CHAP. 32.—WHAT COLOURS WERE USED BY THE ANCIENTS IN PAINTING.
It was with four colours only,1932 that Apelles,1933 Echion, Melanthius, and Nicomachus, those most illustrous painters, executed their immortal works; melinum1934 for the white, Attic sil1935 for the yellow, Pontic sinopis for the red, and atramentum for the black;1936 and yet a single picture of theirs has sold before now for the treasures of whole cities. But at the present day, when purple is employed for colouring walls even, and when India sends to us the slime1937 of her rivers, and the corrupt blood of her dragons1938 and her elephants, there is no such thing as a picture of high quality produced. Everything, in fact, was superior at a time when the resources of art were so much fewer than they now are. Yes, so it is; and the reason is, as we have already stated,1939 that it is the material, and not the efforts of genius, that is now the object of research.