Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-12-26
EGYPT AND HER ARTS.
Points from Lecture By Mrs. Amelia B.
Edwards, the Eminent EgyptologisG


It was large and cultured audience
which was gathered in Chickering hall
recently to hear Miss Amelia B. Edwards,
critic, authoress and lecturer, deliver the
first of a series Of lectures on Egypt
and her arts. They expected much and
were not disappointed, the address being
choice and instructive entertainment.
Miss Edwards Is pre-eminently an En-
glishwoman-refined, intellectual, trav-
eled and well read. The principal points
Of the lecture follow:
We would naturally suppose the arts
Of sculpture and painting, which have
come down to us from the ancient Egyp-
tians, to be twins, but painting and draw
ing, its predecessor, are incomparably
older, as ancient as Egypt's civilization,
almost as old as man himself. Drawing
Is the earliest art the world possessed,
and we pass at once from the most an.
cient traces to the Egyptian draughts-
man. We cannot measure the time
which elapsed between the two. We
cannot guess how long it took the prim.
tive Egyptian to work up from his orig
inal barbarism to the time when we first
hear of him, for even then he was fin
ished scientist and mathematician, and
had wide knowledge of arts ard litera-
ture. 1t is with,his skill as draughts-
man and as painter that we are con.
cerned.
The earliest Egyptian paintings are at
temple of Denebra, on the Nile, and ante
date the birth Of Christ by 5000 years.
They are contemporaneous with the
building of the great pyramids. Their
popularity is that the heads and legs are
represented in profile, while the bodies
and eyes are full front. Having no idea
of perspective the feet of the figures were
drawn upon the same plane. Still the
actual picture is not so preposterous as
the description would seem; the lines are
drawn with such freedom and graceful
ness that we forget the deformity. In
coloring, the men were painted a deep
brown and the women yellow.
The features and lrass also received a
conventional representation. The ancient
Egyptian was not painter, but sii iMsts
minator. He could not depict the widow
weeping at the side of the mummy of her
husband, nor Pharaoh Staying his thou
sands, but in the representation of race
characteristics and individuals, alien
types and alien costumes, he was inimit-
able. The notion is prevalent that the
Egyptian artist took more liberties with
the human form divine than any other,
but it is not the case. The early artists
in all times and in all nations begin in the
same way, and make precisely the same
errors. Nothing in Egypt has been dis
covered SO ludicrously feeble as the draw
ing on the proto-Homeric vases of Greece,
contemporary with the time of Rameses
III, at even which period true Egyptian
art was in it's decadence.
Here were displayed number of pho
tographs direct from the original, by
means of powerful stereopticon, Miss
Edwards pointing out their salient char
acteristics. The contrast between the
early Greek pictures and the finished
Egyptian, was indeed laughable, but it
was noticed that the former developed,
while the latter, having arrived at GER
tain point of perfection, remained at
standstill. Continuing, the lecturer said
the Greeks learned from the Egyptians,
but at length the Egyptians adopted the
progressive Grecian ideas. When the
huge labyrinth near Heliopolis was de-
stroyed by the Roman government,
portion of its site was made use of as a
place of burial by an extensive Graco-
Egyptian colony. Here the new art came
into being; perhaps variation of rolling
the bandages over the face of the mummy
suggested it.
Faces and heads were painted full face
with light and shade to give the SEM
blance of relief. The material was gen.
orally wax laid on panels of cedar wood.
The colors were applied in powder form
to the surface of the soft wax by seed
brush. The result was an immense step
forward.
By means of the stereopticon series
of specimens of this latter portraiture
found in recent excavations were pro-
jected on the screen. The faces were
exceedingly interesting, the drawing, ex-
preston and light and shade effects be-
ing excellent. The faces, particularly
those of the women, bore an exceeding
ly modern look, and were complete to the
most minute detail.-Boston Advertiser.