SCULPTURE.
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT SCULPTURE.
EGYPT.
No one can speak with exactness as to the time when sculpture was first practised by the Egyptians; we only know that it was a very long time ago. But we do know that in the time of the twelfth dynasty, which dates from 2466 B.C., sculpture had reached a stage of excellence such as could only have resulted from the experience of many years of training and practice in this art.
In the Egyptian collection of the Louvre, at Paris, there is the memorial stone of an old Egyptian sculptor which has an inscription that reads as if he had written it himself; this was the way by which Egyptians made these inscriptions sound as if the dead themselves spoke to those who were still alive. This sculptor's name was Martisen, and he lived about forty-four centuries ago. Brugsch-Bey, a very learned writer on Egypt, says: "He calls himself 'a master among those who understand art, and a plastic artist,' who 'was a wise artist in his art.' He relates in succession his knowledge in the making of statues, in every position, according to prescribed use and measure; and brings forward, as his particular invention, an etching with colors, if I have rightly understood the expression, 'which can neither be injured by fire nor washed off by water; 'and, as a further explanation of this, states that 'no man has arisen who has been able to do this except himself alone and the eldest son of his race, whom God's will has created. He has arisen able to do this, and the exercise of his hand has been admired in masterly works in all sorts of precious stones, from gold and silver to ivory and ebony.'"
There is no doubt but that Martisen and his son, who was named Usurtasen, were sculptors at the time when Egyptian art reached its highest point.
The earliest works of Egyptian sculpture are the bas-reliefs found in the chambers of the tombs; the walls are almost covered with them, and they are painted with colors which are still bright and fresh, though more than four thousand years have passed since they were put on. The subjects of these reliefs are taken from the life of the persons buried in the tombs, and even their possessions and occupations are thus represented. These sculptures were made by tracing the designs on the stone and then cutting it away between the figures. The mode of arrangement in these reliefs does not satisfy our ideas of what it should be. It seems as if the artists had no plan of their work in their minds—no aim as to what the effect should be when finished. On the contrary, the reliefs impress us as if the sculptors made one figure, and then added another and another in such a way as to represent the fact they wished to tell without any attention to the beauty of the whole; and so it does not seem as if there was any unity in them, but as if the large bas-reliefs were made up of disjointed parts which in one sense really have no relation to each other.
The same is true of the Egyptian statues. It appears as if the different parts might have been made separately or even by different sculptors, and then joined together. All this is because the Egyptians seemed to think of an object in parts and not as a whole. Then, too, the position of the early statues was so unnatural and awkward. The arms were placed close to the sides of the body, and there was no separation between the legs; and though in some of their articles of furniture, their pottery, and in the details of their architecture, the Egyptians made a great advance, they did not equally improve in their sculpture.
One great hindrance to the progress of Egyptian sculpture was the fact that figures were never represented in action. They were not figures moving and living in stone; they were like figures petrified and fixed: they were statues, and no one can forget this for a moment while looking at them. I can learn of but one Egyptian figure sculptured as if in action; this is a quoit-thrower in the Tombs of the Kings. A sitting statue, whether of a man or a woman, had the hands rested on the knees or held across the breast (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1.—Statue of Cephren in the Museum at Cairo.
There were very few groups in Egyptian sculpture, and these seldom had more than two figures. It was customary to represent a husband and wife sitting on the same chair holding each other's hands, or having their arms around one another's waists or shoulders. Sometimes the principal figure is of large size, and the inferior persons are made much smaller and placed at the sides of the larger figure. In short, very few attitudes are represented in Egyptian sculpture, and it almost seems as if there must have been fixed rules for a certain limited number of positions after which all sculptured figures were made.
In spite of this sameness and stiffness, Egyptian sculpture is remarkable, and it is probable that if they had not been fettered by prejudices and rules the Egyptians would have excelled both in sculpture and painting.
The sides of obelisks and, more especially, the walls of temples were covered with sculptures which gave the history of kings—of their wars and conquests, and of their great works in their kingdoms. The sculptures upon the temple walls could be estimated by square rods, or even acres, better than by lesser measures. Their amount and the labor it required to make them are simply marvellous.
