No. 10. Longitudinal section and half plan of Egyptian Temple.
Egyptian architecture may be generally described as monumental, while the ornament was apparently inspired by religious feeling and desire for symbolic expression, rather than by more æsthetic considerations.
In Egyptian Art ornament is subordinated to the architecture, and the employment of wall pictures and of inscriptions in the hieroglyphic character, added considerably to the decorative effect. In the wall pictures the figures were depicted in silhouette, in conventional attitudes, the head and limbs being displayed in severe profile, while the torso is represented in full front view. The methods of expression were painting, or incised in outline on stone, invariably filled in with colour, the effect in both being of flatness, with little suggestion of modelling or rotundity, the various features being defined by local colour.
No. 11. Entrance Façade of Egyptian Temple.
Though much of the Egyptian work was in the round, and evident of great sculptural ability and appreciation of form, yet generally their decorative work may be described as a colour style, rather than one in which light and shade were important factors.
