Tombs, Temples & Ancient Art

Download or read book Tombs, Temples & Ancient Art written by Joseph Lindon Smith and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From book cover: Tombs Temples And Ancient Art: When Joseph Lindon Smith went out to Egypt as a young artist in 1898, archaeology was beginning to uncover some of the fabled treasures of an ancient land. For the next half-century, he devoted himself to the great "finds" as they were excavated from the encroaching sands, depicting them in countless paintings for the leading museums of the world. He became the friend of Flinder Petrie, the greatest of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Egyptologists, and the co-worker of the best-known archaeologists down to 1950; he explored and painted at Petra, Persepolis, Ur Palmyra, and Baalbek; he also did work with Sylvanus Griswold Morley in the ancient Maya centers of America, and painted in the Far East. His personal account of what transpired under his eyes and of the chronology and relations of ancient art over a wide area is at once exciting narrative and important history. The many illustrations chosen from his painting provide visual accompaniment to his story of classical civilizations and reveal the literal quality of his own art, which has in notable instances preserved for us the likeness of things that have since crumbled or faded on exposure to light and air after being buried for centuries. Tombs, Temples, And Ancient Art gains strength for its informality, for while the initiated will discover facts and interpretations of high importance to science, all readers will recognize in it the work of a man alive to adventure.