Chapter 392

1862“Tone,” says Fuseli, (in the English acceptation of the word) “is the element of the ancient ‘harmoge,’ that imperceptible transition, which, without opacity, confusion, or hardness, united local colour, demitint, shade, and reflexes.”—Lect. I.

1863“Austeri aut floridi.”

1864Because of their comparatively great expense.

1865See B. xxxiii. cc.30,37. Under this name are included Sulphuret of mercury, and Red oxide of lead.

1866See B. xxxiii. cc.38,39.

1867See B. xxxiii. c.26. “Indicum” and “purpurissum” will be described in the present Book.

1868Or “rubrica Sinopica;” “red earth of Sinope,” a brown red ochre, or red oxide of iron. Dioscorides identifies it with the Greekμιλτὸς, which indeed seems to have embraced the cinnabaris, minium, and rubricæ of the Romans.

1869“Splendorem.” See Note1861above.

1870So called from its deep grey brown colour, like that of the “cicer” or chick-pea.

1871The sense of this passage seems to require the insertion of “quæ,” although omitted by the Bamberg MS.

1872“Pressior.”

1873Those parts of the walls, probably, which were nearer to the ground, and more likely to become soiled.

1874Red ochre, or red oxide of iron. See B. xxxiii. c.38, and B. xxxiv. c.37.

1875See B. xxxiii. cc.36,37.

1876Ajasson thinks that this was an hydroxide of iron, of a greenish yellow or brown colour.

1877Whence our word “ochre.” See “Sil,” in B. xxxiii. cc.56,57.

1878Theophrastus, on the contrary, says that it is “ochra” that is burnt, in order to obtain “rubrica.”

1879See B. xxxiii. cc.56,57.

1880A white earth from the Isle of Melos. See Chapter19.

1881See B. xxxiii. c.20. “One may readily conceive that this must have been a ferruginous ochre, or kind of bole, which is still used as a ground,poliment, assiette.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 294.Bohn’s Edition.

1882A white, much used for fresco painting. Ajasson is of opinion, that Pliny, in this Chapter, like the other ancient authors, confounds two earths that are, in reality, totally different.—Hydrosilicate of magnesia, or Steatite, and Rhomboidical carbonate of lime.

1883See B. v. c. 6.

1884Ajasson thinks that possibly our compact magnesite, meerschaum, or sea-foam, may be the substance here alluded to.

1885See Chapter57of this Book.

1886See B. iv. c. 33. Tournefort says that this earth is exactly similar to the Cimolian earth, described in Chapter57.

1887See B. xxxiii. c.57, and Chapter21of this Book.

1888In B. xxxiv. c.54.

1889Ceruse, white lead, or carbonate of lead, is prepared in much the same manner at the present day. Ajasson is of opinion that the native pigment discovered on the lands of Theodotus, was native carbonate of lead, the crystals of which are found accompanied by quartz.

1890“Burnt” ceruse. This was, in fact, one of the varieties of “minium,” red oxide of lead, our red lead. Vitruvius and Dioscorides call it “sandaraca,” differing somewhat from that of Pliny.

1891In Chapter 10.

1892See B. xxxiii. cc.56,57.

1893It was possibly owing to this that the colour known as “umber” received its name, and not from Ombria, in Italy. Ajasson says that shadows cannot be successfully made without the use of transparent colours, and that red and the several browns are remarkably transparent.

1894See B. iv. c. 21.

1895As to both of these artists, see Chapter 36.

1896To the chest.

1897See B. vi. c. 34, and B. xxxvii. c.32.

1898In B. xxxiv. c.55. “Pliny speaks of different shades of sandaraca, the pale, or massicot, (yellow oxide of lead), and a mixture of the pale with minium. It also signified Realgar, or red sulphuret of arsenic.”—Wornum, in Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art.Colores.

1899Sir H. Davy supposes this colour to have approached our crimson. In painting, it was frequently glazed with purple, to give it an additional lustre.

1900Ecl. iv. l. 45. “Sponte suâ sandyx pascentes vestiet agnos.” Ajasson thinks that “Sandyx” may have been a name common to two colouring substances, a vegetable and a mineral, the former being our madder. Beckmann is of the same opinion, and that Virgil has committed no mistake in the line above quoted. Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 110.Bohn’s Edition.See also B. xxiv. c. 56.

1901The form “sand,” in these words, Ajasson considers to be derived either from “Sandes,” the name of Hercules in Asia Minor, or at least in Lydia: or else from Sandak, the name of an ancestor of Cinyras and Adonis.

1902In B. xxxiii. c.40. According to Aetius, syricum was made by the calcination of pure ceruse, (similar to the “usta” above mentioned). He states also that there was no difference between sandyx and syricum, the former being the term generally used by medical men.

1903“Black colouring substance.”

