Flotilla Fresco Analysis

Salvaged in the 1960’s, the Flotilla Fresco was discovered in a building that had been obscured under volcanic ash. This was due to a series of natural forces. The painting is a Fresco, which is a technique in art where the paint is applied on plaster that has not dried yet. There are many speculations of what the painting is portraying. From a commemoration celebrating a new sailing period, military ships, or a transit from Akrotiri to Crete. This painting is treated as one of the most beneficial resources in the discovery of what life was like on the island obscured in volcanic ash (Strasser, 2010: 2). Because Minoans had open rooms, breezeways, and open air altars, they painted their subjects to incorporate nature into their lives. Since the civilization was on an island, the subjects were usually marine life, ships, and beach scenes. The …show more content…
At least 14 dolphins, and the towns harbor. The dolphins may be a symbol of the open sea. The ships and dolphins that are placed on a the top half of this piece could symbolize that they are farther away. (Chapin 1995: 56). This is most likely because of the speed that the art was painted in, creating less time to focus on scale & proportion which was seemingly unnecessary. Although Minoan art usually consists of little negative space, such as in the Octopus Vase, c 1500 BCE, the Flotilla Fresco seems to be painted with more negative space. The practice where the artist avoided negative space is called horror vacui, this is seen in both Greek and Minoan painting, usually in pottery. The river around the town of Departure has been taken by some as suggestive of a non-Cycladic setting (Forsyth 1997: 77). All of the animals shown in the Flotilla Fresco belong in a Cycladic landscape. The lion, painted on the flagships hull, is not a mythological creature, so this is supporting the fact that this scene represents a real