The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1919-04-01
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES
Crude but Effective Processes Employ.
Cd by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
PlInv'r y-Noah Prudently
--rproofed the Ark.

chicken or the egg. It was invented
though, and 1t serves both purposes
equally; 30 whether 1t Is an offspring
Of mother necessity or an adopted Sol
Of beauty remains forever q disputed
question.
The first men, covering under the
fierce and glazing suns Of the biblical
! countries, constructed rude huts of
wood to shelter them The perishable
nature Of these structures caused rapid
decay, and it Is probable that the oc-
cupants, seeking some artificial means
Of preservation, hit upon the pigments
of the earth In their search. It Is per-
haps natural to suppose that 1t was
the instinct Of preservation that led
men to the search, although the glories
Of the sunsets and the beauties Of the
rainbow may have created a desire to
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record Of the applica-
ton Of a preservative to q wooden
structure dates from the ark, which
was, according to the Bible, pitched
within and without" The pitch was a
triumph Of preservation whatever 1t
lacked as a thing Of beauty.
Decoration applied to buildings first
comes to- light with ancient Babylon,
whose walls were covered with repre-
sensations Of hunting scenes and Of
combat. These were done in red and
the method followed was to paint the
scene on the bricks at the time of
manufacture, assuring permanence by
baking. Strictly speaking, this was
not painting so much as 1t was the
earliest manifestation Of our own IA
miliar kalsomining.
The first Hebrew to mention paint
ing Is Moses. In the thirty-third chap
ter Of the book Of Numbers he in
structs the Israelites, when ye have
passed over the Jordan into the land
Of Canaan. then shall We drive out all
the inhabitants Of the land from be-
fore you and destroy all their pic
tures. ;"
AT later periods the Jews adopted
many customs of the peoples who sue
cessively obtained power over them
and in the apocryphal book Of the
Maccabees is found this allusion to
the art of decorating, "For as the mas
ter builder of new house must care
for the whole building, but he that
to set it out and paint 1t,
must seek out things for the adjoining
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to q
Greek for the discovery of paint, the
illusions to 1t In the books of Moses,
the painted mummy cases of the Egyp-
tians and the decorated walls Of Baby
Ion and Thebes fix its origin at q
period long antecedent to the Grecian
era. The walls Of Thebes were paint
ed 1900 years before the coming of
Christ and 900 years before "'Omer
smote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value Of
paint as preservative and made use
Of something akin to 1t on their ships.
Pliny writes Of the mode of boiling
wax and painting ships with 1t, after
which, he continues, neither the sea,
nor the wind, nor the sun can destroy
The wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially q
warlike people, never brought the dec-'
,ratien Of buildings to the high plane
t had reached with the Greeks. For
LII that the ruins Of Pompeii show
many structures whose mural decora-
ions are in fair shape today. The
,olors used were glaring. A black
was the usual one and the |
worked thereon red, yell |
ow and blue.
In the early Christian era the use Of |
nosaics for churches somewhat sup
planted mural painting. Still, during |
the reign Of Justinian the Church Of |
saint Sophia was built at Constantine
Die and Its walls were adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses Of paint |
have come to be as numerous as Its
myriad shades and tints. Paint is
unique in that its name las no syno-
lynn and for It there is no substitute
material. Bread is the staff of life, but
paint Is the life of the staff.
No one thinks Of the exterior Of
wooden building now except in terms
" paint coated Interiors, too, from
painted walls and stained furniture
Town to the lowliest kitchen utensil,
Ill receive their protective covering
steel. so often associated with cement
is painted before 1t goes
o give solidity TO the manufactured
tone. The huge Orders Of the sky
Icrapers are daubed an ugly but eff
lent red underneath the surface coat
Il black. Perhaps the best example
Il the value Of paint on steel is found
n the venerable Brooklyn bridge, on
which a gang Of painters is kept 60
ng continually. It is scarce possible
o think Of single manufactured ar
icls which does not meet paint some
vhere In the course Of its construc-
ion. So has paint grown into the
,ery marrow Of our iiveA :,