Outlines of the History of Art, Volume I
by Wilhelm Lubke
1888
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
THE present work is much esteemed in Germany, as is proved by the fact, that, since its first publication in 1860, it has gone through seven editions. In England, also, where a translation from an early German edition has been made by Miss F. E. Bunnett, the work has enjoyed a considerable popularity. The American publishers at first intended to reprint this English translation, adding all the matter with which Prof. Liibke has enriched his latest edition, none of which is, of course, to be found in the English translation, and with, beside, such notes as might prove useful to American readers. But this plan had to be abandoned, because the translation was found to be so seriously wanting in accuracy as to render correction necessary at every step ; and It was feared that these changes, with the insertion of so much entirely new matter, could only result in a thing of shreds and patches.
PUBLIC LIBP
D DQ01 0067755
fydr'Js Preface.
If ts"'ftot jtecesSferf ; to hiore than hint at the state of the case ..tp. justify the editor's rejection of work he might hafaS'lSfeen expected to use. It will be sufficient to say, that, at an early period in the course of his revision, it was decided to make an entirely new translation ; and this work was confided to competent hands, under the able supervision of Mr. Edward L. Burlingame,
The reader of this book is asked to remember that it is not intended for scholars, but for students ; and to such it may be cordially commended, since, all deductions allowed, these merits seem to remain unchallenged, - accuracy in the statements made, and a desire to be temperate and just, with an excellent sense of proportion that rarely permits the author to give undue consideration to any one portion of his subject. If he anywhere err by the " too much/' it may be thought to be in his treatment of German architecture, both in the Gothic period and in the time of the Renaissance. It may, however, be urged in his defence, that our popular books are wanting in information on just these parts of the general subject ; and that, far from reproaching the author with his fulness on these topics, we ought to be obliged to him for telling us so much about a matter of which the most of us know so little. .
On the other hand, our author sometimes errs bv the
Editor's
"too little;" as when he finds/in\]$^
seven artists worthy of mention," two" of whpm are Ger-
* ., V ~ -
mans ; and when a page suffices him for atFhe-iias to say on the subject of English art in the nineteenth century. But these are slight defects in a work of such extent ; and considering how easily the deficiency in the account, whether of ourselves or of our English neighbors, can be supplied, they are defects that call for only a passing mention.
The editor's work has been confined to a revision of the text, in which he has endeavored to be faithful. While he knows too much of the difficulties of the work to hope that he has escaped all errors, his only consolation will be, when faithful critics show the public and himself his faults, that he alone will know how many have escaped their notice. As for the notes, he has confined himself to such as he thought would add to the usefulness of the book.
The references in the footnotes to books which treat of the various subjects discoursed upon have been carefully revised, and all particulars added, so far as has been possible, that would make it easy to procure the books mentioned either from the libraries or from the booksellers. A complete bibliography, or any approach to one, has not, of course, been attempted ; but it is hoped that the student will find all the books referred to useful.
tfolotfs Preface.
* J
een to name the latest edition
: : .- :.- :**.J.*:*: ../:
in every cas^ ^nd also to refer to whatever English or
** ; *J
American bofo&may have been published on any subject treated of in the text. In justice to the author, it has been thought advisable to enclose in brackets [ ] all the notes added by the editor, and all the titles of books added by him to Prof. Liibke's original references.
An Index has been specially made for this American edition by Mr. W. M. Ferriss, which will no doubt be rightly valued by those who use the book. To the publishers for the liberality with which they have seconded him in his desire to present Prof. Ltibke's work worthily to American readers, and to the printers and the proofreaders for the unwearied care with which they have watched over the book from title-page to closing line, are due the grateful thanks of
THE EDITOR. 171 WEST TENTH STREET, NEW YORK.
CONTENTS
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
ORIGIN AND BEGINNINGS OF ART e o <> i
FIRST BOOK. THE ANCIENT ART OF THE EAST.
CHAPTER I. EGYPTIAN ART.
1. Land and People 17
2. The Architecture of the Egyptians 21
3. The Sculpture of the Egyptians 36
CHAPTER 1 1. THE ART OF CENTRAL ASIA.
A, BABYLON AND NINEVEH 50
B. PERSIA AND MEDIA 66
CHAPTER III. THE ART OF WESTERN ASIA.
A. PHOENICIANS AND HEBREWS ....... 78
B. THE RACES OF ASIA MINOR 86
CHAPTER IV. THE ART OF EASTERN ASIA.
A. INDIA:
1. Land and People 95
2. The Architecture of the Indians 9 8
3. The Sculpture of the Hindoos 106
ix
First Volume.
* 2 ""' * *
t * 4 *^ 4 * * *
* /? **
"i. Cas^erS V> 2 /*-:* .....
2. NcWgtBJva, and Pegu
3. Cftakanfl Japan
PACK
no
TI2
SECOND BOOK. CLASSIC ART.
CHAPTER I. GREEK ART.
1. Land and People .121
2. Greek Architecture :
a. The System ......... 13
b. Epochs and Principal Buildings . . . . -MS
The First Epoch ...-.,. . 146
The Second Epoch . ........ 15=
The Third Epoch . . . . . . , 161
3. Greek Plastic Art :
a. Subject and Form 1 fy
b. The Epochs of Greek Art, and their Remains . . 1 75
The First Epoch 177
The Second Epoch i)i
The Third Epoch . . . . . . , 2i<)
The Fourth Epoch 231
c. Coins and Engraved Gems ...... 2^0
4. Greek Painting :
a. Its Character and Influence . , . . * 2,43
b. Historical Development 246
c. Painting on Vases . , -253
CHAPTER II. ETRUSCAN ART 258
CHAPTER III. ROMAN ART.
1. Character of the Romans . . . . o 27?
2. Roman Architecture :
a. Its System 275
b. Its Monuments *, 281
3. Sculpture among the Romans ..,.. 302 4* Painting among the Romans 319
Appendix. Artistic Handicrafts among the Ancients . . 324
Contents of the First Volume. xi
THIRD BOOK. MEDIAEVAL ART. CHAPTER I. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
PAGE
1. Origin and Significance , 337
2. Early Christian Architecture :
a. Monuments at Rome 339
& Monuments at Ravenna 351
c. Monuments in the East and in Byzantium . . . 355
d. Monuments in the North 368
3. Early Christian Sculpture and Painting 372
CHAPTER II. MOHAMMEDAN ART.
r. Character and Artistic Faculty of the Arabs . 410
2. Mohammedan Architecture 414
3. Its Monuments ;
a. In Egypt and Sicily 419
//. In Spain 424
c. In Turkey, Persia, and India 433
4. Appendix. Christian Art in the Orient:
a, Armenia and Georgia 439
& Russia 441
CHAPTER III. THE ROMANESQUE STYLE.
1 . Character of the Romanesque Epoch 443
2. Romanesque Architecture :
rt. Its System - 446
b. Germany 470
Italy 49 2
Frarfce 58
England . . S l(5
Scandinavia 520
Spain 529
3. Romanesque Sculpture and Painting ;
a. Their Subject and Method 534
& Historic Development 53&
In the Countries North of the Alps .-..538
Italy 562
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN
THE FIRST VOLUME.
FIG.
1. Celtic Monument ....
2. Stonehenge .....
3. Arch at Delos. Fergusson .
4. Dolmen (Pierre leve"e), near Poi-
tiers, thirteen feet long and three feet thick (mentioned by Rabelais)
5. Teocalli of Guatusco .
6. Casa de las Monjas at Uxmal
7. Head of Tiaguanaco .
8. Vessels of the Bronze Period
9. Ornaments of the Bronze Period .
10. Sphinx and Pyramid of Gizeh
11. Tomb of Beni-Hassan .
12. Capital of Beni-Hassan
13. Restored View of an Egyptian
Temple ..... 29
14. Details of an Egyptian Temple .
15. Statue and Obelisk
1 6. Longitudinal Section and Ground-
Plan of the Temple of Chensu atKarnak
17. Capital at Karnak . . .
1 8. Capital at Karnak
19. Temple at Elephantine
20. Capital from Edfu
21. Capital from Denderah
22. Wooden Statue. Found by Mari-
ette at Sakkarah. Museum at Boulaq
23. Egyptian Heads in Relief .
24. Egyptian Wall-Paintings
25. Relief at Karnak. Sethos I.
26 Sethos I., with Osiris, Isis, and Horus ... * *
PAGE
FIG.
2
27.
3
4
28.
29.
5
31-
6
3 2 -
8
33-
9
10
34-
IT
35-
25
36.
27
28
37-
38.
29
39-
29
40.
29
41.
42.
43-
3
44-
33
33
45.
35
46.
36
47-
36
48.
38
49-
3 40
50.
41
43
5i-
46
53-
Subject from "The Book of the
Dead" 47
Ground-Plan of the North-west
Palace of Nimrud 53
Ornament at Kujjundjik . . 54
Details from Assyrian Palaces . 55
Details from Assyrian Palaces . 55
Fortress, from an Assyrian Relief, 57 Representation of an Assyrian
Temple 58
Relief at Kujjundjik . . - . 59 Figures of Assyrian Rulers . . 62 Bass-Relief. Assyrian Court Officials 63
Relief from Nimrud ... 63
Assyrian Head . . . . 64
Portal at Khorsabad ... 65
Tomb of Cyrus .... 69
Relief of Cyrus ... 69
Ruins of the Palace of Persepolis, 70
Details of Persian Architecture . 72 Rock-Facade of Royal Tombs in
Persia 73
Column from Susa ... 74
Relief from Persepolis ... 75
Relief from Persepolis ... 76 Tomb at Amrith (restored). From
Renan So
Temple-Cella at Amrith. From
Renan 82
Coin from the Temple of Venus
(Astarte) at Paphos ... 84
Tomb of Absalom, at Jerusalem . $5
Tomb of Tantalus, in Lydia . 88
Tomb of Midas .... 89 xiii
xiv List of Illustrations in the First Volume.
54. Rock Tomb at Myra ...
55. Rock-cut Tombs at Myra . .
56. Tomb at Kyanea-Jaghu . ,
57. Capital of the Column at Bhitari,
58. From the Column at Allahabad .
59. Thuparamaya-Dagop . . .
60. Cave of Karli. Ground-Plan and
Section
61. Cave of Elephanta . . .
62. Capital at Ellora ...
63. Pillar at Ellora . . . .
64. Pagoda of Mahamalaipur . .
65. Relief from Mahamalaipur . .
66. Relief of Kailasa at Ellora . .
67. Temple of Payach . . .
68. Temple of Boro Budor . .
69. Chinese Temple . . .
70. Doorway at Missolonghi. From
Fergusson . . . .
71. The Lion-Relief fr6m the Gate at
Mycense
72. Plan and Section of the Treasury
of Atreus at Mycense . .
73. Details from the Treasure-House
of Atreus ....
74. Ground-Plan of the Temple of
Theseus at Athens . . .
75. Section of the Great Temple at
Pastum
76. Doric Order. From the Temple
of Theseus in Athens . .
77. Ornament on the Capitals of the
Antse-Pilasters of the Theseum. Athens 138
78. Ionic Order. From the Temple
of Pallas, Athene, at Priene (Caria) 140
79. Attic-Ionic Style. From the
Erectheium at Athens . .
80. Capital and Entablature from the
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at Athens . . . Si. Remains of Temple (of Castor and Pollux?) at Agrigentum . 82. Ground-Plan of the Temple of Poseidon at Paestum . . , 83; View of the Interior of the Temple of Poseidon at Pgestum .
84. Plan of the Temple of Diana at
Ephesus
85. View of the Temple of Theseus .
PAGE
FIG.
PACK
9
86. From the Parthenon .
55
9 I
87. Ground-Plan of the Propylica.
9 2
The Entrance to the Acropolis
99
of Athens ....
156
99
88. North-wesst View of the JErcc-
101
theium
'5
89. The Acropolis of Athcns,rcstorcd,
160
102
90. Monument of Lysicratcs ,
162
103
91. The Lantern of Diogenes .
163
105
92. The so-called Tomb of Theron at
105
Agrigentum ....
ify
106
93, Capital from the Apollo Temple
109
at Miletus ....
165
no
94. Metope-Relief from Selinus
179
III
95. Apollo of Tenea ....
180
"3
96. From the Harpy Monument from
114
Xanthus. British Museum .
182
97. Relief from Thasos .
184
124
98. Copy of the Group of the Tyran-
nicides at Athens .
183
125
99. Statues on the Western Pediment
of Temple at ^Egina. Munich .
