The Arts and Crafts of the Nations
GENERAL EDITOR: S. H. F. CAPENNY
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF ANCIENT EGYPT
[Illustration: OLD KINGDOM RELIEF
55. Wood-carving of Ra-hesy]
THE
ARTS & CRAFTS
OF ANCIENT EGYPT
BY
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
D.C.L., F.R.S., F.B.A., ETC., PROFESSOR OF
EGYPTOLOGY IN LONDON UNIVERSITY;
AUTHOR OF “A HISTORY OF EGYPT,” ETC.
CONTAINING
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS
_SECOND EDITION
WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTER_
T. N. FOULIS
LONDON & EDINBURGH
1910
_First Edition, November 1909_
_Second Edition, October 1910_
PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH
PREFACE
This present handbook is intended to aid in the understanding of
Egyptian art, and the illustrations and descriptions are selected for
that purpose only. The history of the art would require a far greater
range of examples, in order to illustrate the growth and decay of each
of the great periods; whereas here only the most striking works of each
period are shown, in order to contrast the different civilisations. The
origins and connections of the art in each age are scarcely touched,
and the technical details are only such as are needed to see the
conditions of the art. The archaeology of the subject would need as
wide a treatment as the history, and these subjects can only appear
here incidentally.
It should be noticed that the divisions of artistic periods are often
not the same as those of political history. Politically, the history
divides at the XVIIth dynasty with the fall of the Hyksos, and at the
XXIInd dynasty with the rise of the Delta government. But artistically
the changes are under Tahutmes I, when Syrian influences broke in, and
under the XXVIth dynasty, when the classical Greeks began to dominate
the art.
The effect of foreign influence in art is quite apart from political
power; it is due to rival activities which may or may not mean a
physical domination. The reader should ponder different cases, such
as those of the spiral design of early Europe entering Egypt, of the
Syrian and Cretan art in the XVIIIth dynasty, of the effect of Persia
upon Greece, and of Greece upon Italy (both through Magna Graecia
and the conquest of Greece), of the effect of the Goth, Lombard, and
Northman on Europe, and of Japan on modern Europe. Some reflection on
these great artistic movements will give a little insight as to the
history of art.
Regarding the illustrations, I have thought it more useful to give
details large enough to be clearly seen, rather than to contract too
much surface into a space where it cannot well be studied. Portions of
subjects are therefore often preferred to general views of a whole. The
outlines of artistic value, such as contours of faces or figures, are
left quite untouched, as an outline cannot be taken seriously which is
dependent on the block-maker clearing a white or black ground. This
latter treatment, unfortunately, puts out of artistic use many of the
lavishly spaced plates of the Cairo Catalogue, where art is subjected
to bibliophily. The liberal policy of all publications and photographs
of the Cairo Museum being free of copyright, has enabled me to use many
of the excellent untouched photographs of Brugsch Pasha and others.
My best thanks are due to Freiherr von Bissing and the publisher of
his _Denkmaeler Aegypt. Sculptur_, for permission to use figures 39,
44, 46, 48, 62, 111, and 112 from that work. Over a third of the
illustrations here are from my own photographs not yet published, and
principally taken for this volume.
W. M. F. P.
PERIODS AND KINGS REFERRED TO IN THIS VOLUME
Period. Dynasty. Names. B.C.
