The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-04-15
ANTIQUITY OF
DECORATIVE ART
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.
Crude but Effective Processes Employ
ID by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
Ftiny's Day-Noah Prudently
Waterproofed the Ark.

Whether paint was invented In an
tswer to a need for preservative or t.
t0set q desire for beauty is a question
4ally as knotty as the ancient one abou
itAe relative time of arrival of thu
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented
equally; SO whether 1t is an Offspring
- mother necessity or an adopted Sol
- beauty remains forever 4 disputes
tQaDstisa.
The 1rst men, covering under tn
tAsrcs and glarins suns Of the biblical
icsuntries, constructed rude huts OF
wsod to shelter them. The perishabll
nature Of these structures caused rapid
decay, and 1t - probable that the &C.
c1pAnta, seeking some artificial 'means
~ preservation, hit upon the pigments
~ the earth In their search. 1t il per
FAaps natural to suppose that 1t was
f&As instinct of preservation that led
snen to the search, although the glories
~ the sunsets and the beauties of the
ssainbow may have created a desire to
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record of the applica-
+f1on 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
Hacked as q 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
sAot painting SO much as 1t was the
earIiest manifestation of our own IA
miIfar kalsOmining.
The 6rst Hebrew to mention paint
AAG II Moses. In the thirty-third chap
4ar Of the book OF Numbers he In
s0tSucts the Israelites, when 20 have
1assed ever the Jordan into the land
- CaAaaa. then shall 70 drive out all
~ Inhabitants OF the land nsm be-
Dors ysu and destroy all their pic
WIRES.
At later periods the Jews adopted
Aany customs Of the peoples who sue
seessivsly obtained power over them
saAd In the apocryphal book of the
Maccabees IL found this allusion to
~ art Of decorating, For as the mas
.1sr builder Of a new house must care
Scr the whole building, but he that
vundertaketh to set 1t out and paint 1t,
ynust seek out things for the adjoining
ssAereof"
Although Homer gives credit to q
Hreek for the discovery Of paint, the
snllusions to 1t In the books of Moses,
ma painted mummy cases of the Egyp-
mans and the decorated walls Of Baby
Ion and Thebes fix Its origin at a
sDerfod long antecedent to the Grecian
.sra- The walls of Thebes were paint
ID 1,9O0 years before the coming Of |
Christ and 996 years before "Omer !
,snote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of |
paint as a preservative and made use
~ something akin to 1t on their ships.
5ellny 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
tAs wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially 4
warlike people, never brought the dec
Dration Of buildings to the high plane
4 had reached with the Greeks. For
III that the ruins of Pompeii show
Many structures whose mural decora-
lions are In fair shape today. The
splors used were glazing. A black
background was the usual one and tho
worked thereon red, yell
81 and blue zazzzssKszaass
In the early Christian era the use of
ncsaics for churches somewhat sup
planted mural painting. Still. during
the reign Of Justinian the Church of
saint Sophia was built at Constantine
uae and It's 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 syDo
gym 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
y paint coated. Interiors, too, from
painted walls and stained furniture
1own to the lowliesf kitchen utensil,
III receive their protective covering.
yteel, 80 often associated with cement
reinforcing, is painted before ii goes
o give solidity to the manufactured
tone. The huge Orders of the sky
,crapers are daubed an ugly but ef1-
ieDt red underneath the surface coat
4 black. Perhaps the best example
4 the value OF paint on steel is found p
q the venerable Brooklyn bridge, on