PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 699* 



of him cases in which a figure was formed of portions of his 

 body joined with artificial portions. The Nile Valley furnished 

 other transitions. Concerning the Macrobrian Ethiopians, Herod- 

 otus tells the strange story that 



" When they have dried the body, either as the Egyptians do, or in some 

 other way, they plaster it all over with gypsum, and paint it, making it as 

 much as possible resemble real life ; they then put round it a hollow col- 

 umn made of crystal." 



And to this plastered, painted, and inclosed 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 occu- 

 pant. 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 worshiping 

 and killing : the last being, indeed, but a form of the first ; since 

 pictures of victorious fights are either glorifications of the com- 

 memorated commanders or of the gods by whose aid they con- 

 quered, or both. In early societies sacrifice of enemies is religious 

 sacrifice, as shown among the Hebrews by the behavior of Sam- 

 uel 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 painting with sculp- 

 ture 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 " is bound by fetters which the 

 artist dared not loosen for fear of clashing with traditional direc- 

 tions and ancient usage," it results that the priests, being deposi- 

 taries of the traditions, guided the hands of those who made 

 painted representations when they did not themselves make them. 

 But there is direct proof. Erman says : " 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." In another passage describing the administration of 

 the great temple of Amon he tells us that the Theban god had his 

 own painters and his own sculptors ; both being under the super- 

 vision of the second prophet. It may be that, as in the case of the 

 Indians above named, these working painters had passed through 

 some religious initiation and were semi-priestly. 



In connection with this use of painting for sacred purposes in 

 Egypt, I may add evidence furnished by an existing religion. 

 Says Tennent concerning the Buddhists of Ceylon : 



