They called it
Ceramics (the potter's art), and this name is still preserved. Pottery
had not the same esteem in Greece as the other arts, but for us it has
the great advantage of being better known than the others. While
temples and statues fell into ruin, the achievements of Greek potters
are preserved in the tombs. This is where they are found today.
Already more than 20,000 specimens have been collected in all the
museums of Europe. They are of two sorts:
1. Painted vases, with black or red figures, of all sizes and
every form;
2. Statuettes of baked earth; hardly known twenty years ago, they
have now attained almost to celebrity since the discovery of the
charming figurines of Tanagra in Boeotia. The most of them are
little idols, but some represent children or women.
=Painting.=--There were illustrious painters in Greece--Zeuxis,
Parrhasius, and Apelles. We know little of them beyond some anecdotes,
often doubtful, and some descriptions of pictures. To obtain an
impression of Greek painting we are limited to the frescoes found in
the houses of Pompeii, an Italian city of the first century of our
era.
Pages:
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242