: 





scui.rrrKi:. 



mark th* *pot where he had had hi* dreun or vision. (Gen. xxvii.. 1 - ' 

 A imilr MiupU' memorial of a pillar and a heap of atone* comnirm- 

 ntrd the covenant i-won-d into between Jacob and Laban. (Gen. xxxi. 

 A similar monument waa built over the grave of Kachel. (Gen. 

 zxxv. 80.) Joshua also aet up a great (tone under an oak, " to be a 

 vritneM." (Josh. xxiv. 27.) An late a* the time of Paua&nia*, about 

 \ ! 170, certain of the Grecian divinities were worshipped under the 

 form of rude block* or mere column*, or atone* act upright (Paus. vii. 

 32) ; and even in the present day the cuatom exiata in some countries 

 . .f xtting up a heap of atone* to mark the spot where any extraordinary 

 accident, such for example aa a death from violence, ha* occurred. 

 Thrae are frequent in Italy, where the passer-by usually add* another 

 heap, at the same time repeating a prayer for the repose 

 i if the aoul of the deceased. 



It ha* been said that the history of sculpture is almost the history 

 nf idolatry. Religious feeling doubtless had its share in forwarding 

 the progress of the arts ; for man, even in hi* rudeat state, always has 

 a belief that good and evil emanate from some superior power ; and, 

 unable to comprehend a divine esaence or spirit, has by degree* been 

 led to offer hi* addressee to some visible object as its representative. 

 But it Mem* probable that the first image* or statue* were of men 

 rather than of god* : and thus that human idol* preceded those of 

 divinities. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that the 

 heavenly bodies were the earliest objects of worship among the 

 heathen nations ; and the symbols that were afterward* dedicated to 

 them were most likely merely pillars of a conical or pyramidal form, 

 and not- imitation* of the human figure ; and when such works are 

 referred to and called " graven images " by Moses, it has ingeniously 

 been supposed to be in allusion to the signs or hieroglyphics inscribed 

 or cut on them. The sun was worshipped at Emeca under the form 

 of a black conical (tone with mark* to represent the sun. (Herodion, 

 v. 8 ; Gibbon, vol. i., c. vi.) 



Traditional accounts of wonderful feats in arms, the real or fabled 

 history of a conqueror, or a lawgiver, or the founder of a nation, led in 

 all probability to the first attempts at making a portrait figure or 

 image, which a rude and uninformed people, always attracted by the 

 marvellous, associating with it action* of supernatural prowess, would 

 noon learn to contemplate with feelings both of admiration and of awe. 

 Extraordinary respect would lead to the payment of extraordinary 

 honours ; and the elevation of heroes into divinities would be attended 

 with little difficulty when time had obscured the real existence of the 

 personages and weakened the remembrance of their actions. The 

 imagination would easily be worked upon while the eye contemplated 

 them first rude attempts at form ; and thus men would be elevated 

 into god*. 



The oldest idols of Egypt, no less than the monstrous images of the 

 Buddhists and Chinese, were probably, in the natural progress of 

 superstition, the fruits of a similar origin. The general forms once 

 admitted and consecrated, as symbolical of divine attributes, were 

 afterwards, in some instan ...I from innovations by the 



influence of the hierarchical institutions ; and thus was a barrier raised 

 which for a long period was fatal to the progress of imitative art. We 

 are accustomed to look to the East as the nursery in which art and 

 science had their origin ; ami it is probable that much in the Egyptian 

 and even in the Grecian religious systems was derived from this source. 

 In the representations of the deities of the Hindus, the human form is 

 frequently combined with the brute, the union of intelligence and 

 force ; and, as we know was the case with the Egyptians, the Hindu 

 artists seem to have been subjected to some limitations ami 

 prescribed type. In all statues and rilievi that remain, many of 

 which must have been executed at distant periods, there is the same 

 prevailing character of form, expression, aud attributes ; while out of 

 tin- immediate pale of their mythological or sacred system they appear 

 to have been leas restricted ; and some of the sculptures at Kllora and 

 RIenhaate exhibit a feeling for composition, and a power of expressing 

 character, which make it surprising that their sculpture never attained 

 . xcellcnce. 



In turning to the inspired writings, we find allusion made to imita- 



-it in the earliest period of history. The Israelite*, after the 



Exodus, arc warned agninat the superstitions and corruptions that had 



. roea crept in and deformed their primitive simple forms of wor- 



hip. U to return to a pure devotion, as for instance in 



-.k of Joshua (xxiv. >. M, i;. 



