Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/213

 Primitive Greece : Mvcenian Art. coats of pAnt were even applied to stone which had better been left alone.'-'For the sake of a brilliant veil, the stone entablature of the Doric temple preserved the colouration of the Mycenian entablature, where it had been requisite to protect the timbers against damp. ijTo this should be added those painted terra- cotta squares, which required as little, nay. even less, than stone itself to be shielded against the elements. The tones laid on tufa and clay were as gay as those which the brush had once spread on wood beams, or had been reflected from brazen strips that lined the timber pieces. If the stone architrave of Helljis stands out from the very beginning in fair and full armour, and all the refinements which colour is able to impart, it is mainly due to its having been prefaced by a wood architecture. In conclusion, we would say that if our expository theory is open to question on minor details, it will have the merit of bringing home to every one with greater lucidity the kind of interest which attaches to Mycenian art. Many of our readers have doubtless wondered that we should have tarried so long in this primordial period, to which some have denied the claim of being considered Greek history. We think we have proved the neces- sity of turning to it for the solution of some of the most obscure problems which cross the path of the historian, who desires to lead back to the beginnings of the principal types of Hellenic architecture.