The Archaic style began when the
Greeks had assimilated the styles of Egypt and the Near East.
The Archaic style dealt a lot with pictorial subjects such as
mythology, legends, and daily life. This gave the Greeks a wide
range of subject matter. The Archaic period, like many other periods,
is known mainly from vase painting. However, it wasn't
limited to pottery. There were murals, frescoes, and panels as
well. Unfortunately little or none of them have survived. We do,
however, have paintings from Etruscan (Italian) tombs from the same period. One such painting is in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing,
dated around 520 BC. Notice how the marine motif, the influence of the Egyptians and Near Easterners (look at the top) has been well
assimilated, and the Greeks have turned this into their own style.
The only way we can link Archaic
vase painting and wall painting is that we know that they were
both drawn and then painted. This is why we think they may look
similar. One reason the vases may
have outlived the walls is that there were far more vases than
wall paintings. Vase painting was still the art for of choice
as far as painting was concerned. Wall painting really didn't
come into its own in Greece until about 475-450 BC, after the
Persian Wars. At this time the Greeks had become interested in modeling
and spatial depth (3-D).
Classical
According to written sources, during
the Classical period Greek painters mastered illusionistic space.
Unfortunately, we have nothing to support this. Once again, no
Classical Greek paintings have survived. The reason we do know
how great Classical Greek painters were is because of a Roman
writer named Pliny the Elder, who lived from 23-79 AD and compiled a sort of encyclopedia.
To learn more about
many subjects not found in the mural/ panel section, read the
pottery section.
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