A disquisition upon Etruscan vases; displaying their probable connection with the shows at Eleusis, and the Chinese Feast of Lanterns, with explanations of a few of the principal allegories depicted upon them ... / [Anon].

  • Christie, James, 1773-1831.
Date:
1806
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A disquisition upon Etruscan vases; displaying their probable connection with the shows at Eleusis, and the Chinese Feast of Lanterns, with explanations of a few of the principal allegories depicted upon them ... / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/186
    conceives upon very sufficient grounds, what is per- fectlv new, viz. that the paintings upon vases were copied from transparent scenes. If this conclusion should be deemed just, it will appear, that D’Hancar- ville was mistaken, when he reasoned upon the art from the paintings of Greek vases. At least, we may presume, that unless better specimens existed at the same early times, upon wood, or canvas, or in liesco, the ait ot painting in Greece was very far behind that ol sculp¬ ture, and we must be compelled to admit, that the Greek painters were from necessity deficient in com¬ position!]) and colouring; at the same time that we acknowledge they excelled in charactei and design. If we are to believe, that the most skilful artists (2) of Greece were engaged in the service of religion, to copy these scenes from the temple at Eleusis, and some perhaps will be induced to conclude as much, from the spirit and taste with which many paintings are executed upon the vases of Nola, upon which the names of the allegorical personages are expressed in Greek characters of the very latest form;(3) these points admitted, we should still be left to regret, that those, who so employed their pencils, could never rise to a higher title than that of 2xizy£a<poi, or shadow-painters. The credit of the Greek pain¬ ters, however, has been ably vindicated by several