Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/536

Decoration. 509 houses must have greatly resembled the gay villas on the Riviera di Genoa, whose yellow, red, and blue veil is in strong contrast with the sombre green of the pine and cypress and olive. The main effort of the painter was centred on those parts of the edifice where his work would not be e.posed to the elements. Here he did his utmost to charm the eye with richness of tones and multiplicity of figures. We should much like to know how these were distributed and enframed on the walls of the principal ■ 206 Fr gment of pwnlcd decotfli apartments. All that remains of these frescoes— and that is far more than we had any right to expect — are plastered scraps which fell from the walls thousands of years ago.' Though evanescent, the colours are fairly preserved, on such bits at all events as had their face turned to the ground, for the covering debris shielded them against the influence of the weather. These pieces show designs which the brush has traced with unending repetition of the same form, or of two alternate ones : despite many lacunae, therefore, it has been possible to piece together ' TSOUNDAS, HpaKTixa,