The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1919-04-26
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
pliny's oay-Noah Prudently
wateFproofed the Ark.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.

Whether paint was invented In al
swer to a need for a preservative or I
meet desire for beauty is questi0
fully as knotty as the ancient one abor
the relative time of arrival Of tn
chicken or the egg. 1t was invente,
though, and it serves both purpose
equally; so whether 1t is an offsprin
Of mother necessity or an adopted so
Of beauty remains forever a dispute
question.
The first men, covering under tn
fierce and glazing suns of the biblics
countries, constructed rude huts 0
wood to shelter them. The perishabl
nature Of these structures caused rapi,
decay, and it Is probable that the oc
cupants, seeking some artificial mean
OF preservation, hit upon the pigment
Of the earth In their search It is per
haps natural to suppose. that 1t wa
the instinct Of preservation that LEI
men to the search, although the glorieI
Of the sunsets and the beauties of tn,
rainbow may have created desire t,
initiate those wonders In their owl
dwellings.
The earliest record Of the applica
ton OF preseryative to q wooden
structure dates from the ark, which
was according to the Bible, "pltched
within and without" The pitch was 8
triumph Of preservation whatever il
lacked 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 anG
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 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 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 allusfon to
the art Of decorating, "For as the mas
ter builder Of new house must care
for the whole building, but he that
undertaken to set it out and paint It,
must seek out things for the adjoining
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 at
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
smote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of
paint as a preservative and made use
OF something akin to it on their ships.
Pliny 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
'Sarlike people, never brought the dec.
'ration Of buildings to the high plane
N had reached with the Greeks For
&ll that the ruins Of Pompeii show
many structures whose mural decora.
tons are In fair shape today. The
colors used were glaring. A black
background was the usual one and the
worked thereon red, vel.
ow and blue. no; -.
In the early Christian era the use of
nosaics for churches somewhat sun.
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 come to be as numerous az tie
myriad shades and dnts. Paint /,
unique In that its name 1as no syno. !
nym and for 1t there is no substitute
material Bread IL 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
If paint coated. Interiors, too, from
painted walls and stained furniture
Town to the lowliest kitchen utensil
Ill receive their protective covering
steel, 20 often associated with cement
reinforcing, is painted before It zoe,
o give solidity to the manufactures
tone. The huge Orders Of the sky.
'crapers are daubed an ugly but ef.
lent red underneath the surface Goa,
4 black. Perhaps the best example
Il the value Of paint on steel IL found
0 the venerable Brooklyn bridge. or
which a gang Of painters 10 kept 70
nc continually. It Is scarce possible
0 think OF a single manufactured ar
icie which does not meet paint some
where IN the course Of Its construc
ion. SO has nainf opnqvn irtn a. II