Prehistoric. 8000-5500
Early { I. Narmer, Mena, Zer, 5500-5400
kings. { II. Kha-sekhem, 5000
{ III. Zeser, Senoferu, 4900-4700
Pyramid { IV. Khufu, Khafra, Menkaura, 4700-4500
age: Old { V. Nofer-ar-ka-ra, Unas, 4400-4200
Kingdom. { VI. Pepy II, 4100-4000
IX. Khety, 3800
{ XI. Antef V, 3500
Middle { XII. Senusert I, Senusert II, 3400-3300
Kingdom. { Senusert III,
{ Amenemhat III, 3300-3259
{ XIII. Hor, 3200
New { XVIII. Aahmes, Queens Aah-hotep, 1587-1562
Kingdom. { Aahmes,
{ Tahutmes I, Tahutmes II, 1541-1481
{ Hatshepsut
{ Tahutmes III, Amenhotep II, 1481-1414
{ Tahutmes IV,
{ Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, 1414-1344
{ Tut-ankh-amen,
{ XIX. Sety I, Ramessu II, Merenptah, 1326-1214
{ Sety II, Tausert, 1214-1203
{ XX. Ramessu III, IV, XII, 1202-1129
XXI. Isiemkheb, 1050
XXII. Shishak kings, 952-749
XXIII. Pedubast, Pefaabast, 755-725
Ethiopian. XXV. Amenardys, Taharqa, Tanut-amen, 720-664
Saite. XXVI. Aahmes II, 570-526
XXX. Nekhthorheb (Nectanebo), 378-361
Ptolemies. Cleopatra Cocce, 130-106
Romans. 30-A.D. 640
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
1. THE CHARACTER OF EGYPTIAN ART 1
2. THE PERIODS AND SCHOOLS 11
3. THE STATUARY 29
4. THE RELIEFS 48
5. THE PAINTING AND DRAWING 55
6. THE ARCHITECTURE 62
7. THE STONE-WORKING 69
8. JEWELLERY 83
9. METAL WORK 98
10. GLAZED WARE AND GLASS 107
11. THE POTTERY 126
12. IVORY-WORKING 134
13. WOODWORK 137
14. PLASTER AND STUCCO 142
15. CLOTHING 147
16. EGYPT’S PLACE IN THE ART OF THE WORLD 152
INDEX 159
BIBLIOGRAPHY 166
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. Dynasty. Subject. Material. Source. Position. Page.
_Scenery._
1 XVIII Temple below Limestone Deir el Thebes. 4
cliffs. Bahri.
2 … Palms and canal. … Illahun. Fayum. ”
_Periods._
3 Prehist. Dog and deer. Ivory. ? Petrie Coll. 13
4 ” Bull and enemy. Slate. ? Louvre. ”
5 IV Servant of Ainofer. Limestone. Saqqareh. Cairo Mus. ”
6 XII Senusert I. ” Memphis. Carlsberg M. ”
7 XVIII Servant of ” Tomb. Thebes. 19
Kha-em-hat.
8 XIX Sons of Ramessu II. Sandstone. Luqsor. ” ”
9 XXVI Aahmes-si- Limestone. Memphis. Cambridge. ”
neit-rannu.
10 Ptolem. Cleopatra Cocce. Sandstone. ” Kom Ombo. ”
_Schools._
11 XIX Ramessu II. Black Eastern Turin. 24
granite. desert.
12 ” ” Hard Memphis. Memphis. ”
limestone.
13 ” ” Red granite. Aswan. Thebes. ”
14 ” ” Sandstone. Nubia. Abu Simbel. ”
_Sculpture._
15 Prehist. Female figure. Ivory. ? Petrie Coll. 30
16 ” ” ” Limestone. Naqadeh. Oxford Mus. ”
17 ” Male heads. Ivory. ? Petrie Coll. ”
18 ” Lion. Limestone. ? ” ”
19, I Narmer? head; ” ? ” 32
20 sculptor’s study.
21 I King standing. Ivory. Abydos. British ”
Mus.
22 II Head of Kha-sekhem. Limestone. Hierakon- Oxford Mus. ”
polis.
23 III Head of Mertitefs. ” ? Leyden Mus. 33
24 ” Head of Nofert. ” Medum. Cairo Mus. ”
25 IV Head of Ka-aper. Wood. Saqqareh. ” ”
26 ” Female figure. Wood. ” ” ”
27 ” Khafra. Diorite. Gizeh. ” 34
28 ” Head of Khafra. Cast. ” ” ”
29 V Scribe seated. Limestone. Saqqareh. Louvre. 35
30 ” Family of Khui. ” ” Cairo Mus. ”
31 ” Ranofer. ” ” ” ”
32 XII Head of Senusert I. ” Lisht. ” 39
33 ” ” Senusert Red Karnak. ” ”
III. granite.
34 ? ” Sphinx. Black Tanis. ” ”
granite.
35 XII ” Amenemhat Grey ? Univ. Coll., ”
III. granite. Lond.
36 XVIII ” statue. Quartzite. Thebes. Cairo Mus. 42
37 ” ” Tahutmes Basalt. Karnak. ” ”
III.
38 ” ” Tut-ankh- Grey ” ” ”
amen. granite.
39 ” ” Akhenaten. Limestone. Thebes. Louvre. ”
40 ” Young negress. Ebony. ? Petrie Coll. 43
41 ” Girl on tray Wood. ? Louvre. ”
handle.
