to break with
tradition. In the Sixth Dynasty tombs at Deir el Gebrawi, there are
instances where the flesh tint of the women is that conventionally devoted
to the depiction of men. At Sakkarah, under the Fifth Dynasty, and at Abu
Simbel, under the Nineteenth Dynasty, we find men with skins as yellow as
those of the women; while in the tombs of Thebes and Abydos, about the time
of Thothmes IV. and Horemheb, there occur figures with flesh-tints of rose-
colour.[41]

It must not, however, be supposed that the effect produced by this
artificial system was grating or discordant. Even in works of small size,
such as illuminated MSS. of _The Book of the Dead_, or the decoration of
mummy-cases and funerary coffers, there is both sweetness and harmony of
colour. The most brilliant hues are boldly placed side by side, yet with
full knowledge of the relations subsisting between these hues, and of the
phenomena which must necessarily result from such relations. They neither
jar together, nor war with each other, nor extinguish each other. On the
contrary, each maintains its own value, and all, by mere juxtaposition,
give rise to the half-tones which harmonise them.

Turning from small things to large ones, from the page of papyrus, or the
panel of sycamore wood, to the walls of tombs and temples, we find the
skilful employment of flat tints equally soothing and agreeable to the eye.
Each wall is treated as a whole, the harmony of colour being carried out
from bottom to top throughout the various superimposed stages into which
the surface was divided. Sometimes the colours are distributed according to
a scale of rhythm, or symmetry, balancing and counterbalancing each other.
Sometimes one special tint predominates, thus determining the general tone
and subordinating every other hue. The vividness of the final effect is
always calculated according to the quality and quantity of light by which
the picture is destined to be seen. In very dark halls the force of colour
is carried as far as it will go, because it would not otherwise have been
visible by the flickering light of lamps and torches. On outer wall-
surfaces and on pylon-fronts, it was as vivid as in the darkest depths of
excavated catacombs; and this because, no matter how extreme it might be,
the sun would subdue its splendour. But in half-lighted places, such as the
porticoes of temples and the ante-chambers of tombs, colour is so dealt
with as to be soft and discreet. In