Egyptian New Kingdom

1550-1070 BCE

Credit to Gardner’s Art Through The Ages 12th Ed.

Egyptian New Kingdom 1550-1070 BCE

• Egypt was segregated again…• During Dynasties 17-18, it was reunited again, this time

by Ahmose I• His successors conducted successful military campaigns

that finally secured Egyptian control of Nubia• As a result, New Kingdom pharaohs were pretty rich…

much of their wealth was spent in honor of their gods, especially Amen-Re of Thebes, in whose name a huge temple complex at Karnak was constructed

Ahmose I

Nubia

Nubia is present day Sudan

Restored view of the Temple of Amen-Re at Karnak

Temple Complex at Karnak dedicated to Amen-Re

Temple Complex at Karnak dedicated to Amen-Re

Temple Complex at Karnak dedicated to Amen-Re

He’s so tiny!!! Which means these columns are HUGE!!! (66 ft. High)

This hall is known as theGreat Hypostyle Hall (meaning it has a LOTof columns supportingthe roof!)

New Kingdom

• Dynasty 19 rulers established a capital near Delta, but Thebes continued to be the main cultural and religious center of Egypt

• The New Kingdom was a period of almost 500 years of political stability, economic prosperity, and LOTS of artistic masterpieces

• Especially known for monumental architecture and statuary honoring the gods and pharaohs

• New trade was made possible with Asia and the Aegean Islands

New Kingdom Art: Mortuary Complex of Hatshepsut (Dynasty 18)

• Hatshepsut (literally, The Woman Who Would Be King)• The wife and half-sister of Thutmose II, she had no sons who

survived to take the throne– The title of pharaoh went to a 12 year old son of Thutmose II and a

“minor” wife, Thutmose III– Hatshepsut was declared his regent until he was old enough to rule– Eventually she proclaimed that her father, Thutmose I had actually chosen

HER as his successor (not his son and her half brother Thutmose II)– When she died and Thutmose III finally assumed rule, he had most

portraits of Hatshepsut destroyed• She was the first great female monarch whose name was ever

recorded• She ruled for 2 decades!

Hatshepsut: often depicted wearing a fake, ceremonial beard

Hatshepsut’s Mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahri (near Thebes)

Hatshepsut’s Mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahri (near Thebes)

Akhenaton and the Amarna Period (Dynasty 18)

• Revolution in Egypt• Mid 14th Century BCE (1350ish)• Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, later known as

Akhenaton abandoned worship of most Egyptians gods in favor of one: – Aton, who he declared to be the universal and

only god, identified by the sun disk– He blotted out the name of Amen from all

inscriptions and changed his own name

Akhenaton and the Amarna Period

• Moved the capital from Thebes to a site he named Akhetaton(present day Tell el-Amarna)

– Built an entire city complex here

Akhenaton and the Amarna Period

• He claimed to be both the son and sole prophet of Aton

• In contrast to other Egyptian gods, Aton was not represented as a human or an animal, but as a sun disk emitting life-giving rays

Akhenaton and the Amarna Period

• Akhenaton’s brief religious revolution was soon undone after his time, and his city was largely abandoned

• The Pharaohs who succeeded Akhenaton restored the cult, priesthood, and temples of Amen

• The Amarna period, however, housed very distinct artistic qualities that varied greatly from Egyptian Art’s basic canon

Akhenaton from the temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, Dynasty 18, Sandstone, H. 13 ft.

Effeminate body that is curiously misshapen with weak arms, a narrow waist, protruding belly, and wide hips

Curving contoursLong faceFull lipsHeavily lidded eyes

Modern doctors have tried to explain his physique byattributing a variety of illnesses to him, but cannot come to anagreement

Consequently, it is believed that this sculpture is not an accurate representation of his actual appearance

It has been argued that his artists were trying to formulate a new, androgynous image of the pharaoh as the manifestation of Aton, the gender-less sun disk

Nefertiti (The Beautiful One is Here)

• Akhenaton’s queen• Sculpted by Thutmose• Intentionally left incomplete, but why?

– Left eye hasn’t been inlaid yet

• Elongated neck, exaggerated featuresto meet the era’s standard of spiritual Beauty

In portraits with the pharaoh, she isthe same size as him, suggesting herimportance

Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters, 1353-1335 BCE, Limestone, H. 12 in.

Aliens???

The Amarna-Art-Legacy Continues…King TUT! (Dynasty 18)

• Tomb of Tutankhamen (Theban necropolis)– Largely unplundered when it was uncovered in 1922, excavator

Howard Carter• Probably a son of Akhenaton by a minor wife (not

Nefertiti)• Ruled for a decade• Died at age 18• Although a very minor figure in Egyptian history, probably

the most well-known figure from Egyptian history today (because of the excavation of his relatively in-tact tomb)!

