the
heads of four races (Plate IV. fig. 50), Western, Syrian, and two Negro,
here show the unfailing line-work which has never been matched in later
times. The artist habitually drew the long lines of whole limbs without
a single hesitation or revoke; and the drawing of a tumbling girl (Plate
IV. fig. 51) shows how credibly such contortions could be represented.
The comic papyri of the XXth Dynasty have also a very strong sense of
character, even through coarse drawing and some childish combinations.

The subsequent centuries show continuous decline, and in whatever branch
we compare the work, we see that each dynasty was poorer than that which
preceded it. The XXVIth Dynasty is often looked on as a renaissance; but
when we compare similar work we see that it was poorer than the XXIInd,
as that was poorer than the XIXth. The alabaster statue of Amenardus of
the XXVth is faulty in pose, and perfunctory in modelling; the
resemblance between this and the head of her nephew Tirhaka is perhaps
the best evidence of truthful work. After this there was a strong
archaistic fashion, much like that under Hadrian; in both cases it may
have arrested decay, but it did not lift the art up again. The work of
this age can always be detected by the faulty jointing (Plate IV. fig.
52) and muscular treatment. The elements are right enough, but there was
not the vital sense to combine them properly. Hence the monstrous
protuberances (Plate IV. fig. 53) on relief figures of this age; a fault
which the Greek fell into in his decline, as shown in the Farnese
Hercules.

Portraiture, with its limited demand on imagination and lack of ideals,
was the form of art which flourished latest. The Saitic heads in basalt
show a school of close observation, with fair power of rendering the
personal character; and even in Roman times there still were provincial
artists who could model a face very truthfully, as is shown in one case
in which the stucco head (Plate IV. fig. 54) from a coffin is here
superposed on the view of the actual skull to show the accuracy of the
work. The school of portrait-painting belongs entirely to Greek art, and
is therefore not touched upon here. (See Edgar, _Catalogue of
Graeco-Egyptian Coffins_, 48 plates, for this subject.)

Lastly we must recognize the different schools of Egyptian sculpture
which are as distinct as those of recent painting. The black-granite
school in every age is the finest; its seat we do not know, but