Identifier: historyofartinan01perruoft (find matches)
Title: A history of art in ancient Egypt
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Perrot, Georges, 1832-1914 Chipiez, Charles, 1835-1901 Armstrong, Walter, Sir, 1850-1918
Subjects: Art -- Egypt History Egypt -- Antiquities
Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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lation ; of a popu-lation devoting themselves night and day to complete the workwhen once begun, like ants over their subterranean city or beesover their comb. Even supposing that history had been silent upon this subject,the architect could easily divine, from these monuments them-selves, how they had been constructed. Cast your eyes uponthe ruins of the Athenian Acropolis ; their dimensions will seemto you small in the extreme if you compare them with thebuildings of Egypt and Assyria ; on the other hand theirworkmanship is equally careful throughout ; it is as exact andperfect in the concealed parts of the structure as in those which 28 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. were to be visible, in the structural details as in the ornamentalpainting and sculpture. By these signs you may recognize atonce, that, from its foundation to Its completion, the whole workwas in the hands of artisans whom long practice had made perfectin their trade, and that each single individual among them had
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1)G. 17.—Columns in the Hypostyle Hall, Karnak made it a point of honour to acquit himself worthily of the taskentrusted to him. In the gangs of docile labourers who succeededeach other in the workshops of Memphis or Thebes, there was, ofcourse, a certain sprinkling of men who had become qualified by The Constitution of Egyptian Society. 29 experience for the special work upon which they were employed ;but the great majority were men suddenly taken from verydifferent occupations, from the oar, the plough, the managementof cattle ; who therefore could have nothing but their unskilledlabour to bestow. To such men as these a great part of the workhad perforce to be confided, in order that it might be complete atthe required time. In spite of the strictest supervision, the almostreligious care in the placing and fixing of masonry, v/hich mightbe fairly expected from the practised members of a trade guild,could not be ensured. Hence the singular inequalities andinconsistences which have

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