284 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part IT. 



in those days against a white, and in favour of a coloured, 

 surface. 



65. I confess, however, that I am by no means an advocate 

 for our adopting the custom : and at all events, until we have 

 reached the same point of perfection as the Greeks, it will 

 be far better to abstain from the attempt. The question 

 of the good taste is one; that of the fact another. With 

 regard to the latter question, whether the Greeks really 

 painted their statues, there does not appear to be a doubt ; 

 and all that can be said to the contrary is, that they some- 

 times substituted for the colouring some other processes. We 

 may not wish to introduce it, but this does not alter the fact ; 

 and it is pretty evident that, right or wrong, it was adopted 

 by the Greeks in the best age of art. Some, again, who admit 

 that the Greek statues were coloured, argue that the custom 

 was one derived from old habit, not from any notion that it 

 improved, or imparted life to, them ; that it was only a modifi- 

 tion of the ancient custom of staining them of one uniform 

 red hue ; and that if they had not previously adopted that early 

 custom, they would not have introduced the other in after 

 times. But they were a people of too much judgment to 

 practice on that account what was at variance with their 

 notions of good taste ; and they did not certainly allow their 

 paintings *, to be influenced by that early custom. With the 

 Egyptians, old habits were binding ; but if any were retained 

 by the Greeks, they were the exceptions in particular cases ; 

 and every one will admit that their judgment and taste were 

 permitted to enjoy &s free a scope as our own. 



66. The Greeks, it is true, began with stiff figures in profile, 

 with the eye in front, as in Egyptian paintings; but they 

 were not long in discovering the want of truthfulness in this 



* Pliny (xxxvi. 5), in saying that sculpture is older than painting, pretends 

 that "this and the art of casting statues in bronze commenced with Phidias, 

 in the 83rd Olympiad ;" (about B.C. 446.) 



