The Red Cloud chief. [volume] (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923, 1919-10-02
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
PIlny's Day--Noah Prudentiy
Waterproofed the Ark.

| Whether paint was invented In an
swer to need for preservative or to
meet a desire for beauty Is question
fully as knotty as the ancient one about
the relative time of arrival Of the
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented,
though, and it serves both purposes
equally; so whether 1t is an offspring
Of mother necessity or an adopted son
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 &C.
cupants, seeking some artificial means
Of preservation, hit upon the pigments
Of the earth in their search. 1t 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 q desire to
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record of the applica-I
ton of a preservative to 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
| 8
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 Israelltes, "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
lures. :"
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
| 49,. L,,,I I.~. - t,yt rfa
J for the whole building, but he that
! undertaketh to set 1t out and paint 1t,
must seek out things for the adorning
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to a
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
lon and Thebes fix Its origin Mt a
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
vmOte his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of
, paint as a preservative and made use
, Of something akin to 1t on their ships.
Pllny writes of the mode Of boiling
wax and painting ships with II, after
which. he continues, neither the sea.
nor the wind. nor the sun can destroy
, The wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially q
!, wariike people. never brought the dec.
. oratiOn of buildings to the high plane
It had reached with the Greeks. For
Ill hot Of Dnnnail chnxu
many structures whose mural decOra-
tons are in fair shape today. The
colOrs used were glaring. A black
I background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red, vel
ow and blue.
y In the early Christian era the use OF
a mosalcs for churches somewhat sup
r planted mural painting. Still, during
II the reign of Justinian the Church %
I Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
pie and its walls were adorned will
: paintings
= In modern times the uses Of pain
= have come to be as numerous as IL
t myriad shades and tints. Paint Il
= unique in that Its name las no syno
e nym and for Il there Is no substltut,
=. material. Bread Is the staff Of life, blu
g paint Is the life Of the staff.
t No one thinks of the exterior Of
wooden building now except In term
= of paint coated. Interiors, too, iron
Il painted walls and stained furnltur
It down to the lowliest kitchen utensi
l all receive their protective covering
70 Steel, so often associated with cemen
t. reinforcing, is painted before 1t goe
r, to give sOlidity to the manufacture
y stone. The huge Orders Of the sky
10 scrapers are daubed an ugly but eff
cient red underneath the surface Goa
a Of black. Perhaps the best exampl
10 Of the value Of paint on steel Ii foun
10 In the venerable Brooklyn bridge, o
It which . gang Of painters is~kept q
Ing continually. 1t Is scarce possibl
10 to think Of a single manufactured q
m | ttrAA vhich does NOT meet Daint aOm,