From a minute study of the paintings I am reasonably sure that the artists of this past age waited until the walls of a building were completed and the inner surface had been covered with a thin, hard stucco, then they painted the whole wall-surface to an even tone of color, usually a light olive green. Upon this the outlines of their pictures were sketched, either with red chalk or some soft red stone. The outlines were then intensified with a brush dipped in red pigment. From the character of the brush-marks I judge the brushes to have been made of hair or feathers. The next step was the laying in of the colors, the pigment being mixed with some sort of varnish that dried and permitted other colors to be superimposed.
For example, take the figure of a man. After the outline was completed, the whole figure was painted flesh color. When this was dry, further outlining within the figure was done. Then another color was laid over the shield, clothing, and other portions. Some details of the shield might then be ornamented with still another color, and another would be laid on the bosses of the shield and perhaps several colors put into the head-dress. Wherever the red outlines were painted over, yet were needed for completion of the work, new red outlines were painted in.
Facing page 220 [Transcriber: missing] is the reproduction of a tracing I have made of a red outline, showing as faithfully as possible the beginning and ending of each brush-mark. It is in the same free-hand style used by the modern painter.
Bas-relief work was much used in the Sacred City and for this type of art the cracks between the stone-work were filled in with stucco to give an even surface and then the whole surface was polished. The artist cut his designs into both stone and stucco. I cannot say how this work was laid out, but it is reasonable to suppose that it was outlined in red chalk and pigment much as murals were. The incised work is from a quarter to half an inch deep and the figures stand out boldly, especially when the direction of the light is from a particularly favorable angle.
The projecting part of each relief was painted in identically the same manner as murals, one color after another being superimposed. A notable example of this type of art is found in the Temple of Bas-Reliefs, which is just back of the mound of the Tiger Temple, and is unique in the fact that it is situated upon level ground and not upon a pyramid.
Of this building there is still standing the right wall, nearly all the back wall, a fragment of the left wall, and about a fourth of the ceiling. The colors upon the bas-reliefs, with which walls and ceiling are covered, are quite clear except upon the left wall, where for some reason they are much faded but still distinguishable. On the ceiling the colors are remarkably distinct, especially several tones of blue. I recollect that my uncle, who painted the “Spirit of Seventy-Six,” once told me that blue is a fugitive color and that there is no such thing as permanent blue, which, he jokingly remarked, is the reason why painters use a pigment called “permanent blue.” The prevailing shade of blue used in these bas-reliefs is what artists of to-day would term indigo blue in various tones.
Appropriate coloring has been used throughout. The flesh is flesh-colored; garments, war-gear, everything is properly colored. In these as in nearly all the bas-reliefs, the incisions or background are colored a deep red, originally, I judge, as brilliant as Chinese vermilion but now mostly faded to a brick red.
These walls represent the very pinnacle of Maya art. There is nothing of antiquarian interest upon the American continents that excels or even approaches them. The figures are not stiff and unlifelike as are Egyptian figures. On the contrary, they are uncannily faithful portrayals of men in action. They are about three feet high, and on these walls are more than eighty figures of kings, gods, priests, and warriors. Many, particularly the priests, are clad in most wonderful and elaborate vestments. The warriors are more simply clothed and all carry hul-ches such as were actually found in the Sacred Well. Upon the back of each fighting man is a quiver holding five darts. Each dart bears the individual mark of its owner, so that if retrieved it might be returned to him.
The bas-reliefs depict six different scenes, and each runs completely about the room. Separating each scene from the one above it is the conventionalized body of a great serpent.
In all of this work I have discovered but one female figure. Below this figure is an ornamental border about eight inches high on which are engraved flowers and small human figures in curious acrobatic postures.