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1 Pliny here commits a mistake, which may have arisen from an imperfect recollection, as Sir. H. Davy has supposed, of a passage in Cicero (Brutus, c. 18), which, however, quite contradicts the statement of Pliny. "In painting, we admire in the works of Zeuxis, Polygnotus, Timanthes, and those who used four colours only, the figure and the lineaments; but in the works of Echion, Nicomachus, Protogenes, and Apelles, everything is perfect." Indeed Pliny contradicts himself, for he speaks of two others colours used by the earliest painters, the testa trita, or ground earthenware, in Chapter 5 of this Book; and "cinnabaris," or vermilion, in B. xxxiii. c. 36. Also, in Chapter 21 of this Book he speaks of Eretrian earth as having been used by Nicomachus, and in Chapter 25 of ivory black as having been invented by Apelles.
2 These painters will all be noticed in Chapter 36.
3 See Chapter 19 of this Book.
4 See B. xxxiii. c. 56.
5 Blue is here excluded altogether, unless under the term "atramentum" we would include black and blue indicum, or in other words, Indian ink and indigo.
6 See Chapter 27 of this Book.
7 In allusion to "Dragon's blood." See B. xxxiii. c. 38.
8 In Chapter 2 of this Book.
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