1904“Carbones infectos.” The reading is very doubtful. It may possibly mean “charred bones tainted with dirt.” This would make an inferior ivory-black. The earth before-mentioned is considered by Ajasson to be a deuto-sulphate of copper, a solution of which, in gallic acid, is still used for dyeing black. The water near copper-mines would very probably be also highly impregnated with it. Beckmann considers these to have been vitriolic products. Vol. II. p. 265.

1905Our Lamp-black. Vitruvius describes the construction of the manufactories above alluded to.

1906Probably, our Chinese, or Indian ink, a different substance from the indicum of Chapter27.

1907Fromτρύξ, “grape-husks” or “wine-lees.”

1908Indian ink is a composition of fine lamp-black and size.

1909See B. ii. c. 29. Sepia, for sepic drawing, is now prepared from these juices.

1910In Chapter12of this Book.

1911Plate powder. See B. xvii. c. 4, and Chapter58of this Book.

1912See B. ix. c. 60.

1913See B. ix. c. 65, and B. xxi. cc. 38, 97. According to Vitruvius, it is a colour between scarlet and purple. It may possibly have been made from woad.

1914See B. iii. c. 16.

1915See B. xxxiii. c.57.

1916White of egg, probably.

1917Indigo, no doubt, is the colour meant. See B. xxxiii. c.57.

1918It is the produce of the Indigofera tinctoria, and comes from Bengal more particularly. Beckmann and Dr. Bancroft have each investigated this subject at great length, and though Pliny is greatly mistaken as to the mode in which the drug was produced, they agree in the conclusion that his “indicum” was real indigo, and not, as some have supposed, a pigment prepared fromisatis, or woad.

1919This passage, similar in many respects to the account given by Dioscorides, is commented on at great length by Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 263.Bohn’s Edition.

1920See Chapter56of this Book.

1921See Chapter30of this Book.

1922“Armenium.” Armenian bole is still used for colouring tooth-powder and essence of anchovies.

1923See B. xxxiii. c.26.

1924So called, probably, either from the place where it was made, or from the person who first discovered it. Some commentators have suggested that it should be “apian” green, meaning “parsley” colour.

1925So called from “anulus,” a “ring,” as mentioned below.

1926“Quo muliebres picturæ illuminantur.” The meaning of this passage is obscure. It would seem almost to apply to paintings, but Beckmann is of opinion that the meaning is, “This is the beautiful white with which the ladies paint or ornament themselves.”—Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 261.Bohn’s Edition.

1927Beckmann suggests that it was so called from its being one of the sealing earths, “anulus” being the name of a signet ring. Vol. II. p. 260.

1928“Cretulam.”

1929See B. xxxiii. c.57.

1930See Chapter39, where this process is more fully described. “‘Ceræ,’ or ‘waxes,’ was the ordinary term for painters’ colours among the Romans, but more especially encaustic colours, which were probably kept dry in boxes, and the wet brush or pencil was rubbed upon them when colour was required, or they were moistened by the artist previous to commencing work. From the term ‘ceræ’ it would appear that wax constituted the principal ingredient in the colouring vehicle used; but this does not necessarily follow, and it is very improbable that it did; there must have been a great portion of gum or resin in the colours, or they could not have hardened. Wax was undoubtedly a most essential ingredient, since it apparently prevents the colours from cracking. ‘Ceræ’ therefore might originally simply mean colours which contained wax, in contradistinction to those which did not; but was afterwards applied generally by the Romans to the colours of painters.”—Wornum, Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art.Painting.

1931Called “Inceramenta navium,” in Livy, B. xxviii. c. 45. See also Chapters39and41of this Book.

1932Pliny here commits a mistake, which may have arisen from an imperfect recollection, as Sir. H. Davy has supposed, of a passage in Cicero (Brutus, c. 18), which, however, quite contradicts the statement of Pliny. “In painting, we admire in the works of Zeuxis, Polygnotus, Timanthes, and those who usedfourcolours only, the figure and the lineaments; but in the works of Echion, Nicomachus, Protogenes, and Apelles,everythingis perfect.” Indeed Pliny contradicts himself, for he speaks oftwoother colours used by the earliest painters, thetesta trita, or ground earthenware, in Chapter5of this Book; and “cinnabaris,” or vermilion, in B. xxxiii. c.36. Also, in Chapter21of this Book he speaks of Eretrian earth as having been used by Nicomachus, and in Chapter25of ivory black as having been invented by Apelles.

1933These painters will all be noticed in Chapter36.

1934See Chapter19of this Book.

1935See B. xxxiii. c.56.

1936Blue is here excluded altogether, unless under the term “atramentum” we would include black and blue indicum, or in other words, Indian ink and indigo.

1937See Chapter27of this Book.

1938In allusion to “Dragon’s blood.” See B. xxxiii. c.38.

1939In Chapter2of this Book.

