SCULPTURE

(Lat. sculpo, I carve.) The art of carving in wood, stone, or other materials. The origin of sculpture is so remote, that at this period there neither exists the probability of any authentic account of it being satisfactorily deduced, nor even the indication of that nation in which it first appeared. Though idolatry may have favoured its early advances, and rendered it powerful a istance, we are not indebted to religion alone for its invention. In Egypt, indeed, it maybe said that its progre was impeded by the restraints and shackles with which religion invested it. " The monstrous shapes and sorceries " of " fanatic Egypt " clearly barred its perfection in the country, where a bird's head was combined with the body of a lion, and cats' and wolves' heads were joined to the divine form of man. It was in Greece only that the unnatural junction of the two noblest animals was succe ful, and grace and dignity resulted from the attempt in creation of a centaur. The first artist on record as a sculptor is Bezaleel, who, with Aholiab (see Exodus, xxx i.), formed the cherubim that covered the mercy-seat; but, previous to these, the art of moulding and working in metal was long known. The presents to Rebekah consisted of jewels of silver and gold; Jiidah gave to Tamar his signet and his bracelets; in Egypt 1091 SCULPTURE. " Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand." Then, as to the art of moulding or carving, from the use of idols, we know it must have existed in Asia, and in Egypt from the time of Abraham and Jacob. The teraphim, which Ilachael stole from her father {Gen. xxx i. v. 19. 30.), were, according to the best commentators, carved images in a human form, and household deities, like the penates and lares of the Romans many centuries afterwards. The commandment will doubtle occur to the reader, " Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image; " as well as the addre of Moses to the Israeli tes, " For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which ye pa ed by; and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them." Some of the most extraordinary specimens of early sculpture on record are described by Diodorus as the works of Semi ram is; but they are too wonderful to allow of our implicit reliance on the author. She is said to have had representations in brick on her palace of every sort of animal in relief. These were afterwards so coloured to nature as to have the appearance of life. In the midst of them was represented Semi ram is piercing a tiger with a dart, and near her Ninus killing a lion with his lance. In another part of the same palace were placed the statue of Jupiter Belus, those of Ninas, Semi ram is, and the principal officers of the state, the whole executed in bronze. We are also told that, by command of this prince , a temple was raised at Babylon, on the top whereof three ma ive statues were placed of Jupiter, Juno, and Rhea. That of Jupiter was forty feet in height. Stupendous as these works are stated to have been, we gather from the same author au account of the execution of one which throws them into insignificance. One of the sides of the mountain Bagistan was extremely rough and steep, and seventeen stadia in height; this she caused to be reduced to a smooth surface, and then sculptured into a figure of herself, attended by one hundred of her guards. It is to be observed that Diodorus relates this story on the authority of Ctesias. Doubtful as it is, the same sort of scheme was proposed to Alexander by the architect Dino crates, as related by Vitruvius in the preface to one of his books. Of the sculpture of the Persians little notice is nece ary. In the article Painting we have mentioned that it was contrary to the tenets of their religion to make in any way representations of the human form. In Perse polis there are, however, some extraordinary sculptures, bearing considerable resemblance to the style of the Egyptian ba i-relievi in the palace of Thebes, allowing for the difference of dre ; liut they contain nothing in science or imitation particularly worthy of our notice. The earliest sculpture to which we can refer, and on which we can reason, is that of the Egyptians. Hero dot us tells us, that they erecttid the first altars and temples to the gods, and carved the figures of animals in stone. The abundance and variety of the specimens still in existence of their sculpture, minute and colo al, domestic and religious, prove them to have been a nation with prodigious resources, and distinguished for their wisdom and affection for the arts. The greater portion of their sculpture seems to have been sacred; that is, representations of the divinities, and their attributes and qualities. In respect of the dimensions of some of their statues, Hero dot us mentions one before the temple of Vulcan at Memphis, and another at Sais, placed there by king Amasis, each of the height of seventy-five feet. The part of the sphinx, near the great pyramid, still out of the sand, that is, from the throat upwards, rises to the height of twenty-five feet. At Thebes the sitting statues of Memnon, the mother and the sons of Osymandyas, are each fifty-eight feet high. A long catalogue might be added to these: we will, however, only add, that in the British Museum is a closed hand, which must have been part of a statue sixty-five feet high, Grace of form, elegance, and symmetry, are not to be found in Egyptian sculpture. The faces of their statues have a resemblance to the Chinese, and their bodies are formed with large bellies. They generally stand equally poised on both legs, having one foot advanced; the arms either hanging down straight on each side, or if one be raised, it is at a right angle acro the body. Some of their statues are seated, and some are kneeling; the position, however, of the hands is rarely different from what we have described. The faces of them are generally flat; the brows, eyelids, and mouths formed of simple curves slightly marked, and with little expre ion. The tunics and draperies are frequently without folds. The arts of Egypt seem to have been in a progre ive state of improvement from about or before the period of Moses to the invasion and subjugation of the country by Cambyses, a you sand years afterwards. Winckelman thinks that there were two distinct styles; the first ending with the conquest just mentioned, and the second commencing at that period, and ending after the time of Alexander the Great. In the first of these styles he de4 A 2 [s. 1104]