Are the Buddhas of Bamyan hiding more ancient treasures?

[humanino]

The destruction of the two monumental statues of standing Buddhas of Bamyan by Mullah Mohammed Omar and the Taliban government in 2001 was internationally considered a cultural tragedy. Only recently did I learn that in 2004, Japanese researchers stumbled across what is now confirmed to be the oldest known surviving examples of oil painting.

Rediscovering treasures of Bamiyan

 

[wolram]

Amazing

She said it was previously thought the technique originated in Europe during the Renaissance, eight centuries later.

 

[rewebster]

that is amazing---

maybe it wasn't realized by whomever mixed the oil with the pigment who painted those walls didn't know what they had found out about how useful 'oils' could be------The single colors used for the design, or maybe the 'walls' absorbed the mixture quickly enough that that 'new' method may not have been recognized as a important discovery--

it reminds me of the discovery of penicillin----what would the world have been like if someone earlier had thought about the effects of mold on the culture specimen--

I guess it was another one of those things that got passed over---until the right circumstances fell into places--


I really like archeology----I was really surprized to hear (when I did hear about it) of the vast civilization that existed in the Amazon flood plains---the main center of it has yet to be discovered---it could be fabled Atlantis---like the 'fabled' Troy had been lost except to literature for centuries

 

[Andre]

Prior to the Renaissance, egg yoke was used for mixing with the pigments, the egg tempera technique, but the quick drying was a limiting factor, it wasn't until the 15th century that linseed oil was (re)discovered, allowing wet-in-wet techniques. After that the egg tempera technique was mainly used for under painting below the oil.

 

[rewebster]

different things were used---the Egytians used wax at sometime too (encaustic)--a glazing method for getting the 'right' colors (colours)

 

[Andre]

---it could be fabled Atlantis---like the 'fabled' Troy had been lost except to literature for centuries

The problem with Atlantis is that it is single source, Plato only. His descriptions in the Critias and Timaeus can't be traced back to any existing place. Extensive research has been done to the translations of these conversations (the originals being long lost). A friend of mine claims to have discovered that the ten names of the kings represent homonyms that actually tells the story of the sea peoples.

 

[rewebster]

it was probably those darned Norwegians

 

[fuzzyfelt]

I think the difference may be that painting uses a pigment, binder and media and sometimes glaze. I think the Romans used oil as a medium or glaze and there have been other instances of oil used like this or perhaps even as a binder too, prior to the Rennaisance, but following a little from what Andre said, the Van Eyck brothers were credited with perfecting the combination of using linseed oil as a binder and media and perhaps glaze in a way that lasted, dried evenly and allowed luminous layers. I don't know whether this technique was used in the remains of these recently discovered paintings, and not to detract from how interesting the find is, they do not look too similar to the Arnolfini Wedding.