Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/105

SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF PHOENICIAN SCULPTURE. 83 exposed in the foregoing pages. In all that remains of Phoenician sculpture and architecture, have we found anything to suggest that the Phoenicians were capable of those efforts of invention, of those sallies of taste, which give birth to a new art ? Thus we know that the sculptors both of Egypt and Assyria dressed their figures, but neither the one nor the other ever thought of making use of the movement and play of drapery ; it never occurred to them to enhance their lights by contrast with the rich shadows thrown by deep and cleverly arranged folds. We shall have some difficulty in believing without positive proof, that it is to a nation of born imitators like the Phoenicians that the world owes the beautiful and varied effects obtained by this simple means.