42 ” Girl playing lute. ” Sedment. Univ. Coll., ”
Lond.
43 XIX Head of Ramessu II. Black Thebes. Turin Mus. 44
granite.
44 ” ” Bak-en- Hard ” Munich Mus. ”
khonsu. limestone.
45 ” ” Merenptah. Black ” Cairo Mus. ”
granite.
46 XXV ” Taharqa. Black ” ” ”
granite.
47 ” ” Amenardys. Alabaster. ” ” 46
48 ” ” Mentu-em- Black Karnak. ” ”
hat. granite.
49 XXX ” man (cast). Basalt. Memphis. Berlin Mus. ”
50 Ptol. ” woman Wood. ? ” ”
(coffin).
_Reliefs._
51 Prehist. Hyaena and calf. Limestone. Koptos. Cairo Mus. 48
52 Prehist. Gazelles and palms. Slate. ? Oxford and ”
Louvre.
53 ” Group of animals. ” Hierakon- Oxford Mus. ”
polis.
54 ” Narmer and enemy. ” Hierakon- Cairo Mus. ”
polis.
55 III Ra-hesy, half Wood. Saqqareh. ” _Front._
length.
56 V Sacrificing bull. Limestone. Ty tomb. Saqqareh. 51
57 ” Oxherd. ” Ptah-hotep ” ”
tomb.
58 XI Toilet of princess. ” Deir el Cairo Mus. 52
Bahri.
59 XII Heads of Ptah and ” Karnak. ” ”
Senusert I.
60 XVIII Hatshepsut. ” Deir el Thebes. 53
Bahri.
61 ” Servant of Kha-em-hat. ” Tomb. ” ”
62 ” Akhenaten and queen. ” ? Berlin Mus. ”
63 XX Bulls in marsh. Sandstone. Medinet, Thebes. 54
Habu.
64 XXVI Youths and girls Limestone. Memphis. Cairo Mus. ”
with animals.
_Paintings._
65 Prehist. Men fighting, vase. Pottery. ? Petrie Coll. 56
66 ” Ship, vase. ” ? Cairo Mus. ”
67 ” Ship, tomb. Fresco. Hierakon- ” ”
polis.
68 III Geese walking. ” Medum. ” ”
69 XVIII Pelicans and keeper. ” Horemheb Thebes. 57
tomb.
70 ” Gleaning girls. ” Menna ” ”
tomb.
71 ” Harvesters. ” Nekht ” ”
tomb.
72 ” Pattern in stages. ” Amenmes ” 58
tomb.
73 ” Boating scene. ” Menna ” ”
tomb.
74 ” Guests and girl. ” Nekht ” ”
tomb.
75 ” Girl somersaulting. Limestone. Thebes? Turin Mus. 60
76 ” Young princesses. Fresco. Tell-el- Oxford Mus. ”
Amarna.
77 XVIII Man hauling rope. Fresco. Amenmes Thebes. ”
tomb.
78 ” Four races. Rock wall. Rames ” ”
tomb.
79 XIX Man adoring. Limestone. Thebes. Cairo Mus. ”
80 ” Sety I offering to Rock pillar. Tomb of Thebes. ”
Osiris. Sety I.
_Architecture._
81 IV Temple of Khafra. Red granite. Gizeh. … 66
82 XX ” Ramessu Sandstone. Medinet Thebes. ”
III. Habu.
83 Ptolem. Temple of Ergamenes. ” Dakkeh. Nubia. ”
84 V Palm column, Unas. Red granite. Saqqareh. Cairo Mus. 67
85 ” Rose lotus capital. Limestone. ” ” ”
86 ” Blue lotus capital. ” Abusir. ” ”
_Stone working._
87 Pre-XVIII Stone vases. Various. Various. ” 78
88 XVIII Trial piece, Limestone. Thebes. Petrie Coll. ”
king’s head.
89 ? Figure in first Rock-crystal. ? ” ”
outlines.
90 Ptolem. Lion’s head in Limestone. ? ” ”
outlines.
91 XVIII? Man’s head, ” Thebes. ” ”
unfinished.
92 Prehist. Flint knives, etc. Chert. Naqadeh, ” 81
etc.
