Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/323

 The Prin'cipal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 293 lines, from the succession of planes, from the necessity for render- ing or at least suggesting the thickness of objects ! When the desire to imitate natural objects began to make itseh felt in man he received his first drawing lesson from the sun. IMornino- and evening its almost horizontal ravs threw his silhouette sharply upon the white rocks and walls, and nothing was easier than to fix the outline of the image thus projected with a piece of charcoal or burnt wood ; after this beginning it was easy to imitate such a sun-picture either in large or in small. Such figures were of necessity profiles, as the silhouette given by a head viewed in front would be very uncertain and indistinct. The profiles of men and of the lower animals must, then, have played a chief part in these early efforts towards design. In this there is nothing at variance with our daily experience. The back view need hardly be taken into account, and there are two lateral positions, the right and left profiles, against one for the front face. Finally, the fact that the front face consists of two parts which have to be kept in absolute symmetry with one another, makes it much more difficult of treatment by the novice. Even in the productions of skilful artists we often find that this symmetry has been missed. It is the profile that is first attacked by beginners in the art of drawing, and it is the profile which always remains most comprehensible for simple intelligences. The fellah who is present at the opening of one of those tombs which were con- structed by his remote ancestors, at once recognizes the animals represented and the meaning of their attitudes and grouping. Wilkinson noticed this on several occasions. But if an European drawing be shown to the same man, he will be hopelessly bewildered by the foreshortening, the perspective, and the play of light and shade. He will no longer be able to distinguish a bull from a horse or an ass. In their bas-reliefs, and in their paintings, the Egyptian artists made almost exclusive use of the profile,^ but, by a singular compromise, we sometimes find it combined with an attitude of this rule. In the Temple of Seti, at Gournah, that king is shown, in a bas-relief, in the act of brandishing his mace over the heads of his prisoners. The group is the usual one, but in this case tAvo of the vanquished are shown in full face (pi. 274). At the Raraesseum, also, one man in a long row of prisoners is shown in a similar attitude (pi. 332).
 * In turning over the leaves of ChampoUion we have found but two exceptions to