I will describe the subjects depicted upon one inner wall in the palace-temple of Medemet Haboo, and will quote from Wilkinson's "Egypt and Thebes." On the west wall "the Egyptian princes and generals conduct the 'captive chiefs' into the presence of the king. He is seated at the back of his car, and the spirited horses are held by his attendants on foot. Large heaps of hands are placed before him, which an officer counts, one by one, as the other notes down their number on a scroll; each heap containing three thousand, and the total indicating the returns of the enemy's slain. The number of captives, reckoned one thousand in each line, is also mentioned in the hieroglyphics above, where the name of the Rebo points out the nation against whom this war was carried on. Their flowing dresses, striped horizontally with blue or green bands on a white ground, and their long hair and aquiline noses give them the character of an Eastern nation in the vicinity of Assyria and Persia, as their name reminds us of the Rhibii of Ptolemy, whom he places near the Caspian." ...
The suite of this historical subject continues on the south wall. The king, returning victorious to Egypt, proceeds slowly in his car, conducting in triumph the prisoners he has made, who walk beside and before it, three others being bound to the axle. Two of his sons attend as fan-bearers, and the several regiments of Egyptian infantry, with a corps of their allies, under the command of these princes, marching in regular step and in the close array of disciplined troops, accompany their king. He arrives at Thebes, and presents his captives to Amen-Ra and Mut, the deities of the city, who compliment him, as usual, on the victory he has gained, and the overthrow of the enemy he has "trampled beneath his feet."
Fig. 2—Various Kinds of Dogs.
This description of these bas-reliefs, which are usually painted, will give an idea of the great works of Egyptian sculptors.
The representation of the animals in these sculptures is as successful as any part of them. There being no intellectual expression required, they are more pleasing than the human beings, with their set, unchanging features and expression. The Egyptians had several breeds of dogs, and the picture here (Fig. 2) is made up from the dogs found in the sculptures—No. 1, hound; 2, mastiff; 3, turnspit; 4, 5, fox-dogs; 6, 7, greyhounds.
Fig. 3.--Androsphinx.
Fig. 4.—Kriosphinx.
One of the figures often repeated by the sculptors of Egypt was the Sphinx. The colossal and most famous one (Fig. 5) is not far from the great pyramid, and has the form of a recumbent lion with a human head. It is one hundred and seventy-two feet long, and is the Sphinx of the world; but there were great numbers of these strange figures in Egypt—in some cases there were avenues leading to the temples bordered by them on each side. The form of the Sphinx was intended to express some spiritual thought to the Egyptians, and the stories about it are very interesting. Its form certainly denotes the union of physical and mental power. The form of which we have spoken as being that of the great Sphinx is called the androsphinx (Fig. 3). Another has the body of the lion with the head of the ram, and is called the kriosphinx (Fig. 4); still another has the same body and the head of a hawk; this is called the hieracosphinx (Fig. 6). They all typified the king, without doubt, and it is probable that the various heads were so given to show respect for the different gods who were represented with the heads of these creatures. Sometimes the androsphinx has human hands in place of the lion's paws. The winged Sphinx has been found in Egypt, but it is rare.
Fig. 5.—The Great Sphinx.
Fig. 6.—Hieracosphinx.
The colossal statues of Egypt are very wonderful on account of their vast weight and size. The most famous are two which stand on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes (Fig. 7). Each of these colossi is made from a single block of stone such as is not found within several days' journey of the place where they stand. They are forty-seven feet high, and contain eleven thousand five hundred cubic feet each. But a third is still larger; it represents the King Rameses II., and, when whole, was of a single stone, and weighed eight hundred and eighty-seven tons. It was brought from Assouan to Thebes, a distance of one hundred and thirty-eight miles. It is wonderful to think of moving such a vast weight over such a distance, and one would naturally wish to know also how the sculptors could work on such a statue. The plate here given (Fig. 8) shows the process of polishing a statue, and the following one (Fig. 9) illustrates the mode of moving one when finished. These representations are found in tombs and grottoes, and tell us plainly just what we wish to know about these things.
Fig. 7.—The Colossi at Thebes.
I have now pointed out the marked peculiarities of Egyptian sculpture, and before leaving the subject will call your attention to the fact that in most cases it was used in connection with and almost as a part of Egyptian architecture. In the tombs the bas-reliefs are for the decoration of the walls and to finish the work of the architect, while at the same time they are an interesting feature of the art of the nation and period. In the temple palaces this is also true—though the reliefs serve the purpose of telling the history of the kings; they are, as it were, framed into and make a part of the architectural effect. The obelisks, colossal figures and Sphinxes were placed before the grand buildings, and made a part of them architecturally. In general terms we may say that sculpture never became an independent art in Egypt, but was essentially wedded to architecture; and this fact largely accounts for that other truth that sculpture never reached the perfection in Egypt that it promised, or the excellence that would have seemed to be the natural result of its earliest attainments.
Fig. 8—Polishing a colossal Statue.