Art

Wallpaintings

The famous wallpaintings of Akrotiri

The Cycladic Style of the Thera Frescoes

Although the Thera frescoes are often considered to be Minoan painting, they exhibit a distinctive character of their own. While Theran wall-painters appear to have adopted the craft of painting on lime plaster from Crete, and undoubtedly owe much to the Minoan tradition, they evolved a different manner of painting.

The Role of Wall-Paintings in the Bronze Age

There is hardly a doubt that all human art primarily developed in the service of rituals and that the autonomy of "art for art's sake" was achieved only by another, secondary step of cultural progress." Thus writes K. Lorenz in his book On Aggression ...

Composition and Perspective in Theran Wall-Painting

The present paper aims at emphasizing the major features of Theran wall-paintings as far as their composition and conception of space are concerned.

Island Iconography: Thera, Kea, Milos

Through a study of the wall-paintings from Thera, Kea and Milos, the paper aims to distinguish the main themes, characteristic details and, where possible, programmes of Cycladic painting.

Mycenaean Elements in the Miniature Fresco from Thera?

Since 1974, when S. Marinatos first published the Miniature Fresco from the West House at Akrotiri, this so far unique wall-painting has been the subject of continuous and controversial discussions.

Swallows and Dolphins at Akrotiri: Some Thoughts on the Relationships of Vase-Painting to Wall-Painting

This paper explores the relation between pictorial representations on the Theran polychrome ware and wall-paointing, by examining the two most popular motifs on the pottery, the swallows and the dolphin.

Technological Observations on the Thera Wall-Paintings

The methods of preparing wall surfaces and paints and the different techniques of wall-painting are considered.

Theoretical Interrelations Among Theran, Cretan and Mainland Frescoes

This paper discusses the value of the Theran frescoes in the study of comparative and theoretical art-historical issues among Aegean Bronze Age frescoes generally, but primarily from Crete and the Knossos district.

Cretan Ships on Seal-Stones: Some Observations

I am afraid that I am not at all a specialist in naval architecture. Born in Switzerland, I should rather say like the Ancient Cretan: ή Έλβετίς άγνοεĩ τήν θάλασσαν. But together with my husband and Prof. Ginouvès, I am preparing a study of Cretan-Mycenaean glyptic through computer analysis and registration.

Analysis of Pigments from Thera

Samples of Pigments from excavated wall-paintings at the great civilization center of the Greek Bronze Age, from Thera, have been analyzed by the non-destructive methods of X-Ray Fluorescence, X-Ray diffraction and mineralogical microscopic examination. The results showed that two types of blue pigments were used as in the Minoan period.

Theran Floral Style in Relation to that of Crete

Analysis of individual features and of the arrangement of flower and plant motifs in Theran and Cretan art reveals differences between painters' styles in both regions.

Morphological Analysis of the Akrotiri Wall-Paintings of Santorini

The author considers the Akrotiri wall-paintings from a painter's standpoint, and examines the theoretical and practical problems confronting the ancient artist and the artist's efforts to solve them.

The Ship Procession in the Miniature Fresco

The paper is concerned with the ships in the Miniature Fresco from the West House (south wall, Rm. 5). Through a study of the details, it is proposed that the ships are in a Procession travelling only a short distance between two harbours and that they have been attired specifically for the occasion.

The "Miniature Fresco" from Thera and the Emergence of Mycenaean Art

While completing the manuscript of this article Prof. J.D. Muhly has kindly drawn my attention to Immewahr 1977. I was happy to find out that Ms. Immewahr and I came to similar conclusions about some of the Mycenaean features found on the "Miniature Fresco" from Thera.

The Miniature Frieze in the West House: Evidence for Minoan Poetry?

The question whether behind scenes like that on the north frieze of the West House Miniature Fresco can be supposed a literary source, more specifically some kind of Minoan poetry, has been asked by several commentators, and first by Arthur Evans when he discussed the 'Town Mosaic' from Knossos and the 'Siege Rhyton' from Mycenae.

The Fashioning of Ostrich-Egg Rhyta in the Creto-Mycenaean Aegean

Of all Nilotic forms taken over into the Minoan repertory, none, perhaps, is more significant, than the ostrich-egg rhyta ... [It] is a striking proof of the intensive personal contact of the Minoans with Nilotic regions far above the Delta. (A. Evans, PM II 227.)

