DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0129
RELIEFS FROM ASSUR-BANI-PAL'S PALACE.
97
nacherib's palace, for instance, we see building going on ; colossal bulls being
transported; high-stepping horses, the pride of the royal equerry, so full of
mettle as scarcely to be held by their diminutive hostlers. There is, moreover,
a nearer approach to nature than in the sculptures of the older time. The
ponderous portal figure is seen no longer with five legs, but walks on four. In
relief, the solemn procession in single file disappears : the simple arrangement
of the battle-scenes in tiers yields to more complicated and elaborate composi-
tions, in which hundreds of small but energetic figures cover the whole slab,
marching, fighting, or attacking fortresses. Details of river, mountain, bush,
or morass are also added to make the story clearer. Were it not for the stiff
and faulty drawing, our sympathies might be aroused for the lands and people
overrun by these multitudes. But in looking at the human figures, whether
king, common soldier, or wounded prisoner, we find that the sculptor has gone
Fig 48. Battle-scene from Nimroud
but little beyond his predecessors. The same lack of true movement is evident,
and the same conventional rendering of muscles and the nude, which seem
a reminiscence rather than a reproduction of life. It is possible that this
summariness of treatment should be laid at the door of the workmen, who only
carried out their master's designs. In a fragmentary clay relief, representing
the king in combat with a lion, now in the British Museum, we seem to have
an original from a master-hand. In it the arms and legs of the king are rep-
resented with a keen sense of nature, and startling freshness of observation.
And yet this same relief shows the old traditional rendering of the drapery,
hiding and not following the form.
In Assur-bani-pal's palace we meet the king, lounging under a bower of
vines, attended by servants, and a figure conjectured to be his wife, which, if
true, is the only case of the representation of an Assyrian lady.'3ia Nothing,
however, in form or feature, shows conclusively that this is a female figure.
The monarch seems to be enjoying his festive cup, in spite of the ghastly heads
dangling from the branches above. This relief is another striking illustration
97
nacherib's palace, for instance, we see building going on ; colossal bulls being
transported; high-stepping horses, the pride of the royal equerry, so full of
mettle as scarcely to be held by their diminutive hostlers. There is, moreover,
a nearer approach to nature than in the sculptures of the older time. The
ponderous portal figure is seen no longer with five legs, but walks on four. In
relief, the solemn procession in single file disappears : the simple arrangement
of the battle-scenes in tiers yields to more complicated and elaborate composi-
tions, in which hundreds of small but energetic figures cover the whole slab,
marching, fighting, or attacking fortresses. Details of river, mountain, bush,
or morass are also added to make the story clearer. Were it not for the stiff
and faulty drawing, our sympathies might be aroused for the lands and people
overrun by these multitudes. But in looking at the human figures, whether
king, common soldier, or wounded prisoner, we find that the sculptor has gone
Fig 48. Battle-scene from Nimroud
but little beyond his predecessors. The same lack of true movement is evident,
and the same conventional rendering of muscles and the nude, which seem
a reminiscence rather than a reproduction of life. It is possible that this
summariness of treatment should be laid at the door of the workmen, who only
carried out their master's designs. In a fragmentary clay relief, representing
the king in combat with a lion, now in the British Museum, we seem to have
an original from a master-hand. In it the arms and legs of the king are rep-
resented with a keen sense of nature, and startling freshness of observation.
And yet this same relief shows the old traditional rendering of the drapery,
hiding and not following the form.
In Assur-bani-pal's palace we meet the king, lounging under a bower of
vines, attended by servants, and a figure conjectured to be his wife, which, if
true, is the only case of the representation of an Assyrian lady.'3ia Nothing,
however, in form or feature, shows conclusively that this is a female figure.
The monarch seems to be enjoying his festive cup, in spite of the ghastly heads
dangling from the branches above. This relief is another striking illustration