The Minoan Paintings

Egyptian painting expertise is mainly made in the tombs and temples, while in the northern Aegean civilizations of the Mediterranean make the most of the paintingroom of the house of the rich and respectable.

A wall painting dating from 1600 BC in a palace at Knossos, Crete, showing the relationship of the bull cult, described the two bulls who are preparing for a fight.

The island of Thera, at the time it is a form of development of the colony Crete. In about 1525 BC, the island is buried under volcanic ash caused by local volcaniceruptions. Archaeological excavations on the island (which is also referred to asthe island of Santorin) managed to find a wonderful room, which once occupied the richer inhabitants of Thera more than 3500 years ago. This room is decoratedwith lavish wall paintings (murals). One room is decorated with paintings of the mountain, which then was very familiar in Chinese painting. Minoan traditionintroduces landscape as a subject of art.

Plastered walls from the Minoan palaces and villas that have survived to our day provide a precious portrait of life in Crete during prehistoric times.

The figures and scenes painted in the Minoan frescoes display the familiar Egyptian side view with the frontal eye, as well as the sharp outlines in solid color.

The Egyptian influence when it comes to painting seems to stop there as the Minoan frescoes distinguish themselves from the products of other Mediterranean cultures in many ways. They are characterized by the small waist, the fluidity of line, and the vitality of character bestowed on every painted figure. Minoan stylistic conventions emphasized elasticity, spontaneity, and dynamic motion, while the colors and high-contrast patterns instill an elegant freshness to characters and nature scenes alike.

While the Egyptian painters of the time painted their wall paintings in the "dry-fresco" (fresco secco) technique, the Minoans utilized a "true" or "wet" painting method. Painting on wet plaster allowed the pigments of metal and mineral oxides to bind well to the wall, while it required quick execution. The nature of this technique allowed for a high degree of improvisation and spontaneity and introduced the element of chance into the final art. Since they had to work within the time constrains of the drying plaster, the painters had to be very skillful, and their fluid brush strokes translated into the graceful outlines that characterize minoan painting. For this reason, the true wet method of painting was most appropriate for the fluid moments of life and nature scenes that the Minoans favored, which contrasted sharply with the strict stylization and stereotyping typical of frescoes from other Mediterranean cultures of the same time. The figures of Minoan frescoes are depicted in natural poses of free movement that reflect the rigors of the activity they engage with, an attitude characteristic of a seafaring culture accustomed to freedom of movement, liquidity, and vigor