History of Ancient Art Part 19

In the consideration of h.e.l.lenic painting, mention has been made of the origin of floor-decorations in mosaic by Sosos at the royal court of Pergamon. By this is only meant mosaic painting with illusory effects, as practised by him; imitations of tapestry patterns and merely ornamental mosaic-work must have been older. His drinking-doves in the "unswept hall" appear to have continued a favorite subject, judging from three well-known imitations; one of which, found upon the Aventine, now in the Museum of the Lateran, bears the inscription of the artist Herac.l.i.tos. Though the names of other workers in mosaic are known, they as little deserve mention here as do the numerous vase-painters, their mosaic being almost wholly a technical process; its very laboriousness rendered a truly artistic activity almost impossible. Unfortunately, no name is attached to the most important work of this kind, over four meters long and two wide, apparently representing an Alexandrian battle-scene. This is also the best-preserved historical painting of antiquity, but it is related rather to the Grecian types than to the Roman battle-pieces above mentioned. The greater part of the well-known mosaics, being from Herculaneum and Pompeii, may be referred to the time of Nero; but those of Praeneste with the Egyptianized conventional landscapes may date back to the time of Sulla, while the extensive example with figures of athletes from the Baths of Caracalla--now in the Lateran--belongs to the time of that emperor. Many others, however, especially those discovered in the distant provinces, are of later times. Vigorous as are some of the representations of landscapes and of animals among them, it is not to be denied that, as Semper says, mosaic oversteps its boundary in going beyond the patterns of woven tapestry, and trying to make us forget that it is outstretched like a level floor upon which we would walk without hindrance.

"It would be difficult, connectedly, to pursue the history of ancient painting later than the eruption of Vesuvius, which, in the year 79 A.D., by a wonderful fortune, preserved for the later world the artistic treasures of three cities of Campania--Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae--and, at the same time, cost the life of Pliny, whom we have to thank for the greatest completeness of written description." Thus Brunn rightly concludes his "History of the Grecian Painters," for the works of succeeding generations, even when names of artists are attached, do not deserve to be called art, being nothing more than hasty and crude decorations; such, for example, are the servants' rooms in the Vigna Nussiner, upon the southern slope of the Palatine, which, in recent times, have acquired some celebrity by the careless scratches of the slaves found upon their walls. The most important ill.u.s.trations that have been preserved of the shallowness and roughness of this lingering art are in the tombs; and with these in painting, with the basilica in architecture, and the sarcophagi in sculpture, the boundaries of the antique and of the Christian era flow into each other, and are scarcely distinguishable. When Christianity arose from the sepulchre, it allied itself in monumental art to that stage of debas.e.m.e.nt which painting had reached in the heathen and the Christian catacombs of the fourth century; indeed, art continued still to decline through ages, until the Northern races and the life of the common people breathed into it the spirit of a new life.

GLOSSARY.

It has been the translator's endeavor to avoid technical terms wherever this was possible without detracting from exactness of expression. Of those which it has proved necessary to introduce into the present History, it is intended in this glossary to define neither words in common usage, like basilica, battlement, column, etc., nor those designations of infrequent occurrence which should be interpreted whenever employed, like the Greek and Latin names of the many divisions of the ancient theatre, bath, and gymnasion. A few of the former--as, for instance, the too often interchanged _channel_, _flute_, and _reed_--have, however, been given for the sake of discrimination. In these cases, and in the case of some other words which are often employed in senses too widely extended to allow of their being used without qualification in careful architectural descriptions, it has been attempted to make some advance towards precision of usage.

=Ab'acus= (Gr. ?a?-a???. Lat. _abax_ and _abacus_, a slab. Possibly in its architectural signification from ast???, to lift up, to bear). The plinth which forms the upper part of the capital--supporting the entablature by bearing the lower surface of the epistyle beam. The abacus is the crowning member of the capital, as the capital is of the column. In the Doric style it is thick and of square plan, in the Corinthian order thin and curved upon the sides.

=Acrote'rion=, pl. acroteria (Gr. from ?????, outermost).

