Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/171

Monumental Details. 147 perhaps, than any one else.^ It has been objected that the columns would hide each other, and that the smbolic animals perched upon their summits could not have been seen ; but this would only be the case with those who looked at them from certain disad- vantageous positions — from between the columns, or exactly on their alignment. From the middle of the avenue, or from one side of it, they would be clearly visible, and the vivid colours of their enamels would produce their full effect. The question might be decided in a very simple fashion. The summit of the column which is still upright mi^jht be examined, or the abacus of one of those which have fallen micrht be dis covered ; in either case traces of the objects which they supported would be found, supposing our hypothesis to be correct, More than one doubtful question of this kind would long ago have been solved had the Egyptian monuments been studied on the spot by archaeologists and artists instead of being left almost entirely to the narrower experience of engineers and egyptologists. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we shall, then, look upon it as probable that the Egyptians sometimes raised columns, like other people, not for the support of roofs and architraves, but as gigantic pedestals, as self-contained decorative forms, with independent parts of their own to play. Such a proceeding was doubtless an innovation in Egyptian art — one of those fresh departures which date from the latter years of the Monarchy. Even in Egypt motives grew stale with repetition at last, and she cried out for something new. ^ 7. JMonuniental Details. We have seen that the proportions, the entasis, the shape, and the decoration of the Egyptian column, were changed more than once and in many ways. The Egyptian artist, by his fertility of resource and continual striving after improvement, showed that he was by no means actuated by that blind respect for tradition which has been too often attributed to him. Besides, the remains which we possess are but a small part of Egyptian architecture. The buildings of Memphis and of the Delta have perished. Had they been preserved we should doubtless have found among them ' M.AXiME Du Camp, Le Xil, p. 251.