DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0085
THE FAMILY IN THE CAIRO MUSEUM
in the reliefs at the museum we have found one or two
sublime contours: for instance, in the dark wooden panel of
the third dynasty with the priest Hesire — a profile with some-
thing of the elan of a Mohican. All that Egyptian relief can
offer us is possessed by this family group, which means an
irresistible fascination. Nevertheless sculpture in the round
is richer in content; it is less easy to take in these solid effects.
A whole world of new tones rises up; and its beauty lies in
the cooperation of forces held in restraint; face, limbs, parts
mean less and the whole means more. This beauty is more
lasting; it is more spontaneous and natural, and less a lucky
glimpse than a normal and static condition. The boys also
have a charm which it is hard to define; the putti of the
Quattrocento are prettier but hardly attain to this solid
reality. Their quaintness has none of the sweet and comic
qualities that help a foreigner to success. They are men on a
small scale and stand there like grown-ups, left foot advanced,
right hand on breast and the other stretched at their side,
weighty and solemn. They know their places and play no
pranks and are merely a small portion of the whole. You
might call them their parents’ supporters. Like cadences they
bring the group to a close on either side. It is remarkable
how well four figures work together, though they are on two
distinct planes. The difference of plane gives a feeling of
space in spite of the flat relief-like treatment.
Although the woman has no head she fulfils quite ade-
quately the role of partner. Her body would have been
admired in Paris, until boyish fashions came in and the
breasts disappeared, as jausse maigre: very thin with round
and not too full breasts and long thighs like an odalisque’s,
sweeping to the knee in an uninterrupted gentle curve, as
Ingres would have had it. The dress consists of two parts:
the tight skirt which finishes off short below the breasts and
a thin piece of stuff covering the breast, cut off abruptly
below and fastened on the shoulder with brooches. It is
73
in the reliefs at the museum we have found one or two
sublime contours: for instance, in the dark wooden panel of
the third dynasty with the priest Hesire — a profile with some-
thing of the elan of a Mohican. All that Egyptian relief can
offer us is possessed by this family group, which means an
irresistible fascination. Nevertheless sculpture in the round
is richer in content; it is less easy to take in these solid effects.
A whole world of new tones rises up; and its beauty lies in
the cooperation of forces held in restraint; face, limbs, parts
mean less and the whole means more. This beauty is more
lasting; it is more spontaneous and natural, and less a lucky
glimpse than a normal and static condition. The boys also
have a charm which it is hard to define; the putti of the
Quattrocento are prettier but hardly attain to this solid
reality. Their quaintness has none of the sweet and comic
qualities that help a foreigner to success. They are men on a
small scale and stand there like grown-ups, left foot advanced,
right hand on breast and the other stretched at their side,
weighty and solemn. They know their places and play no
pranks and are merely a small portion of the whole. You
might call them their parents’ supporters. Like cadences they
bring the group to a close on either side. It is remarkable
how well four figures work together, though they are on two
distinct planes. The difference of plane gives a feeling of
space in spite of the flat relief-like treatment.
Although the woman has no head she fulfils quite ade-
quately the role of partner. Her body would have been
admired in Paris, until boyish fashions came in and the
breasts disappeared, as jausse maigre: very thin with round
and not too full breasts and long thighs like an odalisque’s,
sweeping to the knee in an uninterrupted gentle curve, as
Ingres would have had it. The dress consists of two parts:
the tight skirt which finishes off short below the breasts and
a thin piece of stuff covering the breast, cut off abruptly
below and fastened on the shoulder with brooches. It is
73