DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0167
THE NEW KINGDOM
slits the eyes, sharpens the lips and extracts a lively arabesque
from the contour of the cheek between the chin and the
gigantic ear. The royal beard on the chin is of great length.
The thin arms are crossed over a womanish breast. Below,
an ornamental belly curves out between the womanish flanks.
Under the slit-like navel a very curious apron, carved in the
round, girds the skinny lower frame. It is a crazy mannerism,
reminding one a little of Botticelli, except that the gentle
Sandro’s pictures are comparatively harmless. These effete
faces make one think of a modern who was trying to convert
Greco into sculptural form and got out of his depth. The
style results in a grotesque caricature, but remains thoroughly
consistent. When we remember the most recent artistic
products of our own period it helps us to dismiss any idea of
perverse distortion. Incidentally such high treason would
have led them not to the temple of Karnak, where these
statues stood, but somewhere else altogether. What we have
before us is officially authorized expressionism.
These are the early works of the Amenophis period; the
reliefs from El Amarna in the fourth room go much further.
The king appears with a skull which outdistances every
exotic macrocephalous freak. It is as though the whole
gigantic royal headdress had turned into his head, and this
head runs forward into a great long nose. The neck is like
a retort. The outstretched arms, spindles with sacrificial
vessels in the hands, are of quite different lengths and are
attached not to the shoulders but to the retort. A frankly
womanish breast seems confined within a corset and prolongs
itself into the indescribable paunch. Oh, this paunch! Oh,
that behind! The royal sit-upon occurs where other mortals
have their backs, and with the paunch it forms a bulbous
figure symmetrical in front and behind. The backside is not
semicircular as usual, but somewhat like a trembling wave
on which you could play a flute but not sit. The figure
stands on thin little legs without joints, and with club-feet
149
slits the eyes, sharpens the lips and extracts a lively arabesque
from the contour of the cheek between the chin and the
gigantic ear. The royal beard on the chin is of great length.
The thin arms are crossed over a womanish breast. Below,
an ornamental belly curves out between the womanish flanks.
Under the slit-like navel a very curious apron, carved in the
round, girds the skinny lower frame. It is a crazy mannerism,
reminding one a little of Botticelli, except that the gentle
Sandro’s pictures are comparatively harmless. These effete
faces make one think of a modern who was trying to convert
Greco into sculptural form and got out of his depth. The
style results in a grotesque caricature, but remains thoroughly
consistent. When we remember the most recent artistic
products of our own period it helps us to dismiss any idea of
perverse distortion. Incidentally such high treason would
have led them not to the temple of Karnak, where these
statues stood, but somewhere else altogether. What we have
before us is officially authorized expressionism.
These are the early works of the Amenophis period; the
reliefs from El Amarna in the fourth room go much further.
The king appears with a skull which outdistances every
exotic macrocephalous freak. It is as though the whole
gigantic royal headdress had turned into his head, and this
head runs forward into a great long nose. The neck is like
a retort. The outstretched arms, spindles with sacrificial
vessels in the hands, are of quite different lengths and are
attached not to the shoulders but to the retort. A frankly
womanish breast seems confined within a corset and prolongs
itself into the indescribable paunch. Oh, this paunch! Oh,
that behind! The royal sit-upon occurs where other mortals
have their backs, and with the paunch it forms a bulbous
figure symmetrical in front and behind. The backside is not
semicircular as usual, but somewhat like a trembling wave
on which you could play a flute but not sit. The figure
stands on thin little legs without joints, and with club-feet
149