Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/156

 i 12 A History of. Art in Ciialixea and Assyria. Even in the greatest and most perfect schools of sculpture, the bas-relief, as if influenced by a souvenir of its origin, prefers figures in profile to those in full face. In those exceptional instances in which t he. A ssyrians abandoned this preference, as, for example, in the decoration of entrances, they were visibly embarrassed. They did not understand how to foreshorten the feet, therefore they put the lower part of the figure in profile while the upper part faced the spectator (see Fig. 34). * This puts the figure in a painful and awkward attitude which could not be imitated by a living man without a violent effort, or retained for more than a second or two. It is the same when they wish to make a figure turn ; the movement of the shoulders and neck is so clumsily rendered that the sculptor seems to have put on the head the wrong side foremost. 2 In general, however, the ample draperies help the artist out of his difficulties. Thanks to the veil which hides his ignorance of the attachment of limbs and the play of muscles, he succeeds in avoiding those dislo- cations that are so frequent in the Egyptian bas-reliefs and sometimes result in obvious deformity. 3 When he had to render the human countenance the sculptor of Babylon or Nineveh fell into the same fault as he of Memphis ; he placed a full, or nearly a full, eye in his profiles, and for the same reason. 4 This defect is not always so conspicuous as in a bas-relief from Nimroud representing a tributary of Assur- nazirpal bringing two apes, one of which stands on his master's shoulders while the other leaps before his feet (Fig. 64) ; but it is never absent altogether. If in its fidelity to habits that we may call childish the sculpture of Mesopotamia bears a strong resemblance to that of Egypt, it is nevertheless far inferior to it in other respects. The artist never seems to have looked closely enough or with a sufficiently awakened eye to perceive the differences that distinguish one 1 This contrivance may also be seen on the small limestone stele, covered with writing, which represents Assurbanipal carrying a basket on his head, and preparing to make an offering to the gods (British Museum, Assyrian Side Room). 2 Look for instance at the last figure but one, on the right, in Place, vol. iii, plate 60, fig. 4. It is that of a man turning to speak to one who follows him. The feet are turned in one direction, and the head in one diametrically opposite to it. Nothing more ungraceful could be conceived. 3 Art in Ancknt Egypt, vol. i. fig. 98 ; vol. ii. figs. 250, 254, 255, Szc. 4 J bid. p. 294.