ASSYRIAN PAINTING.
Painting in Assyria, as in Egypt, was little more than illumination, and was employed chiefly for architectural decoration. The sculptured bas-reliefs were to a certain extent enlivened with color, and in many instances enamelled brick or painted stucco served as an economical sub stitute for relief.
Arlislic OitaNy.—As we might expect, the painter's work in such decoration did not in artistic quality surpass that of the sculptor. There is no attempt at perspective, no indication of the solidity of objects, and little or no thought of composition. It is only in the broadest sense that such works may be classed as painting. Yet the Assyrian possessed, within narrow limits, a lively perception of color and a strong feeling for decoration.
Color.—The colors which he principally used were yellow and blue— blue for the backgrounds, and yellow for figures. Red, green, black, and white appear more rarely. These colors were applied without regard to their distribution in nature. A bull is painted either blue or yellow, and
at Khorsabacl a lion, an eagle, a bull, a man, a tree, and a ploughshare all appear as yellow figures against a blue background. The same decorative sense that rules in the distribution of color is seen in the application of the few conventional forms of ornament. Vacant spaces are filled up with rosettes and other such forms of no special significance.
When human figures are introduced, they are treated as substitutes for sculptured relief, and by their broad outlines seem to stand out front the background. Were it not for the fact that in the frescos and enamelled bricks color is used more freely than in the sculptured reliefs, the art of painting in Assyria might be considered as merely a weak substitute for sculpture. The great ideas of perspective and chiaroscuro, which were to make painting an independent art, were yet unborn.