Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T05:57:48.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 21 - Aegean Wall Painting

from Part IV - Aegean Art in the Second Palace Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2022

Jean-Claude Poursat
Translated by
Carl Knappett
Jean-Claude Poursat
Affiliation:
University of Clermont-Ferrand
Carl Knappett
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access

Summary

Around 1700 bc the reconstruction of the Knossos palace includes a fresco programme as never seen before. This new decorative fashion spreads rapidly to the grand urban residences and villas across numerous Cretan sites. The main buildings of the Cycladic towns, influenced by Minoan art, also adopt these wall paintings. In the Minoan colony of Kythera, but also in the southeast Aegean at Trianda on Rhodes (another probable colony) and at Miletus, fresco fragments have been found. This new art form even appears at sites beyond the Aegean world, like Avaris in Egypt, Tel Kabri in Galilee, and Alalakh in Syria.

The use of figurative painting in architectural adornment is new for the Aegean world in many respects. To begin with, it is the first time that Minoan artists conceive of their artworks at a scale other than the miniature, even though there do also exist miniature frescoes.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Art and Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age
A History
 , pp. 169 - 194
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Becker, 2018: Bwecker, J., Jungfleisch, J., and von Rüden, C. eds., Tracing Technoscapes: The Production of Bronze Age Wall Paintings in the Eastern Mediterranean, Leiden.Google Scholar
Bietak, 2007: Bietak, M., Marinatos, N., and Palivou, C., Taureador Scenes in Tell el-Dab’a (Avaris) and Knossos, Vienna.Google Scholar
Chapin, 2004: Chapin, A. ed., Charis. Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr, Hesperia Suppl. 33, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Doumas, 1992: Doumas, C., The Wall-Paintings of Thera, Athens.Google Scholar
Evely, 1999: Evely, D. ed., Fresco: A Passport into the Past. Minoan Crete through the Eyes of Mark Cameron, Athens.Google Scholar
Immerwahr, 1990: Immerwahr, S., Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age, University Park, PA.Google Scholar
Marinatos, 1984: Marinatos, N., Art and Religion in Thera: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Society, Athens.Google Scholar
Militello, 1998: Militello, P., Haghia Triada, I. Gli affreschi, Padova.Google Scholar
Morgan, 2005: Morgan, L. ed., Aegean Wall Painting: A Tribute to Mark Cameron, London.Google Scholar
Morgan, 2020: Morgan, L., Keos XI. Wall Paintings and Social Context: The Northeast Bastion at Ayia Irini. Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Sherratt, 2000a: Sherratt, S. ed., The Wall Paintings of Thera, Athens.Google Scholar
Vlachopoulos, 2018: Vlachopoulos, A. G. ed., Χρωστήρες. Paintbrushes. Wall-Painting and Vase-Painting of the Second Millennium BC in Dialogue, Athens.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×