Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1919-03-28
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.
Crude bit Effective Processes Employ
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
Piinys Day-Noah Prudently
Waterproofed the Ark.

WaterpTOoted the Ark
Whether paint was invented In an
s.Vec 10 a Iced for a preservative or to
meet d desire for beauty is question
fully as kHotty as the ancient one about
the relative time of arrival Of the
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented
ihGHgh, and it serves both purposes
equally; 50 whether it is an offspring
If mother necessity or an adopted son
Of beauty remains forever a disputed
question.
Ile first men, covering under the
fierce and glaring suns Of the biblical
countries. constructed rude huts of
wood to shelter them. The perishable
nature Of these structures caused rapid
DECAY, and 1t is probable that the oc-
cupants, seeking some artificial means
( preservation, hit upon the pigments
# The earth in their search. 1t is per-
laps natural to, suppose that 1t was
the instinct Of preservation that led
l..-n 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
81 din and without" The pitch was a
,t'1uDh Of preservation whatever 1t
lacked as q tl.ing Of beauty.
I'ero.@ tion applied to buildings first
cones to light with ancient Babylon,
N.ase walls were covered with repre-
nations of hunting scenes and of
combat. These were done in red and
De method followed was to paint the
scene on the bricks at the time OF
o auufacture, assuring permanence by
baking Strictly speaking, this was
-u'r painting 50 much as it was the
earliest manifestation Of our own ia
wliiar kasamining.
Tie FIRST Hebrew to mention paint
liz is Moses. III the thfrty-third chap
;og Of lhe book Of Numbers he in
,lcts the Israelites, when ye have
-s,. over the Jordan into the land
~ Claaan. tlen shall We drive out all
tue Inhabitants Of the land from be-
tt- You and destroy all their pic
tures- ="
At later periods the Jews adopted
u.ry customs Of the peoples who sue
ce~,ively cAtained power over them
a.3 in the apocryphal book of the
Naccabees is found this allusion to
the art of decorating, For as the mas
Ter builder of new house must care
Tor the whole building, but he that
undertaken to set it out and paint it,
u,ast seek out things for the adjoining
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to a
Greek for the discovery Of paint the
iQs:ons to it in the books of Moses.
the painted mummy cases of the Egyp-
t."ns and the decorated walls of Baby
81 and Thebes fix its origin at q
period ing antecedent to the Grecian
IRA. The walls of Thebes were paint
ei 1850 years before the coming OF
Christ and 9@3 years before "'Omer
smote his b!oomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of
PAINT as preServative and made use
Il something akin to 1t on their ships.
| iuy writes OF the mode of Boiling
gaN and painting ships with 1t, after
which he continues. neither the sea,
lor Tie wind, nor the sun can destroy
he wood 'AUS protected"
ihe Romans, being essentially a
~a--ke feOI4e, never brought the dec
Grafton Of buildings TO the high plane
hal reached with the Greeks For
all that tie ruins Of Pompeii show
' any structures whose mural decora-
lions are in fair shape today. The
t.lors used were glazing. A black
.aesEroTud was the usual one and the
'cla, nations worked thereon red, yell
low and blue.
la lie early Christian era the use Of
uosalcs for churches somewhat sup
,lauted mural painting Still, during
tie reign of Jrstinian the Church of
SAINT Sophia was built at Constantine
l'e and its walls were adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses Of paint
have come to be as numerous as It's
myriad shades and dnts. Paint is
unique in that its name 1as no syno-
nyln 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 a
wooden building now except In terms
Of paint coated. Interiors, too, from
painted walls and stained furniture
down to the lowlest kitchen utensil
ali receive their protective covering
Steel. so often associated with cemep,
reinforcing, IS painted before it goes
60 give solidity TO the manufactured
stone. The huge Orders Of the sky.
scrapers are daubed an ugly but Ell
Gent red underneath the surface Goa,
of black. Perhaps the best example
of the value of paint on steel is founC
in the venerable Brooklyn bridge, or
which a gang of painters 10 kept go
ing continually 1t Is scarce possibl.
TO think of a single manufactured ar
tice which does not meet paint some
where In the course Ct its copstruc
ton. So has paint grown into tn,
very marrow of our lives.