Volume I Part 13 (1/2)
[109] We here speak of the fauna as a whole, disregarding particular genera and species It may be said that some particular plant which is to be found both in France and Norway, is hbourhood of the pole than in our temperate climate, but this apparent exception only confirms the rule which we have laid down The plant whose whole season of bloo and an early auturanting that it has beco and hard frosts of winter, it receives, during the short suht and sun than its French or Ger sue charm has been so often described, the sun hardly descends below the horizon; the nights are an hour long, and not six or seven The colour of flowers is therefore in exact proportion to the aht which they receive
[110] This was perceived by Goethe In art, as in natural science, he divined beforehand some of the discoveries of our century by the innate force of his genius He was not surprised by the discovery that the temples of classic Sicily were painted in brilliant tones, which concealed the surface of their stone and accentuated the leading lines of their architecture He was one of the first to accept the views of Hittorf and to proclaim that the architects who had found traces of colours upon thethe and never clouded sun, objects of a neutral colour do not stand out against their background, and their shadows lose a part of their value, ”_comme devorees par la diffusion et la reverberation d'une incoypt, a column, a ainst the depths of the sky All three seem almost flat The warm and varied hues hich polychrouish theround upon which they stand, and to accentuate their different planes They also co shadohich elsewhere help to make contours visible Attention is drawn to the do lines of an architectural coive force to wall paintings and bas-reliefs
[111] We borrow these expressions froypt, was very es which approach in colour to that Nile ainst the background, unless that be the sky itself or those sunny rocks which reflect the light in such a fashi+on that they fatigue the most accustomed eyes I notice here, as I did in Greece, at Cape Suniu ale de la Haute egypte_, 1876, p 114)
Polychromy is thus a help to our eyes in those countries where a blinding light would otherwise prevent us fro the structural beauties of their architecture It is by no ypt, but that country was the first to es, she employed it more constantly and more universally than any other people, and she carried it to its logical conclusion with a boldness which was quite unique
The Egyptian habit of sprinkling figures over every surface without regard to its shape, its functions, or those of the ed, was also peculiar to themselves Upon the round shaft of the coluures were multiplied and developed to an extent which was liht of the coluht, separated one from another by a narrow fillet which indicated the plane upon which the groups of figures had a footing There is no visible connection between the bands of figures and the structures which they ornaht and left, above and below, they spread over every surface and pay no attention to the joints and other structural accidents by which they are sea 85 and Pl III)
It may be said that these joints were invisible until the passage of centuries had laid the the stucco which, especially where sandstone or limestone was used, once veiled the surface of the bare walls[112] Doubtless this is true; but even in a cliypt, the architect could not believe that a thin coat of plaster would endure as long as the reat contrast in principle between the decoration and the architecture of Egypt In the latter the chief, if not the only aim, seems to have been to make sure of absolute stability, of indefinite duration; and yet these eternal walls are lined with a rich decoration which is spoiled by the fall of a piece of plaster, which is injured by the unavoidable settlings of the htest earthquake! Of this we need give but one conclusive instance Our third plate reproduces that admirable portrait of Seti I, which is the wonder of the temple at Abydos This beautiful work in relief is sculptured upon the internal faces of four unequal stones in the wall of one of the roouished, but as yet they have not opened sufficiently to do e to the artistic beauty of the work; but it cannot be denied that the preservation of the royal effigy would have been much le stone to work upon, instead of a built-up hich so ht there was always a layer of stucco, even upon the beautiful granite of the obelisks (_Manners and Custoyptians_, 2nd ed, 1878, vol ii p 286) His state sojourn in Egypt he exareat care and patience, but yet we think his opinion upon this point must be accepted with soi and other objects in hard stone, upon which traces of colour are clearly visible on the sunk beds of the figures and hieroglyphics, while not the slightest vestige of anything of the kind is to be found upon the sranite was often stuccoed over MARIETTE has verified that it was so on the obelisk of Hatasu at Thebes; both from the inscription and the appearance of the ilded froold had been laid upon a coat of white stucco ”The plain surface,” he says, ”alone received this costly decoration
It had been left slightly rough, but the hieroglyphs, which had their beds most carefully polished, preserved the colour and surface of the granite” (_Itineraire_, p 178) As for buildings of limestone or sandstone, like the teyptian buildings were new and their colour fresh, thisbrilliancy
Whether the pencil alone were ens upon the smooth walls, or whether its poere suppleures, which succeeded each other in thousands upon every wall and pillar, led with inscriptions which were in themselves pictures, and dressed in the most vivid colours, must have at once amused the eye and stirred the brain by the variety of their tints and of the scenes which they represented But in spite of its breadth and vivacity the systeility of the plaster surface upon which it was displayed This surface may be compared to a tapestry stretched over the whole interior of the building, and, to continue the comparison, when once any portion of the plaster coat becaround or reverse of the stuff[113] The design and colour reat difference between painted orna at any time before the threads of the woof have been discoloured and entirely worn out
The other defect in the system, is its uniformity It is monotonous and confused in spite of all its richness It suffers from the absence of that learned balance between plain and decorated surface which the Greeks understood so thoroughly In the Greek teures had the more importance in that the eye of the spectator was drawn forcibly to them by the very limitation of the space reserved for theh carefully and skilfully allied with the architecture which they were ures ran no risk of being cut in two by the opening of the joints between the stones Although marvellously well adapted to the places for which they were intended, and closely allied to the architecture by their subject as well as their material shape, they yet preserved a life and individuality of their own To take decorative art as a whole, the Greeks did not yptians, but they knew better how to econoainst the destructive action of time
[113] _Apropos_ of the Teenerale de Thebes_, ch ix) reures were sculptured
The contour of the figures is sometimes marked upon the stone beneath, because the depth of the cutting is greater than the thickness of the stucco”
[Illustration: FIG 85--Seti I striking prisoners of ith his mace Karnak, Thebes (Champollion, Pl 294)]
[Illustration:
J Sulpis del et sc
KARNAK BAS-RELIEFS IN THE GRANITE CHAMBERS
To Egypt, then, belongs the credit of having been the first to discover the obligation iht of the south--to accentuate the hly understood how to uish between the various parts of a structure and defend its contours against the effect of a dazzling light On the other hand, she went too far when she covered every surface, without choice or stint, with her endless figure processions Such a decoration was only rendered possible by the use of a material which co She failed to understand the value of repose and the absolute necessity of contrast; she failed to perceive that by ures to infinity, she lessened their effect and ue to the eye and the intellect
CHAPTER III
SEPULCHRAL ARCHITECTURE
-- 1--_The Egyptian Belief as to a Future Life and its Influence upon their Sepulchral Architecture_
The ypt are the toht to the first place in our sketch of Egyptian architecture
In every country the forms and characteristics of the sepulchre are determined by the ideas of the natives as to the fate of their bodies and souls after life is over In order to understand the Egyptian arrange into their notions upon death and its consequences; we must ask whether they believed in another life, and in what kind of life We shall find a complete answer to our question in the collation of written texts with figured monuments
In the first period of his intellectual development, man is unable to comprehend any life but that which he experiences in his own person