What Is Frescoes Or Wall Painting?

Frescoes or wall paintings are large murals that were used to decorate palaces and villas from 1600 BC onwards, also known as the New Palace period. These wall paintings have been essential in deciphering the many aspects of Minoan civilisation. Although most of these monumental murals have only survived over the years in a fragmented form the stories and events these artworks portray give a great insight into how Minoan society would have been.

Frescoes and wall paintings are primarily made by applying paint to wet lime plaster; this specific technique is called Buon Fresco. The other known technique used during this time was to apply the paint to a dry surface, called Secco Fresco. The paintings that have been found at the Minoan palaces have all used the same style in painting. This style is the same we see when viewing Egyptian works. The views of the characters faces within the artworks are all seen side on and will usually only show half of the body. During later Minoan times, it is more common to see artworks with the bodies of the subject’s straight on and central to the artwork, however, the face remaining to the side.

The paints used by Minoan artists were all natural earth and mineral compounds. The palate of these artists was limited, the key colours used in their frescoes black, white, yellow and blue. These colours were mixed from natural resources the palaces would import from neighbouring countries. For instance to make the colour blue the artist would use a natural iron compound, lapis lazuli, Rebeckite and Egyptian copper blue. The ingredients would have been imported from Egypt and Asia Minor.

‘The Dolphin Fresco’, dated in 1600 BC, found in the Queens apartment at Knossos is an important discovery and d...

... middle of paper ...

...or in any of the other main palaces of Crete supports this argument. Minoan society was very female orientated and could have been a matriarchy. As the many female artworks and statues suggest females, fertility and freedom of the female gender were key in this society.

Whilst Sir Arthur Evans believed in the Minoans being a patriarchy and being ruled by a king Minos the lack of evidence in the paintings is clear. One example of this is in ‘the sacred grove fresco’ where the men have been pushed to the side as the women take the central role. In conclusion Minoan art and frescos in Crete have been very useful in determining certain aspects of the people’s civilization and society. As well as this the artworks have proved to be very advanced in the telling of events and stories that are important to the context of the people that lived thousands of years ago.