Minoan Woman

An Aegean Bronze Age civilization based on the Greek island of Crete, the Minoans continue a pattern of growth and understanding of physical forms, through the process of rendering subjects related to daily life and mysticism. “Subject matter for fresco work was usually either scenes from nature, or scenes from court or religious life.” Greek artists developed methods used (discussed prior Fig. 4 and Fig. 6) in Egypt, and continued to advance these practices in order to better acclamate stylistically. Bright colors and abstracted form coincide with subject matter and send a message to the viewer, particularly when depicting gender. When applying images, the Minoans favored true wet fresco. Application of their imagery to the walls of palaces
8). The configuration of her glance allows the artist to accentuate her facial features. An understanding of spatial distribution alludes to the naturalistic rendering of her characteristics: a low nose bridge, the positioning of the ear lobe with consideration of the artist placement of the nose and mouth, and a visible high arched eyebrow. “Greek artist utilized the elements of perspective, foreshortening, line drawing and light and shade to create lifelike images in paint.” By contrast, and like the Egyptians, oversized eyes adorn the Minoan Woman. Similarities between Egyptian and Minoan painting configuration are highlighted in the arrangement of
9) “...painted in wet fresco, which required rapid execution. In this first known pure landscape, the Theran painter used vivid colors and undulating lines to capture the essence of springtime.” The ocean breeze is indicated through the artist’s display of swaying scrubs. “The irrationally undulating and vividly colored rocks, the graceful lilies swaying in the cool island breezes, and the darting swallows express vigor of growth, the delicacy of flowering, and the lightness of birdsong and flight.” Set atop of a colorful display of rocks, the plants too are depicted in unnatural colors, this is believed to be indicative of room they were painted in. Like Paleolithic art, connections to mysticism are applied to the color palette in the Spring Fresco (as compared to Fig. 1).“The Spring Fresco is the only painting of its caliber on a ground-floor level structure at Akrotiri. With the given evidence, scholars have concluded that room Delta 2 had initially been used as a cultic or religious space and then fell into disuse and became a storage area, either before or at the time of destruction.” An otherworldly aspect captured through the artist’s use of color. A repeated theme in relation to the topic of cross cultural use of pigment as a denotation of spiritual