nd yet a
reminder of both. Technically it was not well done. Before 500 B.C. it
was almost childish in the drawing. After that date the figures were
better, though short and squat. Those on the vases usually show
outline drawing filled in with dull browns and yellows. Finally there
was a mingling of Etruscan with Greek elements, and an imitation of
Greek methods. It was at best a hybrid art, but of some importance
from an archaeological point of view.

ROMAN PAINTING: Roman art is an appendix to the art history of Greece.
It originated little in painting, and was content to perpetuate the
traditions of Greece in an imitative way. What was worse, it copied
the degeneracy of Greece by following the degenerate Hellenistic
paintings. In motive and method it was substantially the same work as
that of the Greeks under the Diadochi. The subjects, again, were often
taken from Greek story, though there were Roman historical scenes,
_genre_ pieces, and many portraits.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--RITUAL SCENE, PALATINE WALL PAINTING. (FROM
WOLTMANN AND WOERMANN.)]

In the beginning of the Empire tablet or panel painting was rather
abandoned in favor of mural decoration. That is to say, figures or
groups were painted in fresco on the wall and then surrounded by
geometrical, floral, or architectural designs to give the effect of a
panel let into the wall. Thus painting assumed a more decorative
nature. Vitruvius says in effect that in the early days nature was
followed in these wall paintings, but later on they became ornate and
overdone, showing many unsupported architectural facades and
impossible decorative framings. This can be traced in the Roman and
Pompeian frescos. There were four kinds of these wall paintings. (1.)
Those that covered all the walls of a room and did away with dado,
frieze, and the like, such as figures with large landscape
backgrounds showing villas and trees. (2.) Small paintings separated
or framed by pilasters. (3.) Panel pictures let into the wall or
painted with that effect. (4.) Single figures with architectural
backgrounds. The single figures were usually the best. They had grace
of line and motion and all the truth to nature that decoration
required. Some of the backgrounds were flat tints of red or black
against which the figure was placed. In the larger pieces the
composition was rather rambling and disjointed, and the color harsh.
In light-and-shade and relief they probably followed the Greek
e