Editing History of painting (section)

===Egypt, Greece and Rome===
{{further|Roman Wall Painting (200 BC-79 AD)|Pompeian Styles|Ancient Rome Painting}}
[[File:Hellenistic terracotta funerary wall painting.jpg|thumb|[[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic Greek]] [[terracotta]] funerary [[mural|wall painting]], 3rd century BC]]
[[Ancient Egypt]], a civilization with very strong traditions of architecture and sculpture (both originally painted in bright colours) also had many mural paintings in temples and buildings, and painted illustrations on [[papyrus]] [[manuscript]]s. Egyptian wall painting and decorative painting is often graphic, sometimes more symbolic than realistic. Egyptian painting depicts figures in bold outline and flat [[silhouette]], in which symmetry is a constant characteristic. [[Art of Ancient Egypt|Egyptian painting]] has close connection with its written language – called [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]. Painted symbols are found amongst the first forms of written language. The Egyptians also painted on [[linen]], remnants of which survive today. Ancient Egyptian paintings survived due to the extremely dry climate. The ancient Egyptians created paintings to make the [[afterlife]] of the deceased a pleasant place. The themes included journey through the afterworld or their protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld. Some examples of such paintings are paintings of the gods and goddesses [[Ra]], [[Horus]], [[Anubis]], [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]], [[Osiris]] and [[Isis]]. Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity. In the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] and later, the ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' was buried with the entombed person. It was considered important for an introduction to the afterlife.
<gallery widths="140px" heights="140px" perrow="4">
File:Maler der Grabkammer des Sennudem 001.jpg|''Sennedjem plows his fields with a pair of oxen'', c.{{nbsp}}1200 BC
Image:Ägyptischer Maler um 1360 v. Chr. 001.jpg|[[Ancient Egypt]],''The Goddess [[Isis]]'', wall painting, c.{{nbsp}}1360 BC
Image:Maler der Grabkammer der Nefertari 004.jpg|[[Ancient Egypt]], ''Queen [[Nefertari]]''
Image:egyptian papyrus.jpg|Ancient Egypt, [[papyrus]]
Image:The Pharaoh Tutankhamun destroying his enemies.jpg|[[Ancient Egypt]]
Image:Egypt.Ra-Apep.01.jpg|[[Ancient Egypt]]
Image:KnossosFrescoRepro06827.jpg|[[Knossos]], [[Minoan civilization]], [[Bronze Age]] [[Crete]]
Image:NAMA Sacrifice aux Charites.jpg|[[Pitsa panels]], one of the few surviving panel paintings from [[Archaic Greece]], c.{{nbsp}}540–530 BC
Image:Symposiumnorthwall.jpg|''[[Symposium]] scene in the [[Tomb of the Diver]]'' at [[Paestum]], [[Wiktionary:circa|circa]] 480{{nbsp}}BC [[Greek art]]
File:Agios Athanasios 1 fresco.jpg|Mural of [[Ancient Macedonian army|soldiers]] from [[Agios Athanasios, Thessaloniki]], [[Ancient Macedonia]], 4th century BC
File:Produzione greca o magnogreca, sarcofago delle amazzoni, 350-325 a.C. ca, da tarquinia 05.JPG|A [[Greeks|Greek]] fighting an [[Amazons|Amazon]]. Detail from painted sarcophagus found in Italy, 350-325 BC
File:Thueros affresco.jpg|Fresco of an ancient [[Ancient Macedonian army|Macedonian soldier]] (''[[thorakitai]]'') wearing [[chainmail]] armor and bearing a ''[[thureos]]'' shield, 3rd century BC
File:Wall painting - sacrifice of Iphigenia - Pompeii (VI 8 5) - Napoli MAN 9112 - 01.jpg|Fresco depicting sacrifice of [[Iphigenia]]
File:Telephus (son of Hercules) being suckled by a doe in the tem Wellcome V0015047.jpg|[[Roman art]] showing [[Hercules]] and [[Telephus]]
File:Wall painting - Meleagros and Atalanta - Pompeii (VI 9 3) - Napoli MAN 8980.jpg|Roman art showing [[Meleager]] and [[Atalanta]]
File:Wall painting - punishment of Dirke - Pompeii (VII 4 56) - Napoli MAN 9042 - 01.jpg|Roman art showing [[Dirce]]'s punishment
File:Wall painting - Peirithoos receiving the centaurs at his wedding - Pompeii (VII 2 16) - Napoli MAN 9044.jpg|Roman art showing [[Pirithous]] and [[Hippodamia (wife of Pirithous)|Hippodamia]]
Image:Pompejanischer Maler um 80 v. Chr. 001.jpg|Roman art, [[Pompeii]], [[Villa of the Mysteries]], c. 60-50 BC
File:P. Fannius Synistor anagoria links.JPG|Roman art, [[Villa Boscoreale]] frescos, c. 40 BC
File:Pompeii Painter.jpg|Roman art, Pompeii
File:The Three Graces, from Pompeii (fresco).jpg|[[Charites|The Three Graces]], fresco from Pompeii
File:The Fall of Icarus, fresco from Pompeii, 40-79 AD.png|The Fall of [[Icarus]], fresco from Pompeii, 40-79 AD
Image:Pompejanischer Maler um 10 20 001.jpg|Roman art, Pompeii
File:Fayum-34.jpg|Roman art, [[Fayum mummy portraits]] from [[Roman Egypt]]
File:Pompeii - Casa dei Vettii - Pentheus.jpg|Roman art from the [[House of the Vettii]], Pompeii, 1st century AD
File:Herculaneum - Lyre and Cupids.jpg|[[Cupid]]s playing with a [[lyre]], Roman fresco from [[Herculaneum]]
File:Dea Barberini 01.JPG|Roman fresco with a seated [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], the so-called "Dea Barberini", 4th century AD
</gallery>

