To say that the decline of Egyptian art began with Rameses II.

is a commonplace of contemporary criticism; yet nothing is less true than an axiom of this kind.

Many statues and bas-reliefs executed during his reign are no doubt inconceivably rude and ugly; but these are chiefly found in provincial towns where the schools were indifferent, and where the artists had no fine examples before them.

At Thebes, at Memphis, at Abydos, at Tanis, in those towns of the Delta where the court habitually resided, and even at Abu Simbel and Beit el Wally, the sculptors of Rameses II.

yield nothing in point of excellence to those of Seti I.and Horemheb.