Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/206

190 figures, more especially the animal forms, are spirited and natural beyond anything that we meet with at a later time. Nothing, for instance, can be bolder and more life like than the lion-hunt depicted on the slabs of Assur- natsir-pal. There is a freedom in the attitude of the animals which evidences a remarkable grandeur of conception. On the other hand, the execution is somewhat heavy, the perspective is worse even than in later works, and the outlines are reproduced with too servile an exactitude. A background, again, is entirely wanting, the attention of the artist being concentrated upon the principal group. In the second period, which extends from the beginning of the second empire to the reign of Essar-Haddon, the freshness and boldness of the preceding stage have passed away. The care once exclusively bestowed upon the chief figures is now shared with an elaborate background, and a pre-Raffaellite minuteness prevails throughout the whole. This, added to a total want of perspective, causes too obtrusive a realism. Still, what is lost in vigour is gained in delicacy and finish, and the general effect of such rich and intricate grouping could not but have been effective. The reign of Assur-bani-pal marks the third and last period of Assyrian art. Drawing has made a rapid advance, and the sculptures furnish several instances of successful foreshortening. The art of this period is distinguished by great softness and chasteness ; vegetable forms are represented with admirable skill, and the overcrowding of the preceding stage is avoided by recurring to the plain backgrounds of the first period, or introducing merely the main outlines of a landscape. At the same time, it is clear that Assyrian art is beginning to decline; the freedom and boldness that once marked it tend to disappear, and it is pervaded by a spirit of effeminacy which is well exemplified by the subjects portrayed. For the first time scenes are taken from the harem ; the king lies, with his wife seated beside him, banqueting under the shade of the vine ; and the lions that Assur-natsir-pal hunted in the open field at the risk of life are now tame creatures, kept in cages, and let out for a royal battue, where they have to be whipped into activity. The effect of this Assyrian bas-relief sculpture was heightened by judicious colouring. Red, blue, black, and white none of them, however, of very great brilliancy were laid upon certain parts of the picture, such as the eyes, hair, and fringes of the garments. This partial colouring was also adopted by the Greeks, and it is extremely probable that they borrowed it from Assyria. The beginning of Greek art coincides with the decadence of Assyrian; and the objects found by M. Cesnola and others in Cyprus show us the transition of the one into the other. While the remains found by Dr Schliemann in the Troad do not exhibit any Assyrian influence, the oldest works of art in Greece itself are thoroughly Assyrian in character. Indeed, we can trace the lion-sculpture at Mycenze through the similar rock-carving at Kumbet, in Phrygia, back to the artists of Nineveh. The lions themselves are Assyrian in all their details, and the pillar against which they rest reappears in the monuments of Assur-bani-pal. Columnar architecture, in fact, obtained a more extensive development in the empire of the Tigris than has ever been the case elsewhere. The half columns of ancient Chaldea germinated into a wonderful variety of elaborate forms. The most peculiar are those which rest with circular pedestals upon the backs of lions, dogs, and winged bulls. The chasteness of Hellenic taste preserved it from this Eastern fantasticness, but the Doric and Ionic pillars had their first home on the banks of the Tigris. There was something in the round firm column which was congenial to the mind of the Assyrian. Indeed, it may be said that solidity and realism underlie all Assyrian art. Muscular strength and power of an intensely earthly and human nature is expressed in their bas-reliefs and the colossal bulls that guarded the palace from the entrance of evil spirits. Nowhere else in the world can we find such an embodiment of brute force and unimaginative energy. Not only is Assyrian art valuable as disclosing the genesis of Hellenic, but yet more so as filling up a vacant chapter in the history of aesthetics. The divine calm and mysterious immensity of Egyptian sculpture was not more foreign to the Greek than the stiff unspirituality and coarse vigour of the Assyrians, which found in the lion an appropriate symbol. But the Assyrian artists did not confine themselves to architecture and bas-reliefs. Gem-cutting was carried to high perfection, and even sitting statues of &quot;the great king&quot; were attempted. These, however, were not so successful as the terra-cotta models, some of which are of great beauty. Indeed, the potters work of Nineveh can quite vie with that of ancient Greece, and their lamps seem to be prototypes of those which we find in the tombs of Athens or Syracuse. Besides porcelain, glass was also manufactured, and though transparent glass does not appear to have been known before the reign of Sargon, coloured glass, with all the tints that we admire in Venetian ware, had long been an article of trade. Metallurgy, again, was a branch of industry in which the Assyrians particularly excelled. Their gold ear-rings and bracelets are admirable both in design and workmanship ; their bronze casts are free from the narrowness of their sculptures in stone ; and so well were they acquainted with the art of inlaying one metal with another, that our modern artists have been content to learn from them the method of covering iron with bronze. Household furniture, too, gives us a high idea of Assyrian skill. Like gem-cutting, it brought out the Chinese minuteness and accuracy of the people, and the profuse, though tasteful ornamentation of the seats is especially to be noticed. It is unfortunate that our knowledge of the development of art in the sister kingdom is still so imperfect. As has been said, however, it is characterised by painting rather than sculpture, and the use of brick instead of stone. The few bas-reliefs that exist are small and inferior in execution; but brilliant colouring and a. lavish use of the metals made up for this want. The walls were covered with the most costly materials, and &quot; images portrayed with vermilion &quot; excited the admiration of the stranger. The love of bright colours, in contrast with the sober hues of the Assyrian palaces, led also to the cultivation of gardens, and the hanging gardens of Babylon, raised upon tiers of arches, were one of the wonders of the world. The Babylonian had, too, a strong sense of humour. In the engraved gems and metal- work of the southern empire, we miss the finish and minute care of the sister-kingdom, but they are replaced by a spirit of grotesqueness and serio-comedy. In pottery and the manufacture of textile fabrics the Babylonians particularly excelled ; their carpets and variegated dresses were highly prized, while their fondness for music was much celebrated. The history of the latter art, however, both in Babylonia and in Assyria, has yet to be traced. The science of Assyria, like most things else, was derived from Accad. A large number of its technical terms were borrowed from the Turanian, and continued to the last an enduring monument of the debt owed by the Semite to his predecessor. At the same time, he did not remain a mere imitator ; science received a development in his hands which might have been looked for in vain from a Turanian race. First and foremost comes the astronomy, for which Babylonia was so famous in the ancient world. Its beginning goes back to the time when the Accadai had not yet descended from their mountain fastnesses. The zenith was 