Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/322

 290 A History of Art in Chald.ea and Assyria. long series of reliefs you find none of the charming variety given to Egyptian art by the slender forms of goddesses, queens, dancers, and players on the mandolin, who crowd the pictures and allow the graceful contours of their youthful bodies to be seen through their transparent robes. In spite, then, Fig. 162. — Figure of a goddess. British Museum. Dravra by Wallet. of all its merits, the art of the Assyrian sculptor is far from complete. His neglect of the soft nobleness inherent in the beauty of woman deprived him of a precious resource ; his works are without the telling contrasts that nature has set up between the forms of man and those of his mate. We have