_Jewellery._
93 I Bracelets, gold, Amethyst. Tomb of Cairo Mus. 87
turquoise. Zer.
94 VI Chain. Gold. Mahasnah. ” ”
95 ” ? Seal with hawk ” ? Petrie Coll. ”
heads.
96 XII Uraeus, wire work. ” ? ” ”
97 ” Pectoral of Senusert ” Dahshur. Cairo Mus. 88
II.
98 ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
III.
99 ” Inlaid crown of Gold and ” ” 90
Khnumt. stones.
100 ” Floret ” Gold and ” ” ”
stones.
101 ” Granulated work. Gold. ” ” ”
102 XVIII Bracelet of Aahmes. Gold and Thebes. ” 92
lazuli.
103 XVIII Dagger of Aahmes. Gold and Thebes. Cairo Mus. ”
bronze.
104 ” Axe of Aahmes. Gold and ” ” ”
bronze.
105 XIX Pectoral of Gold and Saqqareh. Louvre. 94
Ramessu II. stones.
106 XX Earrings of Gold. Abydos. Cairo Mus. ”
Ramessu XII.
107 XXV Statuette of ” Ehnasya. Boston Mus. ”
Hershefi.
108 XXVI? Bowls from temple. Silver. Mendes. Cairo Mus. 96
109 Rom.? Chain fastening. Gold. ? Petrie Coll. ”
_Metal-working._
110 VI Head of prince. Copper. Hierakon- Cairo Mus. 100
polis
111 XXV? Bust of Takushet. Gold in ? Athens Mus. ”
bronze.
112 ” ” ” side. ” ? ” ”
113 XVIII Flask of sandal Bronze. ? Petrie Coll. 101
washer.
114 XIX Fluted vases. ” Abydos. Cairo Mus. ”
115 XXII? Anti-splash bowl. Silver. Bubastis. Petrie Coll. ”
_Glaze and Glass._
116 I Inlaid glazes Green and Abydos. Brit. Mus. 108
of Mena. violet glaze.
117 XX Lotus and grape Coloured Yehudiyeh. Cairo Mus. ”
border. glaze.
118 XXVI Head of Isis. Blue glaze. ? Petrie Coll. ”
119 ” Royal fan-bearer. ” ? ” ”
120 XVIII Dragged pattern Coloured ? British Mus. 120
vase. glass.
121 ” ” ” ” ? ” ”
122 Ptol. Coloured mosaics. Glass. ? Petrie Coll. ”
_Ivory._
123 IV Khufu. Ivory. Abydos. Cairo Mus. 136
124 VI? Girl standing. ” ? Petrie Coll. ”
125 XXVI Lotus flower. ” Memphis. Edin. Mus. ”
126 ” Man with offerings. ” ” ” ”
_Wood._
127 XVIII Bracing of chair. Wood. Tomb of Cairo Mus. 137
Yuaa.
128 ” Chair of Sitamen. ” ” ” ”
129 ” Coffer of Wood ” ” ”
Amenhotep III. inlaid.
130 ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
131 ” Couch of Yuaa. Wood. ” ” ”
_Plaster._
132 XVIII Reliefs on chariot. Stucco on Tomb of Cairo Mus. 144
wood. Tahutmes.
133 Ptol. Lion’s head, Plaster. ? Petrie Coll. ”
casting.
134 ” King’s head, casting. ” ? ” ”
135 Roman. Man’s head from ” ? ” 146
coffin.
136 ” ” ” ” Kom el Cairo Mus. ”
Ahmar.
137 ” Woman’s head from ” ? Petrie Coll. ”
coffin.
138 ” Man’s head and skull. ” Hu. British Mus. ”
_Clothing._
139 XVIII Woven patterns, Thread. Tomb of Cairo Mus. 148
Amenhotep II. Tahutmes IV.
140 ” Cut-out network. Leather. ” ” ”
Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt
CHAPTER I
THE CHARACTER OF EGYPTIAN ART
The art of a country, like the character of the inhabitants, belongs
to the nature of the land. The climate, the scenery, the contrasts of
each country, all clothe the artistic impulse as diversely as they
clothe the people themselves. A burly, florid Teuton in his furs and
jewellery, and a lithe brown Indian in his waist-cloth, would each
look entirely absurd in the other’s dress. There is no question of
which dress is intrinsically the best in the world; each is relatively
the best for its own conditions, and each is out of place in other
conditions. So it is with art: it is the expression of thought and
feeling in harmony with its own conditions. The only bad art is that
which is mechanical, where the impulse to give expression has decayed,
and it is reduced to mere copying of styles and motives which do
not belong to its actual conditions. An age of copying is the only
despicable age.