186
126
ioo. Disk-Thrower, after Myron
190
101. Marsyas, after Myron
191
128
102. Coin of Elis, from Overbeck
196
103. Bust of Jupiter from Otricoli.
*3*
Vatican
^97
104. Juno. Possibly by Alcamencs.
133
In the Ludovisi Palace^ Rome,
200
105. Relief from Eleusis .
202
i35
1 06. From the Frieze of the Temple
of Theseus ....
203
107. Female Figure from the Eastern
138
Pediment of the Parthenon.
London . . , , ,
QA.
1 08. Theseus, from the Eastern Pedi-
140
ment of the Parthenon, Lon-
don
206
J 43
109. Metope from the Parthenon ,
207
1 10. From the Frieze of the Parthe-
non
209
*45
in. From the Frieze of the Parthe*
non . . . .
210
148
ii2. From the Friese of the Parthe-
non ,..*,.
21!
149
113. Venus of Milo. Louvre .
212
114. Caryatide from the Erecthetom ,
313
150
115. From the Frieze of the Temple
of Nikfc Apteros .
314
151
116. Hera, possibly after Polycletua.
153
Naples
216
List of Illustrations in the First Volume.
xv
FIG.
117. From the Frieze of the Temple
at Phigalia. London
118. From the Frieze of the Temple
at Phigalia. London
1 19. From the Frieze of the Temple
at Phigalia. London
120. Eirene, after Cephisodotus, Mu-
nich
121. The Faun of Praxiteles
1 22. From the Parapet of the Temple
of Nikfe Apteros
123. Head of Niobe. Florence.
124. From the Mausoleum at Hali-
carnassus ....
125. The Apoxyomenoe, after Lysip-
pus. Vatican
126. The Statue of Sophocles. Late-
ran Museum ....
127. Group of the Laocoon. Vatican,
128. The Dying Gladiator. Rome,
Capitoline Museum
129. The Apollo Belvedere. Vatican,
130. Examples of Greek Coins .
131. Wall-Painting from Psestum
132. Wail-Painting from Pompeii
133. The DodwellVase,now at Munich,
134. Greek Vases of the Oldest Style,
135. Greek Vases ,
136. From the Fagade of a Tomb at
Norchia 261
137. Sepulchral Chamber at Cervetri .
138. Facade of Tomb at Castellaccio .
139. The Etruscan Orator, Florence .
140. Relief on Etruscan Tomb .
141. Etruscan Wall-Painting .
142. Etruscan Mirrors
143. Roman Corinthian Capital ,
144. Composite Capital
145. Roman Doric Order .
146. Corinthian Cornice from the Arch
of Titus 279
147. Capital and Base from Temple of
Vesta at Tivoli
148. Section of the Pantheon .
149. Maison Quarre*e at Nimes. .
150. Section of the House of Pansa at
Pompeii 289
151. Hall in the so-called House of
Sallust at Pompeii .
152. Section and Portion of the Eleva-
tion of the Colosseum .
PAGE
FIG.
'53-
218
154,
'55-
218
156.
219
I 57-
158.
221
224
159.
160.
225
161.
227
162.
228
163.
230
164.
165.
2 33
166.
237
167.
242
252
2 53
168.
254
254
169.
256
170.
261
262
263
171.
265
266
172.
268
'73-
269
174-
278
175-
278
176.
279
177-
279
178.
179-
282
180.
284
287
181,
289
182,
290
183.
184,
291
185-
Arch of Titus .... Bridge of Alcantara . . . View of a Portion of the Palace
of Diocletian at Salona . . Porte d'Arroux at Autun . . Porta Nigra at Treves . . Faade of Rock-cut Tomb at
Petra, El Dei r . . . Caryatide of the Vatican . . The Nile reposing. Vatican . Roman Portrait-Statues with the
Vati-
PAGE
293 294
300 301
302 304 306
308
The Pudicitia (Modesty).
can ...... 309
Marble Statue of Augustus . 310 Busts of Roman Emperors . 311 Portion of Relief on Trajan's
Column ..... 313 Portion of Relief on Trajan's
Column ..... 314 Apotheosis o'f Antoninus Pius
and his Empress. Relief from
the Base of the Column of An-
toninus Pius . . . .315 Relief from the Arch of Constan-
tine ..... 316 Sarcophagus in the Capitoline
Museum . . . 318
The Parting of Achilles and
Briseis. Wall-Painting from
Pompeii ..... 321 Genre-Subject. Wall-Painting
from Pompeii .... 322 Greek Prize-Vases . . . 326 Greek Amphorae and Craterae * 326 Greek Drinking-Horns . . 327 Roman Marble Vases . . . 328 Antique Tripods and Censers . 329 Antique Candelabra in Bronze
and Marble . . . 331
Antique Gold Ornaments . . 332 Roman Armor .... 333 Interior of the Basilica of St.
Paul, Outside the Walls at
Rome ..... 348 Plan of the Old Basilica of St.
Peter at Rome . . . 349 Baptistery of St. John Lateran . 350 Capital from Ravenna . 352 Interior of San Vitale. Ravenna, 354 Basilika at Tafkha (Section) . 357
xvi List of Illustrations in the First Volume.
FIG. F^*
1 86. Group of Buildings in Djebel-
Riha 359
187. Capital from Santa Sophia. . 362 "188. Ground-Plan of the Church of
Santa Sophia - 3 6 4
189. Fagade of the Church of the
Mother of God. Constantinople 3 6 7
190. Minster at Aachen . . 37
191. Early Christian Bronze Lamps
and Glass .... 374
192. Ceiling-Painting in the Cata-
combs of St. Calixtus . .377
193. Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus.
Rome 378
194. Sarcophagus in the Church of St.
Ambrose. Milan . . .379
195. Ananias and Sapphira. Ivory
Tablet at Salerno . . .380
196. The Good Shepherd. From the
Catacombs of Santa Agnese . 381
197. Mosaic in the Church of SS.
Cosmo and Damiano. Rome . 388
198. From the Mosaics of San Vitale.
Ravenna 391
199. Mosaic in the Vestibule of Santa
Sophia 393
200. Chair of Bishop Maximianus.
Ravenna .... 397
201. The Emperor Lothair and Charles
the Fat. Frankish Miniatures, 398
202. Irish Miniature .... 399
203. Crown of St. Stephen. At* Ofen
(Buda) 402
204. German Pins and Brooches . 404
205. The Throne of Dagobert.
Louvre 407
206. Tassilo's Goblet. Krerasmiinster, 408
207. Mosque of Amru in Old Cairo . 415
208. Mosque at Tabriz . . .415
209. Arch at Tarragona . . .416
210. Pendentives in the Kuba at Pa-
lermo ..... 417
211. Portal at Iconium . . . 418
212. Arcades of the Mosque Amru . 421
213. From the Mosque Ibn-Tulum . 422
214. Ground-Plan of the Zisa . . 423 715. Ground-Plan of the Mosque at
Cordova ..... 425 216. Section of the Mosque of Cordova , 426
FIG.
217. Portion of the Giralda at Seville.
218. Ground-Plan of the Alhambra .
219. Capital from the Alhambra
220. Border of Arch. Alhambra
221. Portico of the Gencralife .
222. Portal of the Mosque of Ispahan,
223. Mausoleum at Bedjapur
224. Cathedral at Ani
225. Church of Wasili Blagcnnui, At
Moscow .....
226. Church at Monreale .
227. S. Godehard at Hiidesheim
228. Cathedral at Gurk .
229. Church at Huysburg .
230. From the Cathedral at Modena .
231. Base of Column from the Cathe-
dral of Parenzo
232. Cubiform or Block Capital from
the Cathedral at Ourk .
233. Calyx-Capitals. Church at Hor-
234. Arch-Frieze. Church at Wiener-
Neustadt ....
235. Church at Schwarz-Rheindorf .
236. Fagade of the Church of St. Jitk,
237. Cathedral at Worms. After Dol-
linger .
238. Plan of the Baptistery at Parma .
239. Baptistery at Asti
240. Capital from Hsiligkreug .
241. Portal at Heilsbronn , . ,
242. St. Michael's Church at Hiides-
heim
243. Cathedral at Trier (TrSvea)
Western End . * *
244. Interior of the Cathedral at
Speyer
245. Church of the Holy Apostles at
Cologne. From Dollinger .
246. Cathedral at Limburg, , *
247. Cloister at KfimgsIUtter
248. Cloister in the Great Minster at
Zurich
249. Church at Trebitsch. Cross-
Section *
250. Church of jak ,
251. Monastery Church of Jerichow.
From Adler
252. San Micchele, Lucca
253. Baptistery at Florence
254. Apse of the Cathedral at Palermo,
PAGK
427 428
43 * 43*
432
437 439 440
442 447 447 44*5 450
45* 453 454
457 458
4fa 464 469
473 476
478 483
489
49* 497 499 500
List of Illustrations in the First Volume. xvii
I'IO. PAGE
355. San Marco. Venice . . 503
256. Cathedral at Modena . , . 505
257. S. Sernin. Toulouse . . .510
258. Notre Dame du Port at Clermont.
Cross-Section . . . .511
259. S, Front, at PeYigueux . -513
260. St. Etienne, Caen . . . 515
261. From the Church at Waltham . 517
262. Cathedral of Peterborough.
Ground-Plan . . . 519
263. Cathedral of Peterborough. Sec-
tion 519
264. Cathedral at Ribe. Cross-Section, 520
265. Crypt of the Cathedral at Viborg, 521
266. The Cathedral at Lund . . 524
267. Church at Borgund . . .528
268. Door of the Church at Tind . 529
269. Church of St. Isidoro. Leon . 531
270. Tower of the Cathedral of Sala-
manca 533
271. Ivory Relief, Paris . . .541
272. Reliefs on a Hunting-Horn.
Prague 542
273. Tomb-Slab of Rudolph of Swabia.
Merseburg .... 544 374, Relief from the Font in the
Church of St. Bartholomew.
Liittich 545
575. From the Candelabrum in the
Cathedral at Prague . . 546
FIG. PAGE
276. Relief from the Church at Gro-
ningen 547
277. Relief in the Church at Wechsel-
burg 548
278. Statue from the Main Portal of
the Cathedral of Chartres . 550
279. From the Verdun Altar at Klos-
ter-Neuburg . . . -553
280. Apparition at the Birth of Christ.
From the Manuscript of Werner von Tegernsee . . . 556
281. Dido and .^Eneas. From the
Manuscript of the ^Eneid . 557
282. Wall-Painting in St. Savin . . 558
283. Wall-Painting from Schwarz-
rheindorf 559
284. From the Roof of St. Michael in
Hildesheim .... 561
285. The Evangelists John and Luke.
Relief from Aquileja . . 563
286. The Adoration of the Three
Kings. Relief from Nicola Pisano's Pulpit in the Cathedral of Pisa .... 565
287. Angel from Cimabue's Madonna
in Santa Maria Novella . . 569
288. Madonna by Guido da Siena.
Church of St. Dominic, Siena. 570
289. From Duccio's Picture in theCa*
thedral of Siena . 571
HISTORY OF ART.
"A talent for any art is rare: but it is given to nearly every one to cultivate a taste for art; only it must be cultivated with earnestness. The more things thou learnest to know and to enjoy > the more complete and full mil be for thee the delight of living" PLATEK,
OUTLINES
THE HISTORY OF ART.
INTRODUCTION.
ORIGIN AND BEGINNINGS OF AJRT.
IN the intricate complexity of things around him, man. strives after a knowledge of the general laws which shall bring them into an harmonious connection. Only by the assurance of the deep necessity for such a connection can he calmly and clearly survey the apparent arbitrariness of the separate parts, and perceive, in the successive phases of life afforded by the history of mankind, a progressive development of the ideas and spiritual facts underlying them. If anywhere indispensable, this is especially so in the realm of art, as in its works the character of nations and of centuries is sensibly manifested. The question, therefore, of the origin of art, confronts us at once.
This origin, however, is not so easy to establish, because everywhere, although often obliterated by the productions of later civilization, it took place in a similar manner, as may be seen, even at the present day, among nations yet in an immature condition. The period of this origin is, therefore, just as uncertain as the place. One nation dates the birth of its art a thousand years ago ; another is looking for it still to come. Only so much is certain, that in the first stirrings of an impulse to art, under all zones and at all times, a remarkable harmony may be observed. It is the original universal language of mankind, the traces of which meet us in the islands of the Southern Ocean
2 History of Art.
as on the shores of the Mississippi, among the old Celts and Scandinavians as among the heroes of Homer and in the interior of Asia ; only in these primeval times this language docs not pass beyond its first stammering utterance. Man is still too much fettered by surrounding Nature : he ventures still too little beyond her immediate conditions for him to be able to rise to the portrayal of images of individual freedom. Hence these primitive works seem rather the results of the working's of a general law of nature than the conscious creative efforts of individual man. The farther man advances, in the course of time, on the path of progress, the clearer stand out the differences of individual minds, and the richer is the abundance and variety of individual humari character.
