Egyptian sculpture

Io EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

one end of the wall. This figure may be either standing or sitting, and is always gigantic in comparison with the others. It therefore not only strikes the eye by its size and position, but all the figures on the same wall face towards it, and the spectator’s gaze is unconsciously fixed on it at once. In this way the artist fulfilled the desire of the owner of the tomb to hold the most conspicuous place in the decoration, and at the same time gratified his own artistic sense by break-

a PUTT

CFFERINGS OR SCENES

OFFERINGS OR SCENES

BEARERS OF OFFERINGS

SCENES OF SACRIFICE

ing the otherwise too stiff arrangement of horizontal and vertical lines.

The horizontal registers are not of the same width—the lowest is the widest, the narrowest is at the top—thus the figures at the top, being farther from the spectator than those at the bottom, are smaller in size. This shows that even at that early period the artist had some knowledge of perspective. There are many indications to show that had the Egyptian been able to break the religious fetters which trammelled the free expression of his artistic ability, he might have evolved on naturalistic lines. In spite, or perhaps because, of the limitations of horizontal registers and of primitive conventions, the Egyptian artist produced