detail. Whether in flat or low relief or whether in bold relief, as in the case of a frieze of six horses, each seven feet long, carved on the wall of the rock shelter at Cap-Blane, on the River Beune in Dordogne, these sculptures always show the unity of purpose, the sincerity, the restraint, the appreciation of plane and shadow combined with truthful and accurate delineation, which characterize all the work of the Cro-Magnon artists and place them not among the primitive efforts of savages but in the realm of true art.

It is a far cry from the Magdalenian art to that of the present day, but one cannot look upon the former without feeling that both are inspired by the same impulse and that underlying both are the same basic principles, so that we may justly attribute to the CrôMagnon race the inauguration of the great traditions of art which have come down to us through the ages.

After a long gap of approximately fifteen thousand years, sterile in art as far as our knowledge goes, we come into the more familiar ground of historic times. As the architecture of Egypt developed and finally crystallized into a definite style, sculptural decoration necessarily followed the general trend and became highly conventionalized.

In order to produce unity, harmony of line, of surface, and of light and shadow in their architecture, Egyptian artists discovered that in their sculpture simplicity of modeling, firmness of outline and restfulness, even stiffness of pose, were essential, and to them we owe the tradition of those architectonic qualities which are so necessary to make of sculpture an integral part of a building.

Although there are many very beautiful examples of animal sculpture in Egypt, they are generally found grouped with human figures, and are more or less subordinate or incidental to the scenes presented. In Assyria, however,

we find once again after many thousand years a return to the use of animals as the principal motive of wall decoration. Like their forerunners of Magdalenian times, love and knowledge of nature led the Assyrian artists to express the emotions and characters of the wild beasts. With no possibility of any knowledge of even the existence of the earlier art and with a separation of about fifteen thousand years between them, it is interesting to note how closely in artistic quality, in the essence of characterization, the Assyrian sculptures resemble the Cro-Magnon.

The lion hunt from the palace in Nineveh is but one of many groups adorning the palace walls which display not only great artistic quality in the individual figures but also a very marked ability in composition as well; and "the wounded lioness," one of these individual sculptures, is one of the most exquisite sculptures in existence, in which sincerity and simplicity are the salient characteristics and which, as an expression of unbroken courage and unconquered spirit, is unrivaled. All these animal figures are necessarily stylized, or conventionalized to the degree necessary to conform to the architectural setting, but in artistic feeling and in technique, as well as in truthful interpretation, they are unsurpassed.

As in Egypt conventionalism made possible the depiction of mythological forms such as the gryphon and the sphinx, so in Assyrian caryatid figures, where required for the portals of the palace, conventionalism permitted the use of the great bulls with human heads. In the use of animal sculpture as a decorative feature of architecture, no country has equaled Assyria.

Another recent discovery has added one more chapter to the history of art and illustrates again the principles laid down by our Cro-Magnon forerunners. No enumeration of the great animal sculptures of the past would be com

the impression of progress to the whole procession without violating the canon that the medium of sculpture precludes the translation of actual movement.

The later Greek sculpture fell gradually into a realism which marked its decadence. Rome, however, revived to some extent the early Greek spirit and produced some notable animal sculpture. The very beautiful relief which adorns the rostra in the Roman Forum, as a single example, is sufficient to show that the Roman artists were still influenced by the early Greek spirit, and understood the necessity of conventionalism in architectural sculpture.

Mediæval architecture, although abounding in sculpture, has little to offer in the representation of animals if we except the grotesques, but in the use of the human figure it is unsurpassed and teaches a wonderful lesson in architectonic ornament.

Quite different in character but equal to the Greek sculpture in its adaptation to the lines of its architectural

setting, Gothic figure sculpture, aided by the use of lines of draperies, not only melts into and blends with the mass and the detail of the building, but in the cathedrals and churches is also the means of proclaiming the spiritual and religious feeling of the architecture. The very rigidity of the figures, carried sometimes even to the point of awkwardness, typifies the mysticism and religious fervor of the age. Nothing could better illustrate the meaning of the "architectonic. quality" than the portals of the great French cathedrals. The pose of the figures, the lines of the draperies, the quality of the modeling, the introduction of the crocket-like figures in the arches, all harmonize with and are a part of the architecture.

The saints of the portal of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris (see Frontispiece) when seen apart appear grotesque, stiff, and uncouth, but in their proper setting, with the straight lines carrying up the vertical lines of the

architecture, and with the wonderful adaptation of planes and angles, they are the very acme of architectonic art. It is impossible to imagine these figures in a Greek temple or the frieze of the Parthenon on a Gothic church, yet each in its proper place is as near perfection as the art of man has been able to attain. In later Gothic times the tendency to realism again marked a decline and a decadence; as sculpture became more perfect in the imitation of nature it lost in architectonic quality and, as a result, in power of expression.

The Renaissance, in which one may include our own times, has given few great examples of animal sculpture as applied to architecture. For three hundred years sculpture has shown a tendency to fall more and more into realism with a resultant loss of architectural value. The history of art has been marked both in painting and sculpture by a succession of alternate waves of simplicity and complicated realism. We seem now to be coming to the end of a phase of the latter and there are unmistakable signs of a reaction.

A number of schools of various degrees of extravagance have appeared, the cubists and the modernists, but in passing they have rendered an undoubted service. They have at least notified the world that art is not photographic imitation, and they have broken the spell which seems to have bound us for nearly three centuriesbut they, like children groping in the dark, have not found the way. Whether through deficient education or through lack of reasoning power, they have tried to persuade the world that artistic expression can be reached without work, that accuracy and skill in delineation are unnecessary or harmful; whereas the exact contrary is true.

The whole experience of mankind, the whole history of art from the CrôMagnons to this day, teaches that there is no short cut, that there is no easiest

way. Work, hard work, through years of incessant effort, is necessary to produce the qualities which enable men to express great and noble thoughts through the medium of dead immutable materials.

The error into which we have fallen and that into which the modern schools would lead us are the same. In both cases it is due to the neglect of the great tradition which has come down to us in an unbroken line from the Crô-Magnons, through Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, and France, that, in the art of sculpture, as in all art, there must be sincerity and truth, accuracy in delineation and fidelity in modeling, and the suppression of every detail unnecessary to expression. The quality of beauty, which is the very essence of art, implies that the subject should always appeal to the higher and not to the baser emotions.

Where sculpture, whether of men or animals, is used in architecture, the treatment should be architectonic in order that it may be an integral part of the building. Whether in high or low relief or in the round, the posture as well as the planes, the lights and the shades, should carry the lines of the architecture. These are the lessons of the past. The ability to carry them out depends upon great technical skill, which can be reached only by infinite pains and a lifetime of labor and study.

Advocates of new styles in architecture who are constantly crying for new motives might do well to consider the possibilities of animal sculpture. There is a peculiar charm, an appealing pathos, in the expression of human emotions through the medium of the dumb animals, and by an endless variety of forms nature has provided a fertile field for the imagination. As far back as the Old Stone Age art sought its inspiration in the forests and plains and left traditions of interpretation which experience has shown cannot be neglected with impunity.