The simplest primitive form, produced by the awakening impulse to art, is the mound (tumulus) heaped up to mark the burying-place of a fallen hero, or the mighty block of stone erected by the joint effort of many hands, rough as the mountain yields it, or as some primeval flood has left it. Here man's work is scarcely distinguishable from the casual formations of nature: the inner associations which man, of his own will, connects with it, alone give it significance. The numerous combinations of such blocks of stone the stonecircles, the grottoes, the rude table-like altar-fonus of stone which we eon* stantly meet with (Kitf. i) scarcely rise above this lowest stage. Vet Fig., Celtic Monument. .- -.even hero, by the mugtih
tude of the ground-plans, or by the colossal size of the stones and the unusual character of their positions and combinations, the aspect of these monuments begins" to affect the imagination. The awful sense of something mysterious, mighty, ay, even fearful, seizes us with feelings similar to that by which the
Primitive Monuments. Stonehenge. 3
foreboding- of Divinity declares itself among people yet in a natural and undeveloped condition. jHere, too, we first perceive a striving after architectural unity and proportion, after composition and a certain harmony, j Two mighty blocks of stone are erected, and a third is placed as a lofty lintel upon them. A number of such combinations are arranged in a circle, or in several wide circles, one within the other ; and the central point of the monument is thus unmistakably indicated. Thus it is with the famous stone-circle (Stonehenge) at Salisbury (Fig. 2).
Double rows of upright stones lead to the place of worship, as in the great monument at Abury. 1 The tomb-chambers also are formed in a similar manner, several of such post-and-lintel
\} " Avebury, Alv, or Abury. A village and parish of England, in the county of Wilts. The village is built on the site of a structure ascribed to the Druids, and similar to that at Stonehenge, but which must have been on a scale still more stupendous. Few traces of it now remain, the stone having been used for repairing roads. In the parish is Silsbury Hill, a hundred and seventy feet in height, and reputed. to be the largest barrow in England." Lip* 'pincott's Gazetteer* The best English book on these early works is undoubtedly Fergusson's Rude Stone Monuments in all Countries ; their Age and Uses. London, 1872. It is profusely and beautifully illustrated.]
History of Art.
combinations being set up side by side. Advancing a step farther on the same stage of art, we find an inclination to a better monumental construction; the tombs, enclosed beneath mounds of rock or earth, being rendered secure by gradually projecting the layers of stone until they meet over the centre, and thus a kind of vault is formed. Other tombs are enclosed in a more simple manner by making two or more stone slabs rest obliquely against each other, like the rafters of a roof (Fig. 3). . _ The monuments
of this primitive period clo not belong exclusively to the Celtic and Germanic prehistoric ages, but ^ are scattered far and
WV~J I \ } I wide over the surface
of the whole earth, as if to prove that everywhere am on g men ait has had one and the same beginning. We find these remains in Scandinavia, England, and Ireland, in Brittany, 1 and in North Germany (in Hanover and the Baltic
'p " A very large number of Celtic or Druidical monuments still exist in France, csj ecially in the western districts and along the southern shores of Brittany. They are of various descrip* tions. Thsmenhir, GS feulvan^ is a mass of rough-hewn stone, fixed upright in the ground like an obelisk, and frequently exceeding thirty feet in height. These occur cither singly, or arranged in vast lines or avenues, as in the well-known instance of Carnac, in the department Morbihan. This monument, the most extensive and celebrated in France, consisted originally of several thousands of these rude pillars of granite, and has been likened to f an army of petrified giants.' The dolmen is composed of a large block, or slab, of .stone, supported horizontally upon two or more stones in an upright position, so as to form a sort of table or altar. It was upon these, no doubt, that the sacrifice was offered. They are known in France by different names, pierre levee (Fig. 4), pierre couwrte, pi&rre levadf. Sometimes they are of considerable size, and form a stone chamber or grotto, through which a man may pass upright. To these must be added the cromlech^ or circle of stones ; the pierre hyan* lante, or rocking-stone^ poised with such exquisite precision on a single point as to bo easily movable by the hand, notwithstanding its stupendous bulk ; and the tumulus^ or barrow^ whiclf was the usual place of sepulture." Student* s History of France, London, 1862, p. ia.]
Fig. 3. Arch at Delos. Fergusson. (From Stuart's Athens^)
Primitive Monuments. America. 5
provinces), also in India and Asia Minor, in Egypt, on the north coast of Africa, and in the region about the Atlas Mountains.
Fig. 4. Dolmen (Pierre levoth his expeditions by Mr. F. Catherwood, an accomplished draughtsman. In making the Irawmgs for the first work, he was assisted by the camera ; but in the second he employed the iaguerrotype, then just invented. This must have been one of the earliest employments of un-printing in the service of archaeology.]
6 History of Art*
travellers. Other remains testify a predilection for terraces, and a use of the so-called Cyclopean stonework, familiar to other primitive peoples all over the world; that is, of walls consisting of irregularly formed blocks of stone fitted carefully together, and the interstices filled with smaller pieces. The door-openings are contracted at the top into a triangular form by means of the gradual projecting of the stones. 1 In Mexico and Central America, especially under the rule of the warlike and powerful Aztecs, art reaches the utmost height to which the mind of the primitive races of America could attain. The stone remains of this people, so highly developed to a certain extent, afford even now striking proofs of their incapacity to attain to a higher culture. We find among them the primeval monumental
Fig. 5. The Teocalli of Guatusco.
form common to every people; reduced among them to a set* tied type, that of a pyramid rising in several terraces. Vast -courts enclosed in walls/ and with the dwellings of the priests connected with them, formed a complicated temple building, of which that of the Teocalli of Guatusco is an example (Fig*. 5). Broad steps led to the height of the platform, where captured
[i E. G. Sqtiier, Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas. ic vol. New York, 1877.]
Desire for Decoration. Sculpture. 7
foes were slaughtered to the horrible war-god Huitztilopochtli. Numerous monuments of this kind are to be found at Xochicalco, Papantla, Guatusco, Tehuantepec, and in other places.
In these works, more or less important remains of which have been preserved, we also discover the primitive development of a second impulse, that craving for ornamentation and decoration which almost always accompanies the awakened desire for monumental memorials. Two things * here serve the creative fancy as motives, -r- first, the arrangement of the threads in the most ancient process of the textile art (that of plaiting 1 ) employed by the earliest pastoral tribes in the manufacture of clothing, tent-cloth, carpets, and curtains ; second, the forms of vegetable and animal life. The ornaments of the first kind are generally richer, and more tasteful in device, and are more neatly executed : they constantly exhibit e.g., in that ribbon-like twist, the well-known meander, which occurs among all nations motives of an artistic kind, such as would seem to have been shared by the human race originally as a common heritage. They are early applied to works of architecture, at first, indeed, in luxuriant overloading, without distinctness, rule, or systematic arrangement ; so that not unfrequently they cover the whole surface like tapestry, and conceal the construction. Many of the later Mexican monuments, especially those at Uxmal, are conspicuous for this (Fig. 6).
Hand in hand with these primitive attempts at monumental structures, we find the first weak efforts at sculpture. Impelled by the needs of his limited perceptions, man, as soon as the working of higher powers has manifested itself to him, aspires
[i "Of the use of woollen stuff not woven, but plaited among the older stock of the Britons, a curious instance was very lately brought to light while cutting through an early Celtic grave-hill, or barrow, in Yorkshire: the dead body had been wrapped, as was shown by the few unrotted shreds still cleaving to its bones, in a woollen shroud of coarse and loose fabric wrought by the plaiting process without a loom." Journal of the Archcsological Society^ t. xxJii. p 254, quoted by Dr. DANIEL ROCK in his Introduction to the Catalogue of Textiti Fabrics in the South Kmsington Museum. London, 1870.]
8
History of Art.
to erect for himself a monument, with which he links the adoration of Deity. At first he is satisfied with a rude monumental column, the mighty form of which serves him as a symbol of that mysterious and supreme Being of whose existence he has a dim perception. Thus architecture and the plastic art proceed from the same cradle. By degrees, however, man seeks to make a more definite image of his Deity : he invests
Fig. 6. Casa de las Monjas at Uxmal.
it with his own features; only, partly from lack of skill, and partly from a vague yearning after the mighty and the vast, he distorts them into strange, and sometimes even monstrous, forms. Remarkable instances of this also are to be found in the monuments of America, 1 such as the colossal head of Tiaguanaco at Lake Titicaca in Peru, represented in Fig, 7.*
1 Cf. Denkm. d. Kunst, plate 3.
[ 2 A cut of this head, showing it both in front and in profile, Is given in Squier's Peru, page 296. It is reproduced from the work of D'Orbigny. Sqiiier says he has no doubt the details are quite as erroneous as those of other figures portrayed by D'Orbigny, But it is evident it is in keeping with all that we learn of the Peruvian sculpture ; and it is, probably,
The Stone Period. The Bronze Period,
9
No less important as evidences of the primitive artistic impulses of mankind are the vessels and implements which are found in the tombs in Northern, Central, and Western Europe. The earliest of these belong to an epoch lying beyond all historical record, when the preparation of metals was unknown ; and hence their poor vessels were laboriously fashioned out of rough blackish clay, and their implements and weapons out of flint. Art has no share in the meagre productions of this Stone Period. Vessels and implements, however, received another impress with the dawn of that advance in civilization which is designated as the Bronze Period. Here, too, there is no link with historical tradition; but in the numerous remains brought to light in Scandinavia, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Switzerland, not only in the tombs, but also in the remarkable sefflements. of the lake-dwellers, and in those lately unearthed by the labors of Schliemann on the sites of ancient Troy and Mycenae, we catch glimpses of that unfolding civilization which in Northern Europe is properly called Celtic. Mingled with the not yet discarded implements of stone we find weapons and implements of bronze, conspicuous for elegance of form and ornament Together with the earthen vessels, there are metal utensils, expressive in outline, and adorned with engraved or stamped ornament (Fig. 8); some of them evidently cookingpans, or dishes for the table, as a, c, and f; and some, as b
substantially correct. "The head is three feet six inches high, and two feet seven inches in diameter; so that, if the other proportions of the figure were corresponding, the total height of the statue was about eighteen feet. " S.QVIBR'$ ; /VW.J.:..
10
History of Art.
and e, richly decorated golden vessels, designed for festive occ* Their ornaments consist of spiral, winding, or circular
sions.
and curved lines, arranged in concentric rings, or surrounding the vessel like a frieze. The same mode of decoration, in still
Fig. 8. Vessels of the Bronze Period.
richer variety, is exhibited in the ornaments, mostly of bronze, but also of gold, and also, though rarely, of silver, specimens of which may be seen in Fig. 9.
From the pins of different kinds (k> /, m, ), the brooches, clasps, buckles (u, v> w, x) with which the mantle or over-
p The pointed form given to .the bottoms of these vessels a form familiar to us in the remains of antiquity, alike in pottery and bronze was probably originally derived from the goun-lw, calabashes, cocoa-nuts, and other thick-skinned or. hard-shelled vegetables and fruits* which, in tropical countries, must have been in all ages the first vessels for holding liquids. They are still found to be so used in all these countries, unless European traders have provided the inhabitants with substitutes made of metal. As these vegetable utensils cannot stand of themselves, they are supported, either by being stuck into the earth by the pointed end, or by being set into rings of wood or metal. In Spain, the old form of the amphora is still in use for holding wine, oil, and olives. It is not many years since olives were brought from Spain to this country in such jars. In Fig, 33, the two jars which stand in front of the temple are seen to be supported on low tripods. In the Castellani collection in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, two small amphorae one of glass, the other of rock-crystalare to be seen, placed in the gold rings like napkin-rings, in which they were standing when the tomb that contained them was opened. (Tray No. 6, Nos. i, 14, 16.) At a later period, instead of a movable tripod, feet were added to the vessel itself ; and still later, a continuous foot or circur lar base.]
Ornaments of the Bronze Period.
ii
garment was fastened, the simple finger-rings (r, s) 9 the headcirclets (c, d } e), to the diadems (a, b), collars (*), and bracelets (/> g> &>j> }> w i tn their spiral coils or hoop-like forms (/, q), all are executed with a taste for precision of form which appears closely related to artistic feeling.
Fig. 9. Ornaments of the Bronze Period.
Carefully classified collections for the study of the remains of these oldest periods of human culture are to be found, among other places, at Schwerin in the Museum of Antiquities, at Copenhagen and at Stockholm in the museums of those capitals, in the New Museum at Berlin, and in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries at Zurich. (The British Museum, and the Museum at St. Germain-en-Laye near Paris, are also rich in these remains.)