New Light on the West House Wall-Paintings

Most of the West House wall-paintings were presented shortly after their discovery by the late Professor S. Marinatos, who gave some important information about their position on the walls, as well as a very interesting interpretation of the Miniature Frieze.

Animal Representations in Theran and Other Aegean Arts

Up to now, the interest of many scholars has been primarily in the frescoes of Thera that have representations of human figures. However, the animal world often inspired the Theran artists too.

Catalogue of the Published Animal Representations

A full catalogue of all the published animal representations, not only in wall-paintings but also on pottery (including two vases from the Ecole Française collection) and other objects, ships and jewels, as revealed by the frescoes, is established:

The West House Miniature Frescoes

At the Fourth Congress of Cretan Studies I gave a paper, entitled "The Cretan Descent of a Mycenean Iconographic Cycle", based on the scenes depicted in the "Town Mosaic" of Knossos, the miniature frescoes from Thera, the Mycenean silver Siege Rhyton and the stone vase from Epidauros; and I concluded that in Crete and in the Cyclades the scenes in this cycle portrayed city life in peacetime, whereas in Greece they portrayed the activities of the Myceneans in times of war.

The Thera Wall Paintings as Archaeological Finds

Much attention has been paid to the wall paintings of Thera by those studying the Aegean Bronze Age, (1) and not without reason. Due to their unique preservation by Aegean standards they are the most impressive finds from the site and, on account of their thematic repertoire, the most loquacious in terms of the information they yield.

The Wall Paintings of Crete

My subject is the wall paintings of Crete, but I am mainly concerned with Knossos, which was throughout most of the Bronze Age the main centre of the island, and the one with the most remains of wall paintings and the most complete datable sequence of them.

Minoan Paintings in Avaris, Egypt

The last five years of excavations at Tell el-Dab'a/Avaris in the eastern Nile Delta have seen the discovery of a citadel at the western edge of the town, on the eastern bank of the former Pelusiac branch of the Nile. (1)

Polychromatic Wall Painting Decorations in Monuments of Pharaonic Egypt: Compositions, Chronology and Painting Technique

The nature of ancient Egyptian painting materials and the spectrum of colours represented by them experienced continuous progressive evolution over three millennia, from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period.

The Egyptian Character of Certain Egyptian Painting Techniques

This paper presents a brief survey of some of the most typical representational techniques used in Egyptian wall painting from the late predynastic to the Amarna period, and the conceptual conventions which determined them.

The Maze Tableau from Tell el-Dab'a

This contribution is a preliminary report of a joint study by M. Bietak, N. Marinatos and C. Palyvou. It will shortly be published in full as "The wall paintings of Avaris" vol. I (Vienna).

The Technique of Plaster Preparation for the Minoan Wall Paintings at Tell el-Dab'a, Egypt - Preliminary Report

This paper presents the preliminary results of the analysis of plaster structure and colours used in the Minoan wall paintings at Tell el-Dab’a. Four different types of plaster structure can be distinguished.

Physiochemical Characterisation of Pigments from Theran Wall Paintings

Forty two samples from the wall paintings of Xeste 3 were analysed by means of X-ray diffraction, optical and scanning electron microscopy coupled to an energy dispersive analyser.

Making Wall Paintings: An Attempt to Reproduce the Painting Techniques of Bronze Age Thera

The present paper summarises the observations and conclusions made during an experimental attempt to reproduce samples of wall paintings with the ancient technique thought to have been employed at Akrotiri in the Late Cycladic IA period.

Locus Iste: Modes of Representation and the Vision of Thera

This introductory paper seeks to situate the mural paintings of Thera within a wide range of geographical and chronological contexts, and to consider some of the perennial issues which confront any mural artist at any time.

Stereotypes in Theran Wall Paintings: Modules and Patterns in the Procedure of Painting

Our paper focuses on the way in which painters drew the contours of figures in the Theran large scale compositions. We have observed that, in the figures examined from Xeste 3, a number of the curves which form the outlines of the figures are identical.