It is but a confusion of thought, therefore, to try to pit the art of
one country against that of another. A Corinthian temple, a Norman
church, or a Chinese pavilion are each perfect in their own conditions;
but if the temple is of Aberdeen granite, the church of Pacific island
coral, and the pavilion amid the Brighton downs, they are each of
them hopelessly wrong. To understand any art we must first begin by
grasping its conditions, and feeling the contrasts, the necessities,
the atmosphere, which underlie the whole terms of expression.
Now the essential conditions in Egypt are before all, an overwhelming
sunshine; next, the strongest of contrasts between a vast sterility of
desert and the most prolific verdure of the narrow plain; and thirdly,
the illimitable level lines of the cultivation, of the desert plateau,
and of the limestone strata, crossed by the vertical precipices on
either hand rising hundreds of feet without a break. In such conditions
the architecture of other lands would look weak or tawdry. But the
style of Egypt never fails in all its varieties and changes.
The brilliancy of light led to adopting an architecture of blank walls
without windows. The reflected light through open doorways was enough
to show most interiors; and for chambers far from the outer door, a
square opening about six inches each way in the roof, or a slit along
the wall a couple of inches high, let in sufficient light. The results
of this system were, that as the walls were not divided by structural
features, they were dominated by the scenes that were carved upon
them. The wall surface ceased to be regarded as part of a building,
and became an expansion of the papyrus or tablet. The Egyptian belief
in the magical value of representations led to the figuring of the
various parts of the worship on the walls of the temples or tombs, so
that the divine service should be perpetually renewed in figure; and
thus what we see is not so much a building in the ordinary sense, as
an illustrated service-book enclosing the centre of worship. Another
result of the fierce indirect light was that which dominated sculpture.
The reliefs, beautiful as they often were, would not be distinct in
the diffuse facing light; hence strong colouring was applied to render
them clear and effective. So much did colouring take the lead that the
finest sculptures were often smothered in a stucco facing, laid on to
receive the colour. This almost spiteful ignoring of the delicate craft
of the sculptor is seen in the XIIth dynasty, and was the ruling method
in Ptolemaic work.
The extreme contrast between the desert and the cultivation gave its
tone to the artistic sense of the people. On either hand, always in
sight, there rose the margin of the boundless waste without life or
verdure, the dreaded region of evil spirits and fierce beasts, the home
of the nomads that were always ready to swoop on unprotected fields and
cattle, if they did not sit down on the borders and eat up the country.
Between these two expanses of wilderness lay the narrow strip of
richest earth, black, wet, and fertile under the powerful sun; teeming
with the force of life, bearing the greenest of crops, as often in the
year as it could be watered. In parts may be seen three full crops
of corn or beans raised each year beneath the palms that also give
their annual burden of fruit; fourfold does the rich ground yield its
ever-growing stream of life.
[Illustration: SCENERY
1. The barren desert background
2. The luxuriance of the plain]
This exuberance amid absolute sterility is reflected in the proportion
between the minuteness of detail and the vastness of the architecture.
The most gigantic buildings may have their surfaces crowded with
delicate sculpture and minute colouring. What would be disproportionate
elsewhere, seems in harmony amid such natural contrasts.
The strongly marked horizontal and vertical lines of the scenery
condition the style of buildings that can be placed before such a
background. As the temples were approached, the dominant line was the
absolute level of the green plain of the Nile valley, without a rise
or slope upon it. Behind the building the sky line was the level top
of the desert plateau, only broken by an occasional valley, but with
never a peak rising above it. And the face of the cliffs that form the
stern setting is ruled across with level lines of strata, which rise
in a step-like background or a wall lined across as with courses of
masonry. The weathering of the cliffs breaks up the walls of rock into
vertical pillars with deep shadows between them. In the face of such
an overwhelming rectangular framing any architecture less massive and
square than that of Egypt would be hopelessly defeated. The pediments
of Greece, the circular arches of Rome, the pointed arches of England,
would all seem crushed by so stern a setting. The harmony is shown most
clearly in the temple of Deir el Bahri (fig. 1) below its cliffs which
overshadow it. Let any other kind of building be set there, and it
would be an impertinent intrusion; the long level lines of the terraces
and roofs, the vertical shadows of the colonnades, repose in perfect
harmony with the mass of Nature around them. The Egyptian was quite
familiar with the arch: he constantly used it in brickwork on a large
scale, and he imitated its curve in stone; yet he always hid it in
his building, and kept it away from the external forms, instinctively
knowing that it could not serve any part of his decorative construction.