12 History of Art.
The third period of civilization is called the Iron Age. It begins with the first mining, smelting, and working of iron, a metal that has played a chief part in the culture of the human race. Its discovery did not, of course, drive out the use of other metals : on the contrary, we find in the graves of this period bronze utensils plentifully mingled with weapons, vessels, and other objects made of iron.
No fixed dates have as yet been assigned either to the Stone or the Bronze Period. So much, however, seems certain, that the knowledge of the preparation of metals was first imparted to the people of Western Europe by the Phoenicians, until, as is testified by numerous moulds and furnaces that have been discovered, they made the art their own. In the East, on the other hand, historical intimation's as to the limits of both periods are not lacking. Thus Joshua was commanded to make knives of flints 1 (Josh. v. 2, margin), to " roll away the reproach of Egypt " from the children of Israel after their long wanderings in the desert Zipporah, the wife of Moses, employed a stone for the same use in circumcising her son (Exod. iv. 25, margin). At the end of the period of the Judges, about 1080 B.C., it is written (i Sam. xiii. 19), " There was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel ; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock." If a race living at that time in immediate contact with the Phoenicians was still unacquainted with the preparation of metals, it may be concluded that the use of metals did not reach the nations dwelling in the remote west until much later. 1
1 " From the fact that iron was known in the time of Homer, if not at the time of the siege of Troy, it is not necessary to conclude that the age of copper had suddenly ceased. Before the age of copper had absolutely given place to the age of iron, many years elapsed, and perhaps many centuries. The age of stone is not yet extinct to-day. In certain countries of the East, the Hebrew rite of circumcision is performed by means of a knife of obsidian j and eveft in Greece knives of the same material are used to cut the stalks of wheat," Maxime du Camfr quoted by SOLDI. La Sculpture 'egy$tiennt) p. 109.
Early Birth of Feeling for Art. 13
Such early attempts, made in all quarters of the world, mark everywhere the artistic striving of the nations. The mysterious impulse to art is felt by man as soon as he attains to a certain point of civilization, and the longing is awakened within him to give a visible form to what he dimly feels, or to leave behind him a lasting testimony, a monument of his existence. How, in the various groups of nations, mental capacity, outward circumstances, the nature of the country, and the propelling influence of human progress, have brought this artistic impulse to manifold development, to gradual germination, growth, and to a glorious prime, will be shown in the history of art.
FIRST BOOK.
THE ANCIENT ART OF THE EAST.
*
CHAPTER I.
EGYPTIAN ART.
I. LAND AND PEOPLE.
ON the banks of the Nile we meet with the earliest traces of artistic activity. As a higher state of civilization is generally displayed in valleys watered by rivers, \re find this especially and conspicuously the case here. Without the Nile, Egypt would be as inhospitable a desert as any of the other adjacent parts of Africa. Flowing down from the lofty mountains of Abyssinia, the river, swollen with the mass of waters in the tropical rainy season, rises annually with the utmost regularity, covering the narrow, rock-enclosed valley with its floods, depositing, as it subsides, an extraordinarily fruitful alluvial soil. This state of things, even in ancient times, was the source of prosperity and of a high degree of civilization. The wonderful stream compelled the inhabitants not merely to build protecting dikes and embankments, but it also early made necessary a system of irrigation, by which its blessings might be regulated, and uniformly distributed. It even gave the first impetus to scientific studies, since the regular return and subsidence of the waters early became a subject of observation, and, with the help of astronomical study, a matter of learned computation. Indeed, the whole life of the people, dependent as it was on the river, acquired a distinct outward form, a fixed rule and order: hence a spirit of strict conformity to law was early familiar to the Egyptians.
Undoubtedly, however, the natural disposition of this remarkable people contained the germs, which, under the fostering influence of outward circumstances, unfolded in such a charac-
17
1 8 History of Art.
teristic manner. We may suppose, that, in the prehistorical ages, the people of the Pharaohs passed into the rich valley of the Nile from their dwellings in Western Asia, crossing the Isthmus of Suez, that bridge of nations, over which, through thousands of years, the races of Asia and Egypt streamed to and fro both for war and peace. We may suppose that they partly subjugated the aborigines and partly supplanted them, and laid the foundation of the Egyptian civilization with its distinctive features. The character of this people was utterly separate and isolated ; and while their native river is strangely distinguished from all other rivers of the world by the fact, that, in its whole course through Egypt, a land the length of which is equal to that of Great Britain, it receives no single tributary, not even the smallest, so the ancient Egyptians rejected with proud reserve all intermingling with foreign elements. Thus the land lay, like one long oasis, protected by its rocky walls, and surrounded by the sandy tracts of the desert ; and thus the people, like some oasis of civilization, towered with fulness of vigor above the surrounding races, who were inferior to them in culture and in development.
The form of government in which Egyptian life remained petrified for thousands of years was that despotism common to the whole East. But the sober, practical, sensible turn of mind peculiar to the Egyptians prevented them from yielding to that enervating voluptuousness so common under the Asiatic despotisms, and directed their minds to useful and energetic work. The Pharaohs certainly ruled with unlimited power ; and so high was their position above the whole people, even above the privileged castes of priest and soldier, that they shared divine adoration, and were identified with the gods of the land. There was, however, an extremely complicated web of legal and ceremonial arrangements, which fettered the power of the ruler, and commanded his respect Next to the ruler, the priestly caste enjoyed the most considerable influence. The priests were the guardians of science, especially of geometric and astronomical
Religious Notions of the Egyptians. 19
knowledge, which they knew how to envelop with a veil of mystery: they were the superintendents and warders of the temple, the guardians of the theoretical and practical religious systems.
Their religious belief was deeply rooted in a polytheistic system, the forms of which were, for the most part, only symbols of events and circumstances connected with the peculiar nature of the country. Something of abstract ideas may have lain at the foundation of this system ; yet the mode in which they were expressed to the senses was somewhat crude. Thus the gods were represented after the divinely-esteemed Pharaohs, in human form : but to the upper and nobler parts, especially to the head, a distinct animal form was given, differing in the different gods ; for most animals, noxious as well as harmless, received divine adoration, and were embalmed like human beingf at their death. This custom of embalming is also closely con nected with the religious notions of the Egyptians. They be lieved, though in a rather material than spiritual manner, in a perpetual existence after death, in the wandering of the soul through the bodies of different animals (the so-called metempsychosis) ; and they regarded themselves as living forever. . Hence their extraordinary care for the dead, their systematic reverence for the tombs ; treating the abodes of the departed with far more importance and solemnity than the dwellings of the living, which were only raised to meet ephemeral needs, and were as easily destroyed as they were built. All this imparted to the character of the ancient Egyptians a trait of earnestness which revealed itself in all their being, whether it assumed the form of unalterable laws or of religious conservatism, or became, in private life, their settled rule of conduct. By their dress, mode of life, and manners, no less than by their language, and by the figurative, significant, but clumsy hieroglyphic writing employed by them alone, they were distinguished from other races, and felt themselves, in their proud self-consciousness, so far superior to all other nations, that they avoided even peaceful contact with them,
20 History of Art.
and strictly prohibited all strangers from entering the sacred kingdom of the Pharaohs, or at least made it very difficult for them to do so.
The beginning of the political life of Egypt is lost in the impenetrable obscurity of remote antiquity. Four thousand years, however, before Christ, the oldest Egyptian kingdom existed in the lower part of the land, with its capital Memphis. Even at that time, magnificent dikes and waterworks were constructed, and the pyramids were erected, the founders of which the Pharaohs Chufu, Shafra, and Mencheres (called by Herodotus Cheops, Chefren, and Mycerinus) belonged to the fourth dynasty of Manetho. 1 The ruling family had probably migrated from Western Asia, and had become mingled with the aborigines of the country. Besides the Pyramids of Memphis, the rocky tombs associated with them testify to the art-activity of that earliest epoch of the "ancient kingdom/' A second flourishing period began with the twelfth dynasty, somewhat more than two thousand years before Christ. At this time, in the obelisk erected at Heliopolis by King Sesurtesen I., we meet for the first time with this remarkable form of monumental column so peculiar to the Egyptians. Similar monuments soon after began to be erected over a large extent of country, an evidence of the restlessly advancing and increasing 1 power of the Pharaohs. The tombs of Beni-Hassan, in Central Egypt, exhibit the style of this epoch in its grandest expression. But, about the year 2000 B.C., conquerors from Western Asia, under the name of the Hyksos, invaded the land, and drove back the power of the Pharaohs to Upper Egypt, This inter* regnum lasted about six hundred years, until about 1400 B.C., when the invaders were vanquished and expelled by King Sethos I. The "new kingdom " now rose to the height of
p Manetho of Heliopolis was an Egyptian high priest, and keeper of the sacred archives, in the third century before Christ, under the first two Ptolemies, He wrote in Greek a history of Egypt* of which nothing but fragments remains. These fragments, in addition to an account of the Hyksos, furnish the complete lists of thirty dynasties, running over more than thirty-five hundred years.]
The Architecture of the Egyptians. 2 1
prosperity, its capital being Thebes with its hundred gates. The eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, with their mighty rulers, especially the great Rhamses II. (the Sesostris of the Greeks), witnessed the golden age of Egyptian civilization, as is proved by the many temples and monuments still remaining. Imperceptibly, however, and probably resulting from Asiatic influence, an over-refinement of culture crept in, and broke the old strength of the nation. The wise Psammetichus attempted another regeneration by the help of Greek mercenaries, about the year 650 B.C. : this, however, lasted but a short time; for, under his immediate successors, Egypt became a prey to the Persians. So indestructible, nevertheless, was the national tenacity of the people, that in the monuments of a late period, even under Greek and Roman rule, the foreign conquerors adhered to the native forms of art, consecrated as they were by the tradition of centuries.
2. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE EGYPTIANS. 1
The earliest monuments in the world are the Pyramids of Memphis. They rise aloft like gigantic landmarks of history, memorials of an age which reaches back into an almost fabulous antiquity. They mark the epoch at which a higher civilization first took root on the earth ; and thus at the same time they point to the beginnings of historical life and of monumental creations. There is no longer any doubt that the earliest "of these monuments may be dated at least two thousand years before Christ The marvellous technical skill, however, shown in raising these enormous structures, and in the admirable
l Cf. Denkm. d. Kunst, plates 4 and 5. Description de I'figypte, &c. Paris, 1820. Rosellini, I Monument! dell Egitto e della Nubia. Pisa, 1834. R. Lepsius, Denkm. aus Aegypten und Aethiopien, 'Berlin, 1849. Gau. Denkm. von Nubien. Stuttgart and Paris, 1822; [Fergusson, History of Architecture. London, 1859. Murray's Hand-Book for Egypt contains an excellent account of the Pyramids ; and the reader should consult Egypt, Past and Present, by Miss Martineau, the best account of Egypt written in English. See also Baedeker's Guide-Book for Egypt, 1877. Kenrick's Ancient Egypt, London, 1850. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. This last profusely and delightfully illustrated.]
22 History of Art.
finish given to them by the chisel, prove that they are the results of knowledge obtained by long experience in the practice of architecture. 1 The severe primitive form, devoid of all ornament, marks at the same time the artistic striving of a mighty primeval period. The immense mass of these mountains, like huge artificial crystals, the largest is reckoned to contain eighty-five millions of cubic feet, enclosed a small vaulted chamber containing the sarcophagus of the ruler. Narrow, steeply-inclined passages, the openings to which are. concealed by a coating of granite covering the whole exterior, lead into the tomb within. The most various and ingenious precautions
i The author here conforms to the ordinary way of speaking of the mechanical skill of the ancient Egyptians, But it may safely be asserted that the opinion of those who have most carefully studied the subject inclines to the belief, that time and a vast number of human hands were the chief means employed in the transport of masses of stone, and in raising them to the places they were to occupy. The whole subject will be found discussed in Soldi's La Sculpture e*gyptienne, pp. 115-126. Jt may not be amiss to translate a passage quoted by Soldi from a work by M. Lebronne, " De la Civilisation e*gyptienne depuis 1'Etablissement des Grecs sous Psammetichus jusqu'd la ConquSte d' Alexandre," Paris, FOURNIER, 1845 : " And in fact in no Egyptian painting do we see either pullies, whether simple or in combination, or capstans, or machines of any kind whatever ; yet, if the Egyptians had been in the habit of employing such things, we should expect to find them portrayed in a bass-relief of Osortasen, which represents the transportation of a colossus* If six thousand men did not suffice, they took ten thousand ; as many, in short, as they could bring to bear on a single point and to a single end. This remarkable bass-relief " (of a portion of which M. Soldi gives a woodcut) "will, no doubt, convince many, who have hitherto held firmly to a different opinion, that the mechanics of the Egyptians, like that of the present Hindoos and the Mexicans, who, under Montezuma, transported enormous masses of stone without machines of any sort, consisted in the employment of very simple means, infinitely multiplied and skilfully combined} the result of a long experience in moving heavyweights." M. Soldi then tells this interesting anecdote: "A fact related by Mariette-Bey shows that this simplicity of means in the mechanics of the ancient Egyptians has continued to be characteristic of the race down to our own day. M, Marietta, wishing to get possession of a sarcophagus buried at the bottom of a shaft, applied to the European engineers to get it out for him. These asked such a sum, however, for merely bringing to the place the pullies and ropes necessary for their work, that M. Mariette was on the point of abandoning the sarcophagus, when two Egyptians, who had learned what was going on, offered to get it out for him for half the sum demanded by the engineers. Mariette having accepted their offer, one of them descended Into the shaft with a lever and some pieces of wood ; and while, by means of these, he gradually lifted the sarcophagus, the other man, who had remained at the mouth of the shaft, kept throwing down sand. In the course of time the pit was filled with sand, and the sarcophagus was brought to the surface," SOLDI, p. 122.
