cular action of a
man; nor were the beauties, the feeling, and the elegance of female
forms displayed in stone: all was made to conform to the same
invariable model, which confined the human figure to a few
conventional postures.

A sitting statue, whether of a man or woman, was represented with the
hands placed upon the knees, or held across the breast; a kneeling
figure sometimes supported a small shrine or sacred emblem; and when
standing the arms were placed directly down the sides of the thighs,
one foot (and that always the left) being advanced beyond the other,
as if in the attitude of walking, but without any attempt to separate
the legs.

The oldest Egyptian sculptures on all large monuments were in low
relief, and, as usual at every period, painted (obelisks and
everything carved in hard stone, some funeral tablets, and other small
objects, being in intaglio); and this style continued in vogue until
the time of Remeses II., who introduced intaglio very generally on
large monuments; and even his battle scenes at Karnac and the
Memnonium are executed in this manner. The reliefs were little raised
above the level of the wall; they had generally a flat surface with
the edges softly rounded off, far surpassing the intaglio in effect;
and it is to be regretted that the best epoch of art, when design and
execution were in their zenith, should have abandoned a style so
superior; which, too, would have improved in proportion to the
advancement of that period.

After the accession of the twenty-sixth dynasty some attempt was made
to revive the arts, which had been long neglected; and, independent of
the patronage of government, the wealth of private individuals was
liberally employed in their encouragement. Public buildings were
erected in many parts of Egypt, and beautified with rich sculpture;
the City of Sais, the royal residence of the Pharaohs of that dynasty,
was adorned with the utmost magnificence, and extensive additions were
made to the temples of Memphis, and even to those of the distant
Thebes.

The fresh impulse thus given to art was not without effect; the
sculptures of that period exhibit an elegance and beauty which might
even induce some to consider them equal to the productions of an
earlier age, and in the tombs of the Assaseef, at Thebes, are many
admirable specimens of Egyptian art. To those, however, who understand
the true feeling of this peculiar school, it is evident, that though
in minut