The ornaments, such as statues or anthemion s.h.i.+elds, placed upon the angles of the gable--whether of the outer corners or of the apex. The term is also applied to the pedestals of these ornaments.

=Ag'onal=, adj. (from Gr. ????, festive gathering, especially an a.s.sembly met to see games; also the place of contest itself). Pertaining to a festive destination. The word _agones_ is used for the arena itself by Grote. (For the hypothetical distinction between agonal temples and those consecrated alone to the wors.h.i.+p of a deity, introduced by Boetticher, see p. 214.)

=Ag'ora= (Gr. an a.s.semblage of the people; hence, the place where such meetings were commonly held). A public square or marketplace. Synonymous with the more familiar Latin _forum_.

=Amphiprosty'los=, adj. amphip'rostyle (from Gr. ?f?, on both sides; p??, in front of; and st????, column). A term applied to a temple having a columned portico at the rear (epinaos), as well as at the front (p.r.o.naos), but without lateral columns.

=An'nulet= (Lat. _annulus_, or, according to the best ma.n.u.scripts, _anulus_, ring, terminated by Ital. diminutive). A small fillet encircling the base of the Doric echinos. The number of annulets is commonly three.

=An'ta=, pl. antae (Lat.). Terminations similar to pilasters upon the ends of the lateral walls of the cella, in p.r.o.naos and epinaos. Though a corresponding member, the anta is in form but little allied to the column, because its individual function is so different.

=An'tefix= (from Lat. _ante_, before, and _fixus_, fixed). An upright ornament like a small s.h.i.+eld, placed above the corona when the gutter is omitted, to hide the end of the jointing tile ridge.

=Anthe'mion= (Gr. patterned with flowers, from ?????, to blossom). The so-called palmetto or honeysuckle ornament, employed on acroteria and antefixes, and also as a continuous decoration on bands, gutters, etc., and the necking of some Ionic capitals.

=In an'tis= (Lat.). The simplest variety of temple plan, so called by Vitruvius because the p.r.o.naos or portico is formed by the projection of the side walls, terminated by antae, between which stand columns.

=Apoph'yge= (Gr. escape; from ?p?, from, and fe???, to flee. In its technical employment, of the same significance as the Fr. _conge_ and Ger. _Ablauf_). The hollow, or scotia, beneath the Doric echinos, the juncture between shaft and capital, occurring in archaic examples of the style, and relinquished with its advance.

=Ar'ris= (Lat. _arista_, beard of an ear of grain, bone of a fish. Old Fr.

_areste_). The sharp edge formed by two surfaces meeting at an exterior angle. Particularly the ridge between the hollows of Doric channellings.

=As'tragal= (Gr. ?st???a???, knuckle-bone, one of the vertebrae of the neck, the bone of the ankle-joint). A roundlet moulding carved into the form of beads; employed on the Ionic capital, and to separate the projecting faces of the epistyle and coffering beams.

=Atlas=, pl. Atlan'tes (Gr. the fabled upholder of the heavens). Figures of male human beings, generally of colossal size, carved either in the full or half round, and employed in the place of columns or pilasters to support an entablature.

=A'trium= (Lat.; from Gr. a????a, open sky?). The chief s.p.a.ce of the Roman dwelling-house; an inner court usually surrounded by columns.

=At'tica= (from Gr. ?tt????, pertaining to Attica). The upright portion of a building above the main cornice.

=Bar'biton= (Gr.). An ancient Greek musical instrument of many strings, resembling a lyre.

=Caryat'id=, pl. caryat'ides (Gr. pl. priestesses of Artemis at Caryae in Laconia, the connection of which with the architectural support has not as yet been satisfactorily explained). Figures of female human beings employed in the place of columns to support an entablature.

=Cel'la= (Lat.; from _celare_, to hide). All that portion of the temple structure within the walls. The term cella is comprehensive, including p.r.o.naos, naos, and, if such there be, opisthodomos and epinaos.

=Cham'fer= (Fr. _chamfrein_, Old Engl. _chanfer_). A slope or small splay formed by cutting off the edges of an angle.