Construction of the Pyramids. 23
in construction secure the roof of these chambers against the immense pressure of the mass above. Either the mighty stone beams of the roof are supported like rafters against each other, or, in order to discharge the weight, a system of hollow spaces, one above the other, is contrived above the chamber, formed by the projection of the horizontal layers of stone. The building of the Pyramids, as may be still perceived by several of these which were left unfinished, was made after the plan of a terrace-like step-structure, diminishing as it rose ; while the angles formed by the steps were filled up in a reverse manner, beginning from the top, and forming the regular sloping pyramidal figure. There are examples of Pyramids which have been made much larger than was originally intended, by having, at a later period, received a complete new casing over the first one. The material for these mighty buildings consists, in some instances, of limestone, and in others of bricks. The most primitive architectural works in Egypt were formed, most probably, like those of Mesopotamia, of the latter material, the preparation of which was one of the severe and compulsory duties exacted of the Israelites. The desire for the highest monumental character in their buildings, however, led the Egyptians early to make use of the rich quarries of every kind of stone afforded by the mountain-ranges on both sides of the Nile. In the Pyramids, too, we find the working of stone already brought to such a high degree of perfection, that we may argue long practice in the art
The three largest pyramids are in the neighborhood of Cairo, near the village of Gizeh ; and, from their inscriptions, they owe their origin to the kings Chufu (Cheops), Shafra (Chefren), and Mencheres (Mycerinus.) That of Shafra appears to be the oldest : at its base it measured originally more than seven hundred feet square, with a height of above four hundred feet Still higher is the Pyramid of Chufu, which originally covered a square base of seven hundred and sixty-four feet, having a height of four hundred and eighty feet. It contains the unusual
24 History of Art.
number of three chambers, the lowest of which is buried deep in the rocky stone of the foundation. Considerably less in extent is the Pyramid of Mencheres, which only measures three hundred and fifty-four feet square, and two hundred and eighteen feet in height ; but it far surpasses both the others in beautiful and careful execution. When entered by Col Vyse (in 1837), the sepulchre still contained the sarcophagus of the king ; but, in its transport to England, the latter was subsequently lost off the coast of Spain. On the east side of each pyramid there is a small shrine, probably designed for funeral obsequies. Although only ruined remains are left of these structures, there exists in the neighborhood of these three gigantic buildings a no less gigantic work of sculpture, which manifests a similar striving after grandeur of effect; namely, the colossal Sphinx, standing in front of the group of pyramids, a mighty lion's body with a human head (Fig. io). 1 This work of sculpture, which is almost completely covered over with the sand of the desert, is sixty-five feet high, and one hundred and forty-two feet long, and is entirely formed from an isolated ridge of rock, an astonishing evidence of unsurpassable skill in the use of the chisel, and a manifestation of
P "The Sphinx, which the researches of M. Mariette have proved" to be of even greater antiquity than the pyramid, is buried in the sand, with the exception of the back, shoulders, and head. Early in the century, excavations made by Cavaglia revealed the complete form and arrangement of the monument, and proved the correctness of the description and of the dimensions given by Pliny. Successive terraces and flights of steps led, by a gradual approach from the plain, to a paved courtyard enclosed between the stretched-out paws of the sphinx* Against the breast of the sphinx a sanctuary was constructed of three tablets. One of these, of granite, was attached to the breast, and formed the end of the sanctuary; and the other two, placed right and left, at right angles, formed the sides. The front-paws, which are fifty feet in length, are cased with hewn stone. The body is formed of the uncut natural rock, with pieces of badly worked sandstone masonry added here and there in order to bring it to the required shape. The head is cut out of the solid rock, and measures nearly thirty feet from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin, and about fourteen feet across. It watt formerly covered with a cap,, probably the pshent (see Fig. 24, *), terminating in an asp erect. The wig still hangs, a huge mass of stone on either side the head. Originally it had a beard, fragments of which were found in the area below. Traces of the red color mentioned by Pliny may still be seen on the right cheek.'* MURRAY'S Hand-Boo^ pp, 193-196* Th writer quotes the admirable descriptions of Eothen and A, P. Stanley.]
Private Tombs ; their Plan. 25
power in accomplishing such a task as could only be shown hy servile people under despotic government,
In the immediate vicinity of the Pyramids there are some extensive private tombs ; and in the midst of these immeasurable and uniform burial-grounds rise those gigantic royal tombs, just as the Pharaohs themselves rose above the mass of the
Fig. 10. Sphinx and Pyramid of Gizeh.
subject people. These private tombs are more or less deeply hewn out of the natural rock, 1 They begin with a small sanctuary intended for funeral-rites ; and from this a perpendicular shaft leads down into the sepulchre itself. Besides numerous metaphorical representations, the interior is fre-
[l ." The pyramid platform of Gizeh was one of the cemeteries of Memphis, and, as such, abounds in tombs belonging to various epochs: but the greater number, and those to which the greatest interest attaches, belong to the ancient empire; i.e., the period extending from the first to the nineteenth dynasty (5004-1288 B.C., Mariette). These tombs consist generally of 'three parts: i. An exterior temple, or chapel, containing one or more 'chambers, always accessible by means of doors opening at will; 2. A vertical well leading from one of these chambers, or from some concealed corner of the chapel to, 3. !L sepulchral chamber, in which was buried the mummy ; the lower part of the well and the whole of the sepulchral chanjjDei being cut out of the solid rock. Sometimes the exterior temple was a constructed monument on the plain ; sometimes it was hollowed out of the side of the hill Specimens of both kinds occur at the Pyramids. . . . The walls of the interior chamber are covered with representations of the scenes and occupations amidst which the life of the deceased person was passed, At a later period of Egyptian history, these pictures of domestic life were superseded by mysterious religious emblems." MURRAY, Hand-Book^ p. 196. MARIETTE, Notice des Princijpaux Monuments exposis dans le Musee d'Antiguites egyptiennes k Boulaq. LE CAIRS, 1874, p. 25.].
26 History of Art.
quently decorated with architectural ornaments, imitating in gay colors a wooden trellis-work. The lintel of the entrance also distinctly reminds us of a wooden construction ; for in many cases there is a cylindrical, trunk-like beam uniting the two door-posts ; and even the ceilings of the apartments are repeatedly made in imitation of pieces of wood fastened together. Where the size of the apartments has rendered support necessary, this has been introduced in the form of square pillars, which are united either by a rectangular architrave, or by rounded beams. A ribbon-wound astragal surrounds the walls, which are crowned with a strongly projecting concave cornice, surmounted by an abacus ; a form which, we shall see, passed also into Persian art Both of these forms prevail through the whole duration of Egyptian art. The ceilings of these tombs are often completely arched with Nile tiles. The use of columns as an architectural feature, on the other hand, does not seem to occur in this epoch.
A second golden age of the ancient kingdom, about two thousand years before Christ, and comprising the twelfth dynasty, is marked in the first place by the mighty obelisk ot King Sesurtesen (Osirtasen) I. at Heliopolis. In this work, peculiarly characteristic as it is of the Egyptian mode of thought, the rude stone monumental pillar has transformed itself 'into a fixed geometric figure, rising upwards as a monolithic mass with a square base, gradually diminishing, and ending in a pyramidal point 1 To this period we may also assign the tombs
[i Small models of obelisks are found in the tombs of the age of the pyramid-builders, and represented in their hieroglyphics ; but the oldest public monument of the class known to exist is that at Heliopolis, erected by Osirtasen, the great king of the twelfth dynasty. It i.*., like all the others, a siifcgle block of beautiful red granite of Syene, cut with all the precision of the age, tapering slightly towards the summit, and of about the average proportion, being about ten diameters in height: exclusive of the top, it is sixty-seven feet four inches* The two finest known to exist are that now in the piazza of the Lateran in Rome (San Giovanni in Laterano), erected by Thothmes III., one hundred and five feet in height, and that still standing at Karnac, erected by Thothmes I., ninety-three feet six inches in height. Thow of Luxor, erected by Rhamses the Great, one of which is now in Paris (Place de la Concorde), are above seventy-seven feet in height ; and there are two others in Rome, each above eighty
Tombs of Beni- Hassan. Forms of Columns. 27
of Beni-Hassan in Central Egypt (Fig. 11), at the entrance-halls of which, as well as in the interior, for the first time, it seems, a regular and finished colonnade appears. We see here how the square pillar gave place to the octagonal, and then to the sixteen-sided form ; the latter having shallow concave flutings, in order better to mark the narrow sides. Above the architrave which connects the columns, there is a cornice designed
Fig. ii. ' Tomb of Beni-Hassan.
in imitation of the projecting rafters of i a wooden rool The column is connected with the ground by means of a circular disk: it is separated from the architrave by a large projecting square plinth. Besides this form of column we here meet with another, evidently fashioned in imitation of vegetable forms (Fig. 12). The shaft, which is sharply drawn in at the foot, seems composed of four united plant-stalks, fastened together at the upper narrowed end by a band several times wound round them. Above these bands the neck of the column- rises the capital, also in four divisions, in the form of a closed lotusflower, and crowned with a square plinth. These new motives
feet Rome, indeed, has twelve of these monuments within her walls, a greater number than exist, erect at least, in the country whence they came; though, judging from the number that are found adorning single templeSj it is difficult to calculate how many must have once existed in Egypt." FERGUSSON, Hand-Book of Architecture^ vol. i, p. 246.]
History of Art.
Fig. i3. Capital of Beni-Hassan.
closed the circle of Egyptian architectural forms ; and all the innumerable works of subsequent brilliant periods only succeeded in developing more richly, and in fashioning with greater variety, the original designs.
When, after the expulsion of the Hyksos,
the new kingdom rose with greater power and splendor, owing to the growing national pride of the Egyptians, Thebes became the centre of rule ; and here for centuries the proud ambition of the Pharaohs found satisfaction in the execution of the most magnificent monuments. Far beyond the lower country indeed, deep into Asia, and up the Nile into conquered Nubia and Abyssinia the tokens of the dominion of the Pharaohs were displayed in mighty works. The period of the highest development extends from the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasty, from the sixteenth to the end of the thirteenth century B.C. In this period especially, the system of Egyptian architecture was fully completed ; an ever-recurring form for the design of the temples was adopted ; and the different parts of the building were brought into an harmonious and characteristic whole.
Upon broad brick terraces, raised high above the flat banks of the stream, stood the Egyptian temple, 1 a strictly isolated building (Fig. 13). Huge sloping walls, crowned with the overshadowing concave cornice, surround its enclosure, and invest the whole with a solemn and mysterious character, No opening for windows, no colonnade, interrupts the monotonous surface of the temple-wall, which is covered as with a gigantic tapestry, with brilliantly-colored intaglio sculptures and hiero-
t 1 " palace-temple or temple-palace would be a more appropriate term for these buildings than to call them simply temples. They do not seem to have been appropriated to the worship of any particular god, but rather for the great ceremonials of royalty, of kingly sacrifice to the gods for the people, and of worship of the king by the people," FEKGUSSQN, Book of Architecture, vol. i. p. 231.]
Egyptian Temples : their Description.
29
glyphics, representations of the gods and the rulers. On the short side of the vast parallelogram, on that facing the riverbank, stands the narrow, lofty entrance, between two tower-like,
Fig, 13. Restored View of an Egyptian Temple.
sloping structures (pylons), rising high above all the rest of the building (Fig. 14, a). In front of these pylons, hollows are made for the insertion of great masts (Fig. 14, ,/), which, on
Fig. 14. Details of an Egyptian Temple, , Fig. 15. Statue and Obelisk,
festive occasions, were surmounted by pendent flags. The entrance-gate, like the pylons and the surrounding walls, is crowned with the same lofty cornice (Fig. 14, b, c] which plays
?0 History of Art.
so great a part in Egyptian architecture. Extensive double rows of colossal sphinxes or rams often lead to the entrance, which is sometimes guarded by obelisks, or gigantic statues of rulers (Fig. 15).
