Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/400

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MEXICAN ARCHÆOLOGY

ally at Piedras Negras, still show evident traces of colour, and it must be remembered that when the details were picked out in different tints the designs appeared far less complicated than in monochrome. But apart from the colouring of reliefs, fresco designs in a variety of hues were commonly applied to the interior walls of buildings, and their graceful and flowing lines prove that the Maya was no mean artist with the brush. This form of ornament has been observed at Menché, where a design of scrolls, leaves, flowers and figures of men and animals is painted on the walls of one of the chambers, in two reds, two blues, yellow and dark brown. At Chichen Itza the art of fresco was highly developed; not only were the columns, doorposts and interior reliefs painted in colours, but many chambers were elaborately ornamented with coloured designs. According to Miss Breton, who has made a careful study of these frescoes, two different hands may be traced in the method of execution. One artist employed outlines but sparingly, and carried out the greater part of his work in dry colour, sometimes superimposing one tint on another to obtain the desired effect. The other drew all his figures in outline and added the principal colour masses while the plaster was still damp, putting in the details subsequently in dry colour. The hues include two reds, two blues, four greens, yellow, white, black and purple. The practice of ornamenting wall-surfaces with painted designs extends into British Honduras, where a building with very important frescoes has been discovered under peculiar circumstances. This is at Santa Rita, and the building in question was found buried in a large mound, which had been heaped over it, apparently with intention. The frescoes are painted on the walls below the cornice, and had been shielded from the earth by protecting walls built about an inch from them to meet the cornice. The colours include red, pink, blue, yellow, grey and black, and the design represents a number of