To the north of [[Egypt]] was the [[Minoan civilization]] centered on the island of [[Crete]]. The wall paintings found in the palace of [[Knossos]] are similar to that of the [[Egyptians]] but much more free in style. [[Mycenaean Greece]], beginning around 1600 BC, produced similar art to that of Minoan Crete. [[Ancient Greek art]] during the [[Greek Dark Age]] became far less complex, but the renewal of Greek civilization [[Colonies in antiquity|throughout the Mediterranean]] during [[Archaic Greece]] brought about new forms of Greek art with the [[Orientalizing period|Orientalizing style]].

[[File:Hades and Persephone, Vergina.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|A fresco showing [[Hades]] and [[Persephone]] riding in a [[chariot]], from the tomb of Queen [[Eurydice I of Macedon]] at [[Vergina]], Greece, 4th century BC]]
[[Ancient Greece]] had skilled painters, sculptors (though both endeavours were regarded as mere manual labour at the time), and architects. The [[Parthenon]] is an example of their architecture that has lasted to modern days. Greek marble sculpture is often described as the highest form of [[classicism|Classical]] art. Painting on [[pottery of Ancient Greece]] and [[Ceramics (art)|ceramics]] gives a particularly informative glimpse into the way society in Ancient Greece functioned. [[Black-figure vase painting]] and [[Red-figure vase painting]] gives many surviving examples of what Greek painting was. Some famous Greek painters on wooden panels who are mentioned in texts are [[Apelles]], [[Zeuxis and Parrhasius]], however few examples of Ancient Greek panel painting survive, mostly just written descriptions by their contemporaries or later Romans. Zeuxis lived in 5–6{{nbsp}}BC and was said to be the first to use [[sfumato]]. According to [[Pliny the Elder]], the realism of his paintings was such that birds tried to eat the painted grapes. Apelles is described as the greatest painter of [[classical antiquity|Antiquity]] for perfect technique in drawing, brilliant color and modeling.

[[Roman art]] was influenced by Greece and can in part be taken as a descendant of ancient Greek painting. However, Roman painting does have important unique characteristics. Surviving Roman paintings include wall paintings and [[fresco]]es, many from villas in [[Campania]], in Southern Italy at sites such as [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]]. Such painting can be grouped into four main "styles" or periods<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/roman/painting.html |title=Roman Painting |publisher=art-and-archaeology.com}}</ref> and may contain the first examples of ''[[trompe-l'œil]]'', pseudo-perspective, and pure landscape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accd.edu/sac/vat/arthistory/arts1303/Rome4.htm |title=Roman Wall Painting |publisher=accd.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319123717/http://www.accd.edu/sac/vat/arthistory/arts1303/Rome4.htm |archive-date=19 March 2007 }}</ref> Almost the only painted portraits surviving from the Ancient world are a large number of [[Fayum mummy portraits|coffin-portraits]] of bust form found in the [[Late Antique]] cemetery of [[Al-Fayum]]. Although these were neither of the best period nor the highest quality, they are impressive in themselves, and give an idea of the quality that the finest ancient work must have had. A very small number of [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniatures]] from Late Antique illustrated books also survive, and a rather larger number of copies of them from the early medieval period.