Entering through the narrow portal, we find ourselves in a forecourt under the open sky, enclosed all round, or on three sides, with stone-covered corridors, which are built against the surrounding walls, and open towards the court with colonnades (Fig. 16). This forecourt is never lacking in Egyptian temples :
Fig. 16. Longitudinal Section and Ground-Plan of the Temple of Chensu at Karnak,
it is sometimes, in important buildings, repeated after a second or even a third pair of pylons. This forecourt is succeeded by a hall, often no less in extent ; and the mighty stone ceiling of this hall rests on columns placed in rows. The two middle rows, corresponding with the longitudinal axis of the
The Egyptian Temple. Karnak. 31
building, consist of stronger and taller columns, which support a higher ceiling ; so that a lofty central nave is formed, with a clere-story, the side walls of which supply the apartment with light through broad and mullioned windows. Passing through this hall, which is also an integral part of an Egyptian temple, the inner part of the sanctuary is reached by a succession of smaller or larger apartments and halls, the innermost of which is the narrow, low, and mysteriously gloomy cella. Here, in mysterious darkness, was enthroned the form of the god. 1 Little that is .certain is as yet known with regard to the use and importance of the separate apartments : probably the inner courts were only accessible to the priests, and to the initiated, who there solemnized the worship of the gods ; whilst the adoring multitude may have filled the vast forecourts. In all the apartments, the ceilings, pillars, and walls, like the outer walls, are covered with metaphorical figure-subjects, which, with their varied and splendid colors, and the wonderful symbolism of their designs, increase to the utmost the strong impression made by the buildings themselves.
The remains of the " hundred-gated " Thebes, mighty even in their ruin, are scattered over a vast area on both banks of the river, and have been named after the modern villages established among the rubbish of the decayed city. The temples seem to belong especially to the eastern bank, the point, according to Egyptian notions, not only of dawn, but of life. Among them, the Temple of Karnak stands forth as the largest and most important, the sacred palladium of the kingdom. Founded by Sesurtesen L in the time of the " ancient kingdom/' it received, under the rulers of the later kingdom, constant additions and enlargements ; so that finally, with a breadth of three huqdred and seventy feet, its length exceeded eleven hundred and thirty feet. Passing through the mighty gateway with its flanking pylons, to which an avenue of colossal ram-sphinxes, about
[1 The author can hardly mean to be taken literally, since the sanctuary is not believed to have contained any image of any god.]
3 2 History of Art.
two hundred feet in length, led up, a spacious forecourt was reached, three hundred and twenty-nine feet broad, and two hundred and seventy-five feet deep, with a covered corridor on either side, and a double line of coltmns down the centre. A notable violation of the laws that regulated the plan of an Egyptian temple meets us in this forecourt, the northern wall of which is broken by a smaller sanctuary, about two hundred feet long by eighty feet wide. This temple, which is entered from the court itself, was added, at a much later period, by Rhamses II. Passing from the forecourt, between two still more colossal pylons, the columned hall was reached, the mightiest in the world, built by Sethos I. and his successors during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B.C. Its stone ceiling was supported by a hundred and thirty-four columns, the middle twelve of which, larger and taller than the rest, enclose a lofty central nave. These central columns rise to a height of sixty-six feet ; whilst the smaller ones, distributed in seven rows on either side of the central twelve, are only forty feet high. This immense hall, with its area of 55,930 square feet, is like a magnificent cathedral. A third propylon closed the great hall on the eastern side. Beyond, on the east side, and extending across the entire width of the building, is a narrow, uncovered court, in which stood two granite obelisks, erected by Thutmes I ; and behind these was a fourth propylon, at which the true sanctuary begins. Here in labyrinthine complexity are open and covered courts, chambers, chapel-like apartments, and columned halls, connected by corridors and galleries strangely intermingled; so that nowhere so plainly as in this gigantic monument do we see the intricate system of enclosure that prevails in Egyptian architecture. Significant colossal figures are often placed against the walls, combined with projecting pillars : all the surfaces are covered with richly painted imagery, in ivhich symbolic subjects and religious ceremonies alternate with historical representations of royal heroic deeds. The inner chambers were chiefly built by Thutmes III* and his sister.
Forms of Capitals at Karnak.
33
As was usually the case, the details of the architectural ornamentation are here also principally displayed in the- columns, for which there were clearly defined forms, of the grandest effect, and fully corresponding with the powerful impression or the whole. Thus, in the columned hall, the smaller columns have the closed lotus capital, already seen at Beni-Hassan (Fig. 17). But the slavish imitation of the natural growth of the plant is no longer sought for as it was there: the capital is changed, like the stem, into a compact concentrated mass, the surface of which is decorated with gay hieroglyphics. But, in
Fig. r;. Capital at Karnak.
Fig. 1 8. Capital at Karnak.
the larger columns of the two central rows, a new form of capital appears (Fig. 1 8), which takes for its motive an opened lotus calyx, and thus introduces a new artistic form into the established system of architectural ornamentation. In order that the widely projecting edge of this capital might not be weighed clown and broken, the small square plinth was retained, as in the other capitals.
Among other buildings belonging to this group is the great Temple of Luxor, which is connected with the temple at Karnak by an avenue of colossal sphinxes ; and also the so-called Sepulchre of Osymandyas, a temple really erected by Rhamses the Great, one of the finest monuments in Egypt. Farther
34 History of Art.
up, on the western banks, are the important remains of a temple at Medinet-Habu ; and still farther north there is a temple at Kurna, which, irregular in design and without a propylon, has in front a portico of ten columns. It bears an inscription with the date of Sethos I. The powerful impression made by all these ruins is increased by two colossal sitting figures, which formerly belonged to a temple now entirely destroyed. The most northern of these is the famous statue of Memnon. According to their inscription, they owe their origin to King Amenhotep III., and represent his mother and consort There are besides, on the western side of the river, extensive rocky tombs, in which the rulers of the Theban dynasty are buried with their families. These tombs of the Theban necropolis lie in narrow, desolate mountain-defiles, where the burning sun destroys every trace of life. We first come upon those of the queens (Biban e' Sultanat), and next upon those of the kings (Biban el molftk), of the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasty. In one of the principal of these tombs, that of Sethi I., commonly called Belzoni's Tomb, after the name of the discoverer, a dark shaft leads from a forecourt into the depth of the rock, and opens into a large hall, the ceiling of which rests on pillars ; and, from the splendor of its wall-paintings, it bears the name of "the golden." Here stood the sarcophagus of the king, and the richly-painted representations on the walls relate to his destiny after death. Other important monuments meet us farther south, especially in Nubia, Many of these sanctuaries exhibit an essentially different form, the ground-plan being more simple, and their cella being surrounded with a corridor of pillars, or piers, as is the case with the southern temple built by Amenhotep III. on the Isle Elephantine (Fig. 19).* Other important monuments are the rock-cut temples of Girsheh, Derri, and
[i " At the beginning of the present century there were the remains of two temples In Kle phantine, one a very interesting one, built by Anutnoph III. (Amenhotep), They were de stroyed in 1822 by the then governor of Assovta in order to obtain stone for building M palace." MURRAY'S Hand-Book, p. 465. For a note on these temples, see FEROUSSON ^andi-BooA of Architecture % vol. i. p. 240-]
Later forms of Capitals.
35
Ipsambul, the latter having a lofty fagade, of rock, richly chiselled, the principal decoration of which consists in immense colossal statues of Rhamses the Great. The caves of Girsheh have, in place of these, an open forecourt and stately propylons. Many smaller works such as the enclosure for sacred animals, Typhonia, and other things are situated in the neighborhood of the chief temple.
Fig. 19. Temple at Elephantine.
The later epochs of Egyptian architecture exhibit in their works generally less grandeur of plan ; but this is compensated by a richer and more varied handling of the architectural members. It is especially in the capitals of columns that the motive of the opened calyx of the lotus-flower appears in the most beautiful variations (Fig. 20). In addition to these rich forms, we find one that is entirely fanciful in its symbolism, - that of the four heads of the goddess Hathor, on the top of which a cube-like structure, fashioned like a small temple, receives the entablature (Fig, 2 1), The most important of these later designs are those of the temple on the Island of Philse, erected
History of Art.
under the Ptolemies ; the magnificent temple at Edfu, and the ruins at Esneh ; and, lastly, the splendid temple at Denderah, founded by Queen Cleopatra. The pyramidal form repeatedly occurs in this later period, as the pyramids in the Island of Meroe in Nubia testify. These works, compared with the pyramids of Memphis, are not only very
Fig. 20. Capital from Edfu.
Fig. 21. Capital from Dcndcrah.
much smaller, but also steeper, and slenderer in form, with small forecourts or pylonic buildings in connection with them, 1
3. THE SCULPTURE OF THE EGYPTIANS.
During a period of more than three thousand years, sculpture, the true companion of. architecture, produced among the Egyptians an abundance of monuments in no wise inferior to the grandeur of their architectural works. 2 But just as the architectural forms, if we set aside certain peculiarities of treatment, remain essentially the same throughout that long period, affording us an example, only possible in the East, of an activity ever in motion, combined with a formal, monotonous style, devoid of the power of deeper organic development, so is it also with the art of sculpture. Whatever finer distinctions in the
. P Fergusson, Hand-Book of Architecture, vol. i. p. 250,]
2 Denkmater d. Kunst, Plate 6. The most valuable recent contribution oil this subject will be found in La Sculpture gyptienne, par E. Soldi, Paris, 1876, Also in L'jfigypte I Petites Journ6es par A. Rhone", Paris, 1876. Both these books contain valuable illustrations.-
Painting and Sculpture among the Egyptians. 37
conception of forms may have been discovered by the ingenuity of more modern research, the indwelling idea, the range of view, the relation of sculpture to architecture, ay, even the types and subjects of representation, remained the same for thousands of years, fixed and unchangeable as the nature of the Nile Valley.
The reason of this remarkable fact can only be found in the position which the arts of representation occupied among the Egyptians. This position may be briefly summed up in the statement, that sculpture and painting, whether used in decorating the immense wall-spaces and columns and ceilings with figures and reliefs, or rearing colossal figures in front of the entrances, against the pillars of the courts, or in the interior of the sanctuary, in every case were absolutely subordinated to the architecture. It is true that in all countries this has been the primitive condition of the plastic arts ; and, even among the Greeks, sculpture had at first to conform to the laws of architecture. Still, wherever a free unfolding of the individual mind made its way among the people, and plastic works began to be inspired by its breath, the chains were soon burst asunder ; and works of sculpture, resting on their own strength, stood apart from the creations of architecture in a beauty of their own. That this spirit of the free development of the individual was lacking among the Egyptians, that, in true Oriental subjection, they blindly followed one despotic will, is the deeper reason why the plastic art could not rise in this people from its dependent position. We have here pointed out that element which characterizes the Oriental turn of mind in general, which subordinates all their artistic productions to the inexorable laws of architecture, and stifles in the germ all individual intellectual life. In the same manner, although with national modifications, we shall find this the case with all the other races of the East.
In this respect it is certainly a remarkable trait that Egyptian sculpture aims decidedly at portraiture in its oldest works, in the remainsleft us of the early period of the old kingdom of
3 8 History of Art.
Memphis. This is to be seen not only in the two remarkable priestly figures in the Louvre at Paris, and in the small figure of a scribe in the same collection, but also in the seven sitting statues of King Chefren which Mariette found in the neighborhood of the Pyramids, and which are in the museum at Boulaq. This realistic tendency appears with astonishing clearness in a wooden figure belonging to the same early period, and also in the museum at Boulaq ; which proves that a high degree of freedom in the life-like representation of natural forms had thus early been arrived at. If, in. such remote antiquity, we see a conscious artistic striving after individual characterization, we might suppose that a free and vigorous plastic art would develop itself : but, far from this, the genius of Egyptian art reached only to the conception of the casual and the external ; and very soon this marked naturalism which prevailed in the early time was obliged to yield to the stronger taste for a style more Fig.' 22. wooden statue. . accordance with the architecture of the
Found by Marietta at
sakkarah. Museum at country. 1 Whenever a deeper spiritual sense Boulaq ' begins to lie beneath the features, whenever
the living expression of subjective feeling and of individual mind was to be expressed in the lineaments, the insurmountable barrier arose. Hence, in spite of portraiture, there is the endless repetition of the same' -kingly figure; hence in the sphinx avenues, as in the pillared halls, there is the monotonous return of the same statues, witu the same fixed typical expression, the same imposed attitude, the same symbolic attributes: so that the human form, like that of the animals, is held fettered by the general conception of the species, the one in no way superior to the other, either in expression, or in the mirks of distinctly stamped individual
[i But see Soldi, La Sculpture 6gyptienne, pp, 15-21.]
