Egypt and Greece
The early history of art in all countries is naturally connected more
closely with architecture than with decoration, for architecture had to be
developed before the demand for decoration could come. But the two have much
in common. Noble architecture calls for noble decoration. Decoration is one
of the natural instincts of man, and from the earliest records of his
existence we find him striving to give expression to it, we see it in the
scratched pieces of bone and stone of the cave dwellers, in the designs of
savage tribes, and in Druidical and Celtic remains, and in the great ruins
of Yucatan. The meaning of these monuments may be lost to us, but we
understand the spirit of trying to express the sense of beauty in the
highest way possible, for it is the spirit which is still moving the world,
and is the foundation of all worthy achievement.
Egypt and Assyria stand out against the almost impenetrable curtain of
pre-historic days in all the majesty of their so-called civilization. Huge,
massive, aloof from the world, their temples and tombs and ruins remain.
Research has given us the key to their religion, so we understand much of
the meaning of their wall-paintings and the buildings themselves. The belief
of the Egyptian that life was a short passage and his house a mere
stopping-place on the way to the tomb, which was to be his permanent
dwelling-place, explains the great care and labor spent on the pyramids,
chapels, and rock sepulchers. They embalmed the dead for all eternity and
put statues and images in the tombs to keep the mummy company. Colossal
figures of their gods and goddesses guarded the tombs and temples, and still
remain looking out over the desert with their strange, inscrutable Egyptian
eyes. The people had technical skill which has never been surpassed, but the
great size of the pyramids and temples and sphinxes gives one the feeling of
despotism rather than civilization; of mass and permanency and the wonder of
man's achievement rather than beauty, but they personify the mystery and
power of ancient Egypt.
The columns of the temples were massive, those of Karnak being seventy
feet high, with capitals of lotus flowers and buds strictly
conventionalized. The walls were covered with hieroglyphics and paintings.
Perspective was never used, and figures were painted side view except for
the eye and shoulder. In the tombs have been found many household
belongings, beautiful gold and silver work, beside the offerings put there
to appease the gods. Chairs have been found, which, humorous as it may
sound, are certainly the ancestors of Empire chairs made thousands of years
later. This is explained by the influence of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign,
but there is something in common between the two times so far apart, of
ambition and pride, of grandeur and colossal enterprise.
Greece may well be called the Mother of Beauty, for with the Greeks came
the dawn of a higher civilization, a striving for harmony of line and
proportion, an ideal clear, high and persistent. When the Dorians from the
northern part of Greece built their simple, beautiful temples to their gods
and goddesses they gave the impetus to the movement which brought forth the
highest art the world has known. Traces of Egyptian influence are to be
found in the earliest temples, but the Greeks soon rose to their own great
heights. The Doric column was thick, about six diameters in height, fluted,
growing smaller toward the top, with a simple capital, and supported the
entablature. The horizontal lines of the architrave and cornice were more
marked than the vertical lines of the columns. The portico with its row of
columns supported the pediment. The Parthenon is the most perfect example of
the Doric order, and shattered as it is by time and man it is still one of
the most beautiful buildings in the world. It was built in the time of
Pericles, from about 460 to 435 B.C., and the work was superintended by
Phidias, who did much of the work himself and left the mark of his genius on
the whole.
The Ionic order of architecture was a development of the Doric, but was
lighter and more graceful. The columns were more slender and had a greater
number of flutes and the capitals formed of scrolls or volutes were more
ornamental.
The Corinthian order was more elaborate than the Ionic as the capitals
were foliated (the acanthus being used), the columns higher, and the
entablature more richly decorated. This order was copied by the Romans more
than the other two as it suited their more florid taste. All the orders have
the horizontal feeling in common (as Gothic architecture has the vertical),
and the simple plan with its perfect harmony of proportion leaves no sense
of lack of variety.
The perfection attained in architecture was also attained in sculpture,
and we see the same aspiration toward the ideal, the same wonderful
achievement. This purity of taste of the Greeks has formed a standard to
which the world has returned again and again and whose influence will
continue to be felt as long as the world lasts.
The minor arts were carried to the same state of perfection as their
greater sisters, for the artists and artisans had the same noble ideal of
beauty and the same unerring taste. We have carved gems and coins, and
wonderful gold ornaments, painted and silver vases, and terra-cotta
figurines, to show what a high point the household arts reached. No work of
the great Grecian painters remains; Apelles, Zeuxis, are only names to us,
but from the wall paintings at Pompeii where late Greek influence was
strongly felt we can imagine how charming the decorations must have been.
Egypt and Greece were the torch bearers of civilization. |
