Transcript Minoan and Mycenaean Art 1650

MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN ART 1650-1200 BC
MINOANS
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Minoan civilization was named after the legendary King
Minos, and grew up during the Bronze Age on the island
of Crete
From about 3000-2500 BCE, the early Minoan people
led a basic agricultural existence, but by about 2100 BC
they had built up a prosperous maritime trade with
countries around the Mediterranean. This included
buying tin and combining it with copper from Cyprus, to
make bronze - the key metal of the time. This mercantile
prosperity led to the construction of a series of palaces
or 'court buildings at Knossos, Phaestus, Akrotiri, Kato
Zakros and Mallia,
CRETE
MYCENIANS
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Mycenean culture is often used in the history of
art to describe early mainland Greek art as a
whole during the late Bronze Age.
MYCEANE
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Mycenean arts and culture were dominated by
the Minoan civilization. Minoan artists and
painters visited Greece regularly, although the
Mycenean artistic style became a balance
between the exuberant naturalism of Crete and
the formality of the mainland. Like the
Minoans, the Myceneans also built palaces in
which fresco painting, executed in tempera,
was a common feature.
FRESCO
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The art term Fresco (Italian for 'fresh')
describes the method of painting in which
pigments are mixed solely with and then
applied directly onto freshly laid lime-plaster
surface.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtCiyb3o29
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As in Egyptian art, most Mycenean painting,
sculpture and precious metalwork were
commissioned to glorify the rulers of the day - both
in death as well as life.
 As it happened, not long after the Myceneans
conquered Troy, they were themselves attacked by
invading Dorians and in about 1100 BCE (the start
of the Greek 'Dark Ages') the city of Mycenae,
along with much of its art, was destroyed.
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