Standing Figure of a King (Fig. 1), and, like the former, ])ainted to' represent granile. (Figs. 4,6 are polishing It; and tigs. 2 and 3 painting and sculpturing the hie- roglyphics at the back.)
or ornaments were introduced, the squares were sub- divided into smaller squares, proportioned to the less figure. The outline was then traced, and its propor- tions were invariable. This, which to moderns would seem the most important part of the process, required no great exertion of skill in the Egyptian artist. It was then inspected by the master-sculptor, who wrote on various parts of it, in hieratic characters, such direc- tions as he thought it necessarj' to give to the inferior artists who actually cut the figure. The colossal statue on which the workmen in the accompanying engraving are engaged appears so far advanced towards comple- tion that the instructions of the master-sculptor have been chiselled away. We are informed by Diodorus Siculus that the most eminent statuaries always went to reside for a time in Egypt, as modern artists do in Italy, to study the principles of their art. He partic- ularly mentions Telecles and Theodorus, the sons of Rhojcus, who made the celebrated statue of the Pythian Ajjollo at Samos, after what he calls ■' the Egyptian fashion." He explains this fashion to be the separate execution of the parts, for the statue was divided into two parts, at the groin : one half was cut by Telecles at Samos, and the other by Theodorus at Ephesus; yet, when they were joined together, they fitted so exactly that the whole seemed the work of one hand. And this seemed the more admirable when the attitude of the statue was considered, for it had its hands extended, and its legs at a distance from each other, in a moving posture. We thus see that Egyptian sculpture was al- most wholly a mechanical process; the laws of the country prohibited the intervention of novelty in sub- jects considered sacred ; and the more effectually to prevent the violation of prescribed rides, it was ordained that the profession of an artist should not be exercised by any common or illiterate person. Wilkinson, in- deed, has shown the great prolMbility of the higher artists having been included in the ranks of the priest- hood. In some instances, however, we find reason to believe that the Egyptian artists broke through these trammels. In the two granite statues of lions presented liy lord Prudhoe to the British Museum, we perceive a boldness and freedom of execution scarcely compatible with a strict adherence to mechanical rule (see Wilkin- son, /) ncient Efpjpt. ii, 342 sq.).
SCULPTUHE, Christian. The art of sculpture has an antagonistic |irinciple to overcome in the Christian conception of the world, and its progress has been much
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impeded hy that fact; for, while this art must deal pri- marily with physical forms, and, at the most, can only re- gard the spirit as, with the body, a co-ordinate part of a common whole, the Christian idea exalts the spirit, mak- ing of the body a mere instrument and medium of devel- opment, which is laid aside when the stage of a higher spiritual existence is reached; and iu the measure m which Christianity confines all ideality to the realm of spirit, so does it render impossible the attainment of its ideal to an art which aims to achieve in its repre- sentations a unity of spirit and body, of idea and phe- nomenon. The history of Christian sculpture down to the 16th century accordingly shows that the constant effort of artists was to discover a mode of conception and treatment, i. e. a style, which would enable them to be true to the Christian idea, and, at the same time, to the laws of the plastic art; and the several periods, as well as the sculptors and their productions, differ among themselves chiefly as the consciousness of this task has become apparent and the problem been more or less successfully solved.
Sculpture was neglected, however, during the first pe- riod in the history of Christian art (1st to 10th century) to a degree that permitted but a slight recognition of this task. Tlie dislike of heathenism and its idolatries, in which service the noblest efforts of ancient art had been expended, was at first so great that a cultivation of the formative arts was out of the question; and when this aversion lost its controlling power, the energies of Chris- tian art were employed in painting rather than sculpt- ure, the only object being to bring before the faithful representations of scenes and incidents recorded in the Scriptures; and for this purpose jiaintings and mosaics were more suitable than sculptures. But four statues of a religious character may with certainty be attrib- uted to this period: (1) a marble statue of Ilippolytus, bishop of Portus Romanus and martyr, in the former half of the 3d century, the figure seated and wearing a toga, the execution thoroughly ancient in the lower part of the sculpture, while the upper part is a modern renovation: (2) the celebrated bronze statue of St. Pe- ter whose feet the faithful are expected to kiss on fes- tival occasions at Pome, resembling the Ilippolytus in style and character, and probably executed at Constan- tinople in the 5th century; and (3) two statues of the Good Shepherd, one belonging to the Sth or Gth cen- tury, and the other to a later period, when ancient Christian art was already in its decline. We have his- torical information respecting sculptures of a non-relig- ious character also, e. g. equestrian statues of Justinian and Theodoric the Great, but none have been preserved to this time. Such other relics of this period as are still extant belong to the class of sculptures in relief — e. g. the designs found on sarcophagi and tombs, of which a considerable niunber belonging to the 3d and Gth centuries are known, among them the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, the prrefect of Pome, who died in 359, soon after his conversion to Christianity — one of the most important remains of early Christian scidpture. The carvings in ivory, some of whicli may date back to the 4th century, also deserve mention. They were employed in the ornamentation of the diptychs (q. v.), and of chairs, book-covers, and other articles. Similar work was done in silver and gold, which metals were largely employed in the ornamenting of doors in church- es, pulpits, etc. ; but too little has been preserved to en- able us to judge of its value in the light of art, and the fact of its having been used so largely as it was serves only to illustrate the craving of the Church for external pomp and show, and the coarse taste of a period which could delight in an excess of glittering tinsel.