Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/355

 GRAPHIC PROCESSES. 333 in this case the topsy-turviness of the trees and hills has a very startling effect. The intentions of the artist, however, are perfectly obvious ; his process is childish, but it is quite clear. None of these plans or pictures have, any more than those of Egypt, a scale by which the proportions of the objects introduced can be judged. The men, who were more important in the eye of the artist than the buildings, are always taller than the houses and towers. This will be seen still more clearly in the figure we reproduce from the Balawat gates (Fig. 158). It represents a fortress besieged by Shalmaneser II., three people stand upon the roof of the building ; if we restore their lower limbs we shall see that their height is equal to that of the castle itself. 1 FIG. 158. Fortress with its defenders ; from the Balawat gates. This short examination of the spirit and principles of Assyrian figuration was necessary in order to prevent embarrassment and doubt in speaking of the architectural designs and other things of the same kind that we may find reproduced in the bas-reliefs. Unless we had thoroughly understood the system of which the sculptors made use, we should have been unable to base our restorations upon their works in any important degree ; and, besides, if there be one touchstone more sure than another by which we may determine the plastic genius of a people, it is the ingenuity, or the want of it, shown in the contrivance of means to make lines represent the thickness of bodies and the distances of various planes. In this matter Chaldsea and Assyria remained, like Egypt, in the infancy of art. They were even excelled by 1 The same disproportion between men and buildings is to be found in many other reliefs (see figs. 39, 43, and 60).