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.