114 



Aceouni of the Colostal Statue of Memnon. [Mardi I, 



Far the Monthltf Magazine. 



Some Account of the Colossal Bust in 



the BRITISH MU-SEUM, said to be 



part of the celebrated Statue of 



MEMNON, Zrt^e/f/ hromrhtfrov} Esypt' 



WHETHER this beautiful frajj- 

 nient of Ecryptian art, be a part 

 of the famous musical statue of Mem- 

 non. or not, is no subject of our present 

 enquiry. It is a genuinework of Eirvp- 

 tian sculpture in their finest style, is 

 a grand work of art, and is deposited 

 in our national Museum. It was sent 

 as a present to his iSFajesty when Re- 

 gent, who gave it (o tiie trustees of the 

 British Museum, for the use of our 

 artists and amateurs, and for the gra- 

 tification of the public. 



This immense piece of sculpture is 

 of red granite, consisting of one solid 

 block, ten feet high from the breast (o 

 the top of the head, and weighing uj)- 

 wards of twelve tons. The whole of 

 the face is in the finest st;'.te of ])reser- 

 vation, and is remarkably character- 

 istic, as maybe seen in the following 

 wood -cut, made from a fine<lrawing. by 

 Mr. Wm. Harvey, a distinguished 

 pup il of Mr. Haydon. 



The right ear and r. part of tlie dia- 

 dem is damaged, and a fragment, 

 shewn in the cut, which was broken oft" 

 by the French engineers, iu their at- 

 tempts to carry it off" to France during 

 their stay in Egypt under Bonaparte, 

 lias been skilfully joined, and is an his- 

 torical document of no small import- 

 ance. The excessive hardness of the 

 Stiaferial in which this highly-finished 



work is sculptured, was evident from 

 the labour it gave our English work- 

 men only to make (he holes for tiic 

 metal ciamps which were neccssaiy io 

 join the fractured parts together. 



The head is surmounted by an ele- 

 gant and tasteful diadem, and the chin 

 rests on a piqjection similar to what 

 is often obsei'ved ou other Egyptian 

 statues. 



M. I?epaud, one of the French sa- 

 vans of the Egyptian Institute, iu his 

 report on their ]U-ocee(lings, says, that 

 the principal monuments foun(l on the 

 left bank of the Nile, and the only 

 ones wliich can reasonably be supposed 

 to have depended ou Thebes, are the 

 Meninouium, or palace of Memnoii, 

 Medinet Abou, another palace, and (he 

 two colossal statues, so celebratcfl for 

 their prodigious height. The Mera- 

 noniiim faces the east; in one of its 

 courts are seen the remains of the cele- 

 brated statue of red granite, which he 

 concludes must be that of Memnon, 

 Its entire height was sixty-four feet, 

 and its remains were scattered forty 

 feet around it. The excavations were 

 visible, when the Frencli were there, 

 where the wedges were placed which 

 divided the statue when it was thrown 

 down by C'arabyses. 



M. Denon, one of our best modern, 

 authorities, relates, that at some paces 

 from the gate of the temple of Thebes, 

 was the remains of an enormous colos- 

 sal statue. It had been wantonly shat- 

 tered, for the parts which are left have 

 their polish so well preserved, and the 

 fractures on their edgas so entiic. that 

 it is evident, (hat if the spirit of devas- 

 tation had left to time alone to ruin 

 this monument of .ancient act, we should 

 still see it entire and uninjured. When 

 it was overset it fell upon its face, and 

 hid it solely from the Frencli, which 

 may account for its singularly fine pre- 

 servation, which is as entire as if it had 

 just proceeded from the sculptors work 

 shop. 



Denon doubts if it be a statue of 

 Memnon of Osymandias, and admits 

 that the descriptions hitherto given of 

 it throw more confusion than light 

 upon the question. If it be the statue 

 of Memnon, which appeai-s the more 

 ])ro!)able, eveiy traveller, says Denon, 

 for two thousand years, must have mis- 

 taken the object of their curiosity. 



Signor Belzoni, who considers it un- 

 questionably the bust of the famous 

 statue of Memnon, succeeded in em- 

 barking it on the Nile, duri-jg his first 

 vuj'ago 



