396 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 





paragraph ou sculpture (fig. 69). Fig. 60, a, &, represents a fragment 

 ot" barpoon liead of reindeer liorn on which has been engraved repre- 

 sentations of liuman hands. The two figures represent the obverse and 

 reverse of the same specimen. The four fingers are represented, but 

 the thumb is omitted. Fig. 61 is a faint representa- 

 tion in profile of an inartistic head from Laugerie 

 Basse, collection Massenat. 



Examples of art practice. — These art manifestations 

 were intended bj'' their makeis not alone for utility, 

 ■ as in the decoration of implements, weapons, and 

 ^ utensils, but they display a love of art for art's sake. 

 I Many of them, as already shown, appear to have been 

 S made for practice, or from a natural and innate love 

 o of the beautiful. They are mere essays, in which the 

 ^ artist used the same piece without any attempted 

 r relation of one figure to the other. The sketch of five 

 g reindeer. Marquis de Vibraye's collection (fig. 62), is 

 ^ an example. Another is the sketch (fig. 64) of eight 



animals, horses and deer, from the cavern of Lortet. 

 5 ; Each of these specimens consists of a single piece, 

 Q I the lines of each figure running into each other. 

 S § I The drawings have been done on different planes, 



^ « I ^ so that some are upside down, some are complete, 

 g H 1 1 others incomplete. The ancient artist utilized his 



1 ^J material, as does the artist of to-day when he uses 

 a I the same canvas again and again. The mammoth 

 > '^ engraved on a lamination of his own tusk, and the 

 o bear on a flat pebble, are done solely for their art; 

 '^ while the sculptuie of the mammoth and reindeer, 

 ^ decoration of the handles of daggers and poniards, 

 H are such utilization as put one in remembrance of 



2 similar work done by Benevenuto Cellini. 

 g Fig. 62 represents an engraving upon a fragment of 

 o schistose slate found at Laugerie Basse by Franchet, 

 « and belongs to the collection of the Marquis de 

 " Vibraye. It represents five reindeer engraved from 



different points of view. Two of the animals are 



shown upright, while three others are represented 



upside down. One sketch is complete and is well 



done. Nearly every person has seen similar sketches 



in modern studios; the artist practices by making 



different sketches or fragments on the same canvas. 



These specimens are evidence of the art tendency of prehistoric man, 



at least in this locality and epoch. While the evidence points in that 



direction and is hardly explainable upon any other theory, yet the 



number of these specimens has hardly been sufficient to establish the 



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