Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/345

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Painting in Egypt. 315 in elevation. Though the face is always in profile, yet the eye is represented in full. In the tombs, the paintings, which were executed on dry plaster, represent what might be called genre subjects — subjects relating to the life of the deceased, which thus give us a full insight into the habits and customs of the -^ J -

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Tig-. 115. — The Sons of Barneses II. In the temple of Ipsambool. Time of the nineteenth century. Egyptians. It is thought by those who have most studied the subject that it was not alack of power which prevented the Egyptians from making greater improvement in paint- ing, but that they were held back by " the determination of the sacerdotal class to restrain their artists within the limits of strictly recording art, from which it might easily