=Chan'nel= (a modification of ca.n.a.l, from Lat. _canna_, reed). A curved furrow, immediately adjoining its repet.i.tion, and separated from it only by an arris, as in the Doric column.

=Chorag'ic= (Gr. ???a????? or ?????????, from ?????, chorus, and ???, to lead). Pertaining to, or in honor of, a ch.o.r.egos, _i. e._ one who superintended a musical or theatrical entertainment among the Greeks, and provided a chorus at his own expense.

=Chryselephan'tine= (Gr. ???se?ef??t????, from ???s??, gold, and ??efa?, ivory). A kind of sculpture in gold and ivory overlaying a wooden kernel--the drapery and ornaments being of the former, the exposed flesh of the latter, material.

=Clere'-story= (Fr. _clair-etage_, _claire-voie_, from _clair_, light).

That portion of a central aisle which is so raised above the surrounding parts of the building as to permit the illumination of the interior through windows in its side walls.

=Coilanaglyph'ic= (from Gr. ??????, hollow, and ???f?, carving). That species of carving in relief in which no part of the figure represented projects beyond the surrounding plane, the relief being effected by deeply incising the outlines.

=Cor'nice= (Gr. ???????, Lat. coronis, terminating curved line; flourish with the pen at the end of a book). The uppermost division of the entablature--the representative of the roof--consisting of projecting mouldings and blocks, usually divisible into bed-moulding, corona, and gutter. Hence, in general usage, any moulded projection which crowns and terminates the part upon which it is employed.

=Coro'na= (Lat. crown). The chief member of the cornice, directly beneath the gutter, by its great projection and rectilinear faces forming the drip.

=Crepido'ma= (Gr. from ???p??-?d??, boot). The entire foundation of the temple, including the stereobate, the stylobate, and the remaining steps.

=Cy'ma= (Gr. wave). A moulding composed of two distinct curves. The Doric cyma is commonly called the beak-moulding, the Lesbian cyma the _cyma reversa_.

=Den'til= (Lat. _denticulus_, from _dens_, _dentis_, tooth). Small rectangular blocks in the bed-moulding of a cornice, originally representing the ends of the slats which formed the ceiling.

=Diad'ochi= (Gr. successors, from d?ad???a?, to receive from another), a term applied to the successors of Alexander.

=Diminution.= In architectural usage, the continued contraction of the diameter of the shaft as it ascends.

=Dip'teros=, adj. dip'teral (from Gr. d??, double, and pte???, wing). That variety of a temple plan which has two ranges of columns entirely surrounding the cella.

=Dro'mos= (Gr. course). A road; particularly applied to the entrance-pa.s.sages to subterranean treasure-houses.

=Echi'nos=, pl. echi'ni (Gr. hedgehog, so called from the resemblance of the member to the sh.e.l.l of the sea-urchin). The curved and projecting moulding which supports the abacus in the Doric capital.

=Egg-and-dart moulding.= Term applied to the well-known carving of the roundel common in the Ionic style.

=Empais'tic= (Gr. ?pa?st???; from ??, in, and pa??, to stamp). Stamped and embossed work of metal; also sheets of metal applied or inlaid.

=Entab'lature= (Lat. _intabulamentum_; from _tabula_, board, table). In the Greek styles the whole of the structure above the columns, excepting the gable. The entablature consists of three members: the epistyle, or architrave, joining the columns and taking the place of the wall; the frieze, standing before, and in the Doric style imitating, the ceiling and its beams; and the terminal cornice, the representative of the ends of the roof rafters.

=En'tasis= (Gr.; from ??te???, to bend a bow). The swelling of the column towards its middle, the object of which is to counteract an optical delusion causing the diminished shaft, when formed with absolutely straight lines, to appear hollowed in the centre.

=Epina'os= (formed by a.n.a.logy with p.r.o.naos; from Gr. ?p?, after, behind, and ?a??, naos). The open vestibule behind the naos.

=Ep'istyle= (Gr. ?p?st?????; from ?p?, after, upon, and st????, column). The lower member of the entablature, the representative of the wall, consisting, as the name imports, of beams laid horizontally upon the capitals of the columns.

The epistyle is commonly spoken of by its Roman name, architrave.