New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-10-30
EGYPTIAN AIT AND LIFE.
4 LECTURE By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
HE SPIRIT OF ART ~ ANCIENT EGYPT-CIGAkAC-
TRRisIICs OF TIE WOODEN MAN"

4 LECTURE By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
HE SPIRIT or ART ~ ANCIENT EGYPT-CHAkAC-
rgRisIICs OF TIE WOODEN MAN"
A large audience gathered in Association
Hal last evening hear the rst Of Of six lee
lures Oh Art, aid " the Society Of Decorative Art
The opening lecture " The Wooden Man" by
Charles Dudley Warner.
Egyptian he and the conditions 0f Egyptian art said
the speaker form my topic tonight In large sense.
all art IA one Egyptian art however like that Of japan
China and Assyra. attractive account ~ III pccu
harry bizarre aud picturesque character Grecidu ait Oh
the other haDd ideatic and conforms the eternal
law OF beauty The history Of Egypt - divided
into four pcr1Odsrhe Ancient, the Middle the New and
the Lower Empires la tho Ancient Empire Esyp-
tian art attained its greatest excellence and
freedom. Much progress, however. made
in the fourth dynasty. and some or the statues
and portraits Of This period leave little 10 De desired.
The ornamental Of that period was gTandy simple,
majestic and formal. No little freedom shown
the execution works OF private character. Egyptian
art emancipsted ITSELF. but always r.
taIHcl its peculiar rigidity aud slgobraic pre-
csion. Following This PERIOD come 400 years
blank. both hAury and In ariIhe result OF some
unknown natural caamiiy-ond 10 revival Of art troS
place for 700 years. "a the eleventh dynasty, artists
looked to the remains Of the Ancient Empire FOR models,
and -caturcd figures took elegance at form perhap,
due to physical change IN the Inhabitants. and at
length developed religions sculpture.
The second Of arr followed period OF 500
year, Of inactivity due 10 the invasion ~ the shcp-
herds THIS time, before models and i'll az were
rived from the Aucirnt Empire. aud the same
progress repeated. 1Ae eighteenth dynasty.
at about tins period, was the umc Of he great
est Egytlan power. Iac ar OF the secoui
reuaSSlurc however cqulllcd The best wptk OF
the ancient regime In Tho nineteenth dyua- Is. AIT
under HaInesrs H.. whose character and r,.sn are
often compared 10 those a Louis XIV fell into
a hnlel,es decad. nee. There was q third and las:
ltEt--cl 10 fIc twenty 10 81 nasty bou. GO T. &
and statues oi TINS prtiot nav" lrS-
holiness han tho-c OF the former sryiyat.
why. Zen, was there %" pruyTCs5 In Egyptian art
tom, from which The country suffered. The prp-.s,
to-. became dO.ilH.tn: m tIc later periods. .ud
| CGrTci-eu a r'if"sf1c lnEu-Hcc arr. Tha}
were adoI by the isolated position of Esyui,
which compelled it, ariss ri look past 81 their
own country for sIggr- idt!, which might b.
nencd into artistic forms IL has brrn said that the
uniformity Ia Egyptian art due ~ the tick
AZ tool, ana L. the pOOrur-s OF rho etone
with which tue Egyptians worked. Iae faces
Of The statues may have been cut with
Steel tools for know that the Egyptians had iron
agree with tns theory, and tnuk that the Eitat
the limitations OF their art The ar 81 Egyptians
however best explained nv tue physical cuudIu II
The country and !C character ~ ~ Inhabitants. For
there the greatest harmony between nature ana IN
the Nile Valley. 1he inhabitants pussesSrd security
from INVASION certainty % crops, and industrious
on account neerssltv OF Irritating the soil
trcc-iouIths OF the yer. This stability Of nature
had "A sIroug effect up0u the Egyptian character.
The lines landscape too horizontal and per
pcndcuar EVERYWHERE there Ii strength. eainness ana