These principles, which were thus imposed on the architecture of Egypt,
were doubly enforced upon its sculpture. Not only did Nature set the
framing of plain and cliff, but her work was reflected and reiterated
by the massive walls, square pillars, and flat architraves, amid which
Egyptian sculpture had to take its place. In such shrines it would be
disastrously incongruous to place a Victory poising on one foot, or a
dancing faun. They belong to the peaks of Greece, divided by rushing
streams, and clothed with woods,--to a transient world of fleeting
beauty, not to a landscape and an architecture of eternity. Egyptian
art, however luxurious, however playful it might be, was always
framed on a tacit groundwork of its natural conditions. Within those
conditions there was scope for most vivid portraiture, most beautiful
harmony, most delicate expression, but the Egyptian was wise enough
to know his conditions and to obey them. In that obedience lay his
greatness.
The truest analysis of art--that of Tolstoy--results in defining it as
a means of communicating emotion. It may be the emotion produced by
beauty or by loathsomeness; each expression is equally art, though each
is not equally desirable art. The emotion may be imparted by words, by
forms, by sounds; all are equally vehicles of different kinds of art.
But without imparting an emotional perception to the mind there is no
art. The emotion may be the highest, that of apprehending character,
and the innate meaning of mind and of Nature; or it may be the lower
form of sharing in the transient interests and excitements of others;
or the basest form of all, that of enjoying their evil. How does the
Egyptian appear under this analysis? What emotions can we consider were
intended by his art? How far did he succeed in imparting them to the
spectators?
To understand the mind of the artist we must look to those qualities
which in their literature were held up as the ideals of life.
Stability and Strength were the qualities most admired, and the name
for public monuments was “firm things.” Assuredly all mankind has
looked on the works of Egypt as giving a sense of these qualities
before all others. Closely connected is the sense of Endurance, which
was enjoined in words, and carried into practice in the laborious work
on the hardest rocks. It was for endurance that statues were made of
diorite or granite, though they were painted with life-like hues, so
that their material was scarcely seen. Upon these primary qualities
was built a rich and varied character, reflected in the elaborate and
beautiful sculpture which covered, but never interfered with, the grand
mass of a monument. Truth and Justice were qualities much sought for in
life, and were expressed by the artist in the reality of his immense
blocks of stone, often more hidden than seen, and in the fair and even
bearing of all material, without any tricks or paradoxes of structure.
In all his earlier work his monolith columns and pillars were a protest
that a structural unit must express unity, that what supports others
must not be in itself divided. The Discipline and Harmony which were
looked on as the bond of social life are shown by the subordination
of the whole, by the carrying out of single schemes of decoration
illustrating the use of every part of a building on all its walls,
by the balance of the proportions of the whole so that there seems a
perfect fitness of connection through all parts. And the happy union
of vigorous Action with prudent Reserve, which showed the wise man in
the proverbs, is the basis of those life-like scenes which cover the
walls of the tombs, but which never betray the artist into attempting
impossibilities or revealing too much.
As true art, then--that is, the expression of his being, and the
communication to others of his best feelings and sense of things--the
Egyptian work must stand on the highest plane of reality. It would
have been a falsehood to his nature to aspire, as a Gothic architect
sometimes did, in towers and pinnacles which crush their foundations
and will not hold together without incongruous bonds. Nor did he wish
to express the romantic sense of beauty, in structure which may tend
to exceed the limits of stability. All that belongs to the atmosphere
of troubadours and knights errant. The Egyptian possessed in splendid
perfection the sense of Strength, Permanence, Majesty, Harmony, and
effective Action, tempered with a sympathy and kindliness which
cemented a vast disciplined fabric. And these aims of life as a whole
he embodied and expressed in his art, with a force and truth which has
impressed his character on all who look on his works. He fulfils the
canon of true art as completely as any race that has come after him.