M I N 



573 



M I N 



Minerva, 

 Mingrclil. 



MINERVA, in the ancient mythology, was the 

 Goddess of Wisdom and the Liberal Arts. Jupiter hav- 

 ' ing married Metis, is said to have decided that her 

 children would be more intelligent than their father. 

 Hence he was induced to murder her during pregnan- 

 cy ; and having afterwards suffered violent pains in his 

 head, he ordered Vulcan to cleave it open, when Mi- 

 nerva emerged from Jupiter's brain, fully armed, and 

 was immediately admitted among the gods. She was 

 known by the names of Athena, Pallas, Parthenos, Tri- 

 tonia, Glaucopis, Agorea, Hippia, Stratea, Area, Co- 

 ryphagenes, and Sais. 



This goddess was very universally worshipped. Sais, 

 Rhodes, and Athens, paid her particular reverence; 

 but she had magnificent temples in Egypt, Phoenicia, 

 Italy, Gaul, Sicily, and all parts of Greece. Being 

 considered as the goddess who introduced arts and in- 

 ventions into the world, she was invoked by artists of 

 all descriptions, and had a temple built for her by the 

 Athenians under the name of Minerva M;e T| f> ma- 

 cUnatrix. 



Minerva is generally represented with a helmet, 

 u rmnunted by a large plume. She carries a spear, 

 and sometimes a. dUtaff in nnp hand, and with the other 

 grasps a shield adorned with the head of the dying 

 medusa. The breastplate sometimes bore the Medusa's 

 head encircled with living serpents. The owl, cock, 

 and the dragon, were sacred to her. Her functions 

 and actions are very numerous, and are familiar to all 

 classical readers. 



MiNGKELIA, a province of Asia, comprehending 

 the most considerable proportion of the ancient king- 

 dom of Colchis. It is bounded on the north by the 

 C'eraunian mountains and Circassia ; on the south and 

 east by Immertia, and the river Phasis; and on the 

 west by the Black Sea. The air of this country is 

 damp and insalubrious. It is watered by upwards of 

 thirty rivers, the principal of which is the Phasis. The 

 soil along the coast of the Black Sea is so moist, that 

 it is incapable of bearing the operation of ploughing. 

 It u impossible on this account to raise cither wheat or 

 barley, and the inhabitants use as a substitute for bread 

 a kind of paste made of a small grain called gom, 

 which is not unlike coriander seed. Agriculture is en- 

 tirely neglected in this province, and the proportion of 

 arable land U very small. The pasturage, however, is 

 excellent, and a great number of horses are reared. 

 The country abounds with extensive forests of the finest 

 trees, and also with grapes, (from which they make 

 admirable wine) and all sorts of fruits grow wild in 

 great abundance. There were formerly a great number 

 of gold mines in this country, but they are no longer 

 wrought. The Mingrelians cultivate a good deal of 

 silk, but from their ignorance of the art of manufac- 

 turing it, nothing is made but a poor sort of handker- 

 chief, and some common tatFeties. The principal com- 

 merce is in slaves, of which they annually export about 

 12,000. The peasants are the slaves of the nobility, 

 who have the power of life and death over their vassals. 

 The natives of Mingrelia, it is said, were originally 

 descended from a colony of Egyptians, founded here 

 by Sesniramis. They were formerly an enlightened and 

 industrious people, but they have now degenerated into 

 a state of deplorable ignorance and misery. They are 

 hi general well-shaped and handsome, but addicted to 

 drunkenness, theft, and many other vices. The prin- 

 cipal cities of Mingrelia are Talikara, which is the 

 most considerable, situated on the right bank of the 

 river Hippus, and well peopled, principally by Jews; 



Rhregia, also situated on the Hippus, and the usual place Miniature 

 of residence of the chiefs or princes of Mingrelia ; and Painting. 

 Cotais, or Cotatis, which stands on thePhasis. It is a very v ' Y~ ' 

 poor and ancient town, situated in a beautiful and fer- 

 tile plain, and inhabited by a few Jewish, Armenian, 

 and Turkish families. The religion of the country is 

 that of the Greek church. The population is said to 

 be about four millions. See Kinneir's Geog. Mem. of 

 Persia. 



MINIATURE PAINTING. This term is usually 

 applied to portraits painted on a very small scale, and 

 commonly executed in water colours on ivory, some- 

 times on vellum or on paper. Miniatures are also some- 

 times executed in oil colours. 



Although this department of art, from the reduced 

 scale on which its operations are conducted, and the de- 

 licacy of handling necessarily resulting from this, is 

 incapable of conveying so completely the grander ex- 

 pre*-ions of character, so striking in the portraits of 

 Titian and Vandyke, to which the larger dimensions, 

 and consequent breadth of manner and vigour of style 

 so powerfully contribute ; it nevertheless possesses many 

 advantages from its portable dimensions, and is equally 

 susceptible of'fidelity of resemblance, and beauty of 

 execution. As in reference to composition, design, 

 chiar'tuciiro, and colouring, it is regulated by the 

 same general principles as the other departments of the 

 art, (See PAINTING.) we shall restrict ourselves at 

 present to the various processes and practical details by 

 which miniature painting is executed. 



Ivory is the substance on which miniatures are most 

 commonly executed, being greatly superior to paper, 

 vellum, or any other material, and in the hand of a 

 skilful artist is capable of giving all the depth, rich- 

 ness, and brilliancy of colour, and power of eli'oct, of 

 an oil picture. The ivory is obtained in the shops, 

 sawn into thin plates : That which is clearest and most 

 transparent is the best, receives the colours most rea- 

 dily, and bears better repeated touching. 



The ivory is to be prepared by first removing from iVenjrj. 

 its surface the marks of the saw, by means of the tion of the 

 scraper, an instrument (the same as that used by > - 

 gravers) consisting of three sharp edges, of the form 

 of a triangular or saw file. The ivory is then laid upon 

 a flat piece of ground-glass, and dusted over with fine- 

 ly pulverized pumice stone, previously sifted through 

 fine gauze ; a little distilled vinegar is poured upon it. 

 and the whole well rubbed with a glass mullcr. When 

 this process has been continued for a few minutes, it is 

 washed with clean water and dried ; it is then well 

 rubbed with dry pumice dust and a piece of chamois 

 leather, and is fit for use ; having been, by this opera- 

 tion, deprived of the gloss and fine polish communi- 

 cated by the scraper. Some artists use only the pii! 

 dust dry, without the distilled vinegar ; but the latter 

 seems to be of considerable importance in removing 

 the grease, or other animal matters, which all ivory 

 contains. In addition to the pumice dust, which is 

 indispensable to give a proper surface to the ivory, 

 some, in order to whiten it more completely, boil it 

 along with fuller's earth, and others bleach it by ex- 

 posure to the action of the sun's rays ; but the process 

 which we have first mentioned will in most cases an- 

 swer every purpose that can be desired, both as to 

 colour and surface, if the ivory be of a good quality. 



When the ivory is fully prepared, it is fixed upon 

 a piece of fine white card paper, by means of a spot or 

 two of gum Arabic, and thus is obviated any disad- 

 vantage arising from the transparency of the ivory. 



