Near the light-well on the other side of the line of
pillars, outside nature was brought within doors by a beautiful
piece of fresco-painting which shows fishes swimming through the
water, and dashing off foam-bells and ripples in their rapid course.
Along the north wall of the room ran another gay fresco, representing
a company of dancing-girls on a scale of half life-size. One of
the dancers is clad in a jacket with a yellow ground and blue and
red embroidered border, beneath which is a diaphanous chemise. Her
left arm is bent, and her right stretched forward; her features are
piquant, if not beautiful, and a slight dimple shows at the corner
of her lips. Her long black hair, elaborately waved and crimped,
floats out on either side of her head as she turns in the movement of
the dance. The fragments of decoration which have survived help us
to realize a very beautiful room, gay with colour, yet never garish
because of the softness of the indirect illumination, in which we may
imagine the Minoan Court ladies, in their modern gowns, reclining
on the cushions of the long couch, discussing the incidents of the
last bull-grappling entertainment, the skill of the young Athenian
Theseus, and the obvious infatuation of Princess Ariadne, or employing
their time more usefully in some of the wonderful embroidery-work
in which the fashion of the period delighted.
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