Ancient Mediterranean Art
Egyptian Art Slides
Ancient Egyptian Art
Key Ideas
• Complex funerary practices involving building mastabas and pyramids
• Figures hold unyielding stances and facial expressions
• Unrealistic posing of human figures – frontal shoulders and eyes, profile heads and hips/legs
• Divine pharaohs
Egyptian Canon (convention) of Proportion
• Fist is one box wide/high• Heel to hairline – 18 blocks
up• Knee at 5 blocks up• Head in profile, while eye
is frontal• Shoulders/torso frontal• Hips/legs in profile• Arch and big toe for both
feet• RIGID!!!
Hieroglyphics
• Rosetta Stone allowed us to translate hieroglyphics
13. Palette of King Narmer. Predynastic Egypt. c. 3000–2920 B.C.E. Greywacke. (2 images)
Palette of King Narmer, back
© Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY
Palette of King Narmer, front
© Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY
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Old Kingdom
2575-2134 BCE
15. Seated scribe. Saqqara, Egypt. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2620–2500 B.C.E. Painted limestone.
© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
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Created for a tomb to hold the Ka; conventional image of a scribe-not a pharaoh; contrasts with idealized figures of pharaohs; flabby folds of skin from sedentary life of a scribe
17. Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx. Giza, Egypt. Old Kingdom,
Fourth Dynasty. c. 2550–2490 B.C.E. Cut limestone. (2 images)
Great Pyramids with Sphinx © Roger Wood/Corbis
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Pyramid Plan
18. King Menkaura and queen. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2490–2472 B.C.E. Greywacke.
Photograph © 2013 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Ti Watching the Hippopotamus Hunt, c. 2400 BCE, painted limestone, Tomb of Ti, SaqqaraTi was a government official; river seen from above; hippos and fish seen in profile; stylized oars; hierarchy of scale; boat glides through papyrus; success in hunt is fight against evil (hippos were seen as pests)
Middle Kingdom Key Ideas
• Middle Kingdom began after a period of instability (intermediate period)
• More powerful local governments• Pharaohs’ power diminished; left responsible
mostly for raising standing armies to defend borders (especially the Nubian border to the south)
Head of Sunusret III, c. 1860 BCE, stone
•More expression than in old kingdom•Reflection of period of civil unrest•Battle-hardened from four major battles with the Nubians•Careful attention to detail – folds of flesh, furrowed brow, introspective•Looks depressed - not heroic as in old kingdom depictions of rulers
Hippopotamus, 1985-1795 BCE, faience, from tomb of SenbiSmall item (under 8”) left in tomb so the deceased could hunt in the afterlife; lotus blossoms on sides; natural representation of the hippo
New Kingdom Key Ideas
• Re-unification after the second intermediate period and more civil unrest (in addition to exterior forces)
• Great temple complexes • A female Queen! ( Hatshepsut)• Amarna Style (very briefly) – more natural• King Tut• Ramses II • First kingdom to use the term pharaoh(great house) to
mean king• Change to worship of one god (briefly)
20. Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall. Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th and 19th Dynasties. Temple: c. 1550 B.C.E.; hall: c. 1250 B.C.E. Cut sandstone and mud brick. (3 images)
Hypostyle Hall
© Jochem D. Wijnands/Getty Images
Temple of Amun-Re
© Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Corbis
2020
2020
Temple of Amun-Re plan
2020
21. Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut. Near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1473–1458 B.C.E. Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite. (2 images)
Kneeling statue of Hatshepsut
Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Image source © Art Resource, NY
Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut
© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
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Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, 1470 BCE, Deir el-Bahri2 ramps; 3 colonnaded terraces; not buried there; visually coordinated with the cliffs behind it; first woman celebrated in art history;
Queen Hatshepsut, 1450 BCE, granite
•Filled role of male pharaoh by wearing male clothing, false beard, cobra on headdress•Slight hint of breasts•First Egyptian queen
Akhenaten, 1350 BCE, sandstone
• Formerly known as Amenhotep IV
• Started Amarna style – first significant artistic change in two thousand years
• Body has same style as old kingdom, but smoother and more relaxed
• Thin arms, heavy eyelids, big hips, paunchy stomach hangs over waistband of skirt
• Still gets the beautiful girl, though! (see next slide)
Nefertiti, 1350 BCE, limestone
•Amarna style•Long, elegant neck•Delicate features•Wife of Akhenaton•Pattern in headdress mirrors pattern on collar•Unusual because it include shoulders – may have been made for a full-body statue – found in sculptor’s studio
22. Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters. New Kingdom (Amarna), 18th Dynasty. c. 1353–1335 B.C.E. Limestone.
© bpk, Berlin/Staatliche Museen/Art Resource, NY
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Mask of King Tutankhamen, 1323 BCE, gold, enamel, semi-precious stones
• Tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1922
• Mummified body buried with 143 objects
• Gold coffin • Smooth idealized features• Minor king – famous
because his burial chamber was unmolested until 1922
23. Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty.c. 1323 B.C.E. Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones.
© Sandra Vannini/Corbis
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24. Last judgment of Hu-Nefer, from his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead). New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty. c. 1275 B.C.E. Painted papyrus scroll.
© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, NY
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