no nearer approach to the beau ideal of the human
figure, or its real character, was made at one period than
another--his remark is true, since they were always bound by the same
regulations, which prohibited any change in these matters, even to the
latest times, as is evident from the sculptures of the monuments
erected after Egypt had long been a Roman province. All was still
Egyptian, though of bad style; and if they then attempted to finish
the details with more precision, it was only substituting ornament for
simplicity; and the endeavor to bring the proportions of the human
figure nearer to nature, with the retention of its conventional type,
only made its deformity greater, and showed how incompatible the
Egyptian was with any other style.

In the composition of modern paintings three objects are required: one
main action, one point of view, and one instant of time, and the
proportions and harmony of the parts are regulated by perspective, but
in Egyptian sculpture these essentials were disregarded; every thing
was sacrificed to the principal figure; its colossal dimensions
pointed it out as a center to which all the rest was a mere accessory,
and, if any other was made equally conspicuous, or of equal size, it
was still in a subordinate station, and only intended to illustrate
the scene connected with the hero of the piece.

In the paintings of the tombs greater license was allowed in the
representation of subjects relating to private life, the trades, or
the manners and occupations of the people, and some indication of
perspective in the position of the figures may occasionally be
observed; but the attempt was imperfect, and, probably, to an Egyptian
eye, unpleasing, for such is the force of habit, that even where
nature is copied, a conventional style is sometimes preferred to a
more accurate representation.

In the battle scenes on the temples of Thebes, some of the figures
representing the monarch pursuing the flying enemy, despatching a
hostile chief with his sword, and drawing his bow, as his horses carry
his car over the prostrate bodies of the slain, are drawn with much
spirit, and the position of the arms gives a perfect idea of the
action which the artist intended to portray; still, the same
imperfections of style, and want of truth, are observed; there is
action, but no sentiment, expression of the passions, nor life in the
features; it is a figure ready formed, and mechanically _varied_ into
move