Egyptian sculpture

xViii EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

was never regarded as a whole in itself, but merely as part of a whole. This view was emphasised by the use of statuary for religious purposes only. A statue in a temple, in the case of a king, or in a tomb-chapel, in the case of a less exalted personage, was set there to receive the offerings of the living to the dead. Seen thus in the rectangular setting of the architecture, the figures could not be too naturalistic, but followed the vertical and horizontal lines as nearly as is possible in the human figure (PI. I. 1). A parallel to this subordination of naturalistic work to the needs of architecture can be seen in Europe in the elongated figures of royal and saintly persons which decorate some of our Gothic cathedrals.

The architectural design of the statue can be seen in the figure of Ateta(Pl. XI.1) standing within the false door of the tomb-chapel. The figure is practically in the round, although at the back it is attached to the slab of stone from which it is carved. In the same way the figures of the small temple of Abu Simbel show the effect of the vertical and horizontal framework on the decorative statues, which are made as vertical and as horizontal as it is possible to make the human figure. The fagade of the temple follows the lines of the cliff in which it is hewn, and the figures follow the lines of the facade. The square setting of the doorway, the vertical and horizontal lines of the rest of the structure and of the inscriptions, have obviously influenced the sculptor in his treatment of the figure, which is vertical and horizontal in its lines in order to conform to the background.

The Colossi of Thebes (Pl. I. 2) are an excellent example of the architectural setting of sculpture and of the dependence of that architecture on the landscape. These gigantic statues once stood at the entrance of a vast temple— pylons towered above them, colonnades formed vistas behind them. Seen against the architecture of which they were but a part,