Vitruvius (on Architecture, translated by Gwilt) writes at some length on ancient wall-paintings.

It was, however, only through the breadth and freedom of wall-painting that the ambition of the early masters was fully aroused and their powers found ample scope.

Some very interesting specimens of wall-painting are preserved at Cirencester, and may be seen in the museum.

Taken in their aggregate, the wall-paintings I have described afforded a fair sample of Umbrian and Tuscan art in its middle or quattrocento age of evolution.

Apart from such considerations, the wall-paintings in the cathedral of Albi have accumulated such interest from time that no reason would excuse their removal.

This question occurs with even greater force before the wall-paintings ascribed to Cimabue in the church of S. Francis at Assisi.

It will be felt by every genuine student of art that if Orcagna painted these frescoes in S. Maria Novella, whereof there is no doubt, he could not have executed the wall-paintings in the Campo Santo at Pisa attributed to him by Vasari.

His most remarkable wall-painting is a fresco of the Apostles visiting the Virgin, the motive of which is marked by great originality.

The collection to which I have alluded was made some years ago, when access to the wall-paintings of Italy for the purpose of tracing was still possible.

Independently of its main subject, this vast wall-painting is specially interesting on account of its portraits.

The latter process replaced the former for wall-paintings in the fourteenth century.

Fresco was his favourite vehicle; and in this preference he showed himself a true master of the school of Florence: but he is said to have maintained that mosaic, as more durable, was superior to wall-painting.

Two angels have recently been published by the Arundel Society who have also copied Melozzo's wall-painting of Sixtus IV.

His wall-paintings in the library of the cathedral of Siena are so well preserved that we need not seek elsewhere for better specimens of the decorative art most highly prized in the first years of the sixteenth century.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji. Translated & edited by William Reynolds Beal Acker & Benjamin Rowland,

The wall-paintings of Horyuji.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji.

The wall-paintings of Horyuji. Translated & edited by William Reynolds Beal Acker & Benjamin Rowland,

One day when alone and absorbed in the execution of a wall-painting, a dissolute young noble addressed her with insulting freedom.