Proportions of Painted Figures from Thera

The research presented here responds to the specific request of the Organising Committee of the Symposium to determine whether there is a relationship between the proportions of the human figures of the wall paintings of Thera and the well known canonic grids used by contemporary Egyptian artists to achieve proportioned figures.

Cretan Fresco Dates

This is a review of find-places and possible dates of published frescoes from the Bronze Age palace at Knossos in Crete as a background for comparisons and contrasts with those from Thera. Discussion is condensed from a fuller treatment due to appear in the forthcoming Memorial Volume for Mark Cameron, but the references to primary sources with the evidence upon which discussion is based are fairly complete.

The Mode of Representation in Egyptian Art in Comparison to Aegean Bronze Age Art

This paper offers a detailed comparative study of the main representational modes and conventions employed in ancient Egyptian and Aegean art, the former of which are relatively well understood, the latter rather less so.

Remarks on the Composition of Hunting and Battle Scenes on the Chest of Tutankhamun

The hunting and battle scenes on the chest of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun are fine illustrations of how Egyptian artists dealt with such subjects, and of what formed the bases for their conception and composition.

Sea Voyages: The Fleet Fresco from Thera, and the Punt Reliefs from Egypt

The paper compares renditions of seafaring themes from the West House on Thera and Queen Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir el Bahri in Egypt.

Syrian Glyptic and the Theran Wall Paintings

Certain motifs which are present on the Theran wall paintings are attested earlier on Syrian cylinder seals. These include the flying gallop, athletes and boxers, griffins, guilloches, volute-topped standards and seascapes.

Santorini, Etruria and Archaic Rome: A Comparison of Mentality and Expression

The author attempts to draw a comparison between the structure of the Theran frescoes and of the early Etruscan and Roman monuments.

From Thera to Scheria: Aegean Art and Narrative

Since the Third International Congress on Thera and the Aegean world new frescoes from Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt have greatly expanded the corpus of miniature frescoes and the opportunity to examine narrative in Aegean art.

Thera Ships, Egypt and Homer

This paper begins by reconsidering some earlier observations of the author (Hiller 1990) concerning the relationship between 'Homeric' sea battles and iconographical elements of the north frieze of the miniature fresco from the West House.

The Role of Formal Decorative Patterns in the Wall Paintings of Thera

The wall paintings of Akrotiri provide the best and most complete surviving evidence for the various ways in which ornamental patterns could be incorporated in the scheme of decoration of interior spaces.

The Concept of Space in Theran Compositional Systemics

Systemics, the visual relationships resulting from the overall compositional and spatial organisation of a design, are a complex product resulting from unconscious as well as conscious decisions.

From Naturalism to Essentialism in Theran and Minoan Art

A theory of Minoan vision is proposed in the paper, namely that in that part of their work concerned with representation of the real world the painters, sculptors and engravers conceptualised and translated distinct real world forms into images along a representational spectrum which ranged from near naturalistic to essentialist.

The Function of Wall Painting and Other Forms of Architectural Decoration in the Aegean Bronze Age

Since the discovery of Theran mural paintings, much work has been done on their iconographical hermeneutics as well as on fruitful theory-based interpretation of them.

Concepts of Space in Aegean Bronze Age Art and Architecture

Mural treatment, of which wall painting is only one means, is an integral part of architecture. It is enhanced, and at the same time restricted, by architectural space, and it is experienced not in its own right (regardless of the context), but as part of the experience of being within a building.

The Miniature Frieze of Thera: The Transubstantiation of Religious Beliefs in Architectural Design

An endeavour is made to correlate elements illustrated in the miniature frieze (and the mural decoration in general) of the West House with mythological elements narrated in ancient Greek literary texts, particularly the myth of Theseus and Ariadne.

The Foreshore at Akrotiri

Excavation at Akrotiri has exposed a variety of buildings as well as roads, by all accounts only part of a large settlement most likely bordered by the coastline to the south.

Thera and Knossos: Relation of the Paintings to Their Architectural Space

Although the frescoes from Akrotiri are clearly related to those from Knossos, it is difficult to compare them in their architectural setting because:

Palace Decoration at Tell El-Amarna

Akhenaten's palaces at Tell el-Amarna utilised both brick and stone in their building, and the surfaces of both were decorated with similar subject matter, which was also to be found in the city's temples.