After observing this painting, I have come to the conclusion that it was created by the Minoan people during the “Old Palace” period, around 1900-1700 BCE. This piece depicts a man with handfuls of fish hanging from ropes as if he caught them and is bringing them back home to eat with his family.
The early Minoans were completely dependent on themselves. They produced their own food and agriculture including cattle, sheep, grains and various fruits. Not to mention the location of their civilization on Crete allowed them to become a trading super power.
Painters at this time preferred a large-scale canvas and did several murals. These paintings usually consisted of nature or humans performing every-day activities. This fisherman painting demonstrates the abundance of life in Minoan culture. There is a similarity to Egyptian art in this piece, which is the twisted perspective of the figure. His body is in profile view, except for his shoulders and torso is shown from the front. Perhaps they chose to stylize this figure in such a way to be appealing to Egyptians while trading. Other evidence that suggests that this is a Minoan painting is the border along the top edge of the painting. My impression is that it is a border, and the Minoans tended to do this with their wall paintings.
You've presented a few good ideas. I’m not going to say here whether you’re right in your attributions (just so that other classmates can formulate their own opinion without my interference). That being said, I am glad that you noticed how this figure appears to be influenced by Egyptian art. The pose does seem to be a little bit twisted and more curvilinear.
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I too found this painting interesting. Upon my research I found that this particular fresco was painted on a wall near an offering table. It seems as though the rooms were themed, according to the artwork that was presented.
ReplyDeleteThis picture is interesting because it suggests the importance and trading was to this culture.I too, noticed that the way the man was displayed in this piece was very similar to those of the Egyptian culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that their painting style looks really like Egyptian painting. Except the body proportion is not the golden proportion, other than that, Profile view of body, and front shoulder is similar with Egyptian.
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