PAINTER. 307 



making it as much as possible resemble real life ; they then put round 

 it a hollow column made of crystal.&quot; 



And to tliis plastered, painted, and enclosed mummy they 

 made offerings. The Egyptian usage diverged from this 

 simply in the casing of the mummy and in the painting : the 

 one being opaque and the other consequently external. For 

 the carved and painted representation of a human figure 

 on the outer mummy-case, was doubtless a conventionally- 

 stereotyped representation of the occupant. And since, in 

 all such cases, the ancestor-worship, now of private persons, 

 now of major and minor potentates, was a religion, painting 

 as thus employed was a religious art. 



The leading subjects of Egyptian wall-paintings are wor 

 shiping and killing: the last being, indeed, but a form of 

 the first; since pictures of victorious fights are either glori 

 fications of the commemorated commanders or of the gods 

 by whose aids they conquered, or both. In early societies 

 sacrifice of enemies is religious sacrifice, as shown among 

 the Hebrews by the behaviour of Samuel to Agag. Hence 

 the painting in these Egyptian frescoes is used for sacred 

 purposes. 



That in Ancient Egypt the priest was the primitive 

 sculptor we have already seen ; and the association of paint 

 ing with sculpture was so close as to imply that he was also 

 the primitive painter either immediately or by proxy. 

 For, seeing that, as Brugsch remarks, Egyptian art &quot; is 

 bound by fetters which the artist dared not loosen for fear 

 of clashing with traditional directions and ancient usage,&quot; it 

 results that the priests, being depositaries of the traditions, 

 guided the hands of those who made painted representations 

 when they did not themselves make them. But there is di 

 rect proof. Erman says : &quot; Under the Old Empire the 

 high priest of Memphis was regarded as their chief, in fact 

 he bore the title of chief leader of the artists/ and really 

 exercised this office.&quot; In another passage describing the 

 administration of the great temple of Amon he tells us that 