Formal Treatment of the Figure. 39
being. This strict uniformity controls the entire bearing in all statues. In the sitting figures, according to Oriental etiquette, the feet are placed equally side by side : the upper part of the body maintains a strictly solemn position, the^head directed forwards with a fixed gaze ; and, as if to crown the apathetic repose of the whole, both anjxs, with their flat outstretched hands, fit close to the upper part of the body and to the thighs, as if moulded at one cast. The same absolute repose is preserved by the standing figures frequently placed against the front of pillars, the same fixed look, legs closely joined, and arms crossed over the breast, not " as the Caryatides and Atlantides of Greek art, with the strained energy of support, but, in Oriental passiveness, leaning against the architectural members. Still these mighty figures, which Egyptian art loved to fashion in colossal size, are as different from the dreamily tender or wild fantastic figures of the Hindoos as they are from the strong, compact, and somewhat coarsely-inclined creations of Assyrian art. Egyptian sculpture presents to our view a sipewy, slender, and elastic race of beings. Breast and shoulders are without roundness, broad and powerful ; the arms long, sinewy, and muscular ; the body, with slender hips and legs, inclining rather to leanness than to stoutness, and everywhere exhibiting in the clearly expressed play of muscles the physical capacity of a people accustomed to work and to endurance. The heads (Fig. 23), in spite of their predilection for portraiture, have a decided national stamp of unmistakable Semitic descent. The form of the skuJUs flat ; and this, joined to the extremely low and receding brow, gives the idea of a deficiency of idealism, The small oval and obliquely placed eyes suggest acuteness and cunning. The nose, with the delicate bridge slightly curyed, coming out from between the broad prominent cheek-bones, is brought into close union with the projecting lower parts of the face, to which the mouth, with its voluptuous lips, and its corners drawn upwards, gives an expression of sensuous love of ease. We perceive even in the
40 History of Art.
national physiognomy that this people was predetermined rather for the realistic representation of intellectual life than for higher ideal creations. :
Fig. 23. Egyptian Heads in Relief.
The forms of the body are treated throughout with intelligence (Fig. 24). The firm build of the whole, the meaning and movement of the limbs, is clearly comprehended. The drapery, for the most part, is limited to only an apron. The hair is completely congealed by a cap, which, in the rulers, was combined with the simple or double crown, or a fantastic head-dress composed of symbolic attributes. The beard, also, was ingeniously wound round in a similar manner, and curiously bent into the form of a hook. It was undoubtedly of importance, for the understanding of the human form, that the climate and the custom of the country prescribed only scanty clothing; and even the fuller, richer drapery we so often meet with in the wall-paintings was formed of light, transparent material. Thus the constant contemplation of the human form must have made the artist sufficiently acquainted with it. Nevertheless, to put this knowledge into practice was only allowed under strict limitation ; as, even in the earliest period, a fixed canon,
Egyptian Sculpture. Canon of Proportions. 41
of strict arithmetical proportions, was laid down for the forms of the body, and accurate adherence to this was enjoined by the law. This canon, it is true, was exchanged for another at a later period, when "greater slenderness of proportion was desired ; and even this, under the Ptolemies, had to give way to a third. In spite of all these changes, which were in reality
Fig. 24. Egyptian Wall-Paintings.
only the fluctuations of fashion due to foreign influences, we find the ancient canon adhered to through thousands of years, fettering all free movement, and closing the way to independent artistic works. 1 The part the sculptor played in the work was limited to the execution ; and even this, from the general diffusion of skill, became degraded into mere handicraft. It never occurs to any one to inquire after the author of this or that colossal work, since the everlasting sameness of -the repetitions, necessitated by the existence of one fixed model, suggests rather the hand of the manufacturer than that of the independent artist With this is also connected the astonishing certainty
p But see Soldi, La Sculpture ^gyptienne, pv 94.]
42 History of Art.
and unwearied care with which the hardest materials, granite and basalt, are worked with the same minute accuracy in colossal works as in those of the smallest dimensions, an accuracy shown everywhere in the countless hieroglyphic writings on columns, pillars, obelisks, pedestals, walls, and sarcophagi. That Egyptian art chiefly symbolizes the greatness of the gods and god-descended rulers by colossal figures is to be explained partly by the equally colossal size of the buildings, and partly by a deficient intellectual life, which instinctively seeks to compensate by size for what it lacks in meaning. Seated figures of the Pharaohs, statues placed against piers, and sculptured sphinxes and rams, from twenty to thirty feet high, are not unusual. The six standing figures on the facade of the smaller stone temple at Ipsambul measure thirty-five feet ; the four sitting statues of the great Rhamses, in the principal temple there, are more than sixty feet high ; Memnon, with its gigantic companions among the ruins of Medinet-Habu, is seventy feet high ; and the famous Sphinx at the Pyramids of Memphis has a length of a hundred and forty-two feet.
Colossal and numerous as these works of sculpture are, they are still far surpassed in extent by the boundless abundance of reliefs exhibited on all the walls of the temples, palaces, and tombs. In their infinite variety, embracing all forms of existence, in their animated and lifelike reality, they supply the deficiencies of the detached figures, and form, as it were, a reverse side to their solemn seriousness. Their object is solely that of a chronicle-like and faithful historical narrative, a detailed account of the whole life of the Egyptians, Even in the earliest tombs of the old kingdom, which carry us back to about three thousand years B.C., the simple labors of agriculture and cattle-breeding, the relations and affairs of a manysided private life, are faithfully and fully depicted. The types, the mode of expression, the laws of plastic art, were already established, even in this early time, for this kind of representation, and were confirmed by long use. At a later period, on
Egyptian Sculpture. Subjects of the Bass- Reliefs. 43
the gigantic walls of the Theban monuments and of the other memorials of the golden age of the new kingdom, we see plainly represented, sometimes in the tombs, all the incidents of private life, work and employments of various kinds, recre. ations and games such as are still in practice amongst us, cheerful social doings and festive entertainments, as well as religious ceremonies, sacrifices, and other solemn acts, burials, and even the destiny of the soul ; sometimes again, and this especially on the walls of temples and palaces, the events in the life of the ruler, solemn political acts and animated hunts; peaceful incidents and warlike enterprises; mighty hosts, in which the king, colossal in height, and towering above every thing else, taller than men and cities, rushes along in his battlechariot over the bodies of his fallen foes (Fig. 25), laying low
Fig, 25. Relief at Karnak. Sethos I.
whole armies with his weapon, or in sea-encounters sinking fleets of vessels full of armed men, and then at length seizing a kneeling people by their common hair, and hurling his battle-axe for the fatal stroke. Again : we meet with troops of conquered enemies, arranged in rows over each other, and brought before the enthroned despot to render humble homage ;
44 History of Art.
and in these reliefs the various races are clearly distinguished from one another by the way in which the characteristic physiognomy and dress of each is given. In all these representations, an accurate and chronicle-like report, an intelligible record of facts, is the only thing aimed at : only in the fact that the form of the king surpasses all others in size may even a trace of symbolism be perceived. But this, too, is another evidence of how Egyptian art, wherever it attempts to express intellectual pre-eminence, is compelled to have recourse to conventionally symbolic and purely external means.
That a deeper spiritual principle is lacking in Egyptian art, as in all Oriental art, is perceived also in the arrangement of these works. There is no idea of a composition in a high sense. The scenes are either arranged one over another in monotonous repetition, or, in more animated incidents, there is a confused jumble of figures. That in some instances regard is paid to the allotted space, and that the action delineated is often with great skill adapted to this space, is a matter of course in such an extensive exercise of the art : but generally the repre sentations cover the vast surface without any architectural principle of arrangement ; and everywhere an unimaginative naturalism prevails, which hardly recognizes a higher law of arrangement. But in another respect, also, the animated representations of life do not rise beyond the level of those severe and solemn statues already described. The passive repose of the latter arises, in truth, from the want of individual and intellectual life : the varied action of the former never goes beyond a merely bodily activity. No special intellectual principle, no life of thought, is expressed in their countenances. They cannot tell us any thing which goes beyond the sphere of simple practical doings; and thus nothing but the fixed monotony of Oriental manners is recorded even in their most lively action. Hence, while in the course of centuries they portray for us all the manifold changes that took place in the life o the nation in spite of its stability, they show us no progress in
Egyptian Sculpture. Technical Treatment. 45
thought, nor in artistic feeling. Although the sculptured story may become richer and more animated; although, after the zenith of prosperity reached by the new kingdom, a decline of power is evident, and a weaker expression is perceptible, and again, under the new regime, a fresher life makes its way, and this also gradually again degenerates ; still all these cannot be regarded, in a deeper sense, as phases in the development of art ; for such only occur when new ideas struggle into light in new modes of expression.
This leads us to the technical treatment of Egyptian sculpture. Although there is no lack of true relief-sculptures (though with but slight elevation from the surface), especially in the interior of the buildings, yet by far the greater number of the representations are executed in a manner especially peculiar to the Egyptians, called by French writers bass-reliefs
Wonders of Babylon. 51
whole level land is exposed to inundations in the spring, when the snows melt on the mountains of Armenia. These inundations early led the ingenious people to construct magnificent dams and dikes, and a system of canals. While man was thus compelled to rule the powers of nature and to render them serviceable, in order that he might gain from them the conditions for a prosperous existence, the impulse for trade was awakened, the activity of the intellect was promoted, and a str.ong and energetic spirit was developed. Under these influences, far back in time, powerful kingdoms with mighty capitals, with a highly-advanced civilization and extensive commerce, rose on the banks of the Euphrates. Even the books of the Old Testament sketch in grandly terse, impressive touches an image of the power and splendor of ancient Babylon, whose fabulous tower conveys a notion of gigantic undertakings, imposing even to the nations of that period. The religion of these people seems, in harmony with these works, to have been practical and sensible, rather than fantastic or poetic ; and interests of temporal power and material gain were those which preponderated most in their partly warlike and partly commercial character.
The ancients, in their descriptions of the buildings of Babylon, tell of works of colossal extent, and of grand simplicity of design ; among them the Temple of Baal, which, pyramidal in form, rose in eight gradated stories upon a base of six hundred feet square, surpassing even the giant Pyramids of Egypt Similar in grandeur of structure were the walls surrounding the immense city, and the two royal palaces, and the famous wonder of the hanging gardens of Semiramis. Nothing is left of these mighty monuments ; and only a row of shapeless heaps of rubbish half buried in sand, and covered in spring with luxuriant vegetation marks in the neighborhood of the village Hillah, on both sides of the Euphrates, the place where once stood the proud mistress of the nations. This state 01 things is tc be explained bv the material which the Babylonians
52 History of Art.
were obliged to use, owing to the utter lack of stone in a land formed by alluvial deposit All buildings were made of tiles which had been dried in the sun, asphaltum serving as mortar. The mighty elevation of Birs-i-Nimrud (which is supposed to be the Temple of Belus), that of Mudjelibe, and the so-called El Kasr (which appears to be identical with the new palace of Nebuchadnezzar), are the most important remains. The marks upon all the brick-work discovered refer to this king, and therefore indicate the period about 600 B.C. Among works of sculpture a colossal granite lion has been discovered, which was probably placed as a guard at one ot the portals.
