DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0161
THE NEW KINGDOM
period: the first. Everything that follows is a renaissance.
The first renaissance, that of the Middle Kingdom, may be
described as a highly respectable activity which built many
canals and enriched many fields to which insufficient atten-
tion had hitherto been paid. The diligent effort was rewarded
by lucky accidents, but a remarkable level of achievement
was not enough to conceal the weakening of the texture.
The New Kingdom is the renaissance of a renaissance; and
the disadvantages of the immediately preceding period are
intensified. Architecture blocks the whole foreground with
gigantic structures. Pillar-statues grow to a monstrous size,
and the mass-production of colossal figures in the temples
vulgarizes craftsmanship. Architecture, which for us is the
mother of sculpture, seems in Egypt to have become its
murderess. It is no thanks to architecture if anything
survived; rather it shows the power of resistance of the
original germ. Something did, as a fact, survive. For a
surprisingly long time, art held its own - with severe losses
it is true - against the mass-drive of the New Kingdom.
The waxing and waning of this mighty empire is not
simply an interesting phenomenon in ancient history, but
actually affords a new point of comparison with our own
destiny. The Middle Kingdom disintegrated and so perished;
the differentiation affected the structure of the State, which
led to a splitting up of its forces, and its whole culture. The
Egypt of the twelfth dynasty always strikes me as a collection
of perfectly legitimate instincts which, because they ruled
without restraint, led only to a collapse. One might say that
there were too many thinkers and poets and artists and
amateurs and too few people with good tough bones. It was
an artistic century. They devoted themselves to the perfec-
tion of the ego; and the refinement of the technique which
they devoted to that end made their egotism a moral affair.
Artists think about everything except what is necessary. Kings
and princes wrangled with each other for so long that the
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period: the first. Everything that follows is a renaissance.
The first renaissance, that of the Middle Kingdom, may be
described as a highly respectable activity which built many
canals and enriched many fields to which insufficient atten-
tion had hitherto been paid. The diligent effort was rewarded
by lucky accidents, but a remarkable level of achievement
was not enough to conceal the weakening of the texture.
The New Kingdom is the renaissance of a renaissance; and
the disadvantages of the immediately preceding period are
intensified. Architecture blocks the whole foreground with
gigantic structures. Pillar-statues grow to a monstrous size,
and the mass-production of colossal figures in the temples
vulgarizes craftsmanship. Architecture, which for us is the
mother of sculpture, seems in Egypt to have become its
murderess. It is no thanks to architecture if anything
survived; rather it shows the power of resistance of the
original germ. Something did, as a fact, survive. For a
surprisingly long time, art held its own - with severe losses
it is true - against the mass-drive of the New Kingdom.
The waxing and waning of this mighty empire is not
simply an interesting phenomenon in ancient history, but
actually affords a new point of comparison with our own
destiny. The Middle Kingdom disintegrated and so perished;
the differentiation affected the structure of the State, which
led to a splitting up of its forces, and its whole culture. The
Egypt of the twelfth dynasty always strikes me as a collection
of perfectly legitimate instincts which, because they ruled
without restraint, led only to a collapse. One might say that
there were too many thinkers and poets and artists and
amateurs and too few people with good tough bones. It was
an artistic century. They devoted themselves to the perfec-
tion of the ego; and the refinement of the technique which
they devoted to that end made their egotism a moral affair.
Artists think about everything except what is necessary. Kings
and princes wrangled with each other for so long that the
k 145