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The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the value of the application of the basic principles of visual perception, acquired via psychological research, to the study of ancient art. The particular focus is art from the Late Bronze Age on the Greek mainland, the period described as ‘Mycenaean’.
The paper gives a brief introduction to the appropriate psychological research. It addresses the mechanisms of visual perception, and gives a summary of the physiological processes exploited by artists. The effects produced by neural mechanisms at the various stages in the human visual system, and their contribution to the appearance of works of art, will be discussed. Topics considered include the processes which exaggerate differences in contrast, the areas of the brain dealing with the perception of colour, form, movement and spatial organisation, as well as the mechanisms involved in the perception and recognition of faces.
The various aspects of visual perception are complemented by a series of examples dealing with the methods of representation of the human face and form, the recognition of the individual, and composition, form and colour in Mycenaean art. These broad headings encompass a wide variety of topics, including investigation of the origins of the spiral in prehistoric Aegean art, schematic representations of the human form, images of the human face from the shaft graves at Mycenae, depictions of agonistic conflict, a cognitive approach to the interpretation of Mycenaean female dress and identity, and the use of colour coding in the representation of costumes in Mycenaean wall painting.
The case study to receive detailed consideration in this paper deals with preferences for directional movement in procession frescos and processions in other media.
The paper concludes that the use of research into the effects on artistic production caused by both the physiological mechanisms involved in visual perception, as well as the principles of cognitive psychology, incorporating the effects of learned behaviour, produces a novel way of interpreting images from Late Bronze Age Greece.
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