The remains of a terrace-pyramid, which are to be found at Mugeir, in the Lower-Euphrates district, appear to belong to a still more remote antiquity. They form a parallelogram of a hundred and thirty-three by a hundred and ninety-eight feet ; and the interior substance, of sun-dried tiles, was covered with a facing of brick, which, with its slightly projecting pillars, had a kind of architectural construction. These ruins are regarded as the remains of a temple in the primeval city of Ur, or Hur, which was said to have been built about 2200 B.C. by King Uruk. Still more important are the ruins of an oblong palacelike building at Wurka, forty miles south of Bagdad, since they afford an instance of apparently very ancient wall-decoration. Small wedges of burnt clay are pressed upon the plaster ; and these, by being glazed over with various colors, form a tapestrylike pattern. Thus the famous tapestry-weaving of Babylon became a model for architectural wall-decoration, HVf ore important remains have been brought to light in recent times by the excavations at Mosul, on the Upper Tigris. Heaps of remains of similar material stretch along the eastern bank of the river for about ten miles ; and these are supposed, with much probability, to be the ruins of Nineveh. 1 The excavations*
1 Cf. Botta et Flandin, Monument de Ninive. Paris, 1849. Layard, The Monuments of Nineveh. London, 1849. Nineveh and its Remains. A Popular Account of Discoveries of Nineveh, Fresh Discoveries, &c. London, 1853. Vaux, Nineveh and Persepolis. G. Raw-
Ruins of Nineveh, Discoveries of Botta and Place. 53
first undertaken by the French consul Botta, and then by Layard, have at least revealed the design and artistic decoration of these mighty buildings. / They are all raised on brick terraces thirty or forty feet high, and crowned with stone parapets. The buildings are placed on the vast platform, arranged in an intricate and apparently irregular manner round an open court. They are, for the most part, long, narrow, corridor-like apartments and halls ;. the principal apartment being sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long by only thirty or forty feet wide, enclosed with walls of excessive thickness (Fig. 28). Few traces are to be found of the way in which the apartments were roofed; and there are equally few remains of independent supports, such as columns or pillars. Lately, however, M. Place, who succeeded M. Botta as French consul at Mosul, in the course of his thorqugh researches at Khorsabad has uncovered the remains of the vaulting, by which it is proved that some of the rooms were roofed with tunnel vaults, and others with domes. With all this, however, there seems to be a want of organic growth; for we do not meet with any example of a strictly architectural subdivision of the masses. T On the contrary, the Assyrians conceived their wall-surfaces as vast tapestries, and covered them accordingly with a number of representations in relief. These sculptures are executed upon thick alabaster
Knson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World. 2 vols. London, 1862. V. Place, Ninive et PAssyrie, avec des Essais de Restauration par F. Thomas. Fol. 2 vols. Paris, 1865.
Fig. 28. Ground-Plan of the North-west Palace of NimrufJ.,
54
History of Art.
slabs, measuring as much as twelve feet square ; and these slabs are then fastened on the walls in several rows, one above another. 1 The space between this sculptured wainscoting and the ceiling was often decorated with glazed and baked tiles ot earthenware, ornamented with various designs. The floor also was paved with similar tiles ; and it is in the ornamentation of these that the decorative fancy of the Assyrians strikes out in a direction of its own (Fig. 29). There is often a highly elegant and tasteful arrangement of forms, the motive of which was
Fig. 29. Ornament at Kujjundjik,
evidently the close imitation of an ancient and highly-developed art of weaving. Purely vegetable forms, palm-leaves, open and closed lotus-blossoms, form the most important element of this decoration. As for the way in which the upper portion of their
[i Several fine specimens of these slabs are in the possession of the New-York Historical Society.]
Architecture of Nineveh. Details.
55
buildings was constructed, a hint is furnished by certain bassreliefs that remain, in which we see buildings rising terrace-like
Fig. 30. Details from Assyrian Palaces.
in several stories, each story being crowned "with a gallery open ing with small l colonnades (Fig. 30, b). The columns have a remarkable form of capital, in which two. pairs of volutes, the
Fig. 3 1 . Details foam Assyrian Palaces.
one above the other (cf. Fig. 30, c), are the main element. 1 A great increase of effect is produced at the portals, which are
fl For fuller illustration, see Fergusson, Hand-Book of Architecture, vol. i. book iv. chap. i;J
56 History of Art.
guarded at each side with gigantic winged bulls having human heads. The gates themselves were, according to ancient records, formed of brass; which, in connection with other allusions to golden images of gods, altars, and the like, leads us to infer a predilection for the use of brilliant metals, and the technical skill resulting from their frequent employment.
We have no idea of the external appearance of these buildings but from that afforded by the representations in relief. Rising in gradated terraces (Figs. 30, a, b, and 34), they obtain light and air through the colonnades introduced at the upper portions; sometimes, also, through openings which M. Place has shown to have been left in the vaulting. Fig. 24, e, affords a view of the granite breast-wall of the stylobate of the palace at Khorsabad, with its deeply-fluted cornice. The surfaces of the walls in a suite of apartments on the lower terrace of this palace are either smooth, or broken by decorated pilasters and hollowed vertical stripes (Fig. 30, a, and Fig. 34). The whole is frequently finished with battlements, which are sometimes cut in a step-like form (Fig. 30, c, d\ That the flat roofs of the lower terraces often contained small-pleasure grounds, with plantations of palms and cedars, may be gathered from many sculptures, such as Fig. 30, a, b. We are involuntarily reminded by them of what the ancients tell us -of the " hanging gardens " of Semiramis. 1 The columns met with on these
p " The worst feature of all this splendor was its ephemeral character ; though, perhaps it is owing to this very fact that we now know so much about it. Had these buildings been constructed like those of the ancient Egyptians, their remains would probably have been applied to other purposes long ago ; but having been overwhelmed so early, and forgotten, they have been preserved to our day, And it is not difficult to see how this was done. The pillars that supported the roof being of wood (probably of cedar), and the beams on the under side of the roof being of the same material, nothing was so easy as to set fire to them. The fall of the roofs, which were probably composed, as at the present day, of five or six feet of earth, required to keep out the heat as well as the wet, would alone suffice to bury the building up to the height of the sculptures. The gradual crumbling of the thick walls, consequent on their unprotected exposure to the atmosphere, would add three or four feet to this : so that it is hardly too much to suppose that grass might be growing over the buried palaces of Nineveh before two or three years had elapsed from the time of their destruction." FBRGXJSSCWJ Hand-Book of Architecture, vol. i. p. 178.]
Assyrian Architecture.
57
reliefs are, as a rule, limited to a small number ; for free supports have been nowhere discovered in the large apartments. The base of the columns consists of a circular torus, sometimes resting on the back of the figure of an advancing lion. The capitals are not confined to the volute form; but they sometimes vary this with the more slender calyx form, covered with upright leaves. Fig. 3 1 gives us some examples of Assyrian treatment of ornament, which is seen to be very marked in style. It contains, at a, a representation in relief of a tent-like building, the light tent-roof of which is supported on 'slender and probably wooden posts with volute capitals.
Fig. 32. Fortress, from an Assyrian Relief.
That the arch was already known to the Assyrians is proved both by representations in the reliefs and by remains actually discovered. But this form of construction was only made use of in subordinate apartments of small extent, and seems never to have been employed for covering over larger spaces. Brick arches of six feet span have been discovered in the drains beneath the palaces of Nimrud, and these not merely executed in the semicircular, but in the pointed style. In order to form these vaults, the separate stones are accurately cut in a wedge-
5 g History of Art.
like form. , In the reliefs we often meet with arched portals, especially in buildings designed for fortification (Fig. 32). Through the discoveries of the French consul, M. Place, these bass-reliefs have recently been verified by the monuments themselves ; for he found at Khorsabad several of the city gates, consisting of round-arched entrances from twelve to fifteen feet wide. The archivolt is ornamented, tapestry-like, with blue glazed tiles and yellow reliefs, and rests on piers from which project figures of gigantic winged bulls with human heads. 1 We possess no representation of the temple-buildings of the
Fig. 33. Representation of an Assyrian Temple.
Assyrians ; although small chapel-like shrines, with a porch supported |by columns, appear repeatedly on the reliefs, If we
[i "Another most important discovery of M. Place is that of the gates of the city. These were always apparently constructed in pairs, one devoted to foot-passengers ; the other to wheeled carriages, as shown by the marks of wheels worn into the pavement in the one case, while it is perfectly smooth in the other. Those appropriated to carriages had plain jambs rising perpendicularly twelve or fifteen feet. These supported a semicircular arch adorned on its face with an archivolt of great beauty, formed of blue enamelled bricks, with a pattern of figures and stars of a warm yellow color relieved upon it. The gateways for foot-passengers were nearly of the same dimensions, about twelve or fifteen feet broad ; but they were ornamented by winged bulls with human heads, between which stood giants strangling lions, In this case the arch sprang directly from the backs of the bulls, and was Ornamented by an archivolt similar to that over the carriage-entrances.
'" Other arches have been found in these Assyrian excavations, but none of such extent asthese, and none which snow so well how completely the Assyrians in the time of Sargon understood, not only the construction of the arch, but also its use as a decorative .architectural feature." FERGUSSON, Hand-Book of Architecture, vol,\,p,.Jiy 3,]
Art of Central Asia. Babylon and Nineveh. 59
may venture to refer another representation (Fig. 33) to an Assyrian locality, temples with gabled roofs were also known to the Assyrians, with facades ornamented with curious horizontally divided pilasters decorated with suspended shields The pediment is covered over with a tapestry-like pattern^ thoroughly in the style of Babylonian-Assyrian art. The gable is crowned with an drnament in the form of a lance-head In front of the temple stand two caldrons on feet, which recall to mind the vessels for purification in the Temple at Jerusalem.
The main group of buildings at present known includes the monuments of Nimrud, where many grand edifices, designated as the north-west, south-west, and central palaces, are to be
Fig. 34, Relief at Kujjundjik.
found close together. Farther up the river stands the Palace of Kujjundjik, and still farther north that of Khorsabad. Respecting the age and origin of these monuments, Major Rawlinson, L Oppert, Dr. Hincks, and others, have given
60 History of Art.
important information by means of the partial decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions which cover the walls. That whole ranges of buildings must have been standing before the destruction of Nineveh, which took place in the year 606 B.C., by the united powers of Babylon and Media, is self-evident. The oldest building is the north-west Palace of Nimrud, the inscriptions on which bear the royal names of Sardanapalus ; not the notorious ruler of that name, but one of an earlier date. The palace was probably erected in the ninth if not in the tenth century B.C. The central' palace was founded by Temenbar, the son of Sardanapalus. In the eighth century a new dynasty began; and King Salmanasar built the Palace of Khorsabad; his successor Sanherib, that of Kujjundjik; and- his son Esarhaddon, the south-west Palace of Nimrud. In this building epoch, comprising about five hundred years, the aim of Assyrian art seems, both in general and in detail, to have remained essentially the same, without betraying a germ of higher advance or of organic development ; and it is only in the style of the plastic decorations that we perceive certain modifications to have taken place in their mode of work, in spite of a strictly circumscribed circle of ideas.
The complete plan of an Assyrian palace has been for the first time set before us by means of the uncovering of Khorsabad by M. Place. The vast -structure, with its separate rooms, halls, and galleries', about two hundred and ten in number, and grouped around thirty courts, was built upon an artificial terrace, the cubic contents of which are reckoned at a million and a half of meters. We can now clearly trace the plan of the palace proper, with its harem at once closely connected with it and yet strictly secluded, and with its multitude of outbuildings and offices. Every one of its stately entrances has its gates adorned with colossal bulls, and each of the principal rooms has its walls wainscoted with slabs of stone carved in relief ; whilst others, the sleeping-rooms for example, are decorated with wall-painting. Near the palace, upon a four-square
Art of Central Asia. Assyrian Sculpture. 61
base, there rose a pyramid in seven diminishing stages, of which only the lower four, each twenty feet in height, remain. Each of these stages was painted in a different color from the rest, the colors being those appropriated to the seven planets, similar to what the ancients tell us of the walls of Ecbatana. 1 The summit of the pyramid probably bore an altar, and perhaps served as an observatory for the astrologers. Another building standing by itself has also been discovered, which may have been either a temple or a hall of audience. Near this huge monument the site of a city has been found, the mighty walls of which were pierced with seven gates, again the sacred number. The gates are arched with semicircular arches, and decorated with bricks enamelled in bright colors. The inscriptions state that Sargon (721-702 B.C.) was the builder both of the city and of the palace.
With regard to the sculpture of these nations, 2 rich material lies before us from the different epochs of Assyrian art, especially in the numerous reliefs come to light among the ruins of Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Kujjundjik. Numerous examples of the sculptures of Nimrud and Kujjundjik are in London, in the British Museum ; and those of Khorsabad in Paris, in the Museum of the Louvre. These remains consist, for the most part, of reliefs ; and only with rare exceptions does sculpture seem to have advanced to statuary, Here also, as among the Egyptians, the plastic arts are chiefly applied to the delineation of
[! " It consists of an extensive basement, about six feet in height, on which stands a pyramid of six stories, averaging somewhat less than twenty feet each in height, and every story forty-two feet less in horizontal dimensions than the one below it. They are not placed concentrically one upon the other. Towards the front the platforms are thirty feet in extent (qu. deep), and consequently are twelve feet in the rear. On the side they are equal, twentyone feet each. On the upper platform now stands the fragment of a tower about thirty feet in height. . . . There probably was also a shrine or image on the third platform. The lower story was black, the color of Saturn; the next orange, the color of Jupiter; the third red, emblematic of Mars ; the fourth yellow, belonging to the Sun ; the fifth and sixth green and blue respectively, as dedicated to Venus and Mercury; the upper probably white, that being the color belonging to the Moon, whose place in the Chaldean system would be the uppermost" FERGITSSON, Handbook of Architecture, v
