Sculpture of the Persians, Hindoos, and Assyrians.

Oriental Sculpture.

THE Persians, who loved splendor, ornamented their buildings with many sculptural decorations, as the ruins of Persepolis prove. In Assyria the art flourished under queen Semiramis. We find mention of brazen statues of Semiramis, Belus, and Ninus. In the mountains of Kurdistan, very ancient works of sculpture are found, which the inhabitants consider as the images of Chosroes and his beloved Shereen; he was surnamed the just, and is still cited as a model for kings. They are said to be the work of the poet and artist, Ferhad. The fancy of the Hindoos was very rich, but inclined towards the symbolical and allegorical, so that they never attained to a pure style of art. Their sculpture is highly expressive, exhibiting a mosaic of ideas, though almost destitute of beauty of form.

The excavations in the islands near Bombay abound with sculptures. Along the sides of the grand temple cut in the rock at Elephanta, are from forty to fifty colossal statues, from twelve to fifteen feet high, of good symmetry, and though not quite detached from the rock, boldly relieved; some have helmets of a pyramidal form, others crowns decorated with jewels and devices, and others have bushy ringlets of flowing hair. Many of them have four hands, some six, holding sceptres, shields, symbols of justice and religion, warlike weapons, and trophies of peace; some inspire horror, others have aspects of benignity. The face of the largest bust is five feet long, and the breadth across the shoulders is twenty feet.

At the west end of this great pagoda is a dark recess, 20 feet square, totally destitute of ornament; the altar is in the centre,

Elephanta-Etruscan sculpture.-Subterranean sepulchres.

and there are two gigantic statues at each of the four doors by which it is entered. The sculpture is good; their heads are dressed like the other statues, and they wear rich collars, and have jewels in their ears.

In the excavations at Canana, in the island of Salsette, there are said to be not less than six hundred images. Besides colossal figures, the walls are covered with representations of men and women engaged in various actions. Along the cornice there are figures of elephants, horses, and lions, in bold relief; and above, as in a sky, genii and dewtah are seen floating in multitudes.

The art was evidently esteemed by the Hebrews, but chiefly as an auxiliary and ornament to architecture; of this we have evidence in the temple of Solomon, in the construction of which, however, Phoenician artists were chiefly employed. The commerce and wealth of the Phoenicians were favourable to the arts, but there exists no genuine and proper specimens of their &ulpture

Etruscan Sculpture.

THE Etruscans reached a high degree of civilization, and were particularly devoted to the cultivation of the fine arts, in which they attained an excellence nly surpassed in grandeur by the monuments of Egypt, and in ideal beauty by those of Greece.

In their tombs and subterranean sepulchres, have been found most of their works of art now extant. Those of the great and wealthy may be regarded as subterranean museums, embracing

Three epochs of Etruscan art.-Vases.

painting and sculpture, besides innumerable other objects, illus trative of their mythology, usages, and habits. From thesc interesting sources of information, three important inferences have been drawn that their religion was based on a belief of the immortality of the soul; a conviction of its responsibility beyond the grave for the deeds done in the body; and that the female was created as the companion, not the slave, of man, honoured in life as well as in death. They possessed a school of art remarkable for its nationality and beauty. Their works consisted of statues, both of marble and bronze, relievi, terra-cottas, paintings, vases, medals, coins, and engraved stones. Their statues and sculptures extant, at least those called Etruscan, resemble so closely the early and even later styles of the Greeks, that it is often impossible to pronounce with certainty as to their authenticity.

Winkelmann divides Etruscan art into three epochs-the first characterized by sharp lines, stiffness of attitude, forced action, no approach to beauty of feature, nor any indication of muscles. Some of the smaller figures, both in their features, hanging and attached arms, and parallel feet, have a strong resemblance to the Egyptian. But in spite of this rudeness of design in their sculpture, they contrived to give the most elegant and graceful forms to their vases. Winkelmann supposes that the second style commenced with the age of Phidias. It is characterized by an exaggerated indication and swelling of the muscles and articulations-the hair arranged in gradations-the movements affected, and sometimes forced. He thinks that up to this period they had an imperfect knowledge of Greek art. The third style was derived from the Greek colonists of Magna Græcia. It is very visible in the medals of the cities of the Campagna, the heads of the divinities bearing a perfect resem

Grecian sculpture.-Four eras.—First period.

blance to the Greek statues. The medals of Capua represent Jupiter with the hair disposed in the sweeping manner of the Greeks. The most of their sepulchral urns, composed of alabaster of Volterra, are to be referred to this period.

Grecian Sculpture.

Of the rise of the art of sculpture in Greece, we have no data. The period of its predominance has been divided into four eras, though they are rather indefinite. The first may be said to have commenced about fourteen centuries before the Christian era-Dædalus, a native of Athens, then first raising the art from barbarous rudeness. The second commenced with Phidias, who lived about 450 B. C., and may be characterized as the period of the grand style. The third commences with Praxiteles, who lived about 360 B. C. The predominant trait of the style in this age, was beauty. The fourth commences with Lysippus, in the time of Alexander the Great, and extends to the subjugation of Greece by the Romans, soon after which the art rapidly declined. The characteristics of the style in this age, were gracefulness, and softness of expression.

FIRST PERIOD.

The first works must have been quite rude, as the artists were deficient in the theory of designing, and in mechanical

Image of Cybele.-Dædalus.-Wooden statues.

skill, and were also destitute of the necessary instruments Accordingly, we find that the most ancient men and gods were scarcely any thing more than pillars or blocks, with the upper extremity formed into a sort of knob, or rounded, to represent a head. Such was the very ancient image of Cybele, brought to Rome from Persinus, in Phrygia. Gradually, the other parts of the body were more distinctly formed, at first, however. only indicated by lines; afterwards made more full and complete, yet not marked by significant action and attitude, but stiff, angular, and forced. This improvement was ascribed, among the Greeks, to Dædalus, who was on that account said to have formed living statues, and whose name was applied by the early Greeks to distinguished productions of art. In treating of him, it is requisite first to mention, that the statements of ancient writers respecting him cannot be understood as exhibiting the true history of an individual, but rather as obscurely intimating the origin and progress of the arts in Greece; and, in particular, the information which is afforded respecting the place of his birth, and the countries in which he lived, seems to reflect light on the districts in which the arts were first cultivated. In noticing the accounts which have reached us of the personal history of the artist Dædalus, the name itself first claims our attention. We learn from Pausanias, that all statues and images were anciently styled Dædalus. His performances were chiefly in wood, of which no fewer than nine, of large dimensions, are described as existing in the second century, which notwithstanding the injuries of fourteen hundred years, and the imperfections of early taste, seemed, in the language of Pausanias, to possess something of divine expression. Their author, as reported by Diodorus, improved upon ancient art, so as to give vivacity to the attitude, and an animated expression to the countenance. Hence, we are not to