The more things change...

This morning petrusplancius  elsewhere kindly posted this link to a large collection of works by Max Klinger, an artist about whom I was living in a dream world of misinformation and false surmise.

Before I could take advantage of his generosity, however, I happened this afternoon to read this in the article by Clottes and Lewis-Williams on the paleolithic in the new handbook on ancient religion from Cambrdige edited by John R. Hinnells (very mysteriously with no treatment of Iranian religion which one would have expected from Hinnells himself), concerning the well known practice of cave artists of that era either making palm prints in paint on the cave wall, or holding their hand against the wall and spitting paint over them to leave an outline:

When paint was sprayed...over the hand, the hand 'disappeared' into the rock. Similarly, when placed on the palm and fingers, the paint acted as a 'solvent', dissolving the hard rock and creating access to the [spirit] relam behind the surface.

 

This, evening, when I was able to go through the Klinger works, I saw this piece called Philosoph.

I think I have to explain by some innate charactersitic of human neurophysiology rather than diffusion. If only Ginzberg hadn't lost his nerve (or his mind!) and fallen back on magic mushrooms in Ecstacies!