner that the 

 picture produced shall within certain limits affect the eye 

 in the same way as do the objects themselves." During its 

 early history, painting was everywhere wholly decorative in 

 character. In some countries it has not yet advanced be- 

 yond the decorative stage. This is especially the case in 

 China, and to a certain extent also in Japan. In most 

 countries painting was at first closely allied with sculpture 

 and architecture. In Egypt, Assyria, and Greece both 

 painting and sculpture were subsidiary to architecture, be- 

 ing chiefly used to ornament tombs, palaces, and temples. 

 The bas-reliefs and earlier statues were painted. The prac- 

 tice of coloring statues continued in Greece until after 

 sculpture became differentiated from architecture. 



The subjects of the early paintings were of a simple char- 

 acter. They consisted chiefly of figures with few or no ac- 

 cessories. When trees were first introduced they were 

 treated in the most conventional manner. Each tree was of 

 the same size and had the same number of leaves as all the 

 other trees in the picture, and all were represented as in the 

 same plane. 



With a knowledge of perspective came the introduction 

 of backgrounds ; and when skill had been acquired in treat- 

 ing the backgrounds, they were gradually separated from 

 the figures, and in course of time were themselves used as 

 subjects for pictures. 



At a later period artists devoted their attention to spe- 

 cial features of landscapes. Some painted only marine 

 pictures, others mountains, others flowers or fruits. Spen- 

 cer's definition of progress was never better illustrated than 

 in the history of painting. There has been a constant dif- 

 ferentiation of forms, a constant change from the homoge- 

 neous to the heterogeneous. 



If time permitted, we should find it profitable to trace the 



