Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/270

 238 A History of Art in Ciiald.ea and Assyria. very singular convention may be noticed. There are no dead or beaten Assyrians. If we may believe the artist, the kings of Nineveh won all their battles without losing a man ! The hunting scenes are arranged with more judgment. In certain respects we might place them in the same class as the great reliefs from Nimroud. By right of their dignity and breadth, the latter must be considered the masterpieces of Assyrian sculpture, but these later works can boast an amount of energy and vitality and a truthfulness of handling that are worthy of no stinted praise. The master by whom the conception was thought out abandoned the overloaded backgrounds that his immediate predecessors had brought into vogue. He concentrated his attention on the figures, to which he gave all the value he could. They stand out with singular force against a field whose unbroken surfaces happily suggest the immensity of the naked plains on which the hunts took place. We have already shown how well the distinctive features and movements of the dog, the lion, and the wild ass are rendered; in our Fig. 126 we give another example of the same kind. A sentiment of real interest is stirred in us on behalf of these wild goats with their young, who run and feed on the steppe while horsemen and beaters prepare to drive them into the treacherous nets. Elsewhere, on the other hand, the sculptor has furnished the beds of his reliefs with certain vegetable and floral forms chiselled with the greatest care. We may give, as an example, the kind of royal park or garden in which we saw a pair of tame lions (see above, Fig. jj). Behind the animals, to the right, there is a tree round which a vine clings and mounts. It is heavy with clusters of ripe fruit, and even the curling tendrils with which its branches end are not forgotten. On the left there is a palm tree, or, at least, its trunk. Between the vine and the palm tall flowering stems rear their heads. The artist has wished us to understand that fruits, sweet-smelling flowers, and um- brageous leafage, combined to make these gardens the most agreeable of retreats for a king fatigued with war against human enemies or the beasts of the desert. The same intention is traceable on the famous slab already figured (Vol. I. Figs. 27 and 28), which shows the king and queen at table in one of these royal gardens. We reproduce the chief group on a larger scale in order that the beauty of the execution may have a chance of