Fairbanks, Arthur: Greek art: the basis of later European art (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1933)

THE SPIRIT OF GREEK ART
ent from that of his predecessors, so different
that it changed the course of later art in Eu-
rope. Finding the human form a very com-
plex subject, subtly varied in its planes, not to
mention the variations due to changing mental
states, the predecessors of the Greeks practi-
cally gave up the attempt to reproduce it truth-
fully in sculpture and painting; instead of uti-
lizing the skill they gained for an increasingly
truer treatment of their subject, they were
satisfied with working out a general formula
for the purpose. The conventional types de-
veloped, for example, in Egypt and Assyria,
different as they are, are each wonderfully effec-
tive in what they attempt to do; but because
men are presented in studied conventions, a
relief like the Assyrian wounded lioness in the
British Museum, and certain Egyptian paint-
ings of birds and animals, seem to us to have
far more life and reality than scenes from
human life. The Greek artist, in contrast with
his predecessors, was not daunted by the diffi-
culty of his subject. Avoiding conventions,
however clever, he consistently made it his aim
to present the human form in painting and
sculpture as truthfully and vividly as he could,
and every increase in technical skill and in
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