Teotihl'acan was a painted city. Relatively little sculpture in the round or in relief ornamented the buildings. Instead, a large number of temples and habitations were covered with colorful mural paintings. The finds at this point are too sporadic to allow us to be certain why some structures were painted and some were not, but painting was found in apartment compounds of een relatively modest means. WTiile few paintings are known to date to the Tlamimilolpa phase (A. D. 200-400), many more are from the Xolalpan phase (A D. 400-650), and een more date from the Metepec phase (A. D. 650750). This is due, in part, to the accidents of preseiAution; the last layers of murals were the best preserved.
A nineteenth<entur)' French explorer, Desire (diarnay, compared the murals he saw to. Viibusson carpets becau. se of then jewellike colors and rich borders. Indeed, the first aspect that strikes the modern viewer is their color and ornamental quality: modern iewers sometimes compare them to wallpaper. The murals were painted in the true fresco technique — on damp plaster — with mineral pigments that included malachite for the splendid greens and hematite mixed uith ground mica for the deep red, sparkling backgrounds. The five most common colors — maroon, pink, green, blue, and yellow — are close to each other in value. Although hannonious, they are not high in contrast. WTiite and black, which would have added contrast, were only sparingly used. As a result, the murals require scrutiny to make out what is represented.
Undoubtedly a part of the purpose of the murals was to ornament walls with their rich colors and complex repeating patterns. The subject matter of the murals was full of symbolic meaning we are in the process of anah'zing. Regardless of whether the murals were in temples or habitations, the same motifs and snbjecLs were used.
The stle of some Teotihuacan murals is one of the most elaborate nvo-dimensional spies in the world, and compares to Irish medieval manuscripts or Persian miniatures in rendering. Some images are ornamental, some are a form of simple naturalism, while others are abstract diagrams. Any one mural may be a combination of all three. The aspects of some murals are flat while other features are rendered in depth. A study of the signs, which number nearlv three hundred, and their relationships, has shown that all of the iconographic themes and ghphs interrelate in a bewildering neUvork. We must assume a sophisticated Teodhua-can public who enjoved the Usual play of color and form, as well as the intellectual game of making sense of them. The puzzlelike qualities of this art that frustrate us may have been a source of delight to them.
World History
