Conclusion
•Based on Pausanius’s description of the mural, archaeology of the building itself and contemporary vase
painting, it is possible to
speculate, with a fair degree of accuracy,
about the physical characteristics and placement of figures on the mural, as well as their relative size.
•However, we are much limited in speculation about actual colors used because we know that free painting on walls utilized more varied colors than those possible
of vases (e.g., the tomb of the
diver), but the only contemporary
references we have to compare with ARE vase paintings, making the colors less reliable in any reconstruction.
•Finally, there are a few ‘items’ or inanimate objects
that Pausanius refers to in
his description, but for the most part,
we are left to speculate about how much foreground and background material (i.e., trees, plants,
rocks, ground/contour lines) to
include in any reconstruction.