1940From the construction of the passage, it is difficult to say whether he means to say that such colossal figures were till then unknown in painting, or whether that the use of canvass in painting was till then unknown. If the latter is the meaning, it is not exactly correct, though it is probable that the introduction of canvass for this purpose was comparatively late; there being no mention of its being employed by the Greek painters of the best periods.

1941See B. iii. c. 9, B. xiv. c. 3, and B. xvi. c. 91.

1942“Torcutæ.” For the explanation of this term, see end of B.xxxiii.

1943In reality he was cousin or nephew of Phidias, by the father’s side, though Pausanias, B. v. c. 11, falls into the same error as that committed by Pliny. He is mentioned likewise by Strabo and Æschines.

1944See B. xxxvi. c.55.

1945See B. xxxiv. c.19.

1946See B. xxxiv. c.19.

1947See B. vii. c. 39.

1948Paintings with but one colour. “Monochromata,” as we shall see in Chapter36, were painted at all times, and by the greatest masters. Those of Zeuxis corresponded with theChiariscuriof the Italians, light and shade being introduced with the highest degree of artistic skill.

1949These several artists are quite unknown, being mentioned by no other author.

1950It is pretty clear, from vases of a very ancient date, that it is not the sexual distinction that is here alluded to. Eumarus, perhaps, may have been the first to give to each sex its characteristic style of design, in the compositions, draperies, attitudes, and complexions of the respective sexes. Wornum thinks that, probably, Eumarus, and certainly, Cimon, belonged to the class of ancient tetrachromists, or polychromists, painting in a variety of colours, without a due, or at least a partial, observance of the laws of light and shade. Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art.Painting.

1951He is mentioned also by Ælian. Böttiger is of opinion that he flourished about the 80th Olympiad. It is probable, however, that he lived long before the age of Polygnotus; but some time after that of Eumarus. Wornum thinks that he was probably a contemporary of Solon, a century before Polygnotus.

1952“Catagrapha.”

1953This picture was placed in the Pœcile at Athens, and is mentioned also by Pausanias, B. i. c. 15, and by Æschines, Ctesiph. s. 186.

1954See B. vii. c. 57. (Vol. II. p. 233), where he is mentioned as an Athenian. It is not improbable that he became a citizen of Athens in the seventy-ninth Olympiad,B.C.463, when Thasos was brought under the power of Athens, and, as Sillig suggests, at the solicitation of Cimon, the son of Miltiades. It is generally supposed that he flourished about the eightieth Olympiad.

1955Belonging to the Theatre of Pompey, in the Ninth Region of the City.

1956With scenes from the Trojan War, and the adventures of Ulysses.

1957Or “Variegated;” from its various pictures.

1958See B. xxxiii. c.56.

1959See B. vii. c. 37.

1960She is again mentioned in Chapter40.

1961He was a native of Thasos, and father and instructor of Polygnotus. As Pliny has already stated that Polygnotus flourishedbeforethe ninetieth Olympiad, there is an inconsistency in his making mention of the son as flourishing before the father. Hence Sillig, with Böttiger, is inclined to think that there were two artists of this name, one about the seventieth, and the other about the ninetieth Olympiad, the former being the father of Polygnotus.

1962“Primusque gloriam penicillo jure contulit.” Wornum considers that “the rich effect of the combination of light and shade with colour is clearly expressed in these words.”—Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art.Painting. This artist, who was noted for his arrogance, is mentioned by other ancient writers.

1963“Penicillus.” This was the hair-pencil or brush, which was used by one class of painters, in contradistinction to the stylus or cestrum used for spreading the wax-colours. Painters with the brush used what we should term “water-colours;” oil-colours, in our sense of the word, being unknown to the ancients.

1964In “Magna Græcia,” near Crotona, it is supposed. Tzetzes styles him as an Ephesian.

1965This isprobablythe meaning of the words—“Artem ipsis ablatam Zeuxim ferre secum.” It is doubtful whether “ipsis” or “ipsi” is the correct reading.

1966King of Macedonia.

1967Μωμήσεταί τις μᾶλλον ἢ μιμήσεται. This line is attributed by Plutarch to Apollodorus.

1968Cicero and Dionysius of Halicarnassus say that this picture was executed at Crotona, and not at Agrigentum. It is generally supposed to have been the painting of Helena, afterwards mentioned by Pliny.

1969“Ex albo.” “That is, in grey and grey, similar to the Chiaríscuri of the Italians.”—Wornum, in Smith’s Dict. Antiq. Art.Painting.

1970“Figlina opera.” It is not improbable that this may allude to the painting of fictile vases.

1971A.U.C.666. As to this expedition of Fulvius Nobilior, see Livy, B. xxxviii.

1972Of Philippus Marcius, in the Ninth Region of the City.

1973In the Eighth Region of the City.

1974See end of B.xxxiii.

1975See end of B.xxxiii. and B.xxxiv.

1976The antithesis seems to require here the reading “inexorabilem,” instead of “exorabilem.”

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