Art in Middle Earth.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I think, given the general concept of Middle-Earth as the place where beautiful things are in the beginning and then things get only older, ruined, destroyed and/or uglier (or not as pretty as they were in the beginning, anyway), painting does not really fit this scheme very well. Painting fades with time, but it is not meant to last very long in the first place. Statues, in the ideal way, would last millenia. Painting won't last very long. So painting, if I generalise it, could at most be only rather "low-rank", not very "reliable" form of art. Maybe made for the moment, but not to endure. That would explain why the narration or the characters do not pay it very much attention, if any.

That is along the lines of my point, though you've put it more plainly.

When one thinks of Elves and Dwarves, are there instances of them even making complex statues? Their history, especially to the Elves, was something that to them was almost alive on its own anyway. They may have simply thought that such efforts as painting and sculpting were unnecessary; first as a means of remembrance, as their feel of the flowing of time was quite different from mortals, or even for mere joy of creation, as they seemed much more attuned to song as a way of expressing emotion.

We see the Dwarves making simple stone markers, such as the one that indicated where Durin first viewed the Mirrormere, but I can't recall anything more representative of actual historical figures.