Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/404

Painting. 351 which he introduced into his pictures. These are points that long practice alone would secure to him. As to his qualities and shortcomings, they are those of the sculptor. What fasci- nated him most was movement of the liveliest, aye, of the most violent description. The attitude of the bull is seized with great justness, but that of the hunter is not so happily rendered. In both instances, the ruling idea of the artist was to show how the body elongates and the limbs stretch as if moved by springs, when the animal is at full speed. His fault is to have over- Fig. 434. — Painting on fmgment of sandstone jar. Actual size. Stepped the mark ; the figure stoops too much forward, and one of the legs is unduly raised in the air ; whilst the runner looks as if he must fall to the ground head-foremost. As on the Vaphio vases, here too the animal is better drawn than the man. But the drawing of the bull itself is by no means faultless, the head being too small for the deep chest and ample sides. Despite these blemishes, the group reflects honour on its author. His technique is more expeditious and less concerned with detail than that of the worker in metal ; but like him he is thoroughly in earnest, and has a genuine feeling for life.