Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1919-04-03
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
PalEters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION or SURFACES.
Crude but Effective Processes Employ.
Cd by the Egyptians and Greeks ef
Piiny's oay-Noah prudently
Waterproefed the Ark

Waferproofed the ARK
Whether paint was invsnted In an
swer TO need for a preservative or TO
meet o desire for beauty Is a question
fully as knotty as the ancient one a',r
the relative time OF arrival Of L.
chicken or the esg. II was invented.
though, aad II serves both purposes
equally; 20 whether Il IL an offspring
OF mother necessity or an adopted son
OF beauty remains forever a disputed
question.
The hrst men. covering un'ler ~
fierce and glar'n srnS - -
"tInIries, coHsirucfea
.yood 10 shelter theGn. II. y,..N
nature of these structures caused raplu
| decay. and Il Is probable that the Oc-
| c''iiants, seeking some artificial means
Of preservation, hit upcn the pigments
of the earth In their search. II Is per
haps natural 10 suppose that Il was
;hs instinct Of preservation that led
men 10 the search. although the glories
OF the sunsets and the beauties of the
| rainbow may have created a desire 10
Initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record Of the applIca-
| ton Of preservative TO d wooden
| structure dates from the ark, which
was. according to the Bible. pitched
within and without" The pitch was II
| triumph Of preservation whatever IL
lacked as a thing Of beauty.
Decoration applied TO buildings firnt
comes TO light with ancient Babylon,
whose walls were covered with repre-.
scntatiOns ~ hunting scenes and of
| combat. These were done In red AMI
the method followed was To paint the
scene on The bricks ut the time OF
manufacture. assuring permanence by
baking Strictly speaking. this was
not paiRting 80 much as Il was the
earliest manifestation Of our own ia
mIiiar kalsomlning.
| The first Hebrew 10 mention paint
ing is Moses. In the thirty-third chap
ter of the book os Numbers he in
siructs the israelItes. when ye have
L
Of Canaan. then shall ye drive out all
the inhabitants Of the land from be-
fore you and destroy all their pie
lures :"
Al later periods the Jews adopted
many customs Of the peoples who sue
cessively obtained power over them
and in the apocryphal book of the
Maccsbees Is found this aIIuslon to
the art Of decorating. For as the mas
ter builder Of q new house must care
for the whole building. but he that
undsrtaketh 10 set IL out and paint Il.
must seek out things for the adorning
thereof"
Although Homer gives I edit to a
Greek for the discovery & paint, the
sllusions To II I'm the books of Moses,
the painted mummy cases OF the Egyp-
tians and the decorated walls of Baby
Ion and Thebes m It's origin at a
period long antecedent 20 the GrecIan
era. The walls Of Thebes were paint.
ed 1900 years before the coming OF
Christ and 900 years before "'Omer
snOte his bloonnin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value Of
paint as a preservative and made use
u something akin 10 II or their ships
l'llny writes OF the mode OF boiling
wax and painting ships with II. after
which, he eonuhuc- neither the sea,
nor the wind. nor --.s sun cen destroy
the wood thus protected"
The Romans. being essentially q
warllke people, never brought the dec
0ratIon Of buildings 10 the high plane
II had reached with the Greeks For
all that the ruins Of Po.lpeli show
| many structures whose mural decOra-
tlOns are In fair shape today. The
colors used were gIaring A binrk
background was sbe usual one an.i ~"
combinations worked thereon red, ye!.
'ow and blue.
In the early Christian era the use Of
nosaics for churches somewhat sup
planted mural painting. Sti!l. durlrg
the reign Of Justinian the Church az
Saint Sophia was built at CONSTANT.
pie and Its walls were ador'
raintIngs.
In moders times the uses
have come 10 be ~ numsr
myriad shades and .infs. s1at
unique In that It's name las NO syI.
nym and for II there Is no substitute
material. Bread Is the STAFF of life, but
paint Ia the life Of Shs STAFF.
No one thinks Of the exterior OF a
wooden building now except in terms
of paint coated. Interiors. too, from
aintse walls aRd stained furniture
down 10 the IswlIsst kitchen utensII.
aiI receive thsi. protective covering.
Steel. 90 often associates with cement
re-enfsreing. 10 painted before Il goes
% give solidlty 10 the manufactured
stone. The huge girders Of the sky
scrapsrs are dsubsd sn ugly but ell
rient red underneath the surface coat
Sf black. Perhaps the best example
II the vsiss Of paint on steel is found
In the venerable Brooklyn bridge, ON
which q gang Of Psintsrs is kept go
ing continually. Il Is scarce possible
10 think Of siBgle manufactured ar
N~tA