How to See the British Museum in Four VisitsJerrold, Blanchard
History
How to See the British Museum in Four Visits
Jerrold, Blanchard
British Museum
And now the visitor may make his way back to the great entrance-hall
of the Museum, where his third visit should close. In the hall are
deposited four colossal specimens of sculpture from Nimroud. The first
of these, to which the visitor should direct his attention, is a
colossal figure of a winged human-headed bull, found by Mr. Layard at
the portal of a door at Nimroud. Of the discovery of this marvellous
specimen of ancient Assyrian art, Mr. Layard gives a graphic
account:--"I was returning to the mound, when I saw two Arabs urging
their mares to the top of their speed. On approaching me, they
stopped. 'Hasten, O Bey!' exclaimed one of them, 'hasten to the
diggers; for they have found Nimrod himself. Wallah! it is wonderful,
but it is true! we have seen him with our eyes. There is no god but
God!' and both joining in this pious exclamation, they galloped off,
without further words, in the direction of their tents. On reaching
the ruins I descended into the new trench, and found the workmen, who
had already seen me as I approached, standing near a heap of baskets
and cloaks. Whilst Awad advanced and asked for a present to celebrate
the occasion, the Arabs withdrew the screen they had hastily
constructed, and disclosed an enormous human head, sculptured in full
out of the alabaster of the country. They had uncovered the upper part
of a figure, the remainder of which was still buried in the earth. I
saw at once that the head must belong to a winged lion or bull,
similar to those of Khorsabad and Persepolis. It was in admirable
preservation. The expression was calm, yet majestic; and the outline
of the features showed a freedom and knowledge of art scarcely to be
looked for in works of so remote a period. I was not surprised that
the Arabs had been amazed and terrified at this apparition. It
required no stretch of imagination to conjure up the most strange
fancies. This gigantic head, blanched with age, thus rising from the
bowels of the earth, might well have belonged to one of those fearful
beings which are pictured in the traditions of the country as
appearing to mortals, slowly ascending from the regions below. One of
the workmen, on catching the first glimpse of the monster, had thrown
down his basket, and had run off towards Mosul as fast as his legs
could carry him." The marvellous fidelity and power with which this,
and the colossal human-headed bull are executed, must astonish the
most uninstructed observer. For an account of the marvellous labour at
the cost of which these colossal Assyrian works were conveyed from
Asia Minor to the British Museum, we must refer the reader to Mr.
Layard's excellent condensed account of his researches, published by
Mr. Murray. And with the contemplation of these mysterious monuments
of the past, the visitor should close his third visit to the national
Museum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account