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Show 9(3 ICONOGRAPHIC RESEARCHES we :find in the "Typos"36 tho Egyptian portrait of ~he fan:ous CLE?PA'rRA which undoubtedly gives us a most charmmg oiligy of th1s ' refined, sensual, intriguing Queen; Fig. 6. last scion of an illustrious Mace-donian race, who had witnessed at her foot Julius Crosar and Mark Antony, and who for a short time might well have believed herself the mistress of tho Eastern world. N ovortholess, doing full justice to the Egyptian artist, we cannot help remarking that, though all tho J~gyptian effigies of this Queen, throughout her ancient realm, resemble one another perfectly-just as the portrait of Queen Victoria has remained entirely unaltered on all her gold sovereigns for tho last. twon~y years,- Cleopatra's Greek coins show a female head of ontnoly dlffol'cnt character; which, if really her portrait, gives us bnt a poor idea of Lho ta to oiLhor of Julius Crosar or of M. Antony. This difference boLwcoJJ the Greek coins and Egyptian oiligios, common to all the J 'Lolemics, is rather puzzling, and has until now not yet been satisfactorily explained; but Lopsius is expected to treat this quoRtion fully and frankly in tho iconographic portion of his groat publication. 17 In tho moan time it is only fair to remark, that tho native Bgyptian portraits of some of those kings, ex. gr. Physcon, agree far bettor with their historical character, than do their oiligios on the Greek coins; which are all somewhat idealized, until we reach this last Cleopatra, who was evidently a much finer specimen of a Queen in reality, than she appears on her medals. Having dono the work of demolition to my best abilities, allow me now to review the human races in respect to their aptitude for Art, and to inquire into the distinct and typical characteristics of uational art among the diflcrent types of men,- a study that will establish tho following facts: I.- That whilst some races are altogether unfit for imitative art, others arc by nature artistical in different degrees: . II.- That tho art of those nations which excelled in painting and sculpture, was often indigenous and always national; losing not "' Op. cit., p. 104, fig. 8:-RosELMNr, Afonumcnti delt' Egitto, M. R., XXII., fig. 82. I notice your judicious alteration of t.ho eye. "Cf., in tho interim, Ll:Pstus, Ueber einigeErgcbni3stder.LEgyptiscltenDenkmiilcr fur die .Kenntm'sa der l'tolemiie1'gcscllicllte, llorlin, 1858, pp. 2G, 29, 52. ON HUMAN RACES AND THEIR ART. 97 only its typo but likewise its excellence by imitating the art of other nations: ill.- That imitative art, derived from intercourse with, or conquest by, artistic races, remained barren, and never attained any degree of eminence,-that it never survived tho external rehttions to which it owed its origin, and died out as soon as intercourse ceased, or when the artistic conquerors became amalgamated with tho unartistic conquered race : IV.-That painting and sculpture are always the result of a peculiar artistical endowment of certain races, which cannot be imparted by instruction to unartistical nations. This fitness, or aptitude for art seems altogether to be independent of the mental culture and civilization of a people; and no civil or religious prohibitions can destroy the natural impulse of an artistical race to express its feelings in pi0tures, statuary, and reliefs. · LoNDON, ST. ALDAN's VILLAs, llxanaAT.III RuB, October, 1856. 7 Yours, very truly, .F. P. |