amphibious nature, partaking of the characteristics of both. It is such a fabled beauty whom the artist depicts, slumbering beside the stream whose shore is under her special guardianship. Georges Lefebvre is the son of an artist and was born at Cezy in the Department of Vonne. He received his preliminary education from his father, and was, when sufficiently advanced, sent to paris to study under Gerome. The "Improvisation" is another example of G. Van den Bos, and represents a young lady upon the terrace of a chateau, improvising an air upon the violin while another lady accompanies her on the harp. The Isis of the ancient Egyptians was universal throughout Egypt, particularly at Philae and at Bubastis on the Nile, and the annual inundations of that stream were supposed to be caused by her tears. At her death the Egyptians believed that she was translated to the heavens and reincarnated int he star Sothis, which we know as Sirius or the Dog Star. Isis was served in her temples by priestesses of her own sex, one of whom the painter represents, enthroned at the foot of an altar, on the brink of the fountain or pond of the temple. Her long hair is plaited in narrow plaits; on her forehead she wears a golden serpent, the symbol of eternity, and she reposes on the skin of a leopard, one of the innumerable animals sacred to the Egyptian gods. The birds at her feet are sacred ibises, which, like cats, were held to be especially holy members of the world of nature, and were cherished and protected in the temples

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Chapter 9 Text

Pierre Oliver Joseph Coomans