LIFK KOKMf- 



ASK PAINTING. 



175 



lu auother class of ware — the alligator group — the treatment is 

 (juite different, being decidedly more clumsy and realized by distinct 

 processes ; but prominence is given to a number of corresponding 

 features. The strong curve of the back, the dentals and dots, and 

 the muzzle and mouth refer apparently to the same creature. The 

 curiously marked panel in the body of the last example is a uiiicjue 

 feature, which ajjpears, however, in a few other cases. 



These drawings occur upon the sides of vases, alternating with the 

 plastic features, and are perhaps generally associated with such 

 features in the expression of some mythical idea. 



The uinilclc'il crcaturi' is ol'tcn i-c|iri'S(.Mit<Hl with two heads instead 

 of with a licail aii'l a tail, aii'l llir iiaiiitci] fi.i'ms, in many cases, ex- 

 hibit the .same peculiarity as sliowii in Fig. -'rrl. I .surmise that the 

 employment of two heads arises from the need of securing perfect 

 V)alance of parts rather than as an original product of the imagination. 



It will be inten-stiii-. a.s additi.uial r.xaniplcs are ])Veseiite(l. tu nnte 

 the effect of nai.lilicatii.n U|.<iii pai-l iciil.n iVat iii-.-s -f llieaninial. t(j 

 observe how some rome inlu pnimiiieiLce. i-i'presi-nting the creattire 

 and the idea, while others fall into disuse and disappear. In nature 

 the line of the body is perhaps the most strongly characteristic feature, 



Fig 362 Two heailed foi m of the alligati ir. 



and it is iu art the most persistent. It survives in the stems nC many 

 conventional devices from which all other suggestions of the animal 

 have vanished. 



The following examples dei)art still further from nature, approach- 

 ing the border line between the distinctly imitative and the purely 

 conventional or geometric phases. In the first (Fig. •HV.i) all the lead- 

 ing features are recognizalile, but are very much simplified. The 



Fig. -im. ng\) 



