Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-06-19
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.
Crude but Effective Processes Employ
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
PInys Day-Noah PrudentIy
Waterproofed the Ark.

Whether paint was invented In an
swer to need for preventative or to
meet u desire for beauty is u 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 ii serves both purposes
equally; so whether II is an offspring
of neither necessity or an adopted son
of beauty remains forever u disputed
question.
The first men, covering under the
fierce ard glar.ng SUNS of the biblical
countries, constructed rude nuts Of
wood to shelter them. The per,Shable
nature of these structures caused rapid
decay. and II Is probable that the Oc-
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 ii 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 Il desire to
initiate those wonders in their own
dwellings
The earliest record Of the applica.
ton of preseINa alive to a wooden
structure dates from the ark, which
was, according to the Bible, pitched
within and without" The pitch was Il
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 ana
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 it was the
earliest manifestation of our own ia.
mliar kalsomning.
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 We have
passed over the Jordan into the land
of Canaan. then shall ye drive out all
the inhabitants of the land from be.
fore you and de- roy 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 alluson to
the art of decorating, For as the mas.
ter builder of Il new house must care
for the whole building. but he that
undertaken 10 set it out and paint it,
must seek out things for the adjoining
thereof
Although Homer gives credit to
Greek for the discovery of paint, the
illusions to it in the books of Moses,
the painted mummy cases of the E"yp.
tians and the decorated walls of Baby
lon and Thebes fix its origin at
period long antecedent to the Grecian
era. The walls of Thebes were paint.
ed 1000 years before the coming OF
Christ and 996 years before "'Omer
smOte 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 it, after
which, he continues, neither the sea,
nor the wind, nor the sun can destroy
the wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially a
warike people, never brought the dec
Grafton of buildings to the high plane
1t had reached with the Greeks For
all that the ruins Of Pompeii show
many structures whose mural decora.
tions are i'm fair shape today. The
colors used were glaring. A black
background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red, vel
low and blue.
In the early Christian era the use OF
m0saics for churches somewhat sup.
planted mural painting. Still, during
the reign of Justinian the Church OF
Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
pie and its walls were adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses Of paint
have cove to he as numerous as Its
myriaH anades and tintS. Paint Is
unique I'm that its name has no syn6~
nym and for 1t there Is no substitute
material. bread is the staff Of life, blu,
paint Is the life of the staff.
No one = Ks Of the exterior of
wooden building now except In terms
of paint coatc'i Interiors, too, from
rainted walls IA stained furniture
d, wn to the lowiest kitchen utensil
all receive THEN protective covering
Steel, so often associated with cemem
reinforcing, is. painted before it goes
to give solidity {, lie manufactured
stone. The huge Orders of the sky
scrapers are daubed ali ugly but Ell
cient red underneath the Surface Goa,
of black Perhaps the best example
of the value of paint on steel is found
in the venerable Brooklyn bridge, on
which gang of painters is kept go
ing continually. 1t is scarce possible
to think Of single MANUFACTURED ar
ticle which does not meet paint some
where In tn, course of its construc.
ton. So has paint grown into the
very marrow of our lives.