King Tut

• Main finding in the tomb: enshrined body of the pharaoh himself

• The royal mummy was inside the innermost of 3 coffins nested within each other

• Innermost coffin = most luxurious of the 3– Made of a quarter-ton of beaten gold– Inlaid semiprecious stones: lapis lazuli, turquoise,

and carnelian

King Tut’s Innermost Coffin

King Tut

• The portrait mask that covered the king’s face was also made of gold with inlaid semiprecious stones– Sensitive portrayal of an adolescent king in official

regalia• Nemes headdress • False beard

• In general this is expressive of Egyptian power, pride, and affluence

King Tut’s Portrait Mask

King Tut

• Too young to fight, but his position as King required that he be represented as a conqueror

• Funerary art in his tomb depicts him this way– Paintings on the panels of the chest in his tomb

Painted chest from tomb of Tutankhamen, Wood, 1’8” long (did not contain his body!)

Detail from Painted Chest of King Tut(Tut the “great warrior”)

King Tut

• The scroll of Hu-Nefer, the royal scribe of pharaoh Seti I was found in King Tut’s tomb (page from the Book of the Dead)– Seti was the son of Ramses I (ruled AFTER King Tut)

• Preceded Ramses II in rule • Main goal was to restore religion to traditional Egyptian beliefs

after the reign of Akhenaton

• This was painted in the traditional style of Egyptian artistic canon of the Old Kingdom– Evidence that religion and artistic ideals were reset very

quickly after the rule of Akhenaton

Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, from the Book of the Dead, Painted Papyrus Scroll

Left: Anubis, jackal headed godof embalming, leads Hu-Nefer tothe hall of judgment

He adjusts his scales to weigh Hu-Nefer’s heart against the feather of the Maat (goddess of truth and right)

Right: Ammit, a hybrid monster that is half hippopotamus, half lion, the devourer of the sinful, awaits thedecision of the scales

If the weighing had been unfavorableto the deceased, the monster would have eaten his heart

Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer, from the Book of the Dead, Painted Papyrus Scroll

The Ibis-headed god, Thoth (Egyptian god of knowledge), records the proceedings Above, the gods of the Egyptian

pantheon are witnesses, while Hu-Nefer kneels before them inadoration

Having been justified, Hu-Nefer is brought by Osiris’s son, Horus (falcon head) to Osiris (green face)and his sisters, Isis and Nephthys to receive the award of eternal life

Rock-Cut Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel (Dynasty 19)

• Ramses was Egypt’s last great warrior pharaoh, and he ruled for two-thirds of a century (66 years!)– A huge accomplishment (life expectancy back then was not

nearly as long as it is today)• Placed 4 colossal images of himself on the temple façade• 12 times taller than the average height of an ancient

Egyptian, even though the pharaoh is seated• Not as detailed as other Egyptian art of the time because of

its sheer size• This entire temple was moved 700 ft. in 1968 to save it

from falling into the Aswan High Dam reservoir

Abu Simbel, Temple of Ramses II

Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

Inside the Temple of Ramses

32-foot tall figures of the kingin the guise of Osiris (Egyptiangod of the dead)

These pillars are not weight-bearing

Nefertari

• Ramses II’s principal wife• Ramses ordered construction of a grand

temple for her

Egypt in Decline

• During the last millennium BCE, the Egyptian empire lost its commanding role and dwindled away

• Foreign powers invaded, occupied, and ruled the land, until it was taken over by Alexander the Great of Macedon and his Greek successors, and eventually by the emperors of Rome

Egypt in Decline

• A portrait statue of Mentuemhet, a rich and powerful Mayor of Thebes during Dynasty 26 in the 7th Century BCE is an example of what Egyptian sculpture looked like when the Greeks first encountered the art of the Nile Valley

Mentuemhet, from Karnak, Dynasty 26, 650 BCE, Granite, H. 4’5”

Differences in this from past Egyptian sculptures:

Double wigRealistic head and faceRough/brutal characterization

However, the rigidity of the stance, frontality, and sparseness of silhouette with arms at the side and left legadvanced still recall Old Kingdom canon

Egyptian Art Legacy

• Today, visitors to Rome who enter the city from the airport are greeted by the tomb of a Roman nobleman who died around 12 BCE

• His memorial is a pyramid, even though he died 2500 years after the Old Kingdom pharaohs built the great pyramids at Giza, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World