Egyptian Painting [antikvár]

the geese of meidum, detail. frieze from the mastaba of itet at meidum. cairo museu.m. EGYPTIAN PAINTING WHEN planning this study of Egyptian Painting we felt it needful to restrict its scope to some extent; so vast is the subject that otherwise our text would have been far too bulky and the effect of such a diversity of illustrations somewhat confusing. For, spanning as it did three thousand years, from the First to the Thirtieth Dynasty, the Pharaonic régime was one of the longest in Antiquity and throughout the period artists of the Nile Valley produced indisputable masterpieces. The pity is that relatively few have escaped intact the ravages of men and time. True, the dryness of the climate has done much for the preservation of Egyptian monuments; the trouble is that once they are uncovered by archaeologists and exposed to the vagaries of the weather, the wall paintings, often thin and fragile, rapidly deteriorate. How many exquisite details which as recently as twenty or thirty years ago delighted our eyes are now no