The Evolution of wall painting - Essay Example

The Evolution of Wall Painting The evolution and development of wall painting is remarkable. According to Hollongsworth (2004) wall painting has transformed gradually from one stage to the other. While the tools used changed from stones, crudely fashioned chisels and charcoal to the actual paints used nowadays, the purpose has not changed, which is - enhancing a beautiful appeal. When considering the beautiful images of wall painting today, there has been a shift in trends of wall painting. Studies indicate that the oldest painting found is in France, and it influenced the painting in the entire World (Hollongsworth, 2004).

In the religious setup, the styles of Frescoes and Mosaics are widely used, narrating the life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. From them, one can draw a conclusion that, though wall painting changed, it remained the same in different setups. This paper seeks to explore the evolution of wall painting beginning in Paleolithic period to Early Renaissance. During the Paleolithic period, wall painting decoration was either decorated objects or figurines. From about 31, 000 to 12, 000 B.C, there were two main categories of painting, which were either decorated objects or portable pieces.

Portable pieces were small figurines, while decorated objects were carved out of stone, clay, and also cave art. Paleolithic art majored itself in different subjects such as animal carvings, hunting scenes, and animals. It was an attempt to gain control over the environment through critical thinking. One can imply that painting was a powerful tool of revealing different ideas and concepts of the society. Wall painting was carried out in different colors, but mostly golden brown was used to reveal the beautiful nature of the painting.

The following is an example of a wall painting of the Paleolithic period that depicts animals. The walls were covered with different paintings that revealed different subjects. In most cases, animals were the subject shown through shades of brown, red, black, and yellow. There has been much transformation since then whereby the early societies’ painting is in various subjects of hunting scenes, human corpses, elementary landscape, and different fashions. The mosaic art used by Egyptians was a flooring decoration.

During Hellenistic period, mosaics were made by laying small quadratic, small triangular and cubic pieces of seashells, glasses, or stones. This art was implemented for wall decoration in the 6th century due to its complexity in nature and being costlier than Frescoes. The Fresco technique painting was done by wet plaster dissolved in water through squeezing and a brush with long, stiff bristles. Frescoes and Mosaics were widely used for religious painting of the Old Testament stories and scenes.

The evolution of wall painting has gradually occurred from Paleolithic period to Early Renaissance. There were transformations of painting, as it was used for the different purposes. Artists improved their painting techniques, including some marvelous ones, like egg tempera prepared from the egg yolk. Egg tempera in wall painting let to the complete development of painting. Eventually, the increasing use of oil for wall painting came about, and the oil is widely used even in modern times. In conclusion, the paper has explored the evolution of wall painting through the history of mankind.

There are a lot of advanced techniques nowadays in painting whereby during the Paleolithic period mostly animals were drawn or made by clay modeling or stone carving. As time has progressed, there has been a transformation in techniques used. For instance, artists have introduced egg tempera, which became popular in Early Renaissance. The tools used also progressed from stones, crudely fashioned chisels and charcoal to the actual paints and brushes. Reference Hollongsworth, M. (2004). Art in World History.

London: Giunti Editore Publisher. Paleolithic Picture Retrieved from http://www.google.co.ke/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artsenou.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/3_cave_painting.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artsenou.com/tag/wall-painting/&usg=__uJo8OTEN2fJpLzRiAzV6SRAm7cw=&h=480&w=312&sz=32&hl=en&start=13&zoom=1&tbnid=18hy2tSO13-n4M:&tbnh=129&tbnw=84&ei=5gcxT9u4OuPe4QS-w4TnBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPaleolithic%2Bwall%2Bpainting%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1016%26bih%3D371%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1