Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/212

 t82 A History of Art in Chald.ea and Assyria. of homage ; he remained for ever in an attitude of worship before his god — in an attitude whose calm gravity was well calculated to suggest the idea of a divine repose to which death was the passport. The chief point of interest for us lies in the execution of these statues. They embody a very sensible progress. Art has thrown off the hesitations of its first youth and attacks the stubborn material with much certainty and no little science; and yet the Fig. 96. — Statue ; from Tello. Height 37 inches. Louvre. Drawn by Bourgoin. most striking quality is less the successful grappling with a mechanical difficulty, than the feeling for nature and the general striving for truth ; a striving which has not been discouraged by the resistance of the material. This resistance has resulted in a method that makes use of wide, smooth surfaces ; and yet the workmanship has a freedom that a too great fondness for superficial polish too often took away from the diorite monu- ments of Egypt. The bare right arm and shoulder are remarkable