; !! -he 1. ft IIIT father's house with Jacob and Leah, 

 1 away " the images;" and I.al.an pursued them in order to 

 recover object* upon wliirh he sei -ms t.. have set a high value. This, 

 we b. ! ce in the holy writings of the ex 



i> tliingx, and . . . ,, particulars by whi.-li any 



1 ..f what tliey , .' ,,f what mat. 'rials th. y 



t!:.-y were small is e\ id.-nt f i "in tin- . ir. umstanoo 



to .-any them away un well as from 



the facility with which they \, ,1 when I.aban " searched all 



.'. and found them nut." 



ilpture are known ; but a* early a* the 



time of Mows tl, ined to a consider in some 



..f the most difficult processes of art. The setting up of the i 



.nil the making of the brazen serpent, ore evidence of thi*. The 

 earliest recorded name* of Mulptors are in the Old Testament j Beza- 



lecl the nun of I'ri, of the tribe of Judoh, and Aholiab the son of 

 Ahuamach, of the tribe of Oan. (Kxod . xxvi.) They were the artiste 

 appointed to make the ornament* of the Tabernacle, and their date is 

 therefore about fifteen hundred years before the Christian sura, 

 i the peculiar position held by the Phoenicians, and th. 

 raoter for enterprise and ingenuity, it is much to be regretted tl 

 POSKM no specimen* of their design. The coins of Carthage, a colony 

 of Phoenicia, are of too late a date and of too insignificant a character 

 to throw any light upon the condition of sculpture among the 

 people. The recent excavations and researches of Mr. Davis on the 

 (ite of Carthage, have not brought to light any productions of a kind 

 t.. elucidate what is doubtful with reference to the attainments of the 

 Dm nician* in the higher branches of sculpture and of the arts gene- 

 rally. We con therefore only estimate their proficiency in all inj.- 

 pursuits from the encomiums so generally passed upon them by . 

 writers. While the neighbouring people were in a state of primitive 

 simplicity or profound ignorance, the Phoenicians seem, by a native 

 industry and disposition to exertion, to have made themselves cele- 

 brated for their arts and manufactures. Their country was the great 



replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas." Homer 

 (' Iliad,' xxiii. 74S) calls them " th. . the skilful workers or 



artificers" (Zt&trcs oAu!al5oAoi), when he speaks of them as 

 made an elaborately worked silver cup. Solomon sent to Hiram 



, for workmen to build and decorate his magnificent temple ; 

 and the king sent him a " cunning " man, skilful to work in gold, 

 silver, brass, iron, stone, and timber. (2 Chron. ii. 18; and 1 Kings, 

 vii.) The building of Solomon's temple took place about one thousand 

 years before the Christian era. 



With the exception of the Hindus, our remarks have thus fai 

 confined to those nation* among whom sculpture is known to have 

 been practised, but of whose art no monuments remain. \\ . 

 about to enter upon a more interesting field of inquiry. Sculpture 

 hat! in its first stage (when, as we believe, each people who employed 

 it originated it for themselves) fulfilled its purpose as a sign or a 

 record. Afterwards it acquired an increased djgnity from being used 

 to represent objects claiming admiration or respect ; and it was in this 

 stage probably that valuable materials were first used for sculpture. 

 The progress was easy to employing it for decoration, and the Baby- 

 lonians and Hebrews made great use of it for this purpose. But a* 

 yet no practical knowledge has been gained with respect to its progress 

 as an art of design ; of the changes from primitive rudeness to defined 

 form and character; nor of the innovations or varieties in feel 

 practice occasioned by the intercourse of hitherto strange and unknown 

 nations. 



The style of sculpture and the condition of the art at different 

 periods among the Persians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Etrurians, 

 the Greeks, and the Romans, can fortunately be illustrated by i . 



to existing remains. Each of these i pie had their peculiar manner, 



which has given a character of tclioul to their production*. In 

 them the practice of art was more or less influenced ley the priests, 

 and by local and popular religious opinions ; and it will be intc: 

 to trace how far these influences affected the progress of sculpture, 

 by restraining, as they did in some instances, its advancement t. 

 perfection even as an imitative art ; or in urging it forward, as among 

 the Greeks, till it reached its highest excellence, by the un 

 subject, form, and expression, as a means of gratifying sense, exciting 

 feeling, aud elevating sentiment. 



Sculpture was practised in Persia with very limited success. 

 Various circumstances conspired to retard its progress. The I' 

 disapproved of statues for religious purposes ; that is, as* objects to 

 which worship should be offered. Not believing, as the Greeks did, 

 that the gods had the human form, they admitted no representation 

 of the deity, and allowed lire and water to be the only synii 

 emblems of the divine power. It is said that Xerxes destroyed the 



of Greece at the instigation of the Magi, who ex< 1 

 against the impiety of those who presumed to enclose within w. 

 whom all things are open and free, and whose appi. 

 i the whole universe. Wh. appeared as conqi 



the effects of this opinion were exhibited; and in Egypt, us well as in 



. they gave full indulgence to the iconoclastic fury, 

 easy to determine the date of such sculptures as appear on r 

 buildings. Those which decorate the structures at Persep. : 

 r.li^ioiis processions chiefly, and sometimes combats both of n. 

 Leasts. In none of them is t i 



the naked human figure. Their figure:-. em eloped in loiij; he.i\y 

 .lit in grace, variety oi . At 



;.. ii.i.1 nf their history some innovations F. 

 e.l, luit these were not of sufficient importance t > 

 art to any degree of excellence. The low measure of their 

 nitmU in this respect, aud the general want of t isteinai t,;irc MnkinL-ly 

 exhibited in the gold coins . liieh display a 



poverty of design as meanness and clumsiness of execution. It has 

 been thought that Persian art received some additions or modifica- 

 tions after the return of Cambyses from EL'\ pt, when he probably waa 

 accompanied by some of